VILLA ALBANL ROME. 
125 
'I'he Cardinal from his youth showed a wish to revive the love of art in Rome and to turn 
back the thoughts of men to the beauties of a classic past. He treated professional buyers and 
excavators with the greatest esteem, and paid for everything really beautiful that was brought 
to his notice with regal munificence. In 1757 he met with Winckelmann, and was soon 
attracted by his critical faculty and artistic knowledge ; the following year he offered him a salary 
and lodgings in his palace in Rome. He gave him fine rooms with beautiful views. His only 
duties were to be a companion to the Cardinal and to look after his library. He passed his 
time going with the Cardinal to examine ruins and to consider the positions to be given to his 
statues, and soon became so intimate with him that he often went to chat at his bedside. 
He threw himself so enthusiastically into his patron’s favourite pursuit that it seemed as if he 
built and bought for himself alone. 
Winckelmann in his letters gives us continual accounts of the rise and progress of this 
splendid collection, and speaks affectionately of the goodness and loyalty of heart of its owner. 
I 34. —VILLA ALB.ANI : ROMAN RELIEFS. 
“ What manner of man is he ? do you ask,” he writes to a friend. " He is a man who to great 
talents joins the most amiable of characters. He is sixty-three, but does not look forty, and 
he builds as if he were sure of living for another tw'enty-five years. His villa surpasses every- 
thing of modern times, except St. Peter’s itself. He has erected the background he needed, 
and has been himself the sole architect.” “ This cardinal is the greatest antiquary in the 
w'orld. He brings to light what has been buried in darkness, and pays for it with a generosity 
worthy of a king.” In February, 1758, he w'rites : “ The palace is adorned with such a quantity of 
columns of porphyry, granite, and oriental alabaster that before they w^ere put in their appointed 
(1) Princip?! rntrarce- 
{2) Porch- 
(3) Servants’ (iiiarters. 
(4) r.rcat open .liallery. 
(5) Cliiscil gallerie;: with sculpture. 
(6) Temple poitico with caryatifl figi 
(7) Temple with Tonic columns. 
(8) Small room with bronzes, 
p;) Porgola. 
(10) Billiard-room. 
(11) I'minlains. 
(12) Great stairway to lower level. 
(13} Pond with statue. 
(14) Temple, ruins. 
{Sne plan on page 124.} 
(13) Pav.liun 
(iO-17) 1-ower gardens, part enlarged in corner 
of plan. 
(iS) Kilid’en garden. 
(ly) Grand parterre : grass ami llowers. 
(20) Terrace at levrl of main vi!la--limitcd area 
well disposed and levels made the most of. 
