Notes and Reviews 
T 1 IE new Conservation Palace opened this 
season on the Capitoline Square in Rome 
presents, in contrast with the old museum 
there, almost opposite ideals and principles 
in the study of ancient art. “ In the old 
museum,’’ writes Rudolfo Lanciani in a Lon¬ 
don weekly, “ the works of statuary, restored 
so artfully that it is almost impossible to dis¬ 
tinguish the original parts from the additions, 
were placed irrespective of age, school or 
place of origin—to please the eye, to fill up 
certain spaces and to add to the decoration 
of the halls, the gilded ceilings, polychrome 
floors and gaudy walls of which struck the 
observer even more forcibly than their ar¬ 
chaeological contents.” 
Contrasted with this are the tastefully 
simple walls and galleries of the new museum 
whose contents has been arranged by Mr. 
Lanciani himself. The interior plan of the 
old building is anything but favorable to a 
modern system of arrangement; but as far as 
possible, the objects have been disposed ac¬ 
cording to their place of discovery. A doubt¬ 
ful scheme anywhere but in Rome. From 
that sacred ground of antiquity, however, 
have been lifted from the dust the art remains 
of almost a single people and epoch, and there 
can be but few false juxtapositions in the 
grouping which has been followed. In the 
Sala dei Giardini Lamiani , for example, have 
been placed the marbles found in the park 
laid out by fElius Lamia on the Lsquiline 
Hill. In the Sala dei Giardini Mecenaziani 
are the remains which were found in the 
Gardens of Maecenas, and there are other 
similar illustrations of what Mr. Lanciani 
calls the “ topographical order.” 
Happily for the illustration of ancient art 
as it was applied to the open air, these rooms 
of the museum open upon the old kitchen- 
garden of the Conservatori. This has been 
transformed into a classic viridarium with its 
typical shrubs and Howers, hermulse at the 
crossings of the paths, marble tables and 
seats, sun-dials and fountains. The watch 
dog that has been placed at the gate of this 
garden is the very one that has guarded for 
four or five centuries the gate of the Gar¬ 
dens of Maecenas, the power and strength of 
limb that was found in the breed of Molassis 
being expressed in verde ranocchia marble, 
which is nearly as hard as basalt. In a simi¬ 
lar manner to the introduction of plans as 
ornaments to architecture, which was done in 
Renaissance and Gothic times, the bare wall 
on the north side of the viridarium has been 
made use of for the reconstruction of the plan 
of Rome which was engraved on marble 
slabs by command of the Emperor Septimius 
Severus and continued by that of Caracalla. 
As the Italian law fixes the ownership of the 
state upon all relics found on public domains, 
the necessary pieces which are required to 
make this object intelligible are likely in 
time to turn up and permit the restoration 
to be completed. Likewise it is probable that 
other outdoor ornaments of the Romans than 
have been already placed in the viridarium 
will make their way to the new collection on 
the Capitoline Hill and add their wealth to 
the mine of antiquity which has long existed 
there in the old museum. 
Thus in Rome of to-day has been repro¬ 
duced with the minimum of artificiality the 
antique pleasure garden, that exemplar of 
garden-craft which served long after the 
Roman regime had passed away. Here be¬ 
side the old square the Italians call the 
Piazza Campidoglio are assembled, as if by 
the refined choice of a bygone patrician, the 
sculptures, fountains and minor monuments 
which took their form when Rome itself was 
coming into being. As if later generations 
would give only their best skill to housing 
these precious remains, the objects now 
occupy buildings whose site, whose design 
even, was fixed by Michael Angelo, and 
whose details were guided by Vignola. 
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