77//<: <;.-] K/)/;.Y.S' or ITALY. 



123 



CHAPTER XI. 

 VILLA ALBANI, ROME. 



VILLA ALBANI differs from other Italian residences in this that it was built entirely 

 with a view to the treasures it \vas to contain, and that even to-day, curtailed as those 

 treasures are, it is impossible to think of it apart from them. The shining marble 

 rooms and the long terraces are peopled by a world of nurble men and women, 

 and they have, and need, no other inhabitants. 



To no one in the eighteenth century does art owe more than to Cardinal Alexander Albani, 

 whom his contemporaries called the Great Cardinal. His wondrous collection has rendered 



132. VILLA ALBANI I JUNO AND JUPITER. 



inestimable service to art and archaeology. Since the time of Winckelmann, the distinguished 

 German professor, under whose care the villa grew, there has been no student of the antique in 

 Italy who has not found here a mine of riches upon which to draw for explanation and illustration. 

 No great writer has been able to tell the history of sculpture without at every moment quoting 

 from Villa Albani. The successors of the Cardinal enriched the collection with a long list of 

 precious paintings and drawings, and before the French bore away many of its possessions there 

 were few places in which were gathered together so many examples of incontestable value and, 

 moreover, of ascertained history. 



