SCULPTURE. 



the world. It was raifed about the commencement of the 

 fecond century, by the fenate and people of Rome ; in 

 honour of the emperor Trajan, after the viftory that he had 

 obtained over the Dacians. This column is admirable for 

 its height ; and more ftill for the beauty of the bas reliefs 

 with which it is ornamented ; which reprefent the firil and 

 the fecond expeditions, and the viftory obtained over king 

 Decebalus. Thefc bas reliefs are correftly defigned, and 

 moll beautifully executed. There are numbered more than 

 2500 figures, all in different attitudes, without counting 

 thofe of horfes, elephants, arms, machines of war, and an 

 infinity of others ; altogether forming a variety of ob- 

 jefts, which no one can fee without admiration. Upon 

 the capital of this column is a pedeftal, on which was 

 anciently a coloflal ftatue of Trajan in gilt bronze. In 

 the place of this ftatue, pope Sixtus V. caufed to be 

 placed, in the year 1588, that of St. Peter the apoftle in 

 bronze, which was modelled by Thomao Porta. The fame 

 pope caufed r.lfo to be cleared away the earth which en- 

 cumbered the pedeftal. 



At the bottom of the pedeftal, or bafe of the column, in 

 one of the fides is a door, by which we mount to the top 

 of the column. The ftair-cafe contains 185 fteps, cut in 

 the fame blocks as the column : and to them are made 44 

 windows, wliich light the ftair-cafe ; and there is on the 

 top a baluftrade, by which we may walk around and enjoy 

 the profpeft of the whole city of Rome. The height of 

 tliis column is 118 feet, soraprifing the pedeftal of the 

 column and the ilatue on the top. The column alone, with 

 its bafe and capital, is 92 feet ; the pedeftal of the column 

 is 17, that of the ftatue 9 ; the lower diameter of the 

 column is 1 1 feet 3 inches, the diameter of the upper part 

 is 10 feet. This column is formed of 22 blocks of white 

 marble, fixed with lead one upon another. The fhaft of 

 the pillar is in 23 pieces ; the pedeftal in 8 ; the capital 1 ; 

 and the pedeftal of the ftatue another. 



The magnificence of tliis column anfwers to that of the 

 ancient forum of Trajan, of which it occupied the centre. 

 The Forum or Square of Trajan was furrounded by grand 

 porticoes, and the edifices were built with the greateft mag- 

 nificence after defigns by the celebrateil ApoUodorus. 

 Thefe confifted of a temple or palace, where the confuls fat 

 in judgment ; the temple of Trajan, where was the Ulpian 

 library, ornamented with ftatues of the learned ; a fuperb 

 triumphal arch with four equal faces, that the fenate caufed 

 to be built to the honour of the prince after his death; and 

 a beautiful equeftrian ftatue of Trajan, in gilt bronze : the 

 ftatues, the cornices, the architraves, and the friezes which 

 ornamented thefe edifices, were alfo in bronze. It would 

 be difBcult to defcribe all the magnificence of this fuperb 

 fquare. Trajan caufed a valley to be filled up, and levelled 

 one part of Mount Quirinal, to make a level for this beau- 

 tiful fituation. 



The Antonine column has given its name to the place of 

 which it is the principal ornament. It was raifed by the 

 Roman fenate, and by the emperor Marcus Aurelius An- 

 toninus, in honour of Antoninus Pius, his father-in-law, 

 whom he fucceeded in the empire. His afhes were enclofed 

 in a golden urn, and placed on the top, with his ftatue in 

 bronze gilt ; and becaufe he had not obtained any one great 

 viftory in war, they caufed to be fculptured around the 

 column the viftory over the Marcomanni. Time and vari- 

 ous revolutions, and above all the fires, which had been an- 

 ciently very frequent in Rome, have much damaged this 

 column. Pope Sixtus V. caufed it to be repaired in the 

 year 1589, and the ftatue of the apoftle Paul, in bronze 

 gilt, to be placed upon its fummit. This column is of 



white marble, furrounded by bas reliefs from the bafe to 

 the capital. The artift appears to have taken for his model 

 the Trajan column ; it is of the fame ftyle, though of in- 

 ferior execution. The whole is compofed of 28 blocks of 

 marble : it is 15 feet in diameter, and 116 in height, with- 

 out including the ftatue, which is 13 ; and the pedeftal, on 

 which it is placed, which is 9. The column contains a 

 beautiful winding ftair-cafe of 190 fteps, which conduft 

 commodioully to the top ; it is hghted by 41 windows. 



The arch of Titus was raifed by the fenate and people 

 of Rome to the honour of Titus Vefpafian, for his con- 

 queft of Judea and the taking of Jerufalem. It is of the 

 moft excellent workmanfhip, but has very much fuffered 

 from the injuries of time. It is ornamented with beautiful 

 bas reliefs, and two fluted columns of the Compofite order. 

 Under the arch is feen the triumph of the emperor, drawn 

 in a chariot by four horfes, accompanied by his liftors ; and 

 in the triumph the famous candleltick of feven branches, the 

 tables of the law, and other fpoils of the temple of Jerufalein. 



The arch of Septimius Severus was raifed by the fenate 

 and people of Rome, at the beginning of the third cen- 

 tury, to the honour of that emperor, for having fubjugated 

 the Parthians and other barbarous nations. It is all of 

 white marble, with three arches and eight fluted columns 

 of the Compofite order, ornamented with bas reliefs, of 

 middling fculpture. It has fuffered very m ch, and becaufe 

 it is partly buried in the earth, we cannot fo well judge of its 

 beauty ; formerly there was an afcent to the top of the arch, by 

 a ftair-cafe in the interior ; and there was placed upon its roof 

 theemperor Severus in a triumphal chariot drawn by fix horfes. 



After the famous viftory obtained over Maxentius by 

 Conftantine the Great, the fenate and people of Rome 

 caufed a triumphal arch to be raifed to his honour : 

 it is of the Corinthian order, having three arches ; the 

 two grand fronts are ornamented by eight fluted co- 

 lumns of yellow marble, and m:iny bas reliefs of very dif- 

 ferent merit. Thofe that were made in the time of Con- 

 ftantine make us perceive the barbarity into which the 

 fine arts were beginning to fall ; the others, on the con- 

 trary, which were taken away from the arch of Trajan, 

 prefent fuch beauties, as indicate an age when fculpture was 

 in high perfeftion. Thefe are twenty in number, of which 

 ten are of a fquare form, and are in the upper part ; eight 

 are round, above the fide arches, and tn-o others more large 

 under the grand arch. All thefe bas reliefs, and the eight 

 figures of Dacians placed upon the columns, prove them- 

 felves to belong to the expeditions and viftories of Trajan. 



The arch of Marcus Aurehus formerly flood in the 

 Flaminian way, now called the Corfo, or principal itreet in 

 Rome; it was takVn down by Alexander Vll. ; two fine 

 remaining bas reliefs from which are at prefent in the Capi- 

 tol ; one of thefe is an apotheofis of the emprefs Fauftina, 

 the other is an addrefs of the emperor to the people of 

 Rome. The figures are larger than life. 



In general obfervations on the fculpture of the arches 

 and columns here enumerated, we fhall remark, that the 

 earlieft of them, the arch of Titus, mult have been executed 

 about the year 70 of the Chriftian era, confequently when 

 fculpture had loft much of its prim.itive ideal beauty ; we 

 fhall of courfe find in thefe works lefs of fublimity and 

 more of coarfenefs in the forms, confilting of fubjeft* 

 which were confined to battles, oftentations, triumphs, and 

 afts immediately confined to them. The Roman generals 

 and foldiery, as well as the barbarians whom they fought 

 with and conquered, are reprefented with an individual 

 vulgarity of face and perfon, very different from the choice 

 feleftion of be»uty in the works of Greece, The drefs and 



armour 



