372 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[December, 



cases which contain a coUection of such authors whose works can 

 never he read too often. From hence you pass into a hed-chan.her 

 through a passage, which heing hoarded and suspended as it were 

 over a stove which runs underneath, tempers the heat wh ch it 

 receives and conveys to all parts of this room. The remainder of 

 this side of the house is appropriated to the use of my slaves and 

 freedmen: but most of the apartments, however, are neat enough 

 to receive anv of mv friends. In the opposite w-ing is a room 

 ornamented in very 'elegant taste; next to which lies another 

 room, which, though large for a parlour, makes but a mode- 

 rate dining-room.. ....Beyond is a bed-chamber, together with 



its ante-chamber, the height of which renders it cool in summer 

 as its being sheltered on all sides from the winds, makes it 

 warm in winter. To this apartment another of the same sort 

 is joined hv a common wall. From thence you e"ter into 

 the ffrand and spacious cooling room belonging to the bath, 

 from the opposite walls of which, two round basins project suffi- 

 ciently largi to swim in." He then proceeds to enumerate the 

 different bathing apartments. "At the other end, he continues 

 "is a second turret, in which is a room that receives the rising and 

 setting sun. Behind this is a large repository, near to which is a 

 ffallery of curiosities; and underneath is a spacious dining-room, 

 where the roaring of the sea, even in a storm, is heard but faintly. 

 It looks upon the garden, and gestatio which surrounds the garden 

 The gestatio is encompassed with a box-tree hedge; and where that 



is decaye<l, with rosemary Between the garden and this gestatio 



runs a shadv plantation of vines, the alley ot which is so soft that 

 vou mav walk barefoot upon it without injury. 1 he garden is 

 'chiefly 'planted with fig and mulberry trees, to which the soil 

 is favourable, as it is averse to all others. In this place is a 

 banqueting-room, which, though it stands remote from the sea, 

 enjoys a prospect nothing inferior to that view. Jwo apartments 

 run round the back of it, the windows whereof look upon the 

 entrance of the villa, and into a very pleasant kitchen garden. 

 From hence an inclosed portico extends, which, by its great length, 

 you might suppose erected for the use of the public It has a 

 ranee of windows on each side; but on that which looks towards 

 the sea, thev are double the number of those next tlie garden. 

 When the weather is fine and serene, these are all thrown open; 



but if it blows, those on the side the wind sets are shut Before 



this portico lies a terrace, perfumed with violets, and warmed by 



the reflection of the sun from the portico On the upper end of 



the terrace and portico, stands a detached building in the garden, 

 which 1 call mv favourite; and indeed it is particularly so, having 

 erected it myself It contains a very warm winter room, one side of 

 which looks upon the terrace, the other has a view of the sea, and 

 both lie exposed to the sun. Through the folding doors, you see 

 the opposite chamber, and from the windows is a prospect of the in- 

 closed portico. On that side next the sea, and opposite to the 

 middle wall, stands a little elegant recess, which, by means of glass 

 doors and a curtain, is either laid open to the adjoining room, or 

 separated from it. It contains a couch and two chairs... ...Adjoin- 

 ing to this is a bed-chamber, which neither the :oice of the ser- 

 vants the murmuring of the sea, nor even the roaring of a tempest, 

 can reach; not lightning, nor day itself, can penetrate it, unless 

 vou open the windows. This profound tranquility is occasioned 

 by a passage which separates the wall of the chamber from that of 

 the garden; and thus by means of that intervening space, every 

 noise is precluded. Annexed to this is a small stove-room, which, 

 by opening a little window, warms the bed-chamber to the degree 

 of heat required. Beyond this lies a chamber and ante-chamber, 

 which enjoy the sun, 'though obliquely indeed, from the time it 

 rises till the afternoon. When 1 retire to this garden apartment, 

 I fancy myself a hundred miles from my own house, and take par- 

 ticular pleasure in it at the feast of the Saturnalia, when by the 

 license of that season of festivity, every other part of my villa 

 resounds with the mirth of mv domestics: thus I neither interrupt 

 their diversions, nor thev my studies. Among the pleasures and 

 conveniences of this situation, there is one disadvantage, and that 

 is the want of a running stream; but this defect is in a great mea- 

 sure supplied by wells, or rather I should call them fountains, tor 

 they rise very near the surface."— A healthy situation, good water 

 and ready access to Rome, either by land or water, were considered 

 indispensable requisites in selecting a site on whuh to bui ,1. 



It must be remembered that the villa described by 1 liny was 

 merely a winter residence, and of modest proportions compared 

 with 'those of the more wealthy patricians. V itruvius says: 

 "Those of the nobles who bear the honours of magistracy, and 

 decide the affairs of the citizens, should have a princely vestibulum, 

 lofty atrium, and ample peristylium, with groves and extensive 



ambulatories, besides libraries and basilicsp, decorated in a manner 

 similar to the magnificence of public buildings, for in these places 

 both public affairs and private causes are oftentimes determined. 



The gestatio, described by Pliny, wasja place for horse exercise; 

 the box-trees by which it was bordered were frequently clipped 

 into various forms, like those in an old-fashioned English garden. 

 It was from this custom that the gardeners were called topiani 

 The covered and inclosed portico was called crypto-porticus, and 

 was intended for exercise in hot or wet weather ; it was what we 

 should call a gallery. A garden apartment devoted to retirement 

 and study, was called a museum, from its being sacred to the 

 muses Besides the various farm buildings, orchard, kitchen gar- 

 den poultry yard, &c., necessary to an extensive country residence, 

 there were belonging to these luxurious villas, warrens for hares 

 and rabbits, and a park planted with forest trees, and containing 

 fish-ponds, and abounding with game of every descrij.tion. \ arro 

 mentions a piece of ground, fifty acres in extent, belonging to 

 Ouintus Hortensius, called a theriotrophmm, which was devoted 

 to the preservation of wild animals for the chase, such as deer and 



"The care of the apiarv was considered of great importance, and 

 Apicius enumerates snails and dormice as amongst the dishes 

 pleasing to a Roman palate; both of these creatures had places set 

 apart for their nourishment in the villa rust.ca. M hen we consider 

 the numerous departments to be attended to, we are scarcely sur- 

 prised when we hear of three or four hundred slaves being em- 

 ployed on one estate. . „„„„; 



We now take our farewell of ancient Rome, with all its magni- 

 ficence and luxury ; and though we may condemn the want of pure 

 taste and inordinate love of ornament, visible in many of the 

 works of Roman architecture, they are at the same time so won- 

 derful in their grandeur and beauty, that every race of architects 

 of every age have approached them not only with admiration but 

 with reference, as a noble lesson in what the genius of man may 



Ji f* il 1 G V C 



Mv next Lecture will be on the Foundation of Constantinople, 

 and the first style of Christian architecture, known as Byzantine. 



LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 

 Vitru.iu..- Decline and Fall of t.,e Eok.hh E,n,,.re; (^'''■'^"■-'^y'lZ.TT^',- 



irom Poiiipt^ii; ZaJiu. 



APPLICATION OF HIGH ART TO PUBLIC SCULPTURE. 



On the Application of High Art to Public Sculpture and its relation 

 to the u-anl.s of the People. By Patbic P.4BK, of Edinburgh. 



The history of art is progression and retrogression. One bright 

 era the dynasty of Pericles and Phidias, in the sister arts of 

 architecture and sculpture; another, the bright era of the 

 Cinquecento, in j.ainting, sculpture, and architecture; and a third, 

 the era of the immortal Canova and Flaxman in the resurrection 

 of sculpture in modern times-fill our minds from the works these 

 aires have produced, with the positive knowledge that a lofty per- 

 ception of the works of God and the high destinies of art were 

 then apparent to artists and recognised by the world-a glorious 

 blaze of sunshine, which seems to have put out the eyes of their 

 successors, doomed to a mournful recognition of past splendour 

 thev felt themselves unequal to match or even to confront. Devoid 

 of ;-etrospective ambition, their estimate intellectually of the 

 worth of preceding greatness in art is that which is stamped on 

 the mind of the trader by its marketable and commercial value. 

 No doubt in this the master is acknowledged; but, contemptible 

 sons of great sires, they have lived but to exist on the '"''■>"»■" ''f 

 their fathers-fc.r-etfui that jiast glory forgotten or uncultivated, 

 makes present imi.ecilitv a crime, not a misfortune. 



Having premised that these remarks were necessnry in order to 

 introduce%he topic he wished to bring before the f'^l' '« «"" 

 -that of recalling to practice a standard in high art the ^'-t'lrer 

 proceeded to state, as the principle he wished t^e"'">•f >,'«'■ \he 

 use of the nudo is the only means by which certain chai.uterist.cs 

 in man can be illustrated; and t^at in combination with i, dra- 

 pery, fnun its form and infinite variety, is an adjutant 1"""''W^ "' 

 Larcely secondary importance in its appeal to human K'-cept.o • 

 and this not as ro'hes made after a fashion ".h>«-h/"ve >«'■•"«" 

 individual significance, hut as a simple covering, taking it, imme 

 diate style fi.mi the genius of the artist, the necessity of the case 

 and the character of^he subject. We advocate these principles 



