Quam scite circumductae clunium pulpae in se
rotundantur, neque tenues nimis ipsis ossibus adstrictae, neque
in immensam effusae Pinguedinem!" That the statue thus described
was not the Venus de Medicis, would appear from the Greek
inscription on the base, KLEOMENIS APPOLLODOROI ATHINAIOS
EPOESEI. Cleomenes filius Apollodori fecit; did we not know that
this inscription is counted spurious, and that instead of
EPOESEI, it should be EPOIESE. This, however, is but a frivolous
objection, as we have seen many inscriptions undoubtedly antique,
in which the orthography is false, either from the ignorance or
carelessness of the sculptor. Others suppose, not without reason,
that this statue is a representation of the famous Phryne, the
courtesan of Athens, who at the celebration of the Eleusinian
games, exhibited herself coming out of the bath, naked, to the
eyes of the whole Athenian people. I was much pleased with the
dancing faun; and still better with the Lotti, or wrestlers, the
attitudes of which are beautifully contrived to shew the
different turns of the limbs, and the swelling of the muscles:
but, what pleased me best of all the statues in the Tribuna was
the Arrotino, commonly called the Whetter, and generally supposed
to represent a slave, who in the act of whetting a knife,
overhears the conspiracy of Catiline. You know he is represented
on one knee; and certain it is, I never saw such an expression of
anxious attention, as appears in his countenance. But it is not
mingled with any marks of surprise, such as could not fail to lay
hold on a man who overhears by accident a conspiracy against the
state. The marquis de Maffei has justly observed that Sallust, in
his very circumstantial detail of that conspiracy, makes no
mention of any such discovery. Neither does it appear that the
figure is in the act of whetting, the stone which he holds in one
hand being rough and unequal no ways resembling a whetstone.
Others alledge it represents Milico, the freedman of Scaevinus,
who conspired against the life of Nero, and gave his poignard to
be whetted to Milico, who presented it to the emperor, with an
account of the conspiracy: but the attitude and expression will
by no means admit of this interpretation. Bianchi, [This
antiquarian is now imprisoned for Life, for having robbed the
Gallery and then set it on fire.] who shows the gallery, thinks
the statue represents the augur Attius Navius, who cut a stone
with a knife, at the command of Tarquinius Priscus. This
conjecture seems to be confirmed by a medallion of Antoninus
Pius, inserted by Vaillant among his Numismata Prestantiora, on
which is delineated nearly such a figure as this in question,
with the following legend. "Attius Navius genuflexus ante
Tarquinium Priscum cotem cultro discidit." He owns indeed that in
the statue, the augur is not distinguished either by his habit or
emblems; and he might have added, neither is the stone a cotes.
For my own part, I think neither of these three opinions is
satisfactory, though the last is very ingenious. Perhaps the
figure allude to a private incident, which never was recorded in
any history. Among the great number of pictures in this Tribuna,
I was most charmed with the Venus by Titian, which has a
sweetness of expression and tenderness of colouring, not to be
described. In this apartment, they reckon three hundred pieces,
the greatest part by the best masters, particularly by Raphael,
in the three manners by which he distinguished himself at
different periods of his life. As for the celebrated statue of
the hermaphrodite, which we find in another room, I give the
sculptor credit for his ingenuity in mingling the sexes in the
composition; but it is, at best, no other than a monster in
nature, which I never had any pleasure in viewing: nor, indeed,
do I think there was much talent required in representing a
figure with the head and breasts of a woman, and all the other
parts of the body masculine. There is such a profusion of
curiosities in this celebrated musaeum; statues, busts, pictures,
medals, tables inlaid in the way of marquetry, cabinets adorned
with precious stones, jewels of all sorts, mathematical
instruments, antient arms and military machines, that the
imagination is bewildered, and a stranger of a visionary turn,
would be apt to fancy himself in a palace of the fairies, raised
and adorned by the power of inchantment.
In one of the detached apartments, I saw the antependium of the
altar, designed for the famous chapel of St. Lorenzo. It is a
curious piece of architecture, inlaid with coloured marble and
precious stones, so as to represent an infinite variety of
natural objects. It is adorned with some crystal pillars, with
capitals of beaten gold. The second story of the building is
occupied by a great number of artists employed in this very
curious work of marquetry, representing figures with gems and
different kinds of coloured marble, for the use of the emperor.
The Italians call it pietre commesse, a sort of inlaying with
stones, analogous to the fineering of cabinets in wood. It is
peculiar to Florence, and seems to be still more curious than the
Mosaic work, which the Romans have brought to great perfection.
The cathedral of Florence is a great Gothic building, encrusted
on the outside with marble; it is remarkable for nothing but its
cupola, which is said to have been copied by the architect of St.
Peter's at Rome, and for its size, which is much greater than
that of any other church in Christendom. [In this cathedral is
the Tomb of Johannes Acutus Anglus, which a man would naturally
interpret as John Sharp; but his name was really Hawkwood, which
the Italians have corrupted into Acut. He was a celebrated
General or Condottiere who arrived in Italy at the head of four
thousand soldiers of fortune, mostly Englishmen who had served
with him in the army of King Edward III., and were dismissed at
the Peace of Bontigny.
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