After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819Frye, William Edward
History
After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819
Frye, William Edward
Europe -- Description and travel
In the upper rooms are to be seen the paintings and _fresques_ found in the
same place. The paintings are poor things, and in their landscapes the
Romans seem to have had little more idea of perspective than the Chinese;
but the _fresques_ are beautiful: the female figures belonging thereto are
delineated with the utmost grace and delicacy. They consist of subjects
chiefly from the mythology. I noticed the following in particular, viz.,
Chiron teaching the young Achilles to draw the bow; the discovery of
Orestes; Theseus and the Minotaur (he has just slain the Minotaur and a boy
is in the act of kissing his hand as if to thank him for his deliverance;
the Minotaur is here represented as a monster with the body of a man and
the head of a bull); a Centaur carrying off a nymph; a car drawn by a
parrot and driven by a cricket: a woman offering to another little Loves
for sale (she is pulling out the little Cupids from a basket and holding
them by their wings as if they were fowls); a beautiful female figure
seated on a monster something like the Chimaera of the ancients and holding
a cup before the monster's mouth (emblematical of Hope nourishing a
Chimaera). The arabesques taken from Pompeii and preserved here are very
beautiful. Here also are two statues found in Pompeii: the one representing
a drunken Faun, the other a sitting Mercury. We met two Polish ladies here,
who were amusing themselves in copying the _fresques_. We returned to
Naples at five o'clock, and dined at the _Villa di Napoli_. In the evening
we went to the _Teatro de' Fiorentini_. The piece performed was Pamela or
_La virtû premiata,_ which I understand is quite a stock piece in Italy. It
is written by Goldoni. It was very badly performed; the actors were not
perfect in their parts, and the prompter's voice was as loud as usual. The
costume was appropriate enough, which is far from being always the case at
this theatre.
NAPLES, 13 Octr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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