It Must Be Owned Indeed
That The Fountains Have Their Merit In The Way Of Sculpture And
Architecture; And That Here Is A Great Number Of Statues Which
Merit Attention:
But they serve only to encumber the ground, and
destroy that effect of rural simplicity, which our gardens are
designed to produce.
In a word, here we see a variety of walks
and groves and fountains, a wood of four hundred pines, a paddock
with a few meagre deer, a flower-garden, an aviary, a grotto, and
a fish-pond; and in spite of all these particulars, it is, in my
opinion, a very contemptible garden, when compared to that of
Stowe in Buckinghamshire, or even to those of Kensington and
Richmond. The Italians understand, because they study, the
excellencies of art; but they have no idea of the beauties of
nature. This Villa Pinciana, which belongs to the Borghese
family, would make a complete academy for painting and sculpture,
especially for the study of antient marbles; for, exclusive of
the statues and busts in the garden, and the vast collection in
the different apartments, almost the whole outside of the house
is covered with curious pieces in basso and alto relievo. The
most masterly is that of Curtius on horseback, leaping into the
gulph or opening of the earth, which is said to have closed on
receiving this sacrifice. Among the exhibitions of art within the
house, I was much struck with a Bacchus, and the death of
Meleager, represented on an antient sepulchre.
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