Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 2 of 3)Spooner, Shearjashub
History
Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 2 of 3)
Spooner, Shearjashub
Art -- Anecdotes; Artists -- Anecdotes
any great action; there are more than 1100 of these latter, 200 of which
are of extraordinary size and beauty; there are also some in honor of
females. The Chinese annals record 3636 men who have merited triumphal
arches." Milizia also says, the friezes of the Chinese arches are of
great height, and ornamented with sculpture. The highest arches are
twenty-five feet, embellished with human figures, animals, flowers, and
grotesque forms, in various attitudes, and in full relief.
STATUE OF POMPEY THE GREAT.
The large Statue of Pompey, formerly in the collection of the Cardinal
Spada, is supposed to be the same as that, at the base of which "Great
Caesar fell." It was found on the very spot where the Senate was held on
the fatal ides of March, while some workmen were engaged in making
excavations, to erect a private house. The Statue is not only
interesting from its antiquity and historical associations, but for a
curious episode that followed its discovery. The trunk lay in the ground
of the discoverer, but the head projected into that of his neighbor;
this occasioned a dispute as to the right of possession. The matter was
at length referred to the decision of Cardinal Spada, who, like the wise
man of old, ordered the Statue to be decapitated, and division made
according to _position_--the trunk to one claimant, and the head to the
other. The object of the wily Cardinal was not so much justice, as to
get possession of the Statue himself, which he afterwards did, at a
tithe of what it would otherwise have cost him. The whole cost him only
500 crowns.
OF ANTIQUE SCULPTURES IN ROME.
In 1824, there were more than 10,600 pieces of ancient sculpture in
Rome; (statues, busts, and relievos,) and upwards of 6300 ancient
columns of marble. What multitudes of the latter have been sawed up for
tables, and for wainscotting chapels, or mixed up with walls, and
otherwise destroyed! And what multitudes may yet lie undiscovered
underneath the many feet of earth and rubbish which buries ancient Rome!
When we reflect on this, it may give us some faint idea of the vast
magnificence of Rome in all its pristine splendor!
ANCIENT MAP OF ROME.
The Ichnography of Rome, in the fine collection of antiquities in the
Palazzo Farnese, was found in the temple of Romulus and Remus, which is
now dedicated to Sts. Cosmo and Damiano, who were also twin brothers.
Though incomplete, it is one of the most useful remains of antiquity.
The names of the particular buildings and palaces are marked upon it, as
well as the outlines of the buildings themselves; and it is so large,
that the Horrea Lolliana are a foot and a half long; and may serve as a
scale to measure any other building or palace in it. It is published in
Groevius's Thesaurus.
JULIAN THE APOSTATE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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