SCULPTURE. 



The Apollo Belvjdere is believed, by the learned Vifconti, 

 to be Apollo Alexicacos, the deliverer from evil, the 

 work of Calamis ; mentioned both by Pliny and Paufanias ; 

 and the liiftpry of its removal is given in the Mufeum Pium 

 Clemeiitiiium. Orly one fmall antique repetition of this 

 ftatue is to be found ; and indeed admirable and fublime in 

 its beauty as it is, there is a reafon which might render 

 it lets popular among the ancients than the moderns. 

 M'liimus Tyrius defcribes a ftatue by Phidias very fimilar 

 to thi-!, but in greater motion, either difcharging an arrow, 

 or preparing to do fo. (Tojom.) There are traces of this 

 ftatue in fome ancient baflo-rclievos ; and it is poffible the 

 ftronger expreflion of Phidias's work, together with the 

 authority of his name, might have diminiftied the public 

 attention to Calamis in a comparative production. 



The Venus de Medicis was fo popular a favourite among 

 the Greeks and Romans, that a hundred ancient repetitions 

 of this ftatue have been noticed by travellers. The indi- 

 vidual figure is faid to have been found in the forutn of 

 Oftavia. The ftylc of fculpture feems to be later than 

 Alexander the Great : and ttie idea of this ftatue feems to 

 have its origin from the Venus of Gnidos. 



We may now notice fome ftatues of great excellence, 

 which Pliny has not mentioned. And no wonder they are 

 omitted, when of more than 11,000 reckoned in his hiftory, 

 lie profeftes to give a catalogue of about 500 only. 



The coloflal ftatues on Monte Cavallo in Rome we may 

 fairly prefume to be the works of Phidias and Praxiteles, 

 as infcribed on their pedeftals ; becaufe the animated cha- 

 rafter and ftyle of fculpture feem peculiar to the age in 

 which thofe artifts lived ; and becaufe, in the frieze of the 

 Parthenon there is a young hero governing a horfe, which 

 bears fo ftrong a refemblance to thofe groups, that it wowld 

 be difficult to believe it was not a firft idea for them by 

 one of thofe artifts. 



The heroic Itatue by Agafias ttie Ephefian, commonly 

 called the Fighting Gladiator, is ftiewn by the ingenious 

 and learned Abbate Fea, to be Ajax, the fon of Oileus, 

 as his figure is fo reprefented on the coins of Locris, his 

 country. 



The Hercules Farnefe was evidently one of the firft 

 favourites of antiquity, from its frequent repetitions in 

 bronze' and marble, gems and coins. Its hiftory, according 

 to thefe, feems to be this. The city of Perinthus was twice 

 befieged by Pliillp of Macedon ; the citizens, however, by 

 the ftrength of their fituation, their own valour, and the 

 intervention of friends, preferved their liberty. As their 

 city was dedicated to Hercules, they reprefented him on 

 their coins refting from his labours. The ftanding figure 

 is the Hercules Farnefe, which, on the coin, was copied, as 

 ufual, from an honoured ftatue in the city ; moft probably 

 from the work of Glycon the Athenian, whofe country 

 once dehvered them from the oppreflion of Philip. The 

 ftyle is later than the time of Alexander. 



We (hall now proceed to thofe precious monuments of 

 art, the ancient groups ; in which we fee the fentiment, 

 heroifm, beauty, and fublimity ot Greece, exifting before us. 



The group of Laocoon, animated with the hopelefs 

 agony of the father and fons, is the work of Apollodorus, 

 Athenodorus, and Agefanderof Rhodes. The ftyle of this 

 work, as well as the manner in which Pliny introduces it 

 into his hiftory, give us reafon to believe it was not ancient 

 in his time. 



Zethus and Amphion, tying Dirce to the bull's horns, 

 an example of filial vengeance for a perfecuted mother, is 

 as heroic in conception as vaft in execution. The reftora- 

 lions of this group are fo bad, that they only become tole- 



rable by fomething like an aflimilation of fpirit in flieir 

 union with the ancient and venerable fragment. It is the 

 work of ApoUonius and Taurifcus of Rliodes. 



The group of Hercules and Antseus, in the Palace Pitti 

 at Florence, may be a marble, from the bronze of which 

 the copyift infcribed the name of the original artift. 



The groups of Atreus, bearing a dead fon of Thyeftes ; 

 Oreftes and Eletlra ; Ajax fupporting Patroclus ; are all 

 examples of fine form, heroic character, and fentiment. 

 There feems only to be one reafon for their being 

 omitted by Pliny, that they were too recent at that time 

 to have obtained an equal rank in public eftimation with 

 the fine works of Phidias and Praxiteles, and their immediate 

 defcendants. 



The group of Niobe and her youngeft daughter, by 

 Scopas, is an example of heroic beauty in mature age. 

 The fentiment is maternal affeftion : ftie expofes her own 

 life to (hield her child from the threatened deftrutkion. 



The feparate ftatues of the children all partake of the 

 fame heroic beauty, mixed with the pafiions of apprehenfion, 

 difmay, or death. 



To this feries belongs that fine example of anatomical 

 ftudy, in difficult but harmonious compofition, the group of 

 The Boxers. 



The beautiful and iiiterefting group of Cupid and Pfyche 

 is not mentioned by Pliny, perhaps for the fame reafon that 

 feveral other fine works are not noticed, becaufe it was after 

 the times of thofe great mafters who were looked on as the 

 ftandard of excellence i:i his days. It is moft likely to have 

 been produced after the reign of Auguftus, when the Py- 

 thagorean philofophy was revived, from which its fubjeft is 

 taken. 



From what has been faid, it will appear fculpture did 

 not arrive at its maturity until the age of Phidias, 490 

 years before the Chriftan era ; and Pliny's catalogue of the 

 moft celebrated Greek artifts continues 160 years later, or 

 to 330 years before Chrift. After which time, however, 

 the Laocoon, and feveral of the fineft groups and ftatues, 

 feem to have been executed : nor can we believe, from the 

 admirable bufts and ftatues of the imperial families ftill 

 remaining, that fculpture began to lofe its graces until the 

 reignof the Antonines: and, indeed, foftrong were the ftamina 

 of Grecian genius in the art of defign, that after the time 

 of the Iconoclaftes in the fifth and fixth centuries, when the 

 nobleft works were deftroycd, when great works of fculpture 

 were not required, even then, and until Conltantinople was 

 taken by the Turks in the 15th century, the Greeks exe- 

 cuted fmall works of great elegance, as may be feen in the 

 diptychs, or ivory covers to confular records, or facred 

 volumes ufed in church fervice. 



The works of fculpture, here enumerated, will alfo fhew, 

 that almoft all the greateft and moft valued produftions were 

 of marble, and not bronze, as fome have been inclined to 

 believe. And although feveral of the ftatues mentioned by 

 Pliny were bronze, from which we have marble copies, yet 

 all the groups, with two or three exceptions only, are marble ; 

 and fome of the moft celebrated ftatues, as the Venufes, 

 and the Cupid by Praxiteles, with many others. 



The principal fchools of fculpture were Athens and 

 Rhodes. The fculptors of the Laocoon, and the Toro 

 Farnefe, and the Colofl'us, were Rhodians ; and it is almoft 

 incredible, that from this little ifland, only forty miles long, 

 and thirteen broad, the Roman conquerors brought away 

 3000 ftatues. But we fhall more readily believe this when we 

 recollect that the force andenterprife of thefe iflanders were 

 fufficient to conquer the navy of Antiochus, commanded by 

 Hannibal. 



Sicyou had long been the work-fbop of metals of all 



countries. 



