B A S 



B A ^ 



work, as Phidias had invented it : — et ioreulicen fie crudilTe, 

 ut Phidias aperuifTe." 



Befides the baffb-rehevos above mentioned, fc-veral others 

 in Athens are of the hij;hell beauty : the figures on the 

 Temple of the Winds ; the llorj- of Bzcchus and the Tyr- 

 rhenian mariners transformed into dolphins, on thd Choragic 

 Monument of Lyficrates (Smart's Athens, vol. i.), raifed 

 in the time of Alexander tlie Great ; and two alto-relievos 

 of the battle of the Athenians tlv.A Ama-zuns, with another 

 battle, fubjeft unkno\i'n. (See the lall two plates, vol. ii. 

 of Stuart's Athens.) 



Before we quit the fubjcCl of bafib-rdievo among the 

 Greeks, it is proper to obferve, that foliage ornaments in 

 baifo-relievo feem to have been introduced in Ionia about 

 the fame time with the Ionic capital ; in the reign of Alex- 

 ander the Great. (See the ca()ital of an Ionic pilafter en- 

 riched with foliage, in the ruins of the temple of Apollo 

 Didymasus, tail-piece, p. 55. Rivett's Ionia.) Thefe in- 

 ventions are two charafterittics of the Ionian fchool. 



Soon after this period, the molt eminent Grecian fculptors 

 and architefls wtre almoft entirely engaged in decorating 

 the capital of their Roman conquerors. Mo(t of their 

 public works at home were inferior in beauty and fpirit, in 

 proportion as the intention was debated, which was chiefly 

 that of paying fervile compliments to their mailers ; and the 

 buildings raifed, with a very few exceptions, were diftin- 

 guilhed by a colonial inferiority from thoie of Rome, which 

 the genius of Greece, and the fpoils of the virorld, rendered 

 the moil magnificent of the times. 



We may begin the obfervations on the baflb-relievos es- 

 • ecuted or exilling in Italy, by fome notice of thofe cut in 

 the rock. In the garden of the Capuchins' convent at Pa- 

 lazzuolo, on the lake of Albano, is a tomb; and in the tufo be- 

 neath, on the fide of the rock, are carved the fafces, the curule 

 feat, the diadem, and the fceptre. M. D'Hankerville be- 

 lieves this to have been the tomb of Tarquin the Elder ; 

 becaufe he received thefe regaha from the Etrufean ftates, 

 and becaufe the tomb ftandi on the ellate which belonged to 

 him. There are other bafib-relicvos cut in the tufo, repre- 

 fenting the combats of lions and gladiators, with other ap- 

 parently domellic fubjecls, on the fides of a tomb at Cor- 

 neto, the ancient Tarquinium : and although thefe works 

 may be confidered as Etrulcan, yet there are reafons for 

 thinking they are of Grecian origin ; for Pliny (lib. 35. 

 c. 12.) fays, " that Demaratus, the father of Tarquin the 

 Elder, in Hetruria, who was afterwards king of Rome, 

 flying from Corinth, was accompanied by the modellers 

 (Jidores) Euchira and Eugrammus, by whom modelling 

 ■was brought into Italy." There arc, indeed, works known 

 to be Etrufean, in the gallery of P'lorence ; among which 

 are many fquare cinerary urns of terra cotta : fome of them 

 bear baflb relievos of Greek fubjecls, and thefe are much 

 the heft ; the reft; are of an execution and m.anufaftory 

 equally ordinary. A terra cotta frieze of fmall figures, 

 fcven different fubjefts, was found fome years finee at Vel- 

 letri, and preferved in the Borgian Mufeum. This feemed 

 to be of the oldefl Etrufean ftyle : but ftiU, as antiquarians 

 have believed the ftories to be Greek, and the frieze itfelf 

 to be copied from a Greek original, fo far this hktwife nuill 

 be confidered as a production of the Grecian fchool. There 

 is a print from one of thefe fubjetls, repreftnting two 

 women in a car drawn by two winged horfes; the firft head- 

 piece, vol. iii. of Winkelmann's Hillory of the Arts of 

 Defign, Fea's edition. 



The talle for carved or chafed plate of gold and filver 

 was introduced at Rome, by the immenfe quantity which 

 Lucius Scipio brought in triumph from the fpoils of Afia, con- 



fiding of 1,40c pounds weight of chafed filver, and 100,000 

 pi.unds of gold vafss, about 150 years beforeChrill. Pliny de- 

 fcribes the ficklenefsof the Romans afterwards in works of this 

 kind. " The vafe of filver varies, by the wonderful incon- 

 ftancy of the human difpofition, not approving long the pro- 

 duction of any worklhop : now we fcek the Furnian, now 

 the Clodian, now the Giatian, now baffo-relievo rtiaiply cut, 

 and now pidlures cxprcfled in lines." 



Modelling in ilucca, called plajliccn by Pliny, was praAifed 

 under the firll emperors, with extraordinary beauty, freedom, 

 and (light of execution ; as may be fcen in the ornaments of 

 the bath of purification at the temple of Ifis at Pompeia, 

 and the baths of Livia in the paLce of the Csefars at 

 Rome. 



It may be proper to en urtierate fome of the fined detached 

 baffo-relievos in the Roman coUeftions, previous to thofe ex- 

 illing in the ancient buildings. In the Villa Borghefe is 

 one of young women in fine drapery, holding- e?.ch other by 

 the hand, and dancing. The figures are almoft round ; it 

 is diftinguifiied by beauty and fimplicity. The lleeping 

 Endymion of the Capitol; the fentiment of which is perfcft, 

 the figure elegant, and tl;e execution bold : the Perfeus 

 delivering Andromeda from the rock ; likewife in the Capi- 

 tol : the large fragment of Antinous, in the Villa Albani : 

 to which may be added, a moft beautiful frieze on one 

 fide of the cortile of the palace Santa Croce, of Neptune 

 and Amphitrite, fea-nymphs, tritons, and marine animals ; 

 ai'd another beautiful frieze in the palace Delia Valle, of 

 victory facrificing bulls to Mithras. Some others will be 

 noticed under particular heads. 



The alto-relievo of Auge and Telephus, mentioned with 

 fo much rapture by Winkelmann and fome of his followers 

 (fee theMonumenti inediti, plate 72.), will only be noticed 

 here to expofe an hypercriticifm. It is highly extolled for 

 having three plans of objetts in proportionate gradations of 

 relief : it is felt-evident that objefts placed one beyond the 

 other on a ground, muft have different gradations of pro- 

 jetlion ; but as this work has nothing elfc to reconmicnd it 

 particularly, cither in eharaifter, fentiment, or compcfition, 

 what has been faid is fufficient to (hew, that an indifferent 

 work may become the object of admiration, by the magic of 

 technical jargon, where fentiment, expreffion, a beautiful 

 defign, compolition, harmony of parts, and all thofe parti- 

 culars which can alone conllitute excellence, are wanting. 



Of the baffo-relievos executed whiill the arts ftill retamed 

 fome perfection under the Roman emperors, no fpecimens are 

 remaining ot thofe compofitlons of figures which adorned the 

 pediments of buildings. A fragment of the frieze on the 

 Temple of Minerva in Rome, near the Capitol, is ftill in to- 

 lerable condition ; there are feveral prints of it in the " Ad- 

 miranda Romanorum." There are hkewife in the different 

 collections, detached fpecimens and fragments cf friezes, 

 pannels, and dies of pedeftals. But the greateft number of 

 baffo-relievos in their original places, is on the triumphal 

 arches and columns ; and the greatell profufion of fubjedls 

 is to be found on the farcophagi. Wc (hall pafs the more 

 haftily over thefe, becaufe wc have already noticed whatever 

 is moil excellent in this department of fculpture, in the ru:a3 

 of Athens. The following triumpl-.al arches are enriched 

 with baffo-relievo : thofe of Augullus, at Suza and Rimini : 

 that of Trajan, at Beneventum ; and at Rome, th'ofe of 

 Titus, Marcus Aurelius (the baffo relievos of which are pre- 

 ferved in the Capitol, although the arch is deilroyed) ; that 

 of Severus ; the goldfmiths' arch ; and that of Conllantine. 

 The nobleft compofitlon, perhaps, among them is the apo- 

 thcofis of Faullina, from the arch of Aurelius. (See Bartoli's 

 Triumphal Arches.) The arch of Conftantme is rcmark- 



abi« 



