Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great BritainStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
My lord Lemster’s seat, now earl of Pomfret, near Towcester, is
a stately building, and stands pleasantly, encompassed with good
plantations of wood, visto’s and agreeable prospects. In the grand view
to the back front, beyond the garden, is a large and long canal: in the
house are several curious pictures; an original, of Sir Paul Ricot; of
a pillar of Persepolis, one of those sixty foot high; Perseus loosing
Andromeda, by Gioseppi Cari; a copy of Galatea, from Raphael: but what
highly inhances the glory of this seat, is the vast number of Roman
and Greek marbles, statues, busto’s, bas reliefs, &c. part of the most
noble collection of the great earl of Arundel. My lord has it in his
thoughts to build a large room, or gallery, to receive this invaluable
treasure; at present they are for the most part exposed to the weather
in the garden. I shall cursorily name them all with the haste of a
traveller, though each single piece merits a serious view, and a long
description.
At the end of the side terrace in the garden, and near the house,
stands an intire column of marble in two pieces, fluted, taken from
among the ruins of the temple of Apollo at the isle of Delos, where
many now lie: this is set upon a proper base and pedestal made
purposely for it: the capital is unusual, but very beautiful, and
seems perfectly to answer that description which Vitruvius gives us,
IV. 1. of the origin of the Corinthian capital from the conceit of
Callimachus, who was pleased with the appearance of a basket covered
with a tile, and luckily set upon the middle of a root of _acanthus_,
or _brank ursin_, which shot up its curled leaves around it in a
delicate and tender manner: upon it stands a statue, the upper part
naked. In the niches of that wall along the walk are several broken
statues of goddesses, naked or in fine drapery, where the mind is
divided between the pleasure of seeing what remains and the grief for
what is lost. Upon the stairs that descend into the garden are a great
many whole and broken statues, pieces of _basso relievo_, altars, urns,
tombs, &c. such as the destruction of Troy, represented in the Trojan
horse, the merriment of the Trojans, the slaughter of Priamus, Achilles
driving his chariot with Hector tied to it: there is another bas-relief
of a battle; a figure recumbent at dinner; two figures in procession,
but covered over with moss; four figures, two with Phrygian bonnets;
good pieces of cornice-work, with mouldings of ovolo’s, bead-moulds,
&c. a tomb, the husband and wife with the son between; a piece of
Bacchanalians; the end of a tomb, or vase; a mask and revelling
figures; an horseman and footman engaging. Most of these antiquities
seem of the highest Greek times. Before the steps upon pedestals are
two Egyptian _sphynges_ mitred, and two Muses sitting: other things
thereabouts are a sea-horse in basso; a man carrying another; a capital
of a pillar made of a horse’s head, with branches coming out of his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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