LUIGI SPERANZA -- GRICE ITALO: UN DIZIONARIO A-Z C
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Carboni: la
ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale disegno dal vivo,
disgeno del nudo dal vero, disegno dal vero, disegno del nudo dal vero -- disegno
dall’antico, desegno dalla natura -- drawn from life -- tratto dalla vita – royal
academy –drawn from the antique – scuola di Livorno – filosofia toscana -- filosofia
italiana – Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The
Swimming-Pool Library (Livorno). Filosofo toscano. Filosofo italiano. Livorno, Toscana. Grice: “I love
Carboni – my favourite of his tracts is ‘between the image and the ‘parable’” –
a semiotics of communication with sections on ‘the tacit response,’ through the
looking-glass’, ‘towards the hypertext,’ and quoting extensively from some
‘conversational-implicature’ passages in Aristotle’s metaphysics, ‘To ask ‘why
is man man?’ is to ask nothing!” “For some expressions, analogy suffices!”
Insegna a Roma, Bari, Viterbo. Altre
opere: L’angelo del fare. Melotti e la ceramica (Skira) e Il colore nell’arte
(Jaca). Cura Dorfles, Brandi, Deleuze,
Guattari, Adorno. Tra le recensioni dei suoi saggi si segnalano: Giacomo
Marramao, Gianni Vattimo (“L’Espresso”), Gillo Dorfles (“Il Corriere della
Sera”), Victor Stoichita (“il manifesto”). Al Festival delle Letterature di
Mantova hanno presentato i suoi saggi Sini
e Didi-Huberman. Scrive su “Nòema” e “Images Re-vues” e sulla “Rivista di
Estetica”. “L’Impossibile Critico. Paradosso della
critica d’arte, Kappa); “Cesare Brandi. Teoria e esperienza dell’arte, Editori
Riuniti); “Il Sublime è Ora. Saggio sulle estetiche contemporanee, Castelvecchi);
“Non vedi niente lì? Sentieri tra arti e filosofie del Novecento,
Castelvecchi); “L’ornamentale. Tra arte e decorazione, Jaca); “L’occhio e la
pagina. Tra immagine e parola, Jaca); “Lo stato dell’arte. L’esperienza
estetica nell’era della tecnica, Laterza); “La mosca di Dreyer. L’opera della
contingenza nelle arti, Jaca); “Di più di tutto. Figure dell’eccesso,
Castelvecchi); “Analfabeatles. Filosofia di una passione elementare,
Castelvecchi); “Il genio è senza opera. Filosofie antiche e arti contemporanee”
Jaca); “Malevič. L'ultima icona. Arte, filosofia, teologia, Jaca). Drawing after the Antique at the British Museum: “Free” Art Education
and the Advent of the Liberal State, Martin Myrone Drawing after the Antique at
the British Museum: “Free” Art Education and the Advent of the Liberal State; Myrone.
The British Museum in London began regularly to open its newly established
Townley Gallery so that art students could draw from the ancient sculptures
housed there. This article documents and comments on this development in art
education, based on an analysis of the 165 individuals recorded in the
surviving register of attendance at the Museum. The register is presented as a
photographic record, with a transcription and biographical directory. The
accompanying essay situates the opening of the Museum’s sculpture rooms to students
within a farreaching set of historical shifts. It argues that this new museum
access contributed to the early nineteenth-century emergence of a liberal
state. But if the rhetoric surrounding this development emphasized freedom and
general public benefit in the spirit of liberalization, the evidence suggests
that this new level of access actually served to further entrench the
“middleclassification” of art education at this historical juncture. Authors
Martin Myrone is an art historian and curator based in London, and is currently
convenor of the British Art Network based at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies
in British Art. Acknowledgements The register of students admitted to the
Townley Gallery was originally consulted during my term as Paul Mellon Mid-Career
Fellow in 2014–15. Thanks to Hallett and Turner of the Mellon Centre for their
continuing support and guidance, to Baillie Card and Rose Bell for their
careful editorial work, Tom Scutt for crafting the digital presentation of my
research, the two anonymous readers for their valuable critical input, and to
Antony Griffiths, formerly of the British Museum, and Hugo Chapman, Angela
Roche, and Sheila O’Connell of the British Museum, for providing access to the
register and for their advice. I am especially indebted to Mark Pomeroy,
archivist, and his colleagues at the Royal Academy of Arts for the access
provided to materials there and for advice and suggestions. I would also like
to thank Viccy Coltman, Brad Feltham, Martin Hopkinson, Sarah Monks, Sarah
Moulden, Michael Phillips, Jacob Simon, Greg Sullivan, and Alison Wright. Cite
as Martin Myrone, "Drawing after the Antique at the British Museum: “Free”
Art Education and the Advent of the Liberal State", British Art Studies,
Issue 5, dx.doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-05/mmyrone From the summer of
1808 the British Museum in London began regularly to open its newly established
galleries of Graeco-Roman sculpture for art students. The collection, made up
almost entirely of pieces previously owned by Charles Townley, had been
purchased for the nation in 1805 and installed in a new extension to the
Museum’s first home, Montagu House, which was built earlier. After some
protracted discussion with the Royal Academy, detailed below, the collection
was made available for its students in time for the royal opening of the
Townley Gallery on 3 June 1808. A written record was kept of students admitted
to draw from the antique. This volume survives in the library of the Department
of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and identifies one hundred and
sixtyfive separate individuals admitted through to 1817. 1 The register forms
the focus of this essay and is presented here as a facsimile and transcription,
with an accompanying directory of student biographies (see supplementary
materials below). This may be taken as a straightforward contribution to the
literature on early nineteenth-century art education, and the author hopes it
may be useful as such. However, it also situates the opening of the Museum’s sculpture
rooms to students within a rather more far-reaching set of historical shifts.
Namely, it argues that this new form of museum access was part of the early
nineteenth-century emergence of a liberal state that “actively governs through
freedom (free ‘individuals’, markets, societies, and so on, which are only
‘free’ because the state makes them so)”. 2 Access to the British Museum was
“free” in that there were no charges or fees. Meanwhile, the arrangement
offered a degree of freedom to the students themselves; they were expected to
be largely self-selecting and self-regulating. When the arrangement was exposed
to public scrutiny, as a result of questions asked in parliament in 1821, the
freedom of access and the service this did to the public good were emphasized.
But, once closely scrutinized, the evidence suggests that this manifestation of
the freedoms encouraged by the liberal state had a social disciplinary role
(even if disciplinary function can hardly be recognized as such), in serving to
further entrench the “middle-classification” of art at this historical
juncture. 3 The conjunction of art education and a grandiose notion such as the
liberal state may be unexpected, and rests on three key assertions. The first
is that art worlds are structured and in their structure have a homological
relationship with the larger social environment. 4 The initial part of this
statement (that art worlds are structured) may not be especially hard to
swallow, given the relatively formalized and hierarchical nature of the London
art world during the early nineteenth century, when cultural authority was
vested in a small number of institutions, and the practices associated with
academic tradition in principle still held sway. However, that the structure of
the art world, in its hierarchical dimension, may also be homologically related
to the larger field of power, so that social relationships are reproduced
within this relatively autonomous sphere, is more clearly contentious, and runs
contrary to commonplace beliefs and expectations about talent and luck in
determining personal fate in the modern age—artists’ fortunes most especially.
In fact, in the period under review here, the artist became an exemplary figure
in the new narratives of social mobility: the art world came to serve as a
model of how talent or sheer good fortune could override social origins and
destinies. 5 The second assertion is that the Royal Academy and British Museum
were developing new forms of state institution, underpinned by the conjoined
principles of freedom of access and public benefit. Such has been argued
importantly by Holger Hoock, and while I depart from his arguments in some key
regards, his insights into the status of these institutions and the role of
forms of public–private partnership in their formation are crucial. 6 The third
assertion (and this marks a departure from Hoock), is that the state is not a
stable, centralized entity, or site of power either “up above” or “below”
historical actors. Instead, it is taken to be the sum of actions and
dispositions ostensibly volunteered by these historical agents in all their
multitude and variety. The crucial point of reference here is the sustained
body of work on the liberal state by the historian Patrick Joyce, deploying the
work of Bruno Latour and Michel Foucault, among others, to yield a more
materialistic and decentralized understanding of the emergence and role of
state bodies. 7 The state, in this view, is composed of technologies,
disciplinary structures, habits of mind, and ways of doing things. The
mechanics of art education, insofar as this involves the movement through or
exclusion of individuals from identified places, the arrangement of their
bodies in relation to one another and to their model, the management of their
behaviour within those places, the very motion of their bodies, hands, and eyes
under the surveillance of their peers, teachers or other authorities, may be
considered as a form of biopolitics; the student who entered his or her name
into the British Museum’s register of admission was producing his or her
governmentality. 8 The argument here is emphatically historical and states that
this arrangement, while it may have precedents and may have been seminal,
belongs to an historical moment—the emergence of the liberal state. My case,
which can be sketched out only in outline in this context, is that the
emergence of the familiar institutional arrangements of the modern art world
between the 1770s and the 1830s (in the form of actual institutions and
regulatory structures or permissions, including annual exhibitions, centralized
art schools supported by the state directly and indirectly, emphasis on
quantifiable measures of access and engagement as the test of public value, and
so forth) represents in an exemplary way the illusory freedoms promoted by
liberalism, and renewed by present-day “neo- liberalism”, as addressed by
commentators from the prophetic Karl Polanyi through to the later work of
Foucault and Bourdieu on the state, and Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello, among
others. 9 The early nineteenth-century art world can be proposed as a
privileged focus of attention because it was still of a scale which can allow
for the kinds of data-based analysis which must underpin any sort of
sociological exploration, and because its individual membership can be
documented in fine detail in a manner which is simply not possible at an
earlier historical date. Paradoxically, despite its announced commitment to
non-intervention and personal freedom, the emerging liberal state generated
huge amounts of documentation about society and its individual members—tax
records, parochial and civil records, the national census from 1801—which
digitilization has made more readily available than ever before, allowing this
generation of artists to be documented as never previously. 10 The production
of artistic identities through these records is not unrelated to changes in
artistic identity itself over the same timeframe. One way of realizing this
might be to consider the period outlined above——not as a period from the
foundation of the Royal Academy to its removal to Trafalgar Square, or even as
the era of Romanticism, as much literary and cultural history-writing would
dictate, but as the era from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) to the Reform
Act (1832) and the Speenhamland system, a last experiment in patrician social
care before the Poor Law Amendment Act (1834), taking in Thomas Malthus and
David Ricardo. The challenge is thinking of these two frameworks not in
sequential or spatially differentiated ways, but as simultaneous and identical.
Within this emerging liberal state the figure of the artist is attributed with
a special degree and form of freedom, what has conventionally been alluded to,
in generally sociologically imprecise ways, as a feature of “Romanticism”,
slumping into “bohemianism” and a generic idea of art student lifestyle. If
this was a moment of unprecedented state investment in the arts (from the Royal
Academy through to the Schools of Design) and government scrutiny (notably with
the Select Committees), it simultaneously saw the emergence of artistic
identities expressing the values of personal freedom, freedom from regulation,
and even active opposition to the state. I propose that art education, as it
took shape in the emerging liberal state, might be explored as a “liberogenic”
phenomenon: among those “devices intended to produce freedom which potentially
risk producing exactly the opposite.” 11 As such, it may have renewed
pertinence for our own time, although this does not entail seeing a “causal”
relationship between the past and present, or a linear genetic relationship
between then and now. In fact, the purpose of this commentary, and the larger
project it arises from, 12 is rather to trouble our relationship with that
past. The intention is not, however, to point unequivocally to the era under
consideration as here entailing “the making of a modern art world”, with the
rise of art education and museums access representing a stage towards
democratization, as illuminated in stellar fashion by the great Romantic
artists (J. M. W. Turner—famously the son of a lowly London
barber—pre-eminently). I would want instead to take seriously Jacques
Rancière’s call for “a past that puts a radical requirement at the centre of the
present”, eschewing causality and “nostalgia” in favour of “challenging the
relationship of the present to that past”. 13 If giving attention to the
“freedom” of art education at the advent of the liberal state provides any
insight at all, it should do so by troubling rather than affirming our
narratives of the genesis of a modern art world. Access to the Townley Gallery
The arrival at the Museum of the Townley marbles, together with the development
of the prints and drawings collection and its installation in new, secure rooms
in the same wing, fundamentally changed the character of the institution. As
Neil Chambers has noted, having been primarily a repository of (often
celebrated) curiosities of many different forms, quite suddenly “The Museum was
now a centre for art and the study of sculpture.” 14 The shift was acknowledged
internally at the Museum by the creation in 1807 of a distinct Department of
Antiquities, which also had responsibility for the collection of prints and
drawings. But while the significance of the opening of the Townley Gallery in
the history of the British Museum is clear, the opening of the collection to
students has barely been noticed in the art-historical literature. The register
has been overlooked almost entirely, and the relevance of this development in
student access may not even be immediately obvious. 15 Figure 1. William
Chambers, The Sculpture Collection of Charles Townley in the dining room of his
house in Park Street, Westminster, 1794, watercolour, 39 x 54 cm. Collection of
the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum
Figure 2. Attributed to Joseph Nollekens, The Discobolus, 1791–1805, drawing,
48 x 35 cm. Collection of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of
Trustees of the British Museum Townley’s collection had already famously been
on display for many years at his private house in Park Street, London. William
Chambers’ (or Chalmers’) drawing of the Park Street display from 1794 includes
a well-dressed young woman drawing under the supervision or advice of a man,
promoting the idea that the collection was available for sufficiently genteel
students of the art more generally (fig. 1). In his recollections of the London
art world, J. T. Smith described “those rooms of Mr Townley’s house, in which
that gentleman’s liberality employed me when a boy, with many other students in
the Royal Academy, to make drawings for his portfolios”. 16 Smith’s former
employer, the sculptor Joseph Nollekens, has been identified among the more
established artists who were also engaged by Townley to draw from marbles in
the collection (fig. 2). As Viccy Coltman has noted, “The townhouse at 7 Park
Street, Westminster became an unofficial counterpoint to the English arts
establishment that was the Royal Academy: as an academy of ancient sculpture,
much as Sir John Soane’s London housemuseum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields would
become an academy of architecture in the early 19th century.” 17 Evidently, a
number of the students and artists admitted to draw from the Townley marbles
once they were at the British Museum knew them formerly at first hand from
visiting 7 Park Street; for instance, William Skelton, admitted to draw at the
Museum in 1809, had apparently already studied and engraved three busts from
the collection for inclusion in the design of Townley’s visiting card (fig. 3).
Townley had hoped for a separate gallery to be erected to house the collection,
but his executors, his brother Edward Townley Standish and uncle John Townley
were unable to agree a plan. 18 The sale of the collection to the Museum was a
compromise. With the erection of a new gallery space for the collection
underway, the Museum considered how special access might be given to artists.
That the question was posed at all should be an indication of how far the realm
of cultural consumption and production was being folded in to the emerging
liberal state at this juncture. At a meeting of the Trustees on 28 February
1807, a committee was set up to consider how the prints and drawings
collections might be used by artists, and to draw up “Regulations... for the
Admission of Strangers to view the Gallery of Antiquities either separately
from, or together with the rest of the Museum: And also for the Admission of
Artists”. 19 Figure 3. William Skelton, Charles Townley's visiting card,
1778–1848, etching, 65 x 96 cm. Collection of the British Museum. Digital image
courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum With the Gallery still under
construction, the Sub-Committee was not obliged to move quickly, and it proved
to be a protracted and unexpectedly fractious affair. 20 It was not until the
Museum’s general meeting of 13 February 1808, that the principal librarian,
Joseph Planta, reported “his opinion of the best time et mode of admission of
Strangers as well as artists, to the Gallery of Antiquities”, with the request
that Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, be asked to attend a
further meeting. 21 After delays, he did so on 10 March, after which the
Council drew up a set of regulations. 22 These went back to the Academy with
additions and changes, which were accepted by the Council who wrote to the
British Museum on the 10 May to that effect, noting that a General Meeting of
the Academy was to take place, “to prepare the final arrangement for his
Majesty’s approbation”. 23 Accordingly, at the British Museum, the
Sub-Committee’s reports and proposals were approved by the Standing Committee,
with “Resolutions founded on the above mentioned Reports” read at the General
Meeting of 14 May. 24 The resolutions, numbered so as to be inserted in the
existing regulations regarding admissions, were confirmed in the meeting of 21
May, over three months after what should have been a straightforward matter was
raised (see Appendix, below). 25 Clause number eight, concerning the payment of
Academicians charged with the supervision of students, evidently caused some
consternation within the Academy, as recorded in the diary of Joseph Farington.
26 The relative authority of the Council and General Assembly had been a contentious
matter in previous years, and the lengthy dispute over arrangements with the
Museum reflected lingering tensions. On 12 July 1808 the proposals were read,
and “After a long conversation it was Resolved to adjourn.” 27 The subject was
taken up on re-convening on 21 July, but without resolution. 28 At yet another
meeting, on 26 July 1808, the point about the Academy’s provision of
superintendents to monitor the students while at the British Museum was
referred back to Council. 29 We have to turn to Farington’s diary for a fuller
account. He noted that the Academy’s General Assembly had met on 12 July “for
the purpose of receiving a Law made by the Council ‘That permission having been
granted by the Trustees of the British Museum for Students to study from the
Antiques &c at the Museum, certain days are fixed upon for that purpose, et
that an Academician shall attend each day at the Museum et to be paid 2 guineas
for each day’s attendance’... Much discussion took place.” 30 At a further
meeting: “The Correspondence of the Council with the Sub Committee of the
British Museum was read from the beginning” and “much discussion” was had about
the supervision of the students, Farington making the point that: as the
studies of the British Museum shd. be considered those of completion and not to
learn the Elements of art the Academy shd. not recommend any student whose
abilities et conduct wd. not warrant it, that it should be considered the last
stage of study, when those admitted wd. not require constant inspection;
therefore daily attendance of a Member of the Academy wd. not be necessary. 31
The point of contest may have concerned the right of the Council to organize
things independent of the General Assembly of the Academicians, and a more
general question about economy (“Northcote proposed that the Academician who in
rotation shall attend at the British Museum, shd. have 3 guineas a day. West
thought one guinea sufficient”). 32 But Farington’s point is more revealing in
indicating the expectation that the selected students of the Academy were to be
largely self-regulating, and self-disciplining; they were to be granted freedom
because they had already internalized the discipline required by these
institutions. Figure 4. Front cover, Register of Students Admitted to the
Gallery of Antiquities, 1809–17. Collection of the British Museum. Digital
image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum The matter finally settled,
students were admitted to the Townley Gallery from at least the beginning of
1809: the first entries in the register book are dated 14 January 1809 (figs. 4
and 5 to 11). On that date four students were enrolled, although only one of
them was at the Royal Academy. That was Henry Monro, the son of Dr Thomas
Monro, Physician at Bedlam and an amateur and collector who ran the influential
“academy” at his home in Adelphi Terrace. The other students included two of
the daughters of Thomas Paytherus, a successful London apothecary, and a Ralph
Irvine of Great Howland Street, who seems quite certainly to have been Hugh
Irvine, the Scottish landscape painter and a member of the landowning Irvine
family of Drum, who gave that address in the exhibition catalogue of the
British Institution’s show in 1809. Another five students registered in
February and July. This included another recently registered Royal Academy
student, Henry Sass, whose name was entered into the Academy’s books in 1805,
recommended for study at the British Museum by the architect and RA John Soane,
and the artists William Skelton, Adam Buck, Samuel Drummond, and Maria
Singleton. The mix of amateur and professional artists, young and old, and
indeed the mix of male and female students (discussed below), continued
throughout the register. View this illustration online Figure 5. Page 1, Register
of Students Admitted to the Gallery of Antiques, 1809–17. Collection of the
British Museum. Digital image courtesy of British Museum View this illustration
online Figure 6. Page 2, Register of Students Admitted to the Gallery of
Antiquities, 1809–17. Collection of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy
of Trustees of the British Museum View this illustration online Figure 7. Page
3, Register of Students Admitted to the Gallery of Antiquities, 1809–17.
Collection of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the
British Museum View this illustration online Figure 8. Page 4, Register of
Students Admitted to the Gallery of Antiquities, 1809–17. Collection of the
British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum View
this illustration online Figure 9. Page 5, Register of Students Admitted to the
Gallery of Antiquities, 1809–17. Collection of the British Museum. Digital
image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum View this illustration online
Figure 10. Page 6, Register of Students Admitted to the Gallery of Antiques,
1809–17. Collection of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees
of the British Museum View this illustration online Figure 11. Page 7, Register
of Students Admitted to the Gallery of Antiques, 1809–17. Collection of the
British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum Eight
of the twelve students registered on 11 November were current Academy students;
this proportion of Academy students to others continues throughout the record.
But on the same day Planta noted to the standing committee that the Royal
Academicians not having availed themselves of the Regulations in favour of
their Pupils, et many applications having been made to him for leave to draw in
the Gallery of Antiquities, he therefore submitted to the consideration of the
Trustees, whether persons duly recommended might not be admitted in the same
manner as in the Reading Room. 33 The matter was referred on to the general
meeting. 34 On 9 December 1809 the new regulations were confirmed: Students who
apply for Admission to the Gallery are to specify their descriptions et places
of abode; and every one who applies, if not known to any Trustee or Officer,
will produce a recommendation from some person of known et approved Character,
particularly, if possible, from one of the Professors in the Royal Academy. 35
On 10 February 1810 it was instructed “That the Regulation respecting the mode
of Admission of Students to the Gallery of Sculpture, as made at the last General
Meeting be printed et hung up in the Hall, et at the entrance into the
Gallery”. 36 The students admitted through 1810 were predominantly students at
the Royal Academy, but also included the emigré natural history painter the
Chevalier de Barde and Charles Muss, already established as an enamel and glass
painter. The same pattern was apparent in subsequent years. Twenty-five
students were registered in 1811 and again in 1812, before numbers dropped to
twelve in 1813, eight in 1814, picking up with nineteen in 1815, and dropping
to nine in 1816. The Museum’s original stipulation that no more than twenty
Academy students be admitted each year did not, it appears, create any undue
constraints on the flow of admissions. Far from having a monopoly over student
admissions, as the Museum’s original regulations had anticipated, the Royal
Academy had apparently been distinctly laissez-faire, doing little to try to
push students forward to make up the numbers. The galleries the students gained
access to comprised a sequence of rooms within the new wing added to
accommodate the growing collection of sculptural antiquities, notably the
Egyptian material taken from the French at Alexandria in 1801. The Egyptian
antiquities dominated the galleries in terms of sheer size, although the visual
centrepiece, whether viewed from the Egyptian hall or through the extended
enfilade of rooms II–V where the Townley marbles were displayed, was the
Discobolus (fig. 12). 37 The intimate scale of the galleries brought benefits,
as German architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel noted on his visit of 1826:
“Gallery of antiquities in very small rooms, lit from above, very restful and
satisfying”. 38 But is also imposed a practical limit on the numbers of
students who could attend. This changed when, in 1817, the Elgin marbles were
put on display at Montagu House in spacious, if warehouse-like, temporary rooms
newly annexed to the Townley Gallery (fig. 13). The spike of interest recorded
in the register, with thirty-seven students listed under the heading “1817”,
must reflect this new opportunity. The register terminates at this point,
although the volume continued to be used to record students and artists
admitted to the prints and drawings room (upstairs from the Townley Gallery)
from 1815 through to the 1840s. 39 Figure 12. Anonymous, View through the
Egyptian Room, in the Townley Gallery at the British Museum, 1820, watercolour,
36.1 x 44.3 cm. Collection of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of
Trustees of the British Museum Figure 13. William Henry Prior, View in the old
Elgin room at the British Museum, 1817, watercolour, 38.8 x 48.1 cm. Collection
of the British Museum. Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum
Some form of register must have been maintained, but appears not to have
survived, and evidence of student attendance after 1817 is largely a matter of
anecdotal record. 40 These later records also, incidentally, point to the
variety of student practice in the galleries. While the Museum’s original
stipulations made the presumption that admitted artists would be drawing (“each
student shall provide himself with a Portfolio in which his Name is written,
and with Paper as well as Chalk”), students evidently worked in different media
as well. James Ward referred explicitly to “modelling” in the Museum in his
diary entries of 1817; and George Scharf’s watercolour of the interior of the
Townley Gallery from 1827 (fig. 14) shows a student sitting on boxes at work at
an easel, with what appears to be a paintbrush in his right hand and a palette
in his left. 41 Nonetheless, the Townley marbles had lost much of their allure.
Jack Tupper, a rather unsuccessful artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, recalled his growing disillusion when studying at the British
Museum in the late 1830s: “So the glory of the Townley Gallery faded: the
grandeur of ‘Rome’ passed.” 42 Figure 14. George Scharf, View of the Townley
Gallery, 1827, watercolour, 30.6 x 22 cm. Collection of the British Museum. Digital
image courtesy of Trustees of the British Museum The material record of student
activity in the Townley Gallery, in the form of images which seem definitely to
derive from this special access to the Museum, is extremely scarce. 43 Whatever
was produced in the Gallery was, after all, generally only for the purposes of
study, and was unlikely to be retained or valued after the artist’s death. John
Wood, a dedicated student at the Royal Academy from 1819, noted: “I am
surprised at the comparatively few drawings I made in the Antique School at the
Royal Academy, including my probationary one, not exceeding five, with an
outline from the group of the Laocoon.—In the British Museum I made a chalk
drawing from the statue of Libēra for Mr Sass”, that is, the Townley Venus,
apparently drawn by Wood as an exercise for the well-known drawing teacher
Henry Sass. 44 Student drawings after the antique must have been numerous, but
that does not mean they were preserved. J. M. W. Turner had apparently attended
the Plaster Academy over one hundred and thirty times up to the point he became
an ARA, in 1799. 45 Yet even with a figure of his stature, whose studio
contents were so completely preserved, and whose dedication to academic study
was so notable, we have only a handful of drawings which appear certainly to
derive from his time at the schools. 46 There are, doubtless, traces of study
in the Museum to be uncovered in finished works of the period. Charles Lock
Eastlake’s youthful figure of Brutus in his ambitious early work is evidently a
direct lift from the marble of Actaeon attacked by his own hounds in the
Townley collection; he had been admitted to draw from the antique in 1810 (figs.
15 and 16). But given the dissemination of classical prototypes (in graphic
form as well as in plaster) it would be hard to insist that it was only access
to the British Museum’s antiquities which made such allusion strictly possible.
Figure 15. Charles Lock Eastlake, Brutus Exhorting the Romans to Revenge the
Death of Lucretia, 1814, oil on canvas, 116.8 x 152.4 cm. Collection of the
Wiliamson Art Gallery et Museum. Digital image courtesy of Wiliamson Art
Gallery et Museum Figure 16. Anonymous, Marble figure of Actaeon attacked by
his hounds, Roman 2nd Century, marble, 0.99 metres high. Collection of the
British Museum (1805,0703.3). Digital image courtesy of Trustees of the British
Museum The Register of Students as Social Record Of arguably greater interest
than the question of the “influence” of access to the marbles on artistic
practice is the evidence the register provides about the social profile of the
students. This takes us to the heart of the question about the relationship
between art education and the state. This was, in fact, a question raised at
the time. The British Museum was in 1821 obliged to draw up a report on student
and public attendance of the Museum, prompted by Thomas Barrett Lennard MP, who
had entered a motion in the House of Commons seeking reassurance that this
publicly funded institution was not “merely an establishment for the
gratification of private favour or individual patronage”. 47 Lennard’s
questions arose from a growing body of criticism directed against the Museum,
which turned on the question of whether, as a publicly funded body, everyone
could expect free access, or only a more specialist minority. As one critic
jibed in 1822, “If the British Museum is open only to the friends of the
librarians, et their friends’ friends, it ceases to be a public institution.”
48 The report elicited by Lennard’s question provided a detailed breakdown of
admissions. With regard to providing access to draw from the antique, the
Museum indulged the impression that it not only fulfilled but exceeded its
commitment to admitting Royal Academy students: providing the figures for the
period 1809–17 (based, surely, on the register under consideration here), the
Museum’s report elaborated: The Statute for the admission of Students in the Gallery
of Sculptures being among those required by the Order of the House of Commons,
it may not be irrelevant to add, that the number of students who were admitted
to make drawings in the Townley Gallery, from the year 1809 to the year 1817,
amounted to an average of something more than twenty. 49 Notably, this summary
gives the clear impression that the antiques were being opened to the students
of the Royal Academy; such is, quite reasonably, presumed by Derek Cash in his
recent, careful commentary on admission procedures at the Museum. 50 The report
also pointed to recent changes: In 1818, immediately subsequent to the opening
of the Elgin Room, two hundred and twenty-three students were admitted: in
1819, sixty-nine more were admitted, and in 1820, sixty-three. It asserted
that, now: Every student sent by the keeper of the Royal Academy, upon the
production of his academy ticket, is admitted without further reference to make
his drawings: and other persons are occasionally admitted, on simply exhibiting
the proofs of their qualification. According to the present practice, each
student has leave to exhibit his finished drawing, from any article in the
Gallery, for one week after its completion. 51 Thus stated, the Museum appeared
to be fulfilling its public duty in providing free access to appropriately
qualified students. The bare figures might seem to indicate a steady rise in
student interest, which could be taken as a marker of quantitative success. In
one of the earliest historical accounts of the Museum, Edward Edwards implied
that the statistical record was evidence of how Planta had progressively
extended access to the Museum: “From the outset he administered the Reading
Room itself with much liberality... As respects the Department of Antiquities,
the students admitted to draw were in 1809 less than twenty; in 1818 two
hundred and twenty-three were admitted.” 52 At that level of abstraction the
information appears beyond dispute. What I test in the remainder of this essay
is how these statements stand up to the more individualized account of student
activity represented in the biographical record. That record does include the
most assiduous students of the Royal Academy of the time, who certainly did not
need the kind of “constant inspection” Farington worried about, the kind of
student anticipated by the Museum’s regulations. Among these we could count
Henry Monro, Samuel F. B. Morse and Charles Robert Leslie, William Brockedon,
Henry Perronet Briggs, William Etty and Henry Sass, the last two famously
dedicated as students of the Academy. 53 However, the full biographical survey
of the register points to a more complicated situation. Of the one hundred and
sixty-five individuals named in the register, it has proved possible to
establish biographical profiles for the majority: details are most lacking for
about twenty-four of the attending students, although in most of those cases we
can conjecture at least some biographical context. 54 Slightly less than half
the total number of individuals listed were recorded as students at the Academy
at a date which makes it reasonably likely that they were actively attending
the schools when they were admitted to the British Museum (eighty in all). 55
Around twenty more established male artists attended, and several of these were
formerly students at the Royal Academy, including John Samuel Agar, John
Flaxman, and James Ward. Whether they were pursuing their private studies or
undertaking more specific professional tasks is not always clear. There are,
certainly, a few cases where the latter appears to be the case. When William
Henry Hunt was admitted it was explicitly for the purpose of preparing drawings
for a publication; both William Skelton and John Samuel Agar were probably
admitted in connection with his ongoing work engraving from sculptures at the
Museum. It seems likely that the “Students to Mr Meyer”, that is, the engraver
and print publisher Henry Meyer, were engaged on professional business, as was
Thomas Welsh, recommended by the publisher Thomas Woodfall. More striking,
though, is the determined presence in the register of artists who did not
pursue the art professionally or full-time, including the relatively
well-documented Chevalier de Barde, Arthur Champernowne, John Disney, Hugh
Irvine (assuming he is the “Ralph Irvine” who appears in the register), Robert
Batty, Edward John Burrow, Edward Vernon Utterson, and a number of others
designated as “Esq”, so clearly from the polite classes, even if their exact
identities remain unclear. There are at least fifteen male individuals who
appear to come from backgrounds sufficiently socially elevated or affluent
enough to suggest they were taking an amateur interest rather than pursuing
serious studies. 56 Enough of these men are known to have practised art to make
it quite certain that they were not, at least generally, being admitted to
consult the collection without intending to draw, and John Disney was admitted
explicitly “to make a sketch of a Mausoleum”. Notable, in this regard, are the
large number of women admitted to study, most of whom are or appear to be from
polite backgrounds, including the Paytherus sisters, Elizabeth Appleton, Louisa
Champernowne, Miss Carmichael, Elizabeth Batty, Miss Home, Lucy Adams, Jane
Gurney, Maria Singleton, and Anne Seymour Damer. 57 Some were established
artists, or became so; others were pursuing art as a polite accomplishment, or
at least we can assume so given their family circumstances; in other cases the
situation is by no means clear-cut. All were admitted without special comment
or notice despite the issues of propriety around the drawing of even the
sculptured nude figure by female artists which crops up in contemporary
commentaries. 58 This may be all the more striking given the relative paucity
of women admitted as readers at the British Museum library over the same
period: only three out of the three hundred and thirty-three admitted between
1770 and 1810, as surveyed by Derek Cash. 59 On this evidence, the field of
artistic study was, in the most literal terms, relatively female compared even
to the study of literature or history. This points to an under-explored context
for the inculcation of the students into life as an artist: the “feminine”
sphere of the home, and of siblings (whether brothers or sisters) alongside
parents. We have, surely, barely begun to consider the family as the context in
which artists are made as much as, if not more than, the studio and academy.
Nor is it straightforward to assume that those individuals who had enrolled as
Academy students also had expectations about the professional pursuit of the
art. Among the Academy students who attended, a large proportion, including a
majority of the most assiduous, were from polite social backgrounds, with
fathers in the professions, or who were office-holders or from the landowning
classes, including Henry Monro, John Penwarne, Richard Cook, William Drury
Shaw, Charles Lock Eastlake, Henry Perronet Briggs, Alexander Huey, Thomas
Cooley, Samuel F. B. Morse, Andrew Geddes, John Zephaniah Bell, Thomas
Christmas, John Owen Tudor, and Samuel Hancock. Others were the sons of elite
tradesmen, highly specialized craftsmen or merchants, including William
Brockedon, Seymour Kirkup, Charles Robert Leslie, Gideon Manton, and John
Zephaniah Bell. These were not, either, predestined to be artists, by simply
following in their father’s footsteps, but were opting in to an artistic
career, having had, usually, a decent education, and access to material and
social support. In many cases their brothers, who shared the same upbringing,
became doctors or lawyers, property-owners or merchants. A number of individual
students gave up the practice of the art—Thomas Christmas became a landowner in
Willisden; Richard Cook was able to retire, wealthy; Seymour Kirkup languished
in Rome dabbling in the arts; William Brockedon became more engaged as an
inventor and traveller; while others were never really obliged to draw an
income from their practice but pursued art as a pastime. It remains the case
that there was a high level of occupational inheritance; perhaps thirty-eight
of the students (23 percent) had fathers who were architects, engravers or
artists in painting or sculpture. Many were the sons of established artists
(including Rossi, Bone, Stothard, Ward, Dawe, Wyatt, Bonomi, and the brothers
Stephanoff); a few were part of “dynasties” encompassing generations engaged in
the arts (Wyatt, Wyon, Hakewill, Landseer). Even then, there is the case of
John Morton (noted confusingly as “John Martin” in the register, although the
address given provides for a firm identification), who, although the son of an
artist and a student at the Royal Academy, exhibited personally as an
“Honorary”, suggesting he was not professionally engaged. That his brother
became quite prominent as a physician suggests that this was a quite
emphatically middle-class family setting. There are several points to derive
from this information, even as lightly sketched as it necessarily is here.
Firstly, it is noteworthy that while female students were a minority they were
a definite presence; in this regard, the British Museum was like other spaces
of artistic study, notably the painting school at the British Institution. 60
The observation is upheld by the contemporary records of student attendance at
the British Institution or of copyists at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and should
serve as a reminder that the Royal Academy was exceptional among the spaces of
art education in being so entirely male. 61 Secondly, it is striking how few
came from humble backgrounds unconnected with the art world; really, only a
handful, which would include John Tannock (son of a shoemaker in Scotland),
William Etty (son of a baker in York), John Jackson (son of a village tailor in
Yorkshire), and William Henry Hunt (whose father was a London tin-plate
worker). The circumstances which led to their gaining access to the London art
world are, therefore, noteworthy, as a third and most important point would be
to emphasize how emphatically metropolitan, polite, and middle-class was the
British Museum as a site of artistic education. The Townley Gallery on student
days was a place where working artists, students, amateurs, and patrons
mingled. 62 While the Royal Academy is conventionally seen as an engine of
professionalization, it is striking that the social affiliations of artists
point to strong, arguably increasingly strong, affiliations between amateurs
and professionals—to the extent that our terminology around this point needs to
be reconsidered. Looking over the biographical survey, the kind of social
suffering or precariousness typically associated with artists’ lives, perhaps
especially during the era of industrialization, is markedly absent. When it
does appear—most strikingly with the grim life-stories of the siblings Jabez
and Sarah Newell—they are among the minority of students from backgrounds
neither closely connected with the art world, nor comfortably middle-class or
genteel. The examples of stellar social ascent and achievement on the basis of
talent alone are real; but they are the exceptions rather than representative.
The relative weight of personal and Academic connection is exposed in the
record of the provision of references for students. Of the forty-three referees
recorded between 1809 and 1816, less than half (nineteen) were Academicians.
One of those was Henry Fuseli, who as Keeper of the Academy Schools through
this period must have provided references as part of his duties, and
accordingly provided the second largest number of recommendations (nineteen;
all but one students at the RA). The lead in providing references was taken by
William Alexander, artist and keeper of prints and drawings (twenty-two; mainly
but not exclusively students). Overall, officers and Trustees were most active
in admitting students. Most only ever provided a reference for one, or at most
a handful, and the jibe about “friends of the librarians, et their friends’
friends” contains some truth. But the same point applies to the artists, most
of whom only ever recommended one student, often known personally to them
already: David Wilkie recommended his assistant, John Zephaniah Bell; George
Dawe provided a reference for his own son; Thomas Lawrence for his pupil
William Etty; Thomas Phillips and John Flaxman, the relatives of fellow
Academicians; Thomas Stothard, the son of a neighbour (Kempe). Geography, too,
seems to have played a role, with referees often coming from the same area as
their favoured student: Francis Horner recommended John Henning, whom he had
known in their native Scotland; the Scottish George Chalmers recommended James
Tannock; Arthur Champernowne put forward William Brockedon, his protégé, whom
he had supported in moving from Devon to the metropolis to pursue art; James
Northcote recommended two fellow West Countrymen; Benjamin West, notorious for
giving special assistance to visiting American students, two such (Leslie and
Morse). If the admission procedure could be interpreted as an opportunity for
the Academy to assert a corporate, professionalized identity, based purely on
merit, we can nonetheless detect underlying patterns of kinship, personal,
social, and geographical affiliation. Simply stated, even if study at the
Museum was free and freely available, any given student would still need to
access a letter of reference and the time to go to the Museum (as well as the
material means to acquire the portfolio, paper, and chalks anticipated by the
Trustees). The opening hours for students militated against anyone attending
who had to use these daylight hours for work, a point which was made quite
often with reference to the Reading Room through this period. 63 The most
assiduous students needed the time free to study at the British Museum,
something that well-off students like Eastlake, Brockedon, Briggs, and Monro
had readily available to them. Their peers at the Academy who were obliged to
work during the day to make a living, or who were serving apprenticeships,
would simply not be able to make the hours available at the Museum. 64 The
ambitious painter Thomas Christmas was free to attend the Museum, having
dedicated himself to study after working as a clerk, but his brother, Charles
George Christmas, who held down a job in the Audit Office, would have
struggled; accounting for his studies at the Academy, he had told Farington,
“He shd. continue to do the business at the Auditors' Office, Whitehall, which
occupies Him from 10 oClock till 3 each day, as it will keep His mind free from
anxiety abt. His means of living and leave Him with a feeling of independence.”
65 Given that the students were admitted to the Townley Gallery from noon to 4
o’clock in the afternoon, and that the Trustees continued to prohibit the use
of artificial lights in the Museum, there was scarcely any real possibility of
Charles George Christmas attending, although he also enjoyed the comforts of a
middle-class home background (their father was a Bank of England official).
With the ascent of utilitarian criticism, visitor levels were turned to anew as
a measure of the institution’s fulfilment or failure to fulfil its “national”
purpose. On strictly statistical terms, the Museum seemed to be successful at
providing opportunities for art students. Only under the closest scrutiny, with
attention to the “micro-history” of individual lives, does that illusion start
to be tested. It is, though, at this “micro” level that we can apprehend the
characteristic paradox of an emerging cultural modernity, one that is still
with us. Yet the point, to follow Rancière, is not to see the past ascent of a
present situation, but to force ourselves to feel uneasy with that sense of
recognition and its tacit model of history. The evidence is that free access to
culture and the (circumscribed) promotion of equality were combined with
socially restrictive patterns of preferment. 66 Study at the British Museum may
have been free, and freely available to properly qualified students of the
Academy, but you needed to be in the right place at the right time, to have the
time available, and, indeed, to know or at least be able to access the right
people, to get in. This point may seem unduly sociological or even tendentious,
but overlooking it involves a denial of the socially invested nature of time,
specifically, of the scholastic time (given over to study or contemplation or
to creation) mythically removed from the influence of social forces. 67 The
acts of nomination which saw certain men and women given special access to the
Townley Gallery, acts so seemingly trivial in themselves involving perhaps only
an exchange of words and a scribbled note, were microcosmic manifestations of
social authority of the most far-reaching kind. 68 When Robert Butt, the
principal manager of the bronze and porcelain department at Messrs Howell et James,
Regent-street, was examined by the Select Committee on Arts and Manufactures in
1835, he noted: The process by which a knowledge of the arts of painting and
sculpture is now acquired is this: a young man receives tuition from a private
master; he draws from the antique at the British Museum for a certain time, and
when he shows that he has sufficient talent to qualify him for a student of the
Royal Academy he is admitted; but the expense of acquiring that preliminary
knowledge is considerable, and the young artist must also be maintained by his
relatives during the time that he is acquiring it. 69 The following year, in a
further parliamentary committee, this time dedicated to testing out the British
Museum’s claims to public status, James Crabb, “House Decorator” of Shoe Lane,
Fleet Street, was asked, “Did you ever obtain any assistance, by means of
casts, from the better specimens of sculpture in the Museum or elsewhere?”, to
which he replied, “I should derive assistance from them if I had the
opportunity, but I have not time.” 70 Considered sociologically, as the personal
experience of these men seems to have obliged them to do, time was certainly of
the essence. The prevalence of students with secure middle-class backgrounds at
the British Museum might, then, be taken as evidence of an early phase in the
“middle-classification” of art practice, the awkward but evocative phrase used
recently by Angela McRobbie in her eye-opening observations of careers in the
present-day creative industries. 71 Whatever emphasis may be put on equality of
access to educational opportunity, however rigorously fairminded and anonymized
the tests and measures involved in admission procedures, without forms of
positive support to counterbalance or actively adjust social inequalities,
those same inequalities will tend to be reproduced, homologically, in the
educational field. This is patently not a simple matter of social and material
advantage underpinning artistic enterprise in a wholly predictable way; such
would be a nonsense, in light of the many students who did not enjoy such advantages.
Instead, it is the very flexibility built into the exclusionary processes of
the emerging cultural field which is significant—the possibility that talented
students could get access, gain reputation, achieve success, without being
limited by their social origins. “Freeing” art education allowed for the
expression of personal preferences or dispositions at an individual level,
which at an aggregate level reproduced larger power relations. Exposing that
ultimately exclusionary process, which may be marked only in small differences,
in personal dispositions and behaviours, in the personal choices and decisions
which are neither truly personal nor really pure as choices, is no small task.
This essay, and the biographical survey accompanying it, with its details of a
multitude of student lives otherwise scarcely recorded or recognized, is
intended as a small contribution to that larger project, with the excess of
data presented here perhaps imposing, in itself, new requirements on our
understanding of the history of art education. Appendix Regulations for the
admission of students of the Royal Academy to the Townley Gallery at the
British Museum (May 1808): [7] That the students of the Royal Academy be
admitted into the Gallery of Antiquities upon every Friday in the months of
April, May, June, et July, et every day in the months of August and September,
from the hours of twelve to four, except on Wednesdays and Saturdays the
Students, not exceeding twenty at a time, to be admitted by a Ticket from the
President and Council of the Royal Academy, signed by their Secretary. [8] The
better to maintain decorum among the Students, a person properly qualified
shall be nominated by the Royal Academy from their own body, who shall attend
during the hours of study; the name of such person to be signified in writing,
from time to time, by the Secretary of the Royal Academy to the Principal
Librarian of the British Museum. [9] That the members of the Royal Academy have
access to the Gallery of Antiquities at all admissible times, upon application
to the Principal Librarian or the Senior under Librarian in Residence [10] That
on the Fridays in April, May June et July one of the officers of the Department
of Antiquities do attend in the Gallery of Antiquities according to Rotation in
discharge of his ordinary Duty. [11] That in the months of August et September
some one of the several Officers of the Museum, then in Residence, do
(according to a Rotation to be agreed upon by themselves et confirmed by the
Principal Librarian) attend on the Gallery upon the Days for the admission of
Students. [12] That the attendants in the Department of Antiquities be always
present in the Gallery during the times when the Students are admitted. 72
Footnotes The original register is held in the Keeper’s Office, Department of
Prints and Drawings, British Museum. Patrick Joyce, “Speaking up for the State”
(2014), https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ patrick-joyce/ speaking-up-for-state. These points are
made in light of a larger research project, which has given rise to the present
study: a biographical survey of all the students of paintings, sculpture, and
engraving who were active at the Royal Academy schools between its foundation
in 1769 and 1830 together with a monograph, provisionally titled The Talent of
Success: The Royal Academy Schools in the Age of Turner, Blake and Constable,
c. 1770–1840 (forthcoming). This fuller survey indicates several important
shifts over these decades, including a fundamantal shift in the proportion of
students coming from family backgrounds in the arts and design-oriented
trades, in comparison with those coming from professional and genteel
backgrounds. It exposes, specifically, a new group whose fathers were engaged
as “officers”, in the civil service or bureaucratic roles, who in turn had a
disproportionate representation within the developing art establishment (as
Academicians, or as officials in other cultural bodies). The term “art world”,
as designating a space of co-production, stems from Howard S. Becker, Art
Worlds (1984), rev. edn (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008).
As deployed here, it is closer in conception to the sociological “field” as
detailed by Pierre Bourdieu across a succession of influential works. Notable
among these, for present purposes because of its methodological statement about
the homological analysis of the world (field) of art in relation to the field
of power, is The Rules of Art, trans. Susan Emanuel (Cambridge: Polity Press,
1996), esp. 214–15. See, notably, the chapter on “Workers in Art” in Samuel
Smiles’s Self-Help, first published 1859 with numerous further editions. On the
self-motivated artist as the model for all forms of work, see Angela McRobbie,
Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries (Cambridge: Polity
Press, 2016), esp. 70–76. Holger Hoock, The King’s Artists: The Royal Academy
of Arts and the Politics of British Culture, 1760–1840 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003) and Hoock, “The British State and the Anglo-French Wars
Over Antiquities, 1798–1858”, Historical Journal 50, no. 1 (2007): 49–72.
Patrick Joyce, The Rule of Freedom: Liberalism and the Modern City (London:
Verso, 2003) and Joyce, The State of Freedom: A Social History of the British
State Since 1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013); also his “What
is the Social in Social History?”, Past and Present 206, no. 1 (2010): 213–48.
On this Foucauldian framing of art education and creative production within
liberalism, see McRobbie, Be Creative, 71–76 and passim. Karl Polanyi, The
Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944;
Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2002); Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics:
Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979, ed. Michel Sennelert, trans.
Graham Burchell (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008); Luc Boltanski and Eve
Chiapello, The New Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Gregory Elliott (London and New
York: Verso, 2007); Pierre Bourdieu, On the State: Lectures at the Collège de
France, 1989–1992, ed. Patrick Champagne and others, trans. David Fernbach
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014). See Edward Higgs, Identifying the English: A
History of Personal Identification 1500 to the Present (London: Bloomsbury,
2011), 97–119. Higgs’s account is, essentially, positive about the liberties
and rights secured by this rising documentation. The position taken here is
more determinedly Foucauldian. For the foundational role of statistics in
“liberalisation”, and the hidden affinities between the liberal and the
totalitarian, see Michael Foucault, “Society Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the
Collège de France, 1975–76, ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana,
trans. David Macey (London: Penguin, 2004). Foucault, Birth of
Biopolitics, 69. A biographical dictionary of Royal Academy students from
1769–1830. See note 3, above. Jacques Rancière, The Method of Equality:
Interviews with Laurent Jeanpierre and Dork Zabunyan, trans. Julie Rose
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016), 108. Neil Chambers, Joseph Banks and the
British Museum: The World of Collecting, 1770–1830 (London: Routledge, 2007),
107. The register is mentioned in the notice of Seymour Kirkup in G. E.
Bentley, Blake Records, 2nd edn (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University
Press, 2004), 289n. Kirkup was an unusually assiduous student at the Museum,
admitted in 1809 and renewing his ticket through to 1812. The reference in
Bentley appears to be the only published reference to the register. The
admission of the Paytherus sisters to draw at the Museum is noted by James
Hamilton in his London Lights: The Minds that Moved the City that Shook the
World, 1805–51 (London: John Murray, 2007), 72, although with reference to the
early Reading Room register (marked “1795”) in the British Museum Central
Archive, rather than the volume in Prints and Drawings. See J. T. Smith,
Nollekens and his Times, 2 vols., 2nd edn (London: Henry Colburn, 1829), 1:
242. Viccy Coltman, Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in
Britain since 1760 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 242–44. See B. F.
Cook, The Townley Marbles (London: British Museum Press, 1985) and Ian Jenkins,
Archaeologists and Aesthetes in the Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum,
1800–1939 (London: British Museum Press, 1992). Chambers, Joseph Banks, Derek
Cash, “Access to Museum Culture: The British Museum from 1753 to 1836”, British
Museum Occasional Papers 133 (2002), 68.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/research_publications_series/2002/
access_to_museum_culture.aspx. The British Museum, Central Archive,
C/1/5/1029–30. Library of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, CM/4/50–52.
Library of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, CM/4/59. The British Museum, Central
Archive, C/1/5/1034. The British Museum, Central Archive, C/1/5/1043–144. Cf.
“Chapter III: Concerning the Admission into the British Museum”, in Acts and
Votes of Parliament, Statutes and Rules, and Synopsis of the Contents of the
British Museum (London, 1808), 15–16. Joseph Farington, The Diary of Joseph
Farington, ed. Kenneth Garlick, Angus Macintyre, and others, 17 vols. (New
Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1978–98), 9: 3284. Library of the
Royal Academy of Arts, London, GM/2/366, 370. Library of the Royal Academy of
Arts, London, GM/2/371. Library of the Royal Academy of Arts, London,
GM/2/372–73. Diary of Joseph Farington, 9: 3313. Diary of Joseph Farington, 9:
3317. Diary of Joseph Farington, 9: 3284. The British Museum, Central Archive,
C/3/9/2426. The British Museum, Central Archive, C/3/9/2428. The British
Museum, Central Archive, C/1/5/1069. The British Museum, Central Archive,
C/1/5/1070. The arrangement of the galleries was first detailed in a written
description provided by Westmacott for Prince Hoare’s Academic Annals (London,
1809) and in Taylor Combe’s A Description of the Ancient Marbles in the British
Museum, 3 vols. (London, 1812–17). See Cook, Townley Marbles, 59–61. Karl
Friedrich Schinkel, “The English Journey”: Journal of a Visit to France and
Britain in 1826, ed. David Bindman and Gottfried Riemann (New Haven, CT, and
London, 1993), 74. The record of admissions to view prints and drawings must
have arisen from the new regulations issued by the Trustees in November 1814;
see, Antony Griffiths, “The Department of Prints and Drawings during the First
Century of the British Museum”, The Burlington Magazine 136, 1097 (1994): 536.
In March 1817 the student artist William Bewick wrote to his brother: “I last
Monday set my name down as a student in the British Museum.” See Thomas
Landseer, ed., Life and Letters of William Bewick (Artist), 2 vols. (London:
Hurst and Blackett, 1871), 1: 37. Edward Nygren, “James Ward, RA (1769–1859):
Papers and Patrons”, Walpole Society 75 (2013): 16. Jack Tupper, “Extracts from
the Diary of an Artist. No.V”, The Crayon, 12 December 1855, 368. An album of
drawings of the Townley Marbles in the British Museum (2010,5006.1877.1–40)
appears to have been collected by Townley himself, so dates to before the
installation of the marbles at the Museum. The drawings serve as records of the
objects rather than student exercises. The drawings by John Samuel Agar in the
Getty Research Institute are evidently preparatory for the prints published in
Specimens of Antient Sculpture. BL Add MS 37,163 f.106. This and other figures
in the Townley collection could also be found as casts in the Royal Academy’s
plaster schools, so even if Wood’s drawing, for example, could be traced, it
could not definitively be said to be made in the Townley Gallery. See Ann
Chumbley and Ian Warrell, Turner and the Human Figure: Studies of Contemporary
Life, exh. cat. (London: Tate Gallery, 1989), 12–13. Eric Shanes, Young Mr
Turner: The First Forty Years, 1775–1815 (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale
University Press, 2016), 33–34. Hansard (House of Commons), 16 February 1821,
c.724 (online at http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/
1821/feb/16/british-museum). See Cash, “Access to Museum Culture”, 197–225 for
a full account of public discussions around this date. Quoted in Cash, “Access
to Museum Culture”, 208. British Museum: Returns to two Orders of the
Honourable House of Commons, dated 16 th February 1821, House of Commons, 23
February 1821, 2. Cash “Access to Museum Culture”, 71. Quoted in The Literary
Chronicle, 17 March 1821, 168. Edward Edwards, Lives of the Founders of the
British Museum (London: Trübner and Co., 1870), Acts and Votes of Parliament,
Statutes and Rules, and Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum. London,
1808. Becker, Howard S. Art Worlds (1984). Rev. edn. Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 2008. Bentley, G. E. Blake Records. 2nd edn. New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 2004. Boltanski, Luc, and Eve Chiapello. The New
Spirit of Capitalism. Trans. Gregory Elliott. London and New York: Verso, 2007.
See Martin Myrone, “Something too Academical: The Problem with Etty”, in
William Etty: Art and Controversy, ed. Sarah Burnage, Mark Hallett, and Laura
Turner (London: Philip Wilson, 2011), 47–59. The barest and most conjectural
biographies include those for William Carr of New Broad Street; W. W.
Torrington; Edward Thomson; Richard Moses; and Mr Lewer. Information is most
notably lacking for the trio of Miss Cowper, Miss Moula, and Mr Turner of Gower
Street; William Hamilton of Stafford Place; William Irving of Montague Street;
Thomas Williams of Hatton Garden; Daniel Jones; M. Hatley of Albermarle Street;
Miss Edgar; Miss Carmichael of Granville Street; Mr Atwood; Mr Higgins of
Norfolk Street; George Pisey of Castle Street; Charles White of George Street;
Robert Walter Page of Wigmore Street; Henry A. Matthew; Thomas Welsh; and John
Hall. Students were entered as “probationers” for a period of three months
(which might be extended), and once registered could attend the Schools for a
period of ten years. Ralph Irvine; Arthur Champernowne; the Chevalier de Barde;
John Disney; John Campbell; Edward Utterson; John Lambert; Robert Batty;
Alexander Huey; Richard Thomson; Charles Toplis; John Frederick Williams;
Edward Burrows; William Carr; W. W. Torrington. Jane Landseer; Janet Ross;
Georgiana Ross; the two Misses Paytherus; H. Edgar; Maria Singleton; Elizabeth
Appleton; Louisa Champernowne; Miss Carmichael; Elizabeth Batty; Frances
Edwards; Eliza Kempe; Ann Damer; Miss Cowper; Miss Moula; Miss Trotter; Miss
Adams; Sarah Newell; Emma Kendrick; Jane Gurney. Gentleman’s Magazine (1820)
and A Trip to Paris in August and September (1815), quoted by William T.
Whitley in his Art in England, 1800–1820 (London: Medici Society, 1928), 263,
as evidence that “It was still thought improper for women to study from such
figures” as the Apollo Belvedere. Cash, “Access to Museum Culture”, 113. As the
American Samuel F. B. Morse (a student at the Royal Academy and the British
Museum) noted in 1811: “I was surprised on entering the gallery of paintings at
the British Institution, at seeing eight or ten ladies as well as gentlemen,
with their easels and palettes and oil colours, employed in copying some of the
pictures. You can see from this circumstance in what estimation the art is held
here, since ladies of distinction, without hesitation or reserve, are willing
to draw in public.” See Edward Lind Morse, ed., Samuel F. B. Morse: His Letters
and Journals, 2 vols. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1914), 1: 45. Lists of
students admitted to copy at the British Institution appear in the Directors’
minutes, NAL RC V 12–14, and in contemporary press reports. Individuals
admitted to copy at Dulwich Picture Gallery were routinely listed in the
“Bourgeois Book of Regulations” from 1820; photocopies and notes at Dulwich
Picture Gallery, C1 and H3. This is expecially clearly expressed in James
Ward’s diary notes on his visits in 1817, meeting there the artists William
Skelton, Joseph Clover, Henry Fuseli, and William Long, but also the gentlemen
collectors and scholars William Lock, Edward Utterson, and Francis Douce
(Nygren, “James Ward”). See Cash, “Access to Museum Culture”, 217 and passim.
Although the timing of the Academy’s evening classes might seem to be more
accommodating, even this may have been challenging. The master of Richard
Westall, later a watercolour painter, “permitted him to draw at the Royal
Academy, in the evenings; but for that indulgence he worked a corresponding number
of hours in the morning”. Gentleman's Magazine, February 1837, 213. Diary of
Joseph Farington, 4: 4783. On educational tests as linking “macro” and “micro”,
“both sectoral mechanisms or unique situations and societal arrangements”, see
Boltanski and Chiapello, New Spirit of Capitalism, 32. See Pierre Bourdieu,
Pascalian Meditations, trans. Richard Nice (Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 2000). “Acts of nomination, from the most trivial acts of bureaucracy,
like the issuing of an identity card, or a sickness or disablement
certification, to the most solemn, which consecrate nobilities, lead, in a kind
of infinite regress, to the realization of God on earth, the State, which
guarantees, in the last resort, the infinite series of acts of authority certifying
by delegation the validity of the certificates of legitimate existence”,
Bourdieu, Pascalian Meditations, 245. The potentially trivial nature of the
acts of nomination involved in gaining access to the British Museum is
highlighted in Joseph Planta’s own account of providing recommendations (for
the Reading Room) often only on the basis of casual conversations. See Cash,
“Access to Museum Culture”, 207. Report of the Select Committee on Arts and
Manufactures, House of Commons, 4 September 1835, 40. Report of the Select
Committee on the British Museum, quoted in Edward Edwards, Remarks on the
“Minutes of Evidence” Taken before the Select Committee on the British Museum,
2nd edn (London [1839]), 14. McRobbie, Be Creative. The British Museum, Central
Archive, Bourdieu, Pierre. On the State: Lectures at the Collège de France,
1989–1992. Ed. Patrick Champagne and others. Trans. David Fernbach. Cambridge:
Polity Press Pascalian Meditations. Trans. Richard Nice. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press,The Rules of Art. Trans. Susan Emanuel. Cambridge: Polity
Press, 1996. Cash, Derek. “Access to Museum Culture: The British Museum from
1753 to 1836.” British Museum Occasional Papers 133 (2002)
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/research_publications_series/2002/
access_to_museum_culture.aspx Chambers, Neil. Joseph Banks and the British
Museum: The World of Collecting, 1770–1830. London: Routledge, 2007. Chumbley,
Ann, and Ian Warrell. Turner and the Human Figure: Studies of Contemporary Life.
London: Tate Gallery, 1989. Coltman, Viccy. Classical Sculpture and the Culture
of Collecting in Britain since 1760. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Combe, Taylor. A Description of the Ancient Marbles in the British Museum, 3
vols. London, 1812–17. Cook, B. F. The Townley Marbles. London: British Museum
Press, 1985. Edwards, Edward. Lives of the Founders of the British Museum.
London: Trübner Remarks on the “Minutes of Evidence” Taken before the Select
Committee on the British Museum. 2nd edn. London [1839]. Farington, Joseph. The
Diary of Joseph Farington. Ed. Kenneth Garlick, Angus Macintyre and others. 17
vols. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1978–98. Foucault, Michel.
The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979. Ed.
Michel Sennelert. Trans. Graham Burchell. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Society
Must Be Defended”: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975–76. Ed. Mauro
Bertani and Alessandro Fontana. Trans. David Macey. London: Penguin, 2004. Griffiths, Antony. “The Department of Prints and Drawings during the
First Century of the British Museum.” The Burlington Magazine 136 (1994):
531–44. Hamilton, James. London Lights: The Minds that Moved the City that
Shook the World, 1805–51. London: John Murray, 2007. Higgs, Edward. Identifying
the English: A History of Personal Identification 1500 to the Present. London:
Bloomsbury, 2011. Hoock, Holger. “The British State and the Anglo-French Wars
Over Antiquities, 1798–1858.” Historical Journal The King’s Artists: The Royal
Academy of Arts and the Politics of British Culture, 1760–1840. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003. Jenkins, Ian. Archaeologists and Aesthetes in the
Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum, 1800–1939. London: British Museum
Press, 1992. Joyce, Patrick. The Rule of Freedom: Liberalism and the Modern
City. London: Verso Speaking up for the State” (2014).
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/patrick-joyce/speaking-up-for-state –
The State of Freedom: A Social History of the British State Since 1800.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, What is the Social in Social History?”
Past and Present 206, no. 1 (2010): 213–48. Landseer, Thomas, ed. Life and
Letters of William Bewick (Artist). 2 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1871.
McRobbie, Angela. Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries.
Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016. Morse, Edward Lind, ed. Samuel F. B. Morse: His
Letters and Journals. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914 Myrone, Martin.
“Something too Academical: The Problem with Etty.” In William Etty: Art and
Controversy, ed. Sarah Burnage, Mark Hallett, and Laura Turner. London: Philip
Wilson, 2011, 47–59. Nygren, Edward. “James Ward, RA (1769–1859): Papers and
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The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944). Boston, MA: Beacon
Press, 2002. Rancière, Jacques. The Method of Equality: Interviews with Laurent
Jeanpierre and Dork Zabunyan. Trans. Julie Rose. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016.
Schinkel, Karl Friedrich. “English Journey”: Journal of a Visit to France and
Britain in 1826. Ed. David Bindman and Gottfried Riemann. New Haven, CT, and
London: Yale University Press, 1993. Shanes, Eric. Young Mr Turner: The First
Forty Years, 1775–1815. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2016.
Smiles, Samuel. Self-Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct. London:
John Murray, 1859. Smith, J. T. Nollekens and his Times, 2 vols. 2nd edn,
London: Henry Colburn, 1829. Tupper, Jack. “Extracts from the Diary of an
Artist. No.V.” The Crayon, 12 December 1855. Whitley, William T. Art in
England, 1800–1820. London: Medici Society, 1928. drawn from the antique
Artists et the Classical Ideal Adriano Aymonino and Anne Varick Lauder with
contributions from Eloisa Dodero, Rachel Hapoienu, Ian Jenkins, Jerzy Kierkuc
́-Bielin ́ski, Michiel C. Plomp and Jonathan Yarker sir john soane’s museum
2015 Drawn from the Antique: Artists et the Classical Ideal An exhibition
at Teylers Museum, Haarlem 11 March – 31 May 2015 Sir John Soane’s Museum,
London 25 June –26 September 2015 This catalogue has been generously supported
by the Tavolozza Foundation and the Wolfgang Ratjen Stiftung, Vaduz This
exhibition has been made possible through the support of the Government
Indemnity Scheme Sir John Soane’s Museum is a non-departmental body and is
funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Published in Great
Britain 2015 Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, wc2a 3bp
Tel: 020 7405 2107 www.soane.org Reg. Charity No. 313609 Text the listed
authors All photographs as listed on pages 254–56 ISBN (paperback):
978-0-9573398-9-7 ISBN (hardback): 978-0-9932041-0-4 Designed and typeset in
Albertina and Requiem by Libanus Press Ltd, Marlborough Printed by Hampton
Printing (Bristol) Ltd Frontispiece: Michael Sweerts, A Painter’s Studio
(detail), c. 1648–50, cat. 12 (p. 134) Page 10: Hendrick Goltzius, The Apollo
Belvedere (detail), 1591, cat. 6 (p. 107) Page 78: William Pether, An Academy
(detail), 1772, cat. 24 (p. 189) Contents Preface 6 Abraham Thomas Introduction
7 Adriano Aymonino and Anne Varick Lauder Acknowledgements 9 Ideal Beauty and
the Canon in Classical Antiquity 11 Ian Jenkins and Adriano Aymonino ‘Nature
Perfected’: The Theory et Practice of 15 Drawing after the Antique Adriano
Aymonino Catalogue Bibliography Photo credits 79 232 254 - authors
of catalogue entries AA: Adriano Aymonino: AVL: Anne Varick Lauder: Eloisa
Dodero: cats 9, 22 JK-B: Jerzy Kierkuc ́-Bielin ́ski: cat. 29 JY: Jonathan Yarker:
cats 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 MP: Michiel C. Plomp: cats 6, 7, 8, 11, 31, 32 RH:
Rachel Hapoienu: cats 1, 2, 4, 33. The exhibition ‘Drawn from the antique:
artists and the classical ideal” examines the crucial role played by antique
sculpture in artistic education and practice, a theme which lies at the heart
of the conception of Sir John Soane’s Museum. As a student at the Royal
Academy, Soane wins a travelling scholarship to embark on the grand tour. This
forms the basis of a classical education which would prove to be an enduring
influence on his subsequent career as one of the most important architects of
the Regency period. The drawings, paintings and prints selected for the exhibition
‘Drawn from the antique – artists and the classical ideal’ offer a glimpse into
an intriguing world of academies, artists’ workshops and private studios, each
populated with carefully chosen examples of statuary which provide compelling
snapshots of classical antiquity. Similarly, within his house and museum at
Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Soane creates his own bespoke arrangements of ancient
statuary and architectural fragments, providing educational tools which defined
an informal curriculum for both his Royal-Academy students and the apprenticed
pupils working within his on-site architectural office. In fact, one could
consider much of Soane’s museum as an extended series of studio spaces,
intended for academic improvement and personal inspiration. The concept of the
exhibition ‘Drawn from the antique – artists and the classical ideal’ evolves from
a series of conversations between Timothy Knox, and the collector K. Bellinger,
to see if there may be some way to showcase the Bellinger extraordinary and
unique collection of art-works *depicting* artists’ studios. We extend a
special thanks to K. Bellinger, not only for her generosity in allowing us to exhibit
these wonderful pieces but also for all the hard work in securing some stunning
loans from other collections. We are grateful for the loans from the Getty
Collection, the Rijksmuseum, the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Kunstbibliothek in
Berlin. For the UK loans we would like to thank The British Museum, the
Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Courtauld
Gallery. “Drawn From The Antique: Artists and The Classical Ideal” is a collaboration
between The Soane Collection and the Teylers Collection, and I am grateful to M.
Scharloo for agreeing to host the first leg of this exhibition, and also to
Michiel Plomp, for facilitating the exhibition in Haarlem. It feels rather
appropriate that the founders of our two institutions, Teyler and Soane, were
both collectors with singular visions of how their collections should provide a
resource for academic study and creative practice. This exhibition would not
have been possible without the fantastic curatorial team that K. Bellinger assembled:
A. Aymonino, A. Varick Lauder, and R. Hapoienu. I would like to express my
gratitude to them for bringing the project to fruition. I would also like to
thank Paul Joannides for his editing work on the catalogue and all of my
colleagues at the Soane who worked to make this exhibition a reality,
especially S. Palmer, D. Jenkins and J. Kierkuc-Bielinski, as well as S.
Wightman at Libanus for designing such a beautiful catalogue. Finally, I would
like to extend a special thanks to the Tavolozza Foundation and the Wolfgang
Ratjen Stiftung, Vaduz, for their generous support of the exhibition and the
catalogue. The exhibition explores one of the central practices of artists for
years: drawing after the antique – l’antico. Ancient Graeco-Roman statuary provides
artists with a “model” from which he learns how to represent the volume, the pose
and the expression of the male nude and which simultaneously offers a perfected
example of anatomy and proportion. For an established artist, a piece of antique
statuary or a elief offers a repertory of form that serves as inspiration. Because
the imitation (mimesis) and representation of nature is the principal aim of the
classical artist, education in a workshop or an academy revolves around the
study of geometry and perspective – to represent space – and anatomy, the antique
but also THE LIVE MODEL – to learn how to deploy and mould the male body
convincingly in a piece of statuary. This practical approach to the antique –
as a convenient model for depicting or moulding the naked male form – is accompanied by a more
theoretical, aesthetic, and philosophical one. A piece of ancient Graeco-Roman
statuary statue is perceived as a bench-mark of perfection and of the Platonic
concept of ideal beauty, the physical result of a careful selection of the best
parts of nature. Classical Graeco-Roman authors, such as the Italians Vitruvio,
Cicerone or Plinio, reveal to the artist and the philosopher that antique statuary
is based on a system. There is a Pythagoreian harmonic proportions. This rests
on the mathematical relationships between a part of the body and the whole
body. A piece of ancient statuary therefore embodies the same rational
principle on which the harmony of the cosmos and nature are based. It is the
powerful combination of this rational and universal principle that the antique
expresses, together with its extreme versatility as a model of forms, that
guarantees its ubiquitous success. Students in the early stages of their
training are encouraged to ‘assimilate’ fully the idealised beauty of a classical
statue through the copying of plaster casts. Only then can he be exposed to an
‘imperfections of nature’ as embodied by the live naked male model (“Drawn From
Life”). This is intended to provide the craftsman with a standard of perfection
that is then infused into his own statuary. For an artist, it was considered
essential to travel to Rome. At Rome, the artists confront the venerated
antique ‘original’ – not the copy -- and assembles his own ‘drawn’ collections
of models – ‘drawn from the antique’ only, not ‘drawn from life’, for which you
don’t need to go to Rome. Drawing (desegno) is considered the only intellectual
part of an art – the first sensorial (specifically visual) manifestation of an idea.
Drawing from and ‘after’ the Antique (desegno dall’antico) is the union of
intellectual medium and intellectual subject. It becomes an integral part of
the learning process and the activity of the artist who aims at pleasing the
Society gentleman. It proves crucial for legitimising the ambitions of the artist
who fashions himself as a practitioner of a liberal and intellectual activity.
So widespread is it, that representing the practice itself developed into an
artistic genre. Through a selection of pieces exemplifying this fascinating
category of images, by artists as diverse as the Italian Zuccaro, Dutch Goltzius
and Rubens, French Natoire, Swiss Fuseli and English Turner, we may attempt to
analyse this phenomenon. We begin with an image relating to an early Italian
academy and with a portrait, in which a piece of ancient statuary is included.We
may proceed to an image of an artist as he ‘draws’ after a celebrated statue –
the Apollo del Belvedere and the Laoconte, il torso del Belvedere, l’Antino del
Belvedere – in the cortile ottogono del casino della villa Belvedere in Monte
Vaticano, the Belvedere collection that serves as a model. We next may explore
the varied approaches of artists to a piece of ccanonical statuary in Rome and
the ways in which the Italian academic curriculum – with the antique (l’antico)
as one of the two cornerstones (the other being: ‘natura’) – spreads all over
Rome, where each palazzo claims its collection – Farnese, Ludovisi, Albani – and
even up to La Tribuna di Firenze.An Italian drawing manual is a powerful
vehicle for the uncostested establishment and entrenchment of the classical
ideal. Significantly, a manual illustrates the practice of copying after the antique
in their frontispieces. Next follow two of the most relevant images embodying
the classicist credo of the accademia dell’arte at Rome and academie des beaux
arts a Paris. The accademia a Roma codifies a structured syllabus. First-hand
experience of the Antique ‘original’ in Rome becomes a must. Fuseli magnificently
draws the fragments of the head, right hand, and left foot of the colossal
statue of Constantine at the
Campidoglio. Fuseli’s image expresses a ‘romantic’ attitude towards
classical statuary, based on the direct emotion and empathy – the eros of
Plato, and the catharsis of Aristotle -- rather than a ‘study’ (studio) of an idealised
beauty and proportion. Classicism is embraced and an academic syllabus is
developed to graduate from the academy – as opposed to the nobility who can
still practice amateur and present their statues at the annual exhibitions. The
elite, educated in the classics, has a crucial role in disseminating the
classical ideal. For less privileged students at Oxford (‘only the poor learn
at Oxford’) the Ashmolean starts collecting a plaster cast of this or that
original in Rome. Statues serve a decorative purpose in the villa garden
fountain --- and the palazzo interior -- a clear sign of the commercialisation
and further diffusion of the Antique. But while classical statuary becomes a n
attract when doing the calls. Its role within academic curricula remains well-established.
The Antique as a canonical model begins to be challenged by the more dynamic
and innovative forces of art, a challenge that led to its rapid decline. The
last exhibit shows a plaster copy of the celebrated ancient bust of Homer at
the Farnese collection in Napoli is placed on equal footing with a bust of a non-classical
author, neo-classical statuary, and even with a multicoloured porcelain parrot,
reveals how the Antique becomes just one of the many historical references favoured
by society, if not by Society. Although focused on images representing the
relationship of an artist WITH the Antique, that is, the act or performance of
copying or drawing from or after it, this catalogue includes also examples of
the product of the practice: sketches actually ‘drawn from the antique’ not by
students wanting to pass, but by professionals such as Goltzius, destined to be
disseminated through the engraving. We have also included drawings by Rubens
and Turner showing the compromising practice of setting a live model in
the pose of the antique model – lo spinario, i lottatori in the case of a
syntagma or statuary group -- and an early academic study by Turner the student
of the torso del Belvedere (Aiace contempla suicidio). An image may portray how
the artist HIMSELF in the presence of the Antique. The point of view should
always be that of the intended addressee: the noble Epicurean connoisseur. The
form and ideas that he enjoys and seeks in the classical model, the diversity
of his taste according to his mood, and the kinds of image that are created to
show their own relationship with the Antique. The attitudes towards classical
statuary of a manic collector or an antiquarian, although touched upon in the
essays and in some of the entries, are not discussed at length. We also decided
to focus primarily on free-standing in the round male nude statue or syntagma
(i lottatori), as opposed to a relief. The free-standing in the round
reproduction of the male naked body is what the gentleman enjoys in terms of the
proportion, the anatomy and his beauty. A relief rather serves as a compositional
model and inspiration for a narrative mythological or historical scene. Drawings
after reliefs would be the subject of a different exhibition. The choice of the
two venues is entirely appropriate. Haarlem is one of the earliest Northern
cities where the Antique is a subject of debate – within the private academy
established by Mander, Cornelisz, and Goltzius – whose magnificent series of
drawings after canonical classical statues is preserved in the Teylers
Collection. The Soane Collection at Lincoln Fields, on the other hand,
represents an incarnations of the classicist curriculum. It is an eccentric,
kaleidoscopic academy where, in the name of the union of the arts, the study of
Vitruvian and Palladian architecture gets integrated with the copying of
paintings, classical statuary and plaster casts, to attain that mastery of
drawing of the human forms (uomo
vitruviano) advocated by Vitruvius as a crucial element of architecture (to be
replaced by Le Corbusier’s functionalist metron!). The idea for this exhibition
has evolved. The Bellinger Collection is based on a just one theme: the sculptor
at work. Fascinated by the creative process and the mystique surrounding it.
The Bellinger Collection includes items in a range of media – drawings,
paintings, prints, photographs and sculpture. Rather than stage an obvious
‘greatest hits’ exhibition focusing on celebrity, my idea is to show
little-known, rarely exhibited, works and to present aspects of the collection,
which had been rather neglected by scholarship in an attempt to open new
ground. A preliminary step is made by Knox, who approached K. Bellingerto
enquire whether she might showcase works from the collection in the piano
nobile of the Palazz Soane. It soon became apparent that the theme of the
relationship between the sculptor and antique statuary, which seemed so
suitable to the venue of an architect’s palazzo-cum-academy-cum-museum with its
rooms filled with antiquities and plaster reproductions, would have resonance
with the Few. Accompanying a selection of works from the Bellinger Collection
we have attempted to borrow on loan some of the most ‘iconic’ images, and
others less well-known, that demonstrate the evolution of this practice of this
class of ‘Drawn from the Antique’ over an extended period. Almost half of the
works on display have never previously been exhibited and most have not been
shown. The resulting display provides the first overview of a phenomenon
crucial for the understanding and appreciation of ancient Roman art of the
classical Augustean period, which lays stress on the creative processes of the
Italophile artist and on the norms and conventions that guides and inspires his
art. Presenting a relatively small yet coherent display on a topic that
encompasses one of the major themes in the history of Art has been a serious
challenge but a most pleasurable one. Our exhibition could not have been
accomplished without the unwavering support of K. Bellinger, who generously
agreed to part with fourteen choice examples from her little-seen private
collection of images of artists at work and who has remained committed to the
project since its inception: to Ballinger we owe our deepest gratitude. For the
other works on display, we have benefited from the great generosity of
colleagues at lending institutions for agreeing to send works in their care –
some of them among their most popular and requested – to one or both venues of
the exhibition. We owe sincere thanks to H. Chapman at the British Museum, S. Buck
at the Courtauld, R. Hibbard and H. Dawson at the Victoria and Albert, C.
Saumarez-Smith, H. Valentine and R. Comber at the Royal Academy. Abroad we wish
to acknowledge the generosity of L. Hendrix and J. Brooks at Villa Getty, Bernhard
von Waldkirch at the Kunsthaus Zürich, T. Dibbits at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
and K. Käding at the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin. We are enormously grateful both
to the Soane Collection and the Teylers Collection for hosting this two-venue
exhibition. Thanks are due to T. Knox and A/ Thomas, for their support for the
project, and to S. Palmer, and D. Jenkins, for assisting with the loans. M. Scharloo,
of the Teylers and Michiel Plomp, kindly agreed to house the first showing of
the exhibition and to lend works from their collection. The catalogue was
thoughtfully designed and produced by S. Wightman at Libanus, to whom we owe
our warmest thanks, and printed by Hampton Printing in Bristol. R. Hapoienu,
oversaw the photography and contributed immeasurably to the catalogue. Other
curatorial colleagues have given their time and effort in preparing scholarly
entries or essays: E. Dodero, I. Jenkins, J. Kierkuc -Bielinski, M. Plomp and J.
Yarker. Special thanks are due to Dodero for sharing an infinite knowledge of
antique sources. Finally, we are greatly indebted to Joannides for his input. Any
and all errors are entirely our own. We wish to acknowledge warmly Taylor and
Rembrandt Duits for granting us unfettered access to the Photographic
Collection of the Warburg and other colleagues and friends who assisted in
various ways in bringing this project to fruition: Mattia Biffis, R Blok,
Yvonne Tan Bunzl, Wolf Burchard, Elisa Camboni, Martin Clayton, Zeno Colantoni,
Paul Crane, Daniela Dölling, Alexander Faber, Cameron Ford, Ketty Gottardo,
Martin Grässle, Axel Griesinger, Florian Härb, Eileen Harris, John Harris,
Niall Hobhouse, Matthew Hollow, Peter Iaquinandi, Catherine Jenkins, Theda
Jürjens, Jill Kraye, David Lachenmann, Alastair Laing, Barbara Lasic, Huigen
Leeflang, Cornelia Linde, Anne-Marie Logan, Olivia MacKay, Austeja MacKelaite,
Bernard Malhamé, Patrick Matthiesen, Mirco Modolo, Jane Munro, Lorenzo
Pericolo, Benjamin Peronnet, Camilla Pietrabissa, Eugene Pooley, Pier Paolo
Racioppi, Cristiana Romalli, Gregory Rubinstein, Susan Russell, Nick Savage,
Nicolas Schwed, Ilaria Sgarbozza, Kim Sloane, Perrin Stein, MaryAnne Stevens,
Marja Stijkel, Michael Sullivan, C. Treves, Michiel Ilja M. Veldman, Anna
Villari, Rebecca Wade and Alison Wright. Support for the exhibition and
catalogue was provided by the Tavolozza Foundation and the Wolfgang Ratjen
Stiftung, Vaduz, to whom we owe our sincere gratitude. Ideal Beauty is the
Canon in Classical Antiquity. The practice of drawing from the antique is a
time-honoured one – if not antique! But even the Augustean copy makers knew who
to imitate --. Since Antino became such an icon, we can say that Adrian
finished the practice of ‘drawing from the antique’: He started to ask his
slaves to ‘draw from nature’ – the nature of his lover! The philosopher should
be reminded of the substantial role that the Antique has played in the
education and inspiration of artists for years. Soane famously mixed marble
sculpture with plaster reproductions in the learned and decorative interiors of
his Lincolnfields villa. A constant theme in ancient philosophy (with which any
Oxonian with a Lit. Hum. is more than acquainted with) is that behind the
surface chaos of the tangible sensible world, there is a hidden order (kósmos).
Harmony occurs when the opposite forces in nature (natura, physis), such as wet
and dry, hot and cold, strong and weak, are properly balanced. Well-being
depends upon a set of complementary humours. Reason (logos) – but cf. Dodds on
the irrational -- is the weapon wielded in a constant struggle against the dark
forces of the natural and non-natural artificial conventional realms alike. The
concept of ‘number’ plays an especially important role in the Graeco-Roman, or
Italic world view. Mathematics was most probably acquired from Babylon and
first took root in the cities of Ionia. Pythagora, who had settled in Crotona
and Melosponto in southern Italy, discovers the measurable intervals of the
musical scale This demonstrates that number holds the key to the mysteries of
the harmony of the Universe. Pythagoras was born on the Aegean island of Samos,
which was just one of the many city states that participated in the Ionian
Enlightenment with its concentration of natural philosophers. Applied
mathematics finds a new purpose in the creation of colossal temples in an
architectural culture that takes its inspiration from that of East. The
technical aspects of this new tectonic art are explained in philosophical
treatises. None of them survive but they were known to the Roman philosopher Vitruvio,
who uses them extensively for “De Architectura”. His is the only complete
treatise on ancient Roman architecture to survive. It is the main channel
through which knowledge of ancient Roman architectural principles are handed
down. The impact it has on architecture is paramount. Colossal temples are erected
and foremost among them is the archaic temple of Diana at Efeso. Its forest of
columns, some of them carved pictorially and its painted and gilded mouldings
are breath-taking. The Ionian Enlightenment terminates by the catastrophic
destruction of Mileto y the Persians. The Persians next set out to punish
Athens for her instigation of the revolt. The failure of the Persian invasion
in a series of battles on land and sea serve as a catalyst for a great surge of
art and thought in the city that was the world’s first democracy. It was in
Athens – the ‘Athenian dialectic’ -- that humanity’s sense of self is forged.
It is there that mankind acquires a unique and individual soul with personal
responsibility for its welfare. In classical antiquity mankind places itself at
the centre of the universe and is as Protagoras famously says, ‘the measure of
all things’. Protagoras’s contemporary, the philosopher Socrates, leads the way
in a moral philosophy aimed at penetrating the dark hinterland of human
existence. Humanism prompts a “realism” (de rerum matura) in product of an ‘ars’ that re-presents the naked
male body in a ‘naturalistic’ way. There were those, however, who ha less
positive view of human capacity for self-determination. A recurring theme in
the philosophy of Socrates’ famous pupil, Plato, is the theory of ‘mimesis’ (‘imitatio’),
whereby the product of an ‘ars’ is twice
removed from reality by virtue of its being a ‘copy’ of Nature, which is itself
a copy of the hidden, intangible reality of the abstract world of the Idea. In
Plato’s kósmos, reality is not to be found in Nature. Reality (and ideal
beauty) cannot be detected by *sensing*. Rather, reality and beauty is ‘noetic’
and exists beyond nature (trans-naturalia) and can be grasped only through an effort
of the ‘intellectual’ (logistikon) part of the tri-partite soul (the other two
parts being the thymoeides and the epithymtikon). A man never gets to ‘know’ or
grasp this ideal beauty. Man must be governed by the philosopher king, who has the
intellectual capacity to achieve true knowledge and understanding of the universal
law. The nature that man knows is itself a ‘copy’ (mimesis, imitation –
imitative) of this suprasensible realm, so Plato argued and. As an imitation of
nature, a product of an ‘ars’ is twice removed from the meta-physical intelligible
world. There is no place for the pretensions of artists in the world of true
reality. Only the pure and virtuous abstract beauty and goodness
(kalloskagathia, bonus et pulchrus) of a ‘form’ (‘forma’) is to be found in the
realm of the idea. The clearest and most developed account of Plato’s
condemnation of the idols or products of ‘ars’ and his reasons for banning it
from his ideal state (polizia, politeia) are to be found in the Socratic
dialogue known to modern readers as The Polizia (Politeia). The ‘Polizia’
(Politeia) is beautifully crafted in a series of carefully honed set-piece
speeches in which, and the irony is obvious, Plato demonstrates his skills as a
philosophical artist – the dialogue aimed at beauty, rather than truth. It is
difficult to say to what extent Plato puts words into or takes them out of the
mouth of Socrates. The historical Socrates never wrote anything himself. We can
at least be sure of Socrates’ insistence upon the imperative to pursue
justified true belief (knowledge) as distinct from mere belief or opinion
(doxa) and to seek understanding, as distinct from mere creed. These are after
all the goals by which Socrates measures the moral integrity of man’s
intelligence. When it comes to the standing of the product of an ‘ars’ in
Socrates’s moral landscape, we may wonder whether this marble worker who had
followed in his father’s ‘ars’ himself shares aristocratic Plato’s anti-thetical
view of the ‘artista’. In a dialogue recorded by Xenophon between Socrates and
Parrhasio, it is concluded that the product of an ‘ars’ cannot achieve beauty
by simply ‘reproducing’ (or imitating, or copying) an individual, particular, single,
naked male live model. He who pursues to give a product of an ‘ars’ must
instead select the best part of more than one particular, singular male naked
live model – this is not Adriano’s portraiture of Antino -- melding (or moulding) those parts (individua) together
in such a way as to transcend, by way of a universalium, nature itself (the
natural naked male live model) and turn the ‘re-presentation’ of a ‘beautiful’
(kalos) naked male live model into an ‘ideally’ beautiful naked male body. Aristotle.
ever practical, ever helpful, opposes Plato in arguing that, instead of being a
slave to Nature, man may create (poien) as nature itself created. In his
Poetics and Politics he recognises the civic role of the product of an ‘ars’,
as he praises the value of the products of the ‘ars’ of Polygnotos. “For
Polygnotos re-presents but tweaks a natural male body better than the natural
male body is. It’s an improving (perfection) on, rather than an imitation, of
‘imperfect’ nature of this or that particular naked male body – again this is
not Antino’s portraiture – To this product of the ‘ars’ Aristotle grants the
label of an ideal model – not the live model of imperfect nature. It is futile
to try to guess who said what when. Suffice it to say that the statuary-maker
is under pressure from various sides to justify the product of his ‘ars’ as a
proper exemplar that perfects the imperfection of the natural male live model,
reflecting the universal law of the kósmos. The artist has to look at
philosophical mathematics. There is a historic change in the re-presentation
(improved re-presentation, improvement) in the product of ‘ars’ of the body of
a naked live model. Ironically, the abstract concept behind a ‘youth’ or ‘kouros’
[e. g. marble 194.6 cm (h) Met Museum 32.11] with its ‘formulaic’ tendency to
convey the naked male form of a live model through a descriptive line and a block-like
(rather than waving) form gives way to contrapositum
(contrapposto), and a greater fluidity – if not ‘naturalism’ -- conjuring a three-dimensional
volume of live flesh. This ‘naturalistic’ figure type becomes the standard or
canon. The ‘canon’ itself (first canon, as we shall see – cf. Lisippo) referred
to the Doriforo of Policleto. Policleto obviously moulded and cast in bronze as
he was in front of the real ‘doriforo’ (name unknown), the canon (qua model
what exemplum) with copyists, notably in the copy of 212 com (h) at Naples –
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Napoli, 1st century bc copy of
original of c. 440 bc, -- inv. 6011 The
canon was famous in antiquity for its elaborate system of measurements about
which Policleto wites a philosophical treatise known as ‘The Canon.’ To judge
from what philosophers say about the spear-bearer, it is an explanation of the
principle of proportion that Policleto declares to be the key to perfection in
the product of the ‘ars’ qua re-presentation of the body of the male live
model. The concept of ‘symmetria’ (commensuratio) is used to describe this
system of a measured proportion. To the ancient authors, however, it signified
a commensurability of parts measured in relation to one another and to the
whole. Thus, the length of a finger was calculated in relation to the hand and
the hand in relation to the whole arm and so on. Ideal beauty, based on
mathematical perfection was, therefore, quantifiable. The preoccupation with
numbers in idealised sculpture has strong links to the number-based aesthetics
of the Pythagorean school of mathematics, first anticipated in architecture.
Another link to the natural philosophy of the Ionian Enlightenment is the
deliberate balancing of opposite motifs. There was found a bio-mechanical
system of parts that were at once weight-bearing and weight-free, engaged and
disengaged, stretched and contracted, tense and relaxed, raised and lowered –
an overall balancing principle of contrapposto found in the statue Doryphoros
and in many classical statues extremely influential. Polykleitos trains at a
workshop (not an academy like Plato’s!) of Ageladas of Argos, along with Mirone.
Mirone’s statue [v. Museo Nazionale Romano, Roma, inv. 126371 – 155 cm (h) copy
of original of c. 460-450, marble] is said
to have more by way of ‘commensuratio’ about them than any other statues of his
generation. As with the Doryphoros so with Myron’s Discobolo, known only
through Roman copies, it is pretty difficult to hypothesise the exact system of
proportion that he uses. We detect the deployment of balanced opposites in the
composition. The creators of the doriforo and the discobolo share a common
regard for the live model that transcends the nature of the live model. Although
Polykleitos’ Canon and its physical embodiment, the original doriforo, are lost
– the most famous Roman copy was excavated ONLY AT THE END OF THE OTTOCENTO –
various literary sources handed over to the Renaissance the knowledge of them
and the classical principle that the beautiful model is based on proportion,
commensurability and mathematical perfection. This is the quest for the
beautiful model that is measured and defined within the premises of natural
philosophical mathematics. In the minds of commentators, the attribution of the
power of creation (poiesis) to the statue-maker likens him to a seer and affords
him a unique insight into his subject. It was said of Policleto that while his
skill is suitable for representing what Vico (and Carlyle) calls a ‘hero’
(Italian ‘eroe’ – cf. il culto dell’eroe), the imaginative power of Fidia –
author of the Parthenon’s sculptures, notably the Elgin marble of MARTE qua
simbolo della mascolinita – conjures a ‘deus’ (dio). His positive view of the
intuitive process of artistic creation (poiesis) becomes especially important
in Rome where copies of the great works of Greek classical sculpture are
reproduced in large numbers. ‘Re-produced’, that is, but not ‘re-plicated’ (cf.
replicatura). For no two copies are, by definition, ever exactly *the same*
(for one, the piece of marble is ‘another’). A Roman copyist, so-called, is,
mostly an ethnic [it. ennico] Greek. He probably saw his product as a variation
on a theme, or an improvisation (if not improvement) on the ‘original’, not a slavish
copy – plus, his Roman Mecenas couldn’t care less – connoisseurship was looked
own. A Roman vir has other things in mind, such as battle! It is through this
army of Roman copies that Italian artists acquire a fragmentary knowledge of
the proto-type (cf. Weber’s ideal type], the vast majority of which, in bronze,
as they should – for sculpting marble is different than moulding wax -- are
deliberately melted by Christians as blasphemous pagan, heathen, gods and
heroes. The spectre of the greatest mind of all antiquity, Plato, and his
condemnation of art always hover over the heads of artists and art lovers
alike. In the high empire of ancient Rome a neo-Platonist movement challenges Plato’s
extreme opinion and argues for the product of an ‘ars’ of being possessed of the
intellectually beautiful (even if first perceived through the senses – nihil
est in intellectu quod prior non fuerit in sensu. Plotino notes: ‘now it must
be noted that the wax brought under a hand
to a ‘beautiful’ ‘form’ or ‘shape’ (eidos, idea, morphe) is ‘beautiful’ not ‘he’
or qua wax – for so the crude block would be as ‘pleasant’ or pleasurable or
pleasing – but *qua* form, eidos, shape, morphe, or idea. This practical and
workable Aristotelian and neo-Platonic rather than the Platonic philosophy of
art was that adopted by most Italians (even if they let Ficino dreamed about!).
The paradoxical (feigned, ironic, taunting) superiority of the product of an
‘ars’ art to nature – as a selected, ideal, improved, correctio version of it (no
‘warts and all’) – has been a central premise of the “beau ideal” where ‘beau’
can be in the Romance languages both masculine and neuter (‘il bello’ – il
bello ideale) in the humanistic theory of art and especially in its
neo-classical incarnation. A statue is admired and enjoyed as the embodiment of
a moral aesthetic that can be applied also to a plaster cast. It serves both as
the paradigm of art training and as source of inspiration for artists for
centuries. For an introduction to ancient aesthetics and views on art, see
Tatarkiewicz 1970; Pollitt 1974. Selections of primary sources are included in
Pollitt 1983; Pollitt 1990. The main source for this famous sentence is Platone,
Theaetetus 151e. See also Diogenes Laertius, De Vitis ... philosophorum, 9.51.
3 Platone, Republic, 10, esp. 10.596E–597E. 4 Xenophon, Memorabilia, 3.10.1–5.
5 Aristotele, Poetica, 1448a1; Politica, 1340a33. See also Metafisica, 1.1,
981a. 6 Plinio, Naturalis Historia, 34.57–58. 7 Cicerone, Bruto, esp. 69–70,
296; Plinio, Naturalis Historia, 34.55; Galeno’s treatises, esp. De Placitis
Hippocratis et Platonis, 5, and De Temperamentis, 1.9; Quintiliano, Institutio
Oratoria, esp. 5.12.21 and 12.10.3–9; Vitruvio’s De Architectura, 3.1. 8
Quintiliano, Institutio Oratoria, 12.10.3–9. 9 Plotino, Enneads, 5.8.1.
14 ‘Nature Plus-Quam-Perfected’: -- the ‘Drawn from the Antique’ at the
Royal Academy. ‘Desegno dall’antico’, ‘desegno dalla natura’. In his inaugural lecture
as Professor of Painting at The Royal Academy of Arts in London, Opie arranged a
few headings, which included a general definition of painting, the imitation of
Nature, the idea of general beauty, the idea of general perfect beauty, the
idea of perfect beauty the true object of the highest style, as the aim of the
highest style, design, drawing, the most important part of painting, the uses
of knowledge of anatomy, symmetry and proportion the next in importance. great
excellence of the *ancients*, the ancient sculptor in those points; studying
antique statuary to advantage, perfection of the Art of painting under Vinci, Buonarroti,
and Sanzio. Opie’s outline, with its standardised categories, is a clear
example of ‘inglese italianato e un diavolo incarnato’ and a summary of a
time-honoured aesthetic tradition which indeed he is drawing from the antique!
Opie’s proposal of what constitutes ‘the high style’ is a direct continuation
of the humanistic theory of art, formulated in early Renaissance Florence and
expanded and modified in the succeeding centuries, mainly in Italy. At the core
of this tradition is the thesis that art imitates nature and, in art’s highest
manifestation, perfects nature by selecting her best parts, to create (poien,
design) a model of ideal beauty – drawn from the antique -- a universal
standard to which man aspires. Classical statuary plays a crucial role in this
theoretical framework. An antique statues is perceived, and often revered, as
works in which the process of this selection of the best parts of nature is accomplished.
An antique – and thus a sketch ‘drawn from the antique’ -- offers the ‘antique’
(not natural live) model from which the form, the pose, the gesture and the expression
of a naked male is appreciated, in its idealised anatomy and proportion. As the
theory evolves from the 16th century onwards, the three leading protagonists of
the High Renaissance, Vinci, Buonarroti and Sanzio – not mannerist Bernini,
such as Tasso is not in the canon as Ariosto is -- are placed on the same level
as the antique, as the first trio of non-antique or non-ancient (i. e. modern) artists
– cf. Hymns Ancient et Modern) whose statues equal, if not surpass, the antique
(but there was not ‘Drawn from Buonarroti!’). The humanistic theory of art
remains for centuries the philosophical aesthetics. It undergoes many
developments and was at times challenged. It is primarily through the medium of
‘desegno’, drawing, that one is educated in geometry and perspective – to learn
how to re-present space – and in anatomy and the male naked live model – to
learn how to deploy the naked male. ‘Drawn from the antique’ represents the
essential component of this educational method, initially as a convenient model
for the copying the male form, and then progressively as a bench-mark of
perfection whose appreciation one is supposed to assimilate before being
exposed to ‘fallible Nature’, embodied by the naked male LIVE model with all
its imperfections – the profession being underpayed and carried out by
Italians! – and this or that unnecessary feature – however necessary this
unnecessary feature is for the photographer of Antino, before he photoshops! In
its codified and pedantic rigidity, this Vitruvian categorization reveals that,
at the same time as they held theoretical sway, by the beginning of the 19th
century the tradition that he espoused had become increasingly stifling. At the
dawn of the Modern era, a system based on the principle that art is a rational
practice that can be taught by precepts resting on a fixed aesthetic is progressively
being dismantled by those who advocate subjectivity, individual expression and
the conceptual freedom required by inventive genius. Although the normative
principle of the humanistic theory of art remains solidly established within the
academic programme, the creative forces of art are increasingly to be found ‘outside
Plato’s Academy’. With this epochal shift of aesthetic values, classical
statuary, unsurprisingly, suffered most. Precisely because of its status as a
model and standard of perfection in academic curricula, it inevitably
encountered the indifference, if not open hostility, of Marinetti (if not
Mussolini) and those avant-garde Italian artists who did not believe in the
idealising role of art and, increasingly, not even in its imitative one. The
Antique, which sustains and inspires creativity and diversity in art, offering
an immense repertory of forms, expressions and aesthetic principles, loses its
propulsive drive. To understand the pervasive role the classical statue or statuary group plays
in the education and inspiration of artists in the Early Modern period, that is
from the 15th to the early 19th century, we return to the theoretical
foundations and the practical concerns that create and sustain the conditions
for its immense success and eventual decline. After the Middle Ages, in which
the visual arts had been essentially symbolic, aiming to represent the
metaphysical and the divine, in the early Renaissance focus shifts to an art
that, as in antiquity, aims at a convincing ‘imitation’ of the external world,
the world of Nature, with man at its centre. The primary concern of early
Renaissance artists and art theorists is to set a rational rule for the
faithful (or improved) representation of space and the human figure on a
two-dimensional surface, free-standing, in the round. In his “De Pictura”, Alberti
establishes the principle of art as an intellectual discipline, focusing on
geometry, mathematical perspective and the representation of the naked male. The
philosophical conviction that ‘man is the scale and measure of all things’ is applied
to space: Alberti’s choice of viewpoint and scale in the perspective diagrams is
based on the *height* of a well-formed male and the units into which he is divided.
This philosophical position also accepts that the main aim of the art of
statue-making is the depiction of a man’s action, emotion and deed, what
Alberti called “la storia”. Naturally, the study and drawing of the LIVE model
in a work-shop, and later of anatomy and classical statuary in a studio and an academy
or club, are essential for this purpose. Although Alberti’s approach, and even
the literary structure of De Pictura, is based on classical models and
examples, his conception of art is ‘naturalistic’. For Alberti, to become
skilled in the visual arts ‘the fundamental principle will be that all steps of
learning should be sought from nature’ (“dalla natura”, not “dall’antico”). Earlier,
more practical treatises, like Cennino Cennini’s Libro dell’Arte advocates the
study of a painting produced by a master, a practice that encourages repetition
and which could eventually lead to artistic sterility. Alberti accepts the
copying of two-dimensional works by other artists only because ‘they have
GREATER STABILITY OF APPEARANCE than the living, live, lively, model’, but he
privileges the drawing of a statue because, being life-*like* (cf. ‘natura
morta’), it does not impose just ONE viewpoint on its copyist, but infinite –
which makes ‘drawn from the antique’ a fascinating reflection on the
draughtsman, who seeks, say, for rear views!
Hence, while the practice of the early workshop often involved the
copying of three-dimensional models or drawings of such models, it is as a
preparation for life-study (“DRAWN FROM LIFE”) rather than an end in itself. This
is is not to ignore the impact of antique proto-types on artists, which was
enormous. One need only think of Donatello’s Ganimede who was responding to
antique models from very early in the Quattrocento. But from a theoretical
point of view, for Alberti, the emphasis is on the full mastery of the natural
forms (‘DRAWN FROM LIFE’) rather than on the imitation of other works of art,
even those from antiquity. The artist’s goal is to achieve an illusionistic
translation of the external world onto the flat surface of a drawing (‘DRAWN
FROM LIFE’) or into the volumes and masses of sculpture – as in Italian
statuary not based on the Antique: Michelangelo’s Bacco, Bernini’s Enea, etc.
-- Nevertheless, in Alberti we find the roots of two intertwined concepts, both
originating in classical sources, which progressively support and justify the
practice of copying as in ‘drawn from the antique’. The ultimate point is to
create a ‘beautiful’ naked male by selecting the most ‘excellent parts . . .
from the most beautiful naked males. Every effort should be made to perceive,
understand and express beauty. To substantiate this principle, Alberti recalls
the episode of the celebrated painter of antiquity -- depicted by Vasari in his
fresco at his own palazzo in Arezzo, ‘Zeusi compone Elena dalle fanciulle di
Crotona’-- the Italian Zeuxis, who, in order to create Elena, the image of
female perfection, selects the most beautiful maidens from the city of Crotona and
unfairly goes to choose the best part from each. This silly anecdote – sexist,
since the male equivalent would be unthinkable --, derives from ancient
literary sources, and becomes one of the most recurrent adaggi of the art
treatise in the following centuries. Zeuxis embodies and clearly explains the
idea of art as a form of ‘perfected nature’. The beautiful (‘il bello’, for
Italians hardly use ‘bellezza’, unless you are Sorrentino) is based on a system
of a harmonic proportion. For Alberti, in the perfect male the single part – the
two hands, the head, the two legs, he torso, the back, etc. – is related
numerically to the other parts and to the whole (il totto) in the principle of commensurability or
syn-metron, literally the measurability by a common standard. The overall
result is harmonic perfection (‘ Just look in my direction! Ain’t that
perfection!’) which Alberti defines as ‘concinnitas’, a theory that Alberti
bases on Vitruvio’s De Architectura. Pro-portion, which Alberti covers in depth
in his “De Statua” becomes a major subject of philosophical aesthetic
speculation. Vinci and Dürer produce in-depth studies, and Vinci’s ‘uomo
vitruviano’ is the perfect expression of the theory of the mathematical
conception of the naked male [Vinci, Gallerie dell’Academia, Venezia, inv. 228
– Le proporzione dei corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, metal point, pen and brown
ink with touches of wash, 344 x 245 mm c 1490] For Alberti, one selects the
best from nature and reassembles the selection according to a system of
harmonic proportion ultimately resting on the mathematical relation THAT IS
rationally inferred from Nature itself. This principle is the cornerstone of
aesthetics. Although the central textual foundation for the concept that ‘il
bello’ is based on proportion, Policleto’s Canon, had been lost, Renaissance
artists and scholars are well aware through Vitruvio and other classical
writers that ancient artist base his work on this principle. Therefore, from
the 16th century onwards, and especially in the following two centuries, the
crucial appeal that an antique statue had for artists rested not only in its
aesthetic quality and form, but also on the very fact that it embodied the
intellectual principle of proportional perfection. The rationalistic (indeed
illuministic) approach of the Canova’s French academy (when moulding the wax of
Napoleon in nudita eroica) even provides students with manuals in which the
numerical proportion of a statue is carefully laid out. This idea-guided naturalistic
attitude of art theory, which had in any case been greatly modified in High
Renaissance practice, shifts towards an even more idealistic (hyper-idealistic,
not romantic) approach and, simultaneously, a more systematic one, laying the
ground plan for the classicist theory. Because most art theoreticians consider
their era to be a period of artistic decadence and excess after the great
achievements of the High Renaissance, and also because many of them focus on
the codifying of a rule that may be imposed in the academy, the model of
perfection is increasingly deemed mandatory (Dolce, Lomazzo, Armenini), the antique
that they feel inspired and guided the ‘buona maniera’ of Buonarroti and Sanzio
(whom the pre-raphaelites hated), became the standard by which a fault (errore)
of Nature or this or that affectation (say, the length of necks in Modigliani)
is corrected. The ‘drawn from the antique’ takes a decisive lead over the ‘drawn
from life’ (DESEGNO DALLA VITA), and the construction of taste – the lure of
the antique that had lured the antiques themselves, such as Adriano! Correspondingly,
in the classicist tradition that develops in Rome – the headquarters of the
French Academy at Villa Medici -- the Antique (l’antico) becomes the essential
model for the composition. This, definable as the depiction of episodes based
on Roman mythology or Roman history, with a moral value attached, is considered
from Alberti the highest form and final aim and receives the place of honour in
the academic hierarchy of the genres. Although a naturalistic and
anti-classicist tendency remains alive even within the academic system,
classicism establishes itself as the predominant aesthetic principle, as Opie’s
inaugural lecture as Chair of Painting (but not Chair of Sculpture – since
that’s a whole different animal!) at the Royal Academy attests. Its success
rests primarily on the fact that it represents an aesthetic approach that is
considered to express a universal and a ‘true’ principle. And this, because of its
rational nature, can be taught by rule, which suits the systematic attitude of
Enlightenment culture. The proliferation of the academy encourages the penetration
of this set of values even within contexts and cultures that until then had
been only superficially exposed to it. The humanistic theory of art, clothed in
a new and codified form, eventually reaches the most remote corners of the
world, with the antique army as the herald. At the centre of the education of
any artist in the Renaissance was the practice of ‘disegno,’ drawing or design,
considered to be one of the essential foundations of art from Cennini onwards.
‘Disegno,’ (dall’antico, dalla vita), endowed with an intellectual role by
Vasari and other theorists, as the
manifestation of the idea and invention of the artist, becomes the essential
quality of the Roman and Florentine academies. Successively, it assumed a
central role in the theory of European academies as the expression of the
rational common denominator of the three sister arts: painting, sculpture and
architecture. Opie, himself a poor draughtsman – hence his teaching of
‘disegno’ --, still considered ‘Design, or Drawing, the most important part of
Painting’. Drawing after the Antique, or Drawing from the Antique, as a union
of intellectual medium and intellectual end, becomes integral to the learning
process and the activity of artists, along with ‘Drawn from Life’. The academy
is depicted, the studio, an artists copying from some original or drawing from a
cast, in situ in, usually, Rome or back at home. Whether he is drawing from the
antique on paper to learn how to represent outlines and chiaroscuro – the
effects of light on three-dimensional forms – or to assemble a repertory of the
body’s form, pose and expression, or to assimilate a system of ‘correct’
proportions and anatomy, no would-be member of the academy can avoid confronting
the lessons of the Antique, and of adjusting his creative process in relation
to it. Apart from the didactic and inspirational functions of drawing from the
antique (as opposed as from life), many other reasons justified the practice.
As a result of their pervasiveness, a studio ‘drawin from the antique’
(disegnato dall’antico’) – which are innumerable – are difficult to categorise
because they are produced for different reasons, serve different purposes and
display different conceptions and relations to the antique. Nevertheless, one
might attempt a division. There is the didactic ‘drawn from the antique’: a copy
produced his education as an a course assignment at the Academy: a drawing
produced by a master in a workshop to provide the apprentice with an accessible
repertory of classical forms to copy. There is RECORD drawing: a sketch created
to serve as inspiration for a form, a pose, am expressios, a composition, a movement,
a proportion, etc., for its own artistic purpose. There is translation, a precisely
finished drawings intended to be engraved, usually conveying as much
information as possible about the statue’s form and pose. There is documentary
drawings, produced with the purpose of recording accurately the physical
appearance of an antiquities obviously including any damage the statue may have
undergone. To this category belong many drawings produced specifically for the antiquarian
collector, from the “Codex Coburgensis” to those of the famous ‘Paper Museum’
assembled by Pozzo. There is the marketable
drawing: a finished copy specifically produced to be sold on the market or
commissioned by a collector to fill his ‘paper museum’ of classical
antiquities. Examples are those by Batoni for Richard Topham, Esq. – The Topham
Collection --. There is the promotional drawing, a drawing made with the
specific purpose of promoting the acquisition of an item (statue or statuary
group), such as those by Jenkins to Townley – The Townley Collection. Naturally,
as with any categorisation, these divisions are a simplification and a drawing
may overlap two or more classes, such as this or that drawing by Goltzius, intended
to be engraved, but which also function as a repertory of an antique forms to
be used in the artist’s practice. Whatever their categories, all these drawings
followed the technical evolution of the medium, from the predominant metalpoint
and pen-and-ink to the black and red chalk. Athough pen-and-ink remains a
favoured medium, chalk becomes the choice for FULL-SIZE statuary, as a softer,
more pliable medium it allows a more sophisticated rendering of a tonal passage
and, therefore, of relief and anatomu. Red chalk especially offers the impossibility
of bringing the ANTIQUE (antico) to LIFE (vita), transforming or
transubstantiating inorganic matter into ‘warm flesh’. In artists’ workshops
one of the most important aspects of an apprentice’s training, aside from
mastering the manual procedures of painting, is copying works by the master and
other artists. This is intended as a means to shorten the process of learning
how to represent the THREE-DIMENSIONS onto two thanks to examples already
produced by others. This practice is described by Cennini, although still
intended only to train the apprentice to reproduce the master’s style and not
yet Nature or Life. An aapprentices could resort to copying model books and
sketchbooks already assembled by the master or by others. These were
repertories of a drawing of an animal, a plant, decorative details, a male nude
at rest, a male nude in action, usually produced as teaching tools, and it is
in these collections on paper that we find the earliest surviving drawings
derived from classical antiquities. The Antique is included mainly as a source
of information on the anatomy, its form, modelling, pose, expression,
movementsand the interaction of all t hese elements. Most of the early
drawings that represent antique forms are produced by artists active in Rome
where the largest number of accessible physical remains from antiquity is
concentrated. AN ANCIENT FULL-SIZE STATUE IN THE ROUND may have survived above
ground. Among the most famous publicly displayed examples are the ANTONINO, or
pseudo-Constantine the Great. outside the Lateran Palace, the Spinario, and the
Camillo, both of which are moved from the Lateran to the Campidoglio by Sesto IV;
the Quirinal Horse Tamers, I DIOSCURI, and the two Quirinal Recubantes or
Rivers. Virtually no ancient painting is known, and its appearance was
conjectured from a description (ecphrasis) in a literary sources, notably
Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (esp. book XXXV). It was only with the exploration
at the end of the 15th century of the buried interiors of the Domus Aurea of
Nerone in Rome, known as grotte, that artists access ancient examples, and from
this time a wave of grotesque motifs and decorations spread widely. More
readily available is a sarcophagus relief or a large imperial relief. A drawing
may depict mainly this category of ancient artefacts. They are popular because,
with their complex, frieze-like narratives, it inspires the compostion of a
“storia” as Alberti notes. Among the most frequently represented are the
reliefs of sarcophagi and the imperial reliefs of Trajan’s Column and the
Arches of Titus and Constantine. The subjects preferred by late Gothic or early
Renaissance artists – Bacchic themes, Amazons, the story of Adone, marine
deities or ancient battles – demonstrate an interest in the nude and in the
depiction of movement, dynamism and strong expressions. Although it is recorded
that Donatello and Brunelleschi copy antiquities during their stay at Rome, no
drawings survive by either of them to reveal their approach to the Antique. The
earliest surviving drawings of an antique is by artists in the workshops of
Fabriano and Pisanello, when they were in Rome working for Martino V in St John
in Lateran. The drawings correspond in many ways to the paintings. They show
little awareness of the formal principle of classical art, transforming a figure
from a Roman sarcophagus relief into a Gothic type. They often re-interpret the
pose and, sin! -- proportion of the original, even, as in the case of a sheet of
a fantasia in the Louvre, assembling figures from different s arcophagi. This
process of extra-polation, isolation and modification is common to many
drawings from the Antique. The draughtsman creates a visual repertories of
single figures, or isolated groups of figures which are easy to re-use in their
own compositions. From a teaching point of view, an isolated figure is probably
considered, at least in the model books and sketchbooks, to be more readily
assimilable by the apprentice in the workshop than a whole composition. A good
example of such an approach is seen in a drawing attributed to the so-called
‘Anonymous of the Ambrosiana’, from a sketchbook made in Rome in The original
model is a celebrated sarcophagus relief of the Muses, Minerva and Apollo then
in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It was copied in drawings by several
later growing archaeological awareness, in parallel with the spread of
antiquarian studies and rising interest in the classical world and its physical
remains. On the other hand, artists display a free handling and more personal
approach to the original, as they move away from the restraints of the model
book. With the exception of Donatello, from whom he learned much, MANTEGNA is
the quattrocento artist who had the most complex and sophisticated relationship
to the antique. Mantegna’s approach is evident in the introduction of direct
quotations from ancient architecture, reliefs and sculptures in his paintings
and frescoes and in his adoption of a precise, highly sculptural painting
style. A drawing by MANTEGNA – or a copy after a drawing – executed during his stay
in Rome accurately renders a classical proto-type but with a vivacious freedom
in style. It represents one of the Trajanic reliefs inserted in the central
passage of the Arch of Constantine. MANTEGNA sketches it at an angle from the
right side and from below. He precisely records the relief’s damaged condition
by showing both the emperor and the helmeted soldier on the right without their
right hands. He interprets the composition freely, concentrating on the most
prominent actors and on the relief’s formal principle, specifically its
treatment of movement and emotion, qualities praised by Alberti as essential
for the construction of a “storia”. The flow from left to right is accentuated,
Trajan has windswept hair.The horse is shown galloping, less upright and
frontal. The mouths are wide open, as are those of the soldiers on the right,
expressing the intensity of emotion in the victory over the Dacians. A drawing
like this serves a two- fold purpose, as a study of a formal principle and a
record of antique costumes, armours, shields and helmets. Its organisational
lessons and visual references could then be re-used to demonstrate the artist’s
power of inventio and his erudite knowledge of the classical past, as Mantegna
indeed does at Mantova in his sequence of canvases of the Triumph of Caesars [Sarcophagus
of the Muses, with Apollo and Minerva, front, 2nd c. ad, marble,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna, inv. I 171. Andrea Mantegna,
or circle of, Drawing after the Relief on the Arch of Constantine, end of the
15th century – beginning of the 16th, black chalk with brown ink, 273 × 189 mm,
Albertina, Vienna, inv. 2583r. Workshop of Pisanello, Three Nude Figures from
Ancient Roman Sarcophagi, c. 1431–32, silver point, pen and brown ink on
vellum, 194 × 273 mm, Louvre, Paris, inv. 2397]. artists, including Lippi and Franco
and it was engraved by Raimondi. The Ambrosiana draughtsman reproduces only a
few figures, changing their position and disregarding their interrelations and
the background, no doubt with the intention of assembling a range of drapery
studies that could be re-used in the future. The artist selects primarily
figures that offered the greatest variety and movement of cascading robes,
leaving the nude Apollo in the bottom right corner unfinished. Two tendencies,
apparently opposed but both symptomatic of a more profound understanding of the
antique, gains ground in sketchbooks and loose drawings. On one hand there was
a [Anonymous of the Ambrosiana, Figures from an ancient Roman Muses
Sarcophagus, c. 1460, metal point, pen and brown ink, heightened in white, on
pink prepared paper, 310 × 200 mm, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. F. 214
inf.] A similar evolution is seen in drawings that reproduce FREE-STANDING
classical statuary. Not surprisingly, all are after the most famous statues
then visible in Rome which, given their size and anatomical detailing, were an
invaluable source for the study of the male body. The earliest examples are
again a group of drawings by Pisanello. They represent, among other figures,
the ANTONINO and one of the two Horse Tamers or Dioscuri on the Quirinal Hill. The
latter is especially relevant for our purpose, as the Dioscuri constitute the two
most complete free-standing nude in Rome. Both Dioscuri are copied repeatedly,
praised by contemporary written sources, and [Trajan overpowering Barbarians,
Roman, c. 117 ad, marble, Arch of Constantine, central arch, north façade, Rome
remained constant sources of inspiration for artists into the 19th century. In
a drawing of one of the Dioscuri, the draughtsman isolates the sculpture from
its context, and focuses exclusively on rendering the anatomy. The cloak on the
forearm is just outlined. Although it is an impressive achievement and while
the male nude is realised much more plausibly than those figures taken from
sarcophagus reliefs, the ELONGATION and SLIMMING
of the figure and the inaccurate rendering of the idealised anatomy betrays a Gothic
mindset. The same DIOSCURO is copied in a drawing by Gozzoli [ Equestrian
Statue of Marcus Aurelius, Roman, 161–180 ad, bronze, 424 cm (h), Capitoline
Museums, Rome, inv. MC3247. Workshop of Pisanello, Marcus Aurelius, c. 1431–32,
pen, brown ink and wash heightened in white on brown-orange prepared paper, 196
× 156 mm, CASTELLO SFORZESCO, Civico Gabinetto dei Disegni, Milan, inv. B 878
SC. One of the Two Dioscuri or Horse Tamers, Roman copy of the 2nd century ad,
after a Greek original of the 5th century bc, marble, 528 cm, Quirinal Square,
Rome] Pollaiuolo. Many are modelled on an ancient proto-type, like those being
handled and studied by the artists at Bandinelli’s academy. But ‘DISEGNO DALLA VITA’
from a posed apprentice is also widely practised and becomes increasingly
common in the final decades, especially in Florence. Another drawing by Gozzoli’s
circle shows the practice of setting a male naked LIVE MODEL in the pose of
(apres, after) “l’antico” – a contradiction: DISEGNO DALLA VITA E DALL’ANTICO. In
this case the obvious reference is the Spinario, the celebrated bronze antique
figure whose complex pose remains one of the most popular for a live model. The
use of the model book as a teaching tool disappeared but sketchbooks and the travel
book reproducing antiquities became more widespread. Their progressive
diffusion is one of the clearest indications of the spread of interest in the antique
and goes hand-in-hand with the formation of collections of antiquities and the
pursuit of antiquarian studies, such as Biondo’s influential “Roma Instaurata”,
a methodical guide to the monuments of Rome. Enthusiasm for classical art and a
more attentive study of its forms and principles is reflected in the increased
dynamism, pathos and complexity of the compositions that we can see in Italian
painting and sculpture in the work of Florentine artists like Pollaiolo,
Ghirlandaio and Lippi [Workshop of Benozzo Gozzoli, A Nude Young Man Seated on
a Block, His Right Foot Crossed over His Left Leg, c. 1460, metalpoint, over
stylus indications, grey-brown wash, heightened with white, on pink-purple
prepared paper, 226 × 150 mm, The British Museum, Department of Prints and
Drawings, London, inv. Pp, 1.7] probably executed when he was in Rome to assist
Fra Angelico in the St Nicholas Chapel in the Vatican Palace]. In this case the
drawing is again far from accurate, and the draughtsman combines the Dioscuro
with the horse held by his twin. Again the forms are isolated. As in the
earlier drawing the supporting cuirass and the strut between the right arm and
thigh are omitted as is the cloak on the forearm. The group is set against a
neutral backdrop and on the ground rather than on its pedestal. Although the
Dioscuro stands firmly, and although his anatomical structure, his surface
musculature and their modelling are rendered much more convincingly than in the
Pisanello drawing, the idealisation of the male is still not emphasised and we seem
to be looking at a real MALE taming his horse rather than at a heroic marble
statue. Although it is difficult to draw general conclusions based on such
exiguous surviving material, it seems safe to say that formost 15th-century
artists, classical free-standing statuary was seen as a model for the nude male,
its poses and movements. With notable exceptions, such as Donatello, artists
did not try to grasp the anatomical and formal principle of the original nor does
he aspire to recreate the process of idealisation innate in so many classical
nudes. For this reason, the drawings are often not immediately recognisable as
copies after the Antique (‘drawn from the antique’). The Antique could also be
copied inside the workshop using SMALL-SCALE three-dimensional models. We have
plenty of evidence about collections of antique statues, often fragments, and
the ownership of plaster casts by artists. Their presence in the work-shop is also
acknowledged in “De Sculptura” by Gaurico, who speaks of artists having
cabinets ‘filled with any sort of sculptures’ and ‘chests filled with casts’. Although
a cast may OBVIOUSLY BE TAKEN from a male naked live model, as described by
Cennini, others are ‘cast from the antique’, such as those mentioned by
Ghiberti and Squarcione, the teacher of Mantegna, whose workshop at Padova
contained a collection of antiquities. Casts and antiquities are part of the
working material of the bottega. They also serve to elevate the status of the
workshop to that of a STUDIO or STUDIUM, a place of cultivation of liberal
arts, the beginning of that process of the intellectual emancipation of the
artist that would be fully developed with the foundation of the academies. A
beautiful drawing of feet, part of a sketchbook by Gozzoli eloquently shows the
use of casts, in this case most likely taken from antique fragments, as
teaching tools in the bottega. We see here one of the earliest visual records
of a [Spinario, Roman, 1st century bc, bronze, 73 cm (h), Capitoline Museums,
Rome, inv. MC1186. Pisanello, or circle of, One of the Two Dioscuri or Horse
Tamers, c. 1431–32, silverpoint, pen and brown ink on vellum, 230 × 360 mm,
Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. F. 214 inf.10v. Benozzo Gozzoli (attr.), One
of the Two Dioscuri or Horse Tamers, c. 1447–49, metalpoint, grey-black wash,
heightened with lead white, on blue prepared paper, 359 × 246 mm, The British
Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London, inv. Pp, 1.18. Workshop of
Benozzo Gozzoli, Studies of Plaster Casts of Feet, c. 1460, silverpoint
heightened with white, on green prepared paper, 225 × 155 mm, Museum Boijmans
Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Benozzo Gozzoli Sketchbook, fol. 53] practice,
copying from a cast, that would expand exponentially. For the study of the naked
male and the three-dimensional form, a pupil could rely also on small models in
wax, CLAY, or bronze, provided by such sculptors as Ghiberti or Sanzio, Buonarroti,
and Rome as the Centre of the Study of the Antique. The following generation,
that of Buonarroti and Sanzio, sees a seismic shift in the approach to the antique.
They now attempted to equal or even surpass the antique by penetrating its
principles.The two titans of the High Renaissance had a radically different
approach towards the classical naked male form, but they both aime at
assimilating the ancient ‘mimetic’ or imitative standard of an idealised
naturalism, full mastery of the naked male, its anatomy and proportions, and
the convincing rendering of the EMOTION or EX-pression (or affect) of the soul.
Vinci expresses a deep interest in the Antique and is directly exposed to it
in Florence and in Rome. The classical naked male form is referenced in
many of his works, particularly in the unrealised project for an equestrian
statue of Francesco Sforza in Milan. But Vinci’s naturalism, based on empirical
observation, means that he always checks his ancient sources against the
scientific observation of the natural world. He remains a naturalist at heart,
famously stating that ‘he who copies a copy is Nature’s grandchild when he may been
her son’. On the other hand, from a practical point of view, Vinci also
acknowledges the usefulness of copying from a ‘good master’ and sculpture. While
for Vinci the Antique remains an interest secondary to Nature, Sanzio’s and
Buonarroti’s engagement with the antique is on an unprecedented level. The
immense impact that Sanzio and Buonarroti have on their own generation and on
Western art in the centuries that followed lies in the very fact that they are perceived
and celebrated as the first modern masters who had equalled, if not surpassed,
the ancients. Opie, lecturing on painting at the Royal Academy, proclaims the
‘perfection of the Arts under Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and
Raffaelle’, but their status as modern classics was already acknowledged during
their lifetime. Bembo elevates Buonarroti and Sanzio to the same pedestal of
the ‘ancient good masters’ and Vasari sustains his uncompromising panegyric of Buonarroti
by affirming that his Davide (Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence) surpasses in
beauty and measure even the best ancient monumental sculptures of Rome, in
particular the various Rivers and the Horse Tamers on the Quirinal. The Mondern,
now capable of providing an idealised nude more convincing than the most famous
surviving classical ones, outshines the Ancient. Artists of Sanzio’s and
Buonarroti’s generation have the advantage of benefiting from more, and more
readily available, ancient statuary, including those discovered in excavations
and those displayed in relatively accessible settings. However, both Vinci and
Buonarroti must already have been exposed to drawings, casts and models after
the Antique respectively in the workshops of Verrocchio and Ghirlandaio. Both
studied (although Vinci briefly) in the Giardino di San Marco, an informal
academy set up by Lorenzo il Magnifico to train artists specifically in drawing
and copying after the antique under the supervision of the sculptor Giovanni. Vasari
informs us that Buonarroti devoted himself obsessively to the task, and Condivi,
Buonarroti’ss biographer, emphatically states that the genius ‘having savoured
their beauty never again goes to Ghirlandaio’s workshop or
anywhere else, but there he would stay all day, always doing something, as in
the best school for such studies’ As a pupil Sanzio probably did not receive a
similar training in the workshop of Perugino, who had less interest in the
Antique. But some drawings with reference to classical models survive and he
certainly participates in the sophisticated antiquarian environment in Florence,
where he moves. It is the impact of what Buonarroti and Sanzio see in Rome,
where they both moved that has the most far-reaching and radical impact on the
evolution of their art and their relationship with the anqique. Under the
pontificates of Rovere (Giulio II and Leone X, Rome establishes herself as the
centre for the study of the Antique. Many of the most celebrated collections of
antiquities – Medici, Farnese, Borghese, Ludovisi, Albani -- are formed or
consolidated, such as those of Riario, Maffei, and Della Valle and later on the Cesi and the Sassi. The collection
of antiquities at the Campidoglio is enlarged with the transfer of the statues
of the Rivers, the Nile and the Tiber from the Quirinal and the Antonino from
the Lateran, the latter a statue so important for the symbolic imagery of Rome
that Buonarroti designs a square around it. However, the real centre of
attention in the early years of Buonarroti and Sanzio in Rome are the new
discoveries emerging from the soil of the city. Within a few years some of the
statues that would attract the attention of artists and connoisseurs for
centuries to come are discovered, [Anonymous engraver after Maarten van
Heemskerck, The Antique Courtyard of the Palazzo Della Valle, 1553, engraving,
289 × 416 mm, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-P-1996-38] provoking enormous enthusiasm
among contemporaries: the Apollo del Belvedere, the Laoconte, the Cleopatra, the
Ercole Commodo, and the large rivers Tevere and Nilo. By 1512 all could be
admired, with the addition of the Venere Felice in the Cortile Ottogono del
casino della Villa del Belvedere nel Monte Vaticano, a purpose-built space
commissioned by Giulio II from Bramante, the great interpreter of ancient Roman
architecture. The Cortile, displaying some of the most complete and prestigious
sculptures from antiquity, soon became the canonical Roman site for making a copy
‘drawn from the antique’. It retains its unparalleled prestige, as the many
drawings after its statues eloquently attest. It is invaluable, as the Cortile
del Belvedere offers them the opportunity to study different male forms and
positions and different sub-types of ideal beauty at the same time: moving from
the Apollo, to the strong and pronounced muscular anatomy of Ercole Commodo.
Two more statues are added to the Courtyard: the Antino del Belvedere and the
Torso del Belvedere. The Antino del Belvedere is to become the canonical model
for artists for the perfect proportions of the naked male body. The Torso del
Belvedere becomes one of the most copied of all antiquities, a compulsory
reference for the body of the muscular male at rest, especially because of Buonarroti’s
admiration for it and the popular belief that he gives instructions to leave it
unrestored. The master’s praise of the evocative fragment became a leitmotif in
artistic treatises and literary sources to the point that it [Fig. 17.
Hieronymous Cock after Anonymous Draughtsman, The Capitoline Hill, 1562,
etching and engraving, 155 × 212 mm, Metropolitan Museum, New York, inv.
2012.136.358] became known in 18th-century Britain as the ‘School of
Michelangelo’. The Cortile del Belvedere, the Campidoglio, and the collections
in the various palazzi: Palazzo della Valle and others, remain the privileged
centres for copying the Antique in Rome. The increasing number of accessible
classical statues makes Rome a pole of attraction, to congregate and to complete
one’s education and gather on paper a repertory of classical forms and motifs. This
was a phenomenon central to the development of art. It is evocatively described by Bembo. Under Giulio
II and Leone X both Buonarroti and Sanzio are at the centre of the antiquarian
debate and, as Bembo puts it, play an essential role in their efforts to
emulate and surpass the antique (they fail). Indeed Vasari attributes the rise
of the ‘bella maniera’, and the great achievements of Sanzio and Buonarroti, to
their familiarity and exposure to the Belvedere statues. Even if Vasari’s words
are a retrospective celebration aimed at establishing the primacy of the
Florentine and Roman schools, the spirit of classical art permeates much of
Buonarroti’s and Sanzio’s Roman production and specific antique proto-types are
evoked in many of their works. One need only think of the inspiration Buonarroti
derives from the Torso del Belvedere for his Ignudi in the Sistine Chapel. Given
their familiarity with classical antiquity, it may seem strange therefore that
very few drawings after classical statuary by either Buonarroti or Sanzio
survive. Many might have been intentionally destroyed. Vasari recounts
Buonarroti’s burning large numbers of drawings, sketches [Fig. 18.
Apollo del Belvedere, Roman copy of the Hadrianic period (117–138 ad) after a
Greek original of the 4th century bc, marble, 224 cm (h), Vatican Museums, Rome
inv. 1015 Laocoön, possibly a Roman copy of the 1st century ad after a Greek
original of the 2nd century bc, marble, 242 cm (h), Vatican Museums, Rome, inv.
1064. Cleopatra, Roman copy of the Hadrianic period after a Greek original of
the 2nd century bc, marble, 162 (h), Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 548] and
cartoons so that none could see the efforts of his creative process. Nonetheless,
in the few surviving drawings which bear direct references to classical models,
one sees their tendency towards ‘assimilating’ the spirit of antique forms
rather than *slavishly* copying them (as an amanuensis would). This attitude
can be shown by comparing a drawing by Aspertini after the Belvedere Cleopatra
with one by Sanzio derived from the same statue. Aspertini’s copy, paired on
the facing page with one from a relief from the Arch of Constantine, embodies
the attitude typically seen in a sketch- book: a more or less faithful
rendering of the antique form, in this case rather finished and accurate, that
serves as a record. Sanzio’s drawing represents a more evolved phase, when the
ancient form takes a new shape: the elegant and difficult pose of the body of
the Cleopatra and the play of the drapery over her intertwined [Aspertini, The
Sleeping Cleopatra and a Relief from Trajan’s Column, (verso) post 1496, pen
and brown ink, over black chalk, on two sheets conjoined, 254 × 423 mm, The
British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London, Sanzio, Figure in
the Pose of the Sleeping Cleopatra, c. 1509, pen and brown ink, 244 × 217 mm,
Albertina, Vienna, inv. 219. Sanzio, The Muse Calliope, detail from the
Parnassus, c. 1509–10, fresco, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome] legs
are used as an inspiration for the muse Calliope in his Vatican Parnassus.
Sanzio nevertheless also produces some ‘record’ drawings. Nominated by Leo X as
inspector of all the antiquities in and around Rome and embarked on a project
to reconstruct the aspect of ancient Roman buildings based on precise
architectural surveys of their remains. His method, based on a precise analysis
paired with ancient literary sources, remains unmatched. His scholarly attitude
towards classical art and his thorough understanding of it are clearly
expressed in a famous letter that he wrote to Leo X with the help of the
courtier Castiglione in which he appeals against the destruction of classical
monuments. At the same time, he provides an outstandingly accurate description
of the different styles of ancient sculpture found on the Arch of Constantine. One
of the very few surviving exact copies of classical statues in Sanzio’s hand is
indicative of his precise, almost [Hendrik III Van Cleve, Detail from
View of Rome from the Belvedere of Innocent VIII, 1550, oil on panel, 55.5 ×
101.5 cm, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, inv. 6904.
Pseudo-Antino del Belvedere, Roman copy of the Hadrianic period after a Greek
original of the 4th century bc, marble, 195 cm (h), Vatican Museums, Rome, inv.
907. Belvedere Torso, Greek or Roman, 1st century bc, marble, 159 cm (h),
Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 1192] archaeological approach to the Antique, and
we can assume that he produced similar ones during his period as inspector of
Roman antiquities. It is a clear rendering of one of the two horses from the
Horse Tamers on the Quirinal, that we encountered in Gozzoli’s study. There
could not be a better comparison to demonstrate the progress made in the
understanding of classical statuary. Sanzio’s drawing is ‘scientific’. We
clearly recognise that the horse is a piece of marble sculpture, with a
faithful record of its missing left leg and the joint between the neck and the
body. The horse is COPIED, i. e. DRAWN AT EYE LEVEL (Sanzio presumably stood on
a platform) and not seen from below, as in most other contemporary views. This
allows the proper study of the proportion of the sculpture, in a way similar to
an architectural elevation. Outstandingly, even the measurements of the statue
are recorded on the drawing, probably by one of his pupils, making this the
first surviving measured drawing of a classical statue. Incidentally Sanzio’s
drawing also shows the introduction of a new medium – red chalk – which would
become one of the preferred tools for drawing after the Antique. It is likely,
nevertheless, that Sanzio generally left making such specific records of
classical sculptures to the pupils of his large workshop, as several surviving drawings
in the hand of Romano and Polidoro da Caravaggio, among others, attest. Some of
these were probably intended to be engraved, as it is in Sanzio's circle that
we find the first printed images of celebrated statues and reliefs, such as
those of Raimondi, Marco [Sanzio The Right Horse of the Horse Tamers on the
Quirinal Hill, c. 1513, red chalk and pen and brown ink over indentations with
the stylus, 219 × 275 mm, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., inv.
1993.51.3.a, Woodner Collection. Buonarroti, Study of an Antique Torso of
Venus, c. 1524, black chalk, 256 × 180 mm, The British Museum, Departments of
Prints and Drawings, London, inv. 1859,0625.570. Buonarroti, A Youth beckoning;
A Right Leg, c. 1504–05, pen and brown ink, black chalk, 375 × 230 mm, The
British Museum, Departments of Prints and Drawings, London, inv. 1887,0502.117.
Romano
(attr.), Apollo del Belvedere, c. 1513–15, pen and brown ink, pencil, 316 × 155
mm, Albertina, Vienna, inv. 22449. Veneziano, Apollo Belvedere, engraving, c.
1518–20, 269 × 169 mm, private collection. Dente and Agostino Veneziano (c.
1490–after 1536; 29). The print medium, which plays a crucial role in
disseminating the knowledge of the Antique is to be increasingly used in
work-shops and academies for training. One first copies the Antique from a flat
image, before turning to the third dimension of a cast or an original. Sanzio’s
approach towards the Antique, based on study, measurement, reconstruction and
dissemination, cannot be more distant from that of Buonarroti, who constantly
confronts the classical models with a challenging spirit. Several anecdotes
reported by contemporaries reveal his approach towards antiquity. Boissard
informs us that shortly after having seen the Laooconte emerging from the ground
of the Esquiline, Buonarroti enthusiastically comments that it is ‘a singular
miracle of art in which we should grasp the divine genius of the sculptor
rather than trying to make an imitation of it’.This quotation is poignant for
understanding the Platonic concept of divine inspiration for Buonarroti. At the
same time it shows clearly that his relationship with the antique model was not
based on a process of imitation but rather on that of ‘aemulatio,’ a creative
rivalry possible only after the assimilation and internalisation of its
principle. This approach is reinforced in a celebrated passage from Vasari
which became a recurrent leitmotif in subsequent art literature – in which he
reports that Buonarroti creates figures of nine, ten or even twelve heads high,
searching only for the overall grace in the artistic creation, because in
matter of the proportion, ‘it is necessary to have the compass in the eyes and
not in the hand, because the hands *work* and the eyes *judge*’. Advocating the
principle of grace, consistency of artistic creation, and the artist’s own
judgement, Buonarroti therefore disregards the canon of *eight* heads
comprising the male figure established by Vitruvio, implicitly expressing a
relation with the classical proto-type based on empathy and intimate
understanding of its form, rather than on a rational adherence to a rule based
on a number– an approach he replicates in his architecture. Buonarroti’s
surviving copies after classical statues can be counted on one hand, such as a
series of reproducing the torso of an antique Venus, probably made in
preparation for one of the female figures in the Medici Chapel. His free
relationship with the Antique emerges from many of his drawings, for instance the
Beckoning Youth, loosely inspired by the Apollo del Belvedere. Buonarroti evokes
the pose and aspect of the celebrated statue, but turns it into something new,
where the hint of movement of the original is dramatically accentuated and
balance is replaced by unstable dynamism. Sanzio and Buonarroti have been
discussed at length because their different attitudes towards classical forms
resurface constantly in Art. This polarity may be defined as assimilating the
principles of the Antique by sticking to its rules and system of proportions OR
assimilating the creative spirit of the Antique by breaking its rules. At the
risk of oversimplification we could argue that Reni and Poussin fall within the
first sphere and Rubens and Bernini in the second. It is not by chance that the
classicist credo that permeates the Italian and French academies for most of
their history elects *Sanzio* as their champion, while the eccentric and unruly
Buonarroti remains a figure more difficult to celebrate from a didactic point
of view. The Antique in Theory plays a Role in the Academic ‘Alphabet of
Drawing’. More statues emerge from the soil of Rome and those already
discovered are given new life and integrity by partial or full ‘restoration’. A
statue is usually unearthed in fragmentary states, as can be seen from the
evocative drawings of Roman collections by Heemskerck. Whether philologically
correct or not, the practice of restoration allows one to copy the naked male in
its entirety rather than in mutilated fragments. Celebrated restorations
included those of the Apollo del Belvedere and the Laooconte by MONTORSI on the
recommendation of Buonarroti. Among the excavated statues three must be
mentioned as they immediately became constant references for artists. The place
of honour goes to the Ercole Farnese. It provides an ideal model for the
muscular male at rest and copies after it become ubiquitous in artists’
work-shops and academies. The other two statues are discovered together in and
immediately entered the collection of the Villa Medici in Rome: I LOTTATORI,
representing two males in a complexly interlocked ‘syntagma’ or group.
I LOTTATORI are used often in later academies as a source for posing TWO LIVE
MODELS – SYNTAGMA DISEGNATO DALLA VITA (see cats 16 and 27b); and the Niobe Group
whose suffering expressions would be widely referenced as a source for drama
and pathos, for instance by Reni, among others. In time, a standard set of
ideal types (to use Weber’s term) begins to take shape, thanks to the diffusion
of bronze and plaster casts and, especially, of prints. After the loose sheets
of Raimondi, Dente and Veneziano, more systematic enterprises are launched.
Collections such as SPECVLVM ROMANÆ MAGNIFICENTIÆ by Lafréry or ANTIQVARVM STATVARVM URBIS ROMAE by
Cavalieri, play a crucial role in the wide dissemination of a canonical
selection of classical statues, thus attracting more and more artists to Rome
to study the originals. This tendency towards codification also affects the
relationship of artists and art writers with the Antique, as the imitation of
classical statuary is given theoretical underpinning. At the same time the
Antique acquires a clear role within the curricula of the emerging academies as
a teaching tool, systemising a practice that, as we have seen, is already
widely diffused within Renaissance workshops. Art theory in general goes
through a process of radical systematization. Many artists and writers feel that
rules are required to give ‘ars’ an intellectual frame-work that would lift its
status from ‘mechanical’ to ‘liberal’ arts – (as in M. A. Magister in Arts, MA
before DPhil Lit Hum) an ambition dating back to the writings of Alberti. Most
theoreticians and artists believe that a codified precept is also vital to
inculcating the ‘correct’ principle in an age that they considered to be one of
artistic corruption. Armenini speaks explicitly of the ‘pain’ that masters like
Sanzio and Buonarroti would have felt in seeing the art of his own time. And
Armenini, Lomazzo, Zuccaro and others, notwithstanding differences among them,
consider that the rule can be inferred from study of the best examples of the
great Renaissance masters and those of antiquity. The latter especially, it was
thought, would provide with correct proportions and anatomy and inculcate the ideal
standard. A foundation of this theoretical effort is provided by the
assimilation of Artistotle’s Poetica, the first reliable Latin translation of
which circulated widely. Since no comprehensive treatise on painting had [Cavalieri,
The Laocoön, engraving plate 4, from Antiquarum statuarum urbis Romae, Rome,
1585] readily found in his work. For him the best ancient sculptures embodied
the supreme quality of ‘grazia’, which cannot be attained by study but only by
judgement – a concept that remains one of the central tenets of Italian art
theory. Vasari’s Lives also proclaims the superiority of the Central Italian
School of painting, based on ‘disegno’ to the Venetian one, based on ‘colore’,
initiating a debate over the respective merits of the two traditions. Although
traditionally the Venetians aim at imitating nature directly on the canvas
through colour and therefore are less attached to the laborious practice of drawing
after the antique, classical statuary plays a role in the formation of many
Venetian painters, and casts are used in their workshops. Tintoretto, for
instance, owns a large collection of casts and reductions of ancient and modern
sculptures. The importance attached to the study of the Antique by all the
Italian schools of painting is shown by the fact that one of the very first
consistent formulations of the principle of the ‘imitation’ of classical
statuary is to be found in Dolce’s “Dialogo della pittura.” Dolce’s “Dialogo
della pittura” contains the strongest defence of the Venetian tradition against
the Vasarian point of view. It also contains, if not fully developed, most of
the fundamental elements of the artistic theory. Dolce clearly specifies that
in the search for the perfect proportion of the naked male, the artist should ‘*partly*
imitate nature’ and partly ‘the best marbles and bronzes of the antient [sic]
masters’, because through them he can ‘correct’ this or that defects of this or
that living form – the live model -- as they are ‘examples of perfect beauty’, an
ideal version of Nature. But in Dolce we find also a warning against regarding
the copying of ancient sculpture as an end in itself rather than the means by
which an artist creates his own ideal artistic forms – something already
stressed by Vasari in his Lives. An ancient statue is to be ‘imitated’ with
‘judgement’, to avoid turning a pleasing trait into a formula or, worse, an eccentricity.
This warning would be repeated frequently, notably, y Rubens and Bernini and it
could lead to open opposition to copying the Antique. Similar advice appears in
Armenini’s Veri Precetti della Pittura. Armenini’s “VERI PRECETTI DELLA
PITTURA” is quite systematic and offers one of the most articulated approaches
towards the role of the Antique in the artist’s education. Many of Armenini’s ideas
and much of his advice would becomes standard practice. In the chapter on
‘disegno’, Armenini states that to acquire the ‘bella’ or ‘buona
[The Farnese Hercules, Roman copy of the 3rd century ad of a Greek
original of the 4th century bc, marble, 317 cm (h), MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO
NAZIONALE, Napoli, inv. 6001. I
LOTTATORI. Roman copy of a Greek original of the 3rd century bc, marble, 89 cm
(h), Uffizi, Firenze, inv. 216. The Niobe, possibly Roman copy of a Greek
original of the 4th century bc, marble, 228 cm (h), Uffizi, Firenze, inv. 294] survived
from antiquity, the Poetics, together with Orazio’s Ars Poetica, offer a
theoretical structure that could be transferred from the literary disciplines
to visual art – justified by Orazio’s celebrated motto ‘ut pictura poesis’, ‘as
is painting so is poetry’. More relevant from our perspective, Aristotle’s
Poetica provides, in several passages, an authoritative ancient source for the
principle that art may ‘perfect’ nature to create an ideal model – a concept
implied but never clearly defined by Alberti – and which constituted one of the
most solid bases for the classicist doctrine of art. This Aristotelian trend
had a counter-balance in a neo-Platonic tendency in which ideal beauty does not
derive from Nature but is infused in the mind of the artist by God, two
approaches that at times were combined by the same author, such as Lomazzo or
Zuccaro. But whether of Aristotelian or Platonic origins, or indeed a
combination of both, the principle of imitation of those works of art that had
already accomplished idealisation – particularly the antique statue – becomes one
of the leitmotifs of Italian art theory (v. Dorfles, “Natura e Artificio”). The
most important writer on art of the Renaissance, Vasari, firmly establishes the
primacy of disegno, design or drawing, as the intellectual part of art, the
‘parent’ of the three sister arts of architecture, sculpture and painting. In
his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects drawing is described
as the physical, sensible manifestation EX-pression of an idea, encompassing
‘all the objects in nature’. Although he does not provide a theoretical case
for drawing after the Antique, nonetheless passages referring to the impact
that classical statues have on artists are maniera’ of the great
Renaissance masters, the student needs fully to assimilate through drawing
those principles of the ancient statues that those Renaissance masters
themselves copy, as they embody the best of Nature. Armenini’s importance lies
also in the fact that he is the first to list the specific statues and reliefs to
copy and to praise the didactic use of plaster casts, of which he saw many
collections throughout Italy – testifying to a practice that must already have
been quite widespread. The imitation of the Antique also becomes a central
tenet of the earliest art academies. Deriving their name from the ancient
philosophical Academy (Hekademos) of Plato, an ‘accademia’ is intended as a venue
for the cultivation of the practical, but even more, the intellectual aspects
of art. Its role is conceived in parallel and not in opposition to the artist’s
workshop, where the apprentices is still supposed to learn art’s technical
rudiments. One of the first mentions of the word ‘accademia’ in conjunction
with art is found in the first object shown in this catalogue, the Accademia del
Belvedere run by BANDINELLI eengraved by Veneziano. This depicts an ‘accademia’
centred on disegno set up in the Belvedere, where Leo X gives him quarters. It
shows artists learning how to draw the naked male and it is significant that
the focus of their attention is a series of statuettes modelled after a classical
proto-type. This, and the later view of Bandinelli’s Florentine Academy, are
the very first examples of an iconographical genre: the image of an accademia,
workshop, studio, often created with a programmatic or didactic purpose,
showing pupils learning the different branches of art or going through
different stages in their education. Just glancing at the works illustrated in the
catalogue shows how the presence of the Antique becomes progressively relevant.
The centrality of disegno and the naked male is firmly stressed by the
institutional, more organised, ‘accademia’.. The first, and a model for all
future academies, was the aptly named ‘Accademia del Disegno,’ – or ‘dei
disegnanti’ -- founded in Florence by Cosimo de’ Medici on the initiative of
Vasari. Its aim is to emancipate the artist from guild control, and to affirm
the intellectual status of the art.The two most significant academies that
followed before the are ‘Gl’Incamminati’, or ‘Accademia degl’incamminati,
founded in Bologna by the three Carraccis, and the Accademia di San Luca in
Rome, relaunched and given a didactic curriculum under Zuccaro. These academies
– although there were significant differences among them, and often huge
discrepancies between the theory they supported and the everyday teaching they
practised – proposes a system that could give a broad education to aspiring
artists. This usually included the study of mathematics, geometry and
perspective, to teach the student how to represent space rationally; and of
anatomy, the antique and the live model, -- DISEGNO DALL’ANTICO, DISEGNO DALLA
VITA -- to teach him to master the correct depiction of the naked male. We can
see an idealised version of early academic practices in a complex and
fascinating drawing by Stradano,
engraved by Cort, where the stress is on anatomy, the Antique and on the three
arts of disegno. Similar practices are illustrated in an etching by Alberti
showing a structured curriculum of studies involving anatomical dissection,
geometry, the Antique and architectural drawing. These studies codify artistic
exercises (and give a bad name to ‘academic’) that had been current from the
early Renaissance onwards but important new teaching structures were
introduced. These include a rotating academic staff, a competition and a prize,
and an organised debate on artistic questions and they are supported especially
by the regulations of the Accademia di San Luca. Although we do not know to
what extent and how effectively these new structures functioned in the first
decades of the Roman institution, they soon spread to other academies, becoming
the model for the Académie Royale in Paris. All these institutions strongly
advocate the copy of the Antique, both in plaster reproduction or in the
original. The Accademia del Disegno supervises drawing from the Antique both in
the Academy and in the workshops where apprentices were trained. It also owns a
‘libreria’, which includes drawings, models of statues, architectural plans,
and ancient sculpture, all used as teaching tools. The Accademia di San Luca
lists the copying after the Antique in its first statutes and receives a donation of casts, while numerous
plasters – such as reliefs from Trajan’s Column, the bust and the head of the
Laocoonte, one of the Horse Tamers of the Quirinal, the Torso del Belvedere and
many other entire or in fragments – appear in its early inventories. The
importance accorded by Zuccaro, the founder of the Roman Academy’s curriculum,
to the thorough study of Rome’s most famous statues, emerges from his wonderful
drawing of his brother, Taddeo sketching the Laocoonte at the Belvedere. The
series to which this drawing belongs, produced around the same time as the
foundation of the Accademia di San Luca, illustrates the ideal training that am
artist should follow: imitation of the Antique and the works of Renaissance
masters, such as Sanzio’s Stanze and Loggie, Buonarroti’s Last Judgment and
Polidoro’s painted façades. Another sketch, by a Zuccaro follower, depicts Zuccaro
himself in the Accademia, surrounded by students sketching after the cast of an
ancient torso. The Carracci academy too, although primarily focused on
life-drawin (DISEGNO DALLA VITA), advocates study of the Antique and we know
that Carracci makes his collection of drawings, medals and casts available for
students. Early academies also codified a teaching model, defined as the
‘alphabet of drawing’ or the ‘ABC’ method, which, in a less regulated form, was
already established within work-shops and which would have a long-lasting
impact. This contributes significantly to giving the Antique a fixed place
within teaching curricula. Modelled on the learning of grammar, the ‘alphabet’ is
a sequence that encourage students to advance from elementary unity to complex
whole and from the simple and similar to the varied and different. The scheme
once again originated in Alberti, who advises a painter to follow the method practiced
by teachers of writing, from the alphabet to whole words. So the beginner is supposed
to learn first ‘the outlines of surfaces, then the way in which surfaces are
joined together, and after that the forms of all the members individually; and
they should commit to memory all the differences that can exist in those
members’. He recommends the same process for the study of the male anatomy:
starting from the bones, proceeding to the sinews and muscles, and finally to
the flesh and skin. An iincreased stress on the naked male means that pupils
often start from the eye, then assembles different parts of the body in ever
more intricate combinations, and finally reaches the whole naked male, via the
study of ancient sculpture AND the live model. Benvenuto [Workshop of Federico
Zuccaro, A Group of Artists Copying a Sculpture, c. 1600, 190 × 264 mm, pen,
black and red chalk on prepared paper, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. F 261
inf. n. 128, 125] Cellini reports that starting with the eye is the common
practice and advised, like Alberti, a similar process for the study of anatomy.
This process is reflected in the various images of early academies or studios,
such as Stradanus’ The Practice of the Visual Arts, where one pupil is shown
drawing an eye on his sheet, or Alberti’s Painters’ Academy where an artist is
presenting a similar drawing to his master. A parallel progression led the
student from simplicity to complexity in the depiction of outlines, surfaces,
chiaroscuro, poses and expressions: from copying objects in the same medium and
in two dimensions, to the imitation of three-dimensional figure. The process
usually starts with copying a drawing or print, then paintings, first in
grisaille and then in colour, moving onto ancient sculpture [PRELIMINARY to the
LIVE MODEL – drawn from life], either originals or casts, and, FINALLY, to the
live model. This progression, already outlined by Vinci in his treatise on
painting, and advocated also by Vasari, is codified by Armenini, the first to
list all its stages while simultaneously assigning a central role to classical
statuary in providing a model for ideal forms. Armenini delineates both the
progression from the eye to the whole body and from a drawing or print to the
live model (via the preliminary of the ‘drawn from the antique’, and warned the reader not to subvert this
order. The earliest academies applied this method and Zuccaro’s statutes of the
Accademia di San Luca, which are the most explicit, specifically mentioned the
‘alphabet’ or ‘ABC’ of drawing. It becomes standard practice in academies. The aim is, as most writers reiterated, to
assimilate this repertory of forms through constant study and the exercise of
memory, as to finally be able to create a form from imagination – for a
mythological heroic figure -- *independent* of any object of imitation
(IMITATUM). The ‘alphabet of drawing’ has its physical manifestation in the
publication of the drawing-book, conceived in the environment of the Carracci
academy, such as Fialetti’s “Il vero modo”. The diffusion of such manuals contributed
enormously to spreading the knowledge of the didactic role of the Antique to
artists who makes a grand tour to Rome a compulsory part of his education. Odoardo
Fialetti, Il vero modo et ordine per dissegnar tutte le parti et membra del
corpo humano, Venice, c. 1608, etching, 100 × 140 mm, The Bellinheger Collection].
Rome establishes herself as the preeminent centre for anyone
eager to assimilate the principle of Italian art. The first significant artist,
and one of the greatest of all to do the tour to the Belvedere with the specific
educational intent, is Dürer. Durer spends the years in Rome. The impact of
classical statuary is evident in many of his prints and paintings, for example,
in his “Adam and Eve”. But the largest number of artists to travel to Rome
originates from the Low Countries. Coming from a powerful and influential
pictorial tradition that privileged an analytical representation of nature, and
having received little or no exposure to classical antiquity in their training,
Netherlandish artists seek especially to learn how to master the naked male
through the lessons of the Antique and the works of Sanzio and Buonarroti. Rome
offers also the opportunity of training in one of its many workshops and the
appealing possibility of benefiting from the system of commissions. Indeed the
‘fiamminghi’, as they are called in Rome, gain an increasing number of
commissions, eventually, in their turn, influencing the Roman art world. Some
of them stayed for long periods or moved permanently, such as Stradanus, Giambologna
– il ratto delle sabine, il mcurio di Medici -- or Tetrode. We know about the
Roman years of many of these artists mainly thanks to Mander’s “Schilderboeck”,
the earliest systematic account of Netherlandish and Northern European
painters, based on Vasari’s “Vite”. The approach of these artists towards the
Antique could be varied and multi-faceted. Most fill their sketchbooks with
drawings that served as a collection of forms to be re-used. Others, like
Spranger, according to Van Mander, aim to assimilate the principles of
classical art to establish a repertoires of forms and an attitude towards the
naked male that could be infused in their own creations, rather than spending
too much time in the physical act of drawing. Although ‘Mabuse’ is the first
Fleming to pass time in the peninsula, it was only with Scorel that the lesson
of antiquity was transmitted, through his work-shop at Utrecht. Of his various
pupils, Heemskerck is certainly the most prolific and versatile in copying
antique statuary. Two albums from the
years he spent in Rome are preserved in Berlin. They constitute one of
the largest surviving collections of copies after the Antique and are filled
with exceptional drawings in different media and size, offering an invaluable
opportunity to categorise the many different approaches to classical statuary
that can be described as record drawings. Many are topographical views of Rome
in which Heemskerck indulges in the depiction of architectural ruins and
sculptural fragments, and which he later reuses in imaginary landscapes. Some
of his views are poetic meditations on the colossal ruins of the city, physical
reminders of the passage of time, of human grandeur and fragility, a mood he
shared with other artists, such as Herman [Heemskerck, View of the Santacroce
Statue Court, 1532–37, pen and brown ink, 136 × 213 mm, Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck Album I,
fol. 29r] Posthumus. Other drawings are more or less accurate depictions of
classical statues in their physical locations, from the Belvedere to the Campidoglio,
to Roman private courtyards and gardens (figs 16 and 38), where the antiquities
are shown in their still fragmentary state. In numerous detailed drawings
focusing on single statues, we see Heemskerck’s different approaches to copying
the Antique and, correspondingly, the different media he employs to do so. His
drawings range from the precise pen-and-ink study, in which he faithfully
records the condition of celebrated statues, isolating the head as a physiognomic
type to a drawing where the whole statue is presented FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES, to
record the different poses and volumes of the naked male in space. He also makes
copies in which he exploits the softness of red chalk to study anatomical
details, assembling parts from different statues on the same sheet and focusing
on torsos and legs, sometimes even disregarding the face, the drapery or other
details. Finally, in yet other red chalk drawings he carefully records
decorative details from a statue or a relief. The variety of techniques
and handling deployed in these [Fig. 39. (top left) Maarten van Heemskerck,
Head of the Laocoön, 1532–36, pen and brown ink, 136 × 211 mm, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck
Album I, fol. 39r. Heemskerck, Two Studies of the Head of the Apollo Belvedere,
1532–36, pen and brown ink, 136 × 211 mm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck Album I, fol. 36v. Heemskerck,
Three Studies of a Fragmentary Statue of a Crouching Venus in the Palazzo
Madama, 1532–36, pen and brown ink, 135 × 210 mm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck Album I, fol. 06v. Heemskerck,
Studies of Three Torsos and a Leg from Classical Statues in the Casa Sassi,
1532–33, red chalk, 135 × 211 mm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck Album I, fol. 51v. Heemskerck,
The Right Foot of the So-Called ‘Colossal Genius’, 1532–33, red chalk, 135 ×
208 mm, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Kupferstichkabinett, Heemskerck Album I, fol. 65v ] copies allowed him to
find appropriate solutions to the variety of problems posed by the style and
condition of the works that he copied. The result is a stunning visual
repertory that is easy to access and use, and which would inspire him when he
returned home. Several Frenchmen also established their residence in Rome. Many
of them, such as Beatrizet, Lafréry, or Dupérac, specialise in engraved views
of the city and its ancient remains, catering to a market increasingly
fascinated by Rome’s ruins and statues. In one engraving attributed to
Beatrizet, we find a rare image of an artist in the act of copying from ancient
statuary in situ – in this case the famous colossal “Grande Bellezza” Marforio,
at that time located in the Forum now in the courtyard of the Palazzo Nuovo of
the Campidoglio. The image clearly expresses the sense of awe that one feels in
front of the grandeur of the remains of Roman classical statuary. The
fragmentary condition of so much monumental sculpture inspired thoughts about
the fragility of the human condition and the ultimate insignificance of worldly
troubles, which, as the inscription on the print remarks, the old Marforio
‘does not consider worth a single penny’. It is against this backdrop that we
must consider Goltzius’ draughtsmanly activity in Rome, where he arrived almost
certainly on the recommendation of his friend Mander, who had already been in
Italy. Goltzius was then is celebrated as an [Fig. 44. Beatrizet (attr.), An
Artist Drawing the ‘Marforio’, 1550, engraving, 370 × 432 mm, published in
Antoine Lafréry’s Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae] engraver throughout Europe.
With Mander and Haarlem he establishes an academy in Haarlem. Although we know
almost nothing about this artistic association, it must have involved
discussions about the Antique and its representation among the three friends,
who had the advantage of direct access to Heemskerck’s Roman drawings, then
owned by Cornelisz. It is therefore significant that while in Rome, Goltzius takes
an approach to classical statuary that is very different from Heemskerck’s. Goltzius
concentrates from the beginning on *thirty* of the most famous classical
statues, of which 43 drawings in total survive. Goltzius’s drawings are highly
finished and unprecedentedly detailed, carefully recording the tonal passages
on the muscles of the statues. The viewpoint is almost always close and frontal
to the statue, or exploits the most dramatic or informative angle. Most
importantly, unlike almost all of his predecessors, who fill single pages of
their sketchbooks with details from unrelated sculptures, he devotes a full
page to *each*, a practice followed by Rubens. Goltzius’s intent from the
beginning is clearly to produce a drawing that may be transformed into an engravings
capable of surpassing in precision all previously published series, and which,
in faithfully reproducing the volume of the naked male, would also demonstrate
his renowned virtuosity in handling the burin. His set is intended for a market
of connoisseurs and collectors, but it is also likely that Goltzius wishes to
provide anyone with correct and detailed images of classical statues that they
could copy during their apprenticeships. Goltzius engraves only three plates,
one of which, significantly, shows an artist at work copying the celebrated
Apollo del Belvedere. A few years after Goltzius’s tour to Rome, Rubens arrives.
He spends two prolonged periods in Rome. Rubens constitutes a special case,
being the perfect embodiment of the humanistic ideal of the artist-scholar: the
son of a wealthy Antwerp family, highly educated in the classics and socially
accomplished, Rubens arrives in Rome already equipped with a thorough
understanding of the Antique and its literary sources, a passion he cultivates throughout
his life with his circle of scholarly friends and patrons. Rubens’s approach
towards classical statuary is therefore fascinating, complex and varied.
Rubens’ appetite for the most famous ancient statues must have been stimulated
already in Antwerp through the engravings by Raimondi and his pupils and
through those in the collections published by Lafréry and De Cavalieri. When in
Rome Rubens devotes himself completely to copying this or that original with
unique thoroughness, both to exercise his draughtsmanship and to create an
immense repertory of forms, to which he refers for inspiration throughout his
life. His approach towards classical statuary istwofold. One is purely intellectual,
focused on understanding the mathematical proportions and volumes of this or
that emblematic antique which he divides into different categories according to
muscular strength, to capture the very essence of their perfection. The other is
more direct: to study the statue exhaustively in order to assimilate its formal
principle For Rubens it is not only necessary to ‘understand the antique’, but
‘to be so thoroughly possessed of this knowledge, that it may diffuse itself
everywhere’. Unlike Goltzius, Rubens studies a statue over and over again,
copying it from many, and often unusual, points of view, devoting a single page
to each. No one before Rubens shows such a painstaking interest in
understanding the formal logic of a single statue intended as a whole. Rubens’s
focus on the naked male – to learn the principles of a perfect naked male – on specificslly ‘muscular’ masculine male
statues, such the Laocoonte, the Torso del Belvedere, and the Ercole Farnese
and his choice of the most favourable points of view, may reflect the specific
advice and examples given in Lomazzo’s Trattato and in Armenini’s Veri Precetti.
But, as Dolce and Armenini had already done before him, Rubens also cautions to
focus on the form and not on the matter of the statue, to avoid the ‘smell’ in a
drawing or a creation. Rubens is aware of the danger of transferring the
characteristics and limits of a three-dimensional medium (is flesh the medium
of the live model?) into another – drawing or painting. In a section titled “De
Imitatione Statuarum” of a larger theoretical notebook that he compiles over
several years, Rubens refers to painters who ‘make no distinction between the
form and the matter -- the ‘figura’ and the flesh, with the result
that ‘instead of ‘imitating’ living flesh from the life of nature, they
only represent marble tinged with various colours’. We can see Rubens’s genius
at re-vitalising the ‘inert’ substance of the antique model as if it were a
live model to be drawn from life, by applying his principle of inventive and
transformative imitation in most of his drawings after the Antique, for which
he uses soft chalk on rough paper better to ‘re-translate’ the substance back into
the natural living flesh, as if drawn from life. This is particularly evident
in muscular figures such as the Torso del Belvedere and the Laocoonte, which he
brings back to life, to the life Virgil instilled Laocoonte with, or Aiace had.
-- adopting a dramatic angle and a diagonal that completely abandons the
static [Rubens, The Back of the Belvedere Torso, c. 1601–02, red
chalk, 395 × 260 mm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 2002.12b] and
the academic frontal point of view of most academic drawings. This attention to
the qualities of the naked male skin and flesh, and the dynamism, pathos, and
drama that he learns mainly from classically Roman – but POST-classically
Greek] statuary is to become the main traits of his own art. In this he is following
in the footsteps of Buonarroti, who, not by chance, Rubens copied extensively,
focusing especially on the nudes of the Sistine Chapel and on his statues. Rubens
adopts a similar approach to the live model, which he often poses in attitudes
reminiscent of an antique – such as the Spinario, or the Wrestlers. Unsurprisingly,
he frequently cited the Laocoonte and the Torso, but the most recurrent is the
Spinario in the Campidoglio – even though the head is not the original one -- for
which several drawings of the complex pose made from different angles survive. The Spinario pose is already chosen by one of
the pupils of Gozzoli for this particular purpose of the antique-imitating live
model, and it remains one of the most popular, even, easiest, for posing the
live model – everyone has a thorn! -- Rubens’s drawings of the Spinario convey
the essence of Rubens’s attitude towards the ideal human form, and the
Spinario’s attitude towards his own thorn. By posing flesh as imitatiang
another substance imitating flresh, Rubens – or the artist who does this -- is
able to bypass the dangers of the ‘matter’ to focus only on the complex form and
pose of the original statue or statuary group or syntagma (think Lottatori!). Back
in Antwerp, Rubens retains until his death his drawings after the Antique,
bound together in separate books, as a distinctive part of the collection of
his house-museum, which hosted also numerous antiquities. They remain a
constant source of inspiration and they may also have been used as teaching
tools – as in the best tradition of Renaissance workshop practices – judging by
the copies deposited by his pupils in the cantoor, Rubens’s cabinet or studio.
The flux of artists coming to Rome did not cease, although most become
fascinated by the radical naturalism of Caravaggio and his followers, rather
than aiming at recreating the principles of classical art. A group of artists even
develops a successful speciality in the depiction of contemporary Roman street
life and everyday reality: a rustic tavern, a drinking scenes, brigands, street
vendors, charlatans and carnivals. The art of the ‘Bamboccianti’, so named
after their leader, Laer, dubbed ‘Bamboccio’, or ‘ugly puppet’, is fiercely
criticised as a debased form of art that deliberately chose the ‘worst’ of nature
(cf. verismo, and the customs of realistic naturalism) by the supporters of
classicism and history painting, such as Albani, Sacchi, and Rosa, as well as
by the philosophers of ‘ideal beauty’ such as Bellori. In contrast to the
Dutch, among the foreign communities in Rome, it was the French who are to take
the lead in the cause of classicism, the defence of Ideal Beauty and the copy
and study of the Antique. The contrasting attitudes of artists towards the
study of art in Rome is perfectly visualised in a canvas by Goubau, a Flemish
painter influenced by the Bamboccianti, who had been in Rome. On the right,
judicious [Rubens, Study of the Laocoön Seen from the Back, c. 1606–08, black
chalk, 440 × 283 mm, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. 624, F 249 inf. n. 5, 11.
Rubens, Study of the Younger Son FIGLIO PIU GIOVANE of the Laocoön Seen from
the Back, black chalk, 444 × 265 mm, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, inv. 623, F
249 inf. n. 5, 11] artists under the supervision of a master are busy at work
among imaginary Roman ruins, copying and measuring an ancient statue or a relief,
among them the ERCOLE FARNESE; on the left the Bamboccianti indulge in the
pleasures of wine and music under the pergola of a rustic tavern. Nevertheless,
this wittily expressed opposition should not be taken too literally, as the
educational and inspirational role of classical statuary had been deeply
assimilated by artists of every inclination or aesthetic Many move between
genres and artistic currents such as the Flemish genre painter Lint, who
produced many drawings after the Antique while in Rome. Even those close to the
Bamboccianti clearly treasured the didactic role of classical statuary, as can
be seen in the depictions of workshops and artists at work by the Flemish Sweerts.
The Antique, and its didactic role in the Italian model of artistic education,
also made rapid progress in all of civilised Europe, supported by the
publication of Karel van Mander’s Schilderboeck. Knowledge was transmitted
mainly through drawings, drawing-books and plaster casts. These are used in the
drawing schools or private academies that proliferate, some of which were
founded by the same artists who had been exponents of the Bamboccianti in Rome.
These drawing schools often had to struggle against regulations by the guilds,
which remained the dominant associations for artists, dictating what goes on in
a workshop – the notable exception being the academy founded in Antwerp by
royal [Goubau, The Study of Art in Rome, 1662, oil on canvas, 132 × 165 cm,
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, inv. 185] decree. But despite the heavy
hands of the guilds, many thriving workshops, while accepting individual
apprentices, adopt *Italian* academic practices, such as conducting classes for
groups of students, or implementing a training programme focused on drawing and
the mastery of the human form. This often included the ‘alphabet of drawing’,
as was the practice of Rembrandt’s studio in Amsterdam, in which many students were
taught annually, and of Rubens, who, as court painter, did not have to register
his apprentices with the Antwerp guild.142 According to Van Mander, another
studio famous for its educational efficacy was that of Abraham Bloemaert in
Utrecht (see cat. 11).143 During the second half of the century, other private
drawing schools or ‘colleges’ were founded, which cater for a clientele of
artists or the dilettanti giving them the chance to draw from casts and the
nude live model alongside their studio practice. Among the most famous are those
of Sweerts, opened in Brussels and of Bisschop in The Hague. Closely connected
with workshops’ and schools’ drawing practices was the proliferation of
drawing-books and artists’ manuals. Most of them were based on the example of
Odoardo Fialetti’s Il Vero Modo and Giacomo Franco’s De excellentia et
nobilitate delineationis (1611) sometimes re- printing parts of them.147 Like
their Italian predecessors, Netherlandish drawing-books focused on the human
form, on classical statuary, and on the different stages of the academic
learning process.148 The increasing importance of 38 39 the Antique
in the Netherlands is well expressed by the various Dutch translations of
François Perrier’s Segmenta (1638) – the most successful collection of prints after
classical statues of the 17th century (fig. 57 and cat. 16, figs 3–6) – and by
the equal success of its Dutch counterpart, Jan de Bisschop’s Icones (1668, see
cat. 13), explicitly compiled as a teaching tool.149 Antique models were also
copied by young Northern artists in three dimensions, thanks to the
proliferation of casts, as shown in the frontispiece of Abraham Bloemaert’s
Konstryk Tekenboek (c. 1650) – one of the most influential draw- ing-books of
the second half of the century (see cat. 11). Many studios and drawing schools
owned collections of casts, often of famous prototypes such as the Laocoön or
the Apollo Belvedere. Inventories of the studios of Cornelis Cornelisz. van
Haarlem, Hendrik van Balen (1575–1632), and Rembrandt, for instance, testify to
their presence.150 The diffusion of casts appears explicitly in the numerous
paintings depicting young artists at work, which became popular from the middle
of the century onwards (figs 49–53, see also cats 12 and 14). These works
constitute an individual iconographical genre that probably derives from
Fialetti’s striking etching (see cat. 10), which, as we have seen, was well
known and reprinted several times in the Netherlands.151 This genre was
practised mainly by Jacob Van Oost the Elder (1601–71, 50), Wallerant Vaillant
(1623–77, 51), Balthasar Van den Bossche (1681–1715) and Michael Sweerts (fig.
52 and cat. 12), whose canvases tend to represent the ideal training curricu-
lum, where the copying of plaster casts after the Antique has the place of
honour.152 As ‘low’ genre paintings that celebrate the didactic role of the
Antique – traditionally considered to be essential for the lofty genre of
history painting rather than for scenes of daily life – they indirectly attest
to the ubiquitous penetration of classical models in all 17th-century artistic
practices. Incidentally they are also a direct visual source for the most
widely diffused typologies of classical statues in the North of Europe in the
17th century: from busts of the Apollo Belvedere (figs 18 and 50), of the
Laocoön group, both father and sons (figs 19 and 51), and of the so-called
Grimani Vitellius (fig. 52), to reduced copies of the Spinario (figs 15 and
49), the Belvedere Antinous (figs 22 and 51), the Venus de’ Medici (figs 53 and
56), and the Farnese Hercules (see 32 and cat. 14). Also frequently depicted
are busts of Niobe (see 34 and cat. 12), reduced copies of the Wrestlers (fig.
33) and the Borghese Gladiator (fig. 54). The Italian and the French Academies
in the Seventeenth Century and the Establishment of Classicism The 17th century
witnessed dramatic changes of attitude towards the study of the Antique in
terms of codification, diffusion and theoretical debate; at the same time it
saw the formulation of a style heavily dependent on classical sculp- ture,
setting the stage for the final affirmation of classicism as a pan-European
phenomenon in the following century. The selection of the most significant
antique statues, begun in the 16th century, was further refined, especially in
the cos- mopolitan antiquarian environment of Rome. Excavations continued and
some of the new discoveries immediately joined the canon of ideal models. Three
of them, in particu- lar, were ubiquitously reproduced and copied in studios
and academies: the Borghese Gladiator (fig. 54), discovered in 1611, which soon
became the preferred model for the anatomy of the muscular man in action; the
Dying Gladiator (fig. 55), first mentioned in 1623, whose complex pose could be
drawn from different angles and which offered an ideal of heroic pathos
expressed in the moment of death; and finally, the Venus de’ Medici (fig. 56),
first recorded in 1638 but possibly known in the late 16th century, which
rapidly became the most admired embodiment of the graceful female body.153 New
collections gradually replaced earlier ones and a few families succeeded in
acquiring some of the newly discovered statues that had gained canonical
status. The magnificent urban palaces and suburban villas of the Medici,
Farnese, Borghese, Ludovisi and Giustiniani attracted an increasing number of
visitors and artists, becoming privileged centres for the study of the Antique,
and family names became attached to certain statues, as the Farnese Hercules or
the Venus de’ Medici testify.154 Some of these, such as the Palazzo Farnese
(see cat. 21), and the Casino Borghese retained their status as ‘private
museums’ until the end of the 18th century. Prints continued to play a vital
role in the dissemination of images of classical statues throughout Europe. They
were produced predominantly in Rome, where, as in the 16th century, French
printmakers played a prominent role along- side Italian antiquarians and
engravers.155 Among others, the publications of François Perrier (1594–1649)
and the duo comprising the antiquarian and theoretician Giovanni Pietro Bellori
(1613–96) and the engraver Pietro Santi Bartoli (1615– 1700), offered artists
and the educated public a choice of 54. Agasias of Ephesus, Borghese Gladiator,
c. 100 bc, marble, 199 cm (h), Louvre, Paris, inv. Ma 527 55. Dying Gladiator,
Roman copy of a Pergamene original of the 3rd century bc, marble, 93 cm (h),
Capitoline Museums, Rome, inv. MC0747 49. (top left) Jan ter Borch, The Drawing
Lesson, 1634, oil on canvas, 120 × 159 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv.
SK-A-1331 50. (top right) Jacob van Oost the Elder, The Painter’s Studio, 1666,
oil on canvas, 111.5 × 150.5 cm, Groeningenmuseum, Bruges, inv. 0000.GRO0188.II
51. (bottom left) Wallerant Vaillant, The Artist’s Pupil, c. 1668, oil on
canvas, 119 × 90 cm, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, inv. 673 52. (bottom
centre) Michael Sweerts (attr.), Boy Copying a Cast of the Head of Emperor
Vitellius, c. 1658–59, oil on canvas, 49.5 × 40.6 cm, The Minneapolis Institute
of Arts, inv. 72-65 53. (bottom right) Pieter van der Werf, A Girl Drawing and
a Boy near a Statue of Venus, 1715, oil on panel, 38.5 × 29 cm, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, inv. SK-A-472 40 41 the ‘best’ ancient statues and reliefs;
the authority of their selections lasted throughout the 18th century. For
full-length statues, crucial was the appearance in 1638 of Perrier’s Segmenta
nobilium signorum et statuarum (fig. 57 and cat. 16 figs 3–6), a collection of
prints which in many ways fulfils what Goltzius had intended to publish four
decades earlier (see cats 6–7).156 Offering good quality reproductions and
different points of view– three for the Farnese Hercules and four for the
Borghese Gladiator, for instance – Perrier’s images were essential in focusing
the attention of artists on a selected number of models considered exemplary in
anatomy, proportions, poses and expressions. Reprinted and trans- lated several
times, the success of the Segmenta was immense and it was used in studios and
academies as a teaching tool for almost two centuries, as we have seen earlier
in the Netherlands. As late as 1820 John Flaxman was still recom- mending the
use of Perrier to his students at the Royal Academy.157 Such publications were
the results of the antiquarian and theoretical interests of a French-Italian
classicist milieu that flourished in the first half of the century in Rome.158
Innumerable French artists now spent time in the city, filling sketchbooks with
copies after the Antique and Renaissance 56. Venus de’ Medici, Greek or Roman
copy of the 1st century bc of a Greek original of the 4th century bc, marble,
153 cm (h), Uizi, Florence, inv. 224 57. François Perrier, Venus de’Medici,
plate 81, from Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum, Rome, 1638 masters, and
devoting increasing space to the study of Raphael.159 Two of the most relevant
figures in this context were the great French painter Nicolas Poussin
(1594–1665), who resided in Rome between 1624 and 1665 (with a brief sojourn in
France in 1640–42), and his friend and biographer Giovanni Pietro Bellori, possibly
the most influential art writer of the century, who deserves to be called the
pro- tagonist in the theoretical formulation of classicism. Of similar
significance was the scholar, antiquarian, collector and patron Cassiano dal
Pozzo (1588–1657), a friend of both Poussin and Bellori – and patron of the
former – who assem- bled a vast encyclopaedic collection of drawings divided by
themes, a ‘Paper Museum’, with sections devoted to classi- cal antiquity
commissioned from several contemporary artists.160 Classicism found probably
its clearest and most influen- tial formulations in a landmark discourse
composed by Bellori and delivered in 1664, the year before Poussin’s death, in
the Roman Accademia di San Luca: the ‘Idea of the painter, the sculptor and the
architect, selected from the beauties of Nature, superior to Nature’ (see
Appendix, no. 11). Bellori’s theoretical statement, published as a prologue to
his Vite in 1672, was to become enormously influential in defining and
disseminating the central tenets of the classicist ideal (see cat. 15).161
Joining Aristotelian and neo-Platonic premises, Bellori’s Idea advocates in the
selection of the best parts of Nature according to the right judgement of the
artist in order to create ideal beauty – a concept that we have already
encountered many times. According to Bellori, the Idea had been embodied in art
at several periods of history and he traced its development according to a
scheme of peaks and descents. It took shape first and foremost in the ancient world
and was revived in modern times by Raphael, who is accorded nearly divine
status. After the decadence and excesses of Mannerism, it was revitalised by
the Bolognese Annibale Carracci (1560–1609) and by his pupils and follow- ers,
notably Domenichino (1581–1641). Their flame was kept alive in Bellori’s time
by Poussin and Carlo Maratti (1625– 1713), a protégé of Bellori, who fashioned
himself as the new Raphael and whose Academy of Drawing is the most program-
matic representation of the principles of Roman classicism (see cat. 15).
Bellori’s classicism, heir of the rich debates of the first half of the
century, can be defined as a codification and defence of an idealistic style
and of moralising history painting against the radical naturalism introduced by
Caravaggio and his followers, whose slavish dependence on Nature and choice of
low subjects were seen to undermine the intellectual premises of art. On the
other hand, Bellori also confronted the excesses and liberties of the Baroque,
whose representatives, according to him, leaned towards artificiality and
despised the ‘ancient purity’.162 Classicism in many ways was based on the
princi- ples laid down by the art theory of the second half of the 16th
century, as it shared with it a fundamental premise: the neces- sity of the
defence of what was perceived as the ideal path of art – the ‘bella maniera’ –
against contemporary artistic trends which were considered erroneous or even
noxious.163 The classicist theoretical approach further reinforced the practice
of copying: it reinstated the intellectual value of drawing while providing a
selected group of correct models to follow, with the Antique and Raphael on the
loftiest pedestal. These premises were embraced by the Italian and French
academies, and became the basis of most of the European academies of the
following century – Opie’s words to the young pupils of the Royal Academy in
1807 still reiterate their fundamental tenets. Although the debate was at times
fierce – as for instance within the Accademia di San Luca in the 1630s – a
strict division of 17th-century artists into classicist, naturalist and Baroque
categories would be arbitrary and inaccurate, as many of them moved between
currents and at times incor- porated elements of each in their own creations.
Indeed, artists of all allegiances copied, studied and took inspiration from
the Antique. We know from surviving drawings and contemporary written sources
that ‘classicist’ artists such as Annibale Carracci, Poussin and Maratti copied
antique statues (figs 58–61), yet an equal number of ‘Baroque’ 58. Annibale
Carracci, Head of Pan from the marble group of Pan and Olympos in the Farnese
Collection, 1597–98, black chalk heightened with white chalk on grey-blue
paper, 381 × 245 mm, Louvre, Paris, inv. 7193 artists, such as Rubens
(figs 45–47 and cat. 9), Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669, 62) and Bernini (figs
63–64) spent as much time in absorbing the principles of the Antique.164
Nevertheless their approaches towards the Antique could be very different.
Poussin, the intellectual and antiquarian painter par excellence, copied
hundreds of details from classical sculpture, especially reliefs and
sarcophagi, to give archaeo- logical consistency to his art, so that his
paintings would represent classical histories with the maximum of
accuracy, 42 43 59. Nicolas Poussin, Equestrian Statue of Marcus
Aurelius, c. 1630–32, pen and brown ink and brown wash, 244 × 190 mm, Musée
Condé, Chantilly, inv. AI 219; NI 264 60. Carlo Maratti, The Farnese Flora, c.
1645–70, black chalk, 294 × 159 mm, The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, inv.
904377 61. Carlo Maratti, or Studio of, The Farnese Hercules, c. 1645–70, red
chalk, 292 × 165 mm, The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, inv. 904382 62.
Pietro da Cortona, The Trophies of Marius, c. 1628–1632, pen, brown ink, brown
wash, heightened in white, on blue sky prepared paper, 518 × 346 mm, The Royal
Collection, Windsor Castle, inv. RL 8249 integrity and power, an approach in
several ways similar to that of Mantegna and Raphael. Bernini, arguably the
greatest 17th-century sculptor, spent his youth obsessively copying the ancient
statues in the Belvedere (see Appendix, nos 9–10) and in his old age
recommended that students of the Académie Royale in Paris begin their studies
by copying casts of the most famous classical statues before approaching Nature
(see Appendix, nos 9–10). But Bernini’s attitude towards ancient statuary was
poles apart from that of Poussin (whom he nevertheless highly admired): he
assimilated its principles in order to create his own independent forms, at
times deviating radically from the classical model – an atti- tude that we have
already seen in Michelangelo and Rubens. To develop their own style and avoid a
slavish dependency on the Antique – something already stressed by Dolce,
Armenini and Rubens (Appendix, nos 4, 6, 8) – he advised his students to
combine and alternate ‘action and contemplation’, that is to alternate their
own production with the practice of copy- ing (Appendix, no. 10). A wonderful
example that allows us to follow Bernini’s creative process of transforming of
the antique model is provided by a study of the torso of the Laocoön, the
unbalanced and twisted pose of which he then ingeniously adapted in reverse for
the complex attitude of his Daniel (figs 63–66). A recollection of the Laocoön
is further- more recognisable in Daniel’s powerful expression (fig. 66).165 A
practical outcome of the French and Italian theoretical formulation of a
classicist doctrine was the foundation in 1648 of the Académie Royale de
Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris, followed in 1666 by that of the Académie de
France in Rome – the latter intended to give prize-winning students the
opportunity to study the Antique in situ and to provide 44 Louis XIV (r.
1643–1715) with copies of classical and Ren- aissance statues.166 The
foundation of the French Académie in Paris is a turning point in the history of
the teaching of art, as its codified programme – based on Italian examples, and
especially the Roman Accademia di San Luca – would constitute the basis for the
academies that spread over the Western world in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Founded by several artists, most of whom had spent periods in Rome such as
Charles Le Brun (1619–90), the Paris Académie was supported by the monarch and
candidates could apply for admission only after they had trained in a workshop.
Its regulations aimed at full intellectual develop- ment for its students to
prepare them for the creation of the highest genre, history painting, or the
grande manière. Although its curriculum was rather loosely organised and, in
the first tw o decades of its history, fairly tolerant in its aesthetic
positions, during the 1660s the Académie was drastically reformed by the
powerful Minister and Super- intendent of Buildings Jean-Baptiste Colbert
(1619–83) and by Le Brun to become an institution in the service of the
absolutist policy of Louis XIV, with a codified version of classicism as its
official aesthetic. The rationalistic nature of French 17th-century culture meant
that the Académie conceived of art as a science that could be taught by rules.
This was explicitly stated by Le Brun in 1670,167 and efforts were concentrated
in clarifying and applying most of the precepts already devised by the early
Italian academies and theoreticians. If a student followed these precepts
correctly he – and only he, as the institution was limited to male pupils until
the late 19th century – would be able to assimilate the principles of ideal
beauty and create grand art.168 The future European success of this regimented
version of the humanistic theory of art rested exactly in its rational nature,
as a clear system of rules easy to export and replicate, offering at the same
time a safe path towards ‘true’ and universal art. Pupils were supposed to
follow the ‘alphabet of drawing’, from copying drawings, to casts and statues,
to the live model, which remained the most difficult task and one reserved for
the most advanced students. Regular lectures on geometry, perspective and
anatomy were provided. As in Federico Zuccaro’s statutes for the Accademia di
San Luca, professors rotated monthly to supervise the life class, prizes were
awarded to students and regular debates were initiated on the principles of art
– the celebrated so-called Conférences, regularly held from 1667 onwards on the
advice of Colbert, although they faltered by the end of the century to be
revived only a few decades later.169 Other aspects of the reforms of the 1660s
included the division of the drawing course into lower classes, devoted to
copying, and higher classes, for 63. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Study of the Torso
of the Father in the Laocoön group, c. 1650–55, red chalk heightened with white
on grey paper, 369 × 250 mm, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, inv. 7903 64.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Two Studies for the Statue of ‘Daniel’, c. 1655, red
chalk on grey paper, 375 × 234 mm, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, inv.
7890 65. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, c. 1655, terracotta,
41.6 cm (h), Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 2424 drawing from the live model.
Competitions were further structured to lead towards the highest reward, the
famous Grand Prix or Prix de Rome, which allowed the winners to spend between
three and five years at the Académie de France in Rome, to complete their
education and to assimilate the principles of the greatest ancient and modern
art. The official doctrine of the Paris Académie was distilled and diffused by
André Félibien (1619–95), the most promi- nent French art theorist of the
period, in his preface to the first series of Conférences held in 1667 and
published in 1668. Félibien offered a clear structure for the hierarchy of
genres that would be associated with academic painting for the next two
centuries: at the bottom was still life, followed on an ascending line by
landscape, genre painting, portraiture and finally by history painting, for
which the study of the Antique, of modern masters and of the live model were
considered necessary.170 The first Conférences reveal in their subjects and
approach the central tenets of the Parisian Académie: paintings by Raphael,
Poussin, Le Brun and the Laocoön were meticulously analysed in their parts
according to strict rules: invention, expression, composition, drawing, colour,
proportions etc. Some Conférences were devoted to specific parts of painting:
one given by Le Brun in 1668, on the ‘passions of the soul’, which was printed
posthumously and translated into several languages, constituted the basis for
the study of facial expres- sions until well into the 19th century.171 The
Antique remained one of the favourite subjects to be dissected by the
academicians. After the 1667 Conférence on the Laocoön (see Appendix, no.
12),172 praised as the ideal model for drawing and for the ‘strong expressions
of pain’,173 many more followed specifically devoted to the Farnese Hercules,
Belvedere Torso, Borghese Gladiator, and Venus de’ Medici, the ultimate
selected canon of sculptures.174 Conférences were also given on the study of
the Antique in general.175 Sébastien Bourdon’s (1616–71) Conférence sur les
proportions de la figure humaine expliquées sur l’Antique, in 1670 advised
students to fully absorb the Antique from a very early age, measure precisely
its proportions and control ‘compass in hand’ the 66. Gian Lorenzo Bernini,
Daniel in the Lion’s Den, 1655–57, marble, over life-size, Chigi Chapel, Santa
Maria del Popolo, Rome 45 live model against classical sculptures,
as they are never arbitrary – a method, according to Bourdon, approved by Poussin.176
This extreme rationalistic approach, based on the actual measurement of the
Antique, which, as we will see, would generate opposition, was put into
practice by Gérard Audran (1640–1703), engraver and ‘conseiller’ of the
Académie (Appendix, no. 13). His illustrated treatise of 1682 (figs 72–73)
provided students with the carefully measured proportions of the antique
statues that they were supposed to follow and became a standard reference work
in many languages, continuously republished until 1855. While the Académie de
France in Rome must have started accumulating casts after the Antique from
early on – the inventory of 1684 lists a vast collection of statues, reliefs,
busts, etc.177 – it is not entirely clear how readily the students of the Académie
in Paris had access to casts or copies in the first decades of the
institution’s history. Bernini, in his 1665 visit, explicitly advised the
formation of a cast collection for the Parisian Académie, and some, among them
a Farnese Hercules, were ordered or donated in the following years.178 But
although students certainly copied casts already in Paris, full immersion in
the practice was reserved for the period they spent in Rome.179 ‘Make the
painters copy everything beautiful in Rome; and when they have finished, if
possible, make them do it again’ Colbert tellingly wrote in 1672 to Charles
Errard (c. 1606–9 – 1689), the first Director of the Académie de France in
Rome.180 In Rome a similar practice was encouraged in the Accademia di San
Luca, which, like its Parisian counterpart, was significantly reformed in the
1660s, perhaps a sign of the increasingly important reversal of influence, from
France to Italy. From the beginning of the presidency of Carlo Maratti in 1664,
a staged drawing curriculum, competitions and lectures were implemented and new
casts were ordered (see cat. 15).181 Some twenty years later the Accademia
received the donation of hundreds of casts of antique sculp- tures from the
studio of the sculptor and restorer Ercole Ferrata (1610–86).182 Sharing the
same values and similar curricula, in 1676 the Accademia di San Luca and the
Parisian Académie Royale were formally amalgamated and on occa- sion French
painters even became principals of San Luca – Charles Errard in 1672 and 1678,
and Charles Le Brun in 1676–77.183 But the Italians could never feel wholly
comforta- ble with the extreme rationalisation of art characteristic of so much
French theory.184 After the publication of the French Conférences, debates were
held in defence of the Vasarian tradi- tion and of the value of grace,
judgement and natural talent against the rules and the overly rational analysis
of art and the Antique by the French.185 The engraving by Nicolas Dorigny
(1658–1746) after Carlo Maratti is the most eloquent 46 visual expression of
this intellectual confrontation that con- tinued into the 1680s (cat. 15). Some
of the most doctrinal aspects of the Parisian academy also generated an
internal counteraction and the supporters of disegno, classicism and Poussin,
headed by Le Brun, were challenged by the promot- ers of Venetian colore and
Rubens, led by the artist and critic Roger de Piles (1635–1709) and by the
painter Charles de la Fosse (1636–1716). The battle between ‘Poussinisme’ and
‘Rubénisme’ – a new incarnation of the debate started more than a century
earlier by Giorgio Vasari and Lodovico Dolce – captured the imagination of the
French academic world between the end of the 17th and the first decade of the
18th centuries. The victory of the Rubénistes led the way to a freer,
anti-classicist and more painterly aesthetic and to the eventual affirmation of
the Rococo in French art.186 But the next century would also witness the
triumph of the classicist ideal, as its principles spread all over Europe. The
Antique Posed, Measured and Dissected Given the rationalistic approach of
French artists and theo- rists to the Antique – ‘compass in hand’ – it does not
come as a surprise that, during the 17th century, they actually started to
measure ancient statues in order to tabulate their pro- portions. And as well
as measuring statues they began to merge the study of anatomy with study of the
Antique to provide young students with ideal sets of muscles to copy. Such
efforts produced a series of extremely influential drawing-books filled with
fascinating and disturbing images, in which ancient bodies are covered by nets
of numbers or flayed and presented as living écorchés. In a way it was
inevitable that the study of human propor- tions applied by Alberti, Leonardo
and Dürer to living bodies 67. Peter Paul Rubens, Study of the Farnese
Hercules, c. 1602, pen and brown ink, 196 × 153 mm, The Courtauld Gallery,
Samuel Courtauld Trust, London, inv. D.1978.PG.427.v, 68. Charles Errard,
Antinous Belvedere, plate on 457 in Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Le vite de’
pittori scultori e architetti moderni, Rome, 1672 would eventually be merged
with the study of the ideal bod- ies of ancient statues, to test Vitruvius’
assertion that ancient artists worked according to a fixed canon (Appendix, no.
1). The main problem was that the canonical proportions of 5th-century bc
sculpture had been disregarded from the 3rd century bc onwards. Furthermore, as
we now know, most of the ‘perfect’ Greek statues were actually modified Roman
copies of lost originals. The measuring efforts of 17th- century art theorists
were therefore for the most part in vain, as most of the revered marbles did
not embody the principles of commensurability and overall harmonic proportion
that they believed they did. Although we have seen that Raphael had already
initiated the practice of measuring statues (fig. 27), the first to refer
explicitly to this exercise is Armenini in his 1587 De veri precetti della
pittura, in which a chapter is devoted specifically to the ‘measure of man based
on the ancient statues’.187 Rubens also devoted much attention to trying to
discover the perfect num- bers and forms of ancient statues, dividing for
instance the Farnese Hercules, the strongest type of male body, according to
series of cubes, the most solid of the perfect forms (fig. 67).188 Not
surprisingly, Poussin’s approach to the Antique in Rome was similar, and we
know from Bellori that he and the sculptor François Duquesnoy (1597–1643)
‘embarked on the study of the beauty and proportion of statues, measuring them
together, as can be seen in the case of the one of Anti- nous’ – two
illustrations of which he published in Poussin’s life in his Vite (fig. 68).189
But the first artist to provide accurate drawings of the most famous statues
was the future founding director of the Académie de France in Rome, Charles
Errard, who, later, also provided the measured Antinous illustrations for
Bellori’s Vite (fig. 68). In collaboration with the theorist Roland Fréart de
Chambray (1606–76), and most likely inspired by Poussin, he executed in 1640 a
series of intriguing measured red chalk drawings today preserved at the École
des Beaux-Arts in Paris (figs 69–71).190 Produced only two years after the
publication 69. Charles Errard, or collaborator, Measured Drawing
of the Belvedere Antinous, 1640, red chalk, pencil, pen and brown ink, 430 ×
280 mm, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, inv. PC6415, no. 27 70.
Charles Errard, Measured Drawing of the Laocoön, 1640, red chalk, pen and brown
ink, 430 × 280 mm, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, inv.
PC6415, no. 11 71. Charles Errard, Measured Drawing of the Venus de’Medici,
1640, red chalk, pencil, pen and brown ink, 430 × 280 mm, École nationale
supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, inv. PC6415, no. 28 47 of Perrier’s
successful Segmenta, Errard’s drawings were clearly intended to be published
and to present young artists with a set of certain and ideal proportions on
which they could base their own figures. A similar search for discipline was
undertaken by Fréart de Chambray, and later by other theorists, among the
remains of ancient architecture, which involved an even more intense effort to
discover their ‘perfect’ proportions. Although a few of Errard’s drawings were
published in 1656 by Abraham Bosse – the first professor of perspective of the
Parisian Académie Royale – the first successful manuals appeared in the 1680s,
as a result of the theoretical debates on the proportions of ancient statues
held in the Académie during the previous decade.191 By far the most influential
was a manual we have already encountered, Gérard Audran’s Proportions du corps
humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de l’antiquité, published in 1683
(Appendix, no. 13). This provided a fully ‘classicised’ drawing-book, following
the ‘alphabet of drawing’ from the measured eye, nose and mouth of the Apollo
Belvedere (fig. 72), to whole canonical statues, such as the Laocoön (fig. 73).
Audran’s book, republished several times in various languages, became the model
for many similar publications that appeared during the 18th and early 19th
centuries and espoused a practice embraced by many artists. Examples from
different nations include a Dutch manual, where, fascinatingly, the Apollo
Belvedere is presented according to Vitruvian principles (fig. 74; see also 2
and Appendix, no. 1); drawings by the sculptor Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823; 75);
and measured notes drawn by Antonio Canova over an engraving of the Apollo
Belvedere from a didactic series of prints after the Antique (fig. 76).192 In
addition to being carefully measured, antique bodies were also dissected. If
classical statues displayed perfect anat- omies, then, it was thought, they
would offer an ideal starting point for young students to study bones and
muscles. Combining the study of the Antique with that of anatomy was intended
to reinforce the familiarity of young artists with ancient canonical models,
now also analysed from the inside. Students until then had trained mainly on
the immensely influential De humani corporis fabrica, published by Andrea
Vesalius in 1543, and on the anatomical treatises that were based on it, but
from the late 17th century new ‘classicised’ manuals appeared.193 The first,
Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disegno..., based on drawings by Errard,
was published in 1691 by Bernardino Genga (1655–1720), professor of anatomy at
the Académie de France in Rome.194 Probably conceived much earlier, the set of
engravings included fascinating and somewhat morbid images of the skeletons of
classical statues (figs 77–78; although these were not eventually included in
the book) and several different views of the muscles of the strongest types of ancient
prototypes, the Laocoön, the Borghese Gladiator, the Farnese Hercules and the
Borghese Faun (figs 79–80).195 Genga and Errard’s Anatomia was a model for
several similar books which appeared in the 18th and early 19th centuries to
satisfy the needs of the increasingly classicistic curricula of European
academies. Not surprisingly, only male antiquities, and usually the most
muscular ones, were illustrated, both for reasons of decorum and also because
the 74. Jacob de Wit, Measured ‘Apollo Belvedere’, plate 8 in Teekenboek der
proportien van ‘t menschelyk lighaam, Amsterdam, 1747 75. Joseph Nollekens,
Measured Drawing of the ‘Capitoline Antinous’, 1770, pen and brown ink over
traces of black chalk, 431 × 292 mm, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, inv. DBB 1460 76.
Giovanni Volpato and Rafaello Morghen, Measured ‘Apollo Belvedere’, engraving
(with inscribed measures in pencil, red chalk, pen and brown ink by Antonio
Canova), post 1786, plate 35 in Principi del disegno. Tratti dall più
eccellenti statue antiche per il giovanni che vogliono incamminarsi nello
studio delle belle arti, Rome, 1786, Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, inv. B 42.69 Audran, Measured Details of the ‘Apollo Belvedere’, plate 27
in Les Proportions du corps humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de
l’antiquité, Paris, 1683 73. Gérard Audran, Measured ‘Laocoön’, plate 1 in Les
Proportions du corps humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de
l’antiquité, Paris, 1683 48 49 77. (above left) After
Charles Errard, The Skeleton of the ‘Laocoön’, c. 1691, engraving, 328 × 198
mm, Bibliothèque des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Album Maciet 2-4 (4) 78. (above
centre) After Charles Errard, The Skeleton of the ‘Borghese Gladiator’, c.
1691, engraving, 334 × 280 mm, Bibliothèque des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Album
Maciet 2-4 (1) 79. (above right) After Charles Errard, Anatomical Figure of the
‘Borghese Gladiator’, c. 1691, plate 51 in Bernardino Genga and Charles Errard,
Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disegno . . ., Rome, 1691 80. (left) After
Charles Errard, Anatomical Figure of the ‘Laocoön’, c. 1691, plate 43 in
Bernardino Genga and Charles Errard, Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del
disegno . . ., Rome, 1691 male body was believed to provide more
anatomical infor- mation compared to the female one. One of the most dis-
turbingly accurate, printed in two colours to distinguish the muscles from the
bones, is the Anatomie du Gladiateur combatant ... published in 1812 by the
military surgeon Jean- Galbert Salvage (1772–1813). Although this provided a
precise anatomical analysis of the head of the Apollo Belvedere (fig. 81), its
main focus was on the anatomy of the Borghese Gladiator analysed in all its
parts (fig. 82). The accuracy of the manual’s plates made it extremely
influential throughout Europe.196 81. Nicolaï Ivanovitch Outkine after
Jean-Galbert Salvage, Muscles and Bones of the Head of the ‘Apollo Belvedere’,
engraving in two colours, plate 1 in Jean Galbert Salvage, Anatomie du
Gladiateur combatant ..., Paris, 1812 82. Jean Bosq after Jean-Galbert Salvage,
Anatomical Figure of the ‘Borghese Gladiator’, engraving in two colours, plate
6 in Jean Galbert Salvage, Anatomie du Gladiateur combatant ..., Paris, 1812 50
The stress on anatomical precision also produced a spectacu- lar
three-dimensional écorché of the Borghese Gladiator created by Salvage in 1804
and acquired as a teaching tool in 1811 by the École des Beaux-Arts, where it
remains (fig. 83).197 An earlier model, which had served as inspiration for
Salvage, was the gruesomely naturalistic écorché posed as the Dying Gladiator
(see 55) made by William Hunter (1718– 83), the professor of anatomy at the
Royal Academy of Arts in London, in collaboration with the sculptor Agostino
Carlini. Casted on the body of an executed smuggler, it was aptly Latinised as
Smugglerius.198 The Antique found its way into academic anatomical manuals for
students throughout the 19th century, and its pervasiveness was enormous,
extending even beyond Western culture. A plate with a flayed Laocoön from the
popu- lar Anatomie des formes extérieures du corps humain, published in 1845 by
Antoine-Louis-Julien Fau (fig. 85), served as inspira- tion for a popular
artists’ manual produced in Japan at the end of the century, resulting in an
extraordinary image which fuses the Western canon and the Japanese woodblock
print tradition of the Ukiyo-e (fig. 86).199 The osmosis between the Antique
and other disciplines of the academic curriculum gained ground also in the
study of the live model. We have seen that already in the 15th century it was
common practice to pose apprentices in imitation of ancient sculpture (see 14),
and great artists like Rubens often returned to this expedient (see cat. 9).
But the practice became increasingly diffused within the codified curricula of
French and Italian academies during the 17th and 18th centuries (figs 87–89).
Recommended by several 83. Jean-Galbert Salvage, Écorché of the ‘Borghese
Gladiator’, 1804, plaster, 157 cm (h), École nationale supérieure des
Beaux-Arts, Paris, inv. MU11927 84. (top left) William Pink after Agostino
Carlini, Smugglerius, c. 1775 (this copy c. 1834), painted plaster, 75.5 ×
148.6 cm, Royal Academy of Arts, London, inv. 03/1436 85. (middle left)
M. Léveillé, Anatomical Figure of the ‘Laocoön’, lithography, plate 24 in
Antoine-Louis-Julien Fau, Anatomie des formes extérieures du corps humain,
Paris, 1845 86. (middle right) Anatomical Figures of the ‘Laocoön’ and
of a Small Child, woodblock print, plate in Kawanabe Kyo-sai, Kyosai Gadan.
(bottom left) Antoine Paillet, Drawing of a Model Posing as the ‘Laocoön’,
1670, black and white chalk on brown paper, 580 × 521 mm, École nationale
supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, inv. EBA 3098 88. (bottom centre) Giuseppe
Bottani, Drawing of a Model in the Pose of the ‘Lycean Apollo’ Type, c.
1760–70, red and white chalks on red-orange prepared paper, 423 × 270 mm,
Philadelphia Museum of Art, inv. 1978-70-197 89. (bottom right) Jacques-Luois
David, An Academic Model in the Pose of the ‘Dying Gaul’, 1780, oil on canvas,
125 × 170 cm, Musée Thomas Henry, Cherbourg, inv. MTH 835.102 51
academicians, posing the live model with the same tension and flexing of
muscles as the ancient statues encouraged students to correct their drawings
after fallible Nature against the perfection of the antique examples and to
derive universal principles from particular living models (see cats 16 and
27b).200 The Eighteenth Century and the Diffusion of the Classical Ideal The
seeds planted by 17th-century classicist theory fully blossomed during the 18th
with the affirmation of Neo- classicism in the second half of the century.
Supported by and supporting the exponential diffusion of academies – from some
nineteen in 1720 to more than 100 in 1800 – the cult of the Antique spread to
the four corners of Europe, from St Petersburg to Lisbon and beyond.201 The
‘true style’, as classicism was often called in the 18th century, was inextri-
cably linked with many of the values of Enlightenment culture: in an age in
search of order and universal principles, the appeal of the rational and
‘eternal’ ideals embodied by classical statuary proved irresistible. At the
same time they provided a useful tool for existing political powers and a for-
midable one for new authorities in search of legitimisation. The new academies
based their curricula mainly on that of Paris and Rome, and the didactic role
assigned to the Antique was physically imported through an army of plaster
casts – the ‘Apostles of good taste’ – as Denis Diderot called them, which
became the most recognisable trademark of the newly founded institutions (fig.
90).202 The progressive method of the ‘alphabet of drawing’ definitively
established itself as the basis of the training of European artists well into
the 20th century. Not necessarily followed in practice, as students often
wanted to rush to the copy of the live model, its didactic value was, in 90.
After Augustin Terwesten, The Life Academy at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in
Berlin, engraved vignette on 217 from Lorenz Beger, Thesaurus Brandenburgicus
Selectus...,3, Berlin, 1701 theory, supported by the vast majority of
academies.203 The plate illustrating the entry on ‘Drawing’ in Diderot and
D’Alembert’s epochal Encyclopédie significantly focuses on the three steps,
being followed in different media (fig. 91).204 While the French model was
spreading throughout Europe during the first half of the century, ironically
the Parisian Académie itself underwent a period of crisis. After the death of
Colbert in 1683 and of Le Brun in 1690, the royal institution became
decreasingly relevant in determining the direction of the national school of
painting. Financial constraints and the waning of royal patronage coincided
with the fact that the vital forces of French art were becoming less interested
in adhering to the precepts of the Académie. A change in taste under the
regency of Philippe d’Orléans (r. 1715–23) favoured the so-called petite
manière, a form of painting dealing with light-hearted subjects – ‘bergeries’,
‘fêtes galantes’ – against the grande manière. Partly as a conse- quence, the
traditional curriculum of the Académie, centred on the study of the human
figure to prepare for history painting, was increasingly neglected.205 But
things changed radically in 1745 with the appointment of Charles-François- Paul
Le Normant de Tournehem – the uncle of Madame de Pompadour – as Surintendant
des Bâtiments du Roi, the official protector of the Académie Royale on behalf
of the king. He initiated a reform involving the reinvigoration of royal
patronage, the re-establishment of Conférences and, more generally, a series of
initiatives aimed at re-establishing the leading role of the Académie and of
history painting in the French art world.206 The principles of Le Normant’s
reform, supported by the influential antiquarian and theorist Comte de Caylus
(1692–1765) and visualised by Charles-Joseph Natoire’s beautiful drawing (cat.
16), paved the way for the final affirmation of the grande manière in the
second half of the century, despite the continuing clamour of dissenting
voices. If Paris progressively became the centre of the modern art world, Rome
retained its status as the ‘academy’ of Europe 91. Benoît-Louis Prévost after
Charles-Nicolas Cochin the younger, A Drawing School, plate 1, illustrating the
entry ‘Dessein’ from Denis Diderot and Jean Le Ronde D’Alambert, Encyclopédie
..., Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les art libéraux, et les arts
méchaniques ..., Paris, 1763,20 where a thriving international community of
artists congre- gated to round off their education in the physical and spirit-
ual presence of the Antique and the great Renaissance masters.207 The crucial
role that Rome occupied in 18th- century culture is evoked in the words of the
most famous art critic of the age and the champion of classicism Johann Joachim
Winckelmann (1717–68): ‘Rome’ he wrote in his letters ‘is the high school for
all the world, and I also have 208 been purified and tried in it’. Of course,
artists and travel- lers had visited the city to study its art for at least two
centu- ries, but the 18th century represented Rome’s golden age as the
traveller’s ultimate destination. The Grand Tour – as the trip to Italy and to
Rome was known – became a social and cultural phenomenon that included artists,
antiquarians, collectors and, in general, members of European elites.209 It
generated an industry of collectibles that travellers could bring back to their
homeland, and an army of original ancient statues and modern copies in all
media was exported, alongside portraits and paintings of various kinds that
would powerfully recall the time spent by their owners in the eternal city.
Among the most fascinating and systematic evocations of Rome are a series of
celebrated canvases by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691–1765), where ‘the best of
the best’ of Roman sites and antiquities are gathered together in imaginary
galleries. In the foreground of 92, (see also cat. 20, 5) artists are busy
drawing and measuring with their compasses a selected choice of canonical
classical statues – a reminder of one of the most widespread artistic
activities in the city.210 The demands of the Grand Tour ‘industry’ also
generated a specific category of ‘marketable drawings’ after the Antique
destined to fill the ‘paper museums’ of collectors and anti- quarians all over
Europe. They were mainly produced for collectors and travellers from Britain, a
nation that became increasingly important in the study of the Antique through-
out the century. Among the most famous drawings were those produced in the
workshop of the entrepreneurial painter Francesco Ferdinandi Imperiali
(1679–1740) in the 1720s by various painters and draughtsmen – among them
Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (1692–1775; see cats 19–20) and the young Pompeo
Batoni (1708–87; 93).211 Created for the extensive collection of the
antiquarian Richard Topham 52 53 92. Giovanni Paolo
Panini, Roma Antica, 1754–57, oil on canvas, 186 × 227 cm, Staatsgalerie
Stuttgart, inv. Nr 3315 (1671–1730), Batoni’s red chalk drawings
are among the most extraordinary produced in the 18th century. With their
preci- sion, attention to detail, fidelity to the originals and frontal
viewpoint, they encapsulate many of the typical qualities of this category of
drawings. Their manner continues and devel- ops some of the characteristics
already seen in the classicist drawings of Carlo Maratti, of whom Batoni was
the natural artistic heir (figs 60–61). Growing interest in the classical past
was also supported by massive expansion in antiquarian publications, such as
the monumental Antiquité expliquée (Paris, 1719–24) by the Abbé Bernard de
Montfaucon, an illustrated encyclopaedia of the Antique for the use of the
European educated public. Artists could also benefit from an increase in printed
collec- tions of classical statues.212 Paolo Alessandro Maffei and Domenico de
Rossi’s Raccolta di Statue Antiche e Moderne (1704) set new standards of
accuracy, and it was followed by the various sumptuous volumes devoted to the
antiquities of the Grand Ducal collection in Florence and of the Capitoline
Museum in Rome (see cats 19–20). With its wealth of patrons, artistic
competitions, acade- mies and artists’ studios, many displaying collections of
casts, Rome also offered an unrivalled opportunity to learn and practice the
arts of disegno.213 The classicist direction given to the Accademia di San Luca
by Giovanni Pietro Bellori and Carlo Maratti, was sanctioned by the Pope
Clement XI (r. 1700–21) who in 1702 established papal- supported competitions,
the celebrated Concorsi Clementini, which thrived especially during the second
half of the century (see cat. 20).214 Open to all nationalities, the Concorsi 93.
Pompeo Batoni, Drawing of the Ceres of Villa Casali, c. 1730, red chalk, 469 ×
350 mm, Eton College Library, Windsor, inv. Bn. 3, no. 45 were divided into
three classes of increasing difficulty, the third and lowest class being
reserved for copying, usually after the Antique (see cat. 20, 4). This
reinforced, as nowhere else in Europe, the study of classical statuary as the
cornerstone of the artist’s education, giving to Italian and foreign artists
alike the chance to be rewarded publicly in sumptuous ceremonies held in the
Capitoline palaces, even in early stages of their careers. The cosmopolitan
atmos- phere of the Accademia di San Luca is reflected in the fact that among
its Principals were several foreigners, such as the Frenchman Charles-François
Poerson (elected 1714) or the Saxon Anton Raphael Mengs (1771–2) and the
Austrian Anton von Maron (1784–6). The Accademia was also open to leading women
painters such as Rosalba Carriera (1675–1757) or Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun
(1755–1842), although they were not allowed to attend meetings. Crucial for
artistic education was the opening of the Capitoline as a public museum in
1734, thanks to the enlight- ened policy of Pope Clement XII (r. 1730–40).215
One of the main reasons behind the papal decision was specifically to support
‘the practice and advancement of young students of the Liberal Arts’ through
the copy of the Antique.216 An evocative vignette inserted in the Musei
Capitolini – the first sumptuously illustrated catalogue of the collection –
reflects the popularity of its cluttered rooms among artists of all nations
(see cat. 20). With the opening in the Capitoline of the Accademia del Nudo in
1754 – specifically devoted to the study of the live model and controlled by
the Acca- demia di San Luca – the museum became a sort of ideal academy where
art students could copy concurrently from the Antique, Old Masters paintings
and the live model.217 Apart from the Capitoline and other traditional places,
such as the Belvedere Court or the aristocratic palaces where original
antiquities could be studied in situ (cat. 21), the other favoured locus for
the study of the Antique in the city was the Académie de France in Rome, which
owned the largest collection of plaster casts in Europe. Although the Académie,
like its Parisian counterpart, had gone through a troubled period in the early
decades of the century – the Prix de Rome was cancelled for lack of funds in
1706–8, 1714 and 1718–20 – its role was revamped and its practices drastically
reformed under the directorship of Nicholas Vleughels (1668–1737) between 1725
and 1737.218 The casts were redisplayed in Palazzo Mancini, the Académie’s
prestigious new location on the Corso, and integrated for didactic purposes
with the study of the live model (see cat. 16). The collection of the Académie
served as an example for similar institutions throughout Europe, as its
arrangement of many copies side- by-side was considered ideal for the
assimilation of classical forms. With the advancing neo-classical aesthetic,
their flawless white appearance was even preferred for didactic purposes above
the originals: young students could concen- trate on their purified forms,
without the signs of time shown by real antiquities. No other nation had as
many members in Rome as France, both as pensionnaires of the Académie and
permanent residents (see cats 17–18, 21).219 The long directorship of
Charles-Joseph Natoire, between 1751 and 1775, greatly devel- oped and expanded
the copying of antiquities that had been reinstated by Vleughels. But Natoire
also encouraged the creation of ‘classical’ landscapes of the Roman campagna, following
the principles established by the great 17th-century French landscapists:
Poussin, Dughet and Claude.220 Natoire and his most gifted and prolific pupil,
Hubert Robert (1733– 1808), who spent more than a decade in Rome between 1754
and 1765, produced a series of drawings in which copy- ing in the city’s
museums and palaces is splendidly evoked (figs 94–97 and cat. 17).221 Focused
in particular on the Capitoline collection, Robert’s images are among the most
fascinating products of a genre – that of the artist drawing in situ surrounded
by classical statues – that, as we know, goes back to the 16th century (see
cat. 5 and 44). Robert specialised in evocative views of the remains of ancient
Rome, with artists and wanderers lost among their crumbling grandeur. In many
ways he recaptured the spirit of wonder and meditation on the ruins of the city
expressed by 16th-century Northern artists, such as Maarten van Heemskerck,
Herman Posthumus, and Nicolas Beatrizet (fig. 44).222 Boosted by the enthusiasm
generated by the unearthing of the remains of Herculaneum and Pompeii in 1738
and 1748, in the second half of the century the ‘true style’ of Neo-classicism
firmly established itself, spreading from the international community in Rome
to the whole of Europe. Significant figures in the formulation of the new taste
were the architect and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720– 78), whose
lyrical etchings and engravings of ancient and modern Rome established – and
sometimes created – the image of Rome among a European public, and the art
historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whose powerful descriptions of classical
statues inspired generations of artists and travellers, firmly establishing a
new classicist doctrine in European taste.223 More than ever before, artists
now aimed not only at assimilating the principles of classical sculpture, but
at recreating its formal aspect, as a universal standard of perfection to which
any great artist should aspire. 54 55 94. Charles-Joseph Natoire,
Artists Drawing in the Inner Courtyard of the Capitoline Museum in Rome, 1759,
pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, white highlights over black chalk lines
on tinted grey-blue paper, 300 × 450 mm, Louvre, Paris, inv.
3931381 Robert, The Draughtsman at the Capitoline Museum, c. 1763, red
chalk, 335 × 450 mm, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie de Valence, inv. D. 80 96. Hubert Robert, Antiquities at the Capitoline Museum, c. 1763, red
chalk, 345 × 450 mm, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie de Valence, inv. D.
81 97. Hubert Robert, The Draughtsman of the Borghese Vase, c. 1765, red chalk,
365 × 290 mm, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie de Valence, inv. D28 As Winckelmann famously stated in his Reflections on the Painting
and Sculpture of the Greeks (1755): ‘There is but one way for the moderns to
become great, and perhaps unequalled; I mean, by imitating the ancients’ (see
Appendix, no. 15). Although in 1775 new regulations for the Académie de France
in Rome stressed again the centrality in the curriculum of study of the live
model, most pupils now favoured the study of the Antique, an evident sign of
the evolution of taste towards a new radical classicism.224 Of all the artists
converging on Rome, Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), was one of the most
prolific in making copies after the Antique.225 Leaving Paris in 1775 with the
firm resolution of maintaining his independence and avoiding the seductions of
the Antique, his arrival in Rome, according to his own words, opened his
eyes.226 He started his artistic education again by spending the next five
years as a pension- naire obsessively copying from modern masters and classical
statues, reliefs and sarcophagi with an attention to detail that recalls
Poussin’s approach to antiquity (fig. 98).227 Generally speaking, between the
end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, artists copying from the
Antique concentrated progressively on the outlines of statues rather than on
the modelling or the chiaroscuro, as the neo-classical aesthetic valued the
purity of the line over any other pictorial element, accentuating the stress on
disegno inaugurated by Vasari more than two centuries before. 98. Jacques-Louis
David, Drawing of a Relief with a Distraught Woman with Her Head Thrown Back,
1775/80, pen and black ink with gray wash over black chalk, 196 × 150 mm,
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Patrons’ Permanent Fund1998.105.1.bbb
But coinciding with David’s residence in Rome, other interpretations of the
Antique started to emerge within a circle of artists that included Tobias
Sergel (1740–1814) and Thomas Banks (1735–1805) and which revolved around the
Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825).228 The approach of this ‘Poetical
circle’ was utterly anti-academic and prefigures some of the principles that
would be embraced by Romantic artists a few years later. For them ancient
sculptures were embodiments of the emotions of the artists who created them,
rather than models of ideal beauty and proportional perfection. Fuseli’s
extraordinary drawing, The Artist Moved by the Grandeur of Antique Fragments
(cat. 22), which he produced immediately after leaving Rome in 1778, perfectly
expresses this more empathic and meditative relation with classical antiquity
and its lost grandeur. The attitude of Fuseli and his friends represents a
turning point in the relation of the artist with ancient statuary, stressing
the creative genius of the artist, his or her individuality and, in general,
the subjective values of art: all principles that would contribute to the
decline of the classical model in the following century. The Antique in
Britain: The eighteenth century Of the various nationalities of artists
resident in Rome during the 18th century, the British were among the most
numerous. Britain had arrived late on the international artistic stage. Until
the late 17th century, several factors, including the theological disapproval
of pagan and Catholic imagery of large sections of Protestant society, had made
Britain, outside the confined patronage of the Court, a virtual backwater in the
visual arts. There was no established national school of painting or sculpture
and no academy; painters were tied to the craft guild of the Painter Stainers’
Company; it was illegal to import pictures for sale, and there was no proper
art market.229 However, by a century later, things had changed radically:
following the nation’s dramatic political liberalisa- tion and economic
expansion, Britain had one of the most dynamic national art schools in Europe
and a Royal Acad- emy, founded in 1768. Several hundred thousand artworks –
including a multitude of original antiquities and copies – had been imported to
adorn the urban townhouses and country mansions of the upper classes; and
London had become the centre of the international art market, displacing Antwerp,
Amsterdam and Paris.230 The new ruling class that had emerged from the Glorious
Revolution of 1688 embraced classicism, defined as the ‘Rule of Taste’; at the
same time artists started gathering to form private academies where they could
study together and where beginners could receive at least some training, based,
56 57 of course, on the continental model, with the copy after the
Antique as one of its cornerstones.231 Many British artists also travelled to
Rome, where they participated in the Concorsi of the Accademia di San Luca or
attended the Accademia del Nudo in the Capitoline and several built national
and interna- tional reputations thanks to their success in the city.232 In
Rome, furthermore, artists encountered British travellers and potential future
patrons. Plaster casts must already have been relatively widely available
during the first half of the 18th century.233 Drawings after classical
sculptures survive by British artists who did not travel to Italy: among them
some fascinating, rough, early studies by Joseph Highmore, possibly from casts
in the Great Queen Street Academy – which operated under Sir Godfrey Kneller
and Sir James Thornhill between 1711 and 1720 – where he enrolled in 1713 (fig.
99).234 But the insular situation of the British art world, where many painters
struggled in vain to create a modern and national school and genre of painting,
plus an innate distrust of cultural models imported from the Continent,
especially France, meant that copying the Antique encountered strong criticism.
The most vociferous opponent was William Hogarth, who, as director of the
second St Martin’s Lane Academy from 1735, became increasingly hostile to a
curriculum based on the French Académie model and to history painting in
general, although, paradoxically, he demonstrated great admiration for a few
classical statues in his writings (see Appendix, no. 14).235 His war against
fashionable imported taste and didactic principles is well 99. Joseph Highmore,
Study of a Cast of the Borghese Gladiator, Seen from Behind, c. 1713, graphite,
ink and watercolour on paper, 354 × 230 mm, Tate, London, inv. T04232 expressed
by the celebrated first plate in his Analysis of Beauty, where the Antique,
anatomy and the study of proportions evocated in the centre of the composition
are surrounded by vignettes illustrating Hogarth’s own aesthetic ideas (fig.
100).236 But despite such discontented voices, fascination with the Antique
would only intensify, and educational curricula based on French or Italian
models would gradually impose themselves. In 1758, a ‘continental’ enterprise
was launched by the 3rd Duke of Richmond with the opening of a gallery attached
to his house in Whitehall ‘containing a large collec- tion of original plaister
casts from the best antique statues and busts which are now at Rome and
Florence’.237 With a curriculum based on the ‘alphabet of drawing’ and under
the directorship of the Italian painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727–85)
and the sculptor Joseph Wilton (1722–1803) – the first Englishman to receive,
in 1750, the prestigious first prize of the Accademia di San Luca – the gallery
was set up specifically with the didactic purpose of training youths on the
basis of the Antique (fig. 101).238 To compensate for the absence of a national
Academy, a semi-formal system developed probably inspired by the joint model of
the Accademia di San Luca and the Capitoline, where many British artists had
worked.239 Students would have started by copying drawings, prints and parts of
the body in the private drawing school set up in 1753 by the entrepreneur and
drawing master William Shipley (1714– 1803); they would then progress to the
Duke of Richmond’s Academy when they were ready to study three-dimensional
forms; finally they would proceed to the study of the live model in the second
St Martin Lane’s Academy.240 Competi- tions were set up and the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, which was founded 100.
William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty (Plate 1), 1753, etching and engraving,
387 × 483 mm, private collection, London 101. John Hamilton Mortimer,
Self-portrait with Joseph Wilton, and an Unknown Student Drawing at the Duke of
Richmond’s Academy, c. 1760–65, oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm, Royal Academy of
Arts, London, inv. 03/970 in 1754, awarded prizes for the best drawings after
casts and copies, several of which survive in the institution’s archive (figs
102–03).241 The continental system also reached cities outside London. For
example, academies and artists’ societies were set up in Glasgow – in an image
of the Foulis Academy of Art and Design founded there in 1752 we see the
familiar presence of the Borghese Gladiator (fig. 104) – and in Liverpool (see
cat. 24).242 But it was with the foundation of the Royal Academy in London in
1768 that Britain finally had a national institution with a formal curriculum
based on continental models (see cats 25–27). Directed by Sir Joshua Reynolds
(1723–92) – its first president between 1768 and 1792 – the Academy had a
teaching structure that centred on the Antique or ‘Plaister’ Academy and the
Life Academy, to which students would progress after having practised for years
on plaster casts.243 To advance from one stage to another, they had to supply a
presentation drawing showing their skills in depicting antique forms: one by
the young Turner (1775–1851), who enrolled in the Academy in 1789 as a boy of
fourteen, proba- bly belongs to this category (cat. 27a). Several evocative
images testify to the study of the growing collection of plaster casts, both in
daylight and at night (fig. 105 and cats 25–27),244 while the Life Academy is
evoked in the famous painting by Johan Zoffany (1733–1810) which shows the
first academicians in discussion around two male models – one glancing at us in
the pose of the Spinario – surrounded by familiar plaster casts of classical
and Renaissance sculpture (fig. 106). In the background, on the right, an
écorché appears among the other casts, to remind us that anatomy lessons were
delivered in the Academy by the physician William Hunter (1718–83). By bringing
together plaster casts, anatomy and the study of the live model, Zoffany’s
image declared unmistakably the Royal Academy’s affinity with continental
academic models of teaching. The two female members, Mary Moser (1744–1819) and
Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) are evoked through their portraits, as their
presence in the Life Academy was considered improper.245 A system of
discourses, competitions and exhibitions, complemented and completed the
teaching curriculum. The official theoretical line of the Academy, fixed in
Reynolds’ celebrated Discourses – which were delivered between 1769 and 1790 –
was a distillation of the idealistic theory of the previous centuries and
included frequent references to the Antique (see Appendix, no. 17). Reynolds’
highest praise was reserved for the Belvedere Torso, which embodied the 102.
William Peters, Study of a Cast of the ‘Borghese Gladiator’, c. 1760, pencil,
black and white chalk on coloured paper, 410 × 450 mm, Royal Society of Arts,
London, inv. PR/AR/103/14/621 103. William Peters, Study of a Cast of the
‘Callipygian Venus’, c. 1760, pencil, black and white chalk on coloured paper,
525 × 355 mm, Royal Society of Arts, London, inv. PR/AR/103/14/669
58 59 104. David Allan, The Foulis Academy of Art and
Design in Glasgow, c. 1760, engraving, 134 × 168 mm, Mitchell Library, Glasgow,
inv. GC ILL 156 105. Anonymous British School, The Antique School of the Royal
Academy at New Somerset House, c. 1780–83, oil on canvas, 110.8 x 164.1 cm,
Royal Academy of Arts, London, inv. 03/846 106. Johan Zofany, The Portraits of
the Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1771–72, oil on canvas, 100.1 × 147.5
cm, The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle ‘superlative genius’ of ancient art,
and this judgement is reflected in the official iconography of the Royal
Academy, as the Torso appeared, significantly below the word ‘Study’, on the
silver medals awarded in the Academy’s competitions (see cat. 27a).246 The
muscular fragment reappears as well in one of the female allegories of
Invention, Composition, Design and Colour, commissioned by the Royal Academy
from Angelica Kauffman in 1778 to decorate the ceiling of the Academy’s new
Council Chamber and to provide a visual manifesto for Reynolds’ theory of art
(fig. 107).247 Showing her wit and erudition, Kauffman’s Design is a
significant image, as she took the traditional personification of Disegno,
depicted as male (the word is masculine in Italian), and transformed it into a
woman copying the ideal male body – thereby asserting the right of women to
study the Antique and pursue a traditional artistic career. Although
increasingly questioned by anatomists and by a growing number of artists,
plaster casts were used in the Academy’s curriculum well into the 19th century
and beyond. In London the didactic role of original sculptures and casts was
also exploited outside official institutions. This was the case of the
antiquities assembled by the influential antiquar- ian and collector Charles
Townley (1737–1805) at his house on 7 Park Street, which became a sort of
alternative academy where artists, amateurs – and also women – could study the
statues he had imported from Italy (cat. 28).248 Another private space set up
with the specific intention of training young architects in the study of the
Antique was the house- academy established by Sir John Soane (1754–1837) at No.
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields (cat. 29). In the labyrinthine spaces of Soane’s
interiors, which were constantly enlarged to house 107. Angelica Kaufman,
Design, 1778–80, oil on canvas, 130 × 150.3 cm, Royal Academy of Arts, London,
inv. 03/1129 his growing collections, he obsessively juxtaposed paintings,
architectural fragments, copies of celebrated classical statues, drawings and
objects of all sorts.249 Architecture, sculpture and painting were seamlessly
integrated to create a whole and to express the qualities of ‘variety and
intricacy’, advocated by Reynolds in his 13th Discourse (1786). This variety
was intended to stimulate the imagination of Soane’s students – in 1806 he was
appointed the Royal Academy’s Professor of Architecture – and to invite
would-be architects not to limit themselves but to train in the three sister
arts, as recommended by Vitruvius.250 Academic training continued as students
gathered to copy the Antique in the newly built galleries of the British
Museum,251 but, as the 19th century progressed, its authority faded
dramatically as young artists looked increasingly to the modern world for their
inspiration. Dissenting Voices and Seeds of Decline The linear evolution of the
classical ideal from the early Renaissance to the beginning of the 19th century
was in reality punctuated by several opposing voices. But none of them, with
rare exceptions, ever questioned the greatness and authority of classical art.
What was at times disputed was the didactic value of copying from the Antique
or the slavish dependence on its forms demonstrated by some of the most
dogmatic devotees of classicism. We have seen that even in the 16th century,
art critics like Vasari, Dolce and Armenini had warned against excessive
dependence on classical forms and had advocated an independent and creative
approach based on the artist’s own judgement. Rubens and Bernini too had warned
against the ‘smell of stone’ in painting or psycho- logical dependence on the
model. This balanced approach to the Antique would become a leitmotif among
later genera- tions of art theorists. Furthermore, artistic traditions outside
Central Italy had always demonstrated a good dose of scepticism towards the
dependence of the Florentine and Roman schools on the forms and ideals embodied
by classical statuary. One of the most intelligent expressions of this attitude
is the famous woodcut by Nicolò Boldrini, almost certainly after an original
drawing by Titian, in which Laocoön and his sons are transformed into three
monkeys and set in a bucolic landscape (fig. 108).252 In this complex image
Titian, one of the greatest creative geniuses of the Renaissance, who him- self
had a profound and fruitful relationship with the Antique, was presumably
issuing an ironic statement against the faithful artistic imitation of the
classical models – a behav- iour similar to that of mimicking monkeys. 108.
Nicolò Boldrini after Titian, Caricature of the Laocoön, c. 1540–50, woodcut,
267 × 403 mm, private collection In the 17th century the pernicious effect on
painting from too-slavish imitation of sculptural forms would be summa- rised
by the Bolognese art theorist Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616–93) with the specific
neologism ‘statuino’ or ‘statue- like’ (see cats 9 and 15).253 But during the
17th and 18th centuries even the most outspoken critics of the perfection of
the Antique, such as the champion of colore versus disegno Roger de Piles, or
the defender of a modern and independent artistic language like Hogarth, always
demonstrated great admiration for classical statues, especially in terms of
their proportions (see Appendix, no. 14).254 According to Bellori, the only
great master who showed no interest at all in them was the ultra-naturalist
Caravaggio. In a famous passage of his Vite, the champion of classicism
reported that Caravaggio expressed ‘disdain for the superb marbles of the
ancients and the paintings of Raphael’ because he had decided to take ‘nature
alone for the object of his brush’. ‘Thus’, Bellori continues, ‘when he was
shown the most famous statues of Phidias and Glycon so that he might base his
studies on them, his only response was to gesture toward a crowd of people,
indicating that nature had provided him with masters enough’.255 But this
anecdote must not be taken too literally, as it certainly contains Bellori’s
defence of idealism against the dangers of the unselective imitation of Nature,
as repre- sented by Caravaggio and his followers. In fact, although it is not
immediately obvious, Caravaggio had a profound under- standing of antique
forms, and was deeply conscious of High Renaissance prototypes by Michelangelo
(his namesake) and by Raphael. Even if Bellori’s account of Caravaggio had been
accurate, such a radical attitude would have to be considered an exception in
the long period covered here. In the 18th century criticism of the academic
curriculum, in particular that of the Parisian Académie, and the art that it
produced, increased. But, once again, two of its sternest 60
61 critics, Diderot and David, had an immense admiration for classical
statuary and Diderot’s attack was directed at the codified and repetitive
nature of academic practices, in particular the drawing lessons, and at the
slavish dependence on the Antique at the expense of Nature of most of his
contemporaries, not at classical models as such (see Appen- dix, no. 16).256
Significantly David, who played a crucial role in the closure of the Parisian
Académie in 1793 during the French Revolution, would become the hero of the
refounded École des Beaux-Arts in the 19th century. More significant criticism
came from the students forced to copy casts for sessions on end. The great
French painter Jean-Siméon Chardin recalled the frustration that many artists
must have felt by being forced to follow the oppressive ‘alphabet of drawing’,
as powerfully evoked in his recollections (see also cat. 26): We begin to draw
eyes, mouths, noses and ears after patterns, then feet and hands. After having
crouched over our portfolios for a long time, we’re placed in front of the Hercules
or the Torso, and you’ve never seen such tears as those shed over the Satyr,
the Gladiator, the Medici Venus, and the Antinous . Then, after having spent entire days and
even nights by lamplight, in front of an immobile, inanimate nature, we’re
presented with living nature, and suddenly the work of all preceding years
seems reduced to nothing.257 But even the painter of still-lifes and domestic
genre scenes Chardin recognised the greatness of the original statues. The
appeal of the forms and principles of the Antique was still supreme within an
aesthetic system – the humanistic theory of art – that placed the
representation of mankind and its most noble behaviours at the centre of the
artistic mission, and this was true even for painters, like Chardin, who did
not abide by the academic hierarchy of genres. The real beginning of the
decline of the authority of the Antique started when these premises began to be
challenged by artists who felt at odds with a conception of art that they
perceived as increasingly inadequate. Romanticism landed a first, but
eventually fatal, blow by challenging the rationalistic, idealistic and
supposedly ‘universal’ principles of classicism, in the name of subjective
emotion and individ- ual genius. The drastic changes imposed by
industrialisation and urbanisation accelerated the process. Opie’s outline of
what constitutes art, with which this essay began – a pedantic and codified
version of Reynolds’ aesthetic – came to be perceived as increasingly
irrelevant by students exposed to urban life in London, Paris or any other
modern city, as the words of the painter James Northcote (1746–1831) in 1826
clearly express (see Appendix, no. 19). But if various ‘progres- sive’
avant-gardes rejected more decisively the principles of classicism and academic
art, one need only remember that artistic education remained almost everywhere
based on the traditional curriculum and that casts were used in academies and
art schools until a few decades ago. Some of the greatest modern painters, such
as Cézanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Picasso, spent portions of their youth copying
plaster casts. And, as the last part of this exhibition shows (cats 32, 34–35),
with mass-production casts became ever more available to wider audiences,
including women and the bourgeoisie, entering the realm of the private home,
often in a reduced format. But an assault on the canonical status of many of
the most famous sculptures also came from another ‘academic’ direction, as a
new archaeological precision recognised them as more or less accurate Roman
copies of Greek originals. If art education remained solidly structured around
the traditional curriculum, becoming more and more conserva- tive, the creative
forces of European art placed themselves firmly outside the academic system,
and principles of ideal imitation would become progressively irrelevant. An
image that perfectly visualises the dawn of the new aesthetic era, and an ideal
conclusion to our journey, is a painting produced by Thomas Couture as a satire
against the Realist fashion of the mid-19th century (fig. 109) – a preparatory
study for which is in the Katrin Bellinger collection.258 Couture, who ran a
successful studio in Paris, described his own painting in his Methodes et
Entretiens d’Atelier published in 1867: I am depicting the interior of a studio
of our time; it has nothing in common with the studios of earlier periods, in
which you could see fragments of the finest antiquities. At one time, you could
see the head of the Laocoön, the feet of the Gladiator, the Venus de Milo, and
among the prints covering the walls there were Raphael’s Stanze and Poussin’s
Sacraments and landscapes. But thanks to artistic progress, I have very little
to show because the gods have changed. The Laocoön has
been replaced by a cabbage, the feet of the Gladiator by a candle holder
covered with tallow or by a shoe . As
for the painter , he is a studious
artist, fervent, a visionary of the new religion. He copies what? It’s quite
simple – a pig’s head – and as a base what does he choose? That’s less simple,
the head of Olympian Jupiter.259 Couture’s image, wherein a once revered
antique frag- ment of the Olympian god, Jupiter, has been relegated to a mere
stool and the object of study is now the severed head of a pig, encapsulates
the decline of the Antique in the 19th century and the shift of interest from
the ‘ideal’ to the ‘real’. Little did Couture kn0w that in a few decades not
only the traditional role of imitation would be subverted, but that the
principle of imitation itself – formulated by Alberti four hundred years before
– would be questioned in favour of expressive or abstract values, leaving even
less space for the previously revered Laocoön, Borghese Gladiator and the Venus
de Milo. The Antique continued its life in the 20th century in many, often
unexpected ways: quoted, subverted and deconstructed by many avant-garde
artists; in the official art of totalitarian regimes; in the ironic and
playful, but often shallow game of post-modernism; and even, one may say, in
much of the aesthetic of fashion advertisement. The relation of the classical
model and ideal with modernity is a story that still needs to be written fully
and would be a fascinating subject for another exhibition. 109. Thomas Couture,
La Peinture Réaliste, 1865, oil on panel, 56 × 45 cm, National Gallery of
Ireland, Dublin. Hoare 1809, 11. See also Opie 1809,3–52. The italics are the
author’s. On the Renaissance or humanistic theory of art good overviews are:
Lee 1967; Schlosser Magnino 1967; Blunt 1978; Williams 1997; Barasch 2000,1.
Anthologies of primary sources in English translation are: Gilbert 1980;
Gilmore Holt 1981–82; Harrison, Wood and Gaiger 2000. Alberti 1972. See also M.
Kemp’s introduction, in Alberti 1991,1–29. Although initially circulating only
in manuscript form, Alberti’s treatise had an immense impact on artists and
successive art theoreticians. The first Latin (Basel, 1540) and Italian
(Venice, 1547) editions, and subsequent ones, influenced the earliest academies
such as Vasari’s Accademia del Disegno, founded in 1563. The first French
translation (Paris 1651) took shape in the environment of the French Académie
Royale, founded just three years before (1648). The first English translation
(London, 1726) was motivated by the aspirations of English artists towards the
foundation of a national academy based on continental standards. Innumerable
transla- tions and editions contributed to the diffusion of Albertian
principles well into the 19th century. See Alberti 1991,23–24. Alberti 1972, 53
(book 1, chap. 18). Alberti quotes Protagoras, probably through Diogenes
Laertius, De Vitis ... philosophorum, 9.51: Alberti 1991, 53, note 11. On the
sources and structure of De Pictura see especially Spencer 1957 and Wright
1984. Alberti 1972, 97 (book 3, chap. 55). Ibid., 101 (book 3, chap. 58).
Ibid., 99 (book 3, chap. 55). Ibid., 99 (book 3, chap. 56). Albertis’s sources
are Cicero, De inventione, 2.1.1–3 and Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 35.36 (with
differences in detail). Alberti 1972, 75 (book 2, chap. 36). See also Alberti
1988, 156 (book 6, chap. 2) and301–09 (book 9, chaps 5–6), esp. 303. On the
theory of proportions see Panofsky 1955; R. Klein’s introduction to ‘De
Symmetria’ in Gaurico 1969, 76–91; Gerlach 1990. On Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man
see Kemp 2006, 71–136; Salvi 2012, with previous bibliography. Other ancient
surviving sources on the Canonical ideal are Cicero, Brutus, esp. 69–70, 296;
Pliny, Naturalis Historia, 34.55; Galen’s treatises, esp. De 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis, 5, and De Temperamentis,
1.9; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, esp. 5.12.21 and 12.10.3-9; Vitruvius’ De
Architectura, 3.1. For Alberti’s concept of historia, see Alberti 1972, 77–83
(chaps 39–42). The clearest definition of history painting according to the
academies of the 17th and 18th centuries is provided by Félibien 1668, Preface
(not paginated). The Codex Coburgensis is preserved in the Kunstsammlungen der
Veste Coburg: see Wrede and Harprath 1986; Davis 1989. Cassiano dal Pozzo’s
Paper Museum is divided between several collections but mainly concen- trated
in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle and the British Museum, London: see
Herklotz 1999; Claridge and Dodero forthcoming. Macandrew 1978; Connor Bulman
2006; Windsor 2013. London and Rome 1996–97, 257–69; Bignamini and Hornsby
2010. General introductions to drawing techniques in the Renaissance and beyond
are Joannides 1983, 11–31; Bambach 1999, esp. 33–80; Ames Lewis 2000a;
Petherbridge 2010; London and Florence 2010–11. See Ames-Lewis 2000b, 36–37.
Recent general introductions to drawing after the Antique and the training of
young artists in the 15th century include Rome 1988a; Ames-Lewis 2000b, 35–60,
109–40; Jestaz 2000–01; Chapman 2010–11, 46–60. More focused on the 16th
century is Barkan 1999. Haskell and Penny 1981, 252–55, no. 55 (Marcus
Aurelius), 308–10, no. 78 (Spinario), 167–69, no. 16 (Camillus), 136–41, no. 3
(Horse Tamers); Buddensieg 1983; Nesselrath 1988; Rome 1988a, 232–38 (Marcus
Aurelius); Paris 2000–01, 200–25 and 417–20, nos 221–24 (Spinario); Bober and
Rubinstein 2010, 223–25, no. 176 (Marcus Aurelius), 254–56, no. 203 (Spinario),
192–93, no. 192 (Camillus), 172–75, no. 125 (Horse Tamers). Dacos 1969; Morel
1997; Miller 1999. Alberti calls the relief of a sarcophagus in Rome
representing the death of Meleager a historia, specifically praising it as a
source for the compositio: see Alberti 1972, 74–75 (chap. 37). Cavallaro
1988b; Cavallaro 1988c; Scalabroni 1988. Cavallaro 1988b; Scalabroni 1988;
Bober and Rubinstein 2010, passim. On Brunelleschi
and Donatello’s Roman trip see the famous account by Antonio di Giannozzo
Manetti: Manetti 1970, 53–57. See also Vasari’s anecdote of Donatello
producing a pen drawing after a sarcophagus that he saw in Cortona on his way
back from Rome to Florence: Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87,3, 151–52. See also
Micheli 1983, 93. On the drawings after the Antique produced in the workshops
of Gentile of Pisanello see: Degenhart and Schmitt 1960; Cavallaro 1988a;
Degenhart and Schmitt 1996, 81–117; Paris, 1996, Appendix IX, ‘Le “Carnet de
voyage dessins sur parchemin”’, 465–67; Cavallaro 2005. 26 Rome 1988a, 95–96,
no. 24 (A. Cavallaro); Paris 1996, 180–81, no. 100. 27 See Rome 1988a, 158–59,
no. 51, see also 155–56, no. 49; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 87, no. 38. 28
Wegner 1966, 88–89, no. 228; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 86–87, no. 38. 29 Weiss
1969. 30 London and New York 1992, 445–48, no. 145 (D. Ekserdjian); Paris
2008–09b, 378–79, no. 159 (C. Elam); Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 207, no. 158iii
(158c). 31 Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 207–08, no. 158iii. 32 Alberti 1972, 80–81
(chap. 41). 33 See Lightbown 1986, 140–53, 424–33; Elam 2008–09. 34 For the
drawing after the Marcus Aurelius see Rome 1988a, 232–33, no. 80 (A.
Nesselrath); Rome 2005, 263, II.10.7, 267–68, no. II.10.7 (A. Nesselrath). For
the drawing after the Horse Tamers see Rome 1988a, 211–12, no. 61 (A.
Nesselrath); Paris 1996, 153–54, no. 84; Rome 2005, 334, III.8.1, 338–39, no.
III.8.1 (A. Cavallaro). 35 On the fame of their nudity see the contemporary
comments by Angelo Decembrio in his De Politia litteraria, written in the
central decades of the 15th century: Baxandall 1963, 312. For other mentions in
contemporary written sources see Nesselrath 1988, 196–97. 36 Nesselrath 1988, 197,
61; Cole Ahl 1996, 6, pl. 1; Ames-Lewis 2000b, 120, 57; Cavallaro 2005, 330;
London and Florence 2010–11, 118–19, no. 14 (M.M. Rook). On Gozzoli and the
Antique see Pasti 1988. 37 For a notable exception see Gozzoli’s faithful
drawing of a fragmentary classical Venus: Pasti 1988, 137, 38; Ames-Lewis
2000b, 121, 59. 38 For a general overview see Weiss 1969, 180–202; Ames-Lewis
2000b, 52–60, 79–85. 39 Gaurico 1969, 62–63; Gaurico 1999, 142–43, providing a
less accurate translation. 40 Cennini 1933,2, 123–31. 41 Fiocco 1958–59; Lightbown
1986, 18; Favaretto 1999. On Ghiberti’s col- lection of casts see Ames-Lewis
2000b, 81, with previous bibliography. 42 Ames-Lewis 1995. 43 Fusco 1982;
Ames-Lewis 2000b, 52–55. 44 Ragghianti and Dalli Regoli 1975; Ames-Lewis 2000a,
91–123; Forlani- Tempesti 1994. 45 Ames-Lewis 1995, 394, 397, 10. For the
practice see Schwartz 2000–01. 46 For an overview see Nesselrath 1984–86. Lists
of sketchbooks are provided in Nesselrath 1993, 225–48 and Bober and Rubinstein
2010, 473–96. 47 The first printed edition of Biondo’s Roma Instaurata was
published in Rome in 1471: Weiss 1969, esp. 59–104. 48 On Michelangelo’s and
Raphael’s attitude towards the Antique the bibliogra- phy is vast. For
Michelangelo good surveys are Agosti and Farinella 1987 (pp. 12–13, note 3,
with the most exhaustive bibliography to date); Florence 1987; Haarlem and
London 2005–06, 58–68; Parisi Presicce 2014. On Raphael: Becatti 1968; Jones
and Penny 1983, 175–210; Burns 1984 (p. 399, footnote 2, with exhaustive
bibliography to date); Nesselrath 1984; Dacos 1986. 49 Clark 1969b;
Marani 2003–04; Marani 2007. 50 Leonardo 1956,1, 51, no. 77. 51 Ibid.,1, 45,
no. 59, 64, no. 112. 52 Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87,6, 21. On other sources on the para- gone between Michelangelo and the ancients
see Florence 1987, 107–08. 53 Elam 1992; Florence 1992; Joannides
1993; Baldini 1999–2000; Paolucci 2014. 54 Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87,6, 9–12;
Condivi 1998, 10–11; Condivi 1999, 10. 55 Knab, Mitsch
and Oberhuber 1984, 51–54; Ferrino Padgen 2000. 56 See Franzoni 1984–86;
Cavallaro 2007; Christians 2010. A list of collec- tions with essential
bibliography is providedalso in Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 497–507. 57 For the
Nile and the Tiber see Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 112–13, no. 65. 58 The Apollo
Belvedere was discovered in 1489, the Laocoön in 1506, the Cleopatra in the
first decade of the 16th century, the Hercules Commodus in 1507, the Tiber in
1512 and Nile probably in 1513: see Haskell and Penny 1981, respec- tively 148–51,
no. 8, 243–47, no. 52, 184–87, no. 24, 188–89, no. 25, 310–11, no. 79, 272–73,
no. 65; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, respectively 76–77, no. 28, 164–68, no. 122,
125–26, no. 79, 180–81, no. 131, 113–14, no. 66, 114–15, no. 67. The discovery
date of the Venus Felix is not known, but it was placed in the Belvedere
Courtyard in 1509: Haskell and Penny 1981, 323–25, no. 87; Bober and Rubinstein
2010, 66–67, no. 16. For the Belvedere Courtyard see Brummer 1970; Winner, Andreae
and Pietrangeli 1998. The first mention of the Belvedere Antinous-Hermes is in
1527 and it was placed in the Belvedere Courtyard by 1545; the Belvedere Torso
is recorded from 1432 and by the middle of the 16th century it was displayed in
the Courtyard: see Haskell and Penny 1981, respectively 141–43, no. 4 and 311–14,
no. 80; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, respectively 62, no. 10 and 181–84, no. 132.
The first mention of Michelangelo’s praise of the Torso is in Aldrovandi 1556, 121.
For a selection of other primary sources see Barocchi 1962,4, 2100–03; Agosti
and Farinella 1987, 43–44. For the Torso as ‘School of Michelangelo’ see
Haskell and Penny 1981, 313. Schwinn 1973, 24–37. Bettarini and Barocchi
1966–87,6, 108. Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 126, no. 79. Joannides 1983, 192,
no. 240r; Knab, Mitsch and Oberhuber 1984, 615, no. 375. In this drawing
Raphael also references Michelangelo’s Sistine Adam. Golzio 1971, 38–40, 72–73;
Nesselrath 1984. The original Italian is in Camesasca 1994, 257–322 (esp. 290–98);
Shearman 2003, 500–45. For an English translation, see Holt 1981–86,1, 289–96.
See also Frommel, Ray and Tafuri 1984, 437, no. 3.5.1. (H. Burns and H.
Nesselrath). Nesselrath 1982, 357, 37; Frommel, Ray and Tafuri 1984, 422, no.
3.2.10 (A. Nesselrath); Jaffé 1994, 187, no. 315 617*. For the few other
surviving Raphael drawings after Roman antiquities see Frommel, Ray and Tafuri
1984, 438, no. 3.5.3 (A. Nesselrath). Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 172–75, no.
125. This consideration is already in Jones and Penny 1983, 205. The practice
of measuring classical statues would become widespread from the 17th century
onwards: see 46–49 in the present volume. A good selection is in Mantua and
Vienna 1999. Check also Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 473–96. Oberhuber 1978;
Mantua and Vienna 1999; Viljoen 2001; Pon 2004. Boissard 1597–1602,1, 12–13,
translated by Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 165. According to a letter by
Francesco da Sangallo of 1567, Michel- angelo and Giuliano da Sangallo were
sent by the Pope to witness and comment upon the unearthing of the Laocoön on
the Esquiline in 1506: Fea 1790–1836,1, cccxxix–cccxxxi, letter XVI. Bettarini
and Barocchi 1966–87,6, 109. An opinion then appropri- ated by Vasari himself
in the introduction to his chapter on Sculpture: Bettarini and Barocchi
1966–87,1, 84–86. This was repeated later by many authors see for instance
Lomazzo 1584, 332, reprinted in Lomazzo 1973–74,2, 288. Wilde 1953, 79–80, nos
43–44, pls lxx–lxxi; Agosti and Farinella 1987, 33–36, figs 11–14; Tolnay
1975–80,2, 51–53, nos 230–34; Florence 2002, 150–51, nos 2–5 (P. Joannides);
Haarlem and London 2005–06, 64–66. Wilde 1953, 9–10, no. 4, pl. vi; Tolnay
1975–80,1, 58–59, no. 48; Haarlem and London 2005–06, 88–89, 285, no. 13. On
the restoration of classical statues, see Rossi Pinelli 1984–86; Howard 1990;
Pasquier 2000–01a. Specifically on Montorsoli’s restorations: Haskell and Penny
1981, 148, 246; Vetter 1995; Nesselrath 1998b; Winner 1998; Bober and
Rubinstein 2010, 77, 165. See Haskell and Penny 1981, 229–32, no. 46; Gasparri
2009–10,3, 17–20, no. 1. On the Wrestlers see Haskell and Penny 1981, 337–39,
no. 94; Cecchi and Gasparri 2009, 62–63, no. 50 (71). For the Niobe Group see
Haskell and Penny 1981, 274–79, no. 66; Cecchi and Gasparri 2009, 316–26, nos
596 (1251) (1–14). On Guido Reni using the Niobe Group as a source for the
expression of many of his figures see Bellori 1976, 529. See Haskell and Penny
1981, 16–22. Haskell and Penny 1981, 16–22. On Lafréry see Chicago 2007–08. On
Cavalieri see Pizzimano 2001. See Lee 1967, esp. 3–16; Blunt 1978, esp. 137–59;
Barasch 2000,1, 203–309. Armenini 1587, 136–37 (book 2, chap. 11). Lee 1967, 7,
note 23. See also Weinberg 1961, 361–423. The first commentary appeared only in
1548 and the first Italian translation in 1549. Horace, Ars Poetica, 361. See
Lee 1967, esp. 3–9. Aristotle, Poetics, Lomazzo 1590, see esp. chap. XXVI;
Zuccaro 1607. On this see Lee 1967, 13–14; Panofsky 1968, esp. 85–99; Blunt
1978, 137–59. Also in Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87,1, 110. The definition of
Disegno was added only to the second edition of the Lives in 1568. On Vasari
and the Antique see Barocchi 1958; Cristofani 1985. Puttfarken 1991; Rosand
1997, 10–24. Walters 2014, 57. Whitaker 1997. See for instance Vasari’s
comments in the lives of Andrea Mantegna and Battista Franco: Bettarini and
Barocchi 1966–87, respectively 3, 549–50 and vol 5, 459–61. Armenini 1587, see
esp. 59–60 (book I, chap. 8), 86–89 (book II, chap. 3). See also Lomazzo’s
treatment of the Antique: Lomazzo 1584, 481 (book VI, chap. 64). General
surveys about the development of European academies include Pevsner 1940;
Goldstein 1996. See also Levy 1984; Olmstead Tonelli 1984; Boschloo 1989. On
images of academies see Kutschera-Woborsky 1919; Pevsner 1940, passim; Roman
1984. On the Florentine Accademia del Disegno see Pevsner 1940, 42–55; Goldstein
1975; Dempsey 1980; Wa ́zbin ́ski 1987; Barzman 1989; Barzman 2000. On the
Carracci Academy see Dempsey 1980; Goldstein 1988, esp. 49– 88; Dempsey 1989;
Feigenbaum 1993; Robertson 2009–10. On the Accademia di San Luca the
bibliography is vast. On its early history see Pevsner 1940, 55–66; Pietrangeli
1974; Lukehart 2009. On the teaching in the first decades of the Accademia see
Roccasecca 2009. On Alberti’s print see Roccasecca 2009, 133. Olmstead Tonelli
1984. Alberti 1604, esp. 2–15. Jack Ward 1972, 17–18; Olmstead Tonelli 1984, 96–97.
On the donation of the Salvioni collection of casts in 1598 see Missirini 1823,
73. On the inventories see Lukehart 2009, Appendix 7, esp. 368–69, 371–73,
379–80. On the drawing see Bora 1976, 125, no. 126. Malvasia 1678, 1, 378;
Goldstein 1988, esp. 49–50. On this see Meder 1978, 1, 217–95; Amornpichetkul
1984; Bleeke- Byrne 1984; Roman 1984, 91; Bolten 1985, 243. Alberti 1972, 97
(book 3, chap. 55). Alberti 1972, 75 (book 2, chap. 36). Cellini 1731, 156–59.
Leonardo 1956, 1, 45, chaps 59–61, and esp. 64, chap. 112; Bettarini and
Barocchi 1966–87, 1, 112; Armenini 1587, 51–59, esp. 57 (book 1, chap. 7); See
Bleeke-Byrne 1984. Armenini 1587, see esp. 86 (book 2, chap. 3). The necessity
of exercising one’s memory recurs in Alberti (Alberti 1972, 99, book 3, chap.
55); Leonardo (Leonardo 1956, 1, 47, chaps 65–66); Vasari (Bettarini and
Barocchi 1966–87, 1, 114–15); Cellini (Cellini 1731, 157); and Armenini
(Armenini 1587, 53, book 1, chap. 7). Gombrich 1960; Rosand 1970; Maugeri 1982;
Amornpichetkul 1984; Bolten 1985. On Dürer in Italy see Rome 2007. Dacos 1995; Meijer 1995; Dacos 1997; Dacos 2001. Van Mander 1994-99, 1, 342–45
(fols 271r–v). See Meijer 1995, 50, note 18. Dacos 1995, 19–20;
Dacos 2001, 23–34. Hülsen and Egger 1913–16; Veldman 1977; Dacos 2001, 35–44;
Bartsch 2012; Christian 2012; Veldman 2012. On Beatrizet see Bury 1996; on
Lafréry see Chicago 2007–08; on Dupérac see Lurin 2009. For the print
attributed to Beatrizet see Paris 2000–01, 378–79, no. 184 (C. Scailliérez). On
the Marforio see Haskell and Penny 1981, 258–59, no. 57; Bober and Rubinstein
2010, 110–11, no. 64. ‘I disagi e li affanni tutti del mondo non stima un
quattrino’. On the so-called Haarlem Academy see Van Thiel 1999, 59–90.
Veldman 2012, 21, with previous bibliography. Reznicek On Rubens in Rome and
his approach to the Antique see esp. Stechow 1968; Jaffé 1977, 79–84; Muller
1982; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 41–81; Muller 2004, 18–28; London 2005–06, 88–111.
Jaffé 1977, 79; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 42, note 6. Copies of Lafréry’s
Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae and De Cavalieri’s Antiquarum statuarum urbis
Romae, are listed in Rubens’ son Albert’s library: Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 42,
note 6. It is most likely that they were originally in Peter Paul’s possession,
although we do not know whether he acquired them before, during or after his
Italian years. See Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 69–74. Armenini 1587, see esp. 59–60
(book I, chap. 8), 86–89 (book II, chap. 3). On the ultimate Aristotelian
character of this principle see Muller 1982. See also Cody 2013. On Rubens’
handwritten Notebook, lost in a fire in Paris in 1720, but known through
several transcriptions and partial publications see Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1,
esp. 71, note 11 and 77–78, note 44, with previous bibliography; Jaffé and
Bradley 2005–06; Jaffé 2010. On the drawing after the Torso see Van der Meulen
1994–95, 1, 70–71, 2, 56–59, nos 37–39; New York 2005a, 140–44, no. 34. On the
Laocoön drawings see: Van der Meulen 1994–95, 2, 98, no. 81, 3, 153 (father), 2,
103–04, no. 93, 3, 164 (son); London 2005– 06, 90–91, nos 24 (son), 25
(father); Bora 2013. The question of whether he copied the original Laocoön in
Rome, or a cast derived from it, possibly Federico Borromeo’s in Milan, remains
open: see Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 48; London 2005–06, 90–91, no. 25. Muller
2004, 22; Edinburgh 2002, 43–46, nos 8–14; Wood 2011, 1, 129–241; Cody 2013.
Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 80–81. Muller 2004, 22. On Rubens’ collection see
Antwerp 2004, with previous bibliography. Jaffé 1977, 80; Healy 2004. On the
Bamboccianti see Briganti, Trezzani and Laureati 1983; Cologne and Utrecht
1991–92; Rome and Paris 2014–15. On the fierce criticism by artists see
Malvasia 1678, 2, 267 (Sacchi), 268–69 (Albani); Cesareo 1892, 1, 223–55
(Rosa); Castiglione 2014–15. On Bellori’s condemna- tion
see Bellori 1976, 16. On Goubau see Briganti, Trezzani and Laureati 1983, 295–99.
On the painting see Paris 2000–01, 382–83, no. 188 (J. Foucart); Cappel- letti
2014–15, 48–50. Vlieghe 1979. On other Dutch artists copying the Antique in
Rome in the 17th century see Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 35–36. Already at the
beginning of the 17th century Karel Van Mander explicitly laments the poor
state of the visual arts in the Netherlands, blaming the ‘shameful laws and
narrow rules’ by which in nearly all cities save Rome ‘the noble art of
painting has been turned into a guild’: Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 264–65 (fol.
251v). See also Bleeke-Byrne 1984. On the Antwerp Academy see Pevsner 1940, 126–29;
Van Looij 1989. See Emmens 1968, 154–59; Bleeke-Byrne 1984, 30, 38, notes
76–77. Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 448–49 (fol. 297v); Bolten 1985, 248. De Klerk
1989. Bolten 1985, 248–50. For Bisschop’s school see Van Gelder 1972, 11.
Bolten 1985. Bolten Walters 2009, 1, 79. Bolten 1985, 159–60. Also many Dutch
theoretical treatises on the art of painting and drawing insisted on the human
form and on the stages of the learning process. For instance William Goeree’s
influential Inleydinge tot de al-gemeene Teycken-Konst, Middelburgh, 1668,
revised and reprinted many times, lays out the five stages of artistic
training: copy of prints, drawings, paintings, plaster casts and the life model
(pp. 31–37). See Bleeke- Byrne 1984, 34 and note 45; De Klerk 1989, 284. On
Perrier’s diffusion in the Netherlands see Bolten 1985, 257–58; Van Gelder and
Jost 1985, 51–52; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 76. For Van Haarlem’s 1639 inventory
see Van Thiel 1965, 123, 128; Van Thiel 1999, 84, and Appendix II, 254–255,
257, 270–71, 273. For van Balen’s 1635 and 1656 inventories, see Duverger
1984–2009, 4, 200–11. For Rembrandt’s 1656 bankruptcy inventory see Strauss and
Van der Meulen 1979, 349–88. For Rembrandt’s use of statues, casts and models,
see Gyllenhaal 2008. See also cat. 23 in this catalogue, note 18. For the use
of plaster casts in 17th- and 18th-century artists’ studios in Antwerp and
Brussels, see Lock 2010. Also collections of original antiquities were formed
in the 17th century, especially in the Southern Netherlands and in Antwerp: Van
Gelder and Jost 1985, 35–50, esp. 35, note 65. 64 65 151 For a copy in
reverse, dated 1639, see Bolten 1985, 133–34, and 138, fig.a. 152 On Jan ter
Boch’s painting (fig. 49) see Paris 2000–01, 401–02, no. 207 (J. Foucart). On
Van Oost the Elder’s painting (fig. 50), see Antwerp 2008, 77, no. 20 (S.
Janssens). On Vaillant’s painting (fig. 51), see MacLaren 1991, 1, 440, note 8;
Amsterdam 1997, 349, 2. On the painting attrib- uted to Sweert (fig. 52) see
Waddingham 1976–77; Amsterdam 1997, 348–52, under no. 74; Paris 2000–01, 400–01,
no. 206 (J. Foucart); Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 134–36, no. 40 (J. Clifton),
where the painting is attributed to Wallerant Vaillant. On Balthasar Van den
Bossche’s paintings of artists’ workshops see Mai 1987–88; Paris 2000–01, 402–03,
no. 208 (J.-R. Gaborit and J.-P. Cuzin); Lock 2010. 153 For the Borghese
Gladiator see Haskell and Penny 1981, 221–24, no. 43; Paris 2000–01, no. 1, 150–51
(L. Laugier); Pasquier 2000–01c. For the Dying Gladiator see Haskell and Penny
1981, 224–27, no. 44; Mattei 1987; La Rocca and Parisi Presicce 2010, 428–35.
For the Venus de’ Medici, see Haskell and Penny 1981, 325–28, no. 88; Cecchi
and Gasparri 2009, 74–75, no. 64 (137). 154 See Haskell and Penny 1981 esp. 23–30.
On the Medici collection of classical sculptures see Cecchi and Gaspari 2009.
On the Farnese’s see Gasparri 2007. On the Borghese’s: Rome 2011–12; on the
Ludovisi’s: Rome 1992–93; on the Giustiniani’s Rome 2001–02. 155 Haskell
and Penny 1981, 16–22; Coquery 2000; Picozzi 2000. 156 Picozzi 2000;
Laveissière 2011; Di Cosmo 2013; Fatticcioni 2013. 157 Haskell and Penny 1981, 21; Goldstein 1996, 144; Coquery 2000, 43–44.
On Perrier’s success in the Netherlands see Bolten 1985, 257–58; Van Gelder and
Jost 1985, 51–52; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 76. 158 Boyer 2000; Montanari 2000;
Rome 2000a; Bonfait 2002; Bayard 2010; Bayard and Fumagalli 2011. 159
Bertolotti 1886; Bousquet 1980; Coquery 2000. 160 Herklotz 1999; see also the
ongoing catalogue raisonné of Cassiano dal Pozzo’s Paper Museum:
http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research/projects/ cassiano 161 For the text of
Bellori’s Idea see Bellori 1976, 13–25, and for an English translation see
Bellori 2005, 55–65. On it see Mahon 1947, esp. 109– 54, 242–43; Panofsky 1968,
103–11; Bellori 1976, esp. XXIX–XL; Barasch 2000, 1, 315–22; Cropper 2000. 162
Bellori 1976, 299. 163 See Barasch 2000, 1, 310-72. 164 Bellori mentions many
of these artists devoting time and efforts in the copying of celebrated
classical statuary, such as the Farnese Hercules, the Belvedere Torso, the
Niobe Group, the Borghese Gladiator: Bellori 1976, 75, 90–91 (Annibale
Carracci), 529–30 (Guido Reni), 625 (Carlo Maratti). For Rubens, Bernini and
Cortona see Bellori 1976, XXXI. For Annibale Carracci and the Antique see also
Weston-Lewis 1992. For his drawing (fig. 58) see Washington D.C. 1999–2000, 177,
no. 50 (G. Feigenbaum). For Poussin and the Antique the literature is vast: see
Bull 1997; Bayard and Fumagalli 2011; Henry 2011, with previous literature. For
his drawing (fig. 59) see Rosenberg and Prat 1994, 1, 312–13, no. 161. For
Maratti’s drawings (figs 60–61) see Blunt and Cooke 1960, 63, nos 378, 380. On
Pietro da Cortona and the Antique see Fusconi 1997–98. Some of his drawings
after the Antique were commissioned for the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo.
On the drawing (fig. 62) see Rome 1997–98, 71, no. 2.4 (G. Fusconi). 165
Wittkower 1963; Princeton, Cleveland and elsewhere 1981–82, 159–73; New York
2012–13, 234–38, no. 25. 166 Pevsner 1940, 82–114;
Goldstein 1996, 40–45. On the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in
Paris see Vitet 1861; Montaiglon 1875–92; Hargove 1990; Tours and Toulouse
2000; Michel 2012. On the Académie de France in Rome see Montaiglon and
Guiffrey 1887–1912; Lapauze 1924; Henry 2010–11; Coquery 2013, 173–219, with
previous bibliography. 167 Montaiglon 1875–92, 1, 346. 168 Women were admitted
to the Académie, then named École des Beaux- Arts, only in 1896 and allowed to
enrol for the Prix de Rome in 1903: Goldstein 1996, 61. 169 Montaiglon 1875–92,
1, 315–17. 170 Félibien 1668, Preface (not paginated). 171 Le Brun 1698. On it
see Montagu 1994. 172 Félibien 1668, 28–40; Lichtenstein and Michel 2006–12, 1.1,
127–35. 173 Félibien 1668, Preface (not paginated). 174 Lichtenstein and Michel
2006–12, see esp. vols 1-2, passim. 175 Lichtenstein and Michel Lichtenstein and Michel 2006–12, 1.1, 374–77.
See also Goldstein 1996, 150. 177 Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 1, 129–32.
178 Montaiglon 1875–92, 1, 293 (for a Venus donated by Chantelou in 1665), 300,
330–31 (for the cast of the Farnese Hercules ordered in 1666 and delivered in
1668), 366 (for several casts after ancient reliefs and statues copied for the
Académie from the Royal collection on the order of Colbert). 179 See Foster
1998; Schnapper 2000 and Macsotay 2010. 180 Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 1,
36. 181 Goldstein 1978, esp. 2–5. 182 Golzio 1935. 183 Boyer 1950, 117;
Goldstein 1970; Bousquet 1980, 110–11; Goldstein 1996, 45–46. 184 Mahon 1947, 188–89.
185 Missirini 1823, 145–46 (chap. XCI); Mahon 1947, 189; Goldstein 1996, 46.
186 Teyssèdre 1965; Puttfarken 1985; Montagu 1996; Arras and Épinal 2004. 187
Armenini 1587, 93–99, esp. 96 (book 2, chap. 5). 188 See esp. Van der Meulen
1994–95, 1, 69–75; Muller 2004, esp. 18–21; Jaffé and Bradley 2005–06; Jaffé
2010. For the drawing (fig. 67) see Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 71–72, notes 11,
14, 16 with previous literature. Rubens applied this method to several other
statues. 189 Bellori 1976, 451, 473–77, ; Bellori 2005, 311, and for the plates
334–37. See Rome 2000b, 2, 403–04, no. 9 (V. Krahn); Henry 2011; Coquery 2013, 361,
nos G. 179–80. 190 The surviving 39 drawings are today preserved in an ‘Album
de dessins et mesures de statues romaines...’ at the École nationale supérieure
des Beaux-Arts in Paris: Coquery 2000, 48–50; Paris 2000–01, 389–90, no. 195;
Coquery 2013, 37–40; Stanic 2013. For the three drawings repro- duced here see
Coquery 2013, 281, no. D114 (Laocoön), 283, no. D130 (Belvedere Antinous), 283,
no. D131 (Venus de’Medici). 191 Bosse 1656. See the Conférences by Sébastien Bourdon, Charles Le Brun, Henri Testelin,
Michel Anguier, etc.: Lichtenstein and Michel 2006–12, 1.1, esp. 161–66
(Charles Le Brun), 316–33 (Charles Le Brun), 332–35 (Michel Anguier), 374–77
(Sébastien Bourdon); 1.2, 636–38 (Michel Anguier), 667–71 (Henry Testelin). 192 On De Wit’s Teekenboek (fig. 74) see Bolten 1985, 82–86. On
Nollekens’ drawing (fig. 75) see Blayney Brown 1982, 484, no. 1460; Nottingham
and London 1991, 58–59, no. 31 (Venus de’ Medici); Lyon 1998–99, 123–24, no.
101. On Volpato’s and Morghen’s print annotated by Canova (fig. 76) see Rome
2008, 144, no. 25, with previous bibliography. 193 On the study of anatomy in
the Renaissance and the 17th century see Schultz 1985; Ottawa, Vancouver and
elsewhere 1996–97; London, Warwick and elsewhere 1997–98; and the excellent
essays in Paris 2008– 09a, esp. Carlino 2008–09. On the combination of the study
of anatomy and of the Antique between the 17th and 19th centuries see esp.
Schwartz 2008–09. 194 Paris 2000–01, 391–92, no. 197; Coquery 2013, 195–200;
Paris 2008–09a, 222–23, no. 79. 195 For the skeletons (figs 77–78) and
anatomical figures (figs 79–80) of the Laocoön and Borghese Gladiator see
Coquery 2013, respectively 384, no. G.416, 383, no. G.413, 381, no. G.400, 382,
no. G.408. A series of Conférences at the Académie Royale in Paris had been
devoted to the Antique and anatomy: see esp. Lichtenstein and Michel 2006–12, 1.2, 581–93 (Pierre Monnier, ‘Sur les
muscles du Laocoon’, 2 May 1676). 196 See Paris
2000–01, 393–94, no. 199, with previous bibliography; Paris 2008–09a, 226–27,
no. 85. 197 See Paris 2000–01, 392–93, no. 198, with previous bibliography;
Paris 2008–09a, 226–27, no. 82. Sauvage also made écorchés of other classical
prototypes. 198 The original cast appears to have been destroyed. The écorché
preserved at the Royal Academy of Arts is a 19th-century copy by William Pink:
see Postle 2004, esp. 58–59, with previous bibliography. 199 See Jordan and
Weston 2002, 97, 4.7. 200 For the practice see Paris 2000–01, 415–29; Schwartz
2008–09; London 2013–14, 62–69. On Paillett’s drawing (fig. 87) see London
2013–14, 21, pl. 1, 96, no. 1. For Bottani’s (fig. 88) see Philadelphia 1980–
81, 59–60, no. 47. For David’s painting (fig. 89) see Rome 1981–82, 101–02, no.
25. 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 Pevsner 1940, 140–41. On the diffusion of
academies in the 18th century see Boschloo 1989, passim. A good recent overview
is Brook 2010–11. Diderot’s remark appeared in an article in the Correspondance
littéraire, philos- ophique et critique, no. 13, 1763: ‘Sur Bouchardon et la
sculpture’, 45. See an English translation in Diderot 2011, 19. On the
diffusion of casts in the 18th century see Haskell and Penny 1981, esp. 79–91,
chap. 11; Rossi Pinelli 1984; Rossi Pinelli 1988; Pucci 2000a; Frederiksen and
Marchand 2010. London 2013–14, 36, 46–47. See the explanatory text for the
plate: Diderot and D’Alembert 1762–72, 20, entry ‘Dessein’, 1–20, esp. 2–5. See
also Michel 1987, 284, 288. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Toledo, Chicago and elsewhere
1975–76; Plax 2000. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Schoneveld-Van Stoltz 1989, 216–28,
with previ- ous bibliography. Excellent introductions to the art world of Rome
in the 18th century are the essay contained in Philadelphia and Houston 2000
(see esp. Barroero and Susinno 2000) and in Rome 2010–11b. Goethe 2013, 2, 373.
Overviews on the Grand Tour are Black 1992; London and Rome 1996–97; Chaney
1998; Black 2003. On Panini’s painting see London and Rome 1996–97, 277–78, no.
233; Philadelphia and Houston 2000, 425, no. 275, with previous literature.
Macandrew 1978; Connor Bulman 2006; Windsor 2013, with previous bibliography.
Haskell and Penny 1981, esp. 23–30, 43–52; Paris 2010–11, with previous
bibliography. On drawing in Rome in the 18th century see Bowron 1993–94; Percy
2000, with previous bibliography. On collections of casts in private academies
see Bordini 1998, 387. On the Concorsi see Cipriani and Valeriani 1988–91;
Rome, University Park (PA) and elsewhere 1989–90; Cipriani 2010–11. On the
early years of the Capitoline as a public museum see Arata 1994; Franceschini
and Vernesi 2005; Arata 2008. See Arata 1994, 75. On the Accademia del
Nudo see Pietrangeli 1959; Pietrangeli 1962; MacDonald 1989; Barroero 1998;
Bordini 1998. Haskell and Penny 1981, 62–63; Raspi Serra 1998–99;
Macsotay 2010; Henry 2010–11. The main source for Vleughels’ reform, rich in
information on the study of the Antique in the Académie under his directorship,
is Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, vols 7–9, passim (for description of the
collection of casts see 7, 333–37). Boyer 1955; Loire 2005–06, 75–81.
Caviglia-Brunel 2012, 115–63. For Natoire’s drawing (fig. 94) see Paris
2000–01, 372, no. 177; Caviglia- Brunel 2012, 415–16, no. D.558. On Robert’s
drawings (figs 95–96) see Paris 2000–01, 373–74, nos 178–79; Rome 2008, 132–33,
nos 12–13; Ottawa and Caen 2011–12, 22–23, nos 1a–1b. For 97 see Paris 2000–
01, 384, no. 190. On Robert in Rome see Rome 1990–91. On Piranesi and his
influence on artists see Fleming 1962; Wilton Ely 1978; Rome, Dijon and
elsewhere 1976; Brunel 1978. On Winckelmann see Potts 1994, with previous
bibliography. Henry 2010–11. For David in Rome see Rome 1981–82. For his
drawings after the Antique see Sérullaz 1981–82; Rosenberg and Prat 2002,
passim, esp. 1, 391– 746, 2, 754–866. Sérullaz 1981–82, 42. For David’s drawing
(fig. 98) see Rosenberg and Prat 2002, 499, no. 642. See Pressly 1979; Valverde
2008; Busch 2013. On all these aspects see Pears 1988, esp. 1–26. As general
introductions see Denvir 1983; Solkin 1992; Brewer 1997; Bindman 2008. On the
‘Rule of Taste’ see Lipking 1970; Barrell 1986, esp. 1–68; Pears 1988, 27–50;
Ayres 1997. For a recent overview see Aymonino 2014. On academies in Britain
before the foundation of the Royal Academy see Bignamini 1988; Bignamini 1990.
See MacDonald 1989. An excellent introduction to the use of the Antique in
artists’ education in 18th-century Britain is Postle 1997. For casts in Britain
in the first half of the 18th century see: Bignamini 1988, 59, note 63, 65, 77,
note 9, 81, note 65, 88, 103. Einberg and Egerton 1988, 64–71. Kitson 1966–68,
esp. 85–86; Postle 1997, esp. 83–84. See Paulson 1971, 2, 168–71; Nottingham
and London 1991, 62, no. 37. Coutu 2000, 47; Kenworthy-Browne 2009. On
Mortimer’s painting see Nottingham and London 1991, 45, no. 11, with previous
bibliography. MacDonald 1989. Allan 1968, 76–88; Bignamini 1988, 108; Postle
1997, 85–87; Coutu 2000, 52; Kenworthy-Browne 2009, 43–44. Ibid. On the Glasgow
Foulis Academy see Pevsner 1940, 156; MacDonald 1989, 84–85; Fairfull-Smith
2001. On the Royal Academy see Hutchison 1986. On its regulations see also
Abstract 1797. On the Antique School at the Royal Academy (fig. 105) see
Nottingham and London 1991, 43, no. 7; Rome 2010–11b, 432, no.V.6. On Zoffany’s
painting see New Haven and London 2011–12, 218–21, no. 44, with previous
bibliography. For the medal see Hutchison 1986, 34. On Kauffman’s painting see
Rome 2010–11b, 325, 432–33, no. V.7. For Townley see particularly Coltman 2009.
On Soane’s collection of plaster casts see Dorey 2010. De Architectura, 1.1,
esp. 1.1.13; Watkin 1996. Jenkins 1992, 30–40. Venice 1976, 114–15, no. 49.
Malvasia 1678, 1, 359, 365, 484. On the 17th-century neologism ‘statuino’ see
Pericolo’s forthcoming article. See De Piles 1677, 253–54; De Piles 1708, esp. 128–38.
Bellori 1976, 214; Bellori 2005, 180. See Pucci 2000a; Bukdahal 2007 Diderot
1995, 4. See also Haskell and Penny 1981, 91. Boime 1980, 330–35, pl. ix.47.
Couture 1867, 155–56. 6609a, 226–27, no. 85. 197 See Paris 2000–01, 392–93, no.
198, with previous bibliography; Paris 2008–09a, 226–27, no. 82. Sauvage also
made écorchés of other classical prototypes. 198 The original cast appears to
have been destroyed. The écorché preserved at the Royal Academy of Arts is a
19th-century copy by William Pink: see Postle 2004, esp. 58–59, with previous
bibliography. 199 See Jordan and Weston 2002, 97, 4.7. 200 For the practice see
Paris 2000–01, 415–29; Schwartz 2008–09; London 2013–14, 62–69. On Paillett’s
drawing (fig. 87) see London 2013–14, 21, pl. 1, 96, no. 1. For Bottani’s (fig.
88) see Philadelphia 1980– 81, 59–60, no. 47. For David’s painting (fig. 89)
see Rome 1981–82, 101–02, no. 25. Pevsner 1940, 140–41. On the diffusion of
academies in the 18th century see Boschloo 1989, passim. A good recent overview
is Brook 2010–11. Diderot’s remark appeared in an article in the Correspondance
littéraire, philos- ophique et critique, no. 13, 1763: ‘Sur Bouchardon et la
sculpture’, 45. See an English translation in Diderot 2011, 19. On the diffusion
of casts in the 18th century see Haskell and Penny 1981, esp. 79–91, chap. 11;
Rossi Pinelli 1984; Rossi Pinelli 1988; Pucci 2000a; Frederiksen and Marchand
2010. London 2013–14, 36, 46–47. See the explanatory text for the plate:
Diderot and D’Alembert 1762–72, 20, entry ‘Dessein’, 1–20, esp. 2–5. See also
Michel 1987, 284, 288. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Toledo, Chicago and elsewhere
1975–76; Plax 2000. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Schoneveld-Van Stoltz 1989, 216–28,
with previ- ous bibliography. Excellent introductions to the art world of Rome
in the 18th century are the essay contained in Philadelphia and Houston 2000
(see esp. Barroero and Susinno 2000) and in Rome 2010–11b. Goethe 2013, 2, 373.
Overviews on the Grand Tour are Black 1992; London and Rome 1996–97; Chaney
1998; Black 2003. On Panini’s painting see London and Rome 1996–97, 277–78, no.
233; Philadelphia and Houston 2000, 425, no. 275, with previous literature.
Macandrew 1978; Connor Bulman 2006; Windsor 2013, with previous bibliography.
Haskell and Penny 1981, esp. 23–30, 43–52; Paris 2010–11, with previous
bibliography. On drawing in Rome in the 18th century see Bowron 1993–94; Percy
2000, with previous bibliography. On collections of casts in private academies
see Bordini 1998, 387. On the Concorsi see Cipriani and Valeriani 1988–91;
Rome, University Park (PA) and elsewhere 1989–90; Cipriani 2010–11. On the
early years of the Capitoline as a public museum see Arata 1994; Franceschini
and Vernesi 2005; Arata 2008. See Arata 1994, 75. On the Accademia del
Nudo see Pietrangeli 1959; Pietrangeli 1962; MacDonald 1989; Barroero 1998;
Bordini 1998. Haskell and Penny 1981, 62–63; Raspi Serra 1998–99;
Macsotay 2010; Henry 2010–11. The main source for Vleughels’ reform, rich in
information on the study of the Antique in the Académie under his directorship,
is Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, vols 7–9, passim (for description of the
collection of casts see 7, 333–37). Boyer 1955; Loire 2005–06, 75–81. Caviglia-Brunel
2012, 115–63. For Natoire’s drawing (fig. 94) see Paris 2000–01, 372, no. 177;
Caviglia- Brunel 2012, 415–16, no. D.558. On Robert’s drawings (figs 95–96) see
Paris 2000–01, 373–74, nos 178–79; Rome 2008, 132–33, nos 12–13; Ottawa and
Caen 2011–12, 22–23, nos 1a–1b. For 97 see Paris 2000– 01, 384, no. 190. On
Robert in Rome see Rome 1990–91. On Piranesi and his influence on artists see
Fleming 1962; Wilton Ely 1978; Rome, Dijon and elsewhere 1976; Brunel 1978. On
Winckelmann see Potts 1994, with previous bibliography. Henry 2010–11. For David in Rome see Rome
1981–82. For his drawings after the Antique see Sérullaz 1981–82; Rosenberg and
Prat 2002, passim, esp. 1, 391– 746, 2, 754–866. Sérullaz 1981–82, 42. For
David’s drawing (fig. 98) see Rosenberg and Prat 2002, 499, no. 642. See
Pressly 1979; Valverde 2008; Busch 2013. On all these aspects see Pears 1988,
esp. 1–26. As general introductions see Denvir 1983; Solkin 1992; Brewer 1997;
Bindman 2008. On the ‘Rule of Taste’ see Lipking 1970; Barrell 1986, esp. 1–68;
Pears 1988, 27–50; Ayres 1997. For a recent overview see Aymonino 2014. On
academies in Britain before the foundation of the Royal Academy see Bignamini
1988; Bignamini 1990. See MacDonald 1989. An excellent introduction to the use
of the Antique in artists’ education in 18th-century Britain is Postle 1997.
For casts in Britain in the first half of the 18th century see: Bignamini 1988,
59, note 63, 65, 77, note 9, 81, note 65, 88, 103. Einberg and Egerton 1988, 64–71.
Kitson 1966–68, esp. 85–86; Postle 1997, esp. 83–84. See Paulson 1971, 2, 168–71;
Nottingham and London 1991, 62, no. 37. Coutu 2000, 47; Kenworthy-Browne 2009.
On Mortimer’s painting see Nottingham and London 1991, 45, no. 11, with previous
bibliography. MacDonald 1989. Allan 1968, 76–88; Bignamini 1988, 108; Postle
1997, 85–87; Coutu 2000, 52; Kenworthy-Browne 2009, 43–44. Ibid. On the Glasgow
Foulis Academy see Pevsner 1940, 156; MacDonald 1989, 84–85; Fairfull-Smith
2001. On the Royal Academy see Hutchison 1986. On its regulations see also
Abstract 1797. On the Antique School at the Royal Academy (fig. 105) see
Nottingham and London 1991, 43, no. 7; Rome 2010–11b, 432, no.V.6. On Zoffany’s
painting see New Haven and London 2011–12, 218–21, no. 44, with previous
bibliography. For the medal see Hutchison 1986, 34. On Kauffman’s painting see
Rome 2010–11b, 325, 432–33, no. V.7. For Townley see particularly Coltman 2009.
On Soane’s collection of plaster casts see Dorey 2010. De Architectura, 1.1,
esp. 1.1.13; Watkin 1996. Jenkins 1992, 30–40. Venice 1976, 114–15, no. 49.
Malvasia 1678, 1, 359, 365, 484. On the 17th-century neologism ‘statuino’ see
Pericolo’s forthcoming article. See De Piles 1677, 253–54; De Piles 1708, esp. 128–38.
Bellori 1976, 214; Bellori 2005, 180. See Pucci 2000a; Bukdahal 2007 Diderot
1995, 4. See also Haskell and Penny 1981, 91. Boime 1980, 330–35, pl. ix.47.
Couture 1867, 155–56. 66 67. Primary Sources On The Antique. Rome to copy its
antiquities as a source of inspiration, a phenomenon that increased over the
subsequent four hundred years. Bembo is, in addition, one of the earliest
writers to rank Raphael and Michelangelo on the level of artists from
antiquity. Excerpt
from Bembo, Prose . . . della volgar lingua, Venice, 1525, XLII r (translation
Michael Sullivan). At all times of day [Rome] witnesses the arrival of
artists from near and far, intent on reproducing in the small space of their
paper or wax the form of those splendid ancient figures of marble, sometimes
bronze, that lie scattered all over Rome, or are publicly and privately kept
and treasured, as they do with the arches and baths and theatres and the other
various sorts of buildings that are in part still standing: and hence, when
they mean to produce some new work, they aim at those examples, striving with
their art to resemble them, all the more so since they believe their efforts
merit praise by the closeness of resemblance of their new works to ancient ones,
being well aware that the ancient ones come closer to the perfection of art
than any done afterwards. These have succeeded more than others, Messer Giulio
[de’ Medici], your Michelangelo of Florence and Raphael of Urbino so
outstanding and illustrious that it is easier to say how close they come to the
good old masters than decide which of them is the greater and better artist. 4.
Ludovico Dolce (1508–68) on the necessity for artists copying from antique
statues to learn how to correct the defects of Nature and to aim for perfect
beauty. In his treatise Dialogo della pittura . . . (1557), the humanist,
writer and art theorist Lodovico Dolce upheld a strong defence of the Venetian
school of painting, based on colour, against the Florentine and Roman ones, based
on drawing, supported by Giorgio Vasari. At the same time he included one of
the earliest theoretical statements on the necessity to study the Antique as a
model of idealised nature and perfect beauty – especially in the study of the
proportions of the human figure. However, in Dolce, one finds also a warning
against the indiscriminate copying of classical sculptures – which should
always be imitated with the correct artistic judgement to avoid eccen-
tricities – a principle that would become a leitmotif in subsequent art
literature, as shown here in excerpts from Rubens (no. 8) or Bernini (no. 10).
For Dolce a slavish dependence on the Antique can lead to the excesses of
Mannerism. Exerpts
from Ludovico Dolce, Dialogo della pittura intitolato l’Aretino . . ., Venice,
1557, 32r–33r. The following translation is from the first English
edition: Aretin: A Dialogue on Painting. From the Italian of Ludovico Dolce,
London, 1770, 127–32. Whoever would do this [to form a justly proportioned
figure] should chuse the most perfect form he can find, and partly imitate
nature, as Apelles did, who, when he painted his celebrated Venus emerging from
the sea [p. 128] drew her from Phryne, the most famous
courtesan of the age; and Praxiteles also formed his statue of the Venus of
Gnidus, from the same model. Partly he should imitate the best marbles and
bronzes of the [p. 129] antient masters, the admirable perfection [p. 130] of
which, whoever can fully taste and posses, may safely correct many defects of
Nature herself, and make his pictures universally pleasing and grateful. These
contain all the perfection of the art, and may be properly proposed as examples
of perfect beauty. [p. 131] Proportion being the principal
foundation of design, he who best observes it, must always be the best master
in this respect: and it being necessary to the forming of a perfect body, to
copy not only nature but the antique, we must be careful that we do this with
judgement, lest we should imitate the worst parts, whilst we think we are
imitating the best. We have an instance of this, at present, in a painter, who
having observed that the [p. 132] antients, for the most part, designed their
figures light and slender, by too strict an obedience to this custom, and
exceeding the just bounds, has turned this, which is a beauty, into a very
striking defect. Others have accustomed themselves in painting heads
(especially of women) to make long necks; having observed that the greatest
part of the antique pictures of Roman ladies have long necks, and that short
ones are generally ungrace- ful; but by giving into too great a liberty, have
made that which was in their original pleasing, totally otherwise in the copy.
5. Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) on drawing as the intellectual foundation of all
arts; on grace, and on the classical sculptures in the Belvedere Courtyard in
the Vatican as the source for the ‘beautiful style’ of High Renaissance
masters. Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and
Architects – published first in 1550 and in an expanded edition in 1568 – is
arguably the most influential example of art literature of the Renaissance.
Vasari’s biographies of the most famous modern artists set the standard for a
progressive conception of the history of art, with the Florentine and Roman
schools representing its culmination. At the start of his essay on painting, in
a section added to the 1568 edition of the Lives, he provides a definition of
disegno, drawing, to give a theoretical underpinning to his defence of the
Central Italian schools of painting. Vasari’s conception of drawing as the
first physical manifestation of the artist’s idea – the intellectual part of
art common to painting, sculpture and architecture – would provide the founda-
tion for the centrality of drawing in the curriculum of future acade- mies. In
another passage to be found in both editions, Vasari praises the best ancient
sculptures, as they embodied the supreme quality of grazia, or grace, which
cannot be attained by study but only by the judgement of the artist – a concept
that remained one of the central tenets of Italian art theory for the next two
centuries. He attributes the rise of the modern manner or ‘bella maniera’, and
the great achievements of Raphael and Michelangelo, to their familiarity and
exposure to the best examples of classical sculpture in the Belvedere Courtyard
in the Vatican. Excerpts
from Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori et
architettori, Florence, 1568, part 1, 43. The following
translation is from Vasari on Technique, ed. G. Baldwin Brown, trans. L. S.
Maclehose, London, 1907, 205–06. 69 SOURCE #1 VITRUVIO (80–70 bc – post c. 15
bc) On harmonic proportions as the principle of ideal beauty. Marcus Vitruvius
Pollio’s De Architectura, c. 30–20 bc, is the only complete treatise on classical
architecture to have survived from antiquity and its impact on Western
architecture from the Renaissance onwards is paramount. Manuscript copies of
the treatise circulated widely in the 15th century and were well known to
Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Donatello and to subsequent
generations of early Renaissance artists and architects. The first printed
Latin edition appeared in 1486, followed by a more popular version in 1511
(edited by Fra Giovanni Giocondo). Italian translations appeared in 1521 (by
Cesare Cesariano) and in 1556 (edited and translated by Daniele Barbaro with
illustrations by Andrea Palladio). The first chapter of book 3, provided
architects and artists with an authoritative account of the principle of
harmonic proportions based on commensurability which had inspired ancient
sculptors and paint- ers in search of ideal beauty. The celebrated passage on
the perfect proportions of the human body was visualised by Leonardo in his
‘Vitruvian Man’ (see 17, 2). The following translation is from the first
integral English edition: The Architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio. Translated
from the Original Latin, by W. Newton Architect, London, 1771, book 3, chapter
1, 45–46: ‘On the Composition and Symmetry of Temples’.1 The composition of
temples, is governed by the laws of symmetry; which an architect ought well to
understand; this arises from pro- portion, which is called by the Greek,
Analogia. Proportion is the correspondence of the measures of all the parts of
a work, and of the whole configuration, from which correspondence, symmetry is
produced; for a building cannot be well composed without the rules of symmetry
and proportions; nor unless the members, as in a well formed human body, have a
perfect agreement. For nature as so composed the human body, that the face from
the chin to the roots of the hair at the top of the forehead, is the tenth part
of the whole height; and the hand, from the joint to the extremity of the
middle finger, is the same; the head, from the chin to the crown, is an eight
part; the rest of the members have their measures
also proportional; this the ancient painters and statuaries strictly observed,
and thereby gained universal applause. The central point of the body is the navel:
for if a man was laid supine with his arms and legs extended, and a circle was
drawn round him, the central foot of the compasses being placed over his navel,
the extremities of his fingers and toes would touch the circumferent line; and
in the same manner as the body is adapted to [p. 46] the circle, it will also
be found to agree with the square; for, if the measure from the bottom of the
feet to the top of the head is taken, and applied to the arms extended, it will
be found that the breadth is equal to the height, the same as in the area of a
square. Since, therefore, nature has so composed the human body, * All
sentences in Italics are by the present author throughout. 68 that the members
are proportionate and consentaneous to the whole figure, with reason the
ancients have determined, that in all perfect works, the several members must
be exactly proportional to the whole object. 1 The Latin word ‘symmetria’ of
Vitruvius’ text has often been translated in English with ‘symmetry’, while
commensurability – the mathematical relation between the part and the whole
within a given body or building resulting in overall harmonic proportions –
would be a better translation. 2. Cennino d’Andrea Cennini (c. 1370–c. 1440) on
drawing as the foundation of art and on the advantage for young artists of
copying from other masters. Written around 1390 possibly in Padua, Cennini’s Il
Libro dell’Arte is the first art treatise composed in Italian. Although mainly
concerned with practical advice to painters, Cennini also devoted some of the
chapters to the education of the young artist, ofering the first written
evidence of the importance of drawing in the apprenticeship of the aspiring
painter, and especially the copying of works by other artists. Later, in early
Renaissance workshop practices, this increasingly included antique sculpture.
Although not published until 1821, manuscript copies of the Libro circulated
widely in the 16th and 17th centuries, evidenced by the fact that references to
it and passages from it reappear in subsequent art treatises. Excerpts
from Cennino Cennini, Il Libro dell’Arte, ed. F. Brunello, Vicenza, 1971
(translation, present author). [P. 6, chapter 4] The
foundations and the principles of art, and of all these manual works, are
drawing and colouring. [P. 27, chapter 27] If you want to progress further on
the path of this science you must follow this method: take
pain and pleasure in constantly copying the best things that you can find done
by the hands of the great masters. And if you are in a place where many masters
have been, so much better for you. But I will give you some advice: be careful
to imitate always the best and the most famous; and progressing every day, it
would be against nature that you will not eventually be infused by the master’s
style and spirit. 3. Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) on artists going to Rome to copy
the Antique, and on Michelangelo and Raphael having equalled the ancient
masters. Italian scholar, poet, literary theorist, collector and cardinal,
Pietro Bembo was a central figure in the cultivated antiquarian milieu at the
court of Pope Leo X (r. 1513–21) and a personal friend of Raphael and
Michelangelo. His Prose . . . della volgar lingua, a treatise published in
1525, but composed over the previous two decades, contains one of the earliest
and most eloquent reports of artists converging on Seeing that Design,
the parent of our three arts, Architecture, Sculpture and Painting, having its
origin in the intellect, draws out from many single things a general judgement,
it is like a form or idea of all the objects in nature, most marvellous in what
it compasses, for not only in the bodies of men and of animals but also in
plants, in buildings, in sculpture and in painting, design is cognizant of the
proportions of the whole to the parts and of the parts to each other and to the
whole. Seeing too that from this knowledge there arises a certain conception
and judgement, so that there is formed in the mind that something which
afterwards, when expressed by the hands, is called design, we may conclude that
design is not other than a visible expression and declaration of our inner
conception and of that which others have imagined and given form to their idea.
And from this, perhaps, arose the proverb among the ancients ‘ex ungue leonem’
when a certain clever person, seeing carved in a stone block the claw only of a
lion, apprehended in his mind [p. 206] from its size and form all the parts of
the animal and then the whole together, just as if he had had it present before
his eyes. Excerpts
from Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori et
architettori, Florence, 1568, part 3, 1, 2–3 of the Preface (unpaginated). The following translation is from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari, ed. and trans. by G. du C. de Vere,
London 1912–14, 4, 81–82. [Fifteenth-century artists] were advancing towards
the good, and their figures were thus approved according to the standards of
the works of the ancients, as was seen when Andrea Verrocchio restored in
marble the legs and arms of the Marsyas in the house of the Medici in Florence.
But they lacked a certain finish and finality of perfection in the feet, hands,
hair, and beards, although the limbs as a whole are in accordance with the
antique and have a certain correct harmony in the proportions. Now if they had
had that minuteness of finish which is the perfection and bloom of art, they
would also have had a resolute boldness in their works; and from this there
would have followed delicacy, refine- ment, and supreme grace, which are the
qualities produced by the perfection of art in beautiful figures, whether in
relief or painting; but these qualities they did not have, although they give
proof of diligent striving. That finish, and that certain something that they
lacked, they could not achieve so readily, seeing that study, when it is used
in that way to obtain finish, gives dryness to the manner. After them indeed,
their successors were enabled to attain to it through seeing excavated out of
the earth certain antiquities cited by Pliny as amongst the most famous, such
as the Laocoön, the Hercules, the Great Torso of the Belvedere, and likewise
the Venus, the Cleopatra, the Apollo, and an endless number of others, which,
both with their sweetness and their severity, with their fleshy roundness
copied from the great beauties of nature, and with certain attitudes which
involve no distortions of the whole figure but only a movement of certain
parts, [p. 82] and are revealed with a most perfect grace, brought about the
disappearance of a certain dryness, hardness, and sharpness of manner, which
had been left to our art by the excessive study . 6. Giovan Battista Armenini (c. 1525–1609)
on assimilating the principles of the Antique through constant drawing as a
safe guide for artistic creation. Giovan Battista Armenini’s De veri precetti
della pittura (1587), consti- tutes one of the most systematic art treatises of
the second half of the 16th century. In it we find the clearest formulations of
a progressive method of learning, later defined as the ‘alphabet of drawing’
(see no. 7), and of the necessity of assimilating the principles of the Antique
through drawing. Armenini is also the first to provide a proper canon of
sculptures and reliefs in Rome that students should copy and to praise the
didactic use of plaster casts. Excerpts from Giovan Battista Armenini, De
veri precetti della pittura, Ravenna, 1587, book 1, ch. 8, 61–63. The following translation is from G. B. Armenini, On the True Precepts
of the Art of Painting, ed. and trans. by J. Olszewski, New York, 1977, 130–34.
[To obtain a good style] it is the general and universal rule only to draw
those things which are the most beautiful, learned and most like the good works
of ancient sculptors. Having familiarised him- self with them through continual
study, the student must know these things so thoroughly that when the occasion
demands he can reproduce one or more of these compositions. He must be so
familiar with them that whatever is good in the old works will be marvellously
reflected in his rough sketches, as well as in finished drawings, and
consequently in large paintings . For
the con- tinual drawing and copying of things which are well made ensures that
one has a proper guide to follow and executes his own work very well. In
order that you may fully know the basis of art, make it the foundation of your
own works, and learn how to recognise excellence with certainty, particularly
in figures, we shall place before you as principal models some of the most
famous ancient sculp- tures which most closely approach the true perfection of
art and are still intact in our own days. [p. 131] For it is well known that
the ancients who fashioned these statues first chose the best that nature
offered in diverse models and then, guided by their excellent judgement,
combined the best perfectly into one work. These
ancient statues are as follows: the Laocoön, Hercules, Apollo, the great Torso,
Cleopatra, Venus, the Nile, and some others also of marble, all of them to be
found in the Belvedere in the papal palace in the Vatican. Some others are
scattered throughout Rome and among the [p. 132] foremost is the Marcus
Aurelius in bronze, now in the square of the Campidoglio. Then there are the
Giants of Monte Cavallo, and the Pasquino, and others not as good as these.
Also well known because of the histo- ries depicted thereon are those in the
arches with very beautiful manner of half and low relief as in the two columns,
the Trajan and the Antonine, which still stand, even though time is hostile to
human work. And even though this study we have been
discussing is not in the power of all students, since as is well known not all
can stay in Rome labouring long and at great expense, yet even they have many
of these works in their own homes. I am speaking of those copies of the
originals fashioned by the masters in plaster or other material. I have seen a
wax copy of the Roman Laocoön, not larger than two spans, but one could say
that it was the original in small size. Still, if those parts that are modelled
in gesso from these works can be obtained, they are better without doubt since
every detail is there precisely as in the marble, so that they can be
scrutinised and serve the student’s needs excellently. Also, they are very
convenient because they are light and easily handled and transported. And, as
for price, one can say it is very cheap, that is, in comparison with the
originals. Therefore, with such excellent aids available, there is no excuse
for anyone who really wishes to learn the good and ancient path. I have seen
studios and chambers in Milan, Genoa, Venice, Parma, Mantua, Florence, Bologna,
Pesaro, Urbino, Ravenna and other minor cities full of such well formed copies.
Looking at these, it seemed to me that they were the very works found in Rome.
Nor is any beautiful living model excluded from these, and the closer it is to
the aforementioned [p. 133] sculptures, the better it may be considered to be,
but this is rarely the case. Now, with so many examples and reasons, such as
these, I believe [p. 134] you should have a good idea of all that you must
consider and observe carefully. 7. The ‘alphabet of drawing’ and the role of
the Antique in the first orders and statutes of the Roman Accademia di San Luca
(1593). The first ‘orders and statutes’ of the Roman Accademia di San Luca,
laid out by Federico Zuccaro (c. 1541–1609) in 1593 and published by Romano
Alberti (active 1585–1604) in 1604, codified a progressive method in learning
how to draw the human figure, considered as the central subject of art: from
details, like the eye, to the whole body. This ‘alphabet of drawing’, based on
Renaissance workshop practices, would become enormously influential in the
teaching of art in Europe well into the 20th century. The Antique had a crucial
role in it, as it gave students the possibility to learn how to approach the
third dimension of the human body through models of idealised beauty, anatomy
and proportions, and the role of ancient statuary is clearly specified in
another passage of the Accademia’s rules and regulations. Excerpts from
Romano Alberti, Origine, et progresso dell’Academia del Dissegno, de’ Pittori,
Scultori, et Architetti di Roma, Pavia, 1604, 5–8 (translation, present
author). [P. 5] Another hour will be devoted to practice and to
teaching drawing to young students, showing them the way and the good path of
study, and for this purpose we have appointed twelve Academicians, one for each
month of the year, in charge of taking particular care and responsibility in
assisting the students in this task. .
The Principal will order the young students to produce something by their hand,
while he will draw himself, and he will award his resulting drawings to the
best students. The first figures – to start from the Alphabet of Drawing (so to
speak) – will be the A, B, C: eyes, noses, mouths, ears, heads, hands, feet,
arms, legs, torsos, backs and other similar parts of the human body, as well as
any other sort of animals and figures, architectural elements, and reliefs in
wax, clay and similar exercises. [P. 8] [The Academician in charge] will start
instructing the students in what to study, assigning to each of them a
different task according to his individual disposition and talent: some will
draw from drawings, others from cartoons or from reliefs; others will copy
heads, feet, hands; others will go out during the week drawing after the
antique or the facades by Polidoro, or land- scapes, buildings, animals and
other similar things; other students in convenient times will draw after live
models, and they must copy them with grace and judgement. Others will do
exercises in architecture and in perspective, following its correct and good
rules, and the best students shall always be rewarded . 8. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) on the
usefulness and dangers of copying from the Antique. The great Flemish artist
Peter Paul Rubens spent two extended periods in Rome, between 1601 and 1602 and
from late 1605 to late 1608, with short interruptions. His erudite approach
towards the Antique and his desire to assimilate its principles resulted in
many extraordinary drawings after classical statues, mostly in black and red
chalk. In his theoretical treatise, De Imitatione Statuarum (‘On the Imitation
of Statues’), c. 1608–10, he warned against the dangers of slavishly copying
the Antique and transferring the characteristics and limits of one medium –
marble – into another – drawing or painting. Although Rubens’ manuscript
remained unpublished in his lifetime, it was owned by the influential French
art theorist Roger de Piles (1635–1709), who first published it in his Cours de
peinture par principles, Paris, 1708, 139–47. The following translation is from
the first English edition: Roger de Piles, The Principles of Painting, London,
1743, 86–92. To some painters the imitation of the antique statues has been
extremely useful, and to others pernicious, even to the ruin of their art. I
conclude, however, that in order to attain the highest perfection in painting,
it is necessary to understand the antiques, nay, to be so thoroughly possessed
of this knowledge, [p. 87] that it may diffuse itself everywhere. Yet it must
be judiciously applied, and so that it may not in the least smell of stone. For
several ignorant painters, and even some who are skilful, make no distinction
between the matter and the form, the stone and the figure, the necessity of
using the block, and the art of forming it. It is certain, however, that the
finest statues are extremely beneficial, so the bad are not only useless, but
even pernicious. For beginners learn from them I know not what, that is crude,
liny, stiff, and of harsh anatomy; and while they take themselves to be good
proficient, do but disgrace nature; since instead of imitating flesh, they only
represent marble tinged with various colours. For there are many things [p. 88]
to be taken notice of, and avoided, which happen even in the best statues,
without the workman’s fault: especially with regard to the difference of shades
. [p. 89] He who has, with discernment,
made the proper distinctions in these cases, cannot consider the antique
statues too attentively, nor study them too carefully; for we of this erroneous
age, are so far degenerate, that we can produce nothing like them. 70 71
9. Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) described as a young boy devoting his days
to copying the statues in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican. In 1713 Gianlorenzo
Bernini’s son Domenico (1657–1723) published a biography of his father that
constitutes, with Filippo Baldinucci’s Vita del cavaliere . . . Bernino (MS.
1682), one of the most important sources on the life and art of the great
Baroque sculptor and architect. A passage describing the impact of the art of
Rome on Gianlorenzo, after his arrival from his native Naples, vividly evokes
the dedication and devotion of the young sculptor in assimilating day and night
the principles of the great classical examples in the Belvedere Courtyard –
especially the Antinous Belvedere, the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön. Excerpts
from Domenico Bernini, Vita del cavalier Gio. Lorenzo Bernino, Rome, 1713, 12-13.
The following translation is from Domenico Bernini,
The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, ed. and trans. by F. Mormando, University
Park (PA), 2011, 101. There now opened before him in Rome a marvellous field in
which to cultivate his studies through the diligent observation of the precious
remains of ancient sculpture. It is not to be believed with what dedication he
frequented that school and with what profit he absorbed its teachings. Almost
every morning, for the space of three years, he left Santa Maria Maggiore,
where Pietro, his father, had built a small comfortable house, and travelled on
foot to the Vatican Palace at Saint Peter’s. There he remained until sunset,
drawing, one by one, those marvellous statues that antiquity has conveyed to us
and that time has preserved for us, as both a benefit and dowry for the art of
sculpture. He took no refreshment during all those days, except for a little
wine and food, saying that the pleasure alone of the lively instruction
supplied by those inanimate statues caused a certain sweetness to pervade his
body, and this was sufficient in itself for the maintenance of his strength for
days on end. In fact, some days it was frequently the case that Gian Lorenzo
would not return home at all. Not seeing the youth for entire days, his father,
however, did not even interrogate his son about this behaviour. Pietro was
always certain of Gian Lorenzo’s whereabouts, that is, in his studio at Saint
Peter’s, where, as the son used to say, his girlfriends (that is, the ancient
statues) had their home. The specific object of his studies we must deduce from
what he used to say later in life once he began to experience their effect on
him. Accordingly, his greatest attention was focussed above all on those two
most singular statues, the Antinous and the Apollo, the former miraculous in
its design, the latter in its workmanship. Bernini claimed, however, that both
of these qualities were even more perfectly embodied in the famous Laocoön of
Athen0dorus, Hagesander, and Polydorus of Rhodes, a work of so well-balanced
and exquisite a style that tradition has attributed it to three artists,
judging it perhaps beyond the ability of just one man alone. Two of these three
marvellous statues, the Antinous and the Laocoön, had been discovered during
the time of Pope Leo X amid the ruins of Nero’s palace in the gardens near the
church of San Pietro in Vincoli and placed by the same pontiff in the Vatican
Palace for the public benefit of artists and other students of antiquity. 10.
Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) on the formative role of ancient sculpture in the
education of young artists. In 1665 Bernini visited France at the invitation of
Louis XIV to discuss designs for the completion of the Palais du Louvre. His
five-month stay was recorded by his guide Paul Fréart, Sieur de Chantelou in
his lively Journal du voyage du Cavalier Bernin en France. The advice given by
Bernini on his visit to the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture is
among the clearest statements on the formative role assigned to antique
statuary in the education of young artists in 17th- century Rome. At the same
time it reveals the opinion of the great Baroque sculptor on the dangers of
copying from classical models without also involving independent inspiration
and artistic creations. The manuscript of the Journal du voyage du cavalier
Bernin en France par M. de Chantelou was published for the first time by
Ludovic Lalanne in a series of articles in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts in
1877–84 (a new edition by M. Stanic ́ was published in Paris in 2001). The
following translation is from Paul Fréart de Chantelou, Diary of the Cavaliere
Bernini’s Visit to France, ed. by A. Blunt, trans. by M. Cornbett, Princeton,
1985, 165–67. 5 September: The Cavaliere worked as usual, and in the evening
went to the Academy [p. 166]. The Cavaliere glanced at the
pictures round the room: they are not by the most talented mem- bers. He also
looked at a few bas-reliefs by various sculptors of the Academy. Then, as he
was standing in the middle of the hall sur- rounded by members, he gave it as
his opinion that the Academy ought to possess casts of all the notable statues,
bas-reliefs, and busts of antiquity. They would serve to educate young
students; they should be taught to draw after these classical models and in
that way form a conception of the beautiful that would serve them all their
lives. It was fatal to put them to draw from nature at the beginning of their
training, since nature is nearly always feeble and niggardly, for if their
imagination has nothing but nature to feed on, they will be unable to put forth
anything of strength or beauty; for nature itself is devoid of both strength or
beauty, and artists who study it should first be skilled in recognis- ing its
faults and correcting them; something that students who lack grounding cannot
do [p. 167]. He said that when he was very young
he used to draw from the antique a great deal, and, in the first figure he
undertook, resorted continually to the Antinous as his oracle. Every day he
noticed some further excellence in this statue; certainly he would never have
had that experience had he not himself taken up a chisel and started to work.
For this reason he always advised his pupils, and others, never to draw and
model without at the same time working either at a piece of sculpture or a
picture, combining creation with imitation and thought with action, so to
speak, and remarkable progress should result. For support of his contention
that original work was absolutely essential I cited the case of the late
Antoine Carlier, an artist known to most of the members of the Academy. He
spent the greater part of his life in Rome modelling after the statues of
antiquity, and his copies are incomparable: and they had to agree that, because
he had begun to do original work too late, his imagination had dried up, and the
slavery of copying had in the end made it impossible for him to produce
anything of his own. 11. Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613–96): his ‘Idea of the
painter, the sculptor and the architect, selected from the beauties of Nature,
superior to Nature’ as the manifesto of the classicist doctrine. Giovanni
Pietro Bellori, a central figure in 17th-century art theory and the champion of
classicism, delivered his epochal speech, the ‘Idea’, in front of the Roman
Accademia di San Luca in 1664 and later published it as a preface to his
influential Vite of 1772. In this he provided one of the clearest and most
influential systematisations for the concept of the idealistic mission of art,
already formulated by various Renaissance art theorists such as Dolce, Vasari,
Armenini and Zuccaro. Joining Aristotelian and neo-Platonic premises, for
Bellori God’s perfect Ideas become corrupted in our world because of accidents
and the innate imperfection of the ‘matter’. The role of ‘noble’ artists is
therefore to aim at recreating the perfection of the original divine ideas in
their works by selecting the best parts of nature. Classical statues ofer the
best guide and example for the modern artists as they are the result of this
process of selection already achieved by ancient artists. In the final
paragraph quoted here, Bellori stresses the value of the imitation of the
Antique against some contemporary artists and theorists, like the Venetian
painter and writer Marco Boschini (1605–81), who criticised the practice. Excerpts
from Giovan Pietro Bellori, Le vite de’ pittori scultori e architetti moderni,
Rome, 1672, 3–13. The following translation is from G. Bellori, The
Lives of the Modern Painters, Sculptors and Architects: a New Translation and
Critical Edition, ed. by H. Wohl, trans. by A. Sedgwick Wohl, introduction by
T. Montanari, Cambridge, 2005, 57–61. [P. 57] The supreme and eternal
intellect, the author of nature, looking deeply within himself as he fashioned
his marvellous works, established the first forms, called Ideas, in such a way
that each species was an expression of that first Idea, thereby forming the
wondrous context of created things. But the celestial bodies above the moon,
not being subject to change, remained forever beautiful and ordered, so that by
their measured spheres and by the splendour of their aspects we come to know
them as eternally perfect and most beautiful. The opposite happens with the
sublunar bodies, which are subject to change and to ugliness; and even though
nature intends always to make its effects excellent, nevertheless, owing to the
inequality of matter, forms are altered, and the human beauty in particular is
confounded, as we see in the innumerable deformities and disproportions that
there are in us. For this reason noble painters and sculptors, imitating that
first maker, also form in their minds an example of higher beauty, and by
contemplating that, they emend nature without fault of colour or of line. This
Idea, or rather the goddess of painting and sculpture , reveals itself to us and descends upon
marbles and canvases; originating in nature, it transcends its origins and
becomes the original of art; measured by the compass of the intellect, it
becomes the measure of the hand; and animated by the imagination it gives life
to the image. [P. 58] Now Zeuxis, who chose from five virgins to fashion the
famous image of Helen that Cicero held up as an example to the orator, teaches
both the painter and the sculptor to contemplate the Idea of the best natural
forms by choosing them from various bodies, selecting the most elegant.1 For he
did not believe that he would be able to find in a single body all those
perfections that he sought for the beauty of Helen, since nature does not make
any particular thing perfect in all its parts. Now if
we wish also to compare the precepts of the sages of antiquity with the best of
[p. 59] those laid down by our modern sages, Leon Battista Alberti teaches that
one should love in all things not only the likeness, but mainly the beauty, and
that one must proceed by choosing from very beautiful bodies their most praised
parts.2 Raphael of Urbino, the great master of those
who know, writes thus to Castiglione about his Galatea: In order to paint one
beauty I would need to see more beauties, but as there is a dearth of beautiful
women, I make use of a certain Idea that comes to into my mind.3 [P. 61] It
remains for us to say that since the sculptors of antiquity employed the
marvellous Idea, as we have indicated, it is therefore necessary to study the
most perfect ancient sculptures, in order that they may guide us to the emended
beauties of nature; and for the same purpose it is necessary to direct our eye
to the contemplation of other most excellent masters; but this matter we shall
leave to a treatise of its own on imitation, to meet the objections of those
who criticise the study of ancient statues. 1 Cicero, De inventione, II, 1,
1–3. 2 Alberti 1972, 99 (book 3, chap. 55). 3 Quoted the first time in Pino
1582, 2, 249. 12. A Conférence of the Parisian Académie Royale de peinture et
de sculpture on the artistic excellence of the Laocoön, 1667. Among the
celebrated seven Conférences given at the Académie in 1667, devoted to the
analysis of famous paintings of the Italian and French schools, the third, held
by the sculptor Gerard van Opstal (1594–1668), was specifically dedicated to
the Laocoön. Opstal’s approach, in which each aspect of the famous statue, from
its anatomy, to its proportions, character and expressions, is discussed in
detail, clearly expresses the analytical and didactic approach of the Académie
to the Antique. Excerpts from André Félibien, Conférences de l’Académie
Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, pendant l’année 1667, Paris, 1668, 28–40. The following translation is from the first English edition: Seven
Conferences held in the King of France’s Cabinet of Paintings . . ., London,
1740, 33–42 (pagination is discontinuous). [Gerard van Opstal] examined all the
Parts of this Figure in order to shew the Excellence of it: and observed with
what Art the Sculptor had given in a large Breast and Shoulders, all the Parts
of which are expressed with a great deal of Exactness and Tenderness. He also
took Notice of the Height of the Hips, and the Nervousness of the Arms: the
Legs neither too thick nor too lean but firm 72 73 and well muscled; and
in general he observed that in all the other Members, the Flesh and Nerves were
expressed with as much strength and sweetness as in Nature herself, but in
Nature well formed. [p. 34]. He did not forget to shew likewise
the strong Expressions which appear in this admirable Figure, where Grief is
not only diffused over the Face, but also over all the other Parts of the Body,
and to the Extremities of the Feet, the Toes of which violently contract themselves.
[p. 35] As every thing about this Statue is contrived with surprising Art,
every one will own that it ought to be the chief study of Painters and
Sculptors: But which they should not consider chiefly as a Model that only
serves to design by; they ought to observe exactly all the Beauties, and
imprint on their Minds an Image of all that is excellent in it: because it is
not the Hand that is to be employed if one desires to make himself perfect in
this Art, but Judgement to form these great Ideas and Memory carefully to
retain them. But as those strong Expressions cannot teach one to design after a
Model, because we cannot put such a Person in a State where all the Passions
are in him at once, and it is likewise difficult to copy them in Persons who
are really active because of the quick Motion of the Soul: It is therefore of
great Importance for Artists to study Causes, and then to try with how great
Dignity [p. 30] they can represent their Effects, and we may aver that it is
only to these fine Antiques they must have recourse since there they will meet
with Expressions which it will be difficult to draw after nature. [P. 31] Every
one will agree that it is from this Model [that] we may learn to correct the
Faults which are commonly found in Nature; for here all appears in a State of
Perfection . 13. Gérard Audran
(1640–1703) on the perfect proportions of antique sculptures. Gérard Audran,
engraver and conseiller of the Parisian Académie Royale, published the most
popular illustrated manual on the measured proportions of selected canonical
ancient statues in 1682 (see 48, figs 72–73). We find in the Preface one of the
clearest expressions of the rationalistic attitude of the Académie: the Antique
here represents an infallible standard of perfect proportions, which Audran has
made available, ‘compass in hand’, for young artists, providing them with
precise references on which to base their own figures. Excerpts from Gérard Audran, Les proportions du corps humain mesurées sur
les plus belles figures de l’antiquité, Paris, 1683, 1-4 of the Preface
(unpaginated). The following translation is from The Proportions of
the Human Body, measured from the most Beautiful Statues by Mons. Audran . . .,
London,There will be, I think, but little occasion to enlarge upon the
Necessity of a perfect Knowledge of the PROPORTIONS, to every Person conversant
in Designing; it being very well known, that without observing them they can
make nothing but mon- strous and extravagant Figures. Everyone agrees to this
Maxim generally consider’d, but everyone puts it differently in practice; and
here lies the Difficulty, to find certain Rules for the Justness and Nobleness
of the Proportions; which, since Opinions are divided, may stand as an
infallible Guide, upon whose Judgement we may rely with Certainty. This appears
at first very easy; for since the Perfection of Art consist in imitating Nature
well, it seems as if we need consult no other Master, but only work after the
Life; nevertheless, if we examin the Matter farther, we shall find, that very
few Men, or perhaps none, have all their Parts in exact Proportion without any
Defect. We must therefore chuse what is beautiful in each, taking only what is
called the Beautiful Nature. I see nothing but the Antique in which we can
place an entire confidence. These Sculptors who have left us those beautiful
Figures have in some sort excell’d Nature; for there
never was any Man so perfect in all his Parts as some of their Figures. They
have imitated the Arms of one, the Legs of another, collecting thus in one
Figure all the Beauties which agreed to the Subject they represented; as we see
in the Hercules all the Strokes that are Marks of Strength; and in the Venus
all the Delicacy and Graces that can form an accomplished Beauty. [p. 2].
I give you nothing of myself; everything is taken from the Antique: but I have
drawn nothing upon the Paper till I had first mark’d all the Measures with the
Compasses, in order to make the Out-Lines fall just according to the Numbers.
14. William Hogarth (1697–1764) against fashionable taste and the uncritical
cult of the Antique. The celebrated painter and engraver William Hogarth played
a crucial role in establishing an English school of painting in the 18th
century. As director of the second St Martin’s Lane Academy from 1735, he
became increasingly hostile to a curriculum based on the French Académie model.
In his theoretical treatise The Analysis of Beauty, published in 1753, he
attacked the idealistic concept of art – as a selection of the best parts of
nature – in favour of a more naturalistic approach. At the same time he
disputed the validity of studies on proportion such as those produced by Dürer
and Lomazzo in the 16th century. Hogarth retained a bold independent-minded
position towards the Antique, criticising the slavish reverential attitude of
connoisseurs and men of taste, while recognising the greatness of certain
antiquities. Their peculiar elegance, according to Hogarth, is the expression
of the ‘serpentine line’, the central principle of his own aesthetic. Excerpts
from William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, London, 1753. [P. 66] We have all
along had recourse chiefly to the works of the ancients, not because the
moderns have not produced some as excellent; but because the works of the
former are more generally known: nor would we have it thought, that either of
them have ever yet come up to the utmost beauty of nature. Who but a bigot,
even to the antiques, will say that he has not seen faces and necks, hands and
arms in living women, that even the Grecian Venus doth but coarsely imitate?
[p. 67] And what sufficient reason can be given why the same may not be said of
the rest of the body? [P. 77, ‘On Proportions’] Notwithstanding the absurdity
of the above schemes [of Dürer and Lomazzo], such measures as are to be taken
from antique statues, may be of some service to painters and sculptors,
especially to young beginners [p. 80]. I firmly believe, that one of our
common proficients in the athletic art, would be able to instruct and direct
the best sculptor living, (who hath not seen, or is wholly ignorant of this
exercise) in what would give the statue of an English-boxer, a much better
proportion, as to character, than is to be seen, even in the famous group of
antique boxers, (or some call them, Roman wrestlers) so much admired to this
day. [P. 91] As some of the ancient statues have been of such singular use to
me, I shall beg leave to conclude this chapter with an observation or two on
them in general. It is allowed by the most skilful in the imitative arts, that
tho’ there are many of the remains of antiquity, that have great excellencies
about them; yet there are not, moderately speaking, above twenty that may be
justly called capital. There is one reason, nevertheless, besides the blind
veneration that generally is paid to antiquity, for holding even many very
imperfect pieces in some degree of estimation: I mean that peculiar taste of
elegance which so visibly runs through them all, down to the most incorrect of
their basso-relievos: [p. 92] which taste, I am persuaded, my reader will now
conceive to have been entirely owing to the perfect knowledge the ancients must
have had of the use of the precise serpentine-line. But this cause of elegance
not having been since sufficiently understood, no wonder such effects should
have appeared mysterious, and have drawn mankind into a sort of religious
esteem, and even bigotry, to the works of antiquity. 15. Johan Joachim
Winckelmann (1717–68) on the Antique. Winckelmann, the greatest art historian
of the 18th century, moved to Rome from Dresden in 1755 and soon established
himself as one of the leading antiquarians and scholars of Europe. His powerful
and intimate descriptions of ancient sculptures, especially those in the
Belvedere Courtyard, had a tremendous impact on the European public and
contributed decisively to the difusion of the classical ideal and the airmation
of the neo-classical aesthetics. His analysis of Greek art provided a stylistic
classification of antiquities by period, stressing the importance of contextual
conditions such as the climate and political freedom of the ancient Greek city
states. This revolutionised the approach to the Antique and contributed to the
establishment of a modern art historical method. He recommended to artists the
imitation of ancient statuary as the only way to achieve perfection, in both
aesthetic and moral terms. Excerpts from Johan Joachim Winckelmann, Gedanken
über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst,
ed. by C. L. von Ulrichs, Stuttgart, 1885, 6–12, 24. The following translation
is from the first English edition: J. J. Winckelmann, Reflections on the
Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks . . ., trans. by Henry Fuseli, London,
1765. [P. 1] To the Greek climate we owe the production of Taste, and from
thence it spread at length over all the politer world. [P. 2] There is but one
way for the moderns to become great, and perhaps unequalled; I mean, by
imitating the antients. And what we are told of Homer, that whoever understands
him well, admires him, we find no less true in matters concerning the antient,
especially the Greek arts. But then we must [p. 3] be as familiar with them as
with a friend, to find Laocoon as inimitable as Homer. By such intimacy our
judgment will be that of Nicomachus: Take these eyes, replied he to some paltry
critick, censuring the Helen of Zeuxis, Take my eyes, and she will appear a goddess.
With such eyes Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Poussin considered the performances
of the antients. They imbibed taste at its source; and Raphael particularly in
its native country. We know, that he sent young artists to Greece, to copy
there, for his use, the remains of antiquity. Laocoon
was the standard of the Roman artists, as well as ours; and the rules of
Polycletus became the rules of art. [P. 4] The most beautiful body of ours
would perhaps be as much inferior to the most beautiful Greek one, as Iphicles
was to his brother Hercules. The forms of the Greeks, prepared to beauty, by
the influence of the mildest and purest sky, became perfectly elegant by their
early exercises. Take a [p. 5] Spartan youth, sprung from heroes, undistorted
by swaddling-cloths; whose bed, from his seventh year, was the earth, familiar
with wrestling and swimming from his infancy; and compare him with one of our
young Sybarits, and then decide which of the two would be deemed worthy, by an
artist, to serve for the model of a Theseus, an Achilles, or even a Bacchus [p. 6].
By these exercises the bodies of the Greeks got the great and manly Contour
observed in their statues, without any bloated corpulency. [P. 9] Art claims
liberty: in vain would nature produce her noblest offsprings, in a country
where rigid laws would choak her progressive growth, as in Egypt, that
pretended parent of sciences and arts: but in Greece, where, from their
earliest youth, the happy inhabitants were devoted to mirth and pleasure, where
narrow- spirited formality never restrained the liberty of manners, the artist
enjoyed nature without a veil. [P. 30] The last and most eminent characteristic
of the Greek works is a noble simplicity and sedate grandeur in Gesture and
Expression. As the bottom of the sea lies peaceful beneath a foaming surface, a
great soul lies sedate beneath the strife of passions in Greek figures. ’ Tis
in the face of Laocoon this soul shines with full lustre, not confined however
to the face, amidst the most violent sufferings. 16. Denis Diderot (1713–84) on
the excessive dependence on the Antique at the expense of the study of Nature.
Philosopher, polymath and editor of the Encyclopédie, Diderot is one of the
central figures of the French Enlightenment. His celebrated art criticism was
directed towards the biennial Salons organised by the Académie Royale de
peinture et de sculpture in Paris, and covered the period from 1759 to 1781.
His review of the 74 75 1765 Salon included a section on sculpture in
which he criticised Winckelmann’s semi-religious dependence on the Antique and
instead urged artists to return to the study of Nature, as the source of all
excellence in art, classical statues included. Diderot’s ‘naturalistic’ and
anti-academic approach – already difused into European art theory at least from
the 17th century onwards – became predominant in the 19th century.
Nevertheless, Diderot had an immense admiration for classical sculpture in
itself; for him it represented the best result of that fruitful study of Nature
and freedom of artistic creativity that he advocated for contemporary French
art. Diderot’s review of the Salon of 1765 was written for Melchior Grimm’s
Correspondence littéraire, which circulated in manuscript form. It was printed
for the first time in Jacques-André Naigeon, Oeuvres de Denis Diderot publiés
sur les manuscrits de l’auteur, 15 vols, Paris, 1798, 13, 314–16. This
translation is from Diderot on Art – 1: The Salon of 1765 and Notes on
Painting, ed. and trans. by J. Goodman, New Haven and London, 1995, 156–57. I
am fond of fanatics [p. 157]. Such one is Winckelmann when he
compares the productions of ancient artists with those of modern artists. What
doesn’t he see in the stump of a man we call the Torso? The swelling muscles of
his chest, they’re nothing less than the undulation of the sea; his broad bent
shoulders, they’re a great concave vault that, far from being broken, is
strengthened by the burdens it’s made to carry; and as for his nerves, the
ropes of ancient catapults that hurled large rocks over immense distances are
mere spiderwebs in compari- son. Inquire of this charming enthusiast by what
means Glycon, Phidias, and the others managed to produce such beautiful,
perfect works and he’ll answer you: by the sentiment of liberty which elevates
the soul and inspire great things; by rewards offered by the nation, and public
respect; by the constant observation, study and imitation of the beautiful in
nature, respect for poster- ity, intoxication at the prospect of immortality,
assiduous work, propitious social mores and climate, and genius . There is not a single point of this response
one would dare to contradict. But put a second question to him, ask him if it’s
better to study the antique or nature, without the knowledge and study of
which, without a taste for which ancient artists, even with all the specific
advantages they enjoyed, would have left us only medio- cre works: The antique!
He’ll reply without skipping a beat; The antique! and in
one fell swoop a man whose intelligence, enthusiasm, and taste are without
equal betrays all these gifts in the middle of the Toboso. Anyone who scorns
nature in favour of the antique risks never producing anything that’s not
trivial, weak, and paltry in its drawing, character, drapery, and expression.
Anyone who’s neglected nature in favour of the antique will risk being cold,
lifeless, devoid of the hidden, secret truths which can only be perceived in
nature itself. It seems to me that one must study the antique to learn how to
look at nature. 17. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92) on the role of the Royal
Academy and on the study of the Antique. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the foremost
portrait painter in England in the 18th century, served as first president of
the Royal Academy between 1768 and 1792. His fifteen Discourses on Art,
delivered to the students and members of the Academy between 1769 and 1790,
became widely popular in Britain and abroad. They represent a distillation of
the idealistic and academic art theory of the previous centuries in support of
the ‘Grand manner’, mixed with his personal views, such as Reynolds’ huge
admiration for Michelangelo. The Discourses range from didactic guidelines for
the Academy to more theoretical discussions, and references to the Antique can
be found throughout, especially in Discourse 10, devoted to sculpture. Excerpts
from Discourses of Art. Sir Joshua Reynolds, ed. by R. R. Wark, New Haven and
London, 1997. [P. 15] Discourse 1 (1769): The principal advantage of an Academy
is, that, besides furnishing able men to direct the student, it will be a
repository for the great examples of the Art. These are the materials on which
genius is to work, and without which the strongest intellect may be fruitlessly
or deviously employed. By studying these authentic models, that idea of
excellence which is the result of the accumulated experience of past ages may
be at once acquired; and the tardy and obstructed progress of our predecessors
may teach us a shorter and easier way. The student receives, at one glance, the
principles which many artists have spent their whole lives in ascertaining;
and, satisfied with their effect, is spared the painful investigation by which
they come to be known and fixed. [P. 106] Discourse 6 (1774): All the
inventions and thoughts of the Antients, whether conveyed to us in statues,
bas-reliefs, intaglios, cameos, or coins, are to be sought after and carefully
studied: The genius that hovers over these venerable reliques may be called the
father of modern art. From the remains of the works of the antients the modern
arts were revived, and it is by their means that they must be restored a second
time. However it may mortify our vanity, we must be forced to allow them our
masters; and we may venture to prophecy, that when they shall cease to be
studied, arts will no longer flourish, and we shall again relapse into
barbarism. [P. 177] Discourse 10 (1780): As a proof of the high value we set on
the mere excellence of form, we may produce the greatest part of the works of
Michael Angelo, both in painting and sculpture; as well as most of the antique
statues, which are justly esteemed in a very high degree . But, as a stronger instance that this
excellence alone inspires sentiment, what artist ever looked at the Torso
without feeling a warmth of enthusiasm, as from the highest efforts of poetry?
From whence does this proceed? What is there in this fragment that produces
this effect, but the perfec- tion of this science of abstract form? A MIND
elevated to the contemplation of excellence perceives in this [p. 178] defaced
and shattered fragment, disjecti membra poetae, the traces of superlative
genius, the reliques of a work on which succeeding ages can only gaze with
inadequate admiration. 18. The Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot (1713–84) and
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert (1717–83) on the advantages for artists to go
to Rome to experience the Antique and modern works of art. The second edition
of Diderot’s and D’Alembert’s epochal Encyclopédie included an entry on the
Académie de France in Rome, in which the role and mission of the institution is
celebrated in superlative terms. A period in Rome was still considered, even by
the anti-academic Diderot, to be essential for young artists to round of their
education in the physical and spiritual presence of the Antique and the great
Renaissance masters. This apology and defence of the Roman Académie was also
perhaps intended to counter the opinion of those, such as the sculptor
Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716–91), who judged the trip to Rome no longer
necessary, given the quantity of plaster casts available in France. Excerpt from D. Diderot and J.-B. le Rond D’Alembert, Encyclopédie ou
dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des metiers . . ., new ed.,
Geneva, 1, 1777, 238–39 (translation Barbara Lasic). The French Academy in Rome is a school of painting that King Louis XIV
established in 1666, et one of the most beautiful institu- tions of this great
monarch for the glory of the kingdom and the progress of the fine arts . It was one of the greatest causes for the
perfection of art in France ; thus Le
Brun thought that young Frenchmen who intended to study the fine arts should go
to Rome and spend some time there. This is where the works of Michelangelo,
Vignola, Domenichino, Raphael and those of the ancient Greeks give silent
lessons far superior to those that our great living masters could give . Italy has the uncontested advantage and
glory of having the richest mine of antique models that can serve as guides to
the modern artists, and enlighten them in the quest for ideal beauty; of having
revived in the world the arts that had been lost; of having produced excellent
artists of all types; and finally of having given lessons to other people to
whom it had previously given laws [p. 139]. Italy is for artists a true
classical land as an Englishman calls it. Everything there entices the eye of
the painter, everything instructs him, everything awakens his attention. Aside
from modern statues, how many of those antiques, which by their exact
proportions and the elegant variety of their forms, served as models to past
artists and must serve to those of all centuries, does not the superb Rome
contain amid its walls? Although there are in France some very fine statues
like the Cincinnatus and a few others, we can state, without fear of being
mistaken, that there are none of the first rate, or of those that the Italians
call preceptive and that can be put in parallel with the Apollo, the Antinoüs,
the Laocoon, the Hercules, the Gladiator, the Faun, the Venus and many more
that decorate the Belvedere, the Palazzo Farnese, the Borghese grounds and the
gallery of Florence. The gallery Giustiniani alone is perhaps richer in antique
statues than the entire French kingdom. 19. James Northcote (1746–1831) on the
decline of the Antique as a model and on the thirst for novelty in art. The
pungent and lively conversations between the writer and art critic William
Hazlitt (1778–1830), and the painter James Northcote, were published in various
articles in The New Monthly Magazine in 1826 and then collated in 1830, causing
scandal for their frankness among contemporaries. The passage selected is one
of the most revealing testimonies on the growing dissatisfaction with the
Antique and the widespread demand for new forms of art. Excerpts from William
Hazlitt, Conversations of James Northcote, Esq., R.A., London, 1830, 51–53.
‘Did you see Thorwaldsen’s things while you were there? A young artist brought
me all his designs the other day, as miracles that I was to wonder at and be
delighted with. But I could find nothing in [p. 52] them but repetitions of the
Antique, over and over, till I was surfeited.’ ‘He would be pleased at this.’
‘Why, no! that is not enough: it is easy to imitate the Antique: – if you want
to last, you must invent something. The other is only pouring liquors from one
vessel into another, that become staler and staler every time. We are tired of
the Antique; yet at any rate, it is better than the vapid imitation of it. The
world wants something new, and will have it. No matter whether it is better or
worse, if there is but an infusion of new life and spirit, it will go down to
posterity; otherwise, you are soon forgotten. Canova too, is nothing for the
same reason – he is only a feeble copy of the Antique; or a mixture of two
things the most incompatible, that and opera-dancing. But there is Bernini; he
is full of faults, he has too much of that florid, redundant, fluttering style,
that was objected to Rubens; but then he has given an appearance of flesh that
was never given before. The Antique always looks like marble, you never for a
moment can divest yourself of the idea; but go up to a statue of Bernini’s, and
it seems as if it must yield to your touch. This excellence [p. 53] he was the
first to give, and therefore it must always remain with him. It is true, it is
also in the Elgin marbles; but they were not known in his time; so that he
indisputably was a genius. Then there is Michael Angelo; how utterly different
from the Antique, and in some things how superior!’ 76 77. CATALOGUE. Notes to
the reader support. All drawings and prints are on paper. measurements:
Mesurements of all works, both exhibited and reproduced as comparative
illustrations, are given height before width, in millimeters for drawings and
prints and in centimeters for paintings and sculpture. inscriptions: Recto and
verso indications for inscriptions are given only for drawings. For prints it
is assumed they are on the recto. Abbreviations: u.l.: upper left; u.c.: upper
centre; u.r.: upper right; c.l.: centre left; c.r.: centre right; l.l.: lower
left; l.c.: lower centre; l.r.: lower right. The original spelling is always
respected. provenance: Provenance is given in chronological sequence, as
completely as possible. Collectors’ names are given as listed in Lugt
(abbreviated L., L. suppl.) literature/exhibitions: Prints are included in the
Exhibition references when the actual impression catalogued here was shown;
when another impression was exhibited, it is mentioned under Literature. For
exhibition catalogue entries included in the Literature and Exhibition
references, the author or authors are given only when their initials are
specified at the end of the entry. Otherwise it is assumed that the entry was written
by the compilers of the catalogue. If an object has been illustrated in a
publication, a figure or plate number is included. If the object has been
illustrated without a figure or plate number, ‘repr.’ is used. If nothing is
specified, the object was not illustrated. For exhibition catalogues, only the
catalogue number is provided, as it is assumed that it was reproduced.
Otherwise, ‘not repr.’ is used. #1 Agostino dei Musi, called Agostino
Veneziano (Venice c. 1490–after 1536 Rome) After Baccio Bandinelli (Gaiole,
near Chianti 1493–1560 Florence) The Academy of Baccio Bandinelli in Rome 1531
Engraving, state II of III 274 × 299 mm (plate), 278 × 302 mm (sheet) Inscribed
recto, l.c., on front of table support: ‘ACADEMIA . DI BAC: / CHIO . . MDXXXI.
/. A. V.’ selected literature: Heinecken 1778–90, 2, 98; Bartsch 1803–21, 14, 314–15,
no. 418; Pevsner 1940, 38–42, 5; Ciardi Duprè 1966, 161; Wittkower 1969, 232, 70;
Oberhuber 1978, 314.418, repr.; Florence 1980, 264, no. 687; Roman 1984, 81–84,
62; Weil-Garris Brandt 1989, 497–98, 1; Landau and Parshall 1994, 286, 304;
Barkan 1999, 290–98, 5.12; Fiorentini 1999, 145–46, no. 29; Munich and Cologne
2002, 319, no. 110; Thomas 2005, 3–14, figs 1–3; Hegener 2008, 396–403 and
624–25, pl. 228; Antwerp 2013, 26, repr.; Florence 2014, 528–29, no. 77.
BRANDIN . provenance: Elizabeth Harvey-Lee, North Aston (Oxfordshire), from
whom acquired in 1995. IN . / ROMA . / IN LUOGO . DETTO / . BELVEDERE . /
exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. The Bellinger Collection, inv. no.
1995-047 This renowned print by Agostino Veneziano after a design by Baccio
Bandinelli, the Florentine sculptor and draughts- man, depicts Bandinelli’s
academy for artists in the Belvedere in Rome, where he was granted the use of
rooms by Pope Leo X (r. 1513–21) and Pope Clement VII (r. 1523–34).1 We are
informed of this by the prominent inscription below the table, which renders
this engraving a particularly appropri- ate work to begin this catalogue,
because as well as being the first known representation of artists copying from
statuettes modelled after antique prototypes, it is the first recorded use of
the word ‘accademia’ in conjunction with art and the training of artists.2 This
term had previously been used to describe informal gatherings of men to discuss
liberal or intellectual subjects, such as philosophy or literature.3 Though the
scene does not depict an art academy in the modern sense – the origins of which
are found some thirty years later in Vasari’s Accademia del Disegno4 –
Bandinelli made the association between art and intellectual endeavour very
clear. His design focuses on the fundamental elements of a young artist’s
training, namely, intensive study and copying of the antique sculptures in
miniature scattered around the room, replicated on the artists’ tablets. It is
there- fore evident that artistic academies were from the beginning conceived
of as humanistic educational institutions, reliant, among other things, on
ancient statues as sources of inspira- tion. There is a conspicuous absence
here of drawing from life, which would later become one of the central elements
of Italian and French academic practices.5 The scene also places emphasis on
disegno, a word that encompasses much more than its mere translation as
‘drawing’. It comprises the intellectual capacity to create any kind of art,
including painting and sculpture, as well as drawing itself.6 In Bandinelli’s
own words, his was an ‘Accademia par- ticolare del Disegno’.7 In the print
exhibited here, the almost claustrophobic room and closely bunched apprentices
imply that study was a collaborative endeavour in Bandinelli’s academy, with
discussion among the students encouraged in order that they might better
comprehend the objects of their study, and capture them more effectively on
paper. Bandinelli himself is seated on the right, wearing a fur-lined collar,
holding a statuette of a female nude for his students’ contem- plation. The results
of their efforts are drawn on paper placed on drawing boards, using quills and
ink pots; what appears to be a blotter rests on the near edge of the table. The
noctur- nal setting evokes an atmosphere of mystery and a sense that the
central candle, with its forcefully radiating light, has, as well as a physical
function, a symbolic one, to illuminate the secrets of art and disegno. The
theme of drawing at night recurs throughout this exhibition (cats 2, 23, 24,
34) and reflects a persistent belief that such a setting is essential for
stimulating the introspection necessary for artistic success. It also implies
diligence and commitment, the ability and will to continue working through day
and night, that is required from a master artist.8 For these reasons, a candle
or lamp often symbolises ‘Study’, as seen in Federico Zuccaro’s allegorical
drawing (see cat. 5, 5). It also reveals a didactic reliance on artificial
light as preferable to natural light to emphasise the contours of the
sculptures and the contrasts of their planes, thereby facilitating the copying
process, an idea earlier espoused by Leonardo da Vinci (with whom the young
Bandinelli had personal contact) and later by Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71).9
There is a striking interplay of the shadows cast by the candlelight on the
back walls, with the heads of both statues 80 81 and artists overlapping
one another. This may refer to a well- known passage from Pliny’s Natural
History: ‘The question as to the origin of the art of painting is uncertain but all agree that it began with tracing an
outline around a man’s shadow’.10 The central figure on the rear shelf casts an
improbable shadow, as the hand held perpendicular to the body is reflected on
the wall as upright and perpendicular to the ground. This was corrected in a
copy after the second state (British Museum, London), which is slightly
smaller.11 The design of this copy is more crudely executed than the original,
and there are a number of significant changes to the scene that are unique to
this plate, which suggests that it was created by someone other than
Bandinelli.12 This demonstrates the relative freedom of printmakers to make
adjustments to designs, and may help us to infer that this print was especially
popular; such changes would have necessitated a new plate, which would imply
that demand outstripped the supply, or that the original plate was under
especially tight control by a single owner.13 The male and female statues on
the table are the focus of the artists’ devotion, and are reminiscent of Apollo
and Venus, specifically of the Venus Pudica type.14 They are probably inspired
by the famous statues of the Apollo Belvedere (see 26, 18 and cat. 5, 1) and
Venus Felix (fig. 1), which stood in the Belvedere Court and were constantly
used by artists as ideal models.15 They would have been easily acces- sible to
Bandinelli while lodging at the Belvedere. The male figures may alternatively
be types after Hercules, a figure 1. Venus Felix and Cupid, c. 200 ad, marble,
214 cm (h), Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 936 that is
prevalent throughout Bandinelli’s work (see cat. 3). In fact, Maria Grazia
Ciardi Duprè identified the upper left male figure on the shelf as a bronze
statuette of Hercules Pomarius, now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
and on that basis suggested the statuette be newly attributed to Bandinelli.16
Many subsequent scholars have accepted this,17 but the differences in the two
figures’ poses leaves the present author unconvinced, and it seems more likely
that the figures in the print are generic, idealised types. In an almost
meta-narrative, the intense focus on antique statuary is echoed even by the
central male statuette, as he gazes at a miniature statuette poised on his own
outstretched palm, which twists back to face him, returning his gaze (fig. 2).
The three statues arrayed on the shelf along the back wall – two male and one
female – are all of the same type as those on the table, and may be either
copies or casts of them in wax or clay. The statuettes probably represent
objects sculpted by Bandinelli himself referencing the Antique; Vasari tells us
that while using the rooms at the Belvedere, Bandinelli made ‘many little
figures [. . .] as of Hercules, Venus, Apollo, Leda, and other fantasies of his
own’.18 One of these survives in bronze, a Hercules Pomarius at the Bargello,
in Florence (fig. 3), and it resembles the figures in the engraving.19 The
produc- tion of small models in wax, clay or bronze – many modelled on
ancient prototypes – for young artists to practice drawing in the workshop, was
already common in the 15th century. Several were created, for instance, by
Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1381–1455) and Antonio Pollaiuolo (c. 1431–98).20 They 2.
Detail of Veneziano’s engraving, statue gazing at an even smaller statuette 3.
Baccio Bandinelli, Hercules Pomarius, c. 1545, bronze, 33.5 cm (h), Museo
Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, inv. 281 Bronzi served the purpose of
familiarising young artists with the forms and poses of antique models,
allowing them to learn how to draw the three-dimensional human figure from
different angles on a flat surface. The juxtaposition of the statuettes with
several antique-style pots and vessels in the engraving reinforces the
connection between Bandinelli’s ‘academy’ and the classical past, as does the
fragment of a foot on the book that serves as a plinth for the male figure on
the right. The statuettes are positioned so that each faces a slightly
different direction, enabling the viewer to observe them from all angles, just
as the artists are instructed to do. Our participation is further encouraged by
the figure on the far left and by Bandinelli: both gaze outward and seem to
acknowledge our presence. The viewer is thus accorded a role as a fellow
student among the apprentices learning from Bandinelli in his academy. This
link with the academy was less explicit in the original version of Bandinelli’s
design. Ben Thomas drew attention to the first state of the print (Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford),21 in which the inscription – so prominent below the table in
the print exhibited here – was presented only in an abbreviated form on the
tablet hanging on the wall at the far right, without the word ‘academia’, and
with only Veneziano’s monogram and the date 1530, a year earlier than the
present engraving. This tablet, deprived of the inscription in the later
states, became an awkwardly superfluous element of the composition. Also
missing in the first state are the drawings on the sheets of the artists
gathered around the table. In changing these elements in the second state, as
represented here,22 Bandinelli deliberately ensured there was no possibil- ity
of misinterpreting this as a literary, rather than artistic, endeavour; it also
serves as propaganda for the artist himself, as a dissemination of not only his
powers of design, but his role as a teacher and an innovator. This makes it all
the more surprising that on the current print, his name is inscribed as
‘Bacchio Brandin.’ rather than Bandinelli. He adopted the Bandinelli surname in
1529 to align himself with a noble family from Siena, thereby making himself
eligible for the Order of Santiago, which he was awarded by Emperor Charles V
in 1530.23 The inscription dates the print to 1531, after his adoption of this
new genealogy, and so must reflect an error on the part of the engraver,
Veneziano.24 In his self-portrait, seated at the table, Bandinelli also does
not wear the insignia of the Order of Santiago, as he does in his other
self-portraits (cats 2 and 3), and so the design for this print most likely
dates prior to the granting of this award in 1530. Tommaso Mozzati suggested a
date earlier than 1527, when the sack of Rome forced both artists to flee the
city, Veneziano to Mantua, Bandinelli first to Lucca and then Genoa.25 The
inscription itself tells us the design was made in Rome, depicting a room in
the Belvedere. If Veneziano engraved the design after the two artists went
their separate ways, it could explain how the mistake in nomenclature was
allowed to occur.26 Bandinelli’s relentless self-promotion and willingness to
rewrite his family tree to achieve noble status can be explained by his
upbringing. His father, Michelangelo di Viviano (1459–1528), was a prominent
goldsmith in Florence, but the family had lost much of its wealth and prestige
by the time his son was born in October 1493.27 As Bandinelli’s three siblings
left home or died young, he was essentially the only child, charged with
restoring the family’s social standing. His father encouraged his training as
an artist from an early age, as an apprentice within his own workshop.
Bandinelli also worked with the sculptor Gian Francesco Rustici (1474–1554),
learning from him the process of model- ling sculptures in wax and clay for
casting into bronze. This association no doubt provided the opportunity to meet
Rustici’s collaborator at the time on St John the Baptist Preaching (Florence
Cathedral, Baptistry), Leonardo da Vinci (1452– 1519). Bandinelli was a staunch
Medici supporter, even throughout the family’s exile, and this cemented his
financial success as soon as two Medici popes came to power (Giovanni de’
Medici as Leo X in 1513 and Giulio de’ Medici as Clement VII in 1523). However,
it also inspired rabid criticism from many Florentines, who were Republican by
nature. 82 83 Our view of him is also coloured by Vasari’s
biography, in which Bandinelli is treated as the villain to his heroic rival,
Michelangelo.28 Such a bias is perhaps not completely unwar- ranted, as all
three prints on display here by Bandinelli reflect his insistence not only on
publicising his own image, but in vaunting his abilities as both a teacher of
the next generation of artists, as well as having a special and privi- leged
relationship to the Antique. This betrays the arrogance 29 that is also evident
in his writings, and may well have contributed to the negative opinions of his
character that persist to this day. rh 1 Vasari tells us that Bandinelli was
given use of the Belvedere (Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 5, 246, 250) but he
never mentions an academy (Barkan 1999, 290). This engraving and cat. 2, as
well as Bandinelli’s own account in his autobiographical Memoriale (which
exists in a single manuscript in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence, Cod.
Pal. Bandinelli 12, and is transcribed in Colasanti 1905 and Barocchi 1971–77, 2,
1359– 1411) are the only evidence we have for the existence of Bandinelli’s
academy. 2 A less explicit link between art and the term ‘accademia’ is found
on engravings after Leonardo da Vinci’s designs of knot work, which are
inscribed ‘Academia Leonardi Vinci’ (see Pevsner 1940, 25; Roman 1984, 81; and
Goldstein 1996, 10 and frontispiece). For Bandinelli as the first to use this
word in conjunction with art training, see Pevsner 1940, 39; Barkan 1999, 290;
Munich and Cologne 2002, 319 under no. 110; Thomas 2005, 8; Hegener 2008, 401
and 403. 3 Visual arts were regarded as applied disciplines rather than liberal
arts and thus unsuitable for intellectual discussion (Pevsner 1940, 30–31;
Goldstein 1996, 147; Cologne and Munich 2002, 319 under no. 110; Thomas 2005, 8–9).
4 Although Vasari was the instigator and organiser of the Accademia, officially
it was opened in 1563 by Cosimo de Medici (Pevsner 1940, 42). For more about
the Accademia see Goldstein 1975; Waz ́bin ́ski 1987; Barzman 1989; Barzman
2000. 5 Goldstein 1996, chap. 8; Barkan 1999, 292; Costamagna 2005. 6 Goldstein
1996, 14. 7 Barocchi 1971–77, 2, 1384–85. 8 Roman 1984, 83; Munich and Cologne
2002, 319; Thomas 2005, pp.6–7. 9 Weil-Garris 1981, 246–47, note 39; Barkan
1999, 292; Hegener 2008, 401. 10 ‘De picturae initiis incerta quaestio est omnes
umbra hominis lineis circumducta, itaque primam talem’: Pliny the Elder, Nat.
Hist., 35.5. See Pliny 1999, 270–71. 11 The British Museum print’s inventory
number is V,2.136. 12 Some changes are: the removal of Veneziano’s monogram,
the underlining of ‘Belvedere’ in the inscription and the figure sketches on
the artists’ sheets (Thomas 2005, 12). 13 Thomas 2005, 12. 14 For other statues
of the Venus Pudica type known in the early Renaissance, see Tolomeo Speranza
1988. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Hegener 2008, 401. For Venus
Felix, see Spinola 1996–2004, 1, 97, PN 23 and 14 on 98. Ciardi Duprè 1966, 161.
The inventory number of the statuette is A.76-1910. Or they have at least
restated Ciardi Duprè’s thesis without contestation. This includes Fiorentini
1999, 145; Thomas 2005, 11, note 21; and Hegener 2008, 403. Paul Joannides
disagrees and attributes the statuette in the Victoria and Albert Museum to
Michelangelo, saying that it in turn inspired Bandinelli to create his own
version of Hercules Pomarius, now in the Bargello, in Florence (fig. 3), which
is widely accepted as by Bandinelli (Joannides 1997, 16–20). Volker Krahn also
expressed doubt that it is by Bandinelli (Florence 2014, 374). ‘Fece molte
figurine come Ercoli, Venere, Apollini, Lede, ed altre
sue fantasie’ (Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 5, 251). See Florence 2014, 372–75, no. 32. Fusco 1982; Ames-Lewis 2000b, 52–55.
See also Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, 22–23. Thomas 2005, 11. The
print’s inventory number is WA1863.1759. There is also a third state owned by
the Davison Arts Center of Wesleyan University, CT, in which the publisher
Antonio Salamanca’s name is added at the bottom right (Thomas 2005, 12).
Bartsch noted only one state (the second), but was also aware of the copy of
the second state discussed here (Bartsch 1803–21, 314–15, no. 418). The sheet
exhibited here may repre- sent a later impression of the second state, as the
underlining of ‘Belvedere’ has become so worn that it is only visible below the
first ‘el’ and the ‘r’. There is some debate as to when Bandinelli received this
honour. Scholars usually agree on 1529, but in his autobiography, Bandinelli
said it occurred in the same year as the emperor’s coronation, which was in
February 1530. According to Weil-Garris Brandt, the confusion arose because the
Florentine year ended in March (Weil-Garris Brandt 1989, 501, note 26). Ben
Thomas agrees with her and says the emperor sent news of the honour to
Bandinelli from Innsbruck, after departing from Bologna on 22 March 1530
(Thomas 2005, 9 and note 12). This is perhaps not the only print to exhibit
such a mistake, as Bandinelli, in his Memoriale, bemoaned a similar error that
had to be corrected on a print of his Martyrdom of St Lawrence (Barocchi
1971–77, 2, 1396). However, this complaint itself is inaccurate, as the
inscription of ‘Baccius Brandin. Inven.’ on the St Lawrence print would have
been a correct appella- tion at the time of its execution in 1524, well before
Bandinelli’s adoption of his new name. Such an anachronism has prompted
speculation that the Memoriale is not actually by Bandinelli, but rather a
forgery by one of his descendants (Thomas 2005, 10); nevertheless, it
represents a familial dissatisfaction with the dissemination of Bandinelli’s
designs once removed from his control. Minonzio 1990, 686 and Florence 2014, 528
under no. 77. However, by 1530, the date on the first state of this print, both
Veneziano and Bandinelli had returned to Rome (Thomas 2005, 11). This does not
preclude Veneziano from having engraved the design during their separa- tion.
It is unlikely that the design was executed at this later date because of the
absence of the insignia of the Order of Santiago; even if the image were retrospective,
it seems unlikely that Bandinelli would miss an opportunity for
self-aggrandisement. For Bandinelli’s biography, see Bandinelli’s own Memoriale
(see note 1), Vasari’s account in Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 5, 239–76,
and more concise surveys in Weil-Garris 1981, 224–42 and Waldman 2004, xv–xxviii.
Weil-Garris 1981, 224. Pevsner 1940, 42. 2. Enea Vico ( Parma 1523–1567
Ferrara) After Baccio Bandinelli (Gaiole, near Chianti 1493–1560 Florence) The
Academy of Baccio Bandinelli c. 1545/50 Engraving, state II of III 314 × 486 mm
(sheet) Inscribed recto, u.r., on left page of open book: ‘Baccius / Bandi: /
nellus / invent’; on right page: ‘Enea vi: / go Par: / megiano / sculpsit.’
Inscribed verso, l. c., on additional paper fragment, now attached, in pencil:
‘Eneas Vico ca 1520 – ca 1570 / Nagler XXII/515 bl 49 / Ein Hauptblatt’; and
below, in pencil, ‘B. Vol 15 B 305 No. 49’; l.l. in pencil: ‘£ 3013 60’ [the
rest illegible] provenance: Venator et Hanstein, Cologne, 3 November 1998, lot
2722, from whom acquired. selected literature: Heinecken 1778–90, 2, 98–99;
Bartsch 1803–21, 15, 305–06, no. 49; Passavant 1860–64, 6, 122, no. 49; Pevsner
1940, 40–42, 6; Ciardi Duprè 1966, 163–64, 26; Goldstein 1975, 147, 1;
Weil-Garris 1981, 235–36, 14; Roman 1984, 84–87, 66; Spike 1985, 305.49-I and
305.49-II, repr.; Landau and Parshall 1994, 286, 303; Barkan 1999, 290–98, 5.13;
Fiorentini 1999, 146–47, no. 30; Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 86–88, no. 21;
Thomas 2005, 12–14, 5; Hegener 2008, 404–12 and 625–26, pl. 232; Compton Verney
and Norwich 2009–10, 18, 15; Florence 2014, 530–31, no. 78. 84 85 exhibitions:
Not previously exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 1998-039 This
print by Enea Vico after a design by Baccio Bandinelli depicts a scene similar
to that in his earlier self-styled acad- emy (cat. 1), but it has been expanded
and amplified: the table which occupies all of the space in Agostino
Veneziano’s engraving has been moved to the right side of Vico’s print, and the
perspective is widened to allow a larger room to come into view. The number of
apprentices has grown from six to twelve, the books from one to six and the
antique sculptures from five to ten. The style of the print, as well as Vico’s
chronology, suggest that it is not the Belvedere acad- emy that is depicted
here, but a second academy, established by Bandinelli some twenty years later
after his return to Florence in 1540.1 As in the earlier print, the classical
figu- rines appear to be generalised interpretations of antique statuary rather
than exact copies of specific models, although they have been diversified here
by the addition of a horse’s head and a bust of a Roman emperor on the shelf.
Added to the fragments strewn about the room are skeletons and skulls, which
are now given a status equal to classical sources as inspiration for artists.
These refer to the growing tendency to study the anatomy of the human body in
Italian work- shops around the mid-16th century, mainly through skele- tons, a
practice that was codified by Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71) some twenty years
later in his Sopra i Principi e l’ Modo d’Imparare l’Arte del Disegno, in which
he advised artists to copy anatomical parts in order to attain skill as
draughts- men.2 While Bandinelli’s representation is one of the first to
document the spread of anatomical study among young artists, the practice was
formalised in the second half of the 16th century in the curricula of the first
academies, where sophisticated anatomy lectures were given and dissections were
performed.3 Both antique sculptures and skeletons became common elements in
subsequent representations of artists’ workshops, studios and academies, as
seen in Stradanus’ studio image and Cort’s engraving after it (cat. 4). This is
also reflected in an etching by Pierfrancesco Alberti of a painter’s studio or
academy (fig. 1), which shows a more structured curriculum of studies involving
anatomical dissection, geometry, the Antique and architectural drawing, closely
reflecting the disciplines taught in the earliest Italian academies,
particularly the Roman Accademia di San Luca.4 The light source is another
difference between the two prints after Bandinelli. The single candle in
Veneziano’s engraving has become three forcefully radiating fires, with the
candle on the table now partially dissolving the face of the student standing
to its right. The importance of studying at night, and the diligence and
introspection this implies, is again a primary theme. Another engraving after a
Bandinelli design, The Combat of Cupid and Apollo,5 also places impor- tance on
fire as a source of not only visual illumination, but as a symbol of
philosophical and spiritual revelation. The recurrence of this motif has been
regarded as indicative of Bandinelli’s neo-Platonic leanings; the flame
symbolises divine Reason and its power to defeat the darker, profane vices of
the human condition, allowing man to perceive true, celestial beauty, even
while bound to the terrestrial realm.6 Indeed, the very concept of an academy
is closely inter- twined with Neo-Platonism, as it was widely considered that
the first academy founded since the end of classical times was that of Marsilio
Ficino (1433–99) in Florence, which was specifically based on the philosophy
and teachings espoused by Plato.7 Bandinelli himself is again
represented, but he now stands at the far right, instructing the two students
who face him. He also now wears the cross of St James, as befits a knight of
the Order of Santiago, which he was awarded in 1530, and which is seen in his
other self-portrait (cat. 3). The same insignia is placed prominently above the
fireplace between the two cupids. Bandinelli’s design therefore takes on a more
propagandistic role, and has been described by some scholars as a ‘manifesto’
for his academy.8 The staging here stresses Bandinelli’s nobility, humanism and
sophistication, while the importance of copying from antique sculpture is
rather downplayed, with the casts relegated to the margins of the scene. None
of the artists is now looking at the casts; their focus is instead inward, as
best exemplified by the figure who sits at the centre of the composition, with
his head in his hand. Only one of the students’ drawings is visible, on the
tablet of the standing apprentice at the centre of the scene, and the female
nude emerging from his stylus is unrelated to any of the sculptures surrounding
him, although clearly referring to a model all’antica. She must therefore be a
product of his mind, and so the emphasis here is on the artist’s memory and
imagination; the skeletons and antique sculptures were essential for building
his graphic vocabulary of the human form, but they have been discarded now that
he has successfully internalised them and no longer needs to copy them
directly.9 The exercise of memory was one of the central principles of the
pedagogical practices of the Italian Renaissance, going back as far as Leon
Battista Alberti (1404– 72) and Leonardo (1452–1519).10 Giorgio Vasari
(1511–74), in his Vite explicitly recommended that ‘the best thing is to draw
men and women from the nude and thus fix in the memory by constant exercise the
muscles of the torso, back, legs, arms and knees, with the bones underneath.
Then one may be sure that, through much study, attitudes in any position can be
drawn by help of the imagination without one having the living forms in the
view’.11 The importance of memory was also stressed by Cellini in his
treatise.12 There are three states of this print, differentiated by the
inscriptions.13 In the first state, the inscription identifying Bandinelli as
the designer on the left page of the book on the upper right is included, as is
the address of the Roman pub- lisher, Pietro Palumbo, below the sleeping dog in
the lower centre (not seen here). In the second state, Enea Vico’s name is
added on the right-hand page of the same book, in a differ- ent script. In the
final state, the name of Palumbo’s successor as the publisher of this print,
Gaspar Alberto, is added below the skulls in the lower centre. Nicole Hegener
believed there was an additional state between the first and second, repre- sented
by a version at Yale in which Agostino’s Veneziano’s name was inscribed on the
right-hand page of the book before it was replaced by Vico’s.14 However, it was
noted in 2005 that this was added by hand in pen-and-ink, and was therefore
just a modification of the first state of the print.15 The print exhibited here
was also believed to be a unique 86 87 1. Pierfrancesco Alberti,
Painters’ Academy, c. 1603–48, etching, 412 × 522 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
RP-P-1952-373 example of a state between the first and second, as both
Bandinelli’s and Vico’s names are present on the book, but Palumbo’s is
missing.16 However, close examination of the verso reveals extensive abrasion
over the area where Palumbo’s address would have been. The inscription was
therefore erased from this sheet, and does not reflect any changes to the
original plate. It must, therefore, be an example of the second state, which
was subsequently altered for an unknown reason. Palumbo’s name on the first
state also makes the dating of this print difficult. On stylistic grounds, most
scholars date it to c. 1545/50,17 but Palumbo was not active 1731: Cellini
1731, 155–62 (on the study of the bones and muscles, 157–62). See Olmstead
Tonelli 1984, esp. 101. See also Schultz 1985; Ottawa, Vancouver and elsewhere
1996–97; London, Warwick and elsewhere 1997–98; Carlino 2008–09. Roman 1984, 91.
See Appendix, no. 7 for the statutes of the Accademia di San Luca. Repr. in
Panofsky 1962, 107. Panofsky 1962, 148–51. Goldstein 1996, 14. For the
neo-Platonic movement during the Renais- sance, see Panofsky 1962, chap. 5.
Compton Verney and Norwich 2009–10, 18; Florence 2014, 520. Thomas 2005, 13–14;
Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 87. Alberti 1972, 96–99 (book 3.55); Leonardo 1956,
1, 47, chap. 65–66. See also Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, 33. Brown
1907, 210; Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 1, 114–15. Cellini 1731, 157.
Bartsch mistakenly conflated the second and third states and therefore only
listed two states (Bartsch 1803–21, 15, 305–06). He was corrected by Passavant
(1860–64, 6, 122, no. 49) and this is accepted by subsequent scholarship (i.e.
Thomas 2005, 13). Hegener 2008, 405. Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 88, note 1.
See also Florence 2014, 530. Venator et Hanstein sale, Cologne, 3 November
1998, lot 2722. Pevsner remarks on the characteristic ‘Mid-Cinquecento
Mannerism’ of Vico’s print in contrast to Veneziano’s style, which is
reminiscent of Raimondi (Pevsner 1940, 40). The following agree on the
approximate dates c. 1545/50: Weil-Garris 1981, 235; Thomas 2005, 13; Houston
and Ithaca 2005–06, 86; Florence 2014, 530. Fiorentini suggested c. 1550
because after that date Vico used ‘sculptere’ on his works, rather than
‘sculpsit’ as here (Fiorentini 1999, 147). However, the form of Vico’s
inscription as ‘Enea Vigo’ on this print is completely unique, as his other
extant works are signed either ‘E.V.’, ‘Enea Vico’ or variations on ‘AENEAS
VICUS’ (Thomas 2005, 13). Therefore we must be very cautious in making any
assumptions based on this particular inscription. London 2001–02, 230. He
continued working until c. 1586. Florence 2014, 531. 3. Anonymous, 16th-century
Italian Artist After Niccolò della Casa (Lorraine fl. 1543–48) After Baccio
Bandinelli (Gaiole, near Chianti 1493–1560 Florence) Self-Portrait of Baccio
Bandinelli, Seated 1548 Engraving, 416 × 306 mm Datedl.c.:‘1548’;inscribedl.r:‘A.S.Excudebat.’;inscribedl.c.inpencil:‘No
7.’andbelowtor.inpencil:‘No 7’. With the initials of the publisher, probably
Antonio Salamanca (1478–1562). provenance: Léon Millet, Paris (his stamp, not
in Lugt, in blue ink on the verso: ‘Léon Millet / 13 rue des Abbesses’ and
below, printed in black ink: ‘12 Mars 1897’);1 Bassenge, Berlin, 3 December
2003, lot 5155, from whom acquired. selected literature: Heinecken 1778–90, 2, 90;
Bartsch 1854–76, 15, 279–80; Nagler 1966, 1, 542, under no. 1266; Le Blanc
1854-88, 3, 414, 1–2; Steinmann 1913, 96-97, note 8; Florence 1980, 264, 266,
no. 690; Los Angeles, Toledo and elsewhere 1988–89, 76–77, no. 20; Fiorentini
1999, 153–54, no. 34, 34 (see also 150–53, under no. 33); Fiorentini and
Rosenberg 2002, 37, 20, 38, 42, 44; Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 32–34, no. 1
(J. Clifton); Hegener 2008, 391–96, version II, 57, 617–18, no. 16 (see also 380–91,
under version I); Florence 2014, 526–27, no. 76 (T. Mozzati). before c. 1562 at
Sant’ Agostino in Rome, Bandinelli’s death. Tommaso Mozzati speculated that
Bandinelli transferred his design to Vico before 1546, when the engraver left
Florence for Rome, and that the publication may have been delayed by a
deteriorating relationship between the two artists.19 If Vico intentionally
withheld the design until after Bandinelli’s death, it might explain how
Palumbo became its first publisher more than a decade later. 1 2 Pevsner 1940, 40–41;
Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 86. This engrav- ing, cat. 1 and Bandinelli’s own
writings in his Memoriale are the only evidence we have for the existence of
his academies (see cat. 1, note 1). Weil-Garris 1981, 246–47, note 39.
Cellini’s fragmentary treatise was probably written during the last two decades
of his life but published only 88 89 which post-dates rh exhibitions: Not
previously exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 2003-020 This
engraving reproduces, in reverse and with variations in detail, an unfinished
engraving by Niccolò della Casa, based on a lost drawing by Bandinelli.2 It is
unclear why the Della Casa engraving, which is known in only a few impressions,
was never finished. The present engraving is smaller than its model, resulting
in a few compositional differences. It was attributed to Nicolas Beatrizet (c.
1507/15–1573) by Erna Fiorentini and Raphael Rosenberg and while this was
accepted by James Clifton, it was rejected by Nicole Hegener and Tommaso
Mozzati.3 Until further information comes to light, it is perhaps safer to
attribute it to an unidentified Italian engraver working in Rome in the
mid-16th century. Hegener identified a further state with the added inscription
at centre right, ‘effigies / Bacci Bandinelli sculp / florentini’ and Karl
Heinrich von Heinecken mentioned yet another without inscriptions (untraced).4
If Bandinelli’s self-portrait inserted among his students in his academies
(cats 1–2) emphasises his role as teacher and mentor, this image speaks of a
solitary and relentless self-promoter.5 By 1548, the engraving’s date,
Bandinelli had achieved great success. He had served two Popes, Leo X (Giovanni
de’ Medici) and Clement VII (Giulio de’ Medici), for whom he had carried out
several important commissions including the classicising Orpheus and Cerberus
(Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, c. 1519) modelled after the Apollo
Belvedere, the monumental Hercules and Cacus (Piazza della Signoria, Florence,
1523–34) and the papal tombs in Santa Maria sopra Minerva (1536–41).6 He was
currently serving the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. And yet, it was Baccio’s
close alliance with the Medici, coupled with his on- going rivalry with
Michelangelo, a staunch anti-Medicean Republican, and others, like Benvenuto
Cellini (1500–71) that denied him the full respect and admiration of his
Florentine contemporaries. His intense competitiveness and difficult character
only exacerbated his contemporaries’ widespread dislike of him.7 Projecting
strength, power and authority, this arresting image, clearly intended for
circulation, was no doubt Baccio’s attempt to right those perceived wrongs.8 By
fusing motifs from his own work with motifs from antique sculpture – absorbed
and recast – Bandinelli sought to elevate his status and rank and to assert his
position while defending his work by associating it with the art of Greece and
Rome.9 The multi-layered and intertexual combination of themes and references
that resulted contributes to the engraving’s enigmatic allure and demands
careful interpretation. Significantly, it is the first image in the exhibition
to demon- strate how Antique imagery could be used by an artist to promote his
own art and his own achievements. The engraving shows us a man of great
physical presence, seated as though enthroned. His elevation is enhanced by a
rich costume – the luxurious fur-lined cloak nonchalantly slides off one
shoulder – more typical of an aristocrat than an artist. Emblazoned on his
chest is the cross of St James, the emblem of the prestigious 12th-century
Spanish military Order of Santiago, conferred on Bandinelli in 1530 by the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V who over- ruled protests that it was unmerited.
Bandinelli took great pride in the honour, justifiably, since he was the only
artist to be awarded the cross of St James, which he included in other
self-portraits (see cat. 2).10 Immediately below the sharp lower point of the
cross his prominent codpiece protrudes through the folds of his tunic, an
unsubtle reference to his virility. His ‘progeny’ – a selection of his small
models and statu- ettes – are seen throughout. Proprietorially and prominently
cradled, and elevated on its own column base, is the figure of Hercules, the
son of Zeus, who heroically carried out the Twelve Labours. Hercules played a
central role in Bandinelli’s work.11 His near obsession with the demi-god, the
embodi- ment of strength in the face of adversity, is demonstrated in Hercules’
constant appearance – in bronze, marble, stucco and drawing – throughout
Bandinelli’s career.12 And since Hercules was the mythical founder of Florence
and an exemplum much favoured by the Medici, in linking his own image so
closely to the hero, Bandinelli was also referencing his association with his
native city and its ruling house.13 Hercules was the perfect foil to David,
another protector of Florence, and to represent the hero gave Baccio the
opportu- nity to display his mastery of the muscular male nude in heroic and
often violent action. Bandinelli also holds a rather different figure of
Hercules in the della Casa engraving, c. 1544 and in his grand painted
self-portrait of c. 1550 (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston) he proudly
displays a preparatory drawing for the Hercules and Cacus his most spectacular
and ambitious sculpture.14 This colossal group, – a pendant to Michelangelo’s
David – and a commission that he had taken away from Michelangelo, brought him
considerable fame despite the unfavourable reception that it received on its
unveiling in 1534.15 In effect, Hercules was Bandinelli’s calling card and his
prominence in his self-portraits is unsurprising.16 Small-scale, classicising
models made in wax and terra- cotta such as those seen here and in his other
prints (cats 1–2), were central to Bandinelli’s work as tools for teaching, and
as preparation for large-scale sculpture; many were translated into bronze, as
independent statuettes.17 Here, for example, the pose of the male nude seen
from behind standing in contrapposto at the right anticipates that of Adam in
Baccio’s Adam and Eve group of 1551 (Bargello, Florence).18 Perhaps because
Bandinelli was still working out the pose or perhaps to give the figure the
aura of a damaged antique, the left arm is missing below the elbow; several of
the other figurines in the engraving derive from the Antique but have been, as
it were, naturalised into Bandinelli’s own idiom. On equal footing with the
statuette of Hercules that he holds are the two standing female nudes on the
left, also elevated on a column shaft. They derive from the Cnidian Venus of
the 4th century bc, among the most famous works of the Greek sculptor,
Praxiteles, which was probably known 1. Baccio Bandinelli, A Standing
Female Figure, c. 1515, red chalk, 410 × 242 mm, private collection,
Switzerland 2. Giulio Bonasone, Saturn Seated on a Cloud Devouring a Statue, c.
1555–70, etching and engraving, 254 × 154 mm, The British Museum, Department of
Prints and Drawings, London, H,5.137 3. Anonymous, Ferrarese School, Fortitude,
playing card, c. 1465, engraving, 179 × 100 mm, The British Museum, Department
of Prints and Drawings, London, 1895,0915.36 90 91 4. Amico Aspertini, Lion Attacking a Horse,
pen and light brown ink, 107 × 146 mm, Staatliche Museen, Kupferstichtkabinett,
Berlin, KdZ 25020 to Bandinelli through a Roman copy.19 Intent on demonstrat-
ing his full knowledge of the statue Baccio presents one woman frontally, while
the other, headless, is seen from behind.20 Slim and regularly proportioned,
the Cnidian Venus was Bandinelli’s preferred female type and examples abound in
his sculpted and graphic work.21 A highly finished red chalk drawing (private
collection Switzerland, 1) compares well with the engraved nude on the left.22
The foreground is occupied with further statuettes: another Hercules stands on
a pedestal on the left and five male torsos are scattered on the ground at his
feet. While they loosely evoke the Antique – the two on the lower left, for
example, recall the Belvedere Torso (p. 26, 23), they have become
generalised.23 Headless and limbless, like antique fragments, they suggest once
more that Bandinelli was equating his work with that of the ancients. The lion
has been interpreted diversely and Bandinelli may well have intended multi-layered
interpretation. It has widely been seen as a heraldic Medici lion (marzocco)
and, as such, a reference to Bandinelli’s favoured position with the Medici as
well as his loyalty to their regime.24 Interpreted as devour- 25 ing a lower
thigh and knee, the lion has also been seen as a symbol of the artist’s prowess
in sculpture. A more complex explanation suggests a link with Saturn devouring
a boulder, a subject illustrated in a print by Giulio Bonasone (fig. 2), which
is accompanied by the motto, ‘in pulverem reverteris’ (‘unto dust shalt thou
return’).26 As such, Bandinelli is not merely subjugating a wild animal but
also triumphing over Time.27 More simply, the lion may also refer to
Bandinelli’s favourite hero, Hercules, who conquered the Nemean lion, or evoke
Fortitude whose traditional attributes were a lion and a broken column, here
transformed into a plinth (fig. 3).28 Finally, it may be that Bandinelli was
again referencing the Antique: the Lion Attacking a Horse – part of a colossal
Hellenistic group (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome) – in Bandinelli’s day, a
limbless fragment on the The fragment was considered ‘of such excellence that
Michelangelo judged it to be most marvellous’.31 There has been much
speculation about Bandinelli’s pose in the engraving. It might, in fact, refer
to the Belvedere Torso,32 as ‘restored’ in an engraving by Giovanni Antonio da
Brescia of c. 1515 (fig. 5).33 The arrangement of his legs is also close, in
reverse to that of Laocoön, (p. 26, 19), a direct copy of which, in marble (c.
1520–25, Florence, Uffizi) com- missioned by Leo X, was one of Baccio’s
greatest successes.34 His preparatory drawing for the sculpture also in the
Uffizi (fig. 6) shows him seated in a comparable pose as seen here.35 Once
again, therefore, we see the sculptor referencing and promoting his own work,
employing the associative authority of Antique imagery. In sum, Bandinelli
presents himself here not only with the strength and fortitude of a modern
Hercules who successfully vanquished his adversaries but also as the greatest,
most recognisable hero- martyr and father from antiquity, Laocoön, with his
sculpted ‘offspring’ triumphant. Weil-Garris 1981, 236–37. For the painting,
see O. Tostmann, in Florence 2014, 510–13, no. 69, repr.; Mozzati 2014, 458–63.
For a full discussion of the statue, see Vossilla 2014, 156–67, repr.; Florence
2014, 573, no. VII. For Herculean imagery in the engraving, see Hegener 2008, 382–86,
389–91, 395–96. Barkan 1999, 304; Krahn 2014, 324–31. As first observed by
Bruce Davis in Los Angeles, Toledo and elsewhere 1988–89, 77. For the
sculpture, see D. Heikamp, in Florence 2014, 314–15, no. 22, repr. He also
appears, in adapted form, in other works by the sculptor (Fiorentini 1999, 152).
First noted by B. Davis, in Los Angeles, Toledo and elsewhere 1988–89, 77;
Barkan 1999, 308–09, 5.19. One half expects to see to a third figure to
complete the ‘Three Graces’. On the use of this double-view and his drawings
that may relate to these figures, see Fiorentini 1999, 151–52. Barkan 1999, 309–12;
V. Krahn, in Florence 2014, 356–59, no. 28. B. Davis in Los Angeles, Toledo and
elsewhere 1988–89, 77. The drawing was formerly with Yvonne Tan Bunzl (Bunzl
1987, no. 5, repr.; see also V. Krahn, in Florence 2014, 356, 1). Other copies
by Bandinelli after the same statue, one in red chalk, the other, in pen and
ink, are on a double- sided sheet in in the Biblioteca Reale, Turin (Bertini
1958, 17, no. 37; Barkan 1999, 311, figs. 5.21, 5.22). The same Cnidian Venus
type occurs at left in his drawing, Four Female Nudes, in the Art Gallery of
Toronto, 2006/432 (repr. in Aldega and Gordon 2003, 8, no. 1). A woman very
similar to that engraved at left both in pose, body type and hairstyle, appears
on a sheet in the Louvre, formerly classed as Bandinelli and now given to
Giovanni Bandini (1540–1599), Viatte 2011, 246–47, R2, repr. Houston and Ithaca
2005–06, 34. Of course, they could also be a further Herculean reference, as
the Torso was in the Renaissance believed to be that of Hercules (Haskell and
Penny 1981, 313). Fiorentini 1999, 150, followed by Hegener 2008, 388,
considered one of the torsos, the second from the left, to be based on the
torso of a satyr now in the Villa Barbarini, Castel Gandolfo, Rome, which was
in the Ciampolini collection in the Renaissance (Liverani 1989, 92, no. 34,
94–95, figs. 34.1–4). Given the differences in pose, the present author cannot
accept this view. Bandinelli adapted the pose of the Torso Belvedere for his
red chalk drawing, A Nude Man, Seated on a Grassy Bank in the Courtauld
Gallery, as noted by Ruth Rubinstein (Cambridge 1988, 26–27, no. 8, repr.); see
also Barkan 1999, 308–09, fig 5.17. Hegener 2008, 383. Houston and Ithaca
2005–06, 34. T. Mozzati, in Florence 2014, 527, who reports that this view is
shared by Mino Gabriele. That author notes (repeating Massari 1983, 125) that
the concept is paralleled in a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphosis (15.236–38).
However, it is also part of a famous passage from Genesis 3:19: ‘In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of
it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’ For
the print, see Massari 1983, 1, 125, no. 223, repr. T. Mozzati, in Florence
2014, 527, who also considers that Bandinelli holds a complete statuette, not a
fragment like the others in the print, as a modern manifestation of classicism.
Zucker 1980, 185, no. 53-A (136), repr.; Zucker 2000, 47, .036a. See also
Ripa’s illustrated edition of 1603 (Buscaroli 1992, 142–44, repr.). Fiorentini
1999, 151; Hegener 2008, 383. For the statue: Haskell and Penny 1981, 250–51,
no. 54, 128; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 236–37, no. 185. Faietti and Kelescian
1995, 220–21, no. 4; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 237, 185a. Aldrovandi 1556, 270,
cited and translated by Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 236. As proposed by Hegener
(2008, 380, 382, 389–90) who considered his arms to be based on those of Christ
in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. Zucker 1980, 78, no. 5 (100), repr.; Zucker
1984, 350–51, .028, repr. The pose also anticipates Bandinelli’s God the Father
sculpture of the 1550s in S. Croce, Florence (Florence 2014, 595–98, no. XVIII,
repr.). Although intended as a gift for François I, it never reached its
intended recipient and remained with the next Pope Clement VII, in Florence.
Bober and Rubinstein 2010,pp. 165–66, no. 122b. Capecchi (2014, 129–55)
provides a thorough account of the project. D. Cordellier, in Paris 2000–01, 237–40,
no. 74, repr. 29 Aspertini (1472–1552) (fig.4; Kupferstichtkabinett, Berlin).
avl Rhea Blok has noted (e-mail, 12 August 2014) that the same collector’s mark
is found on Henri Mauperché’s etching, L’Ange conseillant Tobie, with A. et D.
Martinez (Paris 2003, 5, no. 20) and a print by Vincenzo Mazzi (Stage Set from
the Caprici Teatrali, Bologna, 1776) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, 66.500.27. It also appears on the reverse of the drawing by Hubert
Clerget, La Maison de Boucher, rue Carnot à la Ferte-Bernard, with C. J.
Goodfriend, New York, in 2014. Fiorentini 1999, 150–53, no. 33; Fiorentini and
Rosenberg 2002, 36, 19; Hegener 2008, 380–91, version I, 221, 617, no. 15. J.
Clifton in Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 32–34, no. 1; Hegener 2008, 391; Mozzati
in Florence 2014, 526–27, no. 76. Erna Fiorentini previously attributed it to
Casa with a query (1999, 153). Hegener 2008 618, no. 17, 226; Heinecken
(1778–90, 2, 90). For his portraiture and use of it for self-promotion, see
Weil-Garris 1981, 237–38; Weil-Garris Brandt 1989; Mozzati 2014, 452–63. Florence 2014, 568, no. III; 573, no. VII; 576–81, nos IX.-X. (R.
Schallert). The Orpheus and his copy of the Laocoön (ibid., 571,
no. V) earned his reputation as ‘a great young talent who can export the
Belvedere’. (Barkan, 1999, 279). His personality is revealed in his letters and
the lengthy account in Vasari’s Lives (Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 5, 238–76).
See also Weil-Garris 1981, 223–24; Weil-Garris Brandt 1989, 497. Along with the
date, 1548, the engraving bears the initials and inscription, ‘A.S.Excudebat.’,
presumably Antonio Salamanca, the leading publisher of prints in Rome in the
mid-16th century (Fiorentini and Rosenberg 2002, 38). Many of the prints he
published were of Roman antiquities. See London 2001–02, 233; Pagani 2000;
Witcombe 2008, 67–105. Weil-Garris 1981, 231; Weil-Garris Brandt 1989, 497. For
a fundamental discussion of Bandinelli and the Antique, see Barkan 1999, 271–408.
Weil-Garris Brandt 1989, 497, 499–500. Weil-Garris 1981, 237. See V. Krahn, in
Florence 2014, 372–75, cat no. 32 who further notes the similarity between the
Hercules appearing in outline leaning on his club at right in the unfinished
print by Niccolò della Casa (Fiorentini and Rosenberg 2002, 36, 19), and
Bandinelli’s Hercules with the Apple of the Hesperides, c. 1545, in the
Bargello in Florence (372–75, cat. no. 32, repr.). There are many other
engraved representations of Hercules subjects by or based on Bandinelli, who
evidently planned a series, as noted by Roger Ward (in Cambridge 1988, 74,
under cat. no. 42). See also M. Zurla, in Florence 2014, 388–93, cat. nos
37–39. Weil-Garris 1981, 237; Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 34. Campidoglio –
freely interpreted by artists like Amico 92 93 5. Giovanni Antonio
da Brescia (fl. 1490–1519), The Belvedere Torso with Legs and Feet, as
Hercules, c. 1500–20, engraving, 166 × 103 mm, The British Museum, Department
of Prints and Drawings, London, 1845,0825.258 6. Baccio Bandinelli, Laocoön,
pen and brown ink, 1520s, 417 × 265 mm, Uizi, Florence, inv. 14785 F
(recto) 4a. Jan van der Straet, called Johannes Stradanus (Bruges
1523–1605 Florence) The Practice of the Visual Arts 1573 Pen and brown ink with
brown wash and white heightening with touches of grey, incised for transfer 436
× 293 mm Inscribed recto, l.c., in pen and brown ink, in reverse sense: ‘io
stradensis flandrvs in 1573 cornelie cort excv’ provenance: Sir H. Sloane
bequest, 1753. literature: Hind and Popham 1915–32, 5, 182, no. 1; Ameisenowa
1963, 58; Wolf-Heiddeger and Cetto 1967, 171, no. 73, repr. on 431; Heikamp
1972, 300 and 1 on 302; Heidelberg 1982, 29, no. 52, pl. 1 on 17; Sellink 1992,
46; Rotterdam 1994, 195–99 (in Dutch), 200–05 (in English), a on 204; Baroni
Vannucci 1997, 63–64, 247, no. 313, repr. on 246. exhibitions: Florence 1980, 213,
no. 523, not repr. (G. G. Bertelà); London 1986, no. 144, repr. on 193 (N.
Turner); Ottawa, Vancouver and elsewhere 1996–97, 148–49, no. 39 (M. Kornell);
London, Warwick, and elsewhere 1997–98, 19, 25, 119, no. 142 (D. Petherbridge
and L. Jordanova); London 2001–02, 21, no. 4 (M. Bury); Bruges 2008–09, 227–28,
no. 20 (A. Baroni). The British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings,
London, SL,5214.2 exhibited in london only 4b. Cornelis Cort (Hoorn 1533–before
1578 Rome) After Jan van der Straet, called Johannes Stradanus (Bruges
1523–1605 Florence) The Practice of the Visual Arts 1578 Engraving State I of
II1 432 × 295 mm Inscribed recto, l.c., on wooden box: ‘Cornelius Cort fecit. /
1578’; along bottom: ‘Illmo et Exmo Dn ́o Iacobo Boncompagno Arcis Praefecto,
ingenior, ac industriae fautori, Artiú nobiliú praxim, á Io, Stradési Belga
artifiosè expressá, Laureti’ Vaccarius D.D. Romae Anno 1578.’; u.r.: ‘PICTVRA’;
c.l. on table in background: ‘FVSORIA’; u.c. below statue: ‘STATV ARIA’; l.l.
on table: ‘ANATOMIA’; below statue of horse: ‘SCVLPTVRA’; c.r. on book on
table: ‘ARCHITECTVRA’; r. on paper on table: ‘Typorum eneorum / INCISORIA’;
l.c. on stool: ‘Tyrones pi / cture’. provenance: possibly entered Rijksmuseum
collection late 19th century (L.2228)2 literature: Hind and Popham 1915–32, 5, 182;
Bierens de Haan 1948, 199, no. 218, 53; Hollstein 1949–2001, 5, 58, no. 218,
repr.; Ameisenowa 1963, 58; Wolf-Heiddeger and Cetto 1967, 171–72, no. 74,
repr. on 431; Heikamp 1972, 300, 2 on 302; Strauss 1977, 1, 278–79, repr.;
Florence 1980, 213; Parker 1983, 76–77, repr. (as state II); Roman 1984, 88–91,
69; Strauss and Shimura 1986, 249, 218.199; Liedtke 1989, 190, no. 53, repr. on
191; Sellink 1992, 46, 18 on 47; Rotterdam 1994, 195–99 (in Dutch), 200–205 (in
English), no. 69; Ottawa, Vancouver and elsewhere 1996–97, 148–51, no. 40;
Baroni Vannucci 1997, 63–64, 436, no. 772; Sellink and Leeflang 2000, part 3, 118–19,
no. 210; London 2001–02, 18–21, no. 3; Munich and Cologne 2002, 321–22, no.
112; Wiebel and Wiedau 2002, 154, repr. on 155; Perry Chapman 2005, 116, 4.7 on
117. exhibitions: Vienna 1987, 320, no. VII.25 (M. Boeckl); Amsterdam 2007, no.
5 (C. Smid and A. White); Bruges 2008–09, no. 21 (A. Baroni); Compton Verney
and Norwich 2009–10, 18–19, no. 16. their careers in Italy. Jan van der Straet
was born in Bruges in 1523, but we know very little of his life before he
arrived in Italy around 1545.4 He settled in Florence but worked in both Rome
and Naples, and became a close collaborator of Giorgio Vasari (1511–74),
assisting him in the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio and at Poggio a Caiano.
Like Vasari, Van der Straet was immensely versatile, working on paintings and
portraits, making cartoons for tapestries and creating hundreds of designs for
prints. He died in Florence in 1605, and is better known to posterity by the
Italianised version of his name, Johannes Stradanus. He nevertheless maintained
his Flemish identity by signing his works with variations of ‘FLANDRUS’, as
seen in the exhibited drawing; however, it is difficult to decipher, because
Stradanus wrote the inscrip- tion in reverse. This is clear evidence that the
drawing was intended as a design for a print. All the figures use their left
hands, which is further proof, as are the clear indentation lines made to
transfer the design to the plate. Stradanus’ inscription is dated 1573, and
includes the name of the Dutch- man Cornelis Cort, who would engrave the
drawing five years later, in 1578.5 Cort is first documented working in the
printing house of Hieronymous Cock (c. 1510–70) in Antwerp, around 1553, before
he travelled to Italy in 1565.6 At first he worked in Venice, where he formed a
famous partnership with Titian (c. 1488–1576), but he later moved to central
Italy. Cort probably met Stradanus in 1569 in Florence, where the Medicis had
requested his presence to engrave their family tree.7 In the engraving, Cort
moved his own name to the block at the centre foreground, where he also
inscribed the date 1578. Stradanus’ inscription was replaced by one from the
publisher, Lorenzo Vaccari (active 1575–87), dedicating the work to Giacomo Boncampagni,
Prefect of the Castel Sant’Angelo and son of the newly appointed Pope Gregory
XIII (r. 1572–85).8 Cort made several further changes to Stradanus’ design, the
most obvious of which are the inscriptions added to clarify the various
activities being conducted around the room. Thus we can identify the three arts
of disegno taking place in one institution, with painting (‘PICTVRA’) on the
wall, sculpture (‘STATVARIA’ and ‘SCVLPTVRA’) on the plinths in the centre, and
architecture (‘ARCHITECTVRA’), which is given short shrift, repre- sented only
by the man seated at the table before the Venus, holding a pair of dividers.
The architect is in fact overshad- owed by the unusual addition beside him of a
seated engraver, whose burin rests on the corner of the table next to the more
prominent inscription ‘Typorum eneorum INCISORIA’. Michael Bury thought this
focus on engraving was added at Cort’s urging,9 but Stradanus, as the inventor
of more than 560 designs for prints, may himself have decided to place unprecedented
emphasis on the graphic arts.10 Of the three genres of painting – landscape,
portraiture and history paint- ing – the latter was considered the most
admirable, and so it is appropriate that the painting on the wall depicts an
ancient battle scene. Sculpture is depicted hierarchically, with prom- inence
given to the grand marble sculptures atop the plinth, distinguished from the
lesser arts of wax modelling and bronze casting, embodied by the rearing horse
below. While the older bearded masters are at work within their individual
disciplines, their true purpose is to guide the next generation of artists –
the young, clean-shaven students scattered around the room. The foreground is
therefore occupied with training exercises, as the pupils learn to draw after
the Antique and the human body before attempting the loftier projects of
sculpture and painting, exemplified in the upper back registers of the scene.
The role of the Antique is actually more prominent in the print than in the
drawing, as the statuette of Venus – which, like the statuettes in Bandinelli’s
academies (cats 1 and 2), is probably all’antica rather than an antique
original – meets the gaze of a young pupil, whose quill is poised to draw her.
This same youth in Stradanus’ design has already filled his sheet with repeated
sketches of eyes. This reflects a different practice, referred to as the
‘alphabet of drawing’, in which students were encouraged to start with the
smallest part of the human body, usually the eyes, gradually building up a
repertoire of the individual parts before assembling them into more complex
configurations. In the same way, a writer must first learn the alphabet and how
to form indi- vidual letters into words before being able to construct
sentences. Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71) described this as a common practice:
‘The teachers would put a human eye in front of those poor and most tender
youths as their first step in imitating and portraying; this is what happened
to me in my childhood, and probably happened to others as well’ . 1 1 His
statement is corroborated not only by Stradanus’ drawing, but by a similar
youth in Pierfrancesco Alberti’s (1584–1638) etching of a studio (cat. 2, 1)
and by a sheet of eyes from Odoardo Fialetti’s (1573–1638) drawing-book (p. 34,
37). Stradanus repeated the youth and his drawing of eyes in another design for
a print, which appeared in a series called Nova Reperta, published by Philips
Galle (1537– 1612) in the 1590s (fig. 1). This ‘A B C ’ technique of drawing,
as well as the important role of the Antique, were codified in Federico
Zuccaro’s (c. 1540–1609) first statutes for the Accademia di San Luca,
‘re-founded’ in Rome in 1593.12 The idea of progressing from simple elements to
a complex whole originated with Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72), and he
recommended a similar method for the study of human anatomy, starting with the
bones before adding muscles and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-BI-6381 exhibited
in haarlem only This crowded, idealised vision of a workshop for training artists
is the natural successor to the earlier academies depicted by Baccio Bandinelli
(cats 1 and 2). The Antique still plays a prominent role, seen in the large
marble statues in the centre depicting Rome personified next to the river god
Tiber, both based on the well-known sculptures in the Capitoline,3 and by the
statuette of a Venus Pudica type with her back to us standing on the table in
the foreground. Equal importance, however, is accorded to the study of anatomy,
94 and the young pupils in the foreground focus their attention on the skeleton
and cadaver suspended from ropes and pulleys. This reflects the later
16th-century emphasis on the study of anatomy as an integral part of the
artist’s education, a tendency that was already evident in the skeletons added
to Bandinelli’s second academy print (cat. 2), and which is fully realised in
this scene. The drawing and print catalogued here were produced in close
collaboration by two Northern artists who both made 95 96 97
finally flesh.13 The students in Stradanus’ drawing are dili- gently following
these instructions by examining the bones of a skeleton, while a bespectacled
tutor flays the arm of a corpse to grant them a view of the musculature.
Regardless of which object they are studying, all the pupils are engaged in
drawing, considered to be the essential element in their education. Stradanus’
design is therefore an allegory of the ideal academy, in which all of the arts
are improbably combined under one roof to offer the most well-rounded and comprehensive
instruction to the next generation of artists. Detlef Heikamp, however,
believed it to represent a specific academy, the Accademia di San Luca in Rome,
and to be the pendant to another drawing by Stradanus, now in Heidelberg,
depicting the Accademia del Disegno in Florence (fig. 2).14 Most other scholars
disagree, however, as the Accademia di San Luca was not officially founded
until 1593, exactly 20 years after the drawing was made.15 The drawing also
predates a Breve issued by Pope Gregory XIII in 1577, urging the foundation of
such an academy.16 Heikamp was correct, however, in pointing out the Roman
symbolism of this drawing, evident in the grand statue of Rome personified,
based iconographically on Minerva, flanked by the river god Tiber and the she-wolf
suckling Romulus and Remus. The Heidelberg drawing, by contrast, is decidedly
Florentine, showing Brunelleschi’s dome, the river god of the Arno and the
Florentine lion, the Marzocco. However, the two drawings are very different 2.
Johannes Stradanus, Allegory of the Florentine Academy of Art, c. 1569–70, pen
and brown ink, brown wash and white heightening, 465 × 363 mm, Kurpfälzisches
Museum der Stadt Heidelberg, Inv. Nr. Z 5425 in size,17 and the consensus of
opinion is that they are not a pair, representing separate allegorical,
idealised Roman and Florentine teaching traditions.18 Stradanus himself was a
founding member of the Accademia del Disegno, which opened in 1563 in Florence.
The study of anatomy was a central precept of the Acca- demia, and, while
acting as a consul in the winter of 1563, Stradanus was responsible for
organising a dissection for the students.19 His experience guiding and shaping
young Florentine artists must have informed his designs. Perhaps Stradanus was
compelled to portray such an academy in which the three arts of disegno are
exalted and glorified in order to allay growing concerns about the status of
art and artists.20 Alessandra Baroni made the radical proposal that Cort was
the driving force behind the project, and that it was conceived around 1569
when he and Stradanus were both working in Florence.21 The Medicis commissioned
Cort to engrave their family tree, and while he was in Florence he created a
series of prints with Florentine and Medici themes, including engravings of
tombs in the Medici Chapel. Cort may have undertaken these projects on his own
initiative, and the Heidelberg drawing would have made a fitting addition to
the series. An engraving of it, however, was never executed, perhaps because a
receptive audience could not be found, but in Rome four years later, Cort may
have found a more conducive atmosphere and convinced Stradanus to resume the
endeavour. Whatever the motiva- tion, the design proved very popular, as
evidenced by the existence of two early copies of the engraving, the first of
22 which was published in Venice around 1580. Clearly, Italian audiences were
fascinated by the subject of art and the requisite training necessary for its
creation, in which the Antique played a pivotal role. The second state was
printed 200 years later, when the plate came into the possession of Carlo Losi,
who changed the date on it to 1773 (Bruges 2008–09, 229). I am grateful to Erik
Hinterding, Curator of Prints at the Rijksmuseum, for his correspondence
regarding this provenance. Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 89–90, no. 42 and 113–14,
no. 66. Janssens 2012, 9–10. Karel van Mander’s biography of Van der Straet is
very brief (Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 326–29). A better source is Borghini 1584, 579–89.
There is an excellent chronology of his life, including lists of the related
archival documents, in Baroni Vannucci 1997, 446–51. The inscription ‘CORNELIS
CORT EXCV’ suggests that Cort had intended to publish the print himself. He may
have struggled to do so, explaining the five-year gap between the date of the
drawing and the pub- lication of the print, and it was published by another
man, Lorenzo Vaccari (Bruges 2008–09, 228–29). It may even have been published
post- humously, as Cort died in 1578 (Sellink and Leeflang 2000, part 3, 119).
For Cort’s biography, see Thieme-Becker 1907–50, 12, 475–77. Cock was also the
first publisher with whom Stradanus worked, in 1567, and they had a long
partnership (Baroni 2012, 91). Bruges 2008–09, 228. Boncompagni was appointed
to this post in 1572, and in April 1573 was promoted to Governor General of the
Church. It is strange that the inscrip- tion added to the print in 1578 refers
to Boncompagni by the lesser title of Prefect, which Michael Bury took as proof
that the print was more likely to have been executed in 1573, the same year as
the drawing. He thought it possible that the ‘3’ had simply been changed to an
‘8’ in the date 1578 on the stool; however there are no extant 1573 versions of
the print (London 2001–02, 18, 21). London 2001–02, 18. Leesberg 2012a, 161.
Amornpichetkul 1984, 117 and Cellini 1731, 141. Cellini went on to say he
considered this a ‘poor method’ but he agreed on the means of building up the
bones of a skeleton in order to draw a successful nude. See also Aymonino’s
essay in this catalogue, 33–34. Appendix, no. 7. Alberti 1972, 75 (book 2,
chap. 36) and 97 (book 3, chap. 55). Heikamp 1972, 300. It is true that for
decades the idea for such an institution had been simmer- ing, especially at
the behest of Federico Zuccaro, a founding member of the Accademia del Disegno
in Florence. He was unhappy with its tenets and sought reforms, eventually
simply founding the Accademia di San Luca instead (Pevsner 1940, 59–60).
Heikamp’s theory has been rejected in London 2001–02, 21 and Bruges 2008–09, 226.
The Pope decried the level of decadence in contemporary art and blamed it on
defective training of young artists, arguing that if they had been properly
instructed in both art and religion, they would not sink to such lows (Pevsner
1940, 57). The Heidelberg drawing is much larger and measures 465 × 363 mm. The
figures in the Heidelberg drawing also all use their left hands, so it must
have been intended for a print; however, no such print has come to light
(London 2001–02, 21). Ottawa, Vancouver and elsewhere 1996–97, 148. Rotterdam
1994, 200. Bruges 2008–09, 226–27. Bruges 2008–09, 229. For a list of the
copies, see Sellink and Leeflang 2000, part 3, 119. For the practice of copying
after Stradanus’ prints, see Leesberg 2012a. 98 99 1. Published by
Philips Galle after a design by Johannes Stradanus, Color Olivi, plate 14 in
Nova Reperta series, c. 1580–1600, engraving, 201 × 271 mm, private
collection 5. Federico Zuccaro (Urbino c. 1541–1609 Rome) Taddeo in the
Belvedere Court in the Vatican Drawing the Laocoön c. 1595 Pen and brown ink,
brush with brown wash, over black chalk and touches of red chalk, 175 × 425 mm
Inscribed recto in brown pen and ink by the artist on the building in the
background: ‘le camore di Rafaello’; on the figure’s tunic in capital
lettering, ‘THADDEO ZUCCHARO’; numbered u.r. in brown ink: ‘17’. provenance:
Gilbert Paignon Dijonval (1708–92); Charles-Gilbert, Vicomte Morel de Vindé
(1759–1842), see L. 2520; Samuel Woodburn (1786–1853), 1816; Thomas Dimsdale
(1758–1823), see L. 2426; Samuel Woodburn, 1823; Sir Thomas Lawrence
(1769–1830), L. 2445; Samuel Woodburn, 1830; Sold Christie’s, London, 4 June
1860, part of lot 1074; bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872); Thomas
Fitzroy Fenwick (1856–1938); Dr A. S. W. Rosenbach (1876–1952), 1930; Philip H.
and A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation until 1978; The British Rail Pension Fund,
1978; Their sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 11 January 1990, lot 17; Finacor, Paris;
Their sale, Christie’s, London, 28 January 1999, part of lot 35 (no. 17), from
whom acquired. selected literature:1 Rossi 1997, 64; Acidini Luchinat ; Paul
2000, 5–6, 1; Paris 2000–01, 379–80, under no. 185 (C. Scailliérez); Silver
2007–08, 86; Lukehart 2007–08, 105; Cavazzini 2008, 50, 26; Tronzo 2009, 49, 6,
52–54; Deswarte-Rosa 2011, 27–28, 31, 4; Pierguidi 2011, 29–30, 3; Luchterhandt
2013–14, 38–39, 11. exhibitions: London 1836, 11, no. 17, not repr.; Los
Angeles 1999 (no catalogue); Rome 2006–07, 159–60, no. 51 (M. Serlupi
Crescenzi); Los Angeles 2007–08, 24, 33–34, no. 17 (see also, 7, 40, 70, 86,
127). 1. Apollo Belvedere, Roman copy of the Hadrianic period (117–138 ad) from
a Greek original of the 4th century bc, marble, 224 cm (h), Vatican Museums,
Rome inv. 1015 2. Laocoön, possibly a Roman copy of the 1st century ad after a
Greek original of the 2nd century bc, marble, 242 cm (h), Vatican Museums,
Rome, inv. 1064 The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 99.GA.6.17
exhibited in london only Look here, O Judgment, how he observes the antique and
Polidoro’s style as well as Raphael’s work he studies. (Ecco qui, o Giuditio,
osservando Va de l’antico, e Polidoro il fare E l’opre insiem di Rafael
studiando)2 The series of twenty drawings by Federico Zuccaro of his older
brother, Taddeo (1529–66), is a unique treasure of Renaissance drawing.3 With
cinematic realism and narrative flair, the drawings tell the story of Taddeo’s
travails and even- tual success as a young artist in Rome in the 1540s. It
begins with his heart-rending departure at fourteen from the family home in S.
Angelo in Vado, a provincial town in the Marches, and his arrival in the
Eternal City. There Taddeo sets about following the prescribed course of study
typical for any aspir- ing painter of the period. First, he apprentices with a
local painter, performing menial tasks – preparing pigments and household
chores – and finding time to draw, mostly only at night. After being mistreated
by the painter’s wife, he escapes to discover Rome for himself. He assiduously
copies statues and reliefs from classical antiquity and the work of contem-
porary masters including the frescoes in the Logge and the Stanze of the
Vatican by Raphael, the Last Judgment by Michelangelo and façade paintings by
Polidoro da Caravaggio. After much focused and disciplined study, he triumphs
victoriously with his first major success: the painted façade of Palazzo Mattei
(1548). And this is where the story ends (Taddeo would die prematurely of
illness at the age of thirty-seven). In this drawing, number seventeen, we enter
the story in medias res. Here Taddeo, affectionately identified by name on his
tunic, is at Vatican Belvedere Statue Court studying the most iconic antique
sculptures of the day: the Apollo Belvedere on the left (fig. 1; see also 25–26),
the Nile and Tiber in the centre and the object of his attention, possibly the
most famous work in the collection, the Laocoön on the right (fig. 2; see also 25–26).4
With his back turned, we peer voyeuristi- cally over his shoulder as he draws
intently. He has settled in for a day of intense study; his meagre sustenance,
a small loaf of bread and flask of wine on the ground next to him, has remained
untouched. The notion of the artist drawing inces- santly with little to eat or
drink anticipates the vivid descrip- tion of the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini
(1598–1680) who as a boy spent dawn to dusk at the statue court making copies.5
Significantly, this is the earliest known image of an artist at work at the
Belvedere, the most important and certainly the most influential collection of
classical antiquities assem- bled in the Renaissance.6 Given its unique
accessibility – unlike the collections housed in private aristocratic palaces –
it provided a sanctuary for the unencumbered study of antique statuary, which
also included recently excavated works. Thus, it served a key role in providing
an artistic instruction not just direct but exhilaratingly au courant. It also
meant that the sculptures displayed there would become famous as their images
were disseminated through prints and drawings. When Taddeo visited the
sculpture court in the 1540s, it had undergone a major renovation.7 In 1485,
under Pope Innocent VIII (r. 1484–92), a private villa was built on the hill
behind the old Vatican place, named the Belvedere (‘fair view’), for its
position. In 1503, Pope Julius II (r. 1503–13) commis- sioned the architect,
Donato Bramante (1444–1514), to incor- porate the house with the Vatican
complex thereby creating an enclosed rectangular garden courtyard, the Cortile
del Belvedere, to display his expanding antiquities collection. Wishing it to
be accessible to the public, the Pope had Bramante construct a spiral staircase
that enabled visitors to arrive at the courtyard directly, without having to
enter the palace proper.8 The courtyard was an enchanted world filled with
orange trees, fountains, an elegant loggia, and displayed in the centre of the
court, the colossal marble statues of the Nile and Tiber mounted as fountains.9
Statues including the celebrated Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön were
displayed in especially created niches.10 Maarten van Heemskerck’s drawing in
the British Museum, c. 1532–33 (fig. 3), the earliest known view of the
Cortile, gives a sense of the space and the disposition of the sculpture
displayed there.11 Immediately evident is that Federico’s al fresco evocation
bears little resemblance to Heemskerck’s and to other con- temporary
descriptions of the courtyard. The setting is now a sun-drenched rise with a
vista, no t an enclosed garden, and the statues are freed from the
confines of their niches. And yet in other ways Federico has gone to lengths to
convince us of the time period – 1540s – as we will see. In fact, so well-known
was this space that Federico needed only to refer to it in short-hand. The
statues depicted would have been instantly recognisable to any viewer and
Taddeo’s location in the Belvedere understood. Since its discovery in January
of 1506 in the ground of a private vineyard on the Esquiline near the remains
of the so-called Baths of Titus, the Laocoön group, comprising the ill-fated
Trojan priest and his two sons violently struggling to free themselves from two
serpents who devour them, was immediately venerated.12 While still in the
ground, the architect and antiquarian, Giuliano di Sangallo, sent to inspect it
by Pope Julius II, identified it as the famous statue singled out by Pliny the
Elder as ‘of all paintings and sculptures the most worthy of admiration’
(Natural History 36.37–38).13 It was installed in the Belvedere in a
chapel-like recess.14 The sculpture’s fame was instant and far-reaching.
Entranced by it, Michelangelo proclaimed it an inimitable miracle.15 Collectors
eagerly sought copies, commissioning Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570), Baccio
Bandinelli (see cat. 3) and others to make replicas of various sizes in bronze,
marble, wax, terracotta, even gold.16 For artists, its effect was manifold. It
provided an anatomical model for the male nude that was strong, forceful and
capable of dynamic movement. The range of ages and emotions conveyed and
symbolised – fear, agony, heroism in death – also inspired emulation. 3.
Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574), View of the Belvedere Sculpture Court, c.
1532–36/37, pen and brown ink, brush with brown wash, 231 × 360 mm, Department
of Print and Drawings, British Museum, London, 1946,0713.639 100
101 102 103 Epitomising human suffering, the statue became a
model for portraying martyrs from Christendom, especially in the
Counter-Reformation.17 For centuries that followed artists would imitate and
infuse this muscular body type and expres- sions in their work (cat. 16). The
group’s influence endured well into the 19th century.18 When the Laocoön was
first discovered, his right arm and that of his youngest son on the left were
missing, as were among other losses the fingers of the eldest son’s right hand.
By the 1530s, the missing appendages were restored including a terracotta arm
by the sculptor, Giovanni Antonio Montorsoli (1507–63).19 Federico’s drawn
version is something of an enigma. In some respects it appears pre-restoration:
the fingers of the eldest son on the right are still missing. But he has
included part of the previously absent right arm of the son on the left but
made him hand-less. Laocoön is shown with his right arm restored but it is out
of view so the angle cannot be determined. In any case, it seems that Federico
has attempted to represent the sculpture as he thought Taddeo and others of his
generation might have first seen it, undoubt- edly to create an air of
authenticity. It is possible that he consulted print sources such as Marco
Dente da Ravenna’s ( f l . 1515–27) Laocoön of c. 1520–23, which makes a
compelling comparison.20 The perfect foil for the Laocoön is the commanding
figure of the Apollo Belvedere anchoring the composition on the left.21 So
instantly recognisable was he that Federico needed only to indicate his lower
half. Discovered at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna in 1489, the statue was acquired
by Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli, the future Pope Julius
II, who displayed it in the garden of his palace next to SS. Apostoli.22 After
he became Pope, it was brought to the Vatican in 1508 and installed in a niche
in the Belvedere cortile in 1511. Based on a lost Greek bronze original, it
became one of the most famous statues to survive from antiquity and was copied
by innumerable artists (see cats 6, 25, 26).23 If the Laocoön exemplified the
powerful male nude body in action, the Apollo encapsulated the qualities of its
counterpart, the perfect male youth: elegant, graceful, confident and
restrained; in repose yet poised for action. As the god Apollo he was thought
to have just discharged his arrow at the python of Delphi (see cat. 6) or else,
to be on the verge of killing the sons of Niobe with his arrows, as punishment
for her boasting.24 Praised by Vasari for its instructive importance, every
aspiring artist visited the Apollo in the Belvedere.25 The statue retained
immense popularity in the centuries that followed.26 Federico’s abbreviated
description of the Belvedere Courtyard is a clever device as it allows him to
combine several episodes of Taddeo’s self-education in the same 104 drawing and
a highly sophisticated continuous narration.27 All show Taddeo studying the
Antique in various forms – free- standing statues, narrative reliefs and
contemporary works in an all’antica style. So while the most prominent Taddeo
is at work copying the Belvedere statues, a second Taddeo is visible in the
distance, perched on a window ledge copying Raphael’s celebrated Stanze
frescoes in the papal apartments in the Vatican.28 At the far left is Trajan’s
Column of 113 ad under which are figures, including an artist sketching the
famous reliefs carved on the column shaft, presumably Taddeo again. These
monuments were very distant from one other and yet, countering this artificial
structure, Federico has striven for local historical accuracy. For example, he
shows the column as it would have appeared in Taddeo’s day, omitting the bronze
statue of St Peter at the top that was added by Sixtus V in 1588.29 Lightly
sketched in the left distance is the dome of the Pantheon and on the far right,
what appears to be the Mausoleum of Augustus of 28 bc identifiable by the trees
on the summit.30 Another drawing from the series (fig. 4) further demon-
strates the importance Federico attributed to copying after the Antique, one of
the pillars of artistic education.31 It shows Taddeo studying a relief –
perhaps the right-hand front section of a Muse sarcophagus of a type similar to
an example now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (p. 20, 5).32 Having
already sketched the figures – possibly a Muse holding a mask and Apollo – in
black chalk, he is about to go over the contours with pen and ink. Resting on
the relief is the armless body of a male youth similar in type to the Torso of
Apollon Sauroktonos, the so-called Casa Sassi Torso now in the Museo
Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.33 In the back- ground, in another example of
continuous narration, Taddeo copies façade paintings by Polidoro da Caravaggio,
who, specialising in monochrome frescoes imitating marble or bronze reliefs,
represented another type of contemporary all’antica style, one which would
exert an enormous influence on Taddeo’s own approach to painting.34 It is
significant that Federico executed the Taddeo series in the mid-1590s, around
the time that he established a reformed Accademia di San Luca of which he was
elected president in 1593. Learning to draw by copying the work of others – the
Antique, Michelangelo, Raphael and Polidoro da Caravaggio – was already a key
phenomenon of Renaissance workshop practice. Federico codified this practice
further by making such a disciplined approach to drawing central to the
curricu- lum.35 Successful learning also required virtue and hard work – fatica
– both physical and intellectual, and such quali- ties are extolled in
Federico’s drawings of Taddeo.36 According to the guidelines Federico wrote for
the academy, students were required to ‘go out during the week drawing after
the antique’ (see Appendix, no. 7).37 It is significant that in the final image
of the series (fig. 5), an allegorical personification of Study – represented
by a young man diligently copying an antique male torso with other sculptures –
flanks the left side of the Zuccaro family emblem.38 He is joined by
Intelligence on the right. Along with training, Federico was also concerned
with the welfare of young artists and proposed reforms to the artists’ academy
in Florence, the Accademia del Disegno.39 At his death in 1609, he intended the
family palace, the Palazzo Zuccari (now the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck
Institute for Art History) to house young, struggling artists in Rome, so that
they would not suffer as Taddeo had.40 Appropriate in subject matter, the drawings
may well have prepared a complex arrangement of paintings for the walls of the
palace’s Sala del Disegno.41 This might account for the present drawing’s
unusual dumbbell format.42 Regardless of its intended purpose, the Early Life
of Taddeo series, a touching tribute to one brother from another, sends a clear
message. Drawing, especially after the Antique in all its various forms, was
the cornerstone of artistic education in 16th-century Italy and was to become a
canonical activity throughout Europe in the centuries that followed. As one of
the first great illustrations of this phenomenon in practice, the present
drawing is an ideal visual representation of this exhibition’s theme. avl
4. Federico Zuccaro, Taddeo Drawing after the Antique; in the Background
Copying a Façade by Polidoro, c. 1595, pen and brown ink, brush with brown
wash, over black chalk and touches of red chalk, 423 × 175 mm, The J. Paul
Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 99.GA.6.12 5. Federico Zuccaro, Allegories of Study
and Intelligence Flanking the Zuccaro Emblem, c. 1595, pen and brown ink, brush
with brown wash, over black chalk and touches of red chalk, 176 × 425 mm, The
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 99.GA.6.20 105 1 Additional
bibliography for the drawings in the series up to 1999 is given in the
catalogue of the Christie’s sale, London, 28 January 1999, 70, lot 35. 2 This
poem written by Federico Zuccaro to accompany this drawing appears on the back
of another sheet in the series (Los Angeles 2007–08, 34, no. 18, 40).
Translation by J. Brooks (ibid., 33–34). 3 The Early Life of Taddeo series,
acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1999, was the subject of an exhibition
and in-depth catalogue by J. Brooks (Los Angeles 2007–08). 4 For the Tiber and
the Nile see Haskell and Penny 1981, 272–73, no. 65 and 310–11, no. 79;
Klementa 1993, 9–51, nos A1–A39, pls 1–18; 52–71, nos B1–B15, pls 19–23. 5 See
Appendix, no. 9. 6 For essential reading on the Cortile and its history, see
Ackerman 1954; Brummer 1970; Coffin 1979, 69–87; Haskell and Penny 1981, 7–11;
Nesselrath 1994, 52–55; Nesselrath 1998a, 1–16. 7 See Coffin 1979, 69–87;
Haskell and Penny 1981, 7. 8 Coffin 1979, 82. 9 For the two Rivers, see above,
note 4. 10 For statues in their niches, see Haskell and Penny 1981, 11, 4, and
Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 122c. 11 First published as Heemskerck in Winner and
Nesselrath 1987, 867; see also M. Serlupi Crescenzi, in Rome 2006–07, 148–49,
no. 37. For a sense of the atmosphere, see the painting by Hendrik III van Cleve
(1524–89), 1550, in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (M.
Serlupi Crescenzi, in Rome 2006–07, 146–47, no. 34), see Aymonino’s essay in
this catalogue, 26, 21. 12 For the group, see Haskell and Penny 1981, 243–47,
no. 52; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 164–68, no. 122, Pasquier 2000–01b and the
exhibition catalogue devoted to it, Rome 2006–07. 13 Haskell and Penny 1981, 243;
M. Buranelli, in Rome 2006–07, 127–28, no. 13. 14 Coffin 1979, 82; Haskell and
Penny 1981, 243. 15 Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 165, see also Aymonino’s essay
in this catalogue, 28. 16 Haskell and Penny 1981, 244 and Settis 1998, 129–60.
17 Ettlinger 1961, 121–26; Brummer 1970, 117–18; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 166.
18 For the statue’s critical reception, see Bieber 1967; Brilliant 2000;
Décultot 2003 and Rome 2006–07. 19 Haskell and Penny 1981, 246–47; Nesselrath
1998b, 165–74; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 165. Montorsoli’s additions were
removed in 1540 when Primaticcio made a mould of the group unrestored to
prepare a cast in bronze for Francis I (Rome 2006-07, 150–51, no. 40). The
additions were then put back. 20 Oberhuber 1978, 50, no. 353 (268); T.
Schtrauch, in Rome 2006–07, 152–53, no. 42. 21 For their juxtaposition, see
Tronzo 2009, 49–55. 22 According to a document published by Fusco and Corti
2006 (Appendix I, 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 309,
doc. 112; see also 52–56). For the statue, see Haskell and Penny 1981, 148–51,
no. 8; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 76–77, no. 28. In 1532–33 Montorsoli replaced
the existing right arm and restored the hands (Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 77).
Federico presents it in its restored state with bow. Haskell and Penny 1981, 150.
Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 76; Vasari’s preface to Part III of the Lives, 1568
ed. (Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 4, 7). See Roettgen 1998, 253–74. He
employs the same device in other drawings in the series (Los Angeles 2007–08, 7).
Federico indicates the location on the drawing itself with the inscription, le
camore di Rafaello (the rooms of Raphael). Another drawing in the series shows
him copying the frescoes in the loggia of the Villa Farnesina, see Los Angeles
2007–08, 20, 32, no. 13. For the column, its reliefs and history, see Bober and
Rubinstein 2010, 208–10, no. 159. Francesco Soderini purchased the Mausoleum in
1546 in order to transform the tomb into a garden museum with antique statuary.
See Riccomini 1995, especially 267, 91 (Etienne Du Pérac’s engraving, 1575) and
271, 95 (Alò Giovannoli’s engaving, 1619) and Riccomini 1996. Los Angeles
2007–08, 19, 31–32, no. 12. For essential reading on Taddeo, Federico and the
antique and the absorption of it in their work, see Silver 2007–08, 86–91.
Wegner 1966, 88–89, no. 228, plates 11–12. Los Angeles 2007–08, 31. In Taddeo’s
time the torso (CensusID 159347 and Ruesch 1911, 158, no. 491) was in the
courtyard of the Sassi family palace displayed in a niche as seen in
Heemskerck’s famous view reproduced in etching (Paris 2000–01, 360–62, no. 169,
entry by C. Scailliérez). For Polidoro and the Zuccari, see Los Angeles
2007–08, 71–77. Armenini had already advised artists to copy Polidoro’s
frescoes (1587, 58, book 1, chap. 7). Alberti 1604, 7. See also Armenini, 1587,
52–59 (book 1, chap. 7). See also Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, 32–33
Rossi 1997, 66–68. Alberti 1604, 8 (‘e chi andarà frà la settimana
dissegnando all’antico’), cited and translated in Silver 2007-08, 86). Los Angeles 2007–08, 27, 35, no. 20. Ibid., 2. Ibid. For previous
arguments on the topic and a fascinating hypothetical recon- struction of the
Sala del Disegno, see Strunck 2007–08, 113–25. The shape is adapted slightly in
a version of the present drawing in the Uffizi, Florence, of similar dimensions
(Paris 2000–01, 379–80, no. 185 (entry by C. Scailliérez), believed by Gere to
be autograph (1990, under no. 17) but by Brooks as unlikely to be and the
present author agrees. See Los Angeles 2007– 08, 45, note 48, where two other
copies are also noted: Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 7656 and the other sold
Phillips, London, 9 July 2001, lot 148. 6. Hendrick Goltzius
(Bracht-am-Niederrhein 1558–1617 Haarlem) a. The Apollo Belvedere 1591 Black
and white chalk on blue paper indented for transfer; 388 × 244 mm provenance:
Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–89)1; Cardinal Decio Azzolini (1623–89);
Marchese Pompeo Azzolini (1654–1706); Don Livio Odescalchi (1658–1713);
purchased from the Odescalchi family by the Teylers Foundation, 1790. selected
literature: Reznicek 1961, 1, 326, no. 208, 2, 170; Van Regteren Altena 1964, 19,
101–02, no. 32; Miedema 1969, 76–77; Brummer 1970, 70–71, repr.; Stolzenburg
2000, 426–27, repr., 439, no. 173; Brandt 2001, 148; Hamburg 2002, 114, repr.
under no. 33; Amsterdam, New York and elsewhere 2003–04, 269, repr.; Bober and
Rubinstein 2010, 77, under no. 28; Leesberg 2012b, 2, 370 under no. 380;
Göttingen 2013–14, 22–23, 6; Nichols 2013a, 56, 84, 54; Veldman 2013–14, 105.
exhibitions: Münster 1976, 138, no. 111, 140, repr. Teylers Museum, Haarlem,
inv. no. K III 23 exhibited in haarlem only b. Apollo Belvedere 1592 Engraving,
412 × 300 mm State II of II Inscribed on the base of the statue: ‘HG sculp.
APOLLO PYTHIUS Cum privil. Sa. Cæ. M.’. With the address of the printer at
right ‘Herman Adolfz excud. Haerlemens.’. Inscribed with two lines in the lower
margin, at centre: ‘Statua antiqua Romae in palatio Pontificis belle vider /
opus posthumum HGoltzij iam primum divulgat. Ano. M.D.C.X.VII.’.2 Two Latin
distichs by Theodorus Schrevelius in margin l.l. and l.r.: ‘Vix natus armis
Delius Vulcaniis / Donatus infans, sacra Parnassi iuga’ / ‘Petii. draconem
matris hostem spiculis / Pythona fixi: nomen inde Pythii. Schrevel’.3 Numbered
in l.l. corner: ‘3’. Published by Herman Adolfsz. (fl. 1607) in 1617
provenance: et D. Colnaghi Co., London, from whom acquired in 1854. literature:
Bartsch 1854–76, 3, 45, no. 145; Hirschmann 1921, 60–61, no. 147; Hollstein
1949–2001, 8, 33, no. 147.II, repr.; Strauss 1977, 2, 566–67, no. 314, repr.;
Leesberg 2012b, 2, 370, no. 380, 373–74, repr. exhibitions: Not previously
exhibited. The British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London,
1854,0513.106 106 107 It was undoubtedly at the urging of Karel van Mander
(1548– 1606), his friend and fellow Haarlem artist, that Hendrick Goltzius left
for Rome in 1590 in order to study the remnants of classical antiquity and the
works of modern Italian masters.4 He was already thirty-two years old. Northern
artists usually went south when they were much younger, sometimes even half
that age. The tradition of artists travel- ling from Northern Europe to Italy,
eager to learn, had begun almost a century earlier with Jan Gossaert, called
Mabuse (c. 1472–1532). Other well-known Dutch artists who had derived
inspiration from antique remains in Rome and who had produced drawings after
them, were Jan van Scorel (1495–1562) and above all, Maarten van Heemskerck
(1498– 1574), also a native of Haarlem.5 Like these artists Goltzius travelled
to Rome as a mature draughtsman, eager to deepen his knowledge and see with his
own eyes the works of art of which he had heard so much. It was probably family
obligations and his flourishing print workshop that had delayed his Italian
trip for so long. Finally in 1590–91, hoping for relief from the consumptive
state of his health, Goltzius made the long anticipated journey.6 We know from
Van Mander that on arriving in Rome, Goltzius concentrated almost exclusively
on drawing the most important classical sculptures carefully and industri-
ously.7 Goltzius was now a celebrity, for his prints had spread his fame
throughout Europe, but he travelled largely incognito. In Rome, for example, he
donned rustic garb in order to blend in with pupils and amateurs drawing from
the Antique. According to Van Mander, they looked at him pityingly until they
saw what he was capable of, whereupon they started asking him for advice.8
Although this story may be a topos – art-loving Italy values a gifted outsider
– it is not hard to imagine such an encounter when one considers Goltzius’
Roman drawings.9 Forty-three of Goltzius’ drawings after thirty different
classical statues survive, plus one after Michelangelo’s Moses; all are
preserved in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem.10 In the short time at Goltzius’
disposal – he was only in Rome for seven months – he managed to copy all the
most impor- tant sculptures, in both public and semi-public locations
108 109 such as churches and papal palaces, and in some private
collections.11 He must have prepared thoroughly for his drawing expedition and
have studied travel books and prints before his departure. Certainly at his
disposal would have been Maarten van Heemskerck’s Roman sketchbook, now in the
Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, but then owned by his fellow Haarlem artist,
Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562–1638) (see 35, figs 39–43 and cat. no.
8).12 Strikingly Goltzius’ selection more or less corresponded with the antique
statues described in travel literature.13 Evidently, a canon of the most
outstanding classical statues in Rome had already been established and
disseminated to the North and although this canon would later be expanded, most
of the statues drawn by Goltzius in 1591 continued to remain popular models for
artists in subsequent centuries (see cat. nos 14–16, 21, 25–27 and 31).
Goltzius did not make his drawings merely as an exercise. The artist and
printshop owner was well aware of the importance of those statues for their
reproductive potential. He must have envisaged a series of engravings from the
very outset and that is why he went to such lengths to select the most
celebrated and, by then, canonical sculptures. The series he had in mind would
have rivalled existing print series of antique sculptures in Rome, such as
Antoine Lafréry’s Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, published between 1545 and
1577 (fig. 1), or Giovanni Battista de’ Cavalieri’s Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis
Romae, published between the 1560s and the 1590s.14 Cavalieri’s reproductions
were printed on small plates, without backgrounds, and incorporated little
information about the sculptures in their locations; the lighting is not
consistent and there is a lack of naturalism in the statues’ rendering. While
the differences between Lafréry’s reproductions and what Goltzius planned to
create are less striking, the burin technique is more refined in Goltzius’
works, his rendering of the statues more realistic and his prints fractionally
larger; moreover, he generally represented the statues from closer vantage
points, thereby creating more engaging compositions.15 What audience did
Goltzius have in mind when he produced his drawings and his prints? While
Cavalieri and Lafréry’s publications were mainly intended for antiquaries and
art lovers, Goltzius seems to have aimed at a broader audience encompassing
artists as well as amateurs. This is supported by his emphasis on
anatomical precision and the sculptures’ three-dimensional character, rather
than accu- racy of reproduction – he sometimes omitted inscriptions, for
example (see cat. 8); the presence of the draughtsman in the print displayed is
also significant in this connection. Goltzius’ project was timely for around
this period a market seems to have been developing for prints after 110
publication, but found himself overwhelmed with other projects. In most of his
drawings after antique sculpture, Goltzius began with a sketch in black and
white chalk on bluish-grey paper, like this drawing of Apollo Belvedere. The
trial-and- error lines by the figure’s legs and waist suggest that he had
difficulty deciding on a vantage point. He would then have used a stylus to
indent the contours of that sketch onto a second sheet of paper, on which he
subsequently produced an extremely precise drawing of the statue. That second
version in red chalk, unfortunately now lost, would have served as the model
for the engraver. Teylers Museum has both drawings for the Farnese Hercules
Seen from Behind (see cat. 7a and 2) but at some point Goltzius’ second version
of the Apollo Belvedere was separated from the group that ended in the Teylers
Museum,20 for in the early 18th century it belonged to the famous collector
Valerius Röver (1686– 1739) of Delft,21 and was listed in his inventory: ‘The
Apollo, with red chalk, transferred to the copper by Goltzius, which print is
herewith attached, fl. 3:10’.22 The engraving is in the same direction as the
black chalk drawing, and the size of the statue is identical in both.23 The
most striking difference between them is the rendering of volume. The statue
appears a little flat in the drawing, while in the print it is highly
sculptural, with a keenly observed interplay between light and shade across the
form lending relief and depth to the engraving. As noted above, Goltzius would
have developed these features in the lost red chalk version of the subject. It
may be that this lost drawing also incorporated the draughtsman seen in the
lower right corner of the print, and the large cast shadow on the left,
accessories and details that Goltzius tended to vary from work to work. In any
event, these added elements reinforce the sense of depth; the draughtsman also
conveys an idea of the scale of the statue (see cat. 7). But perhaps Goltzius
added the young draughtsman for yet another reason. His rendering of this
figure is so direct, so true to life, that it appears to be a portrait. The two
small figures in his reproduction of the Farnese Hercules are also represented
in a fashion which suggests that these too are portraits (cat. 7, 4). It seems
that in Rome Goltzius asked a local artist, Gaspare Celio (1571–1640), to draw
copies of both classical and modern artworks for him and they may have drawn
some works together.24 Could this figure be Celio? Pure speculation, of course,
for remarkably little is known about this mysterious individual.25 At any rate
the figure of the draughtsman is seated exactly as Goltzius must have
positioned himself, although at a different angle, employing the same technique
(n.b. the porte-crayon), the same format paper and probably the same travel board.
And this may point to another reason for Goltzius’ introduction of the young
draughtsman: to emphasise the didactic inten- tion of the series and to convey
the message that these prints allowed artists to draw the finest Roman
sculptures, just like the draughtsman in the image, without having to go to
Rome. Whatever the reason for this figure’s inclusion, his presence
demonstrates – as does Van Mander’s story of Goltzius amidst younger artists –
that during this period the copying of antique sculptures in Rome was very
widespread. The Apollo Belvedere is a Roman copy of a Greek original by
Leochares from c. 330–320 bc. The copy probably dates from the reign of Hadrian
(117–138 bc). In the late 15th cen- tury the Apollo was in the collection of
Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who, as Pope Julius II, placed it in the
Belvedere, where it was displayed in the small Cortile delle Statue (see 26, 21
and cat. 5). The Apollo Belvedere soon became one of the most famous sculptures
in the collection and was drawn by many artists. Prints of the sculpture by
Agostino Veneziano (c. 1518–20, see 28, 29), Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1530) and
Goltzius himself (c. 1617), among others, ensured that its fame spread
throughout Europe. However, the Apollo’s prestige began to fade in the 19th
century and nowadays the sculpture, while well-known to art historians is less
appreciated by the general public.26 1. Anonymous engraver after
Marcantonio Raimondi, published by Antoine Lafréry, Apollo Belvedere, 1552,
engraving, 323 × 228 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-H-232 antique statues for
artists to employ as models. Between 1599 and 1616 Goltzius’ stepson Jacob
Matham published the first known printed sketchbook after the Antique,
Verscheijden Cierage,16 intended, according to its title page, for an interna-
tional public of artists and amateurs.17 And it seems likely that Goltzius
envisaged the same international audience for his projected series, perhaps
particularly young students in Northern Europe – and no doubt his own pupils –
who were not able to undertake the trip to Rome but could use his engravings as
models.18 It was probably in 1592, soon after his return from Italy, that
Goltzius embarked on the print series, engraving after his own drawings three
of the statues: the Farnese Hercules Seen from Behind (cat. 7), Hercules and
Telephus and this Apollo Belvedere. It is unlikely that Goltzius was
disappointed with the results but he progressed no further with the project and
never officially printed the plates which were published posthumously in 1617,
bearing the address of the Haarlem publisher Herman Adolfsz.19 We do not know
why Goltzius did not publish these prints in his lifetime but it may have been
the result of excessive ambition. He probably hoped to market a much longer
series of prints in a single mp I. M.
Veldman revealed the Rudolf II provenance for Goltzius’ Roman portfolio to be a
myth. A more logical provenance might be, as Veldman suggests, through Jacob
Matham (1571–1631), Theodor Matham (1605/06– 76), Joachim von Sandrart
(1606–88) and/or Pieter Spiering (1594/97–1652): Veldman 2013–14, 109–13. ‘An
antique statue in Rome, in the Pope’s Belvedere Palace; a work by H. Goltzius
that is now being published posthumously for the first time, in the year 1617’.
‘Barely born, I, Apollo of the island of Delos, received arms from Vulcan; I
sought the sacred heights of Parnassus; with my arrows I pierced the dragon
Python, my mother Leto’s enemy; thus it is that I bear the name “Pythian”’. I
wish to thank Professor Ilja Veldman, who generously put at my disposal her
Goltzius entries for the forthcoming catalogue of the 16th-century
Netherlandish drawings in the Teylers Museum, which she is preparing with
Yvonne Bleyerveld. For the early tradition of Northern European artists going
to Rome (includ- ing Gossaert, Van Scorel and Van Heemskerck), see Brussels and
Rome 1995. Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 388–89 (fol. 282 verso). Ibid., 390–91
(fol. 283 recto). Ibid. Luijten 2003–04, 123. Reznicek 1961, 1, 89–94, 319–46,
nos 200–38; 245–48. From the 1689–90 inventory of Goltzius drawings owned
by Queen Christina of Sweden it is known that Goltzius also produced (now lost)
drawings of two famous antique figures, the Spinario (now in the Capitoline
Museums, Rome, see 23, 15) and the Farnese Bull (now in the Museo Archeologico
Nazionale, Naples); see Stolzenburg 2000, 437, 140–41, 440, no. 180 and Veldman
2013–14, 101. Veldman 2012, 11–23. Reznicek 1961, 90; Brandt 2001, 136. Haskell
and Penny 1981, 18; Brandt 2001, 136. Brandt 2001, 143–46. Fuhring 1992, 57–84.
111 17 Ibid., 64–65, 76, pl. 1. 18 It is tempting at this point to think
of the ‘Haarlem Academy’, of which Goltzius was a member before his departure
for Italy as a true academy, where artists could draw from life and presumably
also after sculptures. However, in all probability this ‘academy’ comprised no
more than three artists: Karel van Mander, Cornelis Cornelisz. and Goltzius.
See also cat. 8. 19 Leesberg 2012b, 2, 368–75, nos 378–80; Luijten 2003–04, 119–20.
20 For the provenance of the drawings see Stolzenburg 2000 and Veldman 2013–14.
21 Van Regteren Altena 1964, 101–02, under no. 32. 22 ‘De Apollo, met
rootaarde, door Goltzius int koper gebragt, welke print hierbij gevoegt is, f
3:10.’ See the manuscript catalogue by Valerius Röver in the Amsterdam
University Library, inv.no. II A 18: Catalogus van boeken, schilderijen,
teekeningen, printen, beelden, rariteiten [1730], portefeuille 2, no. 3. 23 In
view of the incomplete right hand and the missing left hand it seems likely
that the sheet has been trimmed on the right and left, and possibly at the top
as well. 24 Baglione 1642, 377. 25 26 All we really know is that Celio must
have drawn a copy of Raphael’s fresco, The prophet Isaiah in the San Agostino
in Rome for Goltzius (see Luijten 2003, 118). Goltzius used this copy for his
engraving; see Leesberg 2012b, 2, 292–93, no. 333, repr. For a recently
published drawing by Celio in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, with a parade
carriage of his own design incorporating pyrotechnic features, see Stemerding
2012, 13–17. For the history and the fortuna critica of the Apollo Belvedere:
Haskell and Penny 1981, 148–51, no. 8; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 76–77, no.
28. Regarding the sculpture’s reputation today, which some describe as
bordering on total neglect, Kenneth Clark observed in 1969: ‘. . . for four
hundred years after it was discovered the Apollo was the most admired piece of
sculpture in the world. It was Napoleon’s greatest boast to have looted it from
the Vatican. Now it is completely forgotten except by the guides of coach parties,
who have become the only surviving transmitters of traditional culture.’ Clark
1969a, 2. 7. Hendrick Goltzius (Bracht-am-Niederrhein 1558–1617 Haarlem) a. The
Farnese Hercules Seen from Behind 1591 Red chalk, indented for transfer, 390 ×
215 mm. Verso: Design lightly traced in black chalk from recto. The upper
corners cut. literature: Scholten 1904, 40, cat. N 19; Hirschmann 1921, 59;
Reznicek 1961, 1, 337, cat. K 227, 2, 179; Miedema 1969, 76–77, repr. (recto
and verso); Schapelhouman 1979, 67, note 3; Amsterdam 1993–94, 361–62, under
no. 24 (B. Cornelis); Stolzenburg 2000, 439, no. 164; Brandt 2001, 139, 144, 132,
148; Hamburg 2002, 116, under no. 34 (A. Stolzenburg) ; Leeflang 2012, 24–25, 5;
Leesberg 2012b, 2, 368–69, under no. 378; Göttingen 2013–14, 210; Veldman
2013–14, 102–05. exhibitions: New York 1988, 58–60, no. 12; Brussels and Rome
1995, 204, no. 101; Luijten 2003–04, 132–36, no. 42.2. Teylers Museum, Haarlem,
inv. N 19 exhibited in haarlem only b. The Farnese Hercules, 1592 (published
1617) Engraving Only state 416 × 300 mm Lettered on the base of the statue:
‘HERCULES VICTOR’. Lettered in l.l. corner: ‘HGoltzius sculpt. Cum privilig. /
Sa. Cæ. M.’ and ‘Herman Adolfz / excud. Haerlemen’. Inscribed with two lines in
the lower margin, at centre: ‘Statua antiqua Romae in palatio Cardinalis
Fernesij / opus posthumum H Goltzij iam primum divulgata Ano M.D.CXVII.2 Two
Latin distichs by Theodorus Schrevelius in margin l.l. and l.r.: ‘Domito
triformi rege Lusitaniae / Raptisque malis, quae Hesperi sub cardine / Servarat
hortis aureis vigil draco, / Fessus quievi terror orbis Hercules.’3 Numbered in
l.l. corner: ‘1’. provenance: Bequest of Carel Godfried Voorhelm Schneevoogt
(1802–77), Haarlem. literature: Bartsch 1803–21, 3, 44–45, no. 143; Hirschmann
1921, 58–59, no. 145; Hollstein 1949–2001, 8, 33, no. 145, repr.; Strauss 1977,
2, 562–63, no. 312, repr., 569; Leesberg 2012b, 2, 368–69, no. 378, repr. 112
113 1 Odescalchi (1658–1713); purchased from the Odescalchi family by the
Teylers Foundation, 1790. provenance: Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–89);
Cardinal Decio Azzolini (1623–89); Marchese Pompeo Azzolini (1654–1706); Don Livio
exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. KG 02263
The Farnese Hercules, which bears a Greek inscription naming ‘Glykon of
Athens’, a sculptor unknown in classical litera- ture, was one of the most
famous statues in Rome from the time of its discovery until the end of the 19th
century (fig. 1).4 The first certain mention of it dates from 1556, when it
stood in Palazzo Farnese.5 The fragments, unearthed at different times, must
have been reassembled shortly before. The head was found in a well in
Trastevere, probably around 1540. The torso was discovered six years later in
the Baths of Caracalla, followed by the legs.6 However, the legs emerged too
late to be incorporated in the statue because it had already been ‘restored’ and
given new ones by Guglielmo della Porta (1500/10–1577). Oddly enough,
Michelangelo allegedly appealed to the Farnese family to leave the new legs in
place and not replace them with the originals, ‘in order to show that works of
modern sculpture can stand in compari- son with those of the ancients’.7 The
statue recovered its original legs only in the 18th century. In addition to the
Palazzo Farnese, Goltzius drew studies on the Capitol, the Quirinal and in the
Belvedere statue court (see cats 6, 8). He had an ambitious plan for his
drawings: they were to prepare a series of high-quality and accurate engravings
of the most important classical statues, on a scale not previ- ously
attempted.8 The importance he attached to the project is evident from the care
he lavished on many of his drawings. In preparation for this one, which is in
red chalk, he first made an equally large, slightly freer and more loosely
drawn black chalk version on blue paper (fig. 2; see cat. 6a). He then indented
the contours through onto the white sheet on which he made the present drawing.
The contours are conse- quently razor-sharp. He then exercised phenomenal skill
in depicting the statue’s volume and the smooth texture of the marble with a
subtle interplay of light and shade. He achieved this by leaving reserves of
white paper, by alternating pressure on the chalk and by stumping it here and
there so that individual strokes are no longer visible.9 114
115 1. The Farnese Hercules, back view, Roman copy of the
3rd century ad of a Greek original of the 4th century bc, 317 cm (h), Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, inv. 6001 2. Hendrick Goltzius, The Farnese
Hercules seen from Behind, 1591, black and white chalk on blue paper indented
for transfer, 360 × 210 mm, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. K III 30 3. Hendrick
Goltzius, The Farnese Hercules, black and white chalk on blue paper, indented
for transfer, 382 × 189 mm, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. N 20 4. Hendrick
Goltzius, Two Male Heads: Jan Matthijsz Ban and Philips van Winghen (?),
metalpoint on an ivory-coloured prepared tablet, 92 × 117 mm, Amsterdam Museum,
inv. A 10180 demonstrate that he had seen the sculpture in the round, making
this clear by depicting the figure’s ‘alien’ back as well as its usual front.
His choice was probably inspired by a combination of these factors. The
Amsterdam Museum houses Goltzius’ preparatory drawing (fig. 4) of the two men
whose admiring, upturned gazes provide such a fine connection between the front
and back of the Farnese Hercules.16 In the engraving they are repre- sented in
mirror image and have been exchanged for each other. They have portrait-like
features and their identities have been a subject for speculation. The most
serious suggestion made so far, dating from the end of the 19th century, is
that they were Goltzius’ temporary travelling companions: Jan Matthijsz Ban on
the left and Philips van Winghen (d. 1592) on the right; they may even have
witnessed him drawing this statue.17 It is difficult to verify this sugges-
tion, but it is certainly interesting and plausible. Goltzius had produced,
albeit on a larger scale, several portraits of his circle of acquaintances in
Rome and elsewhere such as Giambologna (1529–1608), Dirck de Vries ( fl.
1590–92) and Jan van der Straet, also called Stradanus (1523–1605; see cat.
4).18 Most of his sitters, like Ban and Van Winghen, were northern artists
active in Italy. Ban was a silversmith, and Van Winghen is described by Karel
van Mander as ‘a learned young nobleman from Brussels [ . . . ] who was a great
archaeologist’.19 According to Van Mander the three of them made an excursion
from Rome to Naples in the spring of 1591.20 Van Winghen died unexpectedly in
1592,21 and it was maybe as a tribute to his friend that Goltzius included him
in the plate that he cut that same year. mp
See footnote 1 in cat. 6. ‘An antique statue in Rome, in the palace of
Cardinal Farnese; a work by H. Goltzius that is now being published
posthumously for the first time, in the year 1617’. ‘Now that I have vanquished
the King of Spain with his three bodies [Geryon] and have stolen the apples
that were guarded by a vigilant dragon under the western heaven in the golden
garden, I, Hercules, the terror of the world, rest from my labours’. I wish to
thank Professor Ilja Veldman, who generously put at my disposal her Goltzius
entries for the forthcoming catalogue of the sixteenth- century Netherlandish
drawings in the Teylers Museum, which she is preparing with Yvonne Bleyerveld. U.
Aldrovandi, ‘Delle statue antiche, che per tutta Roma ... si veggono’, in Mauro
1556, 157–58. The Hercules, today in the Museo Archeologico
Nazionale in Naples, is regarded as an enlarged copy of the 3rd century ad
after an original by Lysippos or someone from his school of the 4th century bc.
For its history and fortuna critica see Haskell and Penny 1981, 229–32, no. 46;
Gasparri 2009–10, 3, 17–20, no. 1. Haskell and Penny 1981, 229. Baglione 1642
(facsimile edition, Rome 1935), 151: ‘. . . per mostrare con quel rifarcimento
si degno al mondo, che le opere della scultura moderna potevano stare al
paragone de’lavori antichi’. Reznicek 1961, 2, 89–94;
Brandt 2001, passim; Luijten 2003–04, 117–25. For both drawings see Luijten
2003–04, 132–36. Göttingen 2013–14, 210–11. For the prints by Bos and Ghisi see
Göttingen 2013–14, 205–07, no. II. 18 (Ghisi) and 285–86, no. IV.09 (Bos).
Brandt 2001, 143–46. It has been suggested that Goltzius was prompted to make
his unorthodox choice by a description in Pliny of a painting by Apelles of
Hercules with Face Averted, whose features could nevertheless be guessed.
Goltzius may have known the related engraving by G. J. Caraglio after Rosso
Fiorentino: see Luijten 2003–04, 134 (with previous literature). For the dating
of the three prints see Reznicek 1961, 419; Boston and St. Louis 1981–82, 12,
under no. 6. See the painting Rest by Nicolaes Berchem the Elder (1620–83)
dated 1644 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the painting The
Return from the Hunt, also by Berchem, from c. 1670 in The J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles, both of which include a male figure whose attitude is
clearly based on that of the Farnese Hercules (Amsterdam and Washington D.C.
1981–82, 67, 2; Haarlem, Zurich and elsewhere 2006–07, 85, cat. 45, repr.). A
drawing by Berchem, Standing Herdsman from the Back in the Rijksmuseum,
prepares the figure of the standing herdsman in the New York painting (see
Amsterdam and Washington D.C., 1981–82, 67, 1). Schapelhouman 1979, 67 (with
earlier literature); Luijten 2003–04, 135–36. Hymans 1884–85, 187, note 1.
Schapelhouman (1979, 67) does not believe this, while Luijten (2003–04, 135–36)
considers it plausible. It is curious that Goltzius altered the preparatory
drawing of the two men’s heads in the engraving (fig. 3): in addition to
representing them in mirror image and swopping them over, he depicted them in
the same scale as well. Ban (if it is indeed Ban) is now somewhat taller than
Van Winghen, which would reflect reality for Van Mander reports that Ban was a
sizeable man (Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 392–93, fol. 283v). Schapelhouman 2003–04,
147–58. Van Mander 1994–99, 1, 392–93 (fol. 283v). Ibid. Between 1592 and 1597
Jacob Matham engraved a portrait of Philips van Winghen after another (unknown)
drawing by Goltzius; see Widerkehr and Leeflang 2007, 2, 256, no. 263. However
beautiful the two drawings in black and red chalk may be, it is only in
Goltzius’ engraving that we really see what he intended. The backlit effect of
the Farnese Hercules is seen to best advantage in the print, in which the added
clouds have a functional role by creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. It
is enhanced by the two observers, also only introduced in the print stage, who
help to convey the statue’s scale. As we view Hercules from behind, the two
admirers are gazing upon the sunlit front. The resulting interaction between
front and back, between seeing and imagining, gives the print an agreeable
tension that is missing in the drawings.10 Goltzius was probably familiar with
the Farnese Hercules even before he went to Italy from descriptions in travel
guides to Rome, through prints of 1562 and around 1575 by Jacobus Bos (c.
1520–c. 1580) and Giorgio Ghisi (1520–82)11 and possibly also from the larger
print series by Giovanni Battista de’ Cavalieri (1570–84) and Antoine Lafréry
(c. 1575).12 All showed the Hercules from the front, but Goltzius drew it from
both sides (fig. 3). He seems to have been the first artist to appreciate its
beauty from the back, or, at least, the first to record it on paper. He must
have been very pleased with the 116 unorthodox view13 because he chose this
viewpoint in 1592 when he issued the engraving, one of the only three that he
engraved from his series of drawings (see also cat. 6b).14 It was thanks to
Goltzius’ engraving that the back view of the statue became as popular as the
front (see cats 16 and 21). Something of this popularity is revealed by the
fact that by the mid-17th century the Hercules Farnese seen from the rear,
bending slightly forwards with his arm on his back, had permeated Dutch genre
painting.15 The question arises: why did Goltzius choose to adopt this angle?
Could it be that he had a didactic purpose in mind when he produced the first
rendering in a print series of the back of a muscular male body at rest? With
Goltzius’ magnificent print in hand, young artists could now study the anatomy
of a ‘hero’s’ back and use this in their own work. Goltzius’ print of the
Apollo Belvedere (cat. 6b) offered a similar aid with the anatomy of an elegant
youth. Goltzius also drew other figures, such as the Belvedere Torso (cat. 8),
from several angles, but in these he was probably experi- menting with
different points of view rather than having a didactic aim in mind. Goltzius
might also have chosen to represent both sides of the Farnese Hercules
expressly to 117 8. Hendrick Goltzius (Bracht-am-Niederrhein 1558–1617
Haarlem) The Belvedere Torso 1591 Red chalk, 255 × 166 mm provenance: Queen
Christina of Sweden (1626–89)1; Cardinal Decio Azzolini (1623–89); Marchese
Pompeo Azzolini (1654–1706); Don Livio Odescalchi (1658–1713); purchased from
the Odescalchi family by the Teylers Foundation, 1790. literature: Scholten
1904, 42, no. N 31; Reznicek, 1961, 2, 321–22, no. 201, 2, 156; Miedema 1969, 76–77;
Brummer 1970, 146, note 27, 148, repr.; Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 109;
Stolzenburg 2000, 437, no. 143; Brandt 2001, 148; Goddard 2001–02, 39
(erroneously as a drawing in black chalk); Florence 2008, 62, under no. 33 (M.
Schapelhouman); Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 183, under no. 132; Nichols 2013a, 56,
146, under no. A-37, 31. exhibitions: Recklinghausen 1964, no. 87
[unpaginated]; Munich and Rome 1998–99, 44, 43, 160, no. 49; Luijten 2003–04, 130–31,
no. 41.1. Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. no. N 31 From the High
Renaissance onwards the Belvedere Torso was one of the most celebrated of
ancient statues, despite its fragmentary state.2 In the past it was identified
as the torso of Hercules because of the anatomy and the lion’s skin on which it
is seated. However, in the late 19th century doubts were raised as to whether
the skin really was that of a lion, making the Hercules identification uncertain.3
Although the Torso is comprehensively signed ‘Apollonius, son of Nestor, of
Athens’, his name is not found in classical literature. It is assumed that he
lived in the 1st century bc and that the Torso is a repetition or paraphrase of
an earlier model. Although the statue was known from the 1430s, it was only
when it was in the collection of the sculptor Andrea Bregno in the later 15th
century that it began to arouse interest; in the early 16th century the
sculpture entered the papal collections and was placed in the Belvedere (see 26,
23). Direct correspondences with many of Michelangelo’s painted and drawn nude
figures demonstrate the importance of the Belvedere Torso for the great Italian
artist and shortly after Michelangelo’s death a number of stories emerged
connecting him with the Torso.4 According to such one tale, he had been
surprised by a cardinal kneeling before the statue (though only in order to
examine it as closely as possible).5 In 1590 Giovanni Paggi wrote from Florence
to his brother Girolamo: ‘Michelangelo called himself a pupil of the Belvedere
Torso, which he said he had studied greatly, and indeed that he speaks the
truth of this is to be seen in his works.’6 Describing the statue as ‘the
school of Michelangelo’ took this association a step further.7 And yet the
Renaissance artist appears to have spoken only once about the Torso, albeit in
highly positive language: Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522– 1605) noted, in 1556 when
the artist was still alive, that the Torso was ‘singularmente lodato da
Michel’Angelo’.8 Not surprisingly the statue acquired great status both north
and south of the Alps. This status probably preserved it from the restoration
suffered by many antique sculptures in later centuries. Goltzius also seems to
have felt the mysterious beauty of the Torso, for he drew it no less than four
times. All four drawings were together in the collection of Queen Christina of
Sweden (1626–89).9 But while two are now in the Teylers Museum (fig. 1) the
other two have been lost. Goltzius undoubtedly knew the Torso even before he
arrived in Italy, for reduced copies after the sculpture circulated throughout
Europe in the 16th century; thus Goltzius’ friend and fellow Haarlem artist,
Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562–1638), had used the Torso as the model
for a nude figure in a painting 1. Hendrick Goltzius, The Belvedere Torso, c.
1591, black chalk, 253 × 175 mm, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. no. K I 30
118 119 of the late 1580s.10 It is reasonable to suppose that the Torso
would have been discussed at meetings of the ‘Haarlem Academy’,11 which Karel
van Mander, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem and Goltzius had set up in the
mid-1580s. One of the purposes of their ‘academy’ was to allow them to ‘study
from life’ (om nae ‘t leven te studeeren), which meant they drew from nude
models and probably from sculpture, plaster casts or other three-dimensional
specimens as well.12 We may assume that during these drawing sessions they
discussed human anatomy and the exemplary way classical artists had depicted
it. All three were able to quote directly from the antique with the aid of
Maarten van Heemskerck’s Roman sketchbook (now Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin),
which was then owned by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem13 and which contained
two views of the Torso.14 It is noteworthy that Goltzius, who was generally
meticulously faithful in his depiction of classical sculptures, was not always
so precise in his treatment of the inscrip- tions on their pedestals.15 In his
red chalk drawing of the Belvedere Torso from the front he has omitted the
signature, which would have been clearly visible on the base. Even more curious
is the fact that he completely ignored the wear suffered by the statue, the
result of decades spent outdoors. Instead his drawings give the sculpture a
freshness that makes it seem alive. This emphasis on the statue’s lifelikeness
and beauty can probably be explained by Goltzius’ intention that these drawings
should serve as preparations for prints with an educational purpose: the study
of anatomy based on ideal models. The muscles of Goltzius’ Torso appear to be
tensed, the skin lifelike and infused with warmth. The muscles’ extreme
exaggeration and restless tension clearly display a Mannerist emphasis.16 Once
in Rome, surrounded by the clear, classic, ideal vocabulary of ancient
statuary, Goltzius would reject Mannerist exaggeration so the fact that he did
not decide to do so here may indicate that these two studies after the Torso
were among the first drawings he produced after his arrival in Rome. It is
interesting to note that Goltzius clearly used the Belvedere Torso in his fine
Back of an Athletic Man, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (fig. 2).17 This
drawing is one of his Federkunststücke, or virtuoso drawings in pen, whose
linear execution often imitates engravings, with lines that swell and taper.
Curiously, the backbone in this drawing curves slightly to the left, while that
of the sculpture curves to the right. Is this a conscious change by Goltzius or
did he recall the statue in mirror image? The suggestion has sometimes been
made that Goltzius produced this great drawing in Italy to display his
virtuosity with the pen;18 however, we know that Goltzius travelled incognito
to avoid admirers (see cat. 6), 120 9. Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577–1640
Antwerp) Two Studies of a Boy Model Posed as the ‘Spinario’ c. 1600–02 Red
chalk with touches of white chalk, 201 × 362 mm Inscribed recto, l.r., in pen
and brown ink by a late 17th- or early 18th-century hand: ‘Rubens’ provenance:
Gabriel Huquier (1695–1772); William Fawkener; his bequest to Museum, 1769.
literature: Hind and Popham 1915–32, 2, 22, no. 52; Burchard and D’Hulst 1963, 1,
34–35, no. 16 and 2, pl. 16; Stechow 1968, 53–55, 43; Held 1986, 82, no. 39,
pl. 23 on 172; New York 1988, 77, under no. 18, 18-I; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1,
80; Paris 2000–01, 419, under no. 222, 222a. exhibitions: London 1977, 28–29,
no. 14 (J. Rowlands); London 2009–10 (no catalogue). Department of Prints and
Drawings, The British Museum, London, inv. T,14.1 2. Hendrick Goltzius,
Back of an Athletic Man, pen and brown ink, 150 × 165 mm, Uizi, Florence, inv.
no. 2365 F so he is unlikely to have felt a need to demonstrate his virtuoso
skills. Perhaps Goltzius created this virtuoso draw- ing after his Italian trip,
or even before he went to Italy as he was already producing pen work of this
quality in the 1580s.19 The son of a wealthy Antwerp family, Rubens was born in
the German city of Siegen in 1577 but in 1589 returned with his family to
Antwerp where he received a humanistic education at the Latin School run by
Rumoldus Verdonck (1541–1620) and an artistic one with the painters Tobias
Verhaeght (1561–1631), Adam van Noort (1561–1641) and Otto van Veen (c.
1556–1629). After entering the Guild of St Luke as an established painter in
1598, Rubens set out for Italy in May 1600. This fundamental step in Rubens’
training had been carefully prepared not only by the study of engravings of
classical statues and Renaissance masters by Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1480–1527/34)
and his pupils assembled by van Veen in his workshop, but also by eager reading
of Roman texts such as Suetonius, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder.1 The impact of
classical antiquity on Rubens’ art and theory of art was immense. Before
arriving in Rome in 1601, Rubens spent time in Venice, then Mantua, in the
service of the Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga (r. 1587–1612) as a painter and a
curator of his collections, and also in Florence. Although based in Mantua,
Rubens spent two extended periods in Rome, first from July 1601 until April
1602 and again from late 1605 (or early 1606) until October 1608.2 During this
second period he shared a house with his scholarly elder brother Philip
(1574–1611), a pupil of the Flemish philologist and humanist Justus Lipsius (1547–1606).
In Rome Philip Rubens worked on the Electorum Libri duo published in Antwerp in
1608, an influential study of the customs, morals and dress of the ancients.
Peter Paul assisted Philip in making drawings from ancient monuments in
prepara- tion for the plates, and he also contributed to their explanatory
notes. Rubens’ commitment to the systematic study of classical antiquities, and
in particular of sculpture in the round, is testified to by the large number of
sketches and drawings he made during his Italian period, but also by those he
executed after his return to Antwerp in 1608.3 In Rome Rubens visited the
Belvedere Courtyard and some of the most important private aristocratic
collections, such as the Borghese, the Medici, the Farnese, the Mattei and the
Giustiniani. His drawings after the Antique are among the most extraordi- nary
ever produced, most of them in red or black chalk; they show Rubens’ great
virtuosity in handling the medium and, at the same time, his deep understanding
of the formal principles of the antique statues. He obsessively sketched some
of the most ‘muscular’ masterpieces of classical statuary, such as the Laocoön
(see 26, 19) and the Farnese Hercules (see 30, 32), from all sides, many angles
and in great detail, in order to assimilate thoroughly the anatomical structure
and the mathematical proportions of the human body as part of his search for
the rules of perfection achieved by ancient artists.4 Returning to Antwerp in
1608, Rubens established his own studio in an Italianate villa in the centre of
the city – today the Rubenshuis. His drawings after the Antique, bound in
several books, remained in his studio and continued to serve not only as an
important reference and source of inspiration for Rubens himself, but probably
also as teaching tools for his pupils. The purchase in 1618 by Rubens of the
collection of ancient sculptures owned by the English diplomat and collector
Sir Dudley Carleton (1573–1632) represented the first step towards the
formation of one of the most important – but short-lived – collections of
antiqui- ties in Northern Europe, which Rubens sold on to the 1st Duke of
Buckingham in 1626.5 The pre-eminent figure of the Flemish Baroque, a universal
genius, Rubens also had an active diplomatic career which in the 1620s led him
to travel between the courts of Spain and England. His last decade, the 1630s,
was mostly spent in Antwerp, where he devoted himself entirely to painting.
Rubens’ theory on both the usefulness and dangers of copying after the Antique
are effectively expressed in his essay De Imitatione Statuarum, a short
treatise on the imitation of sculpture that remained in manuscript in Rubens’
lifetime mp See footnote 1 in cat. 6. Haskell and Penny 1981, 311–14, no. 80, 165;
Munich and Rome 1998–99; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 181–84, no. 132. Wünsche
1998–99, 67. Michelangelo did indeed use the Torso directly as a model; see
Wünsche 1998–99, 31–37; Haarlem and London 2005–06, 116–17. Haskell and Penny
1981, 312. Guhl 1880, 2, 42; Schwinn 1973, 36–37. Wright 1730, 1, 268; Haskell
and Penny 1981, 312–13; Schwinn 1973, 172; Montreal 1992, 76–77. ‘... un
torso grande di Hercole ignudo, assiso sopra un tronco del medisimo marmo: non
ha testa, ne braccia, ne gambe. È stato questo busto singularmente lodato da
Michel’Angelo’. U. Aldrovandi, ‘Delle statue antiche, che per tutta Roma ... si
veggono’, in Mauro 1556, 115. For Aldrovandi’s complete text ‘nel giardino di
Belvedere, sopra il Palagio del Papa’, see Brummer 1970, 268–69. Stolzenburg 2000, 437, nos 142–44, 439, no. 161. Van Thiel 1999, 79,
294, no. 7, pl. 34. According to an anonymous biographer, shortly after
arriving in Haarlem, around 1583, Karel van Mander entered into a collaboration
with Goltzius and Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, described as follows: ‘the
three of them maintained and made an Academy, for studying from life’, see Van
Mander 1994–1999, 1, 26–27 (fol. S2 recto), 2, 70–72; Van Thiel 1999, 59–90. It
should be stressed that this academy was in no way an institution for advanced
professional training: such institutions came into being only in the 18th
century (see Van Mander 1994–99, 2, 70). It is unclear how and for what length
of time this ‘Haarlem Academy’ exactly functioned (see also Leeflang 2003–04a, 16;
Leeflang 2003–04b, 252. Veldman 2012, 11–23. Hülsen and Egger 1913–16, 1, 34
(fol. 63), 40 (fol. 73). See also Brummer 1970, 144–45, figs 125–26. Brandt
2001, 143. Reznicek 1961, 1, 321–22, no. K 201; Luijten 2003–04, 131. Reznicek
1961, vol 1, 452, no. 431, 2, 132; Florence 2008, 61–62, no. 33 (M.
Schapelhouman). Reznicek 1961, 1, 452. Schapelhouman (in Florence 2008, 62) has
previously questioned the Italian dating for Back of an Athletic Man; for pen
works by Goltzius from the 1580s see: Amsterdam, New York and elsewhere
2003–04, 238–39, figs 93–94, 242–46, nos 84–85. 121 but was published by
the art theorist Roger de Piles in his Cours de peinture par principles of 1708
(see Appendix, no. 8).6 While emphasising the importance for an artist of
becoming deeply familiar with the perfection embodied in ancient models, Rubens
warned that ‘[the imitation of antique statues] must be judiciously applied,
and so that it may not in the least smell of stone’.7 The warning against the
risk of hardening one’s style by copying ancient sculptures, thus creating
paintings that looked ‘dry’ and eccentric, had already been pointed out by
several 16th-century artists and theore- ticians, such as Giorgio Vasari
(1511–74), Ludovico Dolce (1508–68) and Giovanni Battista Armenini
(1530–1609).8 Later in the 17th century the pernicious effect on painting of
too-slavish imitation of antique statuary would be summa- rised by the
Bolognese art theorist Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616–93) with the specific
neologism ‘statuino’ or ‘statue- like’.9 As stressed by Rubens in the De
Imitatione, young artists needed to learn how to transform marble into flesh
instead of depicting figures as ‘coloured marble’. The two studies on one sheet
presented here perfectly express Rubens’ views: they are in fact an example of
a practice – setting live models in the poses of famous ancient statues –
already diffused from the Early Renaissance (see 23, 14) and common practice
within the curricula of the French and Italian academies.10 Through this
exercise Rubens could concentrate on the classical pose and disre- gard the
‘matter’, something that he repeated in modified form several times, in studies
of live models in poses remi- niscent of the Belvedere Torso, the Laocoön and
other canonical statues.11 In the present drawing, the young model is seen from
his left side in the pose of one of the most celebrated bronzes in Rome, the
Spinario (‘Thorn-puller’), recorded in the city as early as the 12th century
among the antiquities at the Lateran Palace and donated by Pope Sixtus IV (r.
1471– 84) to the Palazzo dei Conservatori in 1471 (fig. 1, see also 23, 15).12
Interpreted in the Renaissance as the personifi- cation of the month of March
or a shepherd, the Spinario has been recently recognised as the young Ascanius,
the son of Aeneas and founder of the gens Iulia.13 The right-hand drawing
faithfully imitates the pose of the statue, with the head looking down towards
the gesture of extracting a thorn from the foot; the left-hand drawing, in
contrast, modifies the original by turning the head towards the spectator and
altering the action so that the youth no longer withdraws a thorn from his
foot, but dries it with a towel. Two similar studies, presumably after the same
young model, are preserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon (fig. 2) and in
London (private collection): the former, in red chalk, shows the model from his
back and his right;14 the latter, in black chalk, from his left.15 The three
drawings were probably done in the same session and they have been dated to one
of Rubens’ two Roman periods, probably the first one (1600–02).16 As long ago
noted by Wolfgang Stechow,17 the pose of 122 123 1. (left)
Spinario (Thorn-Puller), 1st century bc, bronze, 73 cm (h), Capitoline Museums,
Sala dei Trionfi, Rome, inv. 1186 2. (above) Peter Paul Rubens, Two Studies of
a Young Model Posing as the Spinario, red chalk with touches of black chalk,
246 × 382 mm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, inv. sup. 49D the Spinario was
employed by Rubens for a young man drying his feet in the Baptism of Christ,
painted for the Jesuit church of Santa Trinità in Mantua in 1605 and now in the
Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, a preparatory drawing for which is in the
Louvre,18 as well as for Susanna in Susanna and the Elders, a painting executed
in Rome about 1606–08, 19 ed 1 For Rubens’ early years see Muller 2004, 13–15.
2 On Rubens in Rome and his approach to the Antique see esp. Stechow 1968;
Jaffé 1977, 79–84; Muller 1982; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 41–81; Muller 2004, 18–28.
3 On Rubens’ drawings after the Antique see the fundamental catalogue in Van
der Meulen 1994–95, 2. 4 See Ayomonino’s essay in this catalogue, 46–52. 5 See
Muller 1989, passim; Muller 2004, 35–56. On the collection of antiquities see
in particular Muller 1989, 82–87; Antwerp 2004, 260–63 (F. Healy). On the sale
to the 1st Duke of Buckingham see Muller 2004, 62–63. 6 On the De Imitatione
see Muller 1982; Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, esp. note 11, 77–78, note 44;
Antwerp 2004, 298–99; Jaffé and Bradley 2005–06; Jaffé 2010. Transcribed in
Appendix, no. 8, from De Piles 1743, 87–88. For Vasari see Bettarini Barocchi
1966–87, for instance 3, 549–50 and 5, 495–61. For Dolce see Appendix, no. 4.
See Armenini 1587, esp. 59–60 (book I, chap. 8), 86–89 (book II, chap. 3). The
concept was repeated later also by Bernini during his visit to Paris in 1665:
see Appendix, no. 9. See also Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 77–78. Malvasia 1678, 1,
359, 365, 484. On the 17th-century neologism ‘statuino’ see Pericolo,
forthcoming. See Aymonino’s essay in this volume, 50–52. Van der Meulen
1994–95, 1, 80–81. The statue is traditionally considered to be an eclectic
work of the 1st century bc: see Stuart Jones 1926, 43–47, no. 2; Haskell and
Penny 1981, 308–10, no. 78; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 254, no. 203. Recent
analysis has proved that the classicistic head, dating to the 5th century bc,
was added to the Hellenistic body and given a Roman subject presumably in the
1st century bc, see Rome forthcoming. Rome forthcoming. Held 1986, 82; Paris
2000–01, 417–18, no. 222. Held 1986, 82; Paris 2000–01, 418, 222b. Held 1986, 82.
Stechow 1968, 54–55. See also Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1,
80–81. Lugt 1949, 12–13, no. 1009, pl. XIV; Antwerp 1977, 129, no. 121. Coliva
1994, 170, no. 88. 10. Odoardo Fialetti (Bologna 1573–c. 1638 Venice) Artist’s
Studio c. 1608 Etching in Odoardo Fialetti, Il vero modo et ordine per
dissegnar tutte le parti et membra del corpo humano, Venice, Justus Sadeler,
1608 110 × 152 mm (plate); 194 × 238 mm (sheet) Inscribed l.l. with Fialetti’s
monogram and ‘A 2’ and ‘No 208’. provenance: Elmar Seibel, Boston, from whom
acquired. literature: Rosand 1970, 12–22, 10; Buffa 1983, 315–37, nos 198 (295)
– 243 (301), repr. (for the Artist’s Studio, 321, no. 210 (298), repr.);
Amornpichetkul 1984, 108–09, 83; Bolten 1985, 240–43, 245 and 248; Boston,
Cleveland and elsewhere 1989, 248–49, no. 130 (D. Becker); London 2001–02, 198–200,
no. 143; Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 94–96, no. 24 ( J. Clifford); Walters
2009, 1, 68–79, 2, 254–76, figs. 3.9–3.53; Walters 2014, 62–63, 59; Whistler
2015 (forthcoming). and now in the Borghese Gallery. 124 125 exhibitions: Not
previously exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, London, 2002–013 A prolific
artist whose large and diverse body of work comprises some fifty-five paintings
and about 450 prints, Fialetti was born in Bologna in 1573 but moved to Venice
where he was apprenticed to Jacopo Tintoretto (1519–94) and where he later
collaborated with Palma Giovane (c. 1548– 1628).1 By 1596 he was listed as a
printmaker and, from 1604 to 1612, a member of the Venetian painters’ guild,
the Arte dei Pittori; he joined the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro between 1620
and 1622.2 His wide-ranging graphic oeuvre comprises religious, mythological,
and literary subjects as well as landscapes, portraits, depictions of sport
(fencing and hunt- ing), ornamental motifs and anatomical studies, and appears
in different formats and genres, from single or series of prints to complete
illustrations for books.3 His etchings remained influential for decades after his
death not only in Venice and northern Italy, but even in France and England.4
Without doubt Fialetti’s most admired and influential works were his two
volumes of etchings: Il vero modo et ordine per dissegnar tutte le parte et
membra del corpo humano (‘The true means and method to draw all the parts of
the human body’) and Tutte le parti del corpo humano diviso in piu pezzi . . .
(‘all the parts of the human body divided into multiple pieces’). The first was
published in Venice in 1608 by Justus Sadeler (Flanders 1583–1620), and the
second, which is undated, presumably appeared in Venice shortly thereafter. The
two books are varied in their plates and paginations and exist in different
compilations, sometimes confusingly, combining elements of both as in the
example shown here.5 The first of their kind to be published in Italy, these
books served as portable instruction manuals in drawing for beginners and
amateurs. They provided techniques for the correct construction of the human
face and body and they also illustrate the crucial role of copying plaster
casts in work- shop practice at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th
centuries. The Bellinger volume includes a frontispiece dedication to Cesare
d’Este, the Duke of Modena and Reggio (1561–1628), a leaf with a further
dedication to Giovanni Grimani (the Venetian patrician and collector of
antiquities, 1506–93), six pages with step-by-step instructions on draw- ing
eyes, ears and faces, another title page, Tutte le parti . . . and thirty leaves
of further faces, various parts of the body – arms, legs, torsos – grotesque
heads and portraits.6 The volume concludes with two religious etchings by Palma
Giovane.7 Unusual for manuals of the period is the scene depicted on the first
plate following the dedications: a lively and infor- mal artists’ workshop,
sometimes thought to be Tintoretto’s.8 In the foreground, young students seated
on low wooden benches draw diligently before models and assorted plaster casts
of body parts arranged on and below a table, while two older artists are
painting at large easels in the background.9 At the far left, an apprentice
grinds pigments. Scattered on the ground are various artists’ tools including
compasses, an inkwell and feather quill pen. Boy draughtsmen representing three
different ages – roughly from six to sixteen – diligently record a cast of the
young Marcus Aurelius, similar in type to the marble of 161– 180 ad now in the
Capitoline Museum in Rome (fig. 1).10 Behind them, two slightly older boys
enthusiastically discuss a completed copy. The torso next to the bust, although
reminiscent of the Belvedere Torso, (p. 26, 23), appears to be based on a
different antique sculpture, which seems to be the subject of a drawing of
seven male torsos in various positions in a sketchbook by an unidentified
Northern artist working in Rome in the mid- to late 16th century (Trinity College
Library, Cambridge, 2).11 The torso seen in Fialetti’s etching is comparable to
the one with the upraised right arm placed at the lower centre of the Trinity
page;12 it was evidently a favourite of Fialetti’s as it reappears later in his
book. The cast of the armless female torso on the floor on the right in
the etching also derives from an antique prototype. She is probably based on a
now-lost version of Venus Tying her Sandal, a Hellenistic type well known in
the Renaissance and one that inspired many adaptations,13 such as that in an
anonymous Italian drawing in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fig.). The male
torso depicted in that drawing is also very similar to that in the etching.
Fialetti would have had ample opportunity to study Antique statuary first-hand
during a trip to Rome, made before he settled in Venice, though plaster casts
were an integral part of Venetian workshop practice from the 16th century
onwards.14 They were in wide use in Tintoretto’s studio where Fialetti trained.
According to his biographer, Carlo Ridolfi, Tintoretto collected plaster casts
of ancient and Renaissance marbles avidly and at great expense: ‘Nor did he cease
his continuous study of whatever hand or torso he had collected’.15 From the
chalk drawings he produced, ‘thus did he learn the forms requisite for his
art’.16 The casts remained in the Tintoretto family workshop when Domenico, his
son, took it over and are 1. Portrait of Marcus Aurelius as a Boy, 161–180 ad,
marble, 74 cm (h), Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Nuovo, Albani Collection, Rome,
MC 279 2. Anonymous artist working in Rome, Studies of Male Torsos, mid to late
16th c., pen and brown ink, 280 × 450 mm, folio 47v from the Cambridge
Sketchbook, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, R. 17.3 recorded in his will of
1630.17 The younger Tintoretto for a period considered bequeathing to painters
his house and studio with its contents – reliefs, drawings and models – so that
an academy could be established to train future generations of Venetian
artists, although nothing came of this scheme.18 Whether the Artist’s Studio
seen here is actually Tintoretto’s or simply a generalised venue, Fialetti
asserted the centrality of drawing, especially for young artists.19 This also
recorded his own experience: when as a boy, he asked what he should do in order
to make progress, he was advised by Tintoretto that he ‘must draw and again
draw’.20 By the early 17th century, repeated and systematic study from studio
drawings, plaster casts, sculpture, as well as anatomy and the live model was
deemed essential preparation for the accurate portrayal of the human figure.21
But in order to depict the body as a whole, students first had to master its
individual parts, a tenet of Central Italian working practice that was
perpetuated throughout the 16th century by artists and writers like Giovan
Battista Armenini (1525–1609) and Federico Zuccaro (c. 1541–1609), who
instructed pupils to draw parts of the body, an ‘alphabet of drawing’.22
Similar principles were espoused by the Carracci Academy in Bologna, of which
Fialetti was no doubt aware.23 While precedents for instructional drawing books
are found in 15th-century model and pattern books containing motifs that
artists could copy into their compositions (p. 20, figs 3–4),24 Fialetti’s were
the first aimed at students and amateurs as well as art lovers and
collectors.25 They also seem to be the first of their kind to be printed in Venice.26
Other publications modelled after them soon followed in the Veneto and
elsewhere in Italy, notably De excellentia et nobilitate delineationis libri
duo, published 126 127 by Giacomo Franco in 1611 based on
designs by Palma Giovane and prints by Battista Franco (c. 1510–1561) as well
as Gasparo Colombina’s Paduan publication of 1623.27 Like Fialetti’s compendia,
Giacomo Franco’s treatise featured several plates incorporating antique motifs:
busts of the Laocoön (p. 26, 19), the Emperors Vitellius (p. 40, 52) and Galba
were inserted among the etched portraits on plates 18 and 20 while plates 14
and 25 showed torsos of a female Venus Tying her Sandal type much like that
seen in Fialetti’s etching.28 In the decades that followed, the Antique would
assume a greater role in drawing manuals.29 Several published at the end of the
17th century, like Gérard Audran’s Les Proportions du corps humain mesurées sur
les plus belles figures de l’antiquité,1683 (p. 48, figs 72–73) and Jan de
Bisschop’s Icones, 1668/69 (see cat. 13) and into the 18th century, such as
Giovanni Volpato and Raffaello Morghen’s Principi del disegno, 1786 (p. 49, 76),
would focus on antiquities exclusively. The influence of Fialetti’s books was
far-reaching and persisted long after his death. Plates from them were copied
and adapted for publications appearing both in Italy and elsewhere:30 for
example Johannes Gellee copied the Artist’s Studio and other etchings in his
Tyrocinia artis pictoriae caelatoriae published in Amsterdam in 1639.31
Fialetti’s vol- umes also influenced a great many other books published in the
Netherlands, paving the way for Abraham Bloemaert’s Tekenboek of 1740 (cat. no.
11).32 Furthermore, Fialetti’s manuals catered to a new demo- graphic – the
connoisseur, gentleman scholar and mature artist – and would inspire similar
books printed in England.33 With the growing market for Venetian art in England
during the first decades of the 17th century and accelerated interest in
drawing, Fialetti’s work was esteemed not just by Venetians but by aristocratic
collectors visiting Venice like Sir Henry 3. Odoardo Fialetti, Two Male Torsos
Seen from Behind, c. 1608, etching, 103 × 142 mm, plate 30 from Il vero
modo...1608, Katrin Bellinger collection 4. Anonymous, Roman School, Studies
after Antique Statuary (Fragments), c. 1550, pen and brown ink and brown wash,
black chalk, heightened with white on blue-green paper, 294 × 212 mm,
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, inv. 2978. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Wotton (1568–1639) and Thomas Howard, the 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585–1646),
among others, who undoubtedly admired his facile draughtsmanship.34
Interestingly, Fialetti’s biographer, Malvasia, who praised his versatility,
mentioned that as well as giving drawing lessons to Venetians, he also
instructed Alethea Talbot, the Earl of Arundel’s wife, whose grandson owned one
of Fialetti’s books.35 Through connections like these, Fialetti attracted the
attention of English-based artists and architects including Edward Norgate (c.
1580–1650), Inigo Jones (1573–1652) and Anthony Van Dyck (1599–1641).36 Copied
and emulated, Fialetti’s plates would play a key role in the development of the
drawing book in England.37 Treatises by Norgate (1627–28, 1st ed.; 1648–49, 2nd
ed.), Isaac Fuller (1654), Alexander Brown (1660), and others helped to further
the principles set forth in Fialetti’s books, which were copied well into the
19th century.38 avl For a full appraisal
of his life and work on which this biographical account is based, see Walters
2009 and Walters 2014, 57–67. Walters 2009, 1, 6–7; Walters 2014, 58. Walters
2014, 57. Walters 2009, 1, vi. Beginning with Bartsch, there has been
considerable confusion over the size and content of the two editions. See
Walters 2009, 1, 68–70, particularly note 40 and Walters 2014, 66–67, note 23;
Greist 2014, 14–15. Alexandra Greist (ibid., 12–18) published a little-known
instruc- tional text by Fialetti dictating how he wished the manual to be used,
printed on the versi of nine prints bound together with early editions of both
books (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, C/RM0024.ASC/552*1, Shelfmark 325G6). Among the
plates not included in the present volume is the painter’s studio showing
artists measuring human proportions: Buffa 1983, 321, no. 211 (298). The Holy
Family and Christ Preaching. Boston, Cleveland and elsewhere 1989, 248; Nichols
2013b, 195, 236, note 134. The standing painter in profile is believed by some
scholars to be Tintoretto (Ilchman and Saywell 2007, 392; Nichols 2013b, 236,
note 134). Nichols points to the similarity with the painter as seen in
Francesco Pianta the Younger’s wood-carving, Tintoretto as ‘Painting’, in the
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice (Nichols 1999, 238, 212). His elongated
body, unlike the others in the etching, and his energetic pose and outstretched
right arm, recall Tintoretto’s studies of single figures. Alternatively,
Catherine Whistler (2015, forthcoming) has suggested that the studio may evoke
Palma Giovane ‘given that there is something of his panache in the figure of the
painter at work and in the costume of the seated artist’. She further noted
their similarities to his self-portrait in the Brera (Mason Rinaldi 1984, 92–93,
213, 117). Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 1, 67–68, no. 61, 2, pls 69, 70, 72.
CensusID: 46328. Michaelis 1892, 99, no. 60v; Dhanens 1963, 185, no. 52v, fig.
30; Fileri 1985, 39–40, no. 48, repr. Given in the 19th c. to a Flemish artist
working in Rome around 1583 (Michaelis 1892), more recently the sketchbook has
been associated with the sculptor, Giambologna (1529– 1608), and his Roman trip
of 1550 (Dhanens 1963 and Fileri 1985). As pointed out by Eloisa Dodero
(personal communication). Künzl 1970; Bober and Rubinstein. 2010, 69,
no. 20; CensusID: 58121. Walters 2014, 57. Ridolfi 1984, 16. Ridolfi 1914, 2, 14;
Whitaker 1997. Ridolfi 1914, 2, 14; Ridolfi Tozzi 1933, 316. Ridolfi 1914, 2, 262–63.
Rosand 1970; Walters 2009, 1, 73. Because ‘drawing was
what gave to painting its grace and perfection’, Ridolfi added (Ridolfi 1914, 2,
65; Ridolfi 1984, 16). Muller 1984; Bolten 1985; Walters 2009, 1, 73. Armenini
1587, 52–59 (book 1, chap. 7); Alberti 1604, 5 (quoting Federico Zuccaro);
Amornpichetkul 1984; Bleeke-Byrne 1984; Roman 1984, 91; Greist 2014, 15.
Gombrich 1960, 161–62; Rosand 1970, 7, 14–15; Bolten 1985, 245; Boston,
Cleveland and elsewhere 1989, 248 (D. Becker); Houston and Ithaca 2005–06, 95
(J. Clifford); Walters 2009, 1, 74; Walters 2014, 62, 66, note 6. On the
Carracci’s influence on model books, see Amornpichetkul 1984, 113–16. For model
books, see Gombrich 1960, 156–72; Rosand 1970, 5; Ames- Lewis 2000a, 63–69;
Nottingham and London 1983, 94–101; Amornpichetkul 1984, 109. D. Becker, in
Boston, Cleveland and elsewhere 1989, 248; J. Clifford, in Houston and Ithaca
2005–06, 95. Catherine Whistler has argued persua- sively that the book was
aimed at a growing market of virtuosi, art lovers and collectors, who placed a
social value on the knowledge of drawings (Whistler 2015, forthcoming). Walters
2009, 1, 69; Walters 2014, 62. For the growing interest in publishing prints at
this time in Venice, see Van der Sman 2000, 235–47. Rosand 1970, 17–19;
Amornpichetkul 1984, 110–12; Walters 2009, 1,p.74. Rosand 1970, 15, 27.
Amornpichetkul 1984, 115. Ibid., 112; D. Becker in Boston, Cleveland and
elsewhere 1989, 248 (D. Becker); Walters 2009, 1, 75–79. Bolten 1985, 132–39.
Ibid., 119, 131, 133–34, 141, 143, 153, 157, 188–207, 243–56; Walters 2009, 1, 79.
Whistler 2015 (forthcoming). For a fundamental discussion of Fialetti and his
impact in England, see Walters 2009, 1, Chapter 5, 152–197. See also Walters
2014, 64–65. Malvasia 1678, 2, 312; Greist 2014, 12. Walters 2009, 1, 152;
Walters 2014, 64–65 Amornpichetkul 1984, 112; Walters 2009, 1, 78, 152. Walters
2009, 1, 78, 180–97; Greist 2014, 14. 128 129 11. Frederick
Bloemaert (Utrecht c. 1616–90 Utrecht) after Abraham Bloemaert (Gorinchem
1566–1651 Utrecht) A Student Draughtsman, Drawing Plaster Casts 1740 Engraving
and chiaroscuro woodcut with two-tone blocks (brown and sepia), titlepage from
Het Tekenboek (‘The Drawing Book’), Amsterdam, Reinier and Josua Ottens, 1740
303 × 222 mm (image); 378 × 286 mm (sheet) provenance: Elmar Seibel, Boston, from
whom acquired. literature: Strauss 1973, 348, no. 1 64, repr.;
Lehmann-Haupt 1977, 155–57, 125; Amsterdam and Washington D.C. 1981–82, 16–17;
Bolten 1985, 49, repr., 57–67; Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 395, 2, T1a;
Bolten 2007, 1, 362, 366, under no. 1150. exhibitions: Not previously
exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 1995-071 Abraham Bloemaert, a
prolific artist by whose hand over two hundred paintings and sixteen hundred
drawings are known, was born in Gorinchem in 1566.1 From the age of 15 or 16,
he spent three years in Paris from 1581–83, studying for six weeks with the
otherwise unknown Jehan Bassot and then for two and a half years with the
similarly obscure ‘Maistre Herry’. His third teacher in Paris was his fellow
countryman Hieronymus Francken I (1540–1610).2 In 1611, along with Paulus
Moreelse and several colleagues, Bloemaert founded the new painters’ guild in
Utrecht, the Guild of St Luke, and became its deacon in 1618.3 Shortly after
the guild’s foundation, around 1612, some form of drawing academy must have
been established in Utrecht, again with Bloemaert’s involvement. We learn about
this from a letter to the Utrecht antiquarian Arnout van Buchell and in Van ’t Light der Teken en Schilder
konst (‘About the Light of the Art of Drawing and Painting’) of 1643–44, by
Crispijn de Passe the Younger (c. 1597– c. 1670).4 In the introduction to his
book De Passe recalls how he learned his art together with the son of Paulus
Moreelse ‘in a famous drawing school which was, at that time organized by the
most eminent masters’.5 The well-known print Modeltekenen (‘Model Drawing’)
from De Passe’s book is thought to repre- sent this school (fig. 1) and it has
even been suggested that one of the two tutors looking over the students’ work
is Abraham Bloemaert himself.6 We do not know how long this ‘Academy’ existed.
Bloemaert had a large studio of his own with many pupils, including his four
sons and many well-known Dutch artists, such as the Italianate painters
Cornelis van Poelenburgh (1594/95–1667), Jan Both (c. 1618–52) and Jan Baptist
Weenix (1621–60/61), as well as the Caravaggists Gerrit van Honthorst
(1590–1656) and Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588–1629).7 A development can be traced
in Bloemaert’s work from a robust Mannerism, influenced by artists such as
Joachim van Wtewael (c. 1566–1638), towards a more classicist style which he
presumably derived from Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) and his Haarlem
colleagues. Caravaggism made a brief appearance in Bloemaert’s work during the
early 1620s, when his first pupils returned from Italy – which, inciden- tally,
he never visited himself. At the end of Bloemaert’s life his style grew
smoother and more even. In teaching, Bloemaert undoubtedly used his own
drawings as examples for his many pupils to copy.8 He found this approach so
productive – and perhaps commercially attractive – that towards the end of his
life he joined forces with his son Frederick (c. 1616–90) in the publication of
the Tekenboek or ‘Drawing Book’, a compilation of specimen drawings.9 The
prints in the Tekenboek, which were cut by Frederick after drawings by his
father, were published in instalments from c. 1650.10 Abraham’s reversed
preparatory drawings, which he probably began around 1645 and some of which
reproduce earlier work, are preserved en groupe in the Fitzwilliam Museum in
Cambridge,11 including that for 1. Crispijn de Passe, Model Drawing, from: Van
’t Light der Teken en Schilder konst (‘About the Light of the Art of Drawing
and Painting’), 1643, engraving, 330 × 390 mm, Rijksmuseum Research Library,
Amsterdam, inv. no. 330B13 130 131 2. Abraham Bloemaert, A Student
Draughtsman, Drawing Plaster Casts, pen and brown ink, 397 × 301, Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge, Inv. PD 166–1963.5. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge the
title page displayed here (fig. 2). The title page of Bloemaert’s Tekenboek,
catalogued here in the most popular 18th-century edition (1740), shows an
artist seated on the floor of an imaginary studio, drawing 13 artist has again
created the suggestion of antique pieces. Images of artists drawing in a studio
combined with assem- blages of plaster casts are highly appropriate subjects
for drawing books. In earlier Italian and Netherlandish examples we encounter
similar images, such as Modeltekenen (‘Model Drawing’) by De Passe from 1643 (fig.
1), by Petrus Feddes (1586–c. 1634) from around 1615, and especially by Odoardo
Fialetti (1573–c. 1638), in his highly influential Il vero modo et ordine per
dissegnar tutte le parte et membra del corpo humano (‘The true means and method
to draw all the parts of the human body’) and Tutte le parti del corpo humano
diviso in piu pezzi . . . (‘all the parts of the human body divided into
multiple pieces’) of c. 1608 (also featured here as cat. 10).18 For
apprentices the copying of two-dimensional works, such as prints and drawings –
and also paintings – was followed by drawing from plaster casts, a crucial
activity in the work- shop practice. Ideal examples were employed to prepare
the student for drawing from life, from the real world and especially from clothed
and nude models.14 Such plaster casts invariably included copies of well-known
classical statues, plus copies of more modern works and casts of limbs and body
parts taken from live models, such as those seen here hanging on the wall
behind the draughtsman. In this image the casts do not include any firmly
identifiable antique statues, although a number are clearly intended to suggest
them, such as the female head at lower right with the short, rounded hairstyle
and the male torso beside it, which resembles the Belvedere Torso (p. 26, 23);
the pose of the reclining man is reminiscent of an antique River God. In this
image Bloemaert made clear his allegiance to classical tradition, and the
importance of antique works as the Bloemaert’s Tekenboek, which only contains
specimens 3. Frederick Bloemaert after Abraham Bloemaert, A Draughtsman Sitting
at a Table, Drawing after Plaster Casts, engraving, 280 × 165 mm, Katrin
Bellinger collection, London from the plaster figure of an elderly, reclining
man. foundation for the learning of art.15 Midway through the Tekenboek,
Bloemaert reiterates this 132 133 sentiment regarding the importance of antique
works by incorporating a similar title page, A Draughtsman Sitting at a Table,
Drawing after Plaster Casts (fig. 3), in the section on ‘Mannelijke en
Vrouwelijke Academie Figuren’ (‘Male and Female Academy Figures’).16 This
features the same or a similar draughtsman, now seated at a table in a more
realistic setting and drawing from a plaster model of a nude male torso. Around
him lie other casts: a male head, a foot and a further torso seen from the
back. As in the first title page, no recognisable antique sculptures can be
seen, although the 17 of heads, faces, body parts and figures, is a product of
direct studio practice. It is thus different in approach from the other
important mid-17th century Netherlandish drawing book, mentioned above, Van ’t
Light der Teken en Schilder konst (‘About the Light of the Art of Drawing and
Painting’; 1643), by De Passe the Younger. De Passe primarily focuses on the
structure, proportion and anatomy of the human body;19 examples of models and
ways to learn to draw them are of secondary importance. Bloemaert’s Tekenboek
is actually closer in character in its approach and images to the two volumes
of etchings produced by Fialetti, which were probably known to the Bloemaerts
in one of the Dutch editions.20 The Bloemaerts’ publication might well be
described as the Northern counterpart to Fialetti’s books.21 And as in those
the emphasis in the Tekenboek is on providing many practical examples of heads,
faces and limbs to draw. Like Fialetti’s works it may be regarded as a portable
instruction manual for drawing. Bloemaert’s Tekenboek was exceptionally popular
from the time of its publication around 1650 to the end of the 18th century.22
Many editions followed the first (very rare) editio princeps, which probably
contained 100 plates arranged in five parts.23 After his father’s death in
1651, Frederick must have published one or more sub-editions with 120 plates in
six parts and around 1685 Nicolaes II Visscher (1649–1702) another with 160
plates. Several decades later, in 1723, an edition by Louis Renard (dates
unknown) appeared (of which only one copy is known), with 166 plates in eight
parts arranged by Bernard Picart (1673–1733).24 The same arrangement was
retained in the best-known edition of Bloemaert’s work, published by Reinier
and Josua Ottens, the magnificent 1740 volume displayed here. At that time the
title was changed to Oorspronkelyk en vermaard konstryk tekenboek van Abraham
Bloemaert (‘Original and famous artful drawing book of Abraham Bloemaert’).
Bloemaert’s popula- rity was certainly not restricted to the Dutch Republic:
artists such as François Boucher (1703–70) and Balthasar Denner (1685–1749)
also took the Utrecht master as a model for their own work.Teekenschool/die op
dien tijt van de voornaamste meesters wiert gehouden heb gedaan’. Schatborn
suggests that this drawing school might have been in France where Van de Passe
spent a long period, 1617–30 (see Amsterdam and Washington D.C. 1981–82, 21).
Veldman emphasises that De Passe’s book is a tribute to the city of Utrecht,
thanking the city for spiritual nourishment including the Utrecht Drawing
School (Veldman 2001, 337–38). Suggestion by Bok in Roethlisberger and Bok
1993, 1, 571. Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 645–51. Such a group of drawings
(mixed with prints) occurs for example in the estate of the painter Gaspar
Netscher (1639–84): ‘In the brown portfolio [ ] are 327 both prints and
drawings [ ] serving for disciples to copy’; see Amsterdam and Washington D. C.
1981–82, 17; Plomp 2001, 37. For artists’ practical education in the
Netherlands and Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries see Bleeke-Byrne 1984, 28–39.
Bloemaert’s Tekenboek was published with the Latin title: Artis Apellae, liber
hic, studiosa juventus, / Aptata ingenio fert rudimenta tuo ... (This book,
studious youths, brings to your minds the appropriate rudiments of the art of
Apelles ...); see Bolten 1985, 51; Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 395
[translation]). It is possible that Abraham Bloemaert conceived the idea of
producing such a Tekenboek much earlier in his career: the Giroux album,
containing many figure studies, may well constitute Bloemaert’s initial
selection for such a didactic project; see Bolten 1993, 9, note 6; Bolten 2007,
1, 350–61. For the publication in instalments see: Bolten 2007, 1, 362. Bolten
1985, 66; Bolten 2007, 1, 362–97, 1150–1311. For doubts regarding Bloemaert’s
authorship of the drawings in Cambridge see Bolten 1985, 48 (‘A. or F.
Bloemaert’); Roethlisberger 1992, 30, note 41; Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 391;
Bolten 1993, 6–8. Bolten 2007, 1, 363, no. 1150, 2, 1150. The scene was
engraved, then supplemented with a chiaroscuro woodcut with two-tone blocks
(brown and sepia). This technique and the dimen- sions (303 × 222 mm [image])
are the same in the editio princeps from c. 1650 and the 1740 edition displayed
here (see Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 395). See Aymonino’s essay in the
present volume, 15–77. According to Roethlisberger and Bok (1993, 1, 395),
there is little or no discernible influence of ancient sculpture in his own
work. The engraving, A Draughtsman Sitting at a Table, Drawing after Plaster
Casts (fig. 3), does not appear in the editio princeps from circa 1650, but
does feature in the 1685 edition and later ones (Bolten 2007, 1, 392, under no.
1290). The original drawing for this engraving is also in the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge: Bolten 2007, 1, 392, no. 1290, 2, 1290. For Feddes, see
Bolten 1985, 18, repr.; Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 395. For De Passe’s
Tekenboek see: Amsterdam and Washington D.C. 1981–82, 15–17, 21, repr. For
Dutch editions of Fialetti and for Dutch publications based or partially
reprinting Fialetti see Bolten. According to Strauss (1973, 348) Bloemaert’s
title page was ‘patterned partly on the frontispiece of Odoardo Fialetti’s Vero
modo et ordine per dessignar Tutte le parti et membra del corpo humano, Venice
(Sadeler), 1608’. See also Lehmann-Haupt 1977, 157. For Bloemaert’s fortuna
critica see: Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 47–50. Regarding the Tekenboek
Roethlisberger surmises that the 1740 edition was intended for print and book
collectors, rather than artists: ibid., 1, 394. For the various reprints of
Bloemaert’s Tekenboek cited in this paragraph see Bolten 2007, 1, 362. There
were also various editions of sets of prints copied after Frederick’s
engravings [consequently printed in reverse] during the second half of the 17th
century and in the 18th century (see ibid., 362, note 22). The only known copy
of the 1723 edition is in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht (see Bolten 2007, 1, 362).
Slatkin, 1976; Gerson 1983, 109–10 (Boucher and Fragonard), 189
(Piazzetta). 1 2 3 4 5 mp For Bloemaert’s life on which this biographical
account is based, see Roethlisberger and Bok, 1993, 1, 551–87; Bolten 2007, 1, 3–5.
For ‘new’ Bloemaert paintings, see Roethlisberger, 2014, 79–92. Van Mander
1994–99, 1, 448–49 (fol. 297v). Roethlisberger and Bok 1993, 1, 570. Ibid., 1, 571.
Verbeek and Veldman 1974, 146, no. 191; De Passe 1643–44, unpaginated
introduction, Aen de Teekunst-lievende en-gunstige lezers, to the first part,
met de zoon van Paulus Moreelse en anderen) in een vermaarde 12. Michael
Sweerts (Brussels 1618–1664 Goa, India) A Painter’s Studio c. 1648–50 Oil on
canvas, 71 × 74 cm provenance: Private collection, Moscow; acquired by Dr
Abraham Bredius (1855–1946); purchased by the Rijksmuseum in 1901 for f. 400.
selected literature: Martin 1905, 127, 131, pl. II [a]; Martin 1907, 139, 149,
no. 10; Horster 1974, 145, 147, 2; Van Thiel 1976, 532, A 1957, repr.; Döring
1994, 55–58, 2, 60–62; Kultzen 1996, 88–89, no. 6, repr., with previous
bibliography. exhibitions: Milan 1951, no. 166, pl. 117; London 1955, 90–92,
no. 77 (D. Sutton), not repr.; Rome 1958–59, 32–34, no. 4 (R. Kultzen);
Rotterdam 1958, 36–37, no. 4; Toyko 1968–69, no. 63; Cologne and Utrecht
1991–92, 270–72, no. 33.1 (R. Kultzen); Hannover 1999, 18–20, 9; Amsterdam, San
Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 97–99, no. VII (G. Jansen); Antwerp 2004–07 (no
catalogue); Brussels 2007–08 (no catalogue); Doha 2011 (no catalogue).
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, SK-A-1957 We have entered the shadowy inner sanctum of
a painter’s studio in mid-17th-century Rome. A young draughtsman perched on a
wooden stool to the left studies a life-size model of a flayed nude écorché,
assuming a balletic pose at centre right. Behind it, another boy draughtsman,
younger still, sketches a classical female bust resting on a table, which is
shared on the right by the studio assistant who grinds red-hued pigments.
Working at an easel in the left back- ground is a painter, perhaps the master
of the studio, capturing the likeness of a male nude posed in the corner.
Partly obscured in the shadows on the far left are two gentle- men visitors in
Dutch dress. One glances in our direction while the other gestures to our
right, perhaps towards the painter or the écorché. The main attraction,
however, is the abundant array of plaster casts, mostly antique, piled up in
the foreground – heads, torsos, limbs and a relief – all bathed in warm, golden
light. Though widely admired in his lifetime, Sweerts remains a somewhat
enigmatic figure about whom relatively little is known.1 He was born in
Brussels in 1618, but is first docu- mented from 1646 to 1651 as residing on
the Via Margutta in the parish of S. Maria del Popolo in Rome, an area favoured
by Dutch and Flemish expatriates.2 Already twenty-eight when he arrived in the
city, he would have had at least some artistic training before then, probably
in the North, though his early teachers have not been identified. Neither
signed nor dated, this canvas was probably executed by Sweerts c. 1648–50 in
Rome, where he remained until 1652 or later.3 In travelling south, Sweerts was
following a long-standing educational tradition, one succinctly articulated by
Dutch painter and art theorist Karel van Mander (1548–1606) who stated: ‘Rome
is the city where before all other places the Painter’s journey is apt to lead
him, since it is the capital of Pictura’s Schools’.4 It is evident from the
Painter’s Studio and other depictions of the same or similar theme of the
artist at work, a subject that clearly fascinated him, that Sweerts was well
aware of artistic theory of the day, particularly the importance placed on
learning through drawing.5 Karel van Mander recom- mends beginning artists to
‘seek a good master’, one who has decent works of art in his workshop, that is,
an ample supply of study materials such as books, prints, drawings and plaster
casts. The pupil must learn to draw ‘first with charcoal, then with the chalk
or pen’.6 After making copies of prints and drawings by various masters, the
student should progress to plaster casts, an important step. On equal footing
with the copying of casts was the study of anatomy. However, given the
difficulty of procuring corpses, artists at this time copied anatomical figures
in plaster or ‘flayed plaster casts’.7 This was followed by study of the living
figure before the student finally proceeded to painting. Written at the
beginning of the 17th century, Van Mander’s book thus made available for
Northern artists those principles of artistic education, the ‘alphabet of
drawing’ that had been codified in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries.8
By clearly setting out the stages of study established by Van Mander and
others, first drawing from casts and anatomical figures in plaster, then the
live model, Sweerts’ composition is a visual lesson in the main principles of
studio practice required to become a successful painter.9 The goal is
manifested in Sweerts’ completed Wrestling Match canvas of c. 1648–50 displayed
on the wall in the back- ground, which features figures based on classical
models.10 His didactic intent to illustrate the step-by-step approach to
learning recalls Odoardo Fialetti’s Artist’s Studio, c. 1608, from Il vero
modo, the instructional manual on drawing published in Venice about forty years
earlier (cat.), no doubt known to Sweerts through one of the Dutch publica-
tions that reproduced plates from it.11 Plaster casts and models were in
constant use in Northern workshops from the late 16th century onwards.12 Though
he never travelled to Italy, Van Mander’s friend, Cornelis Cornelisz. van
Haarlem (1562–1638), had a collec- tion of ninety-nine casts after antique and
anatomical 134 135 models.13 Van Mander praised his colleague (with whom
he started, along with Hendrick Goltzius, an informal academy in Haarlem in
1583) for selecting for his work ‘from the best and most beautiful living and
breathing antique sculptures’.1 4 Sumptuously displayed in a large pile in the
foreground, a veritable feast for the eyes, casts play a starring role in
Sweerts’ painting (detail, fig.). While light enters both from the window and
the open door, which reveals an urban view, that light that illuminates the
sculptures so brilliantly and mysteriously emanates from an unseen source, over
the viewer’s shoulder. The casts are presented with clarity and in sharp focus,
in marked contrast to the more generalised treatment of most of the other
elements in the composi- tion.15 While the human expressions seem almost blank,
those of the casts are animated and alive: the comment often made about
Sweerts, that ‘his people often look like sculptures and his plaster casts seem
almost human’, rings very true here.16 Several sources for the antique casts
can be identified, beginning with the head of a woman on the table, the subject
of study for the young boy sketching in the middle distance. As noted
previously,17 she is a much reduced copy of the colossal so-called Juno
Ludovisi (considered now to be a portrait of Antonia Augusta, daughter of
Octavia Minor and Mark Antony), which, from 1622, was in the Ludovisi
collection in Rome and is now in the Palazzo Altemps in Rome.18 The most prominent
among the jumble of casts in the foreground on the right is the head of a
woman, usually identified as Niobe from the famous group in the Uffizi (fig. 2,
see also 30, 34), but equally, the head could be that of one of her daughters
from the same group.19 They were discovered together with the Wrestlers (p. 30,
33) on a vineyard outside Rome.20 Immediately to the left of the Niobe, is a
cast of a limbless Apollo based on a model by François Duquesnoy (1597–1643).21
The head of an old woman in profile at the back of the pile to the left is
inspired by the Roman copy of a Hellenistic original donated in 1566 by Pius V
to the Con-servatori Palace and today in the Capitoline Museum (fig. 3).22 She
contrasts with the youthful beauty to her right, the head of the celebrated
Venus de’ Medici (Florence, Uffizi, see 42, 56). Behind the old woman is a head
of the Laocoön, ‘bronzed’ in effect, while the rest of his body, seen from
behind, rests on the top of the pile of casts (p. 26, 19).23 The relief propped
up against the table at the back is a cast of a Roman terracotta plaque, Winter
and Hercules, from the Campana collection and acquired by the Louvre in 1861 2.
Niobe, from the Niobe Group, possibly a Roman copy of a Greek original of the
4th century bc, marble, 228 cm (h), Uizi, Florence, inv. 294 3. Statue of an
Old Woman, Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, marble, 145 cm (h), Capitoline
Museums, Rome, inv. Scu 640 1. Michael Sweerts, A Painter’s Studio
(detail) 136 (fig. 4).24 It was admired by artists like Giovanni da Udine
(1487–1564) in the 16th century when it was recorded in the collection of
Gabriele de’ Rossi (1517),25 and into the 17th by others such as Pietro da
Cortona (1596–1669) and Pietro Testa (1612–50), whose copies after it are
preserved respec- tively in the Uffizi, Florence, and in the Royal Collection
at Windsor Castle.26 That this collection of casts was an important part of
Sweerts’ working practice is suggested by their regular appearance in other
compositions. Some familiar faces – the head of the old woman, the Juno
Ludovisi, the Niobe and others – return in Sweerts’ later Artist’s Studio,
signed and dated 1652, in the Detroit Institute of Arts (fig. 5). They are seen
among examples, including a cupid and torso by François Duquesnoy; this is
being scrutinised by an elegant young man, probably in Rome on the Grand Tour,
while the painter appears to be explaining how Duquesnoy’s 4. Winter and
Hercules, Roman, 1st century ad, terracotta, 60 × 52 cm, Louvre, Paris, inv. Cp
4169 figures once formed part of a group.27 Closer to the present composition
in conception, is the Artist’s Studio with a Woman Sewing in the Collection Rau
Foundation UNICEF, Cologne (fig. 6).28 Though almost certainly a workshop
picture, it evidently documents Sweerts’ original design and intention. There
is a similar haphazard arrangement of casts, with many of the same specimens
reappearing, including the bronzed head of Laocoön and his torso, placed beside
modern works, including the copy after a marble relief of François Duquesnoy,
Children Playing with a Goat.29 Many other celebrated compositions by Sweerts
feature antique casts (see 40, 52). It is not known why he chose to display
them with such prominence and so frequently, but he may well have been catering
to a new class of patron, the Dutch Grand Tourist.30 Among Sweerts’ most
important benefactors in Rome in the 1640s were Dutch tourists, especially
merchants.31 Thus three of five brothers from the Deutz textile merchant family
were in Italy between 1646 and 1650, and that is when they probably acquired
the many paintings by Sweerts listed in their inventories, including an
Artist’s Studio owned by Joseph Deutz.32 Significantly, the documents also
suggest that Sweerts acted as the Deutz’s agent for purchasing antique
sculpture as well as modern pictures, as so many other painters were to do in
the next century.33 Another important patron in Rome, Prince Camillo Pamphilj,
the nephew of Pope Innocent X (r. 1644–55), may have involved Sweerts in
teaching. He painted a range of works for the Prince, who, interestingly,
possessed a version in porphyry of the ever-present Head of the Old Woman; he
137 also owned the Duquesnoy relief that occurs in Sweerts’
Artist’s Studio now in Cologne (fig. 6).34 An intriguing pay- ment recorded in
the Pamphilj account book to Sweerts on 21 March of 1652 for ‘various amounts
of oil used since 17th February in His Excellency’s academy’, suggests Sweerts’
direct involvement with an academy in Rome.35 By the summer of 1655, Sweerts
had returned to Brussels where he founded ‘an academy of life drawing’,
primarily to educate tapestry and carpet designers.36 Something of its original
appearance might be gleaned from Sweerts’ Drawing School in the Frans Hals
Museum in Haarlem (c. 1655–60), where students of various ages draw from a live
male nude.37 In this painting, conspicuously absent are plaster casts; the
animation is now provided by the more than twenty young students assuming
various attitudes, some concentrating on the task at hand, others less focused.
However, there was probably another version by Sweerts of this painting, now
known only in a copy, where the live nude has been substi- tuted by a cast of a
classical female sculpture.38 Evidently plaster models were never far from his
mind. aa et avl 1 For his life and work, see Kultzen 1996 and Amsterdam, San
Francisco and elsewhere 2002, with previous literature. 2 Sutton 2002, 12;
Bikker 2002, 25–26. 3 Sutton 2002, 21. 4 In his ‘Foundation of the Painter’s
Art’ (Grondt der Schilder-Const), published together with his ‘Lives’ and his
two other theoretical treatises in the Schilder-Boeck (1604). See Van Mander
1604, fol. 6v, chap. 1, no. 66; Van Mander 1973, 1, 92–93, chap. 1, no. 66;
Stechow 1966, 57–58. Van Mander further noted, ‘From Rome bring home skill in
drawing, the ability to paint from Venice, which I had to bypass for the lack
of time.’: Stechow 1966, 58; Sutton Sutton 2002, 11, 17. In the preface to his
book on painters: Van Mander 1604, fol. 9r, chap. 2, no. 9; Van Mander 1973, 102–03,
chap. 2, no. 9; Martin 1905, 126. Martin 1905, 127. See Aymonino’s essay in
this catalogue, 33–34. Martin 1905, 127. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe;
Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 94–96, no. VI (G. Jansen). For
example, Johannes Gellee’s Tyrocinia artis pictoriae caelatoriae published in
Amsterdam in 1639 where copied versions of the Artist’s Studio and other
etchings appear: see Bolten 1985, 132–39 and for other publications based or
reprinting parts of Fialetti’s treatise see Bolten. For the use of plaster
casts in 17th- and 18th-century artists’ studios in Antwerp and Brussels, see
Lock 2010. Rembrandt’s bankruptcy inventory of 1656 lists numerous plaster casts,
from life as well as from the Antique, which were doubtless an essential part
of his workshop practice (Strauss and Van der Meulen 1979, 349–88; Gyllenhaal
2008). See also cat. 23, note 18. Van Thiel 1965, 123, 128; Van Thiel 1999, 84,
and Appendix II, 254–55, 257, 270–71, 273; Sutton 2002, 18. Van Mander 1604,
fol. 292v; Van Mander 1973, 428–29. Sutton 2002, 18. This also may be due, in
part, to the compromised condition of the canvas. Sutton 2002, 20. Martin 1905,
127; Horster 1974, 145. Haskell and Penny 1981, 100; Palma and de Lachenal
1983, 133–37, no. 58 (de Lachenal). Horster 1974, 145; Döring 1994, 60;
Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 97. For the group, see Haskell and
Penny 1981, 274–79, no. 66, figs 143–47, and for the daughter that it resembles
the most, 145; Cecchi and Gasparri 2009, 318–19, no. 596.1. Haskell and Penny
1981, 274; Cecchi and Gasparri 2009, 62–63, no. 50. Noted by Döring 1994, 60–61.
For the Duquesnoy sculpture, see Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 122,
no. XV-2. On Duquesnoy’s fame as a ‘classical’ sculptor during the 17th century
and later see Boudon-Mauchel 2005, 175–210. As first observed by Döring 1994, 62.
For the statue see Stuart Jones 1912, 288–89, no. 22. Döring 1994, 63. The
subject was noted by Denys Sutton (London 1955, 91) and Marita 138 139 5,
Michael Sweerts, An Artist’s Studio, 1652, oil on canvas, 73.5 × 58.8 cm, The
Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 30.297 6, After Michael Sweerts, Artist’s
Studio with a Woman Sewing, c. 1650, oil on canvas, 82.5 × 106.7 cm, Collection
RAU-Fondation UNICEF, Cologne, inv. GR 1.874 25 26 27 28 29 Horster (1974, 145)
who both identified the motif from a sketchbook by Francisco de Hollanda.
Sutton and Guido Jansen (Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 97)
believed the plaster relief to combine scenes from two separate ones: the
Winter and Hercules and the Cretan Bull. However, as Eloisa Dodero has noted
(personal communication), it is based on the single terracotta relief in the
Louvre, see Christian 2002, 181–84 no. II.15, 25; De Romanis 2007, 235–238, 1.
For the acquisition by the Louvre, see Sarti 2001, 121. Dacos 1986, 222;
Christian 2002, 181–86. For the Cortona drawing: Briganti 1982, 286.27; for the
Testa sheet at Windsor: Christian 2002, 181–82, 26. See Amsterdam, San
Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 120–23, no. XV, where the painting is discussed
at length. Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 110, xii–i (as by or
after Sweerts). Many copies are known suggesting it was a much-admired
composition. Bikker Sutton 2002, 15–16; Bikker 2002, 27–28. Described in
documents in general terms as ‘Ein Schildersacademetje’, it is not known which
of the surviving studio pictures it was. According to the collections database,
Detroit Institute of Arts website, it was theirs (fig. 5). Bikker 2002, 27–28.
Ibid., 28–31, figs 25, 27. Ibid., 29. This was probably a private academy and
not the Accademia di San Luca, of which Sweerts was possibly a member. He was
responsible for collecting membership dues from his compatriots: see Bikker
2002, 25–26. Lock 2010, 251; Bikker 2002, 31. Amsterdam, San Francisco and
elsewhere 2002, 133–35, no. xix (G. Jansen). Present whereabouts unknown; see
Amsterdam, San Francisco and elsewhere 2002, 133, xix–i. 13. Jan de
Bisschop (Amsterdam 1628–1671 The Hague) Two Artists Drawing an Antique Bust
(recto); A Reclining Man seen from Behind (verso) c. 1660s Pen and brown ink,
brushed with brown wash, 91 × 135 mm Inscribed recto l.r. in pencil: J.
Bisschop. watermark: part of the crowned coat of arms of Amsterdam.1
provenance: Private collection, Germany; Sotheby’s, London, 13 April 1992, lot
260, from whom acquired. literature: London 1992 (unpaginated), repr.; Broos
and Schapelhouman 1993, 51, under no. 34, b. exhibitions: Not previously
exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 1992-012 Born in
Amsterdam in 1628, Jan de Bisschop was among a group of talented amateur
artists, including his immediate contemporaries and friends Constantijn Huygens
the Younger (1628–1697) and Jacob van der Ulft (1627–1689) who all worked in
Netherlands around the mid-17th century.2 De Bisschop was classically educated
and trained as a lawyer; he became an advocate at the judicial court of The
Hague. But he also distinguished himself as a writer, theoretician, literary
scholar, and as a connoisseur of the Antique. And although without formal
artistic training, he was an accomplished draughtsman and etcher who, through
his publications reproducing ancient sculpture and Old Master drawings,
disseminated in the Netherlands an anti- quarian culture and an aesthetic based
on the works of classical antiquity. He also helped introduce the practice of
drawing after both antique sculpture and live models in the Hague.3 His large corpus
of drawings, numbering in the upper hundreds, consists of sun-infused,
Italianate land- scapes, lively figure and genre studies, portraits, and many
copies after antique sculpture and paintings by Old Masters, 1. Bust of the
so-called Lysimachus, Roman copy of the Augustan period from a Greek original
of the 2nd c. bc, marble, 49 cm (h), Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli,
inv. 6141 usually executed in pen and brush and wash with a distinc- tive warm,
golden-brown ink, referred to from the late 17th century as bisschops-inkt
(Bisschop’s ink).4 As in the examples illustrated here, he often effectively
combined dense washes with reserves of untouched paper to create a
light-drenched, fresh out-of-doors effect. In this lively and rapid sketch,
probably made on the spot, two seated draughtsmen, seen from the back, draw
after an antique bust of a man. On the reverse one of them is sketched again,
casually reclining. The object of their gaze is a bust nowadays identified as
of Lysimachus, the Greek successor to Alexander the Great, who from c. 306 to
281 bc reigned as King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedonia.5 Discovered c.
1576, it was acquired by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese from the Giorgio Cesarini
collection, and is preserved today in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di
Napoli (fig. 1). Doubt- less known to de Bisschop through one of the plaster
casts which circulated in Northern Europe at the time, the bust was in the 17th
century thought to represent a philosopher; from the 18th century he was
identified more specifically – but wrongly – as the Athenian legislator, Solon.
It was copied profusely from the 17th century onwards, and was included, for
example, in a portrait painted by Isaac Fuller (1606–72) in c. 1670 (Yale
Center for British Art, New Haven) of the architect and sculptor, Edward Pierce
(c. 1635–95), who rests one hand on the bust while gesturing to it with the
other.6 Admiration for the sculpture continued in the 18th century, in France,
where a red chalk copy of it was made by the sculptor, Edmé Bouchardon
(1698–1762) or a member of his circle,7 and particularly in England, where,
catering to a n emerging neo-classical aesthetic, a blemish-free replica of the
Lysimachus was carved in 1758 by Wilton; this was acquired by Rockingham, for
his VILLA at Wentworth and is now in the The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles.8 Another copy of the bust, made by the sculptor and restorer of
ancient statues, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (see cat.), was mentioned in a
letter from the dealer and agent, Thomas Jenkins, to his client, Charles
Townley, as a possible acquisition. His scheme involved fusing Cavaceppi’s bust
with the body of a statue of Achilles; mercifully, this was abandoned when the
original head of Achilles was recovered.9 Its diminutive size and spontaneous
style of execution would suggest the present sheet came from a sketchbook,
probably one like that held by the artist on the right. The draughtsmen have
not been securely identified but they are no doubt to be found among de
Bisschop’s friends and associ- ates; one may be Huygens the Younger, with whom
he made sketching excursions in and around The Hague and Leiden. In fact,
drawings by de Bisschop are often mistaken for works by Huygens, to whom this
sheet was previously assigned.10 A treatment of a similar theme, of two
draughtsmen from the front seated in a landscape but without an antique model
to study, is found in de Bisschop’s drawing in the Amsterdam Museum (fig. 2).11
Executed with the same loose pen work and spontaneous handling of the brush, characteristic
of de Bisschop after 1660, it shows one artist on the left gazing downwards to
– or reading from – a loose sheet held in both hands, while the other appears
to be sketching in a small book. A third rendering of two artists sketching out
of doors, one, with hat removed, holding a drawing board, is among the sheets
by Huygens the Younger in the Municipal Archives of The Hague (fig. 3).12 As
with the present study, the figures are seen from behind in a sunlit setting
but on a bench, near the entrance to the country house, Zorgvliet, near The
Hague, and the subject of their attention is out of view. De Bisschop’s
drawings were admired by collectors and connoisseurs from John Barnard
(1709–84) to Horace Walpole (1717–97), but his main contribution to scholarship
was the publication of two influential books. The first was the Signorum
veterum icones issued in two volumes in 1668–69; 2. Jan de Bisschop, Two
Draughtsmen Seated Outdoors, pen and brown ink with the brush and brown wash,
grey ink, 97 × 149 mm, Amsterdam Museum, inv. nr. A 18179 142 4. Jan de
Bisschop, Allegory of Sculpture, title page to the Signorum veterum icones,
part 1, Amsterdam (?), 1668, etching, 245 × 114 mm, Warburg Institute Library,
London also consulted prints by François Perrier (1590–1650), who had published
a selection of antique statuary in Paris and Rome in 1638 (Segmenta nobilium
signorum et statuarum . . .).18 An album of 140 drawings by de Bisschop
suggests that he intended to publish a third volume of Icones on antique Roman
reliefs, based largely on another publication by Perrier of 1645 (Icones et
segmenta . . .).19 However, de Bisschop’s death from tuberculosis at
forty-three meant that the third volume was never realised. In addition to his
writings on art, de Bisschop contrib- uted in other ways to furthering artistic
education in the Netherlands. He participated in local confraternities of
artists and co-founded a private drawing academy with his friends, including
Huygens the Younger; they met several times a week in the evenings, often
drawing after a live model.20 In 1682, eleven years after de Bisschop’s death,
the first drawing academy in the Northern Netherlands – includ- ing in its
curriculum the study of plaster casts after the Antique – was established in
The Hague.21 De Bisschop’s influence may have extended further, perhaps as a
direct consequence of the Icones. Of significance is a letter dated 1688 from
the artist Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708) to the burgermasters of Haarlem, asking
their assistance in setting up an academy for students to study ‘the best
ancient statues, such as Venus, Apollo, Laocoön, in order to familiarise
themselves with the idea of classical beauty’.22 Although that request was
turned down, a Haarlem Drawing Academy was founded in 1772 and although it was
closed in 1795, in the following year, the Haarlem Drawing College was
established, with the study of the Antique remaining a vital part of the
curriculum (see cat. 31).23 3.
Constantijn Huygens, the Younger, Two Draughtsmen near Zorgvliet, detail,
pen and brown ink and wash with the brush over traces of graphite, 243 × 373
mm, Municipal Archives of The Hague, Gr. A 110 the first volume was dedicated
to his friend, Huygens the Younger and the second, to Johannes Wtenbogaard, the
Receiver-General of Holland and a neighbour of his parents. In 1671, de
Bisschop published the Paradigmata graphices variorum artificum, which he
dedicated to the collector Jan Six; this comprised forty-seven etchings based
on Italian Old Master drawings and ten antique busts.13 The two volumes of the
Icones were republished together with the Paradigmata, in later editions.14 Of
particular relevance to us is de Bisschop’s Icones, featuring one-hundred
etched plates after antique sculpture. Its purpose was didactic: to provide a
compilation of the best-known works and to establish norms of classical beauty
for artists, amateurs and collectors. In de Bisschop’s words, they were
‘sculptures and reliefs of the greatest perfection in art and the best sources
for students’.15 The book proved to be an enormously useful resource especially
as it featured, in some cases, the same sculpture seen from different angles;
in essence, in the round. For instance, de Bisschop’s presented five views of
the celebrated Wrestlers sculpture in the Uffizi (see 30, 33, and cats 16 and
27), two of which are shown here (figs 5–6).16 In the Icones, the unusual left
profile view of the Farnese Hercules, in reverse was probably known to Jan
Claudius de Cock and Wallerant Vaillant, who reproduced it from the same
viewpoint (see cat. 14, 4). In fact, Cock took inspiration from several of the
Icones plates for his Allegory of the Arts series (cat. 14). As de Bisschop
probably never travelled to Italy, many of his prints relied on antique
sculptures in Dutch collections, or on casts, and especially on drawings by
artists who had travelled south to visit collections in Florence and Rome, such
as Willelm Doudijns (1630–97), Pieter Donker (1635– 68), Adriaen Backer
(1635/35–84) and others.17 De Bisschop avl 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 See Churchill 1967, pl. 8, no. 9, date: 1665 or pl. 9,
no. 11, date: 1670. For this life and work, see Van Gelder 1972. Van Gelder
1972, 27. Goeree 1697, 91. Gasparri 2009–10, 2, 55–57, no. 32 (F. Coraggio),
and 188–89, pl. XXXII, figs 1–4. Charlton-Jones 1991, 100–01, pl. 89. The
subject of the Louvre drawing (Guiffrey and Marcel 1907–75, 1, no. 1353) was
identified by Rausa 2007a, 172, no. 165.1. Fusco 1997, 56. Coltman 2009, 87.
Sold as Huygens at Sotheby’s, London, 13 April 1992, lot 260. Broos and
Schapelhouman 1993, 51, no. 34 (B. Broos). Amsterdam 1992, 37, no. 22 (R. E.
Jellema and M. Plomp). Van Gelder 1972, 1–2. Both books are published in their
entirety with commentary by Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 2 vols. See also Bolten
1985, 257–58 and Plomp 2010, 39–47. Bolten 1985, 71. Van Gelder 1972, 19. Van
Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 106–08, nos 18–22, 2, pls 18–22. Further plates are
after other artists as well as drawings by Jacob de Gheyn III (1596–1641), who
is not known to have travelled to Italy but visited collections in England (Van
Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 15–16, 155). Van Gelder 1972, 19–20. The album of
classical statues, reliefs, Roman architecture and contempo- rary Dutch figures
and scenes is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. D.1212:1 to
141-1989. On it see Van Gelder 1972, 8–9 and especially Turner and White 2014, 1,
25–67, no. 23. Van Gelder 1972, 11. Van Gelder 1972, 27. Van der Willigen 1866,
137; Washington D.C. 1977, under no. 69 (F. W. Robinson). Haarlem 1990, 16–17,
34–38. 5. Jan de Bisschop, The Wrestlers, from the Signorum veterum icones,
part 1, Amsterdam (?), 1668, pl. 18, etching, 164 × 215 mm, Warburg Institute
Library, London 6. Jan de Bisschop, The Wrestlers, from the Signorum veterum
icones, part 1, Amsterdam (?), 1668, pl. 21, etching, 199 × 133 mm, Warburg
Institute Library, London 143 14. Attributed to Jan Claudius
de Cock (Brussels 1667–1735 Antwerp) An Allegory of Painting c. 1706 Etching,
141 × 100 mm watermark: possibly part of a coat of arms. provenance: Bassenge,
Berlin, 6 December 2001, lot 5452 (as Anonymous, Southern German, c. 1700),
from whom acquired. literature:None. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited.
Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 2001-037 In the corner of a
painter’s workshop, students draw after plaster casts, selected according to
their age and level of study. The youngest, wearing a Roman-style toga and
stand- ing at a pedestal, which supports his open sketchbook, records the
likeness of the head of a boy similar to him in age. He may be copying the bust
itself, or more likely, the drawing after the bust, propped up next to it. At
the left, another pupil, a pre-teen representing a higher level of study,
thoughtfully examines a reduced model, in reverse, of a rather unfit Farnese
Hercules (see 30, 32 and cats 7, 16, 21) elevated on a plinth, and shown in a
similar pose as illustrated by Jan de Bisschop’s Icones (fig. 1). The student
and 1. Jan de Bisschop, The Farnese Harcules, from the Signorum veterum icones,
part 1, Amsterdam (?), 1668, pl. 8, etch- ing, 221 × 105 mm, Warburg Institute
Library, London the statuette are so posed that they appear to exchange
glances. In the background, partially obscured by the sculp- ture’s base, is a
third boy, probably midway in age between the others, who bows his head in
concentration. Displayed on the shelf and walls above are workshop props – a
globe, hourglass, books, compass and additional fragments of plaster casts,
included a female torso and a male one which may be based on the Belvedere
Torso (p. 26, 28). Presiding over the scene is a voluptuously dressed female
figure with an elaborate hairstyle and bared breasts, who holds a palette with
brushes in one hand, and gestures to the statue of Hercules with the other. She
is leaning on a richly carved wooden table bearing bottles of spirit, compasses
and completed figural drawings. She is an Allegory of Painting, as described by
Cesare Ripa in his Iconologia, the widely consulted emblematic handbook first
published in 1593 – and probably known to de Cock through the Dutch editions of
1698 or 1699: a beautiful woman with twisted, unruly hair, holding the tools of
the painter.1 She represents the goal; once pupils had completed their
prescribed course of study, mastering the succession of stages dictated by the
established norms of 16th-century studio practice – first, drawing the
individual parts of the body through drawings of others, prints, fragments and
casts, and finally, the entire figure, a statue or live model – only then, may
they progress to painting (see also cat. 10).2 The attainment of the goal is
encapsulated in the prominently displayed picture on the wall above Hercules,
probably a Mars and Venus. Though acquired as by an anonymous southern German
artist, c. 1700, the etching shares similarities with the work of the Flemish
painter, sculptor, etcher and writer, Jan Claudius de Cock.3 It is particularly
close in style and execution to his drawing of the Allegory of Sculpture
drawing, signed and dated 1706 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2), which
is carried out with the same meticulous handling and degree of finish.4 Direct
references to antique sculpture abound in the New York sheet with plaster casts
freely modelled after the Pan and Apollo from the Cesi collection (Museo
Nazionale 144 145 2. Jan Claudius de Cock, Allegory of Sculpture,
1706, pen and brown ink, 317 × 195 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, 2010.533 Romano, Rome) at right and, at the left, the Wrestlers, acquired
by the Medici in 1583 (Uffizi, Florence; see 30, 33).5 Antique-inspired motifs
– busts, putti, fragments and a strigilated krater – are also visible
throughout. As with the etching, there is a female personification – in this
case, of sculpture – her hand resting on one bust and pointing to a second with
the other, just as Painting does here in the etching. At her feet are the tools
of her trade: scalpels, mallet and a drill. Other drawings of similar subject
matter, format and date suggest de Cock planned a series on the Allegories of
the Arts, perhaps intending them to appear as etchings in a book. His drawing
of a female sculptor modelling a recumbent Venus (fig. 3), another Allegory of
Sculpture, is also signed, and dated (1706) and is numbered like the New York
drawing.6 Further studies by de Cock no doubt relate to the same series.7
However, while the drawings are roughly the same size, the present etching is
considerably smaller. The colossal Farnese Hercules became enormously popular
immediately after its discovery in the 16th century, and 146 3. Jan Claudius de
Cock, An Allegory of Sculpture, 1706, pen and brown ink, black chalk, 321 × 192
mm, Christie’s, London, 19 April 1988, lot 140 numerous copies after it were
produced, often reduced to life-size or the scale seen here, to make it more manageable
and portable.8 A model strikingly similar to that in the etching occurs in a
mezzotint of a boy drawing in a studio, c. 1660–75, by the Dutch painter and
engraver, Wallerant Vaillant (1623–77), where it is perched on a table at a
nearly identical angle (fig. 4).9 Both prints suggest that by the early 18th
century, plaster models of the Hercules were commonplace in Flemish and
Netherlandish workshops.10 Several of the antiquities in both the etching, here
attrib- uted to de Cock, and his two related drawings discussed above, argue
knowledge of Bisschop’s Icones, by then the standard reference for antique
sculptures in the Netherlands (see cat. 13). For example, the rather unusual
left-profile view of the Farnese Hercules in the etching and the pose of the
Wrestlers in the New York drawing (fig. 2), both shown reversed in respect to
the antique originals, find their counterparts in the Icones (fig. 1 and cat.
13, 5).11 And the pensive Muse, possibly Clio, at the upper right of the 4.
Wallerant Vaillant, A Boy Drawing in a Studio, c. 1660–75, mezzotint, 324 × 300
mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-1889-A-14489 second Allegory of Sculpture
drawing (fig. 3), is a literal quotation from a plate in the second volume of
Bisschop’s 12 Born in Brussels, de Cock was apprenticed in the workshop of
Peeter Verbrugghen the Elder (c. 1609–86) in Antwerp. After Verbruggen’s death,
he established himself in that city, although he later moved to Breda, where
King William III Stadholder of the Netherlands commissioned him to work on
sculpture for a courtyard in the town.14 However, by 1697 or 1698, de Cock had
returned to Antwerp and devoted himself more to teaching, establishing a large
workshop with many pupils, some learning drawing, others, goldsmithing.15 In
1720, he wrote a didactic poetical treatise for his students, Eenighe
voornaemste en noodighe regels van de beeldhouwerije om metter tijdt en goet
meester te woorden (‘Some avl For Pittura from Ripa’s first illustrated edition
(1603), see Buscaroli 1992, 357 and in the Dutch edition of 1698, reprinted in
1699, see Hoorn 1698, II, 515 [c]. Armenini 1587, 52–59 (book 1, chap. 7);
Alberti 1604, 5 (quoting Federico Zuccaro); Roman 1984, 91. Nagler (1966, 3,
no. 2100) and Wurzbach (1906–11, 1, 304–05) only briefly mention his etchings
and this subject does not occur. Acquired Christie’s, London, 7 July 2010, lot
328. It is signed at lower left: ‘Joannes Claud: de Cock invenit delineavit
Anno= MDCCVI’ and numbered below, ‘4’. A further inscription by the artist on
the verso, “Sculptura Pace, et Abondante=”/[. . .], may refer to another
drawing in the series, perhaps an Allegory of Peace and Abundance or a
Concordia. Haskell and Penny 1981, 286–88, no. 70; 337–39, no. 94. Christie’s,
London, 19 April 1988, lot 140. According to the catalogue, it is signed and
dated, ‘Joan Claudius de Cock/invenit delineavit/AoMDCCVI’ and numbered ‘3’
below. They include another signed Allegory of Sculpture close to the New York
drawing in composition, with differences and executed in pencil, 326 × 194 mm
(Christie’s, Amsterdam, 15 November 1993, lot 115) and a signed Allegory of
Architecture, pen and brown-grey ink and wash, 328 × 234 mm (Christie’s,
Amsterdam, 21 November 1989, lot 52). Haskell and Penny 1981, 232; Gasparri
2009–10, 3, 17–20, no. 1, repr. on 207–13. Hollstein 1949–2001, 31, 119, no.
96. The 1635 studio inventory of the painter, Hendrik van Balen (1575–1632)
mentions a cast of the Hercules among other antique works (Duverger 1984–2009, 4,
208). The torso of a draped male statue on the shelf at upper right in the
drawing probably derives from a further etching by Bisschop, based on copies by
Willelm Doudijns (1630–97), reproducing a marble in the Pighini collection and
now in the Vatican (Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 110–11, no. 26, 2, pl. 26;
Helbig 1963–72, 1, 194, no. 250). Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 184–85, no. 98, 2,
pl. 98. In that drawing, the male torso seen from the back on the shelf at
right recalls de Bisschop’s etching of the Belvedere Torso (Van Gelder and Jost
1985, 1, 108–10, no. 24, 2, pl. 24). Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 184–85;
Haynes 1975, pl. 18. De Gheyn was in London in the summer of 1618 and his
drawing (untraced), was in the collection of J. A. Wtenbogaert in Amsterdam
(Van Gelder and Jost 1985, 1, 16, 155, 185). For his life and work, see C.
Lawrence, “Cock, Jan Claudius de”. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online,
accessed December 10, 2014, http://www.oxford-
artonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T018366. Pauwels 1977, 37. Published
in Brussels by Mertens 1865; Lawrence 1986, 283. Mertens 1865; Lawrence 1986, 283.
The original marble from the Earl of Arundel’s collection, known to de Bisschop
through a drawing after it by Jacques de Gheyn III, is now in the Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford.13 publication. chief and notable rules from the sculptor in
order to become a good master in due course’) although it remained unpublished
until the 19th century.16 It is entirely possible that he intended the Allegory
of Arts series to illustrate this treatise, in which he expressed his great
admiration for classical sculpture, namely the Laocoön, the Medici Venus – and,
most importantly – the Farnese Hercules.17 147 15. Nicolas
Dorigny (Paris 1658–1746 Paris), after Carlo Maratti (Camerano 1625–1713 Rome)
The Academy of Drawing c. 1702–03 Etching and engraving, 470 × 321 mm (plate);
503 × 331 mm (sheet) State I of II (second state dated 1728 with the address of
Jacob Frey). Inscribed on the plate, l.l. on the ground: ‘TANTO CHE BASTI’,
same inscription repeated l.r. on the perspective drawing on the easel, and
c.l. on the pedestal of the anatomical model. Inscribed u.c.
above the statue of Apollo: ‘NON / MAI ABASTANZA’; u.r. above the Three Graces:
‘SENZA DI NOI OGNI FATICA E VANA’. Inscribed l.c. with the title, ‘A Giovani
studiosi del Disegno’, followed by ten lines explaining the scene: ‘La Scuola
del Disegno, che s’espone delineata con le presenti Figure dal Sig.r Cavalier
Carlo Maratti, può molto contribuire al’disinganno di coloro che credono di
potere con la cognizione, e studio di molte Arti divenir perfet.ti nell’Arte
del dipingere senza procurare in primo luogo d’esser perfettissimi nel Disegno,
e senza il dono naturale, et un particolare istinto di saper con grazia, e
facilità animare, e disporre vagamente le parti di quell’Opera, che prenderanno
a delineare, e và figurando questo suo nobil pensiero con il mezzo
dell’azzioni, che qui si additano. Vedonsi alcuni studiosi delle mathematiche
in quella parte, che spetta alla Geometria, et Ottica, che conferiscono alla
Prospettiva: dall’altro lato, altri applicati all’osservazione d’un Corpo
anatomico, dà cui si apprende la giusta proporzione delle membra, e sito
de’muscoli, e nervi, che compongono una figura, dimostrato eruditame-te dà
Leonardo da Vinci espresso co- la propria effige, con il motto . Tanto che basti
. per dimostrare, che di tali professioni basta, che quello, che attenderà al
Disegno sia mediocrem.te erudito, per ridurre ad un’perfetto fine qualunque
Idea. Mà per coloro, che si esprimono attenti allo studio delle statue antiche,
non serve una leggiera applicazione alle mede, essendo lor d’uopo di farvi
sopra una lunga, et esatta riflessione, e studio per apprendere le belle forme;
e si pone l’esemplare delle statue antiche, come le più perfette, nelle quali
quei grandi Huomini espressero ì Corpi nel più perfetto grado, che possano
dalla natura istessa crearsi, e perciò vi si pone il motto . Non mai abastanza
. Tutto però riuscirebbe vano di conseguire senza l’assistenza delle Grazie,
che intende, come accennammo, per quel natural gusto di disporre, et atteggiare
con grazia, e delicatezza le positure, et ì movimenti delle Figure, dalle quali
poi risulta quella vaghezza, e leggiadria, che destano meraviglia, e piacere in
chiunque le mira, ponendosi queste a tal oggetto in alto, e sù le nuvole per
significare, che questo dono non viene che dal Cielo, con il motto . Senza di
noi ogni fatica e vana . Vivete felici.’1 Inscribed l.l. margin: ‘Eques Carolus
Maratti inven. et delin. Cum privil Summi Pont. et Regis Christ.mi’, and l.r.:
‘N. Dorigny sculp.’. watermark: Possibly a four-legged animal inscribed in a
double circle. provenance: Possibly Hugh Howard (1675–1737); Charles Francis
Arnold Howard, 5th Earl of Wicklow (1839–81), from whom acquired in 1874.
literature: Le Blanc 1854–88, II, 140, no. 51; Mariette 1996–2003, 3, 511, no.
76, 189; Kutschera-Woborsky 1919, 9–28, 5; Goldstein 1978, 1, 1; Rudolph 1978,
Appendix, 203, n. 38; Philadelphia 1980–81, 114–16, no. 101 A (A. E. Golahny);
Johns 1988, 17–21, 5; Goldstein 1989, p.156, 1; Winner 1992, 1; Jaffé 1994, 128,
under no. 251 646; Mertens 1994, 222–24, 94; Goldstein 1996, 47, 14; Rome
2000b, 2, 483–84, no. 2 (S. Rudolph); Pierguidi 2014. exhibitions: Not
previously exhibited. The British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings,
London, 1874,0808.1713 This intriguing and complex image has a central
role in this catalogue, as it represents the most eloquent visual expres- sion
of the classicistic credo of the Roman Accademia di San Luca in the final
decades of the 17th century. More generally, it is a strong defence of the
Florentine and Roman academic traditions, with their stress on drawing, their
celebration of Raphael and, above all, on the study, copy and reverence of the
Antique. As we shall see, the original drawing from which the print is derived
was most likely conceived in 1681–82, at a time when the aesthetic belief
supported by the Accademia di San Luca was being challenged by other
pedagogical methods and criticised from other theoretical viepoints, hence its
programmatic nature and didactic aim. Carlo Maratti was the most authoritative
painter in Rome during the final decades of the 17th century and the beginning
of the 18th and the champion of classicism.2 As a boy of twelve he had entered
the large workshop of Andrea Sacchi (1599–1661), where he remained until the
master’s death in 1661. His training followed the usual curriculum of 148 Roman
studios, centred on drawing, and on the copy of the Antique, and of Renaissance
and early 17th-century masters.3 His lifelong friend, mentor and biographer,
the great art theorist and antiquarian, Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613–96),
tells us that he concentrated especially on copying Raphael’s frescoes.4 He
pursued this commitment throughout his life, incorporating the essential
qualities of the great Renaissance champion of classicism into his own
painting, to the point that he became known as the Raphael of his time.5 In
1664 Maratti became ‘principe’, or president, of the Accademia di San Luca,
where, in the same year, Bellori’s discourse, the ‘Idea of the painter, the
sculptor and the archi- tect, selected from the beauties of Nature, superior to
Nature’, was publicly delivered (see Appendix, no. 11).6 Bellori’s theoretical
statement, then published as a prologue to his Vite in 1672, was to become
enormously influential in defin- ing and diffusing the central tenets of the
classical ideal, preparing the ground for the eventual affirmation of classi-
cism in the 18th century.7 Maratti remained an influential 149 figure
within the Accademia for almost fifty years – while Bellori held the position
of secretary several times – playing a vital role in reorganising its
curriculum according to a comprehensive pedagogical programme, based on the
exer- cise of drawing from drawings, from casts after the Antique and from the
live model, and on students’ competitions and regular lectures.8 The print,
which embodies this theoretical and didactic approach, is based on a drawing
now preserved at Chatsworth (fig. 1), commissioned from Maratti by one of his most
faithful patrons, Gaspar Méndez de Haro y Guzmán, 7th Marquis of Carpio,
(1629–87), Spanish ambassador in Rome between 1677 and 1682.9 A sketchier
version, in the same direction as the print but with differences in detail, is
at the Wadsworth Atheneum (fig. 2).10 Art lover, collector and patron, Carpio
commissioned from contemporary Roman artists a large series of drawings with
the practice, theory, and nature of painting as their subject.11 The result was
a sophisticated collection of allegories of art, of which Maratti’s drawing is
by far the most celebrated, largely due to Dorigny’s print.12 Another drawing
with the Allegory of Ignorance Ensnaring Painting and Massacring the Fine Arts,
now in the Louvre, was probably produced by Maratti for Carpio as a pendant to
the Academy of Drawing, and as such was later engraved by Dorigny with a
similar explanatory inscription devoted to the ‘Lovers of the Fine Arts’ (fig.
3).13 Possibly intended from the beginning to be printed, Maratti’s drawing for
the Academy of Drawing was later engraved by the Parisian printmaker, Nicolas
Dorigny, 1. Carlo Maratti, The Academy of Drawing, c. 1681–82, pen and brown
ink with brown wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk, 402 × 310
mm, Chatsworth, The Duke of Devonshire and the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees,
inv. 646 2. Carlo Maratti, The Academy of Drawing, c. 1681–82, pen and brown
ink and red chalk, 505 × 355 mm, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford,
CT, inv. 1967.309a who spent the years 1687–1711 in Rome. The rare first state,
exhibited here, was probably published around 1702–03 under the supervision of
Maratti, who owned the copper- plates and who, no doubt, was the author of the
explanatory inscriptions below this print and its pendant.14 The reason why it
took twenty years for the original drawing and its pendant to be engraved, may
be due to the fact that Carpio left Rome in 1683 to become Viceroy of Naples
and his move might have brought the original publication project to a halt.
After Maratti’s death in 1713, the plates were purchased by Jacob Frey
(1681–1752) who published a second state in 1728.15 The image is a very
condensed and crowded composi- tion, in line with similar examples by Stradanus
(cat. 4), Pierfrancesco Alberti (cat. 2, 1), and others, which would certainly
have been known to Maratti.16 The Academy of Drawing is presented as an antique
academy devoted to intellectual pursuits, clearly reminiscent of Raphael’s
School of Athens in the Vatican Stanze, and in general subtle refer- ences to
Raphael’s works are ubiquitous throughout.17 We are invited to follow the
different disciplines and principles essential for the education of the young
artists, distributed visually and symbolically in an ascent: from the technical
and mathematical rudiments for the representation of space in the foreground,
to the ideal models for the depiction of the human figure in the upper left
part of the composition, and finally to the divinely inspired grace and
artistic talent on the upper left background, without which all the previous
learning would be useless. Bellori, in his biography 3. Nicolas Dorigny after
Carlo Maratti, Allegory of Ignorance ensnaring Painting and mas- sacring the
Fine Arts, 1704–10, etching and engraving, 468 × 319 mm, The British Museum,
Department of Prints and Draw- ings, London, inv. 1874,0808.1714 that. We know
from another passage in Bellori that Maratti, although he ‘always considered perspective and anat- omy necessary to the
painter’, abhorred some ‘masters, or rather modern censors who, having learned
a line or two of perspective or anatomy, the minute they look at a picture look
for the vanishing point and the muscles, and scold,
correct, accuse and criticise the most eminent masters’.23 Maratti’s attitude
was, in fact, very much in line with the Italian art theory of the second half
of the 16th century.24 Most writers agreed that, although the knowledge of
mathematical sciences was vital, the artist’s judgement and his eye must be the
ultimate criteria in the artistic process. Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) clearly
formulated this concept, paraphrasing Michelangelo’s famous saying that ‘it was
necessary to have the compasses in the eyes and not in the hand, because the
hands work and the eyes judge’.25 This opinion was rephrased by Giovanni Paolo
Lomazzo (1538– 1600) who wrote precisely that ‘all the reasoning of geome- try
and arithmetic, and all the proofs of perspective were of no use to a man
without the eye’, and shared also by Federico Zuccaro (c. 1540–1609) the
founder and first principal of the reformed Accademia di San Luca in 1593 (see
cat. 5).26 A similar approach was reserved for the study of anatomy, the excess
of which, as represented by Michelangelo – who is not alluded to in the print –
was explicitly condemned by Giovan Battista Armenini (c. 1525–1609) and others,
an opinion supported by Bellori and Maratti.27 The ‘Young Students of Drawing’,
to which the print is dedicated, need instead to focus their attention on, and
constantly draw from, ancient statues, here represented by 4. Raphael, Apollo,
detail, School of Athens, 1509–11, fresco, Stanza della Segnatura, Apostolic
Palace, Vatican City of Maratti, left unfinished at his death in 1696,
provides a description of one of Maratti’s original drawings (figs 1–2) and
this, plus the explanatory inscription on the print, constitute the best guide
to interpret the composition.18 At the centre a ‘master of perspective’
indicates to a young disciple the visual pyramid and various geometrical
figures traced on a canvas placed on an easel, at the bottom of which we read:
‘TANTO CHE BASTI’, ‘Enough to suffice’.19 The same inscription recurs on the
ground on the left, in front of another pupil intent at drafting geometrical
figures on the abacus with his compass, a gesture evoking that of Archimedes in
Raphael’s School of Athens. As Bellori explains, this is to signify that ‘once
the young have learned the rules necessary to their studies’ – geometry and
perspec- tive – ‘they should pass on without stopping’.20 On the right, below
the easel, we see a stool supporting the physical tools of the art of painting:
another compass and a palette with various brushes. Behind them a ruler leans
diagonally against the canvas. The same warning ‘TANTO CHE BASTI’ reappears on
the left on the pedestal supporting a life-size anatomical écorché, in a pose
reminiscent of the Borghese Gladiator (see 41, 54 and cat. 23, 1). Several
students draw its muscles, directed by Leonardo, whose anatomical studies were
very well known, especially after the first publication of his treatise on
painting in 1651.21 ‘Anatomy and the drawing of lines’ continues Bellori, ‘do
indeed fall under definite rules and can be learned perfectly by anyone, just
as geometry used formerly to be learned in school from childhood’.22 They
therefore constitute those sciences that can be taught by rational precepts.
But if the young students want to become great artists they need much more
than 150 151 the gigantic Farnese Hercules (see 30, 32 and
cat. 7, 1), by a Venus Pudica reminiscent of the Venus de’Medici (see 42, fig.
56) and by an Apollo, the latter clearly derived from the statue presiding over
the philosophers in the School of Athens (fig. 4).28 Apollo, as patron of the
arts, combining together a reference to the Antique and to Raphael,
conveniently substitutes for the Belvedere Antinous (see 26, fig. 22 and cat.
19) seen on the earlier sketch (fig. 2).29 The study of classi- cal sculptures,
as the inscription on the wall behind the Apollo instructs us, is ‘NON MAI
ABASTANZA’, ‘Never enough’, as they contain ‘the example and the perfection of
painting together with good imitation selected from
nature’ as Bellori tells us.30 In other words, they materialise Bellori’s
concept of the ‘Idea’, intended as the selection of the best parts of Nature
according to the right judgement of the artist in order to create ideal beauty
(see Appendix, no. 11). If a young artist assimilates their principles, he will
have a secure guide towards artistic perfection. On the left, sitting on clouds,
the Three Graces – again referring to the similar figures painted by Raphael in
the Villa Farnesina in Rome – are there to remind us: ‘SENZA DI NOI OGNI FATICA
E VANA’, ‘Without us, all labour is in vain’. Without natural talent and divine
inspiration, all the efforts and studies depicted below would be ultimately
useless. The concept of grace was one of the crucial features in Vasari’s
theory of art, intended as a certain sweetness and facility of execution,
dependent on natural talents – namely judgement and the eye – as opposed to
beauty which is based on the rules of proportions and mathematics.31 But the
great artist must cultivate this natural gift through constant study and, for
Bellori, constant imitation of the Antique and of the great masters, especially
Raphael, the excellence and grace of whom he exalted in several of his
publications.32 Therefore our print reminds us in its subject of the necessary
union of natural talent and study. At the same time it provides in its very
forms an ideal example of inventive imitation, namely Maratti’s assimilation of
the Antique and Raphael. The need to insist on these very points reflects the
particular moment in which our image was created. In 1676 the Accademia di San
Luca and the Parisian Académie Royale were formally amalgamated and at times
French painters became principals of San Luca – Errard and Brun. While sharing
the same values and attitudes, the Italian could never feel comfortable with
the extreme ration- alisation of art characteristic of so much French theory
and academic approach.34 The methodical and precise dissection of painting into
its main components, as expressed for instance in the Académie’s Conférences,
is in fact probably 152 alluded to in the speaker seen below the Graces in our
image, who uses his fingers to enumerate the main points of his arguments –
referring to Socrates in the School of Athens. The early Académie’s Conférences
were published by André Félibien (1619–95) in 1668, and their official
presentation at San Luca in 1681 generated a discussion that was most likely at
the origin of Maratti’s Academy of Drawing, as reported by Melchior Missirini
(1773–1849) in his history of the Accademia di San Luca.35 After the reading of
the last two Conférences, devoted to the analysis of the drawing, colour,
composition, proportions and expressions of Poussin’s paintings, one of San
Luca’s members, Giovanni Maria Morandi (1622–1717), raised the objection that
the French had left out art’s most important and beautiful element: grace, that
sublime and delicate quality of the ‘imitative practice’, which appeals to the
heart rather than the mind.36 The elderly Bellori, present in the audience,
interrupted the speech remarking that grace was indeed Apelle’s and Raphael’s
best quality, ‘and it is well known’, continues Missirini, ‘that Maratti, who
also devoted every effort to obtain this quality, induced by these words
painted his three graces with the motto ‘Without you, everything is
worthless’.37 No doubt conceived as a response to this intellectual debate, as
a defence of the Florentine and Roman attitude and tradition versus its French
counterpart, Maratti’s Accademia must be understood also as a celebration of
classicism against those painters and theorists who were at that time criticising
its values and outcomes. In particular the Venetian Marco Boschini (1515–80)
and the Bolognese Cesare Malvasia (1613–93) in their treatises published in the
1770s had attacked the pictorial tradition based on disegno and imitation of
the Antique, supporting instead colore and naturalism.38 They, as Bellori
remarks right before his discus- sion of Maratti’s drawing, taught ‘in their
schools and in their books that Raphael is dry and hard, that his style is
statue- like’.39 This dispute had its counterpart in France where the Querelle
du coloris had been fiercely debated in the 1770s.40 The theoretical battle
escalated further with the publication in 1681 of the Notizie de’ professori
del disegno by the Florentine Filippo Baldinucci (1625–97), who strongly defended
Vasari and the Central Italian tradition, at the same time directly attacking
Malvasia.41 The early 1680s were therefore a moment of intense debate within
and between the Italian and French artistic schools and theoretical traditions,
of which this image is one of the most telling documents. In the following
decades Maratti became the leading artistic authority in Rome. His devotion to
Raphael was rewarded in 1693 when he was appointed Keeper of the Vatican
Stanze, which he then restored in 1702–03, having already worked on the
restoration of Raphael’s frescoes in the Farnesina from 1693.42 In 1699 he was
re-elected principal of San Luca, a position he held until his death in 1713.
Pope Clement XI (r. 1700–21) nominated Maratti Director of the Antiquities in
Rome in 1702, and officially sanctioned support for his classicism by
establishing papal-sponsored competitions, the Concorsi Clementini, at the
Academy.43 It is probably in celebration of the final affirmation of this
classicist aesthetic that Maratti decided to finally print in 1702, or soon
after, the complex drawing celebrating above all the study of Antique that he
had produced twenty years 44 ‘The School of Drawing, a figurative drawing by
Cavalier Carlo Maratti, can contribute much to the disenchantment of those who
believe that through knowledge and study of many arts they can become most
accomplished in the art of painting without first acquiring the highest skill
in drawing and without the natural gift and innate capacity to give, with grace
and ease, life and shapeliness to the parts of a work they set out to depict.
In addition, he [Maratti] gives form to his fine thought through the activities
pointed out here. To one side there are some students of the mathematics of
Geometry and Optics that feed into Perspective: elsewhere there are others
intent on the observation of an anatomical model, from which can be learned the
just proportions of the limbs, the placement of the muscles and sinews that
compose a figure, as set out with precision by Leonardo da Vinci, a likeness of
whom is given, with the motto ‘Enough to suffice’, to evince that, of these
professional skills, he who pursues drawing must be competent enough to bring
any idea to a perfect outcome. But for those shown engaged in the study of
classical statues, slight attention to the same is of no use since the point is
to make a long and detailed study so as learn the forms of the beautiful; and
classical statues are given as the most perfect for this since those great
sculptors gave shape to bodies in the most perfect state that Nature herself
can create, which explains the presence of the motto: ‘Never enough’.
Everything, however, would be futile without the assistance of the Graces,
understood, as mentioned, as a natural bent for composing and arranging with
grace and delicacy those postures and movement of figures from which derive the
beauty and allure that stir wonder and pleasure in the spectator, wherefore
they are set for that purpose up above on the clouds as indication that this
gift comes only from heaven, and are given the motto: ‘Without us all labour is
in vain’. Live happily’ (translation by Michael Sullivan). For a biographical
summary see Rudolph 2000. Schaar and Sutherland Harris 1967. See Bellori 1976, 625,
636, 639. See Baldinucci 1975, 307. On Maratti’s cult for and imitation of
Raphael see also Mena Marqués 1990. Goldstein 1978, 3. For the text of
Bellori’s Idea see Bellori 1976, 13–25, and for an English translation see
Bellori 2005, 55–65. On it see Mahon 1947, esp. 109– 54, 242–43; Panofsky 1968,
103–11; Bellori 1976, esp. xxix–xl; Barasch 2000, 1, 315–22; Cropper 2000. On
Maratti’s role within the Accademia see Goldstein 1978, esp. 2–5. On Bellori’s
see Cipriani 2000. Jaffé 1994, 128, no. 251 646. It is not fully clear whether
Dorigny used the Chatsworth drawing or a lost copy of it, as he arrived in Rome
in 1687, five years after Del Carpio had left the city to become Viceroy of
Naples: see Rome 2000b, 2, 483, no. 1 (S. Rudolph). Philadelphia 1980–81, 116,
note 3 and 4; Winner 1992, 512, 5. Bellori 1976, 629–31. On Del Carpio’s
commission see Haskell 1980, 190–92; Pierguidi 2008; Frutos Sastre 2009, 369–71.
For other drawings of the series, see Winner 1992. For the drawing (Louvre,
Paris, inv. 17950) see Rome 2000b, 2, 484, no. 3 (S. Rudolph). For the print
see Philadelphia 1980–81, 114–16, no. 101 B (A. E. Golahny); Rome 2000b, 2, 484–85,
no. 4 (S. Rudolph). For the transcription of the print’s inscription see Winner
1992, 517–18, note 7. See Philadelphia 1980–81, 114–16, no. 101 A and B (A. E.
Golahny); Rome 2000b, 2, 483, no. 2 (S. Rudolph). This second state contains
the address of Frey. Rudolph (Rome 2000b, 2, 483, no. 2), supposes that the
long explanatory inscription was added only to this second state, while the
impression exhibited here proves that it was inserted in the first state as
well. The inscription is mentioned also in a chronological list of Maratti’s
prints produced in 1711: see Rudolph 1978, Appendix, 203, no 38.
Kutschera-Woborsky 1919; Winner 1992, especially 521–22, 531. Although some
will be discussed here, the references to Raphael are too many to be covered
comprehensively. For a fuller discussion see Winner 1992. Bellori 1976, 629–31.
For an English translation, see Bellori 2005, 422–23. Bellori’s unfinished
biography of Maratti was first published with modifications in 1731 and
independently in 1732. See Bellori 1976, 571, note 1; Bellori 2005, 435, note
4. For modern critical editions of the text, see Bellori 1976, 569–654; Bellori
2005, 395–440. Winner (1992, 524) suggests that the ‘master of perspective’
could be Vitruvius, as the geometrical figures on the canvas are similar to
those illustrated by Andrea Palladio in Daniele Barbaro’s edition of Vitruvius’
De architectura (1556). On the other hand the visual pyramid clearly refers to
Albertian perspective, as it had been recently republished and illustrated in
Dufresne 1651, see especially 17–18. Bellori 1976, 630; Bellori 2005, 423.
Dufresne 1651: see esp. the ‘Vita di Lionardo da Vinci descritta da Rafaelle du
Fresne’, at the beginning of the volume (not paginated) and 5, ch. XXII, 12,
ch. LVII. Bellori 1976, 631; Bellori 2005, 423. Bellori 1976, 629; Bellori
2005, 422. On Bellori’s sources in general see esp. Barocchi 2000; Perini
2000a. Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 6, 109. See also
Vasari’s introduction to his chapter on Sculpture: Bettarini and Barocchi
1966–87, 1, 84–86. Lomazzo 1584, 262 (book V, chap. 7). Zuccaro 1607, 2, 29–30
(book II, chap. 6). See Armenini 1587, 63–67 (book I, chap. 8); Bellori 1976, 630;
Bellori 2005, 423. On this see also Pierguidi 2014. Bellori had specifically
praised the Farnese Hercules and the Venus de’Medici in his Idea: Bellori 1976,
18; Bellori 2005, 59. On this see also Winner 1992, 532. On the Farnese
Hercules see Haskell and Penny 1981, 229–32, no. 46; Gasparri 2009–10, 3, 17–20,
no. 1. On the Venus de’ Medici see Haskell and Penny 1981, 325–28, no. 88;
Cecchi and Gasparri 2009, 74–75, no. 64 (137). On the Belvedere Antinous see
Haskell and Penny 1981, 141–43, no. 4; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 62, no. 10. Bellori
1976, 630; Bellori 2005, 423. Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 3, 399, 4, 5–6.
See also Blunt 1978, 93–99. Bettarini and Barocchi 1966–87, 3, 399; Bellori
1976, 625–26; Bellori 2005, 421. Also for Armenini
‘una bella e dotta maniera’ could be acquired only if the artist has a natural
gift cultivated by study (Armenini 1587, see esp. 6 of the Proemio and 51–69,
book I, chs 7 and 8). Bellori’s essays on Raphael, written at various dates,
were published in Bellori 1695. On Raphael and grace in Bellori see Maffei
2009. On the cult of Raphael in the 17th century see Perini 2000b. Boyer 1950, 117;
Goldstein 1970, 227–41; Bousquet 1980, 110–11; Goldstein 1996, 45–46. Mahon
1947, 188–89. Missirini 1823, 145–46 (ch. XCI); Mahon 1947, 189; Goldstein
1996, 46. Missirini 1823, 145. Ibid., 146. Boschini 1674; Malvasia 1678.
Bellori 1976, 627; Bellori 2005, 421. On the ‘statuelike’ concept, or
‘statuino’ see esp. Malvasia 1678, 1, 359, 365, 484. See also Pericolo’s
forthcoming article. I wish to thank Dr Lorenzo Pericolo for generously putting
this study at my disposal. See Teyssèdre 1965; Puttfarken 1985; Arras and
Épinal 2004 with previous bibliography. Baldinucci 1681, see esp. his
‘Apologia’ at 8–29. On the controversy between Malvasia and central Italian art
theorists see Perini 1988; Rudolph 1988–89; Emiliani 2000. See Zanardi 2007.
See Johns 1988. The second state of both prints, published by Jacob Frey in
1728 was explic- itly issued in parallel to the reward ceremony of the 1728
Concorso Clementino: see Rome 2000b, 2, 484–85, no. 4. earlier, with the
Allegory of Ignorance as its pendant 16. Charles-Joseph Natoire (Nîmes
1700–1777 Castel Gandolfo) The Life Class at the Royal Academy of Painting and
Sculpture 1746 Pen, black and brown ink, grey wash and watercolour and traces
of graphite over black chalk 453 × 322 mm Signed and dated by the artist on recto,
on the box at l.c., in pen and dark grey ink: ‘C. NATOIRE f. 1746’. provenance:
Possibly sold at the artist’s posthumous sale, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet, Paris,
14 December 1778, lot 100;1 purchased Aubert for 120 livres; Gilbert
Paignon-Dijonval (1708–92); Bruzard, Paris, 23–26 April 1839, part of lot 208;
Walker Gallery, acquired Sir Robert Witt (1872–1952) (L. suppl. 2228b); Sir
Robert Witt Bequest, 1952. selected literature: Bérnard 1810, 142, no. 3348;
Mirimonde 1958, 282, 3; Princeton 1977, 22–23, 3; Troyes, Nîmes and elsewhere
1977, 80, under no. 42; Roland Michel 1987, 58–59, 45; Foster 1998, 55–56, 13;
Amsterdam and Paris 2002–03, 85–88, under no. 25; Paris 2009–10, 40, 13;
Petherbridge 2010, 222, pl. 152; Caviglia-Brunel 2012, 122, repr., 336, no. D.
370, repr.; Rowell 2012, 179–80, 9; London 2013–14, 8, repr., 69, 24. selected
exhibitions: London 1950, 18, no. 54; London, York and elsewhere 1953, 27–28,
no. 79, not repr.; London 1953, 91–92, no. 391, not repr. (K. T. Parker and J.
Byam Shaw); Los Angeles 1961, 51, 58, no. 25; London 1962, 9–10, no. 37, not
repr.; Swansea 1962, unpaginated, no. 38; London 1968a, 101, no. 490 (D.
Sutton); King’s Lynn 1985, vi, no. 33, not repr.; London 1991, 80, no. 35 (G.
Kennedy); Paris 2000–01, 405–06, no. 210 (J.-P. Cuzin); London and New York
2012–13, 161–65, no. 33 (K. Scott). The Courtauld Gallery, Samuel
Courtauld Trust, London, D. 1952.RW.397 exhibited in london only Painter,
draughtsman and educator, Natoire was a contem- porary of François Boucher
(1703–70) and like him, executed both cabinet pictures and decorative schemes,
as well as history paintings.2 Trained in the studio of Lemoyne, Natoire
started his career with a series of successes: having won in 1721 the Prix de
Rome of the Académie Royale, he spent the years 1723–28 in Rome where in 1727
he received the most prestigious reward for a young painter, the first prize of
the Accademia di San Luca. Back in Paris in 1730, he was received (reçu) as a
full member of the Académie in 1734 and spent the following two decades
executing decorative ensembles in Royal Palaces and various hôtels and châteaux
of the aristocracy, such as the celebrated Hôtel de Soubise (now the Archives
Nationales) in Paris. In 1751 he was appointed Director of the Académie de
France in Rome and spent the rest of his life there, dying at Castel Gandolfo
in the Alban Hills in 1777. Natoire’s large and beautifully preserved drawing –
of which there is another version, dated 1745, almost identical but less
finished, in the Musée Atger in Montpellier – offers a rare glimpse of the
École du modèle of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Paris,
where young students spent hours copying the live model.3 But rather than a
faithful view of the École du modèle, which was a similar but rather different
space,4 it is an idealised representation of how Natoire thought it ought to
be. In essence, it is a visual manifesto for the Académie’s reform at a time,
as we shall see, when many of its original practices had been abandoned or
neglected. Trying, in a programmatic image, to convey as much infor- mation as
possible, Natoire ingeniously reconfigures the 154 space for his purpose: a
very high ceiling and an angular point of view allow maximum concentration and
display of objects. Crammed together, one on top of the other, we see drawings,
bas-reliefs, paintings of different format and size and, most importantly,
plaster casts after the Antique. Our attention is immediately drawn to the
seated figure at the lower left-hand corner wearing a bright red cloak, no
doubt Natoire himself: he had been appointed assistant pro- fessor at the
Académie royale in 1735, professor in 1737 and from 1736 was instructor in the
life class for the month of February.5 Comfortably seated in an armchair, his
tricorne hat resting on the box in the centre, he carefully corrects the black
chalk drawings after the two live models presented by his pupils. At the centre
of the composition, the attention of all students is directed to the two models
posed together, a monthly event at the Académie that had been introduced in the
mid-1660s.6 The teacher was responsible for placing the models ‘in an attitude’
for afternoon classes lasting two hours, using sunlight during the summer and
artificial light during the winter months.7 The sunlight filtering in from the
left is therefore imaginary, as in February, when Natoire was in charge of the
École du modèle, illumination would have been from lamps. Only male models were
allowed, despite repeated requests for female models from the students, all of
whom were also male since women were not allowed to join the Académie until the
end of the 19th century.8 The same pose was retained for three days in a row
for a total of six hours and students were supposed to produce two study
drawings of the figures each week.9 As in this case, a curtain was usually
placed behind the model or models, to enhance 155 the contours and
isolate the figure from the background. The plinth supporting the model had
hooks at the corner to allow the professor to move it according to the fall of
the light. In addition to posing the model, the ‘duty teacher’ from 1664
onwards was supposed to make his own drawing to serve as an example for the students
and to devote part of each session to correcting students’ works, as we see
represented in this drawing.10 Natoire’s own drawing of the two models may be
in the portfolio leaning against the box in the centre; indeed an identical red
chalk composition survives – although reversed – proving that this pose was
actually used during one of his sessions (fig. 1).11 The models’ attitude in
the middle follows the well- established practice within the Académie of
adopting and adapting poses to recall ancient statuary.12 In this case they
evoke the dynamic, interlocking bodies of the Wrestlers (see 30, 33), of which
the Académie possessed a plaster cast, or possibly the pose of the so-called
Pasquino.13 The main purpose of the practice was to pose the live model with
the same tension and flexing of muscles as the ancient statues, so that
students could then correct their drawings from ‘fallible Nature’ against the
perfection of the antique exam- ple. The practice was diffused already in the
17th century and explicitly recommended by Sébastien Bourdon (1616–71), in his
famous Conférence Sur les proportions de la figure humaine expliquées sur
l’Antique delivered at the Académie in 1670.14 We 1. Charles-Joseph Natoire,
Two Models, c. 1745, red chalk, 490 × 420 mm, sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 18 June
2008, lot 101 know from the influential Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux
peintres, published by the art writer Argenville, that the great painter Champaigne
devoted ‘his evenings to drawing at the Académie and, on his return,
he would correct from the Antique what he had done from the model’.15 Natoire
was exposed to a similar exercise during the years he spent at the Académie de
France in Rome during the 1720s and he must often have returned to this
practice during his sessions at the Académie in Paris.16 Distributed in a
semi-circle around the models are students of different ages, busy drawing the
figures. Most of them are using chalk in porte-crayons, drawing on large sheets
of paper. The exceptions are the two more mature students on the right who are
modelling bas-reliefs in clay with their fingers and wooden sticks; the one on
the right holds a sponge in his hand to clean the clay with water as seen in
the drawing by Cochin engraved for the Encyclopédie (p. 52, 91).17 The process
is clearly described in the Istruzione elementare per gli studiosi della
scultura, the famous manual for students of sculpture published by Francesco
Carradori (1747–1824) in 1802, and illustrated with a strikingly similar image
(fig. 2).18 A third student, in the lower right corner, is wetting rags in a
bucket to keep the clay damp and avoid cracks, as Carradori advised. On his
left a dog – could it be Natoire’s? – stares at us from its sheltered position.
The 2. Carradori, Istruzione elementare per gli studiosi della scultura,
Florence, 1802, detail of plate 5 disposition of the students reflects the
admission conditions and entrance hierarchy of the École du modèle: two-thirds
were painters and one-third sculptors, placed in the back rows.19 Behind the
semi-circle of students we see life-size plaster casts of four of the most
canonical classical sculptures: from left to right the Farnese Hercules (see 30,
32; cat. 7), the Laocoön (see 26, 19; cat. 5), the Venus de’ Medici (see 42, 56)
and the Borghese Gladiator (see 41, 54; cat. 23).20 The Hercules and the Venus
are looking away from the viewer, as if to signal that the study of the Antique
constitutes a different – though inextricably connected – practice from the
study of the live model. The four statues provided the students with idealised
models of human proportions, anatomy, beauty and emotion: the muscular strength
of the heroic male body at rest, embodied by the Hercules, the complex pose and
the pathos and drama of the Laocoön, the grace and beauty of the female body
ideally incarnated by the Venus and, finally, the active anatomy of the
muscular man in motion as expressed by the Gladiator. They repre- sented a sort
of ‘canon within the canon’ of classical sculptures for artists, and their choice
here is not accidental. These four statues – plus the Belvedere Torso and an
antique Bacchus at Versailles – had been specifically selected as subjects of
the Conférences devoted to the Antique held at the Académie Royale during the
1660s and 1670s; the text describing them was constantly being re-read by
academi- cians since then.21 At the time this drawing was made, the Académie
owned casts of all four statues – among many others – but Natoire ingeniously
concentrates here what was actually distributed over various rooms.22
Significantly, all the statues in the drawing are in reverse as Natoire did not
copy them from the casts but from prints in François Perrier’s celebrated
Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum of 1638 (figs 3–6).23 Perrier’s
collection of engravings after ancient statues had been for more than a century
the standard work of reference for students beginning their study of the
Antique, providing them with images in two dimensions that they could master
before approaching the three-dimensional casts. This course was firmly
recommended at the time of the foundation of the Académie in 1648 by Abraham
Bosse (1602–76), its first professor of perspective.24 References to the
glorious past of the Académie continue on the walls, where we are invited to
ascend from drawings and bas-reliefs to paintings. On the lower tier are the
designs and reliefs after the model that teachers had to produce from 1664
onwards (although this requirement was eventually abolished in 1715).25 Above
these are displayed a series of canvases representing some of the greatest
triumphs of modern French painting: the largest and most prominent, on the
left, is Charles Le Brun’s Alexander at the Tent of Darius (1661); to its
right, Jean Jouvenet’s Deposition (1697) and below it, barely discernible,
Eustache Le Sueur’s Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (1650). Above, in the upper
register, is hung another Le Sueur, the circular Alexander and His Doctor
(1648– 49). On the right is François Lemoyne’s Annunciation (1725); and finally,
below it Sébastien Bourdon’s Holy Family (1660– 70).26 The two square paintings
on the upper left, probably a reclining Nymph or Venus and a Cupid and Psyche,
have not been identified; it would be tempting to think that they might be
Natoire’s own creations, but they do not correspond to any of his known
works.27 None of the paintings were displayed at that time in the Académie and
all are reversed, meaning that Natoire deliberately assembled them in this
crowded space from prints.28 All were revered examples of history paintings by
famous past academicians, ranging from Le Brun, Le Sueur and Bourdon, who had
been among the twelve original founding members of the Académie in 1648, to
Lemoyne, Natoire’s own teacher. Showing different kinds of history painting –
Biblical subjects, Mythology and secular history – they here provide the young
students with models both to imitate and aspire to. On the central pier,
presiding over all the artistic activity below, is Bernini’s 1665 bust of Louis
XIV, of which the Académie then displayed a plaster cast,29 reminding us of the
glories of the institution under the reign of the Sun King. Such a deliberately
programmatic image, which assem- bles so many references from different places
and times, must be understood as a visual manifesto in favour of a retour à
l’ordre within the Académie. At the time Natoire conceived it, many of the
original academic practices and credos had long been neglected. After the late
17th century almost no new Conférences were held, and teachers simply re-read
the old ones and the biographies of past academicians.30 Nor does it seem that
the study of the Antique was much promoted and certainly the collection of
casts was not integrated with the École du modèle.31 Finally, and most impor-
tantly, during the first half of the 18th century, history painting had lost
its place of pre-eminence within the Académie, a process foreshadowed by the
success of Jean- Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and his acceptance into the
Académie in 1717 as a painter of fêtes galantes, a new category that encouraged
the development of the ‘lesser genres’ of painting.32 At the same time, because
of the popularity of ‘the Rococo interior’, history painters were often obliged
to adapt their canvases for decorative schemes, to the point that Natoire
complained in 1747 that his painting was regarded as mere furniture.33
Significantly, a completely different model was in place in Rome during the
years spent by Natoire in the city as a young 156 157 3.
(top left) François Perrier, Farnese Hercules, plate 4, from Segmenta nobilium
signorum et statuarum, Rome, 1638 4. (top right) François Perrier, Laocoön,
plate 1, from Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum, Rome, 1638 5. (bottom
left) François Perrier, Venus de’Medici, plate 83, from Segmenta nobilium
signorum et statuarum, Rome, 1638 6. (bottom right) François Perrier, Borghese
Gladiator, plate 28, from Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum, Rome, 1638
years implemented a series of radical changes – such as the re-establishment of
the Conférences, the acquisition of new casts, and making the history paintings
of the Royal Collection accessible to students – which paved the way to the
triumph of the highest genre in the second half of the century.36 It is at this
moment that Natoire’s drawing was conceived, probably as a statement in support
of Tournehem’s reforms. These, in essence, involved a return to the original
credo and mission of the Académie as devised by Louis XIV’s Minister Colbert
and his Premier Peintre Charles Le Brun (1619–90): a royal institu- tion
intended to support and cultivate History Painting through the practice of
drawing and the study of the live model and the Antique. Natoire would apply
many of the principles proclaimed in his drawing during his tenure as director
of the Académie de France in Rome after 1751. The fact that everything in the
Courtauld drawing – statues, paintings and even models – appears in reverse
would suggest that it was intended to be engraved.37 How- ever, the students
hold the porte-crayons in their right hands, which would seem to contradict
this theory. In any case, it is highly likely that this complex image was
conceived to be diffused for promotional purposes, possibly on the example of
Dorigny’s engraving after Maratti (cat. 15), which Natoire would certainly have
known.38 It would have been a persuasive way to promote the study of the live
model together with the study of the Antique, a training that would effectively
prepare young artists to revive those noble forms of painting that had been the
glory of the Grand Siècle. London 2013–14, 33. See the 11th article of the 1664
reformed statutes of the Académie: Montaiglon 1875–92, 1, 253. See also London
2013–14, 33–34. The fact that the drawing is in reverese seems to suggest that
it is a counter- proof. For the drawing see Caviglia-Brunel 2012, 481, no.
D.794, repr. in colour at 128. The drawing was sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, 18
June 2008, no. 101. Some of Natoire’s drawings after the live model were
published in 1745: Huquier 1745. Paris 2000–01, 415–29; London 2013–14, 62–69.
Guérin 1715, 148, no. 49; London 2013–14, 94, note 62. On the pose of the two
models see also Foster 1998, 56–57. On the Pasquino see Haskell and Penny 1981,
291–96, no. 72; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 202, no. 155 Lichtenstein and Michel
2006-12, 1.1, 374–77. See also Goldstein 1996, 150. Dezailler d’Argenville
1745–52, 2, 182. Macsotay 2010, 189–90. As noted by Gillian Kennedy in London
1991, 80, no. 35. I wish to thank Camilla Pietrabissa for a fruitful discussion
on the subject. Carradori 1802, esp. 3–4, article 2, and plate 5; Carradori
2002, 23–24, and 60–61, plate 5. London 2013–14, 34. On the Farnese Hercules
see Haskell and Penny 1981, 229–32, no. 46; Gasparri 2009–10, 3, 17–20, no. 1.
On the Laocoön see Haskell and Penny 1981, 243–47, no. 52; Bober and Rubinstein
2010, 164–68, no. 122. On the Venus de’ Medici see Haskell and Penny 1981, 325–28,
no. 88. On the Borghese Gladiator see Haskell and Penny 1981, 221–24, no. 43;
Paris 2000–01, no. 1, 150–51 (L. Laugier); Pasquier 2000–01c. Lichtenstein and
Michel 2006–12, see esp. vols 1–2, passim. See also Aymonino’s essay in this
catalogue, 45–46. Guérin 1715, 62, no. 35, 105–06, nos 1–2, 185, no. 41; London
and New York 2012–13, 162; London 2013–14, 94, note 62. On Perrier’s
Segmenta see Picozzi 2000; Laveissière 2011; Di Cosmo 2013; Fatticcioni 2013.
Bosse 1649, 98. On the success of the Segmenta see Haskell and Penny
1981, 21; Goldstein 1996, 144; Coquery 2000, 43–44. See also Aymonino’s essay
in this catalogue, 42. London 2013–14, 53. On a similar display in the real
École du modèle see Guérin 1715, 258 London 1991, 80, no. 35; Caviglia-Brunel
2012, 334, no. D.362; London and New York 2012–13, 161. The Montpellier version
also shows Poussin’s circular Time defending Truth against the Attacks of Envy
and Discord on the ceiling: see Caviglia-Brunel 2012, 334, no. D.362. I would
like to thank Alastair Laing for discussing these two paintings with me. London
1991, 80, no. 35. It was previously thought that the print from Lemoyne’s
Annunciation was not in reverse but this has been disproven by Rowell 2012, see
p. 178, 7 and p. 180, note 27. Guérin 1715, p. 165, no. 1. See Lichtenstein and
Michel 2006–12, passim. Guérin 1715, 257–60. See also Foster 1998, 56–57;
Schnapper 2000; Macsotay 2010. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Plax 2000. Jouin 1889;
London 1991, p. 80, no. 35. On the Concorsi Clementini see Cipriani and
Valeriani 1988–91 and Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, p. 54. See also cat.
15. Macsotay 2010; Henry 2010–11. Locquin 1912, 5–13; Schoneveld-Van Stoltz
1989, 216–28; Caviglia- Brunel 2012, 86–87. As already noted in Troyes, Nîmes
and elsewhere 1977, p. 80, no. 42. Dorigny’s print was reissued in 1728, in
parallel to the award ceremony of the Concorsi Clementini, when Natoire was
still in Rome (see cat. 15). student. The Accademia di San Luca
officially supported the copying of the Antique and the production of history
painting through the system of the Concorsi Clementini, established in 1702, of
which, as we know, Natoire obtained the first prize.34 At the same time the
Académie de France in Rome saw a complete reorganisation under the directorship
of Nicholas Vleughels (1668-1737) between 1725 and 1737. Its enormous
collection of casts was redisplayed and integrated with the Ecole du modèle and
its students, like Natoire, were strongly encouraged to compare the ideal of casts
from the Antique against nature in the form of the live model, as we see
promulgated in our drawing.35 These principles began to be re-introduced in
Paris after the election in 1745 of Charles- François-Paul Le Normant de
Tournehem – the uncle of Madame de Pompadour – as director of the Bâtiments du
Roi, the official protector of the Académie Royale on behalf of the king.
Tournehem initiated a reform aimed at the rehabilitation of history painting,
and in the following aa Lot 100 is
probably this drawing but it could also refer to the very similar version of
this sheet now preserved at the Musée Atger, Montpellier, inv. MA1, album M43
fol. 26: see Troyes, Nîmes and elsewhere 1977, p. 80, no. 42; London 1991, p.
80, no. 35; Caviglia-Brunel 2012, p. 334, no. D.362 and p. 336, no. D. 370,
where the lot description is transcribed in full. On Natoire see Troyes, Nîmes
and elsewhere 1977; Caviglia-Brunel 2012. For the Monpellier drawing see above
note 1. Guérin 1715, 257–60, plate between 256–57; Caviglia-Brunel 2012, p.
334, no. D.362; London and New York 2012–13, 161–62, 68. Montaiglon 1875–92,
5, 171, 193; London 1991, p. 80, no. 35; Caviglia-Brunel 2012, p. 334, no.
D.362. Guérin 1715, p. 259; London 1991, p. 80, no. 35; London 2013–14, 46, 62.
See the 4th article of the 1648 statutes of the
Académie: Montaiglon 1875–92, 1, p. 8. See also Guérin 1715, p. 258. London
2013–14, p. 40. Women were admitted to the Académie, then named École des
Beaux-Arts, only in 1896 and allowed to enrol for the Prix de Rome in 1903:
Goldstein 1996, p. 61. 17. Hubert Robert (Paris 1733–1808 Paris) The
Artist Seated at a Table, Drawing a Bust of a Woman c. 1763–65 Red chalk, 333 ×
441 mm provenance: Poulet, whence acquired by Pierre Decourcelle (1856–1926),
Paris in October 1912 for 300 francs;1 by descent; Decourcelle sale,
Christie’s, Paris, 21 March 2002, lot 317, from whom acquired. literature:
Paris 1933, p. 124, under no. 197; Rome 1990–91, p. 191, under no. 135; Ottawa,
Washington D.C., and elsewhere 2003–04, p. 308, under no. 92, 142.
exhibitions: Paris 1922, p. 16, no. 85, not repr. Katrin Bellinger collection,
inv. no. 2002–012 Hubert Robert received a classical education at the Collège
de Navarre before studying drawing in the studio of the sculptor, Michel-Ange
Slodtz (1705–64). Even during this early period, he showed an interest in
‘architecture in ruins’.2 Although not eligible for a place at the Académie de
Rome – he had not attended the requisite École Royale des élèves protégés –
family connections allowed him to bypass this regulation and on 4 November 1754
Robert arrived in Rome in the retinue of the new French ambassa- dor,
Étienne-François, comte de Stainville (1719–85), later duc de Choiseul. The
diplomat sponsored Robert for the first three years of his stay before he was
granted pensionnaire status at the Academy in 1759, under the directorship of
Joseph-Charles Natoire (see cat. 16).3 Robert remained in Rome – with
intermittent study trips to Naples, Florence and elsewhere in Italy – for
eleven years, responding to the fertile archaeological climate, sparked by
recent excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as the newly opened
Capitoline Museum, and indulging his fascination for classical ruins. Natoire
encouraged Robert and the other students to sketch antiquities outdoors in
situ, in the Roman campagna and beyond. Robert also took inspiration from the
work of other mentors including the celebrated vedu- tista, Giovanni Paolo
Panini (c. 1692–1765), and the printmaker and draughtsman, Giovanni Battista
Piranesi (1720–78). With his friend and compatriot, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
(1732–1806), Robert enthusiastically sketched classical monuments and
antiquities in and around Rome, later fusing real and imagined elements to
create highly original compositions – often punctuated by ancient ruins or
dilapidated architectural fragments – that would become a trademark of his
work. The vast repository of motifs amassed by him during this productive Roman
period, coupled to his facile draughtsmanship, would serve him well for years
to come. He became a star pupil of the Academy and his drawings in particular
would be eagerly sought after before he returned to France in 1765, where he
entered the Académie Royale and successfully exhibited at the Salons.4 160
Undoubtedly one of his finest red chalk drawings, the present study shows the
artist in a rare moment of casual repose, seated at a table and drawing, legs
casually extended and crossed, stockinged feet resting carelessly on a large
portfolio of drawings lying open on the floor.5 His relaxed, almost dishevelled
appearance and level of undress – the fallen left knee-sock slumped around his
ankle, the unbut- toned breeches and the disregarded, rumpled, coat, strewn on
a chair opposite alongside his hat and the long shadows cast – all suggest that
it is the end of a long day and he is at home, resuming a favourite activity:
drawing. The focus of Robert’s gaze is the bust of an attractive young woman in
right profile placed on the table. With his chalk-filled porte-crayon in hand,
he stares intently at her, poised to sketch. Her head titled downwards, she returns
his steady gaze; there is a palpable tension between them. However, the
presence of a third figure threatens to interrupt their private moment. With a
side-glance, a bearded man drawn on a sheet pinned up on the wall between them
also watches the young woman, thereby completing an amusing love triangle of
Robert’s invention. The object of the men’s attention is the Roman Empress,
Faustina the Younger (c. ad 125/30–175), daughter of Emperor Antonius Pius and
Faustina the Elder (fig. 1). She married Emperor Marcus Aurelius, perhaps the
bearded rival in the drawing on the wall.6 Her marble bust was discovered in
Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli and in 1748 presented by Benedict XIV to the
Capitoline Museum where Robert would have seen it.7 Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, the
Roman sculptor and antiquities restorer, who worked on the original for a year
after its discovery and made several copies after it, was an acquaintance of
Robert’s who occasionally visited his studio (cat. 18).8 In fact, his red chalk
drawing in the Château Borély in Marseilles (cat. 18, 6) records an antiquities
restorer, quite possibly Cavaceppi himself, working on a female bust.9 The
present composition is repeated in a small signed painting in the Museum
Boijmans Van Beuningen in 161 room’s generous proportions, the beamed
ceiling and for- mal window, the elegant Louis XV-style table– are consistent
with those found in Robert’s detailed sanguine of Breteuil’s grand Salone.13
Thus, it is highly likely that the composition was conceived during his stay at
the Ambassador’s residence, 1763–65, and that it is Breteuil’s guest room that
is shown. Perhaps the drawing, more a ricordo than a preliminary study for the
painting, was intended as a gift to the host, as a gesture of gratitude and
friendship. A highly regarded collector and patron of the arts, Breteuil was an
ardent admirer of Robert’s work.14 At the outset of his posting in Rome,
Natoire praised the diplomat as an informed collector who already owned
‘quelque chose’ by Robert.15 Breteuil would later procure many of Robert’s
drawings as well as paintings.16 A close friendship between patron and artist
followed, evidently based on a shared love of art and antiquity in all its
forms.17 Together they translated texts by Virgil and took sightseeing trips in
Rome, and at least one to Florence.18 The Ambassador asked Robert to accompany
him to Sicily ‘pour visiter et dessiner les beaux morceaux antiques qui sont
dans ses cantons-là’, but, it seems, the trip never took place.19
Representations of artists in the act of drawing antique sculpture and other
works of art are recurrent in Robert’s oeuvre along with representations of
classical architecture in ruin. Detailed studies made on the spot such as The
Draughts- man at the Capitoline, c. 1763 (p. 56, 95) convey something of the
wonder and excitement that he must have felt at 20 encountering these
celebrated sights for the first time. He often represented himself or his
associates in grandiose, stage-like settings or as art tourists, of the sort
that he would frequently have encountered. But as an intimate scene of private
contemplation, the present drawing stands apart 2. Hubert Robert, The Artist in
his Studio, c. 1763–65, oil on canvas, 37 × 48 cm, Museum Boijmans van
Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2586 (OK) 3. Hubert Robert, Young Artists in the Studio,
red chalk, with framing lines in pen and brown ink, 352 × 412 mm, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, 1972.118.23 from these. It bears a close resemblance
to a composition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 3) showing the same
room but on another day with visitors: a bare-footed servant and two artists –
one drawing, the other inspecting the portfolio.21 A little-known red chalk
study formerly in the Camille Groult collection in Paris (fig. 4) probably
preceded 22 the present drawing. It shows the same relaxed figure alone –
Robert – in identical attire but fully dressed and outdoors, lying on the
ground and sketching, presumably after his favourite subject: the Antique. 4.
Hubert Robert, Le Dessinateur, red chalk, 300 × 400 mm, present whereabouts
unknown 1. Bust of Empress Faustina the Younger, 147–48 ad,
marble, 60 cm (h), Musei Capitolini, Rome, inv. MC449 Rotterdam (fig. 2).10 It
is of similar dimensions to the drawing but a few modifications were made:
Robert no longer has a full head of hair and the open portfolio used as a foot
rest is now safely closed, while another leans against his chair. The view of
the room is wider and includes a high, beamed ceiling, a generously sized
window and a table on the right, on which rest tools and utensils. A further
nod to antiquity is a lively copy after the celebrated Roman sculpture,
Germanicus (cat. 33, 4) on a pedestal on the left. While it was found in Rome,
in Robert’s time the statue was already in Versailles.11 But its fame endured
in Italy and a plaster cast was available for study at the French Academy in
Rome. Further playful details were introduced: a framed picture and
precariously hung drawings (including a possible por- trait of Faustina); a
charming dog that takes a keen interest in Robert’s casually flung slippers.
While the intimate nature of the scene, bordering on genre, suggests this is
indeed Robert’s private space, its spacious grandeur is not that of his student
lodging at the Academy. When his official term as pensionnaire ended in October
1763, his stay was extended by the largesse of the French Ambassador of the
Order of Malta to the Holy See, the Bailli de Breteuil (1723–85), who housed
him at his palace on the Via dei Condotti until he returned to Paris in July 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 avl According to N. Schwed (e-mail, 30 July 2014), this
information was provided to Christie’s at the time of the Decourcelle sale in
2002. Taillasson 1808, 473. Letters exchanged between the influential Marquis
de Marigny, Director General of King Louis XV’s buildings (and brother of his
mistress, Madame de Pompadour), and Charles-Joseph Natoire, Director of the
French Academy in Rome published by A. de Montaiglon and J. Guiffrey between
1887–1912 provide essential details about Robert and his stay in Italy. For Robert and Choiseul, see ibid., 11, 262, no. 5331. Collector and
connoisseur, Pierre-Jean Mariette preferred Robert’s draw- ings to his
paintings: ‘ses tableaux est fort inferieur à ses desseins [sic], dans lesquels
il met beaucoup d’esprit’ (Mariette 1850–60, 4, 414). Letters between Marigny and Natoire mention requests from Mariette for
drawings: Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 11, 365, no. 5477; 367, no. 5483; 388,
no. 5521; 428, no. 5589. The traditional view that the drawing is a
self-portrait (Paris 1922, 16, no. 85; Paris 1933, 124, under no. 197), upheld
in the recent literature, need not be questioned. The figure resembles Augustin
Pajou’s marble bust of Robert (1780) in the École Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s 1788 portrait of him in the Louvre. He
has all the characteristics of an emperor from the Antonine period. It could
well be a reference to the bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Capitoline Museum.
See Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 1, 76–77, no. 69, 2, pls 79, 81–82. A copy by
Cavaceppi in terracotta is preserved in the Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, see
Rome 1994, 104, no. 19, repr. For the bust, see Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 1,
pp.20–21, no. 19, 2, pls 24–26. For its restoration, see London 1983, 66–67.
Cavaceppi’s posthumous inventory of 1802 mentions two marble Faustinas and one
plaster cast (Gasparri and Ghiandoni
1994, 264, no. 310, 270, no. 624 and 286, no. 109). For surviving copies by
Cavaceppi, predominantly acquired by English collectors, see Howard 1970, 123,
figs 8 and 9, 128; Howard 1982, 240, no. 6, 313, 133, 83, 251, 25–26, 326, 211,
264, no. 14, 268, no. 15, 419; I. Bignamini, in London and Rome 1996–97, 211–12,
no. 159; D. Walker, in Philadelphia and Houston 2000, 242, no. 120. This is
not, however, Faustina, as Marianne Roland Michel proposed (Marseille 2001, 96,
no. 109). For the painting, see J. Ebeling, in Ottawa, Washington D.C. and
elsewhere 2003–04, 308–09, no. 92, 372, with select previous literature listed.
See Haskell and Penny 1981, 119–20, no. 42, 114. Montaiglon and Guiffrey
1887–1912, 12, 86, no. 5856. Paris, Louvre. Méjanès 2006, 77, no. 33 and Ottawa
and Caen 2011–12, 140–41, no. 53. The connection was first noted by J. de
Cayeux in Rome 1990–91, 191, under cat. no. 135. On Breteuil, see
Yavchitz-Koehler 1987, 369–78, Depasquale 2001, and Ottawa and Caen 2011–12, 13–17
and 140–41, no. 53. Letter from Natoire to Marigny, 25 April 1759 (Montaiglon
and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 11, 272–73, no. 5346). For the drawings, see letter
from Natoire to Marigny, 5 January 1763, Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 11,
455, no. 5636. Compositions by Robert are among the copies made in 1770 by Ango
(active 1759 – after 1773) after works in Breteuil’s collection (Choisel 1986,
nos 23–26, 44, 80). Their close rapport was recorded by Robert’s friend, the
painter Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (Gabillot 1895, 80–81). Breteuil owned antique
works as well as copies after the antique by contemporary artists. Some are
recorded in drawings by Ango (Choisel 1986, 29, 45, 47, 51, 54–57, 71–72,
74–75, 83 and 125) including a small bronze Venus Pudica, no. 56, and a copy by
Laurent Guiard (1723–88) after the Venus Calllypige from the Farnese collec-
tion (no. 75). Additional antique works and copies are listed in Breteuil’s
posthumous sale in Paris of 16 January 1786, including a copy of the Gladiator
by Luc-François Breton (1731–1800), no. 135, and a copy of the bust of
Germanicus in the Capitoline, no. 143. Although no bust of Faustina is listed,
he may have owned the copy that Robert draws in the present drawing. Gabillot
1895, 61, 81–82. Letter from Natoire to Marigny, 5 January 1763 and another
from Marigny to Natoire, 20 February 1763. Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 11,
455, no. 5636 and 462, no. 5649. J.-P. Cuzin, in Paris 2000–01, 373, no. 178.
Michel 1998–2000, 60, 62, 13. Sold Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 21 March 1952,
lot 52. Present whereabouts unknown. 163 of 1765. 162 12 Certain
decorative features in the painting – the 18. Hubert Robert (Paris
1733–1808 Paris) The Roman Studio of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi c. 1764–65 Black
chalk, 339 × 443 mm Inscribed verso l.r. in pencil: ‘Salon de 1783 / No. 61
Intérieur d’un atelier à Rome / dans lequel on restaure des statues / antiques
/ Cet atelier est pratiqué et construit / dans les debris d’un ancien temple /
5 pieds de large sur 3 pieds 9 pounces de haut’ watermark: A coat of arms,
possibly containing a star, three hills and the initials ‘CB’ below, surmounted
by a Cardinal’s hat with tassels on each side (see Heawood 1950, nos 791–99).
provenance: Charles Albert de Burlet (1882–1956), Berlin, around 1910; Sold
Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 13 November 2006, lot 1944; Private collection,
Switzerland, in 2006; Le Claire Kunst, Hamburg, in 2011; Sold Villa Grisebach,
Berlin, 28 November 2013, lot 307R, from whom acquired. literature: Le Claire
Kunst 2011, no. 13 (unpaginated), repr.; Yarker and Hornsby 2012-13, 65–66, 37;
Körner 2013, lot 307R, repr. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. Katrin
Bellinger collection, inv. no. 2013-030 A visit to the studio of
Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716–99) the sculptor, dealer, antiquarian, collector and
especially, restorer of ancient sculpture was essential for any serious art
tourist or collector in Rome on the Grand Tour.1 Known as the ‘Museo
Cavaceppi’, by the 1770s it was listed in guide- books as among the top sights
of the Eternal City.2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), who lived nearby,
and visited it in 1788 noted that one could experience in the studio ancient
sculpture from close proximity in all its gran- deur and beauty.3 The painters,
Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and Giovanni Casanova (1728/30–1795) and the sculptor,
Antonio Canova (1757–1822), also came to see the collection.4 The ‘Museo’ was
an international meeting place, frequented by many artists including the
English sculptor, Joseph Nollekens, who worked for Cavaceppi as an assistant in
the 1760s, and the English painter, Charles Grignoin, who resided with him in
1787.5 Strategically located between the Spanish Steps and the Piazza del
Popolo and thus in the social hub of Rome, the sprawling workshop was graced by
European royalty – Catherine the Great, Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen,
Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden, her brother, King Gustav III – and a
steady stream of English Grand Tourists like Charles Townley (see cat. 28),
many of whom became important clients.6 From a modest background, Cavaceppi
trained as a sculp- tor before enrolling in the Accademia di San Luca in 1732.
Albani, the nephew of Pope Clement XI and then the most respected private
collector of antiquities in Rome, appoints Cavaceppi as his personal restorer.
The association brought him many profitable commissions from foreign tourists
for whom he found antique statues, restored them, or made copies, in marble or
plaster. He also created original works, rarely signed, that were often
confused with authentic antique originals. Through his friend, the art
historian and archaeol- 164 ogist, Johann Joachim Winckelman (1717–68), who, in
1764, published The History of Art in Antiquity (Geschichte der Kunst des
Alterthums), Cavaceppi secured many English clients, taken with the current
mania for classical antiquity. He later served as chief restorer to the Pope at
the Museo Clementino and was made Knight of the Golden Spur in 1770. In 1768
Cavaceppi published the first volume of his Raccolta d’antiche statue, busti,
teste cognite ed altre sculture antiche con- taining sixty plates of antique
statues that had been repaired in his studio, often ‘corrected’ with missing or
broken parts filled in. Over half of these had been acquired by English
collectors.7 A year later, he published the second volume, essentially a
promotional catalogue with works available for purchase, followed by a third in
1772. Illustrating a total of 196 works, these influential volumes, the first
of their kind, helped to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand for
unblemished antique sculpture – free of fragmentary vestiges or other perceived
flaws – and to encourage an emerging neo-classical aesthetic. For modern
scholars they serve as an indispensible tool for identifying works he restored.
By 1756 Cavaceppi established his vast studio on the Via del Babbuino, a
workshop and showroom. Cavaceppi employed a range of skilled and unskilled
workers with different roles and specialisations, fifteen of whom have been identified
by name, with Giuseppe Angelini and Carlo Albacini being the most
accomplished.8 The frontispiece to the first volume of Cavaceppi’s Raccolta
provides a fascinating look at his active studio with assistants exercising
different techniques of restoration and antiques in various stages of
completion (fig. 1). It offers a glimpse at what must have been a sprawling
complex of rooms with distinctive architectural details – high ceilings,
lattice windows and an enfilade of vaulted archways connecting each room, one
leading to an open garden courtyard at the back.9 165 1. View of Cavaceppi’s Roman Studio,
engraving, in Raccolta d’antiche statue, 1, frontispiece, Rome, 1768. Photo:
Warburg Institute, London Hubert Robert certainly encountered Cavaceppi during
his Roman sojourn, 1754–65 (see cat. 17), and visited his studio on occasion,
as this drawing testifies. Executed in soft black chalk, it offers a view of
one of the many rooms in the Cavaceppi workshop. As in the engraving, there is
a high ceiling with lattice windows, statues and blocks of stone are scattered
about, and affixed to the wall on the left, is the same type of wooden
structure and lead point suspended on a cord used for measuring sculpture.10
With a chisel in one hand and a mallet in the other, a restorer dressed in
formal attire, perhaps Cavaceppi himself, is busy worker-cutting on the
cascading drapery of an enormous statue of an armless woman. We can identify
this as Cavaceppi’s studio with virtual certainty as two works in the drawing
were illustrated in perhaps Cavaceppi himself, working on a female bust (fig.
6). Captivated by the theme of the artist at work, Robert would return to the
subject of the restorer’s studio. In 1783 he successfully showed the
impressive, rather generically entitled, The Studio of an Antiquities Restorer
in Rome at the Salon (Toledo Museum of Art), which, though clearly an idealised
vision featuring some of the most famous antique works of the day (including
the River Nile, Cupid and Psyche, etc.), is also a wistful reminiscence of the
artist’s own Roman years and passionate study of antique statuary: a diminutive
figure of an artist sketching is visible in the foreground.18 In another
little-known privately owned picture attributed to Robert, well-clad visitors
admire antique statues in a sculptor’s studio while the ubiquitous artist is
seen drawing (fig. 7). Though certain features suggest the small painting may
also represent Cavaceppi’s studio, as with the Toledo canvas, topographical
exactitude is tempered with a more generalised, romantic – and highly saleable
view – of remnants from Rome’s ancient. For his life and work, see especially
Howard 1970, Howard 1982, London 1983, Howard 1991, Gasparri and Ghiandoni
1994, Rome 1994, Piva 2000, Barr 2008, Weiss and Dostert 2000, Bignamini and
Hornsby 2010, 252–55; Piva 2010–11, C. Piva in Rome 2010–11, 418–19, no. IV.1
and Meyer and Piva 2011, 149–55 (for essential bibliography). Howard 1988, 479;
Piva 2000, 5; Barr 2008, 86. Goethe 1827–42, 540, cited in C. Piva in Rome
2010–11b, 418–19, no. IV.1. Piva 2000, 6, 17, note 4; Honour and Mariuz 2007, 26,
60–63. For Nollekens, see Howard 1964, 177–89; Coltman 2003, 371–96. For
Grignoin, see Ingamells 1997, 433–34. Howard 1988, 479. For Cavaceppi’s works
from British collections, see London 1983. Haskell and Penny 1981, 68. Barr
2008, 104 and 184, Appendix B. Some of the same topographical details are
discernible in a little-known floor plan of the building (Piva 2000, 10, 7).
For more on this device and an engraving demonstrating its use (published by D.
Diderot and J. le Rond d’Alembert in the Encyclopédie in 1765), see Myssok
2010, pp. 272–73, 13.2. As first noted by Stefan Körner (Körner 2013, under lot
307R). Ibid., under lot lot 307R; U. Müller-Kaspar, in Hüneke 2009, 416, no.
270. Körner 2013, under lot lot 307R; U. Müller-Kaspar, in Hüneke 2009, 430,
no. 283. Müller-Kaspar 2009, 395. D. Kreikenbom, in Hüneke 2009, pp. 578–79,
no. 357. According to Winckelmann, many statues (including Kalliope and
possibly also Lucilla) were acquired by Bianconi in 1766 from the sale of
Cavaliere Pietro Natali’s collection in Rome. Conceivably, they were brought to
Cavaceppi’s studio while they were still in Natali’s possession (Müller- Kaspar
2009, 395; U. Müller-Kaspar, in Hüneke 2009, pp. 416, 430). Marseille 2001, 96, no. 109. Guiffrey 1869–72, 32, p.25, no. 61:
‘L’intérieur d’un Attelier à Rome, dans lequel on restaure des statues
antiques. Cet Attelier est pratiqué et construit dans les debris d’un ancien
Temple’. 2.
Lucilla Sotto sembianza d’Urania, anch’essa or esistente in Germania, engraving
in Raccolta d’antiche statue, 1, Rome, 1768, pl. 58. Photo: Warburg Institute, London 3. Kore as Urania, body, Antonine, c.
150 ad after a Greek model, 4th century bc; head, 160–170 ad; marble, 270 cm
(h), Berlin, SMBPK, Antikensammlung, Sk 379 in the drawing, to the right, the
muse Kalliope, lost in Berlin during World War II, was also restored by
Cavaceppi (figs 4–5).13 Both were acquired in 1766 by the Bolognese doctor and
antiquarian, Giovanni Ludovico Bianconi, another friend of Winkelmann’s, for King
Frederick William II of Prussia and assigned to Cavaceppi for restoration
before being sent to the Sansssouci Palace in Potsdam in 1767.14 The child’s
sarcophagus visible in the drawing on the left wall is also similar to that
preserved today in Charlottenhof Palace in Potsdam though it does not appear in
the Raccolta.15 The dating of Robert’s drawing is problematic as in 1766, the
year Lucilla and Kalliope were acquired by Bianconi, the 4. Kalliope, engraving
in Raccolta d’antiche statue, 1, Rome, 1768, pl. 45. Photo: Warburg Institute,
London 5. Kalliope, Roman, marble, 98 cm, formerly Berlin, SMBPK,
Antikensammlung, Sk 600, lost c. 1945 6. Hubert Robert, L’Atelier du
restaurateur de sculptures antiques, black chalk, 368 × 323 mm, Château Borély,
Marseilles, Inv. 68-194 painter was already back in Paris, having left Rome in
July 1765. However, it seems highly likely that the works were lodged in
Cavaceppi’s studio before their acquisition and, indeed, they are drawn in
their pre-restoration state.16 During the same period Robert probably made the
black chalk drawing now in Marseille showing an antiquities restorer, 17 7.
Hubert Robert, Studio of a Sculpture Restorer, oil on panel, 13 × 10 cm,
private collection. Photo: Witt Library his Raccolta. 166 11 One of
them, the monumental female statue in the centre, re-appears in the
publication, with arms added and an entirely different head (fig. 2). Cavaceppi
identified her as Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius, with the attrib- utes
of Urania, the muse of Astronomy (‘Lucilla Sotto sembian- za d’Urania,
anch’essa or esistente in Germania’). A staggering 220-cm in height she is
preserved today, with further restorations, in Berlin (fig. 3).12 The seated
figure behind her past. avl 167 19. Georg Martin Preissler (Nürnberg
1700–54 Nürnberg) after Giovanni Domenico Campiglia (Lucca 1692–1775 Rome)
Self-Portrait of Campiglia Drawing 1739 Engraving, first state (before the
lettering) 226 × 167 mm (image); 315 × 223 mm (sheet) Inscribed l.l. below
image in pencil: ‘Campiglia se ipse del.’; l.r.: in pencil: ‘G. M.
Preisler.Sc.Nor.; and l.c. in pencil: ‘Joh. Dominicus Campiglia, / Pictor
Florent. Delineator / Musei Fiorentini.’ provenance: Trinity Fine Art, London,
1999, from whom acquired. literature: Le Blanc 1854–88, 3, 244, no. 6,
‘Campiglia (Giov. – Dom.). 1739. In – fol. -1er état : avant le lettere.’
exhibitions: London 1999b, 8, no. 16, not repr. Katrin Bellinger collection,
inv. no. 1999–054 A prolific and accomplished draughtsman, painter and
reproductive engraver, Campiglia was a central figure in promoting and
disseminating images of the Antique during the middle decades of the 18th
century and therefore, is a key figure in the present exhibition.1 His
formative years were spent training with his uncle and local painters in Lucca,
Bologna and Florence where he studied drawing, as well as anatomy and
perspective and made copies after the Old Masters. By 1716, he was residing in
Rome studying the most important collections of antique sculpture. That year he
received a first prize for painting and for drawings to illustrate a booklet
for the Accademia di San Luca. He was already respected for his wide culture
and his work was admired by English collectors like Richard Topham, who
esteemed his refined and highly finished chalk studies of antique sculpture, as
well as his portraits.2 His close involve- ment in two lavishly illustrated and
highly successful and influential publications largely devoted to antique
sculpture – the Museum Florentinum and the Museo Capitolino (cat. 20) – brought
him lasting fame and consolidated the taste for classical antiquity that
continued through the rest of the 18th century and beyond.3 In the early 1730s
the Florentine antiquarian, Anton Francesco Gori (1691–1757), began to assemble
a set of vol- umes that aimed to provide a visual record of the art collec-
tions of Florence, mainly those of the Medici, the ruling dynasty. He
commissioned Campiglia, already in the city in 1726, and others to make
drawings of the works selected to be engraved. The Museum Florentinum was
published between 1731 and 1766. It comprised twelve large volumes divided into
four parts: Gemmae antiquae ex Thesauro Mediceo et privatorum dactyliothecis
florentiae..., devoted to engraved gems (1731–32); Statuae antiquae deorum et
virorum illustrium, on antique statues and monuments (1734), Antiqua numismata
aurea et argentea, dedicated to ancient coins (1740–42) and, lastly, Serie di
ritratti degli eccellenti pittori, illustrating 320 portraits of prominent
artists, published in 1752–66. This last volume, based on art- ists’
self-portraits in the Uffizi’s collection, is of particular relevance here, as
we shall see later. This rare engraving by Preissler, hitherto unpublished and
known only in a single impression of the first state, is probably based on a
now untraced self-portrait of Campiglia.4 Without explanation, Le Blanc dates
the print to 1739 – when the artist was 47.5 Wearing an ermine collar with a
crisp, white, open-necked shirt and directly engaging the viewer, he presents
himself as straightforward, successful and brim- ming with confidence. Assuming
that Le Blanc’s date is cor- rect, the print appeared at time when Campiglia
was enjoying considerable success. The first two parts of the Museum Florentinum
had already been published, he had begun work on the Capitolino (see cat. 20)
and, precisely in 1739, he had been appointed Superintendent of the Calcografia
Camerale, the papal printing press. These successes culmi- nated in his
nomination for membership of the Accademia di San Luca in November of that same
year.6 Resting a sheet of paper against a drawings portfolio held in his left
hand, with his right hand he is drawing with a porte-crayon a model of the
Belvedere Antinous standing on the table before him (fig.). At the statue’s
feet is a figurine of a herm with the head of a youth, perhaps Mercury, and two
medals, one showing a man holding a lyre, who may be Homer.7 It is not
surprising that Campiglia, whose reputation was established through skilfully
reproducing artefacts from the ancient world, should present himself with the
Belvedere Antinous, one of the most celebrated statues to survive from
antiquity. Renowned since its discovery in the 16th century and for its
placement in the Belvedere court, it soon ranked among the most famous statues
of Rome.8 Casts of the statue of the handsome youth, the lover of the Roman
emperor, Hadrian, who drowned himself in the Nile and was deified by 168same
year.6 Resting a sheet of paper against a drawings portfolio held in his left
hand, with his right hand he is drawing with a porte-crayon a model of the
Belvedere Antinous standing on the table before him (fig. 1). At the statue’s
feet is a figurine of a herm with the head of a youth, perhaps Mercury, and two
medals, one showing a man holding a lyre, who may be Homer.7 It is not
surprising that Campiglia, whose reputation was established through skilfully
reproducing artefacts from the ancient world, should present himself with the
Belvedere Antinous, one of the most celebrated statues to survive from
antiquity. Renowned since its discovery in the 16th century and for its
placement in the Belvedere court, it soon ranked among the most famous statues
of Rome.8 Casts of the statue of the handsome youth, the lover of the Roman
emperor, Hadrian, who drowned himself in the Nile and was deified by 168
169 adopts the same pose in the print as he did for his person- ification
of painting in the little-known Il Genio della Pittura of around 1739–40 in the
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (fig. 2).13 The chalk holder becomes a paint
brush and the drawings portfolio a canvas. Not coincidentally, Campiglia seems
to have donated this painting as his entry work to the Academy c. 1740, about
contemporary with the present engraving.14 He cleverly fuses iconographic
elements in an amusing black chalk study of c. 1737–38 in the British Museum
(fig. 3) acquired by Charles Frederick (1709–85) while in Rome on the Grand
Tour, where he depicts himself drawing in the company of a seated monkey who
playfully holds up a paint brush, a clear allegorical reference to art
imitating nature or ‘art as the ape of nature’ as Aristotle describes it in the
Poetics.15 Characterised as ‘a very well-bred communica- tive man’, Campiglia
and his portraits were enormously popular with English collectors.16 Campiglia
made several other self-portraits throughout his career.17 Of particular
relevance is the painting made around 1766 for his pupil and collaborator,
Pietro Antonio Pazzi (c. 1706–after 1766) and now in the Uffizi.18 It shows the
artist at ease, his hands casually resting on his ever-present portfolio. The
picture appears, like so many of the Uffizi self-portraits, as an engraving by
the same Pazzi in the final volume of the Museum Florentinum (fig. 4).19 In
Pazzi’s engraving the format and central image dimensions are nearly identical
to our print of Campiglia by Georg Martin Preissler, who, not coincidentally,
engraved other portrait plates in the Museum Florentinum. Furthermore, the
pencil lettering, Joh. Dominicus Campiglia, / Pictor Florent. Delineator,
beneath the image in our engraving is similar in style and format to the
engraved inscriptions accompanying the other portraits in the book. Also
telling is the final pencil inscription, Delineator Musei Fiorentini, under his
name in the print. All this evidence strongly suggests that Campiglia intended
to use the present image for the Museum Florentinum – and had it engraved by
Preissler for that purpose – but he decided not to use it. Perhaps it served as
a kind of test-print for the engraved self-portraits in the volume. Although
the portrait series was not published until 1752–66, by 1739, Gori and
Campiglia would already have started to plan the format of the later sections.
Interestingly, Charles Le Blanc similarly describes Preissler’s engravings of
Dürer, Eglon van der Neer, Rubens and Raphael, all destined for the Museum
Florentinum, as first states ‘before the lettering’.20 But whatever our print’s
true purpose, by the time the portrait volumes appeared, Campiglia, then well
into his sixties and in the twilight of his career opted to present a more
recent and relaxed version of himself. avl 2. Giovanni Domenico
Campiglia, Genius of Painting, c. 1739–40, oil on canvas, 48 × 63.3 cm,
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome, Inv. 0075 3. Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, Self-Portrait of Campiglia Drawing, with a
Monkey Seated on the Table at Left, c. 1737–38, black chalk, 417 × 258 mm,
Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, 1865,0114.820 4.
Pietro Antonio Pazzi after Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, Self-Portrait of
Campiglia, engraving in Museum Florentinum, Florence, 12, 1766, plate XXII, 274
× 176 mm (plate), Sir John Soane’s Museum Library, London, 2848 1. Belvedere Antinous, Roman copy of the
Hadrianic period (117–138 ad) from a Greek original of the 4th century bc,
marble, 195 cm (h), Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 907 the grief-stricken emperor,
were produced almost immedi- ately after its discovery and copies in marble and
bronze were made through the 17th century.9 Considered to embody perfection,
according to Bellori the statue was the subject of studies in ideal proportion
by François Duquesnoy (1597– 1643) and Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (p. 47, 68).
The figure had wide-reaching appeal to collectors and connois- seurs, and
enticed a range of artists, who, from the 16th century included it in
portraits.10 During the 18th century small-scale models in bronze or marble,
like that seen in the engraving, were produced in large numbers with ‘restored’
arms, as seen here. Archaeologist and art historian, Winckelmann, no doubt
contributed to the statue’s elevated status even more with his claim, ‘our
Nature will not easily create a body as perfect as that of the Antinous admir-
andus’.11 The widely held belief that the statue was the embodiment of ideal
beauty would be upheld into the 19th century: even the usually acerbic William
Hogarth admitted its proportions were ‘the most perfect of any of the antique
statues’.12 Campiglia was not shy and his other self-portraits make a compelling
comparison with this one. Interestingly, he 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 For essential
biography, see Prosperi Valenti 1974, pp. 539–41; Quieto 1984a; Quieto 1984b.
Through his agent, Francesco Ferdinano Imperiali, Topham commis- sioned
Campiglia and others, including the young Pompeo Batoni, to make dozens, if not
hundreds of drawings with the aim of systematically illus- trating Roman
collections of antiquities. Many of these drawings are now preserved at Eton
College. See Connor Bulman 2002, 343–57 and Windsor 2013, 11, 14–15. The corpus
of his drawings for the Museum Florentinum are in the Uffizi in Florence
(Quieto 1984b, 10) and for the Museo Capitolino, in the Istituto Nazionale per
la Grafica in Rome (Quieto 1984b, 10, 17–26, 29–36; I. Sgarbozza in Rome 2010–11b,
402, no. II.15a-b). It is listed by C. Le Blanc (1854–88, 3, 244, no. 6) among
the prints by G. M. Preissler: ‘Campiglia (Giov. – Dom.). 1739. In – fol. -1er
état : avant le lettere. Frauenholz, 4 flor.’ To the knowledge of the present
writer, no impression of the second state exists nor, for that matter, has either
state previously been published or discussed. The name and price Le Blanc men-
tions – Frauenholz, 4 florins – refer to the Nuremberg-based print dealer and
publisher, Johann Friedrich Frauenholz (1758–1822), who may have owned the
catalogued impression and who sold (or acquired) it for the price of 4 florins.
While it is possible that the present impression is the one described, none of
Frauenholz’s collector’s marks or inscriptions (L. 951, L. 994, L. 1044 and L.
1458) appear on it. Campiglia’s relatively youthful appearance suggests the
drawn or painted original may have been executed a decade or so earlier. He was
proposed by Sebastiano Conca on 15 November 1739 and his mem- bership confirmed,
3 January 1740 (Quieto). As noted by Eloisa Dodero (personal communication),
the herm is similar to the one seen in the background of Campiglia and Pazzi’s
engraving, Students Copying Antiquities at the Capitoline Museum (see following
entry, cat. no. 20). 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Haskell and Penny
(1981, 139–42, no. 4) give a full account of the sculp- ture’s history and
reception. See also Krahn 1996. See V. Krahn in Rome 2000b, 2, 403–04, no. 9.
Haskell and Penny 1981, 142 and Krahn 1996. Haskell and Penny 1981, 142; and
Winckelmann 1968, 153. Hogarth 1753, 81–83. Faldi 1977, 504, 508, 8. Quieto
1983, 5; Rome 1968, 22, no. 5. Liverpool 1994-95, 72, no. 19. Ibid., 72.
Gentleman’s Magazine 1853, 40, 237, as quoted by H. Macandrew 1978, 138.
Painted self-portraits are in the Palazzo Altieri, Viterbo (formerly Faldi
collection, Rome; Quieto 1983, 5–6, 8, 3, c. 1726–28), the Lemme collection,
Rome (ibid., 1983, 5, 7–8, 4, 1732–34). See also the two mentioned in note 18,
below. Drawn self-portraits of a later date have appeared on the London art
market: Chaucer Fine Arts, 2003 (London 2003a, no. 12), Christie’s, December 6,
2012, lot 56 and Christie’s, April 21 1998, lot 126. See Quieto 1983, 4–5, 2
and Quieto 2007, 93–94, 27. As that author noted, it reprises the composition
of an earlier work painted for the Accademia di San Luca (1983, 5, cover).
Although in 1766 the painting was not yet in the Uffizi – it was not left by
Pazzi to the Grand Ducal collection until 1768 (Quieto 1983, 5) – it is likely
that at that date he had already planned to bequeath it, given the self-
portraits in the Museum Florentinum are based on the Uffizi’s collection. Le
Blanc 1854–88, 3, 244, 8, 23, 28, 30. Interestingly, Le Blanc indicates that
the Dürer and Raphael were also once owned by Frauenholz. It seems that all
these early first states were in a folio together. 170 171 20.
Pietro Antonio Pazzi (Florence c. 1706 – after 1766 Florence) after Giovanni
Domenico Campiglia (Lucca 1692–1775 Rome) Students Copying Antiquities at the
Capitoline Museum 1755 Engraving in Giovanni Gaetano Bottari, Musei Capitolini,
3, Rome, 1755, 1 99 × 186 mm (plate), 444 × 287 mm (sheet) Inscribed l.l.:
‘Gio. Dom. Campiglia inv. e disegn.’; and l. r.: ‘P. Ant. Pazzi incis.’ provenance: Robert Adam (1728–92); his sale, Christie’s,
London, 20–21 May 1818; purchased by Sir John Soane (1753–1837), not listed in
the Christie’s sale catalogue (according to hand list, Sir John Soane’s Museum,
Priv. Corr. XVI.E.3.12: ‘Books purchased at Mr Adam’s sale’). literature:
Haskell and Penny 1981, 84, fig. 46; Lyon 1998–99, 109–10, under no. 89, not
repr. (A. Themelly); Paris 2000–01, 370, fig. 2; Macsotay 2010, 194, fig.
9.3. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. Sir John Soane’s Museum
Library, London, 4033 exhibited in london only Few images capture the process
of learning to draw after the Antique in 18th-century Rome as vividly as
Campiglia and Pazzi’s densely populated engraving. More readily accessible than
the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican (cats 5 and 6) and the private
aristocratic collections, such as the Borghese and Farnese (cats 6 and 21), the
Capitoline Museum was the ideal venue for students to draw in situ from some of
the most celebrated antiquities preserved in Rome. Founded in 1471 with Pope
Sixtus IV’s (r. 1471–84) dona- tion of several important ancient bronzes – the
She Wolf, the colossal bronze head and hand of Constantine, the Spinario and
the Camillus – all preserved until then in the Lateran Palace, the Capitoline
grew in time to become one of the largest and most prestigious collections of
classical antiqui- ties ever assembled in Rome.1 In 1734, in conjunction with
the recent acquisition of the celebrated collection of Cardinal Alessandro
Albani, and thanks to the enlightened policy of Pope Clement XII (r. 1730–40),
the Capitoline opened as a public museum.2 Established with the two-fold civic
and educational purpose of preserving and making accessible to the public the
city’s antiquities and to cultivate ‘the practice and advancement of young
students of the Liberal Arts’, the museum soon became a lure for Italian and
foreign antiquar- ians and artists alike.3 The didactic function of the museum
was emphasised further by Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740–58) with the opening of
the Pinacoteca Capitolina in 1748, the first public collection of painting in
Rome, and, in 1754, the establishment of the Accademia del Nudo.4 The
Capitoline thus became the first public museum in Europe in the modern sense of
the word and an ideal academy where art students could copy concurrently from
the Antique, Old Master paintings and the live model. The museum’s educational
mission was sanctioned by its growing associa- tion with the Accademia di San
Luca. Academy members 172 presided over the life classes at the Accademia del
Nudo (Campiglia directed classes there in April 1757 and November 1760)5 and
prizes for the student competitions at the Accademia di San Luca, the Concorsi,
were awarded in sump- tuous ceremonies in the rooms of the Capitoline palaces.6
This image is the engraved vignette that introduces the volume devoted to
ancient statues of the Musei Capitolini, an ambitious publication produced with
the pedagogical intent of spreading knowledge of the museum and its collection
of antiquities.7 Conceived by Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini, the nephew of Pope
Clement XII, it consisted of large engraved plates (fig. 1), all based on
designs by Campiglia, accompa- nied by a substantial commentary by the
antiquarian Bottari; both artist and writer had worked together previously on
the monumental Museum Florentinum (cat. 19). First published in Italian as Del
Museo Capitolino (Rome, 1741–82) and then translated into Latin as Musei
Capitolini (4 vols, Rome, 1750–82) in order to reach a wider foreign audience,
the large volumes can be 1. Carlo Gregori after Giovanni Domenico Campiglia,
The Dying Gladiator, engraving, 202 × 300 mm, plate 68 from Giovanni Gaetano
Bottari, Musei Capitolini, 3, Rome, 1755 173 considered the first
systematic catalogue of a public museum.8 The prestige of the publication, the
clarity and neatness of the illustrations – produced by many of the engravers
who, like Pietro Antonio Pazzi, had participated in the Museum Florentinum –
soon made it a celebrated and indispensible reference work that greatly
contributed to the diffusion of the classical taste in Europe. It was a
familiar presence in the libraries of connoisseurs and artists as this copy, owned
by Soane and before him by Robert Adam (1728–92), testifies. The engraving is a
celebration of the new educational role of the museum and its association with
the Academy of San Luca, of which Campiglia had been a member since 1740 (see
cat. 19). In a crowded space, a group of students is seen sketching and
modelling in clay after two of the most famous statues that had been recently
acquired for the museum: the so-called Dying Gladiator (fig. 2) and the
Capitoline Antinous (fig. 3), now believed to represent respectively a Gaul and
Hermes. The former, discovered around 1623, and already famous in the 17th
century when it was in the Ludovisi collection, had been acquired in 1737 by
Clement XII for the 9 Capitoline. Placed at the centre of the composition, with
2. The Dying Gladiator, Roman copy of a Pergamene original of the 3rd century
bc, marble, 93 cm (h), Capitoline Museums, Rome, inv. MC0747 3. The Capitoline
Antinous, Roman copy of the 2nd century ad of a Greek original of the 4th
century bc, marble, 180 cm (h), Capitoline Museums, Rome, inv. MC0741 the young
artists assembled in a semi-circle around it as if in a life class, the
Gladiator invited analysis and study of the male anatomy in a complex pose, as
well as offering an example of a noble and heroic death. The Capitoline
Antinous, recorded in Cardinal Albani’s possession from 1733, had been acquired
with the rest of the Cardinal’s collection in the same year and was displayed
in the museum a few years later.10 Quickly eclipsing the Belvedere Antinous (see
26, 22 and cat. 19, 1), it represented a perfect image of the male body in its
youth. It is not by chance that the young students are focusing on these two
statues among the many towering over them in the room, for the Dying Gladiator
and the Capitoline Antinous were the chosen subjects for the third class of the
Concorso Clementino – reserved for the copy – either drawing or modelling –
usually after the Antique, organised by the Accademia di San Luca for the year
1754 (fig. 4).11 But if the engraving alludes to a contemporary event, the
establishment of the museum as a ‘Scuola del Disegno’,12 it is also a
capriccio, as it gathers together sculptures that were in fact displayed
elsewhere in various rooms and collections, much as Hubert Robert would do in
his beautiful red chalk drawing of almost ten years later (p. 56, 96). The
Dying Gladiator, the Capitoline Antinous and the two stand- ing statues behind
him, the Antinous Osiris and the Wounded Amazon, could all be admired and
studied in the privileged space of the Salone of the Palazzo Nuovo, which
housed some of the best masterpieces of the collection.13 The so- called Albani
Crater, half visible on the far left, and the seated Agrippina behind the
Antinous, were however, displayed elsewhere in the Palazzo Nuovo, respectively
in the Stanza del Vaso and in the Stanza dell’Ercole.14 Moreover, Campiglia did
not confine himself to depicting only works from the Capitoline collections:
even more out of place are the two figures on the right, who turn their backs
to 4. Giovanni Casanova, Drawing of the Capitoline Antinous (third award for
the third class in painting of the Concorso Clementino), 1754, red chalk on
brown prepared paper, 510 × 290 mm, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome, inv.
A.380 5. Giovanni Paolo Panini, View of Ancient Rome or Roma Antica, detail,
c.1755, oil on canvas, 169.5 × 227 cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart inv. Nr. 3315 us
as if to signify that they belong elsewhere. These are the much revered
Antinous Belvedere and the Venus de’ Medici – dis- played at that time
respectively in the Vatican and in the Tribuna of the Uffizi.15 Their presence
here probably served to sanction and affirm the canonical status of their
Capitoline companions, all recently excavated or acquired. What we see is
therefore a symbolic space, where reality and fantasy are combined to
legitimise and promote the relatively new collection of the museum. The volumes
of the Musei Capitolini served as a reference tool for many artists and no
doubt inspired the scene showing young students drawing the Dying Gladiator in
the foreground of Giovanni Paolo Panini’s renowned View of Ancient Rome (fig.
5, and 53, 92), the first version of which, not coincidentally, was painted at
about the same 6. Carlo Gregori after Giovanni Domenico Campiglia, Young
Artists Copying the ‘Arrotino’, engraving, 118 × 151 mm, page 225 in Anton
Francesco Gori, Museum Florentinum, Florence, 1754 time as the publication of
this particular volume. Campiglia devised similar graceful allegorical
vignettes for the contemporary volumes of the Museum Florentinum.16 One in
particular, engraved by Carlo Gregori (1719–59), seems to be the Florentine
counterpart of the Roman image, showing students sketching the Arrotino,
surrounded by the symbols of the arts and books on anatomy and geometry (fig.
6).17 Although in the second half of the 18th century access to the museum
sometimes proved difficult due to lack of personnel, and while artists had to
go through the bureau- cratic process of applying to the papal camerlengo or to
the director of the museum for licence to make copies, the Capitoline remained
one of the most popular sites among artists and travellers, as the many views
of its interiors testify (pp. 55–56, figs 94–96).For recent and brief
introductions on the history of the Capitoline collec- tions, with previous
bibliography, see Parisi Presicce 2010; Paul 2012. On the early years of the
Capitoline as a public museum see Arata 1994; Franceschini and Vernesi 2005;
Arata 2008. Document dated 5 December 1733 quoted in Arata 1994, 75. On the
Pinacoteca see Marinetti and Levi 2014. On the Accademia del Nudo see
Pietrangeli 1959; Pietrangeli 1962; MacDonald 1989; Barroero 1998. On Campiglia’s supervision of life classes at the Accademia del Nudo see
Pirrotta 1969. On the Concorsi see Cipriani and Valeriani 1988–91; Rome,
University Park (PA) and elsewhere 1989–90; Cipriani 2010–11. See Quieto 1984b;
Kieven 1998; Philadelphia and Houston 2000, 484– 86, no. 329 (S. Prosperi
Valenti Rodinò); Rome 2004, 96–108, nos 1–7 (A. Gallottini); Rome 2010–11b, p.
401, no. II.14 (I. Sgarbozza). Campiglia started working on his designs for the
plates in 1735: see Franceschini and Vernesi 2005, 59–60. See Haskell and Penny
1981, 224–27, no. 44; Mattei 1987; La Rocca and Parisi Presicce 2010, 428–35.
See Haskell and Penny 1981, 143–44, no. 5; La Rocca and Parisi Presicce 2010, 500–01.
The statue was exhibited in the museum from 1739 or 1742. Cipriani and
Valeriani 1988-91, 2, 219–20, 228. While the 1754 prize drawings depicting the
Antinous survive in the archives of the Accademia, the terracottas representing
the Dying Gladiator are lost. The Dying Gladiator was also chosen as the
subject for the third class in painting in 1758 and the Capitoline Antinous for
the third class in sculpture in 1779, and in painting in 1783: ibid., 3, 9–22,
120, 129–30, 141–46. It was referred to as such in the award ceremony for the
Concorso: see Belle Arti 1754, 36. On the Antinous-Osiris, donated to the
museum by Benedict XIV in 1742 and from 1838 in the Vatican Museum, see Paris,
Ottawa and elsewhere 1994– 95, 78–79, no. 24 (M. Pantazzi). On the Wounded
Amazon, acquired in 1733 as part of Albani collection, see Weber 1976, 46–56.
On the Albani Crater and its base, both previously in the Albani collection,
see Grassinger 1991, 189–90, no. 32. On the so-called Agrippina, already
recorded in the Capitoline collections in 1566, see Haskell and Penny 1981, 133–34,
no. 1; Rome 2011, 324–25, no. 5.9 (A. Avagliano). On their display at that
time, see Venuti 1750, 23, 30, 33–34; Arata 1994. For the Antinous Belvedere
and the Venus de’ Medici see above 26, 22 and 42, 56. Many are found in volumes
8 to 12. On the so-called Arrotino or Knife Grinder, once in the Villa Medici
in Rome and from 1680 in the Tribuna of the Uffizi see Haskell and Penny 1981, 154–56,
no. 11; Bober and Rubinstein 2010, 83–84, no. 33. On access to the Capitoline
Museum in the 18th century see Sgarbozza 2010–11. 174
175 21. Louis Chays (Aubagne c.1740–1811 Paris) The Courtyard of the
Farnese Palace in Rome with the Hercules Farnese 1775 Pen and brown ink, brown
wash, pencil and white gouache, 434 × 534 mm Inscribed recto, l.l., in pen and
black ink: ‘chaÿs f. a rome 1775.’; and l.c., in pencil, possibly by different
hand: ‘Cour du Palais Farnése’. provenance: Hippolyte Destailleur (1822–93)
collection (no. 110). literature: Berckenhagen 1970, 394, no. 3027, repr.;
Giuliano 1979, 100, 13; Michel 1981b, 584, 8; De Seta 1992, 240, repr.;
Gasparri 2007, 53, 45 and p. 178, no. 273.4; Macsotay 2010, p. 194; Göttingen
2013–14, p. 208, 53. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited.
Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, Hdz 3027 exhibited in london only Private aristocratic
collections of antiquities in Rome contin- ued to attract large numbers of
artists and visitors during the 18th century. The Farnese Palace, with its
group of canon- ical ancient sculptures – the Farnese Hercules (see p. 30, 32)
the Farnese Bull and the Farnese Flora among others – and its Gallery with the
Loves of the Gods, the widely admired fresco cycle by Annibale Carracci
(1560–1609), offered the ideal opportunity to copy the Antique and a tour de
force of early 17th-century mythological decoration at the same time.1 Drawings
after the famous Farnese statues by Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574),
Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) (see cat. 7), Annibale Carracci (see p. 43, 58),
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640; see p. 46, 67), Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665),
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), Carlo Maratti (1625–1713; see p. 43, figs 60–61),
Hubert Robert (1733–1808), Jacques Louis David (1748–1825) and
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780– 1867), to name just a few, testify to the
enduring fame of the palace and its legendary collection of antiquities among
European artists residing in Rome.2 In the 18th century the palace went through
changes of ownership, passing in 1731 from the Farnese to the Bourbon, but it
remained a lively envi- ronment, with many artists and others residing in its
rooms, and was readily accessible for those who wished to draw or model.3
Between 1786 and 1800 all the ancient statues of the collection were removed by
the Bourbon King Ferdinand IV to Naples – where they can be seen today in the
National Archaeological Museum – a decision that marked the end of the palace
as a privileged place for studying the Antique.4 Louis Chays is one of the
lesser-known figures among the French artists who gravitated towards the
Académie de France in Rome in the 1770s. He studied at the Academy in Marseille
under Jacques-Antoine Beaufort (1721–84), before moving to Rome thanks to the
patronage of Louis-Joseph Borély, a wealthy Marseille merchant.5 His five years
in Rome, between 1771 and 1776, were probably spent in the company of such
pensionnaires of the Academy as Joseph-Benoît Suvée (1743–1807), Jean-Simon
Berthélemy (1743–1811), Pierre- Adrien Pâris (1745–1819) and François-André Vincent
(1746–1816). These young artists were of the same generation, they all arrived
in Rome in 1771 and stayed there for a similar span of years. They seem to have
travelled around the city and the Roman campagna as a group, sketching sites,
ruins and landscapes, and they naturally shared a similar style and
repertoire.6 The result of Chays’ artistic wanderings consists mainly of
evocative drawings in the manner of Hubert Robert and Jean-Honoré Fragonard
(1732–1806) though Chays’ drawings lack their characteristic vivacity. The
corpus of his drawings is preserved in the Kunstbibliothek in Berlin.7 This
study, with its companion, The Colonnade of St Peter’s Square, stands apart in
Chays’ known graphic production in being a large-scale and highly finished
pen-and-wash draw- ing.8 The lively view is the only known representation of
groups of students, rather than just individuals, at work in the courtyard of
the Palazzo Farnese; nor does the present writer know of any similar record of
study in other private collections of antiquities in Rome. It is also an
important historical document, being one of the last images to show the statues
in their original location before their removal to Naples, from 1786 onwards.
Chays cleverly chose a low view- point and an angle that allows for maximum
drama: the receding pillars of the portico frame the focus of our atten- tion,
the massive statue of the Farnese Hercules. We are standing in the shadowy
passage leading to the gardens of the palace and we see the Hercules from behind,
by then a view as successful as the front (see cats 7 and 16). Other images of
the Hercules from the back in the Farnese courtyard had been produced decades
earlier by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691–1765) (fig. 1), Giacomo Quarenghi
(1744–1817) (fig. 2) and Frédéric Cronstedt (1744–1829), and one wonders
whether Chays had seen any of them.9 In any case, to animate his composition
Chays certainly took inspiration from the many capricci by Panini where the
Hercules towers over groups of wanderers and also from such drawings showing
artists at 176 177 1. Giovanni Paolo Panini, View of the Courtyard
of the Palazzo Farnese with the ‘Hercules’ seen from Behind, c. 1730, pen and
black and grey ink and wash, and coloured wash, heightened with white, 419 ×
417 mm, private collection work in Rome produced by Charles-Joseph Natoire (see
55, 94) or Hubert Robert (see 56, figs 95–97). We see here the usual cast of
characters familiar from Robert’s drawings: a combination of artists, beggars,
dogs, young children, and bystanders, some of them dressed in the current
fashion, like the elegant aristocratic couple in the centre, no doubt
accompanied by a tour guide or cicerone. Others are presented in all’antica
dress, such as the beggar and muscular male student on the right, both of whom
wear Roman togas and gaze intently at the sculpture from behind. But among the
many visitors to the courtyard, the true protagonists are the students, busy at
work, sketching on large sheets resting on drawing boards or modelling in clay,
as in Campiglia’s and Pazzi’s engraving (cat. 20). Some focus on the Hercules,
while others, seated on chairs or on the ground in the middle of the courtyard,
turn towards the other star of the collection, the Farnese Flora, visible to
the right of the Hercules.10 The entire palace seems to have been turned into
an academy, with animated conversations taking place throughout: particularly
intriguing is the lively discus- sion taking place around a large drawing in
the central bay of the first floor loggia. In the distance, through the
entrance vestibule on the lower right, we have a glimpse of the Piazza Farnese
and the external world. While the technique in this drawing is precise and
although the details are lively, the rendering of the architec- ture, which was
evidently drawn first and before the figures were superimposed, is less
successful. It is notable that the 2. Giacomo Quarenghi, View of the ‘Farnese
Hercules’ in the Portico of the Courtyard of the Farnese Palace, c. 1775–79,
pen and black ink and wash and coloured wash, 304 × 233 mm, private collection
scale of the two sides of the courtyard visible behind the por- tico does not
quite correspond. In fact, Chays’ real forte was landscape rather than accurate
architectural views, although reasonably faithful depictions of the Villa
Madama and other Roman buildings survive.11 Although this view is largely
imaginary, it seems to evoke the spirit of the courtyard as it appeared to
pupils of the Accademia di San Luca and pensionnairesof the Académie de France
in Rome who frequented the palace regularly. Visits to grandiose palaces such
as this must have left a lasting impression on these young students. The
Accademia di San Luca sent its students around Rome to copy the Antique,
especially on the occasion of academic competitions, the Concorsi.12 In the
18th century the Hercules and the Flora were chosen several times as subjects
for the third class of the Concorso Clementino – reserved for the copy, a
drawing or a model, usually after the Antique – and the students’ gather- ings
in those occasions must have offered a scene as animated as that we see in
Chays’ drawing.13 Most of the artists depicted here are sketching on large
sheets of paper, generally reserved in the 18th century for academic drawings
after the Antique, as seen also in Campiglia’s and Pazzi’s engraving (cat.).14
The Académie de France in Rome had been founded in 1666 with the specific
intent of shaping the taste and manner of young artists ‘sur les originaux et
les modèles des plus grands maîtres de l’Antiquité et des siècles derniers’ and
of furnishing the royal gardens at Versailles with copies of the most famous
antiquities from Rome.15 Although the direct copy from antique statuary had
been neglected for certain periods since the Académie’s founding, it had once
again gained a central place in the official curriculum of the pensionnaires
during the direc- torates of Nicolas Vleughels (1725–37) and Charles-Joseph
Natoire (1751–75) (see cat. 16). Although no surviving drawings after the
Antique by Chays are known, he probably produced them as he spent considerable
time in Rome copying Old Master paintings, such as those by Raphael, Titian and
Reni.16 He returned to Marseilles in 1776 and spent the following years
decorating the château of his patron, today the Musée Borély, where he put into
practice the lessons and skills he had acquired in Rome.17 After becoming one
of the professors of the Académie in Marseilles, Chays participated in the
Revolution and as sergeant-major took part in 1790 in the occupation of the
fort of Notre-Dame de la Garde by the Garde National.18 He later published a
collection of etchings some of which he based on the views that he had
assembled in his Roman years.19 Among the last mentions we have of him are his
Paris Salon entries of 1802 and 1804: perspective drawings of the antiquities
collection of the Louvre. SeeMéjanès1976;WashingtonD.C.1978–79,pp.148–155.
Berckenhagen1970,pp.393–96,nos3026–3074and3673–3674. Ibid.,p.394,no.3026. For
Panini’s drawing see Arisi 1961, 245, no. 80, 359; Sotheby’s New York, 29–30
January 2013, lot 113. Two paintings attributed to Panini (wrongly, in the
opinion of the present writer) in a French private collec- tion show similar
views: see Munich and Cologne 2002, 408–10, nos 187 a/b. For Quarenghi’s
drawing see Sotheby’s New York, 27 January 2010, lot 90. Another, almost
identical version is in the Hermitage, St Petersburg (inv. 25819): Bergamo
1994, 185–86, no. 234. For Cronstedt’s drawing, executed in 1772, now in the
National Museum, Stockholm see Palais Farnèse 1980–94, 2, 131, b. Before the
18th century the same viewpoint had been represented in a drawing by an
anonymous Dutch draughtsman of c. 1540–60, now in the Herzog Anton
Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig (inv. Z 320r): see Gasparri 2007, 17, 4 and 178,
no. 273.1. The Flora is here shown with its Renaissance restorations by
Guglielmo Della Porta and Giovanni Battista de Bianchi and before Carlo
Albacini’s new restorations undertaken after 1787: see Gasparri 2009–10, 3,
esp. 38–40. See for instance, Berckenhagen 1970, 395, no. 3030. On the Concorsi
see cat. 20, note 6. Both were chosen for the third class in sculpture in 1703:
Cipriani and Valeriani 1988-91, 2, 26–27. The Hercules was chosen for the third
class in both painting and sculpture in 1728 and later on in sculpture in 1783
and in 1789 (this time from a plaster since the statue had been transported to
Naples in 1787): ibid., 2, 182, 3, 130, 153. The Flora was chosen for the third
class in painting in 1750: ibid., 2, 209–10. See the size of the drawings for
the third class of the Concorsi Clementini of the Accademia di San Luca in
Cipriani and Valeriani 1988–91, vols 2–3. See also Macsotay 2010, 193–94. ‘On
the originals and the examples of the greatest Antique masters and those of
preceding centuries’: letter from Jean-Baptiste Colbert to Nicolas Poussin,
1664, mentioned in Montaiglon and Guiffrey 1887–1912, 1, 1 and in Lapauze 1924,
1, 2. See Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, 44–46. These copies now survive
in the Musée des Beaux-Arts and in the Musée Borély in Marseille: Paris 1989, 268–69,
no. 113 (J.-F. Méjanès). Benoît 1964. Vialla
1910, 484. ‘Ouvrage de 36 feuilles tirées des Porte-feuilles du C[itoye]n S.
[sic] Chays...’. See Thieme-Becker 1907–50, 6, 445. See also Le Blanc 1854–88, 1,
625. ‘Dessins perspectives de différens points de vue, qui donnent le
développe- ment de toutes les figures antiques du Musée [du Louvre], ainsi
qu’une juste idée du local et de la décoration du palais’: Sanchez and Seydoux
1999– 2006, 1, 46, no. 58 (1802), 76, no. 105 (1804). See also Paris 1989, 268–69, no. 113 (J.-F. Méjanès). 178 179 1 2 3 4 5
aa On the Farnese Hercules see above 30 and cat. 7. On the Farnese Flora see
Haskell and Penny 1981, 217–19, no. 41; Gasparri 2009–10, 3, 37–42, no. 8, pl.
VI, 1–5 (C. Capaldi). On the Farnese Bull see Haskell and Penny 1981, 165–67,
no. 15; Gasparri 2009–10, 3, 20–25 no. 2, pl. II, 1–16 (F. Rausa). See Gasparri
2007, 11 and 157–78. See Michel 1981b and La Malfa 2010–11. In 1775, the year
of this drawing, the palace had 180 inhabitants. See the list in Michel 1981a, 565.
For a list of artists residing in the palace see Michel 1981b, table between 610–11.
Rausa 2007b, 57–60. On Chays (often spelled differently, Chaÿs, Chais, Chaix)
see: Thieme- Becker 1907–50, 6, 445; Benoît 1964; Toronto, Ottawa and elsewhere
1972–73, 143–44, no. 23; Paris 1989, 268–69, no. 113 (J.-F. Méjanès); Raspi
Serra 1997. 22. Fuseli (Zürich–London) The Artist Moved by the Grandeur
of Antique Fragments; The Right Hand and Left Foot of the Colossus of
Constantine c. 1778–79 Pen and sepia ink and wash, red chalk, 420 × 352 mm
Inscribed recto on the pedestal of the foot: ‘S.P.Q.R’, followed by illegible
characters and l.r. in pencil: ‘85 W. Blake’ (false signature, perhaps 19th
century) watermark: ‘ZP’ and the coat of arms of the city of Zurich1
provenance: Susan Coutts, Countess of Guildford (1771–1837) (her stamp on the
verso2); Paul Hürlimann, from whom acquired in 1940. selected literature: Irwin
1966, 47, pl. 32; Schiff 1973, 1, 115, 478–79, no. 665, 2, 145, 665; Tomory
1972, 49, 90, 4; Füssli 1973, 60–61, repr.; Schiff and Viotto 1980, pl. viii,
no. D35 on 112; Klemm 1986, no. 4; Lindsay 1986, 483–84, 1; Taylor 1987, 125,
repr.; Noch- lin 1994, 7–8, 1; Rossi Pinelli 1997, 15, 18, repr.; Bartels 2000,
23, note 2; Patz 2004, 271, 3; Bungarten 2005, cover; Pacini 2008, 55–56, 4;
Valverde 2008, 163–64, 5; Trumble 2010, 6–7, repr.; Barroero 2011, no. 22,
repr.; Mongi-Vollmer 2013, 294, 127. selected exhibitions: Zurich 1941, no.
251; New York 1954, no. 31; Zurich 1969, no. 165; Copenhagen 1973, 55, no. 21,
not repr. (B. Jørnæs); Hamburg 1974–75, 129, no. 45 (G. Schiff); London 1975, 54–55,
no. 10 (G. Schiff ); Paris 1975, unpag., no. 10 (G. Schiff ); Milan 1977–78, 19–20,
no. 6 (L. Vitali); Geneva 1978, 8, no. 3; Munich 1979–80, 279–80, no. 154 (J.
Gage); Tokyo 1983, 62–63, no. 7 (G. Schiff ); Zurich 1984, 49, 179, no. 25;
Stockholm 1990, 33, no. 3 (G. Cavalli-Björkman and R. von Holten); Stuttgart
1997–98, 5–7, no. 10 (C. Becker); Zurich 2005, 256, no. 1, frontispiece 2;
Paris 2008, 120, no. 36 (B. von Waldkirch). The Kunsthaus, Graphische
Sammlung, Zürich, inv. no. 1940/144 exhibited in london only This celebrated
drawing is one of the most powerful images ever produced on the relationship of
the artist with the Antique. It presents a very different response to classical
antiquity from the many didactic compositions shown in this catalogue,
expressing the extremism and the Sturm und Drang that imbued early Romanticism.
The artist here confronts the Antique not as a source of information or
inspiration but on a deeper level: he meditates on the grandeur of a lost past
both as a philosopher, considering the fragility of the human condition and,
more powerfully still, as a creator in despair at his own inability to match
the achievements of classical antiquity. Fuseli’s evocative image effectively
summarises the dramatic change in the approach to the Antique which took place
in Rome in the late 18th century within a circle of anti-academic and largely
self-taught artists, such as Alexander Runciman (1736–85), John Brown
(1749–87), Tobias Sergel (1740–1814) and Thomas Banks (1735–1805), among whom
Fuseli was the most influential.3 For them the ancient sculptures were alive, a
tangible expression of the emotions and individuality of their creators, rather
than models of ideal beauty and proportional perfection. Born Johann Heinrich
Füssli in 1741 in Zurich into a fam- ily of artists, his father, Caspar, a
painter and histo- rian, was one of the Swiss correspondents of Anton Raphael
Mengs (1728–79) and Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717– 68).4 Fuseli’s early
education benefited from the teaching of Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698–1783) and
Johann Jakob Breitinger (1701–76), forerunners of the literary and artistic
movement Sturm und Drang, who introduced the young artist to the study of
Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton and the Niebelungenlied, decisively
contributing to the eclecticism of his imaginative sources. Fuseli moved to
London in 1764 and soon became well acquainted with the city’s lively cultural
milieu and quickly acquired fame as a painter. In 1770, on the advice of Sir
Joshua Reynolds (1723–92), Fuseli travelled to Rome. He stayed there for eight
years, with very few inter- ruptions, leaving in 1778. After spending a few
months in Zurich, he returned to London where he was destined to spend the rest
of his life. Elected academician at the Royal Academy of Art in 1790 and
Professor of Painting in 1799, Fuseli became one of the most acclaimed artists
of his generation; he died in the residence of the Countess of Guilford, one of
his patrons and previous owner of the pre- sent drawing, in Putney Hill in
south-west London, in 1825. The eight years Fuseli spent in Rome were of great
impor- tance for the development of his artistic language and theory of art.
Fascinated by the majestic relics of imperial Rome, but even more impressed by
Michelangelo’s masterpieces, Fuseli soon distanced himself from the idealised
and harmonious view of the Antique espoused in the theoretical works of
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) and of Winckelmann, who had been murdered in
Trieste two years before Fuseli arrived in Rome. This death was symbolic for,
although ini- tially a great enthusiast for Winckelmann’s writings, some of
which he translated into English, Fuseli became one of his most radical
detractors by asserting the importance of appreciating the emotions and
conflicts that ran through 180 181 ancient works of art.5 As Fuseli
stated many years later in the introduction to his Lectures on Painting
presented at the Royal Academy, German critics had taught the artist ‘to
substitute the means for the end, and, by a hopeless chase after what they call
beauty, to lose what alone can make beauty interest- ing – expression and
mind’.6 ‘Expression animates, convulses, or absorbs form. The Apollo is
animated; the warrior of Agasias is agitated; the Laocoon is convulsed; the
Niobe is absorbed’. This is one of the Aphorisms on Art compiled by Fuseli in
the late 1780s, although it was first published only in 1831 by John Knowles in
his The Life and Writing of Henry Fuseli.7 These famous masterpieces of ancient
sculpture, the Apollo Belvedere, the Borghese Gladiator, the Laocoön and the
Niobe Medici, are not seen by Fuseli simply as the embodiment of a canon of
perfection, models to imitate, or points of reference in the academic education
of a young artist; they are treated as animated forms of the subjectivity of
the artists who created them and, ultimately, of their ways of expressing
feeling and emotion.8 Fuseli’s many studies after the Antique are never an end
in themselves, they are rather means of expression and, because of that,
ancient statues can be adapted, distorted, even desecrated by him.9 A
homosexual scene depicted on an ancient Greek red-figured vase can become the
model for a Shakespearean composition showing the King of Denmark poisoned by
his brother in his sleep.10 Likewise, one of the Horse Tamers on the Quirinal
Hill (see 22, 10), reproduced and adapted many times by Fuseli, can be turned
into Odin receiving the Prophecy of Balder’s Death.11 If Winckelmann praised
the Laocoön for his dignified grandeur,12 in two of his late sketches Fuseli
transformed the Trojan priest into the object of a courtesan’s sexual desire.13
Even the famous Nightmare (1781),14 one of the most disquieting compositions
ever created by Fuseli, still retains memories of the Antique, from the
devilish head of the horse peeping out of the curtain, so like those of the
Quirinal horses, to the reclining figure in which one can recognise a
transposition of the celebrated Cleopatra in the Belvedere Court (see 26, fig.
20).15 The Artist Moved by the Grandeur of Antique Fragments per- fectly
embodies the artist’s revolutionary approach to the Antique. Although no doubt
based on sketches made on the spot, and using a technique, sepia ink and wash,
often used by Fuseli in Rome, the watermark with the coat of arms of the city
of Zurich suggests that the drawing was made during or soon after his brief
stay in his home town after he left Rome in 1778.16 The drawing shows a
scantily clad figure seated on a block dwarfed by two adjacent marble
fragments, the left foot and the right hand of a gigantic statue set on plinths
before a wall composed of majestic, square blocks.17 The pose of the artist,
loosely inspired by Michelangelo’s Ancestors of Christ on the Sistine Ceiling,
is deeply expressive; he cradles his head in deep grief and anguish, and his
mood, with his legs casually and unguardedly crossed, is one of total
surrender; the forlornness is enhanced by the wild weed that audaciously pushes
its way up against the colossal marble hand. The antique fragments are easily
recognisable as the left foot and the right hand of a colossal statue of the
emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306–37 ad; figs 1–2) which were found in the
west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius in 1486 under the papacy of Innocent
VIII (r. 1481–92) along with other fragments including the head (fig. 3) and
the right foot. By Fuseli’s time they could be admired in the courtyard of the
Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline hill, where they are still preserved
today.18 The monumental scale of these fragments fascinated generations of artists
from the Renaissance onwards, but they became increasingly a focus of attention
in the 17th and 1. Colossal Statue of Constantine the Great: Right Hand, 313–24
ad, Luna marble, 166 cm (h), Capitoline Museums, Courtyard of the Palazzo dei
Conservatori, Rome, inv. MC0786 2. Colossal Statue of Constantine the Great:
Left Foot, 313–324 ad, Parian marble, 120 cm (h), Capitoline Museums, Courtyard
of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, inv. MC0798 3. Colossal Statue
of Constantine the Great: Head, 313–24 ad, marble, 260 cm (h), Capitoline
Museums, Courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, inv. MC0757 in the
drawing (‘S.P.Q.R.’) can actually be found on the pedestal supporting the right
foot and not the left one, as Fuseli represents it here. The detail, however,
is not irrelevant, since it is part of the inscription, commemorating a
restoration of the fragments promoted by Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623–44) in 1635
and 1636, so that one can read a clear reference to the awe inspired by the
greatness of the ‘Res Romana’.22 Awe of the Antique is expressed in the drawing
by the contrast between the muscular fragments of the colossus and the
diminutive, frail and almost abstract figure, who can be interpreted both as a
personification of a modern man in general and as a symbolic self-portrait of
the artist – ‘Füssli’ in German means ‘little foot’, thus suggesting a visual
word- play.23 However, the title of the drawing given by Gert Schiff, The
Artist Moved by the Grandeur of Antique Fragments, captures only one aspect of
the composition, that is, the feeling of artistic and intellectual inadequacy
before the sublime Past.24 Possibly, even the inconsistent perspective of the
pedestal of the foot was consciously introduced to express the artistic
inferiority of the moderns compared to the ancients. But the pose, which recurs
many times in Fuseli’s works, can convey at the same time other meanings.25 It
could cause a deep 5. Hubert Robert, Ancient Sculptures of the Capitoline, red
chalk, 442 × 330 mm, Staatliche Museen, Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, Inv. Hdz
3076 18th centuries: two wanderers are shown among the colossal ruins in
a drawing by Stefano della Bella (1610–64; 4),19 while the foot and hand appear
in an evocative capriccio by Hubert Robert (1733–1808; 5).20 As in their
studies, Fuseli’s drawing shows the base sustaining the colossal upward
pointing right hand on the pedestal supporting the left foot; only in the early
19th century was the hand moved to its present location along the wall of the
courtyard. Fuseli, however, modifies the disposition of the fragments in order
to create a perfect triangle, whose apex coincides with the index finger of the
hand, pointing authoritatively upward. The fact that the drawing was made when
Fuseli had already left Rome may account for a few inconsistencies, such as
swapping the right foot – flat on the ground – and the left foot – with the
heel slightly raised and set on a support.21 Moreover, the first line of the
inscription roughly transcribed 4. Stefano della Bella, Courtyard of the
Palazzo dei Conservatori, after 1659, pen and grey ink and grey wash, 152 × 194
mm, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome, inv. FC 126001 sense of loss before the dismembered statue as well as a
melancholic frustration at the impossibility of achieving a whole, satisfactory
knowledge of the ancient world. Finally this evocative image is clearly a grim
meditation on human Vanitas, on the cruelty of time and its inevitability,
capable of destroying even the most impressive human creations.26 In his vision
of antiquity Fuseli was following in the footsteps of Giovanni Battista
Piranesi (1720–78), the great engraver of ancient Rome, who populated his
images with similar figures dwarfed and seemingly lost among the colossal
remains of Rome’s decaying statues and buildings. Piranesi’s ancient ruins, the
gigantic stones of which fill his modern onlookers with wonder, are evoked by
Fuseli in the massive blocks of the background wall, which are not part of the
courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Piranesi died in 1778, the year that
Fuseli left Rome for Zurich where he created this harrowing memory of the city
he had just left behind him. Could the present drawing be a posthumous homage
to the great Italian artist, with whom Fuseli shared the same inventive,
original and imaginative vision of the Antique? aa et ed 1 Schiff 1973, 479. 2
Ibid., 479. 3 See Pressly 1979; Valverde 2008; Busch 2013. 4 For Fuseli’s
biography see Tomory 1972, 9–46; Schiff 1973, 1; Zurich 2005, 13–31. 5 See
Pucci 2000b and Busch 2009. During his London years between 1764 and 1770,
Fuseli translated into English Winckelmann’s Beschreibung des Torso del
Belvedere Zu Rom (1764, translated as Description of the Torso Belvedere in
Rome in 1765) and the Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in
der Malerei Und Bildhauerkunst (1755, translated as Reflections on the Painting
and the Sculpture of the Greeks in 1765). 6 See Wornum 1848, 345. On Fuseli’s
Lectures see in particular Bungarten 2005. 7 Knowles 1831, 3, 90, aphorism no.
88. 8 For these statues see respectively 26, 18; 41, 54; 26, 19; 30, 34. 9 For
a checklist of Fuseli’s drawings of ancient sculptures see Schiff 1973, 1, 475–79,
Schiff 1973, 1, 450, no. 445 (dated 1771); the ancient scene is taken from
D’Hancarville 1766–67, 2, pl. 32. Schiff 1973, 456–57, nos 485 and 487 (c.
1776). See in particular Winckelmann. See also Appendix, no. 15. Schiff 1973, 1,
547, nos 1072 and 1072a (1801–05). Schiff 1973, 1, 496, no. 757. See Powell
1973, 67–75. See in particular Waldkirch 2005, 63–78. For a drawing showing a
figure in a similar attire see Schiff 1973, 1, 476, no. 561 (1777–79); and for
one with similar blocks in the background ibid., 1, 447, no. 425. For the right
hand and the left foot see Stuart Jones 1926, 11, no. 13, pl. 5 (hand), 13–14,
no. 21, pl. 5 (foot). For a discussion on the original colos- sal statue see
Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 147–52, pls 151–52; Deckers 2005; Parisi Presicce
2007 (in particular for the history of the display); Bardill 2012, 203–17. The
provenance of the colossus from the Basilica is testified to by a caption on a
drawing by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) (Morgan Library et Museum,
New York, Codex Mellon, fol. 54r), see Buddensieg 1962;
census.bbaw.de/easydb/censusID= 233951. See Paris 2000–01, 371 no. 176 (J.-P.
Cuzin); Rome 2004, 346, no. 46 (V. Di Piazza); another similar drawing is in
the Louvre, see Viatte 1974, 63 no. 46, 65, 46. See Berckenhagen 1970, 332;
Paris 2000–01, 374, no. 180 (J.-P. Cuzin). These details are clearly rendered
on the drawings by Della Bella and Robert. Bartels 2000, 23 no. 1.7: ‘Senatus
Populus Que Romanus APOLLINIS COLOSSUM A Marco LUCULLO/ COLLOCATUM IN CAPITOLIO
DEIN TEMPORE AC VI SUBLATUM EX OCULIS TU TIBI UT ANIMO REPRAESENTES PEDEM VIDE ET
ROMANÆ REI MAGNITUDINEM METIRE’. (‘The Senate and the People of Rome; that you
may bring before your mind’s eye the colossal statue of Apollo set by Marcus
Lucullus on the Capitol Hill, later removed from sight by the violence of time;
look at this foot and be aware of the greatness of Rome’: translation Eloisa
Dodero). Lindsay 1986, 483. Schiff 1973, 1, 115, 478–79, no. 665, 2, 145, 665.
The pose finds parallels in other works by Fuseli chiefly illustrating mourn-
ful scenes, such as the painting showing Milton Dreaming of His Dead Wife
Catherine: Schiff 1973, 1, 523–24, no. 920; Zurich 2005, 223, no. 184.
Remarkable is the closeness of Fuseli’s figure with the famous Democritus by
Salvator Rosa (Statens Museum, Copehangen; see Scott 1995, 97, 101; the
composition was known also through a number of etchings, see for instance
Naples 2008, 281, no. 8). The philosopher in Rosa’s composition is shown deep
in thought and surrounded by several symbols of mortality including
antiquities; the caption on the etchings describes the scene as ‘Democritus
omnium derisor/in omnium fine defigitur’ (‘Democritus, who used to laugh about
everything, here meditates on the end of every- thing’). 23. Philippe Joseph
Tassaert (Antwerp 1732–1803 London) A Drawing Academy 1764 Pen and black ink,
grey and black wash drawn with the brush over black chalk, 331 × 309 mm
provenance: Private collection, Vienna; Gallery Kekko, Lucerne, 2004, from whom
acquired. literature:None. exhibitions: Brussels 2004, 75–76, repr.; London
2007–08, no. 59, not repr. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 2004-004
Although Tassaert was born in Flanders, he moved at a young age to London where
he trained with the expatriate Flemish drapery painter, Joseph van Aken (c. 1699–1749),
and where he established his career; aside from occasional trips to the
continent, Tassaert remained in London until his death.1 Van Aken had a large
practice executing draperies for most of the major British portrait painters
active during the 1730s and 1740s, and after his death, Tassaert seems to have
followed his example, assisting especially the portrait painter, Thomas Hudson
(1701–79). In 1769, Tassaert joined the Society of Artists of Great Britain and
served as its presi- dent from 1775–77; he exhibited with the Society until
1785.2 Also active as a dealer and picture restorer, Tassaert worked as an
agent for the auctioneer, James Christie (1730–1803), valuing paintings in
French and English collections, includ- ing that of Sir Robert Walpole at
Houghton Hall, for sale to Catherine the Great in 1779.3 He later moved for a
period to Italy, residing in Rome between 1785 and 1790.4 As a mezzotinter,
Tassaert reproduced many composi- tions after earlier painters, especially
those by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). The present drawing – a relatively rare
survival compared with his production of prints – shows young students, dressed
in the costumes of Rubens’ era, sketching a reduced model of the Borghese
Gladiator (fig. 1), illuminated by candlelight from above.5 Two instructors,
including the imposing figure of Rubens him-self in the doorway on the right,
inspect drawings made by two pupils who await their verdict. Casts of busts and
statuettes are placed on the shelf above the lamp, as seen in artists’ work-
shops from the Renaissance onwards (see cats 2, 10, 14).6 The present drawing
is closely related to another, rather larger and more loosely executed, representation
of an academy by Tassaert now in the British Museum (fig. 2), that is observed
from a closer viewpoint and is horizontal rather than vertical in format.7
Rendered in warm brown instead of grey ink, the British Museum drawing focuses
on the group clustered around the sculpture on the left. The master, in the
doorway in our drawing, now leans against a chair gesturing towards the
sculpture and the copy of it made by one of the pupils. But that student, seen
in left profile studying the Gladiator intently, remains essentially unchanged
in both sheets. The British Museum drawing is signed and dated, ‘Tassaert. del
Bruxelles. 1764’, and the Bellinger drawing was no doubt made at the same time.
Both were probably made in preparation for a painting, now lost, but described
in a 1774 review of the Society of Artists’ exhibition at the Strand in London:
‘Mr. TASSAERT, Director, F.S.A. [ . . .] 285. An academy with youth’s [sic] at
study. -Yellow shaded with black, has a starved effect’, a description which suggests
that it may have been monochrome. 8 A keen admirer and copyist of Rubens’ work,
Tassaert clearly intended to evoke the atmosphere of the master’s studio. A
drawing by Tassaert, ‘Rubens instructing his pupils’ 1. Agasias of Ephesus,
Borghese Gladiator, c. 100 bc, marble, 199 cm (h), Louvre, Paris, inv. Ma
527 184 185 2. Philippe Joseph Tassaert, A Drawing Academy,
1764, pen and brown ink and brown wash over black chalk, 330 × 406 mm, The
British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London, 2003,1129.1 which
was sold in London in 1785 was probably one of the two drawings under
consideration.9 The master in both is physiognomically identical, and wears the
wide-brimmed hat and voluminous cloak seen in Rubens’ mature self-portraits,
such as that of 1623 in the Royal collection, Windsor Castle, an image widely
disseminated through engravings.10 Another
self-portrait,showingtheartistatsixty,intheKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
(1633–35), may also have been known to Tassaert through prints.11 No doubt
Tassaert’s drawings and the lost painting for which they presumably prepared,
were intended to commemorate the fact that Rubens’ studio in Antwerp, founded
on his return from Italy in 1608, was one of the first in Northern Europe to be
organised on the ‘academic’ Italian model. Ruben’s studio – much more than a
workshop – encouraged the intellectual as well as practical ambitions of young
artists, who vied with each other to become his pupils. The purpose of
Tassaert’s lost painting is not certain, but one possibility is that he
intended to present it to the recently revamped Brussels art school. It may be
significant that Tassaert, who hailed from Antwerp (where he became a member of
the Guild of St Luke in 1756), signed the British Museum drawing ‘Tassaert. del
Bruxelles’, and dated it, 1764, the year the Brussels school began to flourish
under new stewardship.12 Reportedly discovered in Nettuno in 1611, the Borghese
Gladiator, signed by Agasias of Ephesus, is thought to copy a statue of the
school of Lysippus.13 It was acquired by Cardinal Scipione Borghese
(1576–1633), and between 1650 and 1807, was displayed in a room bearing its
name on the ground floor of the Casino Borghese before it was sold to
Napoleon.14 The statue was keenly admired by artists from the mid-17th century
onwards as it embodied the male nude in an active, heroic and resolute pose.
François Perrier (1590–1650) ranked it among the finest statues in Rome and
published four views of it in his influential collection of etching after antique
sculpture (Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum . . ., Paris, 1638, pls.
26–29), more than he devoted to any other figure. Casts of it were made for
Philip IV of Spain and for the Académie Royale in Paris (see cat. 16) and the
Académie de France in Rome.15 It became a standard presence in artists’ manuals
from the 17th century onwards, as the perfection of its anatomy and proportions
made it an ideal model for young pupils to copy. Its fame endured well into the
18th century as many of the objects in this catalogue make clear (cats 16, 24,
26).16 Rubens, who was thirty-four when the statue was found, revered it
greatly. Although his two Roman sojourns (1601– 02 and 1600–08) pre-date its
discovery in 1611, he certainly knew the statue through copies and probably
owned a cast of it.17 That plaster casts came to be widely used in Northern
workshops of the period is shown in the 1635 and 1656 studio inventories of
Rubens’ contemporary, Balen and of Rembrandt and by the many paintings that
depict artists making copies of them (see 40, figs 49–53 and cat. 14).18
Rubens’ deep interest in antique sculpture, which he collected
enthusiastically, is well-documented.19 In one of his theoretical notebooks, De
Imitatione Statuarum (‘On the Imitation of Ancient Statues’), recording his
observations from 1600 to 1610 on the proportions of the human form, symmetry,
perspective, anatomy and architecture, he defined canonical male body types of
the first rank: the strongest and most robust, the Farnese Hercules (see cats
7, 14, 16, 21); the less muscular and fleshy, Commodus in the Guise of Hercules
and the River Nile (see cat. 5) and the third, lean and slender, with prominent
bones and a longer face, the Borghese Gladiator, which he analysed in a
diagram.20 Finally, there was the slim and handsome type, less strong, among
which statues of Apollo and Mercury were classed.21 Rubens referred to the
Gladiator again in another of his notebooks and he adapted it in some of his
paintings, such as the Mercury and Argus of 1636–37 (Prado, Madrid) where
Mercury in a pose strongly reminiscent of the Gladiator, is about to behead the
multi-eyed giant.22 Although Tassaert would not have known Rubens’ manuscript,
parts of it were published in 1708 by Roger de Piles in his Cours de peinture
par principles, translated into English in 1743 as The Principles of Painting
(see Appendix, no. 8).23 Within twenty years of its discovery, casts of the
Borghese Gladiator were commissioned by Charles I and other English patrons and
it soon became one of the most celebrated 186 187 antique sculptures in
the British Isles.24 By the 18th century, copies of it had becoming a mainstay
of country house collections.25 Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) depicted a
reduced model of the Gladiator studied by candlelight (private collection; see
cat. 24, 2), exhibiting it at the Society of Artists in 1765, just a year after
Tassaert’s drawings and William Pether made a mezzotint after Wright’s painting
in 1769.26 When Tassaert showed his painting of a similar subject, probably
based on his earlier studies, at the same venue in 1774 he may have been
responding to the challenge of his English colleagues, particularly the fellow
mezzotinter, Pether.27 Indeed, it is tempting to suppose that Tassaert, by
exhibiting the finished painting, was asserting the suprem- acy of Flemish
academies over the English ones by establish- ing that the sculpture was
well-known and used as a teaching tool already in Rubens’ time. As will be seen
later (see cats 24–26), study after plaster casts increasingly became an
indispensible part of artistic training in the English Academies as the 18th
century progressed. It is especially significant in the present context that
the catalogue of the posthumous sale of the effects of Tassaert’s master,
Joseph Van Aken, in 1751 in London, lists no fewer than sixty models in
terracotta and plaster after the Antique, among them, the Laocoön, the Farnese
Hercules, heads of Antinous and, significantly, two Gladiators.28 It is well
known that antique models were widely diffused in England in the first half of
the 18th century, well before the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768 (see
cat. 25), but Van Aken’s collection and Tassaert’s preoccupations suggest that
interest in the Antique had a particularly Flemish dimension. Of course, such
models served a vital role for artists in helping to achieve an idealised
representation of the anatomy, poses and expressions of the human body, but
also, as in the case of Van Aken, they could act as lay-figures for the
arrangement of drapery.29 avl 1 For brief accounts of Tassaert’s life and work,
see Edwards 1808, who, on 282–83, asserts that Tassaert was ‘the scholar’ of
van Aken; Redgrave 1874, 2, 402; Wurzbach 1906–11, 2, 689–90; Thieme-Becker
1907–50, vol, 32, 456; Bénézit 2006, 13, 708–09; Wallens 2010, 328. Edwards
(1808, 282) reports his association with van Aken though the latter had already
moved to London in 1720, before Tassaert was born. They probably met there
though he was only about seventeen when van Aken died. According to Bénézit
(2006, 708), Tassaert was the brother of the sculptor, Jean Pierre Antoine
Tassaert (1727–1788). 2 For his involvement with the Society (and disagreements
with), see Hargraves. His paintings were shown also at the Royal Academy. 3 He
is listed frequently as buyer/seller in Christie’s sale catalogues of c. 1779–
82 (see Kerslake 1977, 1, 337). For Tassaert at Houghton, see Twist 2008, 106–07.
4 Wallens. For his engravings, see Le Blanc 1854–88, 4, 9; Wurzbach 1906–11, 2,
689–90; Smith 1878–83, 3, 1354–56. A further drawing by Tassaert of an artist’s
studio, but with figures in contemporary dress, is in Tate Britain, from the
Oppé collection, black chalk on blue paper, 490 × 317 mm, inv. no. T09847. They
may also be seen lightly sketched at upper right in Tassaert’s drawing of an
artist’s studio in the Tate (see note 5 above). Lock 2010, 255, 12.4; Phillips
2013, 127, 5. ‘Conclusion of the Account of the Pictures now exhibiting at the
Artist’s [sic] great Room near Exeter Exchange, Strand’, published in The
Middlesex Journal, 30 April – 3 May 1774, 2 (as noted by Elizabeth Barker,
under inv. no. 2003,1129.1, British Museum collection database). The same
subject painted by Tassaert, probably more than once, is listed in several
Christie’s sales in London between 1805–12: 1805 (1–2 March, lot 69, seller:
John Mayhew; unsold; 14–15 June, lot 40, seller: John Mayhew; unsold); 1806
(7–8 March, lot 33, seller: John Mayhew; unsold); 1808 (11–12 March, lot 18, seller:
Adam Callander; unsold; 14 May, lot 33, seller: Rev. Philip Duval; bought by
Daubuz); 1809 (17–18 November, lot 65, seller: Adam Callander; bought by J. F.
Tuffen) and 1812 (22 May, lot 44, seller: John Mayhew; unsold; 18–19 December,
lot 80, seller: John Mayhew; bought by J. F. Tuffen). Source: Getty Provenance
Index. Jean-Baptiste-Guillaume de Gevigney, his sale, Greenwood, London, 14–15
April 1785, lot 44. Presumably the same drawing was sold two years later: ‘An
academy by Tassaert, washed in bisque, fine’, Greenwood, London, 14–15 March
1787, lot 29 to John Thomas Smith for £1.0. Jaffé 1989, 281, no. 764. Ibid., 371,
no. 1379. Between 1764 and 1768, the school was revitalized under Count Charles
Cobenzl (Phillips 2013, 127–28). Paris 2000–01, no. 1, 150–51 (L. Laugier);
Pasquier 2000-01b. Haskell and Penny 1981, 221; Laugier 2000–01. See also
Aymonino’s essay in this catalogue, 41. Haskell and Penny 1981, 221. Ibid., 221–24,
no. 43, 115. For Rubens’ study of sculpture in Roman collections, see Van der
Meulen 1994-95, 1, 41–68. For van Balen’s inventory, see Duverger 1984–2009, 4,
200–11. Among the casts listed are the Laocoön, Hercules, Apollo, Athena and
Mercury (ibid., 208). Rembrandt’s 1656 bankruptcy inventory (Strauss and Van
der Meulen 1979, 349–88) mentions several plaster casts from life, including
hands, heads and arms (ibid., 365, 383), and after the antique (‘A plaster cast
of a Greek antique’ (Een pleijster gietsel van een Griecks anticq), 383, no.
323). Also mentioned are antique statues of unspecified medium, including a
Faustina, Galba, Laocoön, Vitellius (ibid., 365, nos 166, 168; 385, nos 329,
331) and several others. For Rembrandt’s use of statues, casts and models, see
Gyllenhaal 2008. For his collection, see Muller 1989, Appendix C, 82–87 and
Muller 2004, especially, 18–23. The Johnson manuscript (manuscript transcript
of the Rubens Pocketbook), mid-18th century, Courtauld Gallery, London,
MS.1978.PG.1, fols 4v-5r, cited in Muller 2004, 19. See also Muller 1982, 235–36
and Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 72–73. Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 73. Ms de
Ganay (formerly Paris, Marquis de Ganay), fols 22r–23r, transcribed and
translated in Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 254–58. In addition to the Madrid
painting (Georgievska-Shine and Silver 2014, 136, 5.3), the pose of the
sculpture was utilised in other drawn and painted composi- tions by the artist
(Van der Meulen 1994–95, 1, 239, note 9). De Piles 1708, 139–48; De Piles 1743,
86–92. . Haskell and Penny 1981, 221. However, due to the demand for casts the
Borghese tried to stop moulds from being made (Haskell and Penny 1981, 221).
Liverpool 2007, 132, no. 10; Clayton 1990, 236, no. 154, P3. Tassaert and
Pether, both members of the Society of Artists, had a disagree- ment over the
latter’s proposed exhibition fee for fellows (Hargraves 2005, 141–42).
Landford’s, London, among lots 1–77. It has been suggested that Rembrandt
worked from draped plaster casts, especially during his Leiden years
(Gyllenhaal 2008, 51). 24. William Pether (Carlisle 1731–1821 Bristol) after
Joseph Wright of Derby (Derby 1734–1797 Derby) An Academy 1772 Mezzotint, 579 ×
458 mm Inscribed l.l.: ‘Iosh., Wright, Pinxt.’; and l.r.: ‘W. Pether, Fecit.’;
on the boy’s portfolio in the centre: ‘An / Academy / Published by W Pether, /
Feby, 25th / 1772’; td and l.c., at the foot of the seated artist: ‘Done from a
Picture in / the Collection of the R . Hon. / L . Melburne.’ provenance: The
Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd (1941–2012), from whom acquired by the British
Museum in 2010. literature: Chaloner Smith 1883, 2, 46, not repr.; Clayton 1990,
240, no. 159, P9, this impression listed under II, not repr.; Liverpool 2007, 159–62,
no. 33. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. The British Museum, Department
of Prints and Drawings, London, 2010,7081.2228 In 1769 Joseph Wright of Derby
exhibited An Academy by Lamplight (private collection) at the Society of
Artists in London.1 The painting depicted six young boys drawing from casts of
antique sculpture in a vaulted space lit only by a concealed lamp. Wright
repeated the composition the following year for his patron, Peniston Lamb, 1st
Viscount Melbourne (Yale Center for British Art, 1) and it was from this second
version that William Pether took the present mezzotint, renamed simply An
Academy, published in its first state in February 1772.2 The subject-matter is
related to Wright’s earlier painting, Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by
Candlelight (private collection, 2),3 but, by showing a group of students at
work, addresses more directly the theme of education by studying casts of
antique sculpture by candlelight. Artistic education was of paramount
importance to Wright. In December of 1769, the year he settled in Liverpool,
twenty-two men in the burgeoning city formed a Society of Artists that gathered
at a member’s house to make drawings from a substantial collection of prints
and, more signifi- cantly, thirty-five plaster casts.4 These casts had been
pur- chased from John Flaxman senior, a plaster-cast salesman in Covent Garden,
for £8.8.3, and were intended specifically for furnishing an academy.5 While
Wright is not listed as a member of the Society of Artists, his friend, the
engraver Peter Perez Burdett (c. 1735–93), was its first President and Wright’s
landlord in Liverpool, Richard Tate (1736–87), was an amateur painter who
showed works at the Society’s first public exhibition in 1774, so he was
certainly aware of the group’s aspirations. Wright seems also to have had at
least one student in Liverpool, Richard Tate’s brother, William, who was
described by Wright in a letter in 1773 as ‘a pupil of mine’.6 Artistic
education would therefore have been a pressing concern when he was conceiving
An Academy by Lamplight. Wright no doubt encouraged William Tate to take the
same route that he had followed as a pupil of Thomas Hudson (1701–79): first
copying drawings by accomplished masters (which for Tate would have included
works by Wright him- self) as well as prints, before moving to the study of
plaster casts and, ultimately, the life model.7 In 1774 Tate exhibited ‘Venus
with a Shell, a drawing in black chalk’ at the first 1. Joseph Wright of Derby,
An Academy by Lamplight, 1770, oil on canvas, 127 × 101 cm, Yale Center for
British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven, inv. B1973.1.66 2. Joseph
Wright of Derby, Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight, 1765, oil
on canvas, 101.6 × 121.9 cm, private collection 188 189
Liverpool Society of Artists exhibition, and a sheet in the Derby Museum and
Art Gallery of this subject has been recently been identified as Tate’s
drawing.8 This title of that drawing is highly suggestive as it is pre- cisely
the so-called Nymph with a Shell that the students are shown drawing in
Wright’s painting and Pether’s mezzotint. Housed in the Borghese collection
during the 18th century, the sculpture is now in the Louvre (fig. 3).9 While a
cast of this statue is not listed among those purchased by the Liverpool
Society of Artists, one was probably owned by Wright himself. The other statue
shown in the background on the right is the familiar Borghese Gladiator (see 41,
54 and cat. 23) – the sculpture being studied in Wright’s earlier Three Persons
Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight (fig. 2). Wright’s composition depicts
young students in different attitudes, some at work drawing the Nymph, which is
illumi- nated by a hanging lamp, from varying angles, while others merely
admire her. Wright has created an ideal representation of an academy of young
men, precisely the environment which his contemporaries were attempting to
create in Liverpool. The students’ visible drawings are in black chalk similar
to Wright’s own and those of his ‘pupil’, Tate. The varying ages of the
students, from young boys to young men, also suggests an ideal academic
establishment. The date of the work has further resonance: 1769 was the year
after the foundation of the Royal Academy in London, where a precise programme
of artistic education, which included drawing from antique sculpture, was being
formulated (see cat. 25). The composition continues a theme Wright addressed in
Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight (fig. 2), the first painting
he exhibited in London, showing it at the Society of Artists in 1765. Such was
its popularity that Pether produced a mezzotint of it in 1769 and we can
suppose that our 3. Nymph with the Shell, Roman copy of the 1st century ad
after a Hellenistic type of the 2nd century bc, marble, 60 cm (h), Louvre,
Paris, inv. MR 309-N 247 (Ma 18) mezzotint, published three years later, was
conceived as a pendant.10 Wright’s Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by
Candlelight depicts three men – traditionally identified as Wright himself,
Peter Perez Burdett (c. 1735–93) and John Wilton – comparing a reduced model of
the Borghese Gladiator with a drawn copy of it in black chalk. We know Wright
made drawings of the sculpture; and a study in pen and brown ink on brown paper
by him is preserved at Derby.11 Dating from before his journey to Italy, it
seems likely to have been made from a reduced model. Whilst there is no
evidence that Wright owned a model of the Gladiator, it seems likely that he
did: reduced models of it appear in numerous artists’ sales during the 18th
century and they were also readily available in Derby at the time.12 Viewing
and drawing sculpture by candle-light was a feature of many European academies
as for example those of Bandinelli and Tassaert (see cats 1 and 23).13 This was
intended to emphasise the contrast of the sculpture’s anatomy and facilitate
its copy. There were many perceived artistic benefits in owning models. William
Hogarth noted in his Apology for Painters: ‘the little casts of the gladiator
the Laocoon or the venus etc. if true copies – are still better than the large
as the parts are exactly the same [–] the eye [can] comprehend them with most
ease and they are more handy to place and turn about’.14 It therefore seems
likely that Wright’s picture depicts an evening viewing of his own cast.
Burdett was an amateur draughtsman and printmaker, and the comparison between
Wright’s own drawing and the model is the probable topic of their conversation.
This was the theme that Wright developed more fully in An Academy. Liverpool
2007, 159, no. 31. For Yale version of the painting ibid., 159, no. 32.
Nicolson 1968, 1, 234, no. 188; London 1990, 61–63, no. 22; Liverpool 2007, 132,
no. 10. For a discussion of the foundation of the Society of Artists and a list
of the casts it acquired see Mayer 1876, 67–69. Ibid., 5. Joseph Wright to
William Thompson, Derby 25 March, 1773, in Barker 2009, 72. Wright’s work in
Hudson’s studio is remarkably well documented in an archive of his drawings as
a student preserved in Derby Museum and Art Gallery: see Derby 1997, 49–65.
Liverpool 2007, 162, no. 34. For the relationship between Tate, Wright and the
Liverpool Society of Artists see Barker 2003, 265–74. For the Nymph with the
Shell see Haskell and Penny 1981, 281–82, no. 67; Rome 2000b, 2, 335, no. 10
(F. Rausa); Gaborit and Martinez 2000–01; Paris 2000–01, 327–28, no. 147 (J.-L.
Martinez); Rome 2011–12, 402–05 (I. Petrucci, M.-L. Fabréga-Dubert, J.-L.
Martinez). Clayton 1990, 236, no. 154, P3. Derby 1997, 88, no. 152. An Italian
plaster-modeller based in Oxford, ‘Mr Campione’ is recorded selling: ‘a large
and curious collection of statues, modelled from the Antiques of Italy ... in
fine plaister paris work’ in the Red Lion in Derby. See Barker 2003, 25. On
this see Roman 1984, 83. See also cat. 1, 80, note 8. Kitson 1966–68, 86.
190 191 25. Edward Francis Burney (Worcester 1760–1848 London) The
Antique Academy at Old Somerset House 1779 Pen and grey ink with watercolour
wash, 335 × 485 mm Signed recto, on the portfolio depicted in the drawing at
l.c., in pen and black ink: ‘E.F.B. 1779’; and inscribed verso, in pen and
black ink, with a key identifying the casts and objects shown on recto,
numbered 1–43: ‘View of the Plaister Room in the Royal Academy old Somerset
House / 1. Cincinnatus / 2. Apollo Belvedere / 3. Meleager / 4. Biting Boy / 5.
Foot of the Laocoon / 6. Arm of M. Angelo’s Moses / 7. Paris / 8. Faun / 9
Anatomy of a Horse / 10. Head of Antinous / 11. A young Orator by M. Angelo /
12. Antoninus Pius / 13. Bacchus / 14. PompeyAlexander Model of a Cow Agrippa /
18. Nero / 19. Augustus / 20. Cicero / 21 Other Roman Emperors / 22. Door of Mr
Mosers little Room / 23. Heads. Casts from Trajans pillar / 24. Table for
Drawing Hands Heads etc. on / 25. Screens to prevent Double Lights / 26.
Modelers stands / 27. Large chalk Drawing of the Virgin etc. by Leon: da Vinci
/ 28. Homer / 29. Laocoon / 30. Esculapius / 31. Proserpine / 32. Carracalla /
33. Mithridates / 34. Bacchus / 35. Antinous / 36. River Gods from M. Angelo /
37. Boys by Fiamingo / 38. Dying Gladiator / 39. Lamps for lighting the figures
in Winter / 40. Antique Bass Relieves / 41. Laughing Boys / 42. Head of a Wolf
/ 43. Legs cast from nature etc. etc. etc.’ provenance: From an album of
drawings in the possession of the Burney family; et D. Colnaghi, London, from
whom acquired 5 July 1960. literature: Byam Shaw 1962, 212–15, figs 54–55;
Hutchison 1986, 192, 27; Wilton 1987, 26, 25; Rossi Pinelli 1988, 255, 4;
Nottingham and London 1991, 63, under no. 39, 3; Fenton 2006, 98–99, 100–01,
repr.; Kenworthy-Browne 2009, 45–46, pl. 16; Wickham 2010, 300–01, 14; Brook
2010–11, 158, 5. exhibitions: London 1963, 34, no. 87, not repr.; London 1968b,
211–12, no. 651, not repr.; London 1971, 18, no. 71, not repr.; London 1972, 316,
no. 521, not repr. (R. Liscombe); York 1973, 40, no. 98, not repr.; London
2001, 46, no. 85. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 03/7485 With its
companion The Antique Academy at New Somerset House (fig. 1), this drawing
constitutes one of the best and most evocative visual records of the Antique or
‘Plaister’ Academy at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.1 The Academy was
founded in 1768 and initially occupied rooms in Pall Mall before moving to
Somerset House in 1771. The rather chaotic early records of the Academy means
that Burney’s detailed drawings are fundamental in establishing precisely which
antiquities were available to the first generation of students at the Academy.
Although copying after casts had been a practice fol- lowed in previous British
academies and schools of art – such as the Duke of Richmond’s Academy – it was
only with the foundation of the Royal Academy that it became part of an
extended curriculum modelled on the Roman and Parisian Academies.2 The first
Academicians draughted surprisingly few rules governing the education of
students, other than the requirement that a student have a ‘Drawing or Model
from some Plaister Cast’ approved for admission to the Antique Academy, and
again to progress into the Life Academy.3 For at least the first fifty years of
its existence there was no stipulation about the length of time students should
spend in either School. The timetable itself was fairly minimal, follow- ing
the traditional model in which the purpose of an Academy was to provide
instruction in draughtsmanship and theory whilst the student learned his chosen
art of painting, sculpture or architecture with a master. The Antique or
Plaister Academy was open from 9 to 3 pm with a two-hour session in the
evening, while the Life Academy consisted of only a two- hour class each night.
Until 1860, both were attended by male students only. The collection of casts
was under the control of the Keeper, while a Visitor attended monthly to
examine and correct the students’ drawings and to ‘endeavour to form their
taste’.4 Following the theoretical model of continental academies, the main
didactic purpose of drawing from plaster casts was to teach young students to
become acquainted with and to internalise ideal beauty before being exposed to
Nature in the Life Academy. As Benjamin West (1738–1820), president of the
Royal Academy for almost thirty years from 1792, put it, pro- ficiency was ‘not
to be gained by rushing impatiently to the school of the living model,
correctness of form and taste was first to be sought by an attentive study of
the Grecian figures’.5 Edward Francis Burney studied at the Royal Academy
Schools from 1777 and left in the 1780s to become a suc- 1. Edward Francis
Burney, The Antique Academy at New Somerset House, c. 1780, pen and grey ink
with watercolour wash, 335 × 485 mm, Royal Academy of Arts, London, cessful
book illustrator.6 As a young pupil of the Antique Academy, he recorded in the
present drawing of 1779 and its companion the rebuilding of Somerset House begun
in 1776 by Sir William Chambers (1723–96). This drawing shows the Academy
before Chambers’ intervention in a room that was probably designed by John
Webb in 1661–64, on the south side of
the building facing the Thames. These rooms had windows exposed to direct
sunlight and therefore may have required the ‘Screens to prevent Double
Lights’, visible in the upper left corner of the drawing and annotated on the
verso. The drawing depicts four students at work, the one on the right in the
middle distance being guided by George Michael Moser (1706–83), the first
Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools, including the Antique Academy.7 In the
room everything was moveable. Boxes could be used as seats or as supports for
drawing boards, as one is by the student in the foreground on the left, while
rails were used for holding the individual students’ candles (see cat. 26).
Even the pedestal of the casts could be moved on castors, so that the Keeper
could change their position weekly. The collection of plaster casts was one of
the largest assembled in Britain in the 18th century.8 Many came from the
second St Martin’s Lane Academy, brought by Moser who had been one of its
directors.9 The collection was then expanded considerably thanks to donations
from aristocratic collectors and acquisitions on the London market.10 Among the
most easily identifiable casts are those ubiqui- tous in European workshops and
academies from the 17th century onwards, all listed in the long inscription on
the verso of the drawing: the Apollo Belvedere (p. 26, 18) at left centre,
behind, in the background, the Faun with Kid, and on the far right, the Dying
Gladiator (p. 41, 55), which a student is copying, as innumerable other
students had done before him (see cat. 20).11 In addition, a series of peculiarly
‘English’ casts are on display, some donated, others copied from origi- nals
recently brought to England from Rome. Partly obscured in shadow on the left is
a cast of Cincinnatus – which still survives in the collection of the Royal
Academy (fig. 2) – close 6. Relief from an Honourary Monument to Marcus
Aurelius: Triumph, 176–180 ad, marble, 324 × 214 cm, Capitoline Museums, Rome,
inv. MC0808 7. Relief with Warriors, Roman, 1st or 2nd century ad, marble, 93 ×
82 cm, San Nilo Abbey, Grottaferrata, inv. 1155 Academy’s collection (figs
8–9). Finally, between the shelves and the door on the right, it is possible to
discern Leonardo’s cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the
Baptist, today one of the most celebrated works in the National Gallery in
London – the present drawing is the earliest to document its presence in the
collection of the Royal Academy.16 The cast collection was of paramount
importance to the Royal Academy during its first decades, but the ad hoc nature
of its accumulation and the inclusion of casts of ‘Grand Tour’ souvenirs – such
as Lord Shelburne’s Cincinnatus – left it open to criticism. In 1798 the
Academy’s Professor of Painting, James Barry (1741–1806), launched a stinging
public attack complaining that the Academy was ‘too ill supplied with materials
for observations’ lamenting ‘the miserable beggarly state of its library and
collection of antique vestiges’.17 As a direct result, the sculptors Flaxman
and Bacon were charged with purchasing new casts from the sale of George
Romney’s (1734–1802) collection.18 Flaxman spent much of the rest of his career
attempting to improve the Academy’s cast collection; after 1815, he finally
convinced the Prince Regent to sponsor the 8. Plaster Cast of Head of a Roman
Soldier in Helmet, from Trajan’s Column, 15.7 × 15.4 × 4.4 cm, Royal Academy of
Arts, London, inv. 10/3267 9. Plaster Cast of the Head of Trajan, from Trajan’s
Column Royal Academy of Arts, London, iaa&jy
FortheearlyhistoryoftheRoyalAcademysee Hutchison1986,pp.23–54. For drawing
after casts in Britain before the foundation of the Royal Academy see esp.
Postle 1997; Coutu 2000; Kenworthy-Browne 2009. Hutchison 1986, 29–31. For the
full admission process see London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1, Council
minutes, 1, 4, 27 Dec. 1768; Abstract, 18–19.
Hutchison1986,p.27.Forthe‘RulesandOrders,forthePlaisterAcademy’, see London,
Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1 Council minutes, 1, 6, 27 Dec. 1768, and 17, ;
Abstract 1797, 22–23. For the role of the visitors see ibid., 8. Hoare1805,p.3.
SeeRogers2013. The identification of the teacher with Moser is confirmed by
other like- nesses: see Edgcumbe 2009. The only other collection that could
compete in numbers of casts was the Duke of Richmond’s Gallery: see Coutu 2000;
Kenworthy-Browne 2009. On the Royal Academy collection of casts see Baretti
[1781], esp. 18–30. See Thomson 1771, 42–43; Strange 1775, 74. We would like to
thank Nick Savage for pointing out these two sources to us.
OnplastershopsandtradersinBritaininthesecondhalfofthe18thcentury see Clifford
1992. Among private donors, Thomas Jenkins, the Rome based dealer, sent a cast
of the so-called Barberini Venus shortly after the Royal Academy’s foundation:
London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 38, 9 Aug. 1769.
Jenkins in turn encouraged many of his clients in London to donate casts,
including John Frederick Sackville, Duke of Dorset who sent in 1771 ‘a Bust of
Antinous in his collection’ and ‘a cast of Pythagoras’: ibid., 111, 25 Oct.
1771, and 118, 18 Dec. 1771. Other early donors were Sir William Hamilton, the
Rome-based dealer Colin Morrison and the Anglo-Florentine painter Thomas Patch.
FortheFaunwithKidseeHaskellandPenny1981,pp.211–12,no.37. The Council Minutes
record on 11 June 1774: ‘Resolved that casts be made from three statues in the
possession of Lord Shelburne, viz the Meleager, the Gladiator putting on his
sandals, et the Paris, leave having been already obtained from his lordship’,
London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 179. The three
sculptures had recently been sup- plied by Gavin Hamilton (1723–98) from Rome
and were largely recently excavated pieces: the Meleager had been found at Tor
Columbaro; the Paris and the so-called Cincinatus had both come from an
excavation at Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli, called Pantanello. See Bignamini and
Hornsby 2010, 1, 321–22 for Shelburne; for the excavation and purchase of the
Cincinnatus and Paris see 1, 162–64, nos 1 and 12; for the excavation and
purchase of the Meleager see 1, 180–81, no. 7. London, Royal Academy of Arts,
PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 38, 9 Aug. 1769 ‘Charles Townly Esq. having
presented the Academy with a cast of the Lacedemorian Boy ... ordered that
letters of thanks should be wrote.’ On the original relief see Boudon-Mauchel
2005, 251–52, no. 43 and on Duquesnoy’s fame as a ‘classical’ sculptor ibid., 175–210.
The cast of the relief had been sent by Sir William Hamilton, then British
ambassador to the court of Naples, in 1770 together with a cast of ‘Apollo’:
see Ingamells and Edgcumbe 2000 32, no. 25, 17 June 1770; see also London,
Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 72, 17 March 1770. For the
Marcus Aurelius relief see Haskell and Penny 1981, 255–56, no. 56; Rome
1986–87. For the relief with warriors see Musso 1989–90, 9–22. The relief was
illustrated in Winckelmann 1767, pl. 136. The same cast appears in Zoffany’s
celebrated Portrait of the Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1771–72, in the
Royal Collections. See Webster 2011, 252–61; New Haven and London 2011–12, 218–21,
no. 44 (M. A. Stevens). For Leonardo’s cartoon see London 2011–12, 289–91, no.
86 (L. Syson). Barry 1798, 7. London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/3, Council
minutes, 3, 99–100, 22 May 1801. They purchased 16 casts in total for £68.10.3.
WindsorLiscombe1987. 2. Plaster Casts of the So-Called Lansdowne ‘Cincinnatus’,
1774, 162 cm (h), Royal Academy of Arts, London, inv. 03/1488 3. Lansdowne
Paris, Roman copy of the Periodo ADRIANICO – ADRIANO (si veda), from a Greek
original of the 4th century bc, marble, 165 cm (h), Louvre, Paris, inv. MNE 946
(n° usuel Ma 4708) 4. Lansdowne Hermes/Meleager, Roman copy of the Hadrianic
Period (117–138 ad) of a Greek original of the 4th century bc, marble, 219 cm
(h), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Gift of Wright S. Ludington, inv. 1984.34.1
to the Faun with Kid is a Paris (fig. 3), and behind Moser the so-called
Lansdowne Meleager (fig. 4). All of these were cast in 1774 from the originals
in the collection of William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (1737–1805), recently
returned from his Grand Tour.12 Behind the Cincinnatus is partly discernible a
cast of the Knucklebone Players given by Charles Townley in 1769, the antique
original of which could be admired in his London town-house at 7 Park Street
(cat. 28, 1).13 As was customary, the Academy’s collection included also casts
of busts and statuettes distributed on shelves and of ‘dismembered’ body parts
– arms, legs and feet – hung on the wall, so that students could learn how to
draw anatomical details before approaching the whole human figure. Pupils were
also required to draw from reliefs, to become acquainted with the composition
of historie, or narrative scenes, based on classical models. Above the
chimneypiece is a large cast of a relief with music-making angels by François
Duquesnoy (1597–1643) – the Boys by Fiamingo identified on the reverse of the
drawing – whose most classicising works had, by the end of the 17th century,
acquired the same status of antique statuary (fig. 5).14 Above was displayed a
reduced version of one of the Marcus Aurelius reliefs in the Capitoline Museum
(fig. 6), and a comparatively obscure relief with warriors, which had clearly
gained fame because of its inclusion in Winckelmann’s Monumenti Antichi Inediti,
published in 1767 (fig. 7).15 Further identifiable casts included a series of
heads from Trajan’s Column, which we can see hanging from the shelves on the
end wall, many of which remain in the 5. François Duquesnoy, Relief with
Music-Making Angels, 1640–42, marble, 80 × 200 cm. Filomarino Altar, Church of
Santi Apostoli, Naples commissioning of a series of new casts from Antonio
Canova (1757–1822) in Rome.19 Burney’s image illustrates both the Royal
Academy’s aspiration to offer an ‘academic’ education in line with great
Continental examples, but also its differ- ences from them, as a private
organisation sponsored by the monarch rather than a state-run academy.
194 195 26. Anonymous British School, 18th century A View of the
Antique Academy in the Royal Academy c. 1790s Pen and brown ink and grey wash,
with watercolour, over graphite, 294 × 223 mm Stamped recto, l.l., in brown
ink: ‘J.R’; on separate piece of paper now attached to the reverse of the
mount, in pen and black ink: ‘Henry Fuseli R A / 1741–1825. / Bought at Sir J.
Charles Robinson’s sale 1902 / E.M.’ provenance: Robinson; Robinson (not listed in his sales: Christie’s 12–14
May 1902; or Christie’s 17–18 April 1902); Sir Edward Marsh (1872–1953); his
bequest through The Art Fund (then called National Art Collection Fund),
1953. literature:None. exhibitions: London 1969, no.1 (unpaginated), not
repr. The British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London,
1953,0509.3 This satirical drawing, probably made by a distracted student who
ought to have been studying diligently from one of the casts, shows an
imposing, heavy-set man towering physi- cally and psychologically over three
young seated pupils drawing in the Antique Academy. While traditionally he has
been identified as the painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), Keeper of the Royal
Academy Schools from 1803 to 1825, given the style of the drawing and the
subject’s dress he is more likely to be either Agostino Carlini (c. 1718–90),
Keeper between 1783 and 1790, or Joseph Wilton (1722–1803) who held the
position between 1790 and 1803.1 The view shows one of the end walls of the
Antique, or ‘Plaister’ Academy, housed from 1780 in a purpose-built room in
Somerset House.2 The same wall, with a similar arrangement of casts, appears in
the evocative candlelight view of the room by an anonymous British artist (see 60,
105). The young students are busy at work, copying from casts of the Belvedere
Torso (p. 26, 23), the Apollo Belvedere (p. 26, 18) and the Borghese Gladiator
(p. 41, 54), models of different ideal types of beauty, masculinity and
anatomy, repeatedly praised by Sir Joshua Reynolds in his third Discourse of
1770. It is likely that the three moveable casts were often set side by side by
the Keepers to reflect Reynolds’ conception of ideal beauty and of the ‘highest
perfection of the human figure’, which ‘partakes equally of the activity of the
Gladiator, of the delicacy of the Apollo, and of the muscular strength of the
Hercules’, as expressed in his third Discourse.3 On the wall behind the casts,
are two cupboards possibly containing students’ drawings, which support smaller
casts and busts. Whilst the Antique Academy was a serious, professional space,
it was naturally the focus of humour from the students, who ranged in ages from
fourteen to thirty-four. Several other caricatures exist testifying to the
lighter side of academic life, including an earlier study by Thomas Rowlandson
(1756–1827) showing a bench of students at work in the Life Academy in 1776 and
including mocking depictions of Rowlandson’s fellow students (fig. 1).4 In
terms of its public image the cast collection was an important symbol of the
Academy’s prestige but this view does not seem to have been shared by some of
the students, many of whom must have considered the long hours spent copying
after the Antique as a constraining and repetitive exercise. Joseph Wilton was
a crucial figure within the acad- emy in promoting a rigid curriculum based on
the classical ideal. He never abandoned his firm belief in the didactic value
of plaster casts, established while he was director of the Duke of Richmond’s
Gallery in the late 1750s.5 His strict teaching methods must have generated
discontent and considerable derision, brilliantly visualised in a satirical
print by Cruikshank (fig. 2) which shows Wilton – trans- formed into Bottom
with the head of an ass – inspecting the drawing of an irritated student in the
Antique Academy.6 Wilton’s exacting standards, as the lines below the cartoon
make clear, would prevent him from seeing the genius of a modern day Raphael
and it is clear that some students of the Academy saw him as a ‘formal old
fool’. Unlike the Life Academy, where the Visitor presided, setting the model
and frequently drawing from it himself, the Antique Academy was presided over
by the Keeper of the Schools. Each week the Keeper would set out specific casts
and direct and comment on the students’ work. According to 1. Thomas
Rowlandson, A Bench of Artists, 1776, pen and grey and black ink over pencil,
272 × 548 mm, Tate Gallery, London, inv. T08142 196 197 2. Isaac
Cruikshank, Bless The Bottom, bless Thee-Thou art translated – Shakespere,
1794, hand-coloured etching, 295 × 212 mm, G. J. Saville the rules, students
did not choose which casts to draw and they were not allowed to move them
without permission.7 But depictions of the Antique Academy suggest that the
situation was probably more flexible and may have allowed for individually
tailored study. Several anecdotes point to the unruly life of the Academy and
its students, who were allowed to choose their own seats, with utter chaos
resulting. Joseph Farington (1747–1821) noted in 1794, that they behaved like
‘a mob’: Hamilton says the life Academy requires regulation: but the Plaister
Academy much more. The Students act like a mob, in endeavouring to get places.
The figures also are not turned so as to present different views to the 8 The
reason for the commotion was that once a student had a seat, he was expected to
retain it for the week. The atmos- phere seems to have been generally
boisterous and there are numerous reports in the Council Minutes of the Academy
of misbehaviour, high spirits and students throwing at each. It would be
productive of much good to the Students to deprive them of the use of bread; as
they would be induced to pay more attention to their outlines; and would learn
to draw more correct, when they had not the perpetual resource of rubbing
out.11 aa&jy For the traditional attribution of the sitter see the entry on
the collection online database of the British Museum. The identification of the
sitter with Joseph Wilton has been proposed already by Andrew Wilton in London
1969, no. 1. For a list of Keepers of the Royal Academy see Hutchison 1986, 266–67.
Both Carlini and Wilton presented similar physical character- istics as the man
in the drawing. For a list of their likenesses see respectively Trusted 2006
and Coutu 2008. See Baretti [1781], 18–30. See Reynolds 1997, 47. London 1997, 170–71,
no. 67. See Coutu 2000; Kenworthy-Browne 2009. George 1870–1954, 7 (1793–1800),
118, no. 8519. See ‘Rules of the Antique Academy’: Royal Academy of Arts
PC/1/1, Council Minutes, 1, 4–6, 27 Dec. 1768, quoted in Hutchison 1986, 31.
Farington 1978–98, 1, 281. Pressly 1984, 87. Farington 1978–98, 2, 461–62.
Ibid., 2, 462. These two drawings by Turner epitomise the two principal stages
of education provided by the Royal Academy Schools during the late 18th
century: the Antique, or Plaister, Academy and the Life Academy. Turner
enrolled as a student in the Schools in December 1789 as a boy of fourteen,
spent more than two years in the Antique Academy, and then progressed to the
Life Academy in June 1792, presumably after presenting a drawing for inspection
by the Visitor.1 Although there is no record of the drawing Turner submitted,
it may well have been this finished study of the Belvedere Torso (see 26, 23) a
sculpture of enduring popu- larity among artists as demonstrated by Goltzius’
drawing made almost exactly two hundred years earlier (cat. 8). Turner copied
the same cast of the Torso shown in the satiri- cal view of the Academy (cat.
26). He is recorded as having visited the Antique Academy on 137 separate
occasions during his studentship but only some twenty of his drawings after the
Antique survive (figs 1–4) – many from the casts seen in Burney’s drawing (cat.
25) – and none as highly ren- dered as the present study.2 Turner’s signature
at the lower right also suggests it was esteemed by the artist himself and
prepared for some formal purpose. Whilst the surviving Academy Council Minutes
do not record in detail the process of progression from the Antique Academy to
the Life Academy, contemporary accounts offer some insight. Turner’s
contemporary, Stephen Rigaud noted: I was admitted as a Student in the Life
Academy by Mr Wilton the Keeper, and Mr Opie, the Visitor for the time being,
on the presentation of a drawing from the Antique group of the Boxers, in which
I had copied the strong effect of light and shade in the whole group coming out
by strong lights on one side, and reflected lights on the other, with which Mr
Opie expressed himself much pleased.3 The study of the Torso has all the
characteristics of a presenta- tion drawing. It is on better, more regularly
cut paper than Turner’s other drawings after the Antique and the figure is
highly worked and boldly modelled with hatching and cross- hatching in chalk to
convey the ‘strong effects of light and shade’ mentioned by Rigaud. This is in
keeping with the established tradition of copying casts by candlelight to
enhance contrast, so that the students could learn how to render planes and
anatomical details. Unlike Goltzius’ Torso, being copied in daylight after the
original in the Belvedere Courtyard in Rome, Turner’s cast is strongly lit from
above by an oil lamp and set against a neutral screen to provide a uniform
background – as clearly visible in the view of the Antique Academy (p. 60, 105).
Furthermore, this is the only drawing from the Antique where Turner employed
trois crayons, adding red to black and white chalk, a technique he usually
reserved for studies from life. Might it be that Turner was attempting to turn
marble into flesh, the practice 198 199 students. other the lumps of bread they
were given to erase their draw- ings. Stephen Francis Rigaud (1777–1862), son
of the Royal Academician, John Francis Rigaud (1742–1810) and a student in the
early 1790s, wrote that the Schools were also the forum for political
agitation: The peaceable students in the Antique Academy being continually interrupted
in their studies by others of an opposite character, who used to stand up and
spout forth torrents of indecent abuse against the King One evening I rose and protested that if they
continued to use such abominable language in a Royal Academy I would denounce
every one of them to the Council and procure their expulsion [. . .] this
threat checked them a little; but they shewed their spite by pelting me well
with [. . .] pieces of bread.9 This incident reached the ears of the Academy
Council from which the Keeper was excluded. Wilton told Joseph Farington in
1795: The Students in the Plaister Academy continue to behave very rudely; and
that they have a practise of throwing the bread, allowed them by the Academy
for rubbing out, at each other, so as to waste so much that the Bill for bread
sometimes amounts to Sixteen Shillings a week.10 The Council took the decision
to stop the allowance of bread altogether, as the President, Benjamin West,
noted: 27. Joseph Mallord William Turner (London 1775–1851 London) a. Study of
a Plaster Cast of the Belvedere Torso c. 1792 Black, red and white chalk, on
brown paper, 331 × 235 mm Signed recto, l.r., in pen and black ink: ‘Wm
Turner.’ literature: Postle 1997, 91–93, repr.; Owens 2013, 102–03, pl. 76.
exhibitions: Nottingham and London 1991, 51, no. 18 (M. Postle); Munich and
Rome 1998–99, 49, 50, 164, no. 62 (M. Ewel and I. von zur Mühlen); Munich and
Cologne 2002, 414, no. 192 (J. Rees); London 2011 (no catalogue). Victoria and
Albert Museum, Prints et Drawings Study Room, London, 9261 b. The Wrestlers c.
1793 Black, red and white chalks, on brown paper, 504 x 384 mm Signed recto,
l.r., in pen and black ink: ‘Wm Turner.’ literature: Wilton 2007, 16, repr.
exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. Victoria and Albert Museum, Prints et Drawings
Study Room, London, 9262 provenance: Both drawings purchased by the Museum in
1884 from R. Jackson with four other academic drawings by different artists
(Victoria and Albert Museum Register of Drawings 1880–1884, 171, 174).
200 201 prescribed by Rubens (see Appendix, no. 8), something
he may have thought would demonstrate that he was ready to progress to the Life
Academy? The Torso would have been a clever choice for a presentation drawing,
since the antique fragment held a position of great prominence in the mission
and the iconography of the Royal Academy. According to Reynolds the Torso was
the greatest exemplar of classical art. ‘What artist’, he asked in his 10th
Discourse of 1780, ‘ever looked at the Torso without feeling a warmth of
enthusiasm, as from the highest efforts of poetry?’ For him only ‘a MIND
elevated to the contemplation of excel- lence perceives in this defaced and
shattered fragment the traces of superlative genius, the reliques
of a work on which succeeding ages can only gaze with inadequate admi- ration’
(see Appendix, no. 17).4 The muscular figure featured prominently under the
words ‘STUDY’ on the obverse of several medals annually distributed as premiums
to the students and in Angelica Kauffman’s Design for the ceiling of the
Council Chamber, which served also as a second room of the Antique Academy (see
60, 107).5 In Turner’s time as a student, the Academy possessed two casts of
the Torso, one of which we know was presented by the dealer Colin Morrison in
1770, and significantly Turner himself donated a further cast in 1842.6 The
second drawing exhibited here was made from posed models in the Life Academy.
The model would be set by the Visitors and Turner studied under a number of
them, including Henry Fuseli, James Barry and Thomas Stothard (1755–1834). This
drawing possibly dates from 1793 and may represent an unusually elaborate pose
set by the sculptor John Bacon (1740–99). Stephen Francis Rigaud, who entered
the Life Academy a year after Turner, noted: I remember Mr Bacon once setting a
well composed group of two men, one in the act of slaying the other; or a
representation of the history of Cain and Abel, which was continued for double
the time allowed for a single figure, and which gave general satisfaction to
the students.7 This precisely accords with the present group, which shows
specific models engaged in combat. Although designed to represent a biblical
subject, the pose of the two figures was reminiscent of antique groups,
especially the Wrestlers (see 30, 33) which had already served as inspiration
for posing the live models in the Italian and French academies – as seen for
instance in Natoire’s imaginary view of the Académie Royale (cat. 16). Turner
continued to attend the Schools throughout the 1790s until he was awarded
Associateship of the Academy in 1799; he would continue to visit the Life
Academy intermit- tently for the rest of his life.8 He was made inspector of
the cast collection of the Royal Academy in 1820, 1829 and 1838 and served as
Visitor in the Life Academy for a total of eight years between 1812 and 1838.9
In the latter role he became famous for setting the live model in postures
reminiscent of classical sculpture, clearly recalling what he had learned
during his time as a student. Lauding this practice and lamenting its decline,
the artists and essayists Richard (1804– 1. Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study of a
Plaster Cast of the Apollo Belvedere, c. 1791, black and white chalks on brown
laid wrapping paper, 419 × 269 mm, Tate Gallery, London, inv. D00057 (Turner
Bequest V D) 2. Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study of a Plaster Casts of
Marquess of Shelbourne’s Cincinnatus, c. 1791, pencil with black and white
chalks and stump on laid buf paper, 425 × 267 mm, Tate Gallery, London, inv.
D00055 (Turner Bequest V B) 4. Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study of a
Plaster Cast of a Helmeted Head from the Trajan Column, with Other Studies, c.
1791, black, red and white chalks and stump on dark buf paper, 337 × 269 mm,
Tate Gallery, London, inv. D40220 (Turner Bequest V R, verso) 88) and Samuel
(1802–76) Redgrave noted: When a visitor in the life school he introduced a
capital practice, which it is to be regretted has not been contin- ued: he
chose for study a model as nearly as possible corresponding in form and
character with some fine antique figure, which he placed by the side of the
model posed in the same action; thus, the Discobulus (sic) of Myron contrasted
with one of our best trained soldier; the Lizard Killer with a youth in the
roundest beauty of adoles- cence; the Venus de’ Medici beside a female in the
first period of youthful womanhood. The idea was original and very instructive:
it showed at once how much the antique sculptors had refined nature; which, if
in parts more beautiful than the selected form which is called ideal, as a
whole looked common and vulgar by its side.10 aa et jy For Turner’s attendance
at the Academy see Hutchison 1960–62, 130. Finberg 1909, 1, 6–8. See also
Wilton 2012. Pressly 1984, 90. Reynolds 1997, 177–78. On the medals see
Hutchison 1986, 34; Baretti [1781], 28; see also London, Royal Academy of Arts,
PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 24, 20 May 1769. For the Council Chamber see
Baretti [1781], 25–26. On the two copies of the Torso in the Royal Academy see
Baretti [1781], 9, 28. On Colin Morrison’s donation of a cast of the Torso,
together with ‘Cast of a Bust of Alexander’ in 1770 see London, Royal Academy
of Arts, PC/1/1, Council minutes, 1, 70, 17 March 1770; on Turner’s donation
see Gage 1987, 33. Pressly 1984, 90. Hutchison 1960–62, 130. See Gage 1987, 32–33.
Redgrave and Redgrave 1890, 234, quoted in Gage 1987, 33. 202 203 3.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Study of a Plaster Casts of the Borghese
Gladiator, c. 1791–92, black and some white chalk on buf wove paper, 580 × 457
mm, Tate Gallery, London, inv. D00071 (Turner Bequest V S) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 28. William Chambers ( fl.1794) The Townley Marbles in the Dining Room
of 7 Park Street, Westminster 1795 Pen and grey ink with watercolour and
touches of gouache, indication in graphite, heightened with gum Arabic, 390 ×
540 mm provenance: Charles Townley (1737–1805); by descent to Lord O’Hagan (b.
1945); Sotheby’s, London, 22 July 1985, lot 559; Frederick R. Koch; Sotheby’s,
London, 12 April 1995, lot 90, from whom acquired by the British Museum.
literature: Cook 1977, 8–9, fig.1; Cook 1985, 44–45, 41; Walker 1986, 320–22,
pl. A; Cruickshank 1992, 60–61, 5; Morley 1993, 228, 285, pl. LVII; Webster
2011, 425, 321. exhibitions: Essen 1992, 432–36, no. 360a (C. Fox and I.
Jenkins); London 1995 (no catalogue); London and Rome 1996–97, 258–60, no. 214
(I. Jenkins); London 2000, 229–30, no. 167; London 2001, 42, no. 72;
London. The British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London,
1995,0506.8 Charles Townley (1737–1805) was the most influential collec- tor of
antique sculpture in Britain during the second half of the 18th century.1 From
1777 Townley’s considerable collection was arranged in his London residence, 7
Park Street (now 14 Queen Anne’s Gate), a proto-house-museum praised both for
the strength of its collections and their display. It was to become one of the
principal tourist sites in London. Writing about the house, James Dallaway
claimed that ‘the interior of a Roman villa might be inspected in our own
metropolis’.2 Park Street was also a centre of antiquari- anism and Townley –
particularly after 1798, when wars with France curtailed travel to the
Continent – was a hugely 1. Johann Zofany, Charles Townley and Friends in His
Library at Park Street, Westminster, 1781–90 and 1798, oil on canvas, 127 ×
99.1 cm, Towneley Hall Art Gallery et Museum important figure in promoting the
study and interpretation of classical sculpture in Britain initiating numerous
publica- tions, including the Society of Dilettanti’s Specimens of Antient
Sculpture (1809). Townley also formed a famous library and an immense archive
of drawings – in effect a ‘paper museum’ – recording antiquities in both
British and European collections. To complete this ‘paper museum’ and to
prepare publications such as the Specimens, Townley employed numerous young
artists to record his own collection. It is clear from the surviving portions
of his diary and other records that 7 Park Street became, in effect, an
alternative academy in London. Writing in 1829, the then Keeper of Prints and
Drawings at the British Museum, J. T. Smith, published a description of 7 Park
Street and its contents, observing: I shall now endeavour to anticipate the
wish of the reader, by giving a brief description of those rooms of Mr
Townlye’s house, in which that gentleman’s liberality employed me when a boy,
with many other students in the Royal Academy, to make drawings for his
portfolios.3 Townley’s surviving drawings, housed, along with his sculp- ture
collection, in the British Museum, testify to the range of artists he employed
and demonstrate the popularity of Park Street as a venue for artists both to meet
and to draw. Records show that William Chambers – not to be confused with the
architect of the same name – was one of the draughtsmen employed by Townley to
prepare drawings for his ‘portfo- lios’. A payment of £5.5.0 to Chambers is
recorded on 21 October 1795 for the pendant to this drawing, a view of sculp-
ture in the hall at 7 Park Street, also in the British Museum.4 Townley’s diary
records the comings and goings of painters, particularly his friend, Johann
Zoffany (1733–1810) who painted the iconic, largely imaginary view of Townley’s
library filled with his sculpture collection and with the owner in conversation
with his unofficial curator, the Baron d’Hancarville, and two other friends
(fig. 1).5 204 205 The dining room was one of the principal public
spaces of the house and contained some of the largest sculptures in the
collection. These included the Townley Venus, the Discobolus (fig. 2), the
Townley Caryatid, the Townley Vase, and the Drunken Faun, which Chambers places
in the foreground. The modish decoration reflected both advanced neo-classical
thinking and Townley’s own passions; the walls were articulated by simulated
porphyry columns surmounted by capitals whose design came from Terracina; as
d’Hancarville explained: ‘the ove is covered with three masks representing the
three kinds of ancient drama, the comic, tragic and satyric the
choice and disposition of these ornaments leave no doubt that this capital was
intended to characterise a building con- secrated to Bacchus and Ceres’.6
Visitors are shown admiring the collection while a woman seated in the
foreground is drawing from the Drunken Faun. A drawing attributed to Chambers
of the same sculpture, taken from the same angle, made for Townely’s
portfolios, is also in the British Museum (fig. 3). Townley’s wide circle of
acquaintances included a number of amateur and professional female artists,
includ- ing Maria Cosway (1760–1838), whom Townley first met in Florence in
1774. His interest in encouraging young artists led to the publication by
Conrad Metz of a drawing manual based on studies of the sculpture in Park
Street: Studies for Drawing, chiefly from the Antique. 30 plates (1785).
Townley’s support of artists resulted in his taking an active role in the Royal
Academy of Arts from its foundation. He donated casts of his own sculpture and
solicited dona- tions from friends. The Academy’s Council Minutes record his
first donation in August 1769 of a ‘cast of the Lacedemonian Boy’ the so-called
Knucklebone Players which appears in Edward Burney’s view of the RA’s Antique
Academy on the far left, behind the Cincinnatus (cat. 25).7 One of the artists
who appears regularly in Townley’s diary was the sculptor Nollekens who is
recorded donating to the Academy a ‘cast in plaister of the head of Diomede’
belonging to Townley in 1792.8 Townley also donated casts of sculptures in
other collections, among them, in 1794 one ‘of the celebrated Bas relief in the
Capitol, of Perseus et Andromeda’, a cast still in the collection of the
Academy.9 Townley’s solicitude for the Royal Academy and the educa- tion of
young artists continued throughout his life; in 1797 the painter and diarist
Joseph Farington noted: ‘Townley thinks the Academy should have additional
rooms for Statues &c’.10 29. Joseph Michael Gandy (London 1771–1843
Plympton) View of the Dome Area by Lamplight looking South-East 1811 Pen and
black ink, watercolour, 1190 × 880 mm selected literature: Lukacher 2006, 132–33,
fig.150 exhibitions: London 1999a, 160, no. 68 (H. Dorey); Munich 2013–14, 43;
London 2014, (unpaginated). Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, For Townley see
particularly Coltman 2009. Dallaway 1816, 319, 328. Smith 1829, 1, 251. In
February that year he had also paid Chambers £2.2.0. for some unspeci- fied
drawings, and in August £1.1.0. for ‘drawing gems’: see London 2000, 229.
Townley’s diary records Chambers returned in May 1798 when he began to make a
record of an altar of Lucius Verus Helius which Townley had recently acquired
from the Duke of St Albans; he finished the study on Sunday 7 July: London,
British Museum, Townley Archive, TY/1/10. For William Chambers’ pendant to this
drawing see London 2001, 42, no. 71 (with previous bibliography). Webster.
London and Rome 1996–97, 258–60. London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/1, Council
minutes, 1, 38, 9 Aug. 1769. It arrived with a cast of a Venus donated by
Townley’s principal antiquities dealer in Rome, Thomas Jenkins. The original
Knucklebone Players is in the British Museum, Department of Greek et Roman
Antiquities, inv. 1805,0703.7. London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/2, Council
minutes, 2, 173–4, 3 Nov. 1792. The original marble bust is in the British
Museum, Department of Greek et Roman Antiquities, inv. 1805,0703.86, now called
the Head of a follower of Ulysses. London, Royal Academy of Arts, PC/1/2,
Council minutes, 2, 201, 7 Feb. 1794. The cast is in the Royal Academy, inv.
03/2018. The original is in the Capitoline Museums, Rome, inv. 501: see Helbig
Farington 1978-98, 3, 840. 2. The Townley Discobolus, Roman copy of the 2nd
century ad after a Greek original of the 5th century bc by Myron, marble, 170
cm (h), British Museum, Department of Greek et Roman Antiquities, London, inv.
1805,0703.43 3 Attributed to William Chambers, Drawing of a Statue of an
Intoxicated Satyr, 1794–1805, black chalk and grey wash, 280 × 193 mm, British
Museum, Department of Greek et Roman Antiquities, London, inv. 2010,5006.87 The
Royal Academy School of Architecture was central to the formation of the
professional career and teaching of Sir John Soane (1754–1837), who is chiefly
remembered today as architect to the Bank of England, of Dulwich Picture
Gallery and of his incomparable house-museum at No. 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields,
London. The unique installations of antiquities and casts after the Antique in
the Museum, which he built at the back of the house, and which J. M. Gandy so
atmospherically evokes in this drawing, also attest to the influence of the
Academy on Soane’s pattern of collecting and his own role as a teacher. Soane
entered the Academy in 1771 at the age of eighteen; he was the 141st pupil
since the Academy’s foundation in 1768 and amongst the first students of the
School of Architecture, the earliest institution in Britain to teach
architecture in a formalised way. The School was modelled by Sir William
Chambers (1723–96) on his own experience of studying architecture in
Jean-François Blondel’s École des Arts in Paris, in 1749–50, when the status of
the architect and teaching methods in Britain were then very different from
those in France. The Académie Royale d’Architecture, of which Chambers became a
member in 1762, had been founded in 1671 and was followed, in 1743, by
Blondel’s more progressive École. The École’s curriculum was rigorous; it was
open for study from Monday to Saturday and from eight in the morning until nine
in the evening. The students’ day began with formal discussion of various
topics, followed by lectures on set matters relating to drawing such as mathe-
matics, geometry, perspective, or to building types such as military
architecture, or to practical issues such as drainage and water supply. In the
spring, students would undertake site visits to notable buildings in Paris and
its environs.1 In Britain, by contrast, the professional status of architect
was ill-defined, and was not always distinguished from that of the builder or
mason. The ambiguous status of architecture was not entirely clarified by the
time Soane entered the architecture school. It was the smallest of the
departments at the Royal Academy and Soane was one of only nine pupils admitted
in 1771. And although inspired by Blondel’s École, the programme of the
architecture school was nothing like so rigourous. Students of architecture
were required to attend only six lectures per year.2 The reason for this very
limited formal teaching was that most students were attached to a professional
archi- tect’s office during the day; when Soane enrolled at the Royal Academy
he was working for George Dance the Younger (1741–1825).3 Nor were the teaching
collections available to students at all extensive. The collections of plaster
casts after the Antique (and antiquities) were dominated by the requirements of
painters and sculptors; in the 1810 inventory of 385 casts, only nineteen can
be identified as being architec- tural.4 It is against this backdrop that we
must understand Soane’s own founding of an ‘academy of architecture’ in his
house-museum. The history of Soane’s collections of casts and the manner in
which they were installed, deinstalled and reinstalled over a period of time
and over three different properties belonging to Soane (two at Lincoln’s Inn
Fields and one in Ealing, London) is not straightforward. From the 1790s, Soane
started collecting and displaying casts for the use of the young pupils and assistants
working in his first office in No. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields.5 However, as his
collection grew and as his career as an architect developed, the function of
the collection of antiquities and of casts after the Antique changed. Gandy’s
drawing shows the Dome Area of Soane’s Museum as it appeared in 1811 (a year
after the 1810 Royal Academy inventory of casts was com- piled).6 In this view,
atmospherically lit from below by an undisclosed light source, we can readily
identify a number of casts of antique sculpture and of architectural fragments.
The largest casts are the Corinthian capital shown on the south wall, and a
fragment of entablature, shown on the east wall, both taken from the Temple of
Castor and Pollux in Rome, which Soane had purchased in 1801 from the sale of
the architect Willey ‘the Athenian’ Reveley.7 Below the capital, and forming
part of the parapet of the Dome we see a cast of one of the panels, decorated
with a festoon, from the portico of the Pantheon, purchased from the sale of the
architect James Playfair.8 Sculpture is also represented in the casts, and a
number of well-known antiquities can be 206 207 described.
Just visible through the arch in the lower right- hand corner, is an
arrangement of four casts taken from the base of one of the so-called Barberini
Candelabra, among the most prized antiquities in the Museo Pio-Clementino,
Rome, which shows the gods Minerva, Jupiter (twice), and Mercury in low
relief.9 On the east wall, below the entablature of the Temple of Castor and Pollux,
is a cast of a relief of two of the ‘Corybantes’, taken from the marble
original in the Vatican Museums and also purchased from the Playfair sale.10
Although Soane would rearrange these casts and antiquities as his ‘Museum’
expanded, most are still to be found at No. 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields and the
general impression of a dense, ‘romantic’ arrangement remains. If, originally,
Soane’s collection of casts and antiquities was intended to provide exemplars
for the architects training and working in his office, by the time Gandy drew
the arrangements as they appeared in 1811 a shift in their purpose had
occurred. In 1806, Soane became Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy
and, as a former student, he was well aware of the relatively meagre resources
allocated to the School. He comments on this in his 6th lecture, given to his
students at the RA.11 The arrangement of casts shown by Gandy was installed
between 1806 and 1809, when Soane was preparing his Royal Academy lectures, of
which he gave the first in 1809.12 It has been argued that they are a
three-dimensional analogue of the lectures and their drawn illustrations.13
Indeed, Soane saw the casts as being central to his teaching: ... I propose in
future that the various drawings and models, shall, on the day before, and if
necessary, the day after the public reading of each lecture, be open at my
house for the inspection of the students in architecture, where at the same
time, they will likewise have an oppor- tunity of consulting the plaster casts
and architectural fragments.14 Shortly after Gandy completed this view of the
Dome Area, the European Magazine and London Review described Soane’s
house-museum as an ‘... Academy of Architecture’.15 At the same time as he was
responding to the lack of architectural casts and fragments in the collections
of the Royal Academy, Soane’s ‘academy’ should also be seen as Soane’s
reflection on the ways in which he himself had come to experience Roman
architecture. Unlike the Royal Academy lectures, which Soane arranged
programmatically, the ‘Piranesian’ displays of antiquities, casts and
architectural 16 to recreate the experience of visiting Rome and to recall the
excitement of viewing there the disorganised remains of antiquity.17 However,
another reason why Soane rejected a rational academic approach to the
arrangements of antiquities in his house-museum might lie in the way that Soane
used the collections to form his own identity as an architect. In our drawing
Gandy includes a portrait of Soane who is illuminated from the same undisclosed
light source as his casts, gesturing in, by 1811, the slightly archaic manner
of an interlocutor. He is at once teacher, architect and collector.18 The
arrangements of casts and antiquities are not just for the use of his students
and pupils but also, as he put it, ‘... studies for my own mind’.19 They
reflect one individual’s view of art and architecture through the idiosyncratic
juxtapositions that he created. However, there is yet another level of
self-identification in Soane’s collection and display of antiquities and
architec- tural fragments. In Gandy’s drawing, far above Soane on a shelf, can
be seen a row of Roman antique cineraria and cinerary vases. That at the far
left, decorated with Ammon masks, came from the ‘Museum’ of the great Italian
architect and etcher, Piranesi, as did the cinerary vase decorated with
griffins seen on top of the cinerarium in the middle, and the cinerarium
decorated with genii on the far right. Though it is not seen in this view, in
1811, a full-size cast of the Apollo Belvedere would join the collections of
the ‘academy’. Dating to 1717, it had formerly been owned by Lord Burlington
and displayed in his villa at Chiswick. In 1818, further antiquities – this
time from the sale of the effects of Robert and James Adam – would enhance the
installations. The names of these prominent antiquaries and architects are
significant: they create an intellectual genealogy for Soane, who was born the
son of a bricklayer. Sir John Soane’s Museum is a very rare survival of an
early 19th-century private ‘academy’ in which his collections of casts and of
antiquities can be experienced much in the same manner as his own pupils and
his Royal Academy students experienced them. It also demonstrates how Soane
drew upon the Antique to create his intellectual persona. fragments are
set out idiosyncratically and imaginatively. Why did Soane reject a more
conventional arrangement of casts and antiquities in his ‘academy’? Perhaps he
wished 208 1 2 3 4 j k-b See Bingham 1993, p.5. ‘In regard to the students in
architecture, it is exacted from them only that they attend the library and
lectures, more particularly those on Architecture and Perspective...’.
Reprinted, La Ruffinière du Prey 1977, 47. Soane subsequently entered the
office of Henry Holland in 1772. Bingham 1993, 7. The lack of collections of
casts or of architectural fragments in public collections in Britain, until Sir
John Soane formed his collection, was also commented upon by John Britton in
the preface to his 1827 ‘guide’ to Soane’s house-museum, Britton 1827, p.viii.
209 5 Soane had originally started collecting and displaying casts for
the use of the architects working in his first office in No.12 Lincoln’s Inn
Fields in the 1790s. He also hoped to inspire his eldest son – John Soane
Junior – to become an architect and arranged antiquities and casts at his
country villa, Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing, acquired in 1800 and rebuilt by
Soane, to act as an ‘academy’ for John. For a full description of Soane’s
acquisition and installation of casts in his house-museum and his use of them
see: Dorey 2010. 6 This part of the house was in fact behind No. 13 Lincoln’s
Inn Fields. 7 Reveley had collected these casts in Italy and Soane purchased
every cast from this sale. Dorey 2010, 600. 8 Dorey 2010, p.600. 9 These were found
in the remains of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli in 1730 and were heavily restored
by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi. The British antiquary Thomas Jenkins acted as agent
for the Pope when negotiating their acquisition. 10 This had been found in 1788
near Palestrina. The subject of the relief is also sometimes identified as the
Pyrrhic Dance. 11 ‘...I have often lamented that in the Royal Academy the
students in architecture have only a few imperfect casts from ancient remains,
and a very limited collection of works on architecture to refer to.’ Reprinted
in Watkin 1996, 579. 12 As Soane explained in his 6th Royal Academy lecture:
‘On my appoint- ment to the Professorship I began to arrange the books, casts,
and models, 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 in order that the students might have the
benefit of easy access to them. Reprinted in Watkin. See: Dorey 2010, 606.
Watkin 1996, p.579. Observations 1812, 382. In fact, Soane does seem to have
entertained the idea of creating a more ‘rational’ Museum where casts,
antiquities and fragments would be arranged according to academic taxonomies. A
drawing by George Bailey, also dating to 1811 and showing the Dome Area (SM
14/6/3), includes a plan relating to a scheme of c. 1809–11 whereby both Nos 12
and 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields would be used by Soane. In this proposed scheme,
the whole of No. 13 would become the Museum with the collections displayed
according to type. As Soane explained in a rejected draft of his sixth Royal
Academy lecture, No. 13 would incorporate: ‘... a gallery exceeding one hundred
feet in length for the reception of architectural drawings and prints, another
room of the same extent over it, to receive models and parts of buildings
ancient and modern’. Reprinted in Watkin 1996, 356. Soane even used plain
yellow glass in the skylights that illuminated the Dome Area, perhaps to evoke
the light of the Mediterranean world rather than that of London. Soane explores
the use of architecture as a type of ‘self-portrait’ in notes he made when
preparing his Royal Academy lectures. See: Soane. J., Extracts, Hints, Etc. for
Lectures, 1813–18, SM Soane Case 170, f.135. Soane, Gijsbertus Johannus Van den
Berg (Rotterdam 1769–1817 Rotterdam) The Drawing Lesson c. 1790s Black and red
chalk, 483 × 375 mm. Framing lines in black chalk. Signed recto l.r. in black
chalk: GVD Berg. fecit provenance: Paris, Drouot, 26 March 1924, part of lot
55, La Leçon de Dessin (sold as a pair with another drawing, La Marchande de
frivolités); Private collection, France; Private collection, England; Florian Härb,
London, from whom acquired. literature:None. exhibitions: Not previously
exhibited. Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 2011-013 Born in Rotterdam,
Van den Berg was a pupil of Johannes Zaccarias Simon Prey (1749–1822), a
leading portrait and decorative painter in that city.1 In the 1780s, he studied
for three years in Antwerp where he received special recogni- tion for his
drawings after live models and casts; he also resided for a time in Düsseldorf
and Mannheim.2 In 1790, he returned to Rotterdam where he established himself
as a portrait painter and miniaturist. The same year he was appointed
‘Corrector’, a judge and arranger of poses for live models, of the Rotterdam
Drawings Society, whose motto was Hierdoor tot Hooger (‘From Hereby to Higher’).3
For the remainder of his career, he devoted himself to teaching. His pupils
included his son, Jacobus-Everardus-Josephus (1802–61), who also became a
professional painter and from 1844, director of the Teeken-Akademie in the
Hague.4 One of Van den Berg’s biographers makes special mention of the finished
portrait studies in black and red chalk that he made after his return to
Rotterdam; the present drawing is certainly one of them.5 Berg preferred
studying female models, usually posing two together: here, two elegantly
dressed women in a panelled interior focus their attention on an idealised
head, probably a variant of the head of an antique Venus.6 The seated
draughtswoman holds up her chalk-filled porte-crayon above an angled
drawing-board, intently appraising her subject. She engages with it much in the
same way as Hubert Robert did some thirty years earlier in his self-portrait
with the Faustina bust (cat. 17). The second woman appears to be commenting on
the work in progress. A portfolio leans against a table leg on the floor below.
Comparably attired women – possibly the same ones – are shown reading a letter
in a sheet by Van den Berg in a private collection.7 The present composition is
similar in style and format to several other chalk studies by the artist of the
1790s. It is especially close to his drawing of a female artist seated at a
table in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (fig. 1). But instead of holding a
porte-crayon, this young woman operates a zograscope, an optical device
invented in the mid-18th century that included a magnifying lens to enhance an
image’s depth and relief; the subject of her scrutiny remains out of view.8
Another comparable drawing, signed and dated 1791 (Royal Collection, Windsor
Castle; 2), shows an elderly man, perhaps a drawing instructor, inspecting a
portrait study from a portfolio.9 He is seated at a table which is nearly
identical to that in the Bellinger example, but Berg shows him in a less formal
attitude, holding a long clay pipe and resting his feet on a portable stove, in
a manner reminis- cent of Dutch 17th-century genre subjects. This drawing, plus
a number of other figure drawings by Van den Berg preserved at Windsor, were
probably obtained as a group by 1. Gijsbertus Johannus Van den Berg, Study of a
Woman Seated at a Table, with an Optical Mirror, black and red chalk, 396 × 303
mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam RP-T-1997-10 210 211 2. Gijsbertus Johannus Van den Berg, A
Connoisseur Examining Drawings, 1791, black and red chalk, 407 × 284 mm, Royal
Collection, RL 12865 King George III around 1810.10 Most are probably studies
after live models set in poses determined in advance in classes at the
Rotterdam Drawings Society.11 Draped plaster casts were used when models were
unavailable.12 As with the Bellinger drawing, their style, with their sensitive
employment of black chalk and red accents for the skin, is strongly reminiscent
of portrait drawings by the English artist Richard Cosway (1742–1821) and no
doubt register the prevailing taste for English art in Rotterdam at the time.13
It is possible that Van den Berg intended his figure studies to be engraved,
perhaps for a series on the art of drawing.14 Women artists did not begin to
acquire the same privileges and educational advantages as men until the end of
the 19th century; as a general rule they were denied membership of academies
and were not permitted to draw after nude or anatomical models.15 They were
largely confined to producing art in private studios and especially in
aristocratic houses, where drawing tutors were sometimes hired to supplement
the education of young women.16 For the most part, they were restricted to
producing non-histor- ical, non-mythological and non-biblical subjects, such as
portraits and still-lifes, as their exclusion from study of the live model and
anatomy was thought to – and generally did 3. Georg Melchior Kraus, Corona
Schröter Drawing a Cast of the ‘Eros of Centocelle’, 1785, watercolour, 380 ×
315 mm, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, KHz/01632 – prevent them from acquiring full
mastery of the human form.17 Instead, they studied sculptural models and espe-
cially antique casts, often ones deemed thematically appro- priate for their
gender, such as the ideal head featured in the Van den Berg drawing catalogued
here. A comparable situa- tion is depicted in a watercolour close in date by
Georg Melchior Kraus (1737–1806), then director of the Weimar drawing school,
in which a beautiful and smartly dressed young lady, Corona Schröter, draws
after a cast of the girlish son of Venus, the Eros of Centocelle (1785; Klassik
Stiftung Weimar; 3), a statue known through Roman copies – namely, the example
discovered by Gavin Hamilton in 1772 in the outskirts of Rome and now in the
Vatican – after a lost bronze original by Praxiteles.18 The tradition of women
drawing from antique plaster casts in Holland, which began in the 17th
century,19 was well advanced by the first quarter of the 18th century,
evidenced in Pieter Van der Werff’s portrayal of a girl draw- ing after the
Venus de’ Medici (1715; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; 40, 53). Van den Berg’s
drawing, and others like it, confirm that the practice developed further during
the latter part of the century, and became still more widespread in the 19th.
The importance of plaster casts in artistic training in 212 213 Holland
at this time is indicated by the activities of the Rotterdam Drawing School,
but also by Van den Berg’s own self-portrait of 1794, where a reduced model of
the Dying Gladiator and others are given prominence of place on the shelf directly
behind the artist (Museum Rotterdam).20 avl 1 For his life and work, see Van
der Aa 1852–78, 2, 368–69; Thieme- Becker 1907–50, 3, 387; Scheen Van der Aa 1852–78, 2, 368–69. 3 Ibid., 2, 369;
For the society and his involvement therein, see Amsterdam 1994, 2–3
[unpaginated]. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid.; Amsterdam 1994, 3 [unpaginated]. 6 Amsterdam
1994, 3 [unpaginated]; Berg also oversaw private classes where students drew
after nude female models. 7 Ibid., 3–4 [unpaginated], no. 9. 8 Bulletin van het
Rijksmuseum, 45, no. 3, 1997, 239, fig. 9. For an in-depth study of this
device, known in the 18th century as an ‘optical machine’, see Koenderink 2013,
192–206. 9 Puyvelde 1944, 20, no. 81, pl. 142; Amsterdam 1994, 2 [unpaginated].
10 Puyvelde 1944, 20–21, 75–83. See also on-line collections database:
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk 11 For the society’s use of posed models, see
Amsterdam 1994, 2 [unpagi- nated]. 12 On the role of casts, see Amsterdam 1994,
2 [unpaginated]. An intrigu- ing view of the society’s drawing room, on the
upper floor of the Delftse Poort in Rotterdam, was published in Plomp 1982, 11–12
(drawn by an anonymous artist, 1780, whereabouts unknown). Casts of the
Laocoön, the Apollo Belvedere, and L’Ecorché (Figure of a Flayed Man), 1767 by
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828) are clearly visible. For the latter, see
Washington D.C., Los Angeles and elsewhere 2003–04, 62–66, no. 1 (Poulet). It
has also been suggested that the finished quality of Van den Berg’s drawings
are reminiscent of engravings by George Morland (Amsterdam 1994, 3
[unpaginated]; Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 45, no. 3, 1997, 239). As proposed
by Florian Härb, unpublished fact sheet on the Bellinger drawing, c. 2011. For
essential reading on the subject of women artists from the Renaissance to the
mid-20th century, see Los Angeles, Austin and elsewhere 1976–77 and especially
the authors’ introductory essay, 12–67. See also Goldstein 1996, 61–66. A very
small number of women artists managed to get elected to the French academy
including Adélaïd Labille-Guiard (1749– 1803) and Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun
(1755–1842) in 1783. But from 1663 to the dissolution of the Academy in 1793,
only fourteen in total were accepted (Montfort 2005, 3, 16, note 8). The French
Salon in Paris was not open to non-Academy members until 1791, when women were
permitted to exhibit their work. Goldstein 1996, 62–64. See Los Angeles, Austin
and elsewhere 1976–77, especially 13–58; Goldstein 1996, 62–63. Söderlind 1999,
23. For the statue, see Spinola 1996–2004, 2, 61, fig. 11, 63, no. 85; Piva
2007, 48–49, fig. 7. See for example, A Young Woman Seated Drawing, 1655–60, by
Gabriel Metsu (1629–67) in the National Gallery, London (NG 5225; Waiboer 2012,
205–06, A-62) and A Lady Drawing, c. 1665, by Eglon van der Neer (1635/36–
1703) in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. P243; Schavemaker 2010, 462,
no. 29). Dordrecht 2012–13, no. 64A (F. Meijer). 31. Wybrand Hendriks
(Amsterdam 1744–1831 Haarlem) The Haarlem Drawing College 1799 Oil on canvas,
63 × 81 cm Signed and dated lower left: ‘W. Hendriks Pinxit 1799’ provenance:
Wybrand Hendriks (1744–1831); his sale, R.W.P. de Vries et C.F. Roos,
Amsterdam, 27–29 February 1832, lot 30; private collection, Paris; Adolph
Staring (1890–1980), Vorden; given to the Teylers Museum in 1987 by Mrs. J.H.M.
Staring-de Mol van Otterloo. literature: Knoef 1938, repr.; Knoef 1947a, 11–13;
Staring 1956, 174, fig. LIV; Van Regteren Altena 1970, 312, 316; Praz 1971, 37;
Van Tuyll 1988, 17–18, fig. 21; Haarlem 1990, 35–36. exhibitions: Rotterdam
1946, 8, no. 13; London 1947, 4, no. 2; Amsterdam 1947–48, 8, no. 10; Haarlem
1972, 25–26, no. 29, fig. 44; Munich and Haarlem 1986, 96–97, no. 13. 214 215
Teylers Museum, Haarlem, KS 1987 002 exhibited in haarlem only In this painting
we have been admitted to a gathering at the Haarlem Drawing College. In the
18th and early 19th century every self-respecting Dutch town had its own drawing
‘college’ or ‘academy’. It was where artists and wealthy amateurs met, drew
together from the nude or draped model, and where they looked at drawings
together during so-called art viewings or ‘kunstbeschouwingen’. In 1799, the
year this picture was painted, the Haarlem Drawing College had twenty-six
working (as opposed to honorary) members, and this is very probably a group
portrait of them and their committee (leaving aside the boy playing marbles on
the left, who may be the son of one of the members). The setting is a house
that the Haarlem artists rented in Klein Heiligland. The question that
immediately arises is: ‘who’s who?’ Although the label listing the sitters that
was still with the painting at the sale of Hendriks’s estate in 1832 is no longer
preserved, many of the figures can nevertheless be identified with a fair
degree of certainty. The two in the middle are very probably the secretary, Jan
Willem Berg who gestures to the viewer’s left, and the balding treasurer,
Pieter S. Crommelin. On the far right, beneath the bas-relief on the wall, is
Hendriks himself.1 The man in the left background, pointing at one of the
plaster casts on the mantelpiece, has been recognised as Adriaan van der
Willigen (1766–1841), author and art historian avant la lettre.2 Prominently
displayed against the chimneybreast are various plaster casts. The large head
of the famous Apollo Belvedere in the middle is the most eye-catching (see 26,
fig. 18). To the right of it is the classical Callipygian Venus and to the
left, the crouching Nymph Washing Her Foot after Adriaen de Vries (1556–1626).3
Of the two male casts seen frontally, that on the right is after the classical
Farnese Hercules (see 30, fig. 32), while that on the left is probably after a
Mercury by François Duquesnoy (1597–1643).4 Hanging on the wall above
Hendriks’s head is Vulcan’s Forge, also after Adriaen de Vries, and in the
corner on the left is the life-sized cast of another classical statue: the
Venus de’ Medici (see 42, 56).5 The casts displayed, therefore, reproduce as a
whole or in part, statues from classical antiquity and from 16th- and
17th-century Netherlandish sculpture, which in turn reference the Antique. The
casts depicted belonged to the Haarlem Drawing Academy, the forerunner of the
College. Hendriks had bought them and the rest of the inventory in 1795 to help
pay off the academy’s debts, and he donated everything to the Drawing College
when it was founded the following year. The prime mover behind the gift was
probably the Teylers Foundation, a Haarlem body that had been set up in 1778 to
stimulate the arts and sciences. The foundation subsidised art education in
Haarlem for decades, and Hendriks was the curator of its art collection, which
was housed in the Teylers Museum.6 The fact that these plaster casts were
transferred immediately to the Drawing College indicates how impor- tant they
were for a society that promoted drawing, and this is confirmed by the
prominence they are accorded in this group portrait. On the other hand, it
should be appreciated that the supremacy of classical art and the rules of
classicism, which in fact had never been applied very strictly in the Dutch
Republic, were no longer so sacred in the Netherlands by 1800. Members of some
drawing academies often argued that genres like landscape and scenes from
everyday life in which nature was imitated literally and not idealised, should
be valued as highly as history paintings, which were generally inspired by
classical or neo-classical principles. The idea that Adriaan van der Willigen
is the man point- ing at the casts is intriguing. He was a learned amateur and
the best-versed person in the gathering when it came to the history of the
arts. He was very well aware how much they owed to the example of ancient
Greece and Rome. A few years after this painting was executed he wrote an
essay in the Verhandelingen uitgegeven door Teyler’s Tweede Genootschap
(Discourses published by Teylers Second Society) discussing ‘the cause of the
lack of superior history painters in the Netherlands, and the means suitable
for their training’. He praised his countrymen for their colouring,
chiaroscuro, fidelity to nature and brushwork, yet accused them of impre- cise
drawing, inelegant compositions and bad taste. What, Van der Willigen asked, could
be done to overcome these defects? To draw from the ‘purest casts in plaster of
the finest classical statues, busts and bas-reliefs’! And he then gave a list
of the well-known canon of classical sculpture, which included the Apollo
Belvedere, the Laocoön, the Venus de’ Medici and the Belvedere Torso.7 In
short, he was utterly convinced of the importance of classical sculpture and
its formative nature. For him, it was clearly still of paramount importance. mp
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 For the various identifications see Haarlem 1972, 25 and Haarlem
1990, 35–36. The Van der Willigen identification was made by A. Staring and has been adopted by other authors (see
above, note 1). According to Staring, some of the portraits were added later,
when the composition had already been determined, including that of Van der
Willigen, who was not yet living in Haarlem in 1799. Van der Willigen is best
known today for writing a comprehensive collection of biographies of artists
living in the Netherlands from 1750 onwards, together with Roeland van Eynden:
Van Eynden and Van der Willigen 1816–40. For the Callipygian Venus see Haskell
and Penny 1981, 316–18, no. 83; Gasparri 2009–10, 1, 73–76, no. 31 and repr. on
267–69. For the Nymph Washing Her Foot after Adriaen de Vries: Amsterdam,
Stockholm and elsewhere 1998, 131–33, no. 10. For Duquesnoy’s Mercury, of which
there are several versions, some of them slightly different, see Boudon-Mauchel
2005, 264–70. For the Farnese Hercules see Haskell and Penny 1981, 229–32, no.
46; Gasparri. For the Venus de’ Medici see Haskell and Penny 1981, 325–28, no.
88, and for De Vries’ Vulcan’s Forge see Amsterdam, Stockholm and elsewhere
1998, 187–89, no. 27. The plaster casts stood in the top front room of the
house in Klein Heiligland. For a description of the house and of Hendriks’
involvement with the casts, see Sliggers 1990, no. 26, 16–17. Van der Willigen
1809, 282 (colouring etc.), 298 (plaster casts). 216 217 32.
Woutherus Mol (Haarlem 1785–1857 Haarlem) The Young Draughtsman c. 1820 Oil on
canvas 52.3 × 42.6 cm provenance: A. Pluym; his sale, R.W.P. de Vries, A.
Brondgeest, C.F. Roos, Amsterdam, 24 November 1846, 7, no. 22; sold to Gerrit
Jan Michaëlis (1775–1856) for the Teylers Foundation (f 400,-) literature: Van
Eynden and Van der Willigen 1816–40, 4, 244; Huebner 1942, 69, 63; Knoef 1947b,
8–10, repr.; Van Holthe tot Echten 1984, 60–63, 4; Jonkman 2010, 35; Geudeker
2010, 60, 78, 74. exhibitions: Amsterdam 1822, no. 222; Moscow and Haarlem
2013–14, 50 (not numbered). Teylers Museum, Haarlem, KS 015 exhibited in
haarlem only A young draughtsman sitting by an open window is engrossed
in his work. He seems to be copying the object leaning against the wall in
front of him, but whether it is a drawing or a bas-relief is not entirely clear.
The tree visible through the window and the building beyond it stand in a
garden or by a narrow canal-side street. The colourful flowers in a vase on the
windowsill bring a touch of that outside world indoors. The leaded windows,
ceiling beams, whitewashed walls and above all the ornately carved cup- board
show that this is an old Dutch interior. Standing on the cupboard are imposing
plaster casts of famous classical statues: the Dancing Faun, the Venus de’
Medici (p. 42, 56) 1. Woutherus Mol, Painter and Draughtsman in a Studio, c.
1820, oil on canvas, 43.5 × 37 cm, present whereabouts unknown and an
unidentified statue of the Apollo Citharoedus type.1 It is difficult to make
out whether the other objects also record classical prototypes: a bas-relief, a
baby’s head, a couching lion and a vase with prominent handles. The interior is
bathed in a serene calm, so much so that the song of the little bird in the
cage high up on the wall is almost audible. One scholar recently put forward a
fascinat- ing argument that the picture is a commentary on the Classicist view
of art.2 If the tree and the bouquet of flowers are interpreted as ‘nature’,
and the plaster casts as ‘classical antiquity’, then the young draughtsman is
occupying a special position, mid-way between them. According to that view of
art, nature had to be idealised with the aid of beautiful examples, and such
examples were available in abundance in classical antiquity. Statues like the
Venus de’ Medici, the Apollo Belvedere and the Dancing Faun had been for
centuries part of the canon of the most treasured sculptures. At the same time,
however, Mol is remaining true to his Dutch origins, for he has very clearly
set The Young Draughtsman in a traditional Dutch interior. A similar painting
by him, Painter and Draughtsman in a Studio (fig. 1), is again set in a typical
17th-century Dutch space, with a wooden cross window, ‘Kussenkast’ cupboard,
and a massive table with ball feet. It too contains a prominent display of
classical sculpture.3 The apprentice draughtsman is copying a plaster cast of
the Dancing Faun, and on the cupboard are casts of the same Apollo Citharoedus
that we see in our picture, a reproduction of the so-called Priestess in the
Capitoline Museum, and another of the Farnese Hercules (see 30, 32 and cat. 7, 3).
Standing beside the cupboard there is even a copy after a classical vase,
probably the famous Borghese Vase.4 Deliberately or not, the combination of
classical art and a 17th-century Dutch setting relates Mol’s two studio scenes
directly to the debate about the ‘national taste’ being con- ducted in the
Netherlands around 1800 and for some decades 218 219 thereafter. It
was felt that Dutch painting was in a deplorable state: essays were written
about how standards could be raised and competitions were held to encourage
improve- ments. Classical sculpture was regularly invoked: it was only logical
that Dutch painters were lagging behind, it was said, given the absence of
classical statues in Holland, and drawing academies should therefore acquire
copies after antique statues (see cat. 31), and so on.5 Reading between the
lines, though, one sees that the same writers were often great admirers of
17th-century Dutch painting. The painters of that Golden Age had paid little
heed to Classicist art theory; they imitated nature and did not idealise it.
Mol’s two studio scenes contain elements that can be associated with both
artistic theories. He was very much at home in both worlds. Born in Haarlem, he
had received an old- fashioned Dutch training with the landscapist Hermanus van
Brussel (1763–1815). In 1806, however, he went to Paris, where he worked for
several years, partly as an élève in the framework of the new arts policy of
King Louis Napoleon of Holland (1778–1846), apprenticed to none other than
Jacques Louis David (1748–1825). In other words, classicist views about art
were well-known to him. 33. Anonymous, Danish School, 19th century Two Artists
and a Guard in the Antique Room at Charlottenborg Palace c. 1835 Oil on canvas,
38.6 × 33.9 cm provenance: Private collection, Denmark; Thomas Le Claire
Kunsthandel, Hamburg with Daxer et Marschall, Munich in 2003 (as Knud
Andreassen Baade), from whom acquired. literature: Zahle 2003, 271, 117 (as
Julius Friedlænder (?)); Copenhagen 2004, 110–11, no. 8, 16 (as unknown
artist); Fuchs and Salling 2004, 3, 194–95, repr. (as unknown artist). 1 2 3 4
5 mp Haskell and Penny 1981, respectively 205–08, no. 34 (Dancing Faun), 325–28,
no. 88 (Venus de’ Medici). T. van Druten, in Moscow and Haarlem 2013–14, 50.
Mak van Waay sale, Amsterdam, 26 May 1964, lot 366. Haskell and Penny 1981, 205–08,
no. 34 (Dancing Faun), 229–32, no. 46 (Farnese Hercules), 314–15, no. 81
(Borghese Vase). For the Priestess in the Capitoline Museum see Stuart Jones
1912, 345, no. 6, pl. 86; Helbig 1963–72, 2, no. 1227. Koolhaas-Grosfeld and De
Vries 1992, 119, 128. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited. Katrin Bellinger
collection, inv. no. 2003-028 The Antique Room of the Copenhagen Academy of
Fine Arts, housed in Charlottenborg Palace, was a popular choice of subject for
19th-century Scandinavian art students, such as H. D. C. Martens (1795–1864),
Martinus Rørbye (1803–48) and Christian Købke (1810–48). The Academy was
founded in 1754 by King Frederik V, but an informal art school had been
established in 1740 by his predecessor, Christian VI, so that there was already
a small collection of casts for the students to study, including one of the
Laocöon, but with the older son missing.1 The Academy’s programme was modelled
on those of others across Europe, especially that in Paris, in which plaster
copies after antique models served as the basis for the instruction of artists;
in some cases casts were even valued above the originals because they made details
more readily accessible to copyists. The expansion of the collection was
primarily due to the efforts of three mem- bers of the Academy: a professor of
sculpture, Christoph Petzholdt (1708–62), who contributed twenty-five casts and
restored many others that had suffered from being moved too often;2 the
sculptor and Academy Fellow Johannes Wiedewelt (1731–1802), who in 1758 sent
three large chests of casts back to Denmark from Rome;3 and the painter and
sculptor Nicolai Abildgaard (1743–1809), who was appointed Director in 1789 and
purchased several casts, including Germanicus and the Belvedere Torso, and the
missing son of the Laocoön.4 The cast collection focused mainly on Roman
copies, and it was not until the first decades of the 19th century that casts
of Greek originals were added.5 This was characteristic of academies across
Europe, which began to recognise the value of the Greek originals over their
Roman derivations, thus diverging from Italian academic tradition. In the
painting on display, an artist in his work-robe holds up a plumb-line to check
the vertical axis of the cast that he is sketching. He draws his copy on a
sheet attached to a drawing-board that rests on his lap, and his portfolio
crammed with other drawings leans against a stool in front of him, along with
his discarded top hat and cravat. A fellow artist considers his handiwork, but
they are about to be interrupted by a museum guard bearing a scroll. When it
was acquired in 2003, this canvas was attributed to the Norwegian artist, Knud
Andreassen Baade (1808–79), whose painting of the same room now belongs to the
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo (fig. 1), and also
features a draughtsman at work, holding up a stylus to check the horizontal
reference line of his subject. The depic- tion of the room in the Oslo
painting, which is dated 1828, just precedes its renovation later that year
when, under the direction of the architect Hansen (1756–1845), the walls were
plastered smooth, as seen in the painting on display here.6 A comparison of the
two canvases shows the way the room was modified to accommodate the growing
collection, as casts were shifted around according to aesthetic, thematic or
chronological principles. In the Oslo painting, the Borghese Gladiator (see 41,
54 and cats 16, 23–24) is placed in the extreme left foreground, creating a
diagonal perspective. The same technique is used in the present painting,
though it is now a statue of Perseus that anchors the work, with his
outstretched hand grasping a missing Medusa’s head. The Perseus was created in
1801 by Canova, 1. Knud Andreassen Baade, Scene from the Academy in Copenhagen,
1828, oil on canvas, 32.4 × 23.8 cm, The National Museum of Art, Architecture
and Design, Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.01589 220 221 2. Relief of
an Eagle with a Wreath, 2nd century ad, marble, church of Santi Apostoli, Rome
who donated a cast of it to the Academy in 1804, thereby becoming a member.
Another modern sculpture hangs on the upper wall at left, which is a roundel
with an allegory of Justice, in which Nemesis reads a list of the guilty to
Jupiter, who sits in judgment. This was the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen
(1770–1844), the leading sculptor in Europe after Canova’s death, who had been
trained in the Academy.7 Also modern is the bust of Frederik V at the end of
the room by the sculptor J. F. J. Saly. The remaining casts in the room are of
antique statues and reliefs, and extant inventory lists attest to the dates of
their acquisition.9 The relief of the eagle in a wreath, after the original in
the church of Santi Apostoli in Rome (fig. 2), is displayed on the wall above a
reduced copy of a frieze, taken from the Parthenon, both of which were
transferred to this southern wall as part of the 1828 reconstruction.10 Facing
the viewer and leaning on a column is a reproduction of the Marble Faun (fig.
3). This was a relatively overlooked sculp- ture, more valued for its
conjectural attribution to Praxiteles 3. Marble Faun, Roman copy, c. 2nd
century ad, after a Greek original of the 4th century bc, marble, 170.5 cm (h),
Capitoline Museums, Rome, inv. no. S.739 4. Germanicus, Roman, c. 20 ad, after
a Greek original of the 5th century bc, marble, 180 cm (h), Louvre, Paris, inv.
no. MA1207 than for its aesthetic significance. It did not achieve world-
renown until the publication of The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1860,
after which it became one of the highlights of the Capitoline Museum.11 Behind
the Faun stands a cast of Germanicus (fig. 4), which, in contrast to the Faun,
was one of the most revered antiquities almost from its discovery in the
mid-17th century.12 Casts of it were commissioned for collections across
Europe, including Florence, Mannheim, Madrid and the Duke of Devonshire’s
collection at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. The identity of this figure is
uncertain, and it has been thought by different scholars to represent Augustus,
Brutus, Mercury or an anonymous Roman general; however, its identification as
Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius, has persisted since 1664.13 Between Perseus and
the Faun is the seated figure of Mercury, cast after the bronze original
discovered in Herculan- eum in 1758 (fig. 5). It was one of the most celebrated
archaeo- logical discoveries of the 18th century, and its presence is critical
to the dating of the Bellinger painting because the cast was only acquired by
the Academy in 1834, thus provid- ing a terminus post quem and supporting for
it a date of c. 1835.14 This precludes the authorship of Baade, who left
Copenhagen in 1829 and spent the early 1830s travelling in his native Norway.
In 1836 he followed his mentor, the landscapist J. C. C. Dahl, to Germany,
where he lived until his death in 1879.15 Jan Zahle tentatively proposed that
the painter was Julius Friedlænder (1810–61),16 who is also thought to be the
artist of another painting of the Antique Room in Charlottenborg, dated 1832
(current whereabouts unknown).17 To commemorate the 250th anniversary of
the Seated Mercury, Roman copy, 1st century ad, after a Greek original of
the late 4th century or early 3rd century bc, bronze, 105 cm (h), Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, inv. NM 5625 Academy in 2004, the Bellinger
painting was presented in the accompanying exhibition catalogue as by an
unknown artist,18 and until further evidence comes to light, it is prudent to
maintain its anonymity. While the Academy continues to function, the cast
collection was relocated and dispersed several times; first in 1883, due to
lack of space, to a new building. The pieces by Thorvaldsen were transferred to
his eponymous museum, founded during his lifetime in 1839 and opened to the
public in 1848. In 1895 the rest of the collection was absorbed into the newly
created Royal Cast Collection, which shared a building with the newly founded
National Gallery of Art, in Copenhagen.19 These casts were neglected over the
subse- quent years, as interest in plaster copies waned in favour of original
and unique works of art. When the museum under- went renovations from 1966 to
1970, the majority of the casts were packed away and allowed to deteriorate.
Only in 1984, due to the combined efforts of concerned art historians,
classical archaeologists and artists, were thousands of casts rescued and
restorations begun. They were rehoused in the West India Company Warehouse, 6.
Antique Room in Charlottenborg Palace recreated in 2004, curated by Pontus
Kjerrman and Jan Zahle, with sculptor Bjørn Nørgaard originally a storehouse
for products of the slave trade, and approximately 2,000 casts can be seen on
display there. The Faun and Germanicus both belong to this collection, while
Canova’s Perseus was transferred to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. However, in
2004, as part of the anniversary exhibition, replicas of these casts were
reunited in the Antique Room of the Palace, just as seen in numerous
19th-century paintings, such as this one. A visitor in 2004, therefore, could
stand in the very same spot as our anony- mous painter, and witness a nearly
identical scene (fig.). literature:None. exhibitions: Not previously exhibited.
Katrin Bellinger collection, inv. no. 1997-020 In this striking candlelight
view of a 19th-century bourgeois interior by the little-known artist,
Desflaches,1 a man examines a work of art displayed on an easel but hidden from
our view. In one hand he holds an oil lamp or candle, illuminating the corner
of the room in soft, golden light and casting strong and dramatic shadows. It
is exactly 10:30, according to the clock on the mantle, and the visitor, proba-
bly a connoisseur, has called on the artist at home, presum- ably to inspect
his latest work. He has removed his hat and cloak, placed on the chair on the
left, and with a pipe in hand, assumes a relaxed yet concentrated stance.
Viewing and producing art by candlelight is a tradition that hearkens back to
the Renaissance when artist-theorists, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72),
Leonardo da Vinci (1452– 1519), Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71) and others, advised
students to draw sculpture by artificial light, to enhance the effects of
relief, three-dimensionality and shadow.2 Baccio Bandinelli put this concept
into practice, and drawing by candlelight was central to artistic training at
his academy (see cats 1–2). Others followed suit including Jacopo Tintoretto
and his followers who used an oil lamp when making studies after casts of
Michelangelo’s Medici tomb figures and other models ‘so that he could compose
in a powerful and solidly modelled manner by means of those strong shadows cast
by the lamp’.3 The practice of drawing after models, especially casts, at night
continued in the 17th century, as seen in Rembrandt’s small etching, Man
Drawing from a Cast, (c. 1641).4 Nocturnal viewings became common in the late
18th century; white casts were popularly studied by flickering torchlight
because it made them appear animated.5 Indeed, the spectators’ delight is
clearly evident in William Pether’s mezzotints, Three Persons Viewing the
Gladiator by Candlelight (1769) 6 and An Academy (1772; cat. 24), both after
Joseph Wright of Derby. The female model in the Bellinger painting is a reduced
plaster cast of the Crouching Venus – a Hellenistic original of which several
antique variations are known (fig. 1).7 The figure was enormously popular,
especially in the 17th and 18th centuries when many artists produced imitations
of her, the most celebrated being the marble completed in 1686 by the French
sculptor, Antoine Coysevox (1640–1720), also reproduced in bronze.8 She is
generally believed to represent Venus in, or emerging from, the bath, her head
turned sharply to the right and her arms sensuously and protec- tively crossing
her body, suggesting that her ablutions have been interrupted. In Desflaches’
canvas the Crouching Venus has been brightly lit and given primacy of place,
suggesting she may be the subject of the canvas displayed on the easel; her
animation is enhanced by the direct gaze with which she engages the viewer.
While the cast in our painting probably ultimately derives from the antique
marble in the Uffizi, it seems to have been idealised and modified, to reflect
a dis- tinctively Coysevesque sensibility, evidenced in the refined and
delicate features of her face.9 Other identifiable works in the Desflaches
composition include a second plaster cast – a male portrait bust – partly
visible on the covered table in the background, to the visitor’s right. He
probably derives from the marble head of a young man in the Museo
Pio-Clementino in the Vatican (Roman, 1st 1. Crouching Venus, Roman copy, 1st
c. ad after Hellenistic original, marble, 78 cm (h), Uizi, Florence, inv. no.
188 Zahle 2003, 272. For the history of
the Copenhagen Academy see Meldahl and Johansen 1904. Saabye 1980, 6 and Zahle
2003, 272 Zahle Jørnæs 1970, 52. Zahle 2003, 275. Jørnæs 1970, 58. Helsted
1972, lxxxvi. Copenhagen 2004, 201 (S85). An inventory from 1809 is especially
extensive (Fortegnelse over Marmor-og Gibs-Figurerne, samt Receptions-Stykkerne
og flere Konstsager i Den Kongelige Maler-, Billedhugger- og Bygnings-Academie
paa Charlottenborg, partially transcribed in Zahle 2003, 269) and records were
kept for several years by the art historian Julius Lange (see, for example,
Lange 1866). Copenhagen 2004, 198 (S51) and 199 (S61). Haskell and Penny 1981, 210;
La Rocca and Parisi Presicce 2010, 446–51, no. 5. Haskell and Penny 1981, 219.
Ibid., 220. Copenhagen 2004, 200 (S72). Thieme-Becker 1907–50, 2, 297. Zahle
2003, 271. Copenhagen 2004, 110, no. 7. Ibid., 110, no. 8. Zahle 2003, 278. 34.
Desflaches (Christian name unknown; probably Belgian, fl. 19th century) The
Connoisseur c. 1850 Oil on canvas, 60 × 50 cm Signed recto lower right,
Desflaches provenance: Galerie Fischer-Kiener, Paris; property of a European
Foundation; their sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 26 October 1990, lot 144; Didier
Aaron Inc., New York; Harry Bailey, New York; Didier Aaron Inc., New York;
Their sale, Christie’s, New York, 22 May 1997, lot 116, from whom
acquired. 224 225 2. Head of Lucius or Gaius Caesar,
or the Young Octavian (Augustus), 52 cm (h), marble, possibly end of the 1st c.
ad or later, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums, Rome, inv. 714 3. Godfried
Schalcken (1643–1706), An Artist and a Young Woman by Candlelight, oil on
canvas, 44 × 35 cm, private collection, New York century ad; 2).10 This
bust, believed to be either one of the brothers, Lucius or Gaius Caesar, or a
rare depiction of the young Octavian before he became Emperor Augustus in 27
bc,11 enjoyed considerable popularity and was copied by many artists,
particularly in the 19th century. Its authen- ticity has occasionally been
doubted – at one point it was even attributed to the neo-classical sculptor,
Antonio Canova (1757–1822) – but the confirmation of its discovery by Robert
Fagan in the ruins of Tor Boacciana (Ostia) in 1800–02, supports its antique
origin despite it being consid- erably reworked.12 In addition to works
deriving from antique sources are others that directly reference Dutch art of
the 17th century. Immediately behind the Crouching Venus is what appears to be
a pencil drawing after Rembrandt’s celebrated etching, Self Portrait Leaning on
a Stone Sill (1639).13 It is in the same direction as the etching though the
line is faint and the lower half of the figure, with the distinctively posed
left arm, has been omitted altogether, suggesting the source was either a later
impression of the print or a further, reduced copy of the original. To the
right of the Rembrandt, is a moonlit landscape strongly reminiscent of the work
of Aert van der Neer (1603/4–77). On the opposite wall is a portrait of a man,
possibly by, or at least in the manner of, the portraitist and genre painter,
Frans Hals (1582/83–1666). Partly obscured in shadow below appears to be a
drawing, possibly by Jan van Goyen (1596–1656), or one of his contemporaries.
As the distinctive trappings would suggest, the artist may well be Dutch, and
this is supported further by a com- parison with a painting by Godfried
Schalcken (1643–1706) in a private collection, New York (fig. 3), which may
have been known to Desflaches. A pupil of Gerrit Dou (1613–75), Schalcken
specialised in night scenes; here a man, drawing in hand, presumably the
artist, with his female pupil, points suggestively to a small but lively model
of the Crouching Venus, animatedly illuminated by an oil lamp; clearly there is
more 226 than just a drawing lesson at play here. An antique head lies dormant,
face-up on the table below. By the 19th century, the Antique was readily
available, even to amateur artists, via plaster casts, as Desflaches’
composition suggests. Ancient sculpture could now readily be combined with art
of different types and in diverse settings, both on the continent – seen, for
instance, in the work of Woutherus Mol (cat. 32), which also features Dutch and
antique motifs – and in England (cat. 35). As the canon became more diffuse,
the standing of the Antique also declined, as other styles, historical and
modern, became increasingly more dominant as the century progressed. The
painting bears that name at lower right. In the Christie’s catalogue, New York,
22 May 1997, lot 116, the initial of the first name is given as ‘P’, without
explanation, and the nationality, French/Belgian. A painting attributed to the
artist, Still Life with Brass Oil Lamp, Skeleton Key and Pitcher, oil on
canvas, 33 × 29.2 cm, was sold New Orleans Auction Galleries, 20 July 2002, lot
324 (as Desflaches). Weil-Garris 1981, 246–47, note 39; Roman 1984, 83; Hegener
2008, 401. Ridolfi 1914, 2, 14; Ridolfi 1984, 16. White and Boon 1969, 1, 68,
no. B130, 2, 119, repr. Borbein 2000, 31 (see also note 23 listing further
bibliography on night- time viewing of casts). Clayton 1990, 236, no. 154, P3.
Haskell and Penny 1981, 321–23, no. 86, 171. The authors catalogue the example
in the Uffizi, Florence, but discuss the other extant versions as well. See
Lullie 1954, 10–17 and Havelock 1995, 80–83. Haskell and Penny 1981, 40, 22,
323. The marble version is in the Louvre and the bronze, at Versailles (Souchal
1977–93, 1, 191–92). The cast in the painting bears a striking resemblance to
one preserved in the Salzburg Museum, Austria, another idealisation of the
original in the Uffizi, see http://www.salzburgmuseum.at/972.0.html It was in
the collection of the painter, Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–79). In 1782, the
Court of Saxony acquired it, among other casts from his estate, for the Dresden
Academy of Art. Spinola 1996–2004, 2, 131, 22, 137–38, no. 123 with previous
bibliography. Spinola 1996–2004, 2, 137. Ibid. White and Boon 1969, 1, 9–10,
no. B21, 2, 10, repr. 227 35. William Daniels (Liverpool 1813–1880
Liverpool) Self-Portrait with Casts: The Image Seller c. 1850 Oil on canvas,
feigned circle, 43.3 × 43.3 cm provenance: Richard S. Timewell, Tangier, by
descent; Timewell family sale, Brissonneau et Daguerre, Paris, 15 June 2005,
lot 56; W. M. Brady et Co., New York, 2005, from whom acquired. literature:
Bowyer 2013, 49–50, 36. exhibitions: New York 2005b, no. 13, repr.; Compton
Verney and Norwich 2009–10, 12–16, 9, 98. Katrin Bellinger collection,
inv. no. 2005-016 Born into a modest working-class family in Liverpool, Daniels
was apprenticed to his father, a brick maker, loading and arranging new stock;
in his spare time, he drew faces on the bricks and carved and modelled small
figures in wood and clay.1 His artistic talents were recognised by Alexander
Mosses (1793–1837), a local painter, who encouraged him to take evening classes
in drawing at the Royal Institution in Liverpool. The young Daniels was awarded
first prize for a large study ‘in black and white’ of the Dying Gladiator
‘drawn from the round’ which, allegedly, Mosses ‘begged ... off the lad and had
... framed’.2 Daniels later became apprenticed to the painter but was confined
to menial tasks, and could only paint at night, slyly returning the cleaned
brushes in the morning.3 The resulting night scenes or ‘candlelight pic-
tures’, primarily portraits and genre subjects, would become his trademark and
he achieved considerable local success, exhibiting at the Liverpool Academy,
Post Office Place and the Liverpool Society of Fine Arts, and then in London at
the Royal Academy in 1840, 1841 and 1846.4 He became known as the ‘Liverpool
Rembrandt’ or the ‘English Rembrandt’, according to one source reputedly
quoting John Ruskin.5 Daniels also shared with the Dutch master a life-long
preoccupation with his own image; many of his finest painting were portraits of
himself, as noted in one of his obituaries.6 And like the youthful Rembrandt he
was particularly fond of depicting those on the fringes of society with whom he
seemed to share a certain affinity, often representing himself in the guise of
the urban poor – beggars, gypsies, brigands and others.7 Described by one
biographer as ‘of fine, manly form, very handsome’ with ‘a profusion of jet
black curly hair’ and a swarthy complexion, it was sometimes said of him that
there was ‘gypsy blood in his veins’ and that wear- ing earrings only enhanced
his ‘resemblance to the wander- ing tribe.’8 In the striking example seen here,
Daniels has fashioned himself as an Italian travelling salesman of plaster
casts, a popular subject for Victorian artists.9 With the increasing demand for
images in museums, schools and academies but also as adornments in ordinary
homes, celebrated 228 sculptures from antiquity, together with portraits of
modern worthies, were mass-produced in plaster, generally in reduced form.10
The technique was simple and inexpensive: a mixture of marl and clay was poured
into a slip mould of plaster of Paris that absorbed the water, leaving a thin
layer of clay inside the mould that could be easily removed, lightly fired,
producing a brittle but light-weight and easily portable cast.11 Favourite
antique and contempo- rary subjects – including the Farnese Hercules and the
Apollo Belvedere as well as busts of Byron, Milton, Napoleon and Queen Victoria
– were now displayed and offered for sale together.12 While English firms had
been manufacturing casts since the 18th century, the market became increasingly
dominated by Italian makers, particularly from around Lucca who organised large
groups to sell their wares on the streets of London and beyond.13 Having
considerable reach through their travels, these vendors played a seminal role
in disseminating knowledge of the iconic works of antiquity through all classes
of society.14 The British public regarded the image-makers and sellers, men and
boys from forty to fifteen with curiosity and with some suspicion.15 One of the
earliest images of them is an amusing caricature by Rowlandson in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London (c. 1799, 1). Appearing dishevelled with unbuttoned
shirt and jacket, the salesman peddles his wares to an enthusiastic family
while a woman watches a peep show in the background. A slightly later example,
accompanied by the title, Very Fine. Very Cheap, was etched by Smith, known as
‘Antiquity Smith’, the writer, poet and Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the
British Museum from 1816 to 1833 (fig.). On the seller’s board, a reduced cast
of the Farnese Hercules (see 30, 32) has been relegated to the background,
obscured by a cast of a Roman vase. With a slightly sinister glint in his eyes,
this figure was included in Smith’s Etchings of Remarkable Beggars, Itinerant
Traders and other Persons, published in London, 1815. William James Muller
(1812–45) produced a more sympathetic, even romantic portrayal of the itinerant
cast seller in 1843 (fig. 3). More closely allied to the Daniels’ 229
Copyright: Christie’s Images Limited (2012) painting than the others, this hawker
is less an object of derision than one of wonder, even admiration.17 In the
present example, Daniels, dressed in modest work- man’s attire and silhouetted
against a dark backdrop, bal- ances on his head a board fully loaded with a
casts of every shape and size, securing it with one hand. Many were based on
examples in his own collection, probably used in his studio to prepare
accessories in his portrait commissions. Immediately recognisable in the centre
right is the bust of Shakespeare, whom Daniels particularly admired. He was
said to have a deep familiarity with the poet’s work and could identify the
exact source for every quotation, ‘without a moment’s hesitation’.18 In fact,
busts of the bard are listed in Daniel’s posthumous sale of 1880, one of which
is likely to be the example seen here.19 With the other arm, he cradles a bust
of Homer, the blind epic poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey, another favourite
of Daniel’s as noted by his biographer.20 The source for this cast was a Roman
marble of the Antonine period (138-93 ad, after a lost Hellenistic original of
c. 300 bc), probably the version preserved in the Museo Archeo- logico
Nazionale di Napoli (fig. 4).21 Known in several variants after the same lost
Greek original, this is arguably the most celebrated image of Homer from
antiquity and was used by many artists; arguably the most famous example is
Rembrandt’s Aristotle with a Bust of Homer which passed through various English
private collections in the 19th century (now Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York),
and 230 which Daniels was probably referencing, reinforcing his association
with both poet and artist.22 The other casts on the tray in the painting appear
to reproduce a mixture of English and French works of the mid- to late 18th and
19th century. They include the brightly coloured parrot, probably based on a
Staffordshire porcelain example, c. 1850, after a Meissen original of the 18th
century, and the hooded figure on the front left, possibly an adapta- tion of
‘La Nourrice’ (Nurse and Child) modelled by Joseph Willems at Chelsea (c.
1752–58), after a French terracotta original of the 17th century.23 Popular
images of the three 4. Bust of Homer, marble, 72 cm (h), Roman Antonine period
after a lost Hellenistic original of c. 300 bc, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di
Napoli, inv. 6023 theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, made by the
Wood family at Burslem in Staffordshire, 1800–10, appear to be the inspiration
behind some of the other figures on the tray: Hope at the far right, seen in
profile with hands clasped; Faith, directly behind the parrot; and Charity,
seen from the back, behind the Nurse and Child.24 It has also been suggested
that the bust of a boy seen from the back, directly above Daniels’ right hand,
might be Alexandre Brongniart by Houdon, known in examples in marble,
terracotta, bronze, plaster and biscuit porcelain.25 Daniels appears to be
between thirty-five and forty years old in this painting, slightly older than
his self-portrait at the easel of c. 1845 in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
(fig. 5); a completion date of around 1850 therefore seems likely.26 The theme
of the cast vendor clearly intrigued Daniels for he would return to it again
about twenty years later. In An Italian Image Seller (1870; Walker Art Gallery,
Liverpool; 6), the protagonist (probably Daniels again) rests on the wall of an
27 English country lane. The tray is no longer present but on the ground to his
right are two casts, one, a Mercury, the other, the nymph, Clytie (sometimes
identified as Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and mother of the Emperor
Claudius). The marble original of the nymph, acquired in Naples by the Grand
Tour collector, Charles Townley (1737– 1805) and reportedly his favourite, is
now in the British Museum.28 Copies of the popular statue were made in porce-
lain by the firm Copeland from 1855 and it has been suggested that Daniels
based his depiction on one of them.29 Daniels certainly owned a copy of the
Clytie and other busts after the Antique including a Jupiter, Apollo, Diana and
Laocoön, ‘which he treated with almost reverential admiration’.30 As Daniels’
Image Seller shows, by the mid-19th century iconic antique statues, once
rarefied models of ideal beauty, were now commercialised and readily available
on the open 5. William Daniels, Self-Portrait, c. 1845, oil on canvas, 91.5 ×
71.7 cm, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, WAG 1724 6. William Daniels, An Italian
Image Seller, 1870, oil on canvas, 80 × 63.5 cm, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool,
WAG 3114 market through mass-produced casts. While the Antique continued to be
central to the education of artists both in the studio and in the academy, it
became an ubiquitous presence in the home, especially in middle-class interiors
where reductions of famous statues were displayed alongside works from other
periods, sometimes even assuming a secondary role to them. The amalgamation of
styles and influences, in which Ancient, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance and
Modern were placed on equal footing, was, by the mid-19th century, the result
of an historicist aesthetic in which the Antique had become just one of the
possible artistic references, thus losing its canonical status and aesthetic
primacy. Rowlandson, An Image Seller, c. 1799, watercolour, 326 × 264 mm,
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, no. 1820-1900 2. John Thomas Smith, Very
Fine. Very Cheap, c. 1815, etching, 192 × 114 mm (plate); 267 × 185 mm (sheet),
from Etchings of Remarkable Beggars, Itinerant Traders and other Persons,
published in London, 31 December 1815, National Portrait Gallery, London,
Reference collection D40098 3. William James Muller, The Plaster Figure Seller,
oil on canvas, 82.5 × 52.1 cm, sold Christie’s, London, 6 November 2012, lot
333. avl An extensive tribute to Daniels was published anonymously in serial
form in the Liverpool Lantern (1880), by his friend, K. C. Spier, editor of the
paper. It may be consulted at: http://art-science.com/WDaniels/LLessay.html
where the artist’s obituaries and private letters and notes also are
transcribed, some of which are referred to in Spier’s essay (cited here as
Spier 1880). For other accounts of his life and work, see Tirebuck 1879; The
Magazine of Art, 5, June 1882, 341–43; Marillier 1904, 95–98; Thieme- Becker
1907–50, 8, 362–63; Fastnege 1951; Bennett 1978, 1, 79. Spier 1880, chapter 4.
The drawing, presumably after a cast of the famous sculpture in the Capitoline
Museum, Rome (see cat. 20, 2) remains untraced. Spier 1880, chapter 4.
Marillier 1904, 96–97; Fastnege 1951, 80; Bennett 1978, 1, 79. Obituary,
Liverpool Journal, 16 October 1880; Liverpool Mercury 15 April 1884; Daily Post
Liverpool, June 1908. Liverpool Journal. Representations of the urban poor in
British art was an increasingly popu- lar genre from around the mid-18th
century onwards. See Hansen 2010. Spier 1880, chapter 5. Lambourne 1982;
Compton Verney and Norwich 2009–10, 13. For the history and use of casts, see
Borbein 2000. For a translation in English by Bernard Fischer, see
http://www.digitalsculpture.org/casts/ borbein/index.html For British cast
makers and/or sellers in the 18th to early 19th c., see Clifford 1992 and for
the 19th c., Haskell and Penny 1981, 117–24; Lambourne 1982; and Simon 2011.
Lambourne 1982, 119. Ibid. Clifford 1992; Simon 2011. Lambourne 1982, 121.
Simon 2011 [unpaginated]. Ibid., 3. For other images of the subject, see
Lambourne 1982, 118–23, figs 1–10. Spier 1880, chapter 2; New York 2005b, under
no. 13. Walker et Ackerley, Liverpool, 6 December 1880, discussed in in Spier
1880, chapter 24. The present writer has not been able to locate a copy of this
catalogue. Spier
1880, chapter 2. Richter 1965, 1, 50, no. IV, no. 7, figs 70–72; Gasparri
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2007, 2, 629–54, no. 151. Kindly pointed out by Paul Crane (personal
communication), who notes the following example: Melbourne 1984–85, no. 56. As
noted further by Paul Crane, who points out their similarity to examples sold
at Sotheby’s, New York, 15 April 1996, lot 73 (personal communication).
According to Shackelford (personal communication). See Washington D.C., Los
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134. Cook Dodero 2013. Bennett 1978, 1, 83. Spier 1880,
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The Genius of the Sculptor in Michelangelo’s Work, The Montreal Museum
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Wettstreit der Künste: Malerei und Skulptur von Dürer bis Daumier, Haus
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Künste, Leipzig . The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection 66. Photo out
of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 67. The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London . Photo out of
copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 69. bpk, Berlin /
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais bpk,
Berlin / École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN – Grand
Palais 71. bpk, Berlin / École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris,
Dist. RMN – Grand Palais 72. Photo out of copyright (The
Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) . Photo out of copyright (The
Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) . Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam 75. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 76. Su gentile concessione
del Museo Biblioteca Archivio di Bassano del Grappa 77. Photo Les Arts décoratifs 78. Photo Les Arts décoratifs. National
Library of Medicine National Library of Medicine The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, metmuseum.org . Royal Academy of Arts, London 83. bpk, Berlin / École nationale supérieure
des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais 84. Royal Academy of Arts, London Royal Academy of Arts, London 86. Private collection 87. bpk, Berlin / École nationale supérieure des
Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais 88. Philadelphia Museum of Art . Cherbourg-Octeville, musée d’art
Thomas-Henry D.Sohier . Heidelberg University Library 91. The Trustees of the
British Museum. All rights reserved . Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Foto:
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 93. Reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows
of Eton College 94. bpk, Berlin / Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN – Grand Palais /
Susanne Nagy . Musée de Valence, photo Philippe Petiot . Musée de
Valence, photo Philippe Petiot Musée de Valence, photo Philippe Petiot Courtesy
National Gallery of Art, Washington 99. Tate, London .
Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 101.
Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: John Hammond Fig. . RSA, London
Fig. 103. RSA, London Fig. CSG CIC Glasgow Museums and Libraries Collection:
The Mitchell Library, Special Collections Fig. 105. Royal Academy of Arts,
London; Photographer: Prudence Cuming Associates Limited Fig. . Royal
Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015 Fig. . Royal Academy of
Arts, London Fig. 108. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) Photograph courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland
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Institute, Photographic Collection) Fig. 2. Matthew Hollow. Photo out of
copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) Cat. 2 Exhibit.
Matthew Hollow Fig. 1. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Cat. 3 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow .
Courtesy Yvonne Tan Bunzl The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights
reserved. The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved Fig. . bpk,
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Matthew Hollow 4. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Cat. 11 Exhibit. Matthew
Hollow 1. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Matthew
Hollow Cat. 12 Exhibit. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2.
Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) . Archivio
Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 4. The Warburg
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of Arts, USA, City of Detroit Purchase/Bridgeman Images 6. Collection Rau for
UNICEF / Gruppe Köln, Hans G. Scheib Cat. 13 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow 1. Photo
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copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 6. Photo out of
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copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 2. 2015 The
Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Art Resource/Scala, Florence Christie’s Images
Limited Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Photographic Credits Every effort has been made
to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of
copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in the
below list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be
incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book. Ideal Beauty and the
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Institute, Photographic Collection ‘Nature Perfected’: The Theory et Practice
of Drawing after the Antique 1. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
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Palais / Gérard Blot . Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milano / De Agostini
Picture Library 5. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic
Collection) Fig.. Albertina, Vienna Photo out of copyright (The Warburg
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Institute, Photographic Collection) . Comune di Milano Photo out of copyright
(The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 11. Veneranda Biblioteca
Ambrosiana – Milano / De Agostini Picture Library 12. The Trustees of the
British Museum. All rights reserved 13. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,
Rotterdam. Loan Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Foundation (collection Koenigs) /
photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights
reserved 15. Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 16.
Rijksmuseum, Amseterdam The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of
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City/Bridgeman Images . Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
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photo: J. Geleyns / Ro scan 22. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) 23. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) . The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights
reserved . Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria / Bridgeman Images 26.
Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City / Bridgeman Images 27. Courtesy
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copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) . The Trustees of
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Gabinetto Fotografico 35. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
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P. Anders 40. bpk, Berlin / Kupferstichkabinett / Volker-H. Schneider 41. bpk,
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Florence 46. Veneranda
Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milano / De Agostini Picture Library . Veneranda
Biblioteca Ambrosiana – Milano / De Agostini Picture Library 48. Royal Museum for Fine Arts Antwerp Lukas-Art in Flanders vzw, photo Hugo
Maertens Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 50. Musea Brugge Lukas-Art in Flanders vzw,
photo Hugo Maertens 51. ©Peter Cox/Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht 52. Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, MN, USA, The Walter H. and Valborg P. Ude Memorial Fund/
Bridgeman Images 53. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 54. Louvre, Paris,
France/Bridgeman Images 55. Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 56. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) 57. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
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Palais / Richard Lambert 59. bpk, Berlin / Musée Condé, Chantilly, Dist. RMN –
Grand Palais / René-Gabriel Ojéda Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II Cat. 15 Exhibit. The Trustees of the British Museum. All
rights reserved 1. Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth / Reproduced by permission
of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees / Bridgeman Images 2. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum
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The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London 1. Image courtesy of
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Collection) Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic
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Collection) 6. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic
Collection) Cat. 17 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow Archivio Fotografico dei
Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 2. Museum Boijmans
Van Beuningen, Rotterdam / photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam 3. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Walter C. Baker, metmuseum.org 4. Witt
Library, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London Cat. 18 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow
1. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) Photo
out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 3. bpk,
Berlin / Antikensammlung, SMB 4. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) bpk, Berlin / Antikensammlung, SMB / Johannes
Laurentius . photo Musées de Marseille 7. Photographic Survey, The Courtauld
Institute of Art, London. Private collection Cat. 19 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow 1.
Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 2. Accademia
Nazionale di San Luca. Tutti i diritti riservati 3. The Trustees of the British
Museum. All rights reserved . By courtesy of the Trustees of
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copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 2. Archivio
Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 3. Archivio Fotografico
dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 4. The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection 5. Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Foto: Staatsgalerie
Stuttgart 6. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic
Collection) Cat. Exhibit. bpk /
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 1. Image
courtesy of Sotheby’s 2. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s Cat. 22 Exhibit. 2014
Kunsthaus Zürich. All rights reserved. 1. Archivio Fotografico dei Musei
Capitolini. Photo Paulo Cipollina 2. Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini.
Photo Lorenzo De Masi 3. Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo
Lorenzo De Masi 4. Istituto Centrale per la Grafica Canoni fotografici (MIBACT)
5. bpk, Berlin / Kunstbibliothek, SMB / Dietmar Katz Cat. 23 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow 1. Louvre, Paris, France/Bridgeman Images 2. The Trustees
of the British Museum. All rights reserved Cat. 24 Exhibit. The Trustees of the
British Museum. All rights reserved 1. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon
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Royal Academy of Arts, London 2. Royal Academy of Arts, London 3. bpk, Berlin /
RMN – Grand Palais / Stéphane Maréchalle 4. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Gift
of Wright S. Ludington 5. Conway Library, The Courtauld Institute of
Art, London . Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 7.
Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) 8. Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: Paul
Highnam Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: Paul Highnam Cat. Exhibit. The Trustees of the British Museum.
All rights reserved Tate, London 2.
Courtesy of www.gjsaville-caricatures.co.uk Cat. 27 Exhibit a. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London Exhibit b. Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1. Tate,
London 2014 2. Tate, London. Tate, London . Tate, London 2014 Cat. 28 Exhibit. The
Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved 1. Towneley Hall Art
Gallery and Museum, Burnley, Lancashire/Bridgeman Images . Photo out of
copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) 3. The Trustees of
the British Museum. All rights reserved Cat. 29 Exhibit. By courtesy of the
Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum Cat. 30 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow 1. Photo
Collection RKD, The Hague 2. Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
II 2015 3. Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Bestand Museen. Photo Sigrid Geske Cat. 31
Exhibit. Teylers Museum, Haarlem Cat. 32 Exhibit. Teylers Museum, Haarlem 1.
Photo Collection RKD, The Hague Cat. 33 Exhibit. Matthew Hollow 1. The National
Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, photographer Jacques Lathion 2.
Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute, Photographic Collection) .
Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini. Photo Zeno Colantoni 4. Louvre,
Paris, France / Bridgeman Images 5. Photo out of copyright (The Warburg
Institute, Photographic Collection) 6. Courtesy of Pontus Kjerrman Cat. 34
Exhibit. Matthew Hollow Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) Courtesy of Olga Liubimova Tomas Abad Cat. 35 Exhibit.
Matthew Hollow Victoria and Albert Museum, London National Portrait Gallery,
London Christie’s Images Limited Photo out of copyright (The Warburg Institute,
Photographic Collection) National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
[National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery Sammlung. Nome compiuto: Massimo
Carboni. Keywords: tratto dalla vita, estetica, arte, icona, parola, immagine,
filosofia antica, il concetto dell’antico, l’antico – l’antico e il moderno –
drawing from the antique – antico – filosofia antica, arte antica, statuaria
antica, the lure of the antique – il gusto e l’antico --. Refs.: Luigi
Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, “Grice e Carboni,” The Swimming-Pool
Library, Villa Speranza, Liguria, Italia.
levi: filosofo italiano - Italian philosopher of
Jewish descent. Author
of “Storia della filosofia romana.”
giornale
critico della filosofia italiana.
Giovanni
d. “Positivismo italiano.”
Luigi
Speranza -- Grice e Cattaneo: essential Italian philosopher. Refs.: Luigi Speranza,
"Grice e Cattaneo," per Il Club Anglo-Italiano, The Swimming-Pool
Library, Villa Grice, Liguria, Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice
e Carace – Roma – filosofia
italiana – Nome compiuto. Claudio Carace – Charax – Much admired by Antonino. Carace.
Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, “Grice e Carace,”
The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza, Liguria, Italia.
Luigi
Speranza -- Grice e Caravaggi: l’implicatura conversazionale – scuola di Crema
– filosofia lombarda -- filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza (Crema). Filosofo lombardo. Flosofo italiano. Crema,
Cremona, Lombardia. Insegna a Padova, di cui divenne in seguito rettore. È
ritratto in un dipinto di Busi detto il Cariani, allievo del Giorgione.
L'iscrizione e lo stemma presenti sulla tenda a destra attestano che il
personaggio raffigurato è Giovanni Benedetto Caravaggi, filosofo e medico
appartenente a una nobile famiglia di Crema. Laureatosi nell'università di
Padova e divenutone lettore e rettore, Caravaggi era fratello di Giovanni
Antonio, anch'egli eternato in un ritratto del Cariani (Ottawa, National
Gallery of Art). E' probabile che il ritratto della Carrara origini dalle
proprietà della famiglia Caravaggi a Crema, visto che, come ricorda il
Piccinelli, postillando le Vite di F. M. Tassi, Lochis acquistò l'opera proprio
a Crema (Bassi Rathgeb). Un'esecuzione cremasca sarebbe anche confermata dal
fatto che Cariani esegui alcune opere in quella città ed è quindi probabile che
in questo stesso periodo cada anche il ritratto in questione. Il pittore,
nativo di Fuipiano al Brembo, si era trasferito precocemente a Venezia dove si
formò nell'orbita di Bellini e Giorgione e dove compì la maggior parte della
sua carriera. Tornò a Bergamo con incursioni a Crema per adempiere ad alcuni
incarichi, quale probabilmente quello relativo al nostro ritratto, ed ebbe modo
di sfoggiare il suo elegante linguaggio giorgionesco, come emerge dal paesaggio
montuoso oltre la tenda, rischiarato da un cielo al tramonto dai toni rosati e
cerulei. Risalente a Tiziano è invece l'impostazione del ritratto dalla posa
ruotata di tre quarti e dalla sapiente costruzione prospettica, che ha i suoi
punti di forza nel braccio sinistro in scorcio e nel realistico volume
appoggiato sul tavolo. La posa naturale dello studioso, che pare interrompersi
in meditazione dalla lettura del ponderoso volume, è anch'essa un portato di
Tiziano, i cui ritratti sono liberi e naturali, lontani da schemi
precostituiti. Curiosa la presenza di un'altra firma sotto la cornice scura
dipinta, che il recente restauro ha
appurato essere contestuale alla realizzazione dell'opera. Nome compiuto:
Caravaggi. Giovanni Benedetto da Caravaggio. Benedetto. Keywords. Refs.: Luigi
Speranza, “Grice e Caravaggi” – The Swimming-Pool Library.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Carchia: la
ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale dell’ars amandi – signi
d’amore – erotico del bello – comunicazione degl’amanti primitive – scuola di
Torino – filosofia torinese – filosofia piemontese -- filosofia romana – filosofia
italiana -- Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The
Swimming-Pool Library (Torino). Filosofo
torinese. Filosfo piemontese. Filosofo italiano. Torino, Piemonte. Grice: “I
once joked that if I’m introduce dto Mr. Poodle as ‘our man in eighteenth
century aesthetics, the implictum is that he ain’t good at it! Not with
Carchia: because (a) Carchia is a serious philosopher (b) he conceives
aesthetics alla Baumagarten, having to do with communication (“nome e
immagine”, “interpretazione ed emancipazione”) and with not just the aesthetis
qua sensus – but its truth value (“immagine e verita,” “l’intelligible
estetico”) – a genius! On topc, my favourite piece of his philosophising is on
the torso del belvedere as representing the ‘rhetoric of the sublime’!” Si laurea a
Torino sotto Vattimo con la dissertazione “Il Linguaggio”. Insegna a Viterbo e
Roma. Studioso di filosofia antica, traduttore. Opere: Orfismo e tragedia;
Estetica ed erotica; Dall'apparenza al mistero; La legittimazione dell'arte;
Arte e bellezza; L'estetica antica, ecc. Si è anche occupato, di arte e
comunicazione dei popoli 'primitivi' e di artisti contemporanei quali Savinio,
Sbarluzzi e Lanzardo. La casa editrice Quodlibet raccoglie le sue opere
postume. Rusce ad immaginare la filosofla, a porla in immagini -- nel solco
della filosofia italiana dall'Umanesimo a Vico. Minima immoralia. Aforismi
tralasciati nell'edizione italiana (Einaudi, 1954), Milano: L'erba voglio);
Comunità e comunicazione (Torino: Rosemberg et Sellier); prefazione e cura di
Henry Corbin, L'imâm nascosto, Milano: Celuc, 1979; Milano: SE); Orfismo e tragedia.
Il mito trasfigurato, Milano: Celuc); Estetica e antropologia. Arte e
comunicazione dei primitivi, Torino: Rosemberg et Sellier); Erotica. Saggio
sull'immaginazione, Milano: Celuc) L'intelligibile (Napoli: Guida);
Dall'apparenza al mistero. La nascita del romanzo, Milano: Celuc); Il mito in
pittura. La tradizione come critica, Milano: Celuc); cura di Arnold Gehlen,
Quadri d'epoca. Sociologia e estetica della pittura moderna, Napoli: Guida)
Retorica del sublime, Roma-Bari: Laterza); Il bello (Bologna: Il Mulino);
Interpretazione ed emancipazione. Torino: Dipartimento di ermeneutica);
introduzione a Karl Löwith, Scritti sul Giappone, Soveria Mannelli:
Rubbettino); “La favola dell'essere. Commento al Sofista” (Macerata:
Quodlibet); Estetica, Roma-Bari: Laterza); L'estetica antica, Roma-Bari:
Laterza); L'amore del pensiero, Macerata: Quodlibet); Nome e immagine
(Benjamin, Roma: Bulzoni); Immagine e verità. Studi sulla tradizione classica,
Monica Ferrando, prefazione di Sergio Givone, Roma: Edizioni di storia e
letteratura, Kant e la verità dell'apparenza, Gianluca Garelli, Torino: Ananke,
introduzione a Walter Friedrich Otto, Il poeta e gli antichi dèi, Rovereto:
Zandonai. L’immaginazione come orizzonte nomade della conoscenza. Produttività
e trascendentalità dell’immaginazione nella critica del giudizio.
L’immaginazione senza immagini. La notte delle immagini, il ricordo, la
memoria. L’immaginazione come autotrasparire dell’apparenza rappresentativa.
Naturalismo simbolico e simbolica naturale. Angelologia. Alighieri: spiritus
phantasticus e alta fantasia. Gemellarità dell’immaginazione gnostica.
L’immaginazione speculativa. Simbolismo e imagismo. Il fantastico come
ideologia. Il romantico. L’immaginazione come dimora del padre. Demone e
allegoria. La forza del nome. Icona e coscienza sofianica. Mistica. Mimesi e
metessi. La nuova accademia: l’estetico. Paradigma, schema, immagine. OVIDIO
(vedasi). Arte amatoria. Chi peregrin nell’amorosa scuola Entra, me legga, se
vuol esser dotto. Non usansi senz’arte e vele e remi; Non senz’arte guidar si
puote il cocchio; Non senz' arte si può reggere Amore. Ben sapeva condurre
Automedonte Co’ focosi, destrieri il caiiro, e Tifi r Sedea maestro \sair
emonia poppa. Ne’ mister} d’ Àmot me fece esjperto Venere bella, e ben dirmi
poss’ io D’Aniore un altro Tifi e Automedonte. Ch^ ei sia crude!, noi niego » e
spesse volte Contro me stesso si rivolta; pure Egli è fiinciullo, e l’immatuTa'
etàde Atta si rende al fren. Docile e mite Rese Chiron l’ impetuoso^ Achilie
Automédonte, figlio di Dioreo,fu il Cocchierò d*lAchille, Tifi condusse gli
Argonauti in Coleo sul- la nave Argo, che qui dicesi emonia, perchè era su
<mella Giasone figlio del Re di Tessaglia, e perchè la Tessaglia si chiamala
Emonia dal monte Emo. Chirone figliuol di Fillira fu il Precettore d’A’^
chille^il qual nen chiamato ^acides fia Eaep suo Avo, Col dolde suon della
canora cetra^ Ed ei, che fu il terrore e lo spavento De^suoi compagni spessore
de’nemici. Dicesi che temesse il vecchio annoso; E quelle mani, che dovean un
giorno Gettare a terra il forte Ettor, porgea, Quando Chirone le chiedea,alla
sferza. Ei fu d’ Achille, io son d’ Amor maestro; L’uno e 1^ altro è fanoiul
feroce, e traggo L’ un e r altro da Diva i suoi natali Come r aratro il toro, e
come il freno Doma il cavai focoso ; io cosi Amore Render placido voglio ancor
che il petto Con r arco mi ferisca, e con la face Tutte ro’ abbruci le midolle
e T ossa. Quanto più Amore hammi ferito ed arso. Tanto più voglio vendicarmi .
Apollo, Non io, ché mentirei, dirò che appresi < Da tl» quest’ arte, o che
fui reso dotto Dal canto degli .augelli A me non Clio, Né le Sorelle sue, come
al Pastore Della valle d’ Ascrea, compatver mai ; Me un lung’ uso feMstrutto ;
e fè pròstate Air esperto Poeta . <Ió cose vere Canto:Madre d* Amor.^, siimi
propizia. Gite lungi j o Vestali., e voi Matrone, Che i piè celaté sotto lunga
veste. J3Ì Achilie uccise Ettore al assedio di Troja Achille nacque dalla Dea
Tetide, Amore dalla Dea Venere, a Mentre Esiodo, cugino e quasi contemporaneo
nero, pascolava in Elicona le pecore di suo pa* dre ^ fu dalle Muse condotto al
fonte Ippocrene, e Col hefer 4i quell* acqua divenne Poeta, Come seguir sensa
periglio Amore Si possa, eA i concessi furti io canto; Nullo i miei carmi
chiuderan delitto. Tu, che novel nell’ amorosa schiera Entri soldato, le tue
cure volgi Prima a trovar de’ voti tuoi 1’ oggetto. Indi a farlo per te
amoroso, e infine Onde lunga stagìon 1’ amor si serbi. È questo il modo, è
questo il campo, in cui Scorrere il nostro cocchio debbo ; è questa Del corso
nostro la prescritta meta. Or che il tempo è propizio, or che si puote Andare a
briglia sciolta, una ne scegli, Cui dir tu possa ; a me tu sola piaci. Questa
dal Ciel non già pensar che scenda. Ma qui trovar la dei con gli occhi tuoi.
Onde tender le reti al cervo debba. Sa bene il caccìator, e non ignora La
valle, ove il cignal s’asconde: i rami L’ UGcellator conosce, onde si gettano
61 ’incauti augelli, e al pescator son note L’acque, che maggior copia hanno di
pesci. Tu, che d^on lungo amor cerchi materia. Impara i luoghi, ove frequenti
veggonsi Le vezzose donzelle . Io non ti dico, Che dar le vele ti fia duopo al
vento. Né córrer lunga e faticosa strada. Perseo dall’Indie ne condusse
Andromeda, E .Paride rapì di Grecia Eléna. Ma in Roma, in Roma ritrovar potrai
Fanciulle, che in beltà portino il vanto Più che del Mondo in altra parte .
Come Gargaro, Castello sul monte Ida era celebre V abbondanza delle sue biade,
e Metinna, Città nek» V Isola di Lesbo, per V abbondanza d^ suoi vini. La gargara
contrada abbonda in biade» In uve la metinnia » in pesci U mare» In augei il
bosco s e còme nell* Olimpo Splendono stelle; così in Roma ammiransi Amabili
Fanciulle: qui sua sede Pose del grand’ Enea la bella Madre. Se a nascente
beltà ti porta il genio» Tenera donzelletta eccoti innante; Se già formata
giovine desideri» Mille ti piaceranno » e fian costretti A rimaner sospesi i
voti tuoi; Che se a te figlia più matura e saggia Piaccia » ne avrai, mel
credi, un folto stuolo. De’ portici pompeii all’ ombra i lenti Pàssi rivolgi,
allor che Febo i campi Dall’erculeo Leon saetta ed arde, O a quel che adorno
de’ più scelti marmi Da lontani paesi a noi venuti, LaMadre aggiunseindonoa’don
delFigHo.(8) Nè quello lascerai » ohe tragge il nome Da Livia, ornato delle
pinte tele De’Pittori più celebri ed antichi; Uno de'piU dtliziosi Portici di
Roma ora cer^ tornente ^uet di Pompeo . Giaceva questo in vicinanza dtl suo
Veatro, « i Romani lo frequentavano moltis'^ simo in tempo d* estate, OTTAVIANO
(si veda) sotto il nome d’Ottavia fabbrica un portico in vicinanza del Teatro
da lui dedicato a Marcello figlio della medesirrsa e però dice il Poeta, che la
Madre, cioè Ottavia, a^iunse il dono del portico al don d^figlio, cioè al
Teatro a lui innalzato d’OTTAVIANO, R questo il portico che Livia moglie d*
Augusto fabbricò nella Via sacra ; ne fa menzione Svetonio, e vien riputato da
Strabono uno d^più be’ monumenti di Roma, Visiterai pnr anco i Inoghi, dove
(io) In atto di far strage de’ Consorti Effigiate son P empie Danàidi; E il lor
Padre crudel, che nudo tiene L’acciajo micidial nell’ empia destra; Nè il
Tempio oblia, u’ Venere la morte Plora del caro Adon, nò il giorno Sabbato
Sacro al culto giudeo • Sarà tua cura A’xneiifitìcì templi esser presente Della
liniger’ Iside ; seconda I voti questa Dea delle fanciulle» Che desian donne
diventar, coni’ essa Lo fu di Giove ^ Fra i clamori alterni Del Foro strepitoso
( e chi mai fede Prestar ci puote ? ) Amor rivolta trova Atto alle fiamme sue
pascolo ed esca. In quella parte ove s’innalza al cielo L’ onda d’Appio » che
giace appiè del Tempio Di ricchi marmi adorno, a Vener sacro Prigioniero d’
Amore è 1 ’ Avvocato, Il portico d’Apollo palatino fabbricato da Au^ gusto in
una parte della sua casa era adornato di fiin^ ts immagini rappresentanti la
strage^ che de*pro- prj Mariti fecero le Danaidi per comando di Danna loro
padre. Si adorala Iside figlinola d*Inaco in Menfi Città d^Egitto, donde furono
trasportati in Roma i suoi sacrificj . Fu questa amata impudicamente da Giove,
il quale la cangiò per timor di Giunone in una Giovenca j e poi la restitm agli
Egiziani nella sua pri^ stina forma . B^la e i suoi sacerdoti andavano coperti
di lino e però si chiamava linigera. APPIO – il primo filosofo romano --
Censore conduce V acqua nel Foro di Cesare; e d’architettura d* Archelao fu ivi
innalzato a Venere un Tempio, che per somma fretta poi rimase imperfetto. Che
attento alla difesa altrui, se stesso Guardar non sa • Oh quante volte, oh
quante In quel loco gli manca la favella, E deir amor che V agita ripieno, Non
della caiìsa altrui, ma della propria S’occupa solo ! Dal propinquo Tempio Ride
la Dea di Pafo, e il difensore Trasformato veder gode in cliente. Ma più che.
altrove ne'curvi Teatri Troverai da far paghi i voti tuoi: Ivi mille bellezze
lusinghiere Si oifrìranno al tuo sguardo, e tal potrai Per stabile passion
scegliere, e tale Onde Tore passare in gioco e in festa. Come frequente la
formica in schiera Vanne al granajo a far preda di cibo; E come Papi in
olezzante suolo Volan sul timo e sopra i fior ; le culte Donne in tal modo in
folto stuolo assistono Agli scenici ludi * È cosi grande il numero di questo,
cho sospeso Mille volte rimase il mio giudizio. Non a’ Teatri per mirar,
soltanto, Come per far di lor superila mosffa Vanno non senza del pudor
periglio. Tu questi giochi strepitosi il primo, ROMOLO, instituisti; allor che
il ratto NeW anno del mondo 3a3i. fabbricò Romolo nei monte Palatino una Città
o sia Fortezza, che dal suo nome chiamò Roma. Per accrescere il numero dei Cittadini
^ aprì un asilo fra il Palatino e il Campi* doglio, in cui si ricevevano i
Servi fuggitivi^, i De* hitori y i Malefici . Siccome i Popoli confinanti, e
per conseguenza i Sabini nor volevano con tal gente col* Segui delle Sabine
Ancor non marmi^ E non tappeti ornavano i Teatri, Nè il palco vago era per
piote tele; Ivi semplicemente allor far posti I virgulti eie foglie, che recava
II bosco palatino, e non si vide Decorata la scena allor con V arte Sopra i
sedili di cespugli infesti Assistea il popol folto, uhe all’irsuta Chioma di
fronde sol cingea corona Col cupid’occhio ognuno intanto nota Quella, che far
desia sua preda, e molti Pensieri nel suo cor tacito volge. Mentre d’agreste
flauto il suono muove Grottesca danza, ed il confuso plauso Ferisce il ciel,
ecco che il Re dà segno Onde alla preda sua ciascun sì volga. Rapido il proprio
loco ognuno lascia, Fanne co’ gridi il suo desio palese, E le cupide mani
addosso slancia Sulle Vergin d’insidie ignare, come Fogge la timidissima
Colomba Dall’ Aquila, e de’ Lupi il fiero aspetto Agna novella ; di spavento
piene Volean cosi le misere Sabine De’ rapitori lor schivar gli amplessi; Ma da
Ogni patte senza legge inondano^ Ninna serba il color, che aveva innante; ' ' a
z lòcar U lor Donne, Romito gli ' inoitò insieme con Ì 0 sorelle,'7e moglie e
le figlie a unof spettacolo, che fe^ce* ìebrare in onore del Dio Conso, ossia
di Nettuno^ € comandò d* suoi Romani che cigscun ri rapiste fr0 quelle femmine
una Consòrte. Tutte assale il timore ^ e in Tarj modi: Questa il petto peroote^
il crin si straccia; Quella riman priva di sensi ; alcuna Non {>er il duol
fa proferir parola; Altra la cara madre appella invano; Chi quale statua
immobile rimane; Chi fugge, e chi di grida il cielo assorda. Ma le rapite
Oiovani condotte Son via, qual preda geniale e cara. Dì pudico rossoj tinsero
molte Le delicate guance, e vìe più piacquero. Se troppa ripugnanza alcuna
mostra, £ seguir nega il suo compagno, questi La porta fra le sue cupide
braccia, E si le dice: a che d’amaro pianto Da begli occhj tu versi un fiume?
teco Sarò come alla Madre è il Genitore. Romolo, fu il primiero a’tuoi soldati
Vera recar felicità sapesti; Se tal sorte goder potessi anch’io, > Io pur
non sdegnerei esser soldato. Però da quell’esempio anco a’dì nostri Trovan le
Belle ne’Teatri insidie.. D’esser presente ognor cerca e procura ^ Alle corse
de’rapidi destrieri. Di gran popol capace il ;Circo augusto Molti a te rechei!à
comodi ; d’ uopo ^ Onde spiegare i tuoi pensieri arcani Non avrai delle dita ;
nè co* cenni Intendere dovrai. Franco t’assidi, Che ninno il vieta, alla tua
donna accanto. Quanto più puòi t’accosta al di lei fiaheo\ lE procura che il
loco a.nzi ti sforzi A toccarla, quand’eUa ancor non ! voglia. Onde seco parlar
cerca materia, E da’ discorsi pubblici incomincia. Quando i cavalli
appariranno, tosto Di chi sieno richiedi, e quello, a cui Dirige i voti suoi,
tu favorisci; Macon frequente pompaallor che giungono Le statue degli Dei, fa
plauso a Venere Quale a tua Diva tutelar. Se mai Della tua bella sulla veste
cada Polve, la scoti con la mano, e fingi * Scoterla quando pur netta si serbi;
E sollecito ognor prandi motivo Da leggiere cagion d’esserle grato. Se la sua
veste strascinasse, pronto Sii tosto a tòrla dalP immonda terra; Per cosi tenui
cure avrai in mercede, Ch^ ella poi soffrirà, che le sue gambe Tu possa
riguardar. Sia tuo pensiero, Che quei, che sono assisì al vostro tergo, ^
ginocchi al di lei dosso, Non le rechin molestia. I lievi ufBcj L^alme fiscili
adescano: fu a molti Util Fa ver con destra man composto Il coscino, agitar con
piccol foglio Il volubile vento, e saper porre Sotto tenero piè concavo scanno.
Farà la strada al nuovo amore il Circo, Solevano I ROMANI portar per ih Circo
le Statue degli Dei e degli Uomini sommi, quando ivi davano lo spettacolo della
corsa de^ Cavalli 0 d^ altri giochi'. V* era fra aueste Statue ancor quella di
Venere, cui vuole il Poeta che si faccia un gran plauso* Si veda la seconda
Elegia del Libro III, degli amori scritti dgl modesimo Autore E la sparsa nel
foro infausta arena Ivi pugnò spesso il Fanciul di Venere, £ chi andò per mirar
altri piagato, Ferito pur rimase. Ah quante volte Mentre un la lingua a
ragionar discioglie^ HoWà. la mano, tiene il libro, e cerca II; vincitore del
proposto premio. Il .volatile strai senti nel seno, Gemè piagato, e accrebbe
pregio al gioco! fu bello il mirar quando con pompa Solenne Cesare introdissse
il primo (i 5 ) Non avvezze a pugnar in finta guerra E le persiche navi e le
cecropie! Da questo e da quel mar vennero allora Giovani vaghi, amabili
donzelle, E la Città racchiuse immenso mondo. Fra tanta turba di leggiadri
oggetti Chi non tigvò da far paghi i suoi voti? Oh quanti e quanti a forestiero
laccio Porsero il piè! Ma Cesar s’apparecchia (Cesare Augusto fece presso il Tevere
rappre sentore una battaglia navale detta Ncumachia. Intro^ dusse in questa a
combattere le flotte che Marc* An-^ ionio aveva raccolte contro di lui nell*
Oriente ^e le navi ateniesi denominate Cecropie da Gecrope primo Re d* Atene y
che seguirono il partito di M. Antonio^ Furono queste armate navali vinte tutte
da Azio, e servirono nella Neumachia d’un brillante spettacelo a futta Roma.
OTTAVIANO destinò una spedi^àon per V Oriente contro Frante, e vi mandò il suo
Nipote Cajo nato da Agrippa e da Giulia. Marco Crasso e Publio suo figlio avidi
delle ricchezze de* Parti intrapresero contro i medesimi una guerra, in cui
furono poi essi miseramente trucidati con undici Legioni . Per far a Cesare un
encomio, dice ora il Poeta, che deve Cajo riportar vittoria di que* popoli, e
riacquistar la ^ne romane da loro tolte Crassi. Già il restò a sog^ogar del
Mondo inter#^ E già Taltiino Oriente è nostro ancora. La pena avrai dovuta, o
Parto audace, £ voi godete, ombre deaerassi estinti, E con voi godan le romane
insegne Di barbarica destra a ragion schive. Ecco il vindice vostro, ognun
racclama Invitto Duce nelle schiere prime; Giovin sostiene perigliose guerre
Quasi invecchiato fra le stragi e Parmi. Deh non vogliate, o timidi, il valore
Dagli anni loro argomentar de’Numi; E la virtù ne’Cesari preepee. Degli anni
Suoi più assai rapido sorge Celeste ingegno, e mal tollera Ponte D’una pigra
dimora. Era bambino Ercole allor che ì due serpenti oppresse. Ed èra in fasce
pur degno di Giove. O Bacco^otu che ancor fanciullo sei, (18) Essendosi Giove
innamorato perdutamente d^Alc^ mena, si presentò a lei vestito delle sembianze
d*An^ fitrione suo maritoy quando questi trovavasi alla guerra di Tehe.Da Giove
e da Alcména nacque Ercole, che fu allevato in Tirinta Città in Marea vicina ad
Argo, e però fu detto Tirinzto . Intenta per ciò la gelosa Giunone a vendicarsi
delP infedeltà di Giove, suscitò contro d* Ercole due serpenti ; ma egli li
uccise valorosamente, benché fosse di tenera età, Bacco armato, d^ una lung^
asta, e seguito da Ufi esercito d* Uomini e di Donne, corse intrepido nel*
VOriente,e soggiogò quVpaesi che allor tutti,si comprendevano sotto il nome d*
India . Essendo quelV asta così acuta, che imitava la conica figurai del Pino,
fu detta dagli antichi Poeti il Tirso, giacché Thirza ià lingua ebraica nuW
altro significa, se non se un ramo di Pino^ •Intrecciavano le Baccanti sul
tirso V uve e i pampini cotk P edera p perché Bacco insegnò affli Qoanto fosti
mai grande allor che i tuoi Tirsi dovè temer l’India domata!' E tu prode Garzon
sotto gli auspiej (ly) Del Padre, Tarmi tratterai vincendo. Sotto un nome sì
chiaro aver tu dei I primi erudì menti, e come il Prence (ao) uomini la maniera
di coltivar la vite . Alcuni Eruditi poi fChe ricercan la moralità nelle favole
^ pretendono che dipìngasi sempre giovine questo divino coltivator della vigna
^perche gli uomini si rendon col vino in lor vecchiezza amorosi e lascivi, come
lo furono in gioventù,. Mons„ de Lavaur con molti altri, i quali hanno^
attentamente 'considerato le imprese di Bacco e l* etimologia stessa del Tirso,
porta verisimilmente opinione y che sia questa favola tratta in origine da
que^libri della sacra Scrittura, che parlano di Mosè. e di JVoè, Si rivolge il
Poeta a Cajo,che fu adottatò figlio da Cesare Augusto. Romolo dalle tre Tribù,
nelle quali aveva di^ stribaito il popolo romano y raccolse per ciascheduna
cento uomini, che fer nascita, per ricchezze, e per altri pregi ^^^no i più
riguardevoli. Furono questi chiamati Cavalieri y perchè trascélse quésoli, che
fesser meritevoli d* un Cavallo, su cui dovean combattere in difesa di lui ; e
si distribuirono in tre Ceti* turie, che conservando il nome delle Tribù,
dov*erano sfate raccolte, si chiamavano é/e^Rammensi da Romolo, dei Tasienzi da
Tazio Re dé Sabini, e dei Laceri Lucomone JRe d'Etruria, che fu, come dicono.,
il fondatore della Città di Lueca . Da Tarquinio Prisco, e da Servio Tullio
vennero in seguito accresciati di numero y senza mutar però il nome di Cen*
iurte ; esercitarono poi varie luminose incombenze ; e JU'denominato il loro
ordine Senatus Seminarium, perchè in esso scieglievansi i Senatori • i 5 . Lu*
Jglio facevano i Cavalieri ogni anno splendidamente in lor rassegna, mentre dal
Tempio dell’Onore, che era situato fuori della città, andavano al campìdo*
coronati d* ulivo, cinti d^ una purpurea veste det- Or de’Giorani sei, sarai
col tempo L’oroamento miglior do'rccchj Padri. Vendica ofFesi i tuoi fratelli,
e i dritti (ai) Del Genitor sostieni: della Patria £ Padre 6 Dlfensor Parcne ti
cìnse; Ed or che l’inimico i regni invola, Cruccioso alla vendetta egli
t’invita. Scellerati di lor saran gli strali. Pietà e Giustizia i tuoi
vessilli, e Parrni Della causa miglior sostenitrici. ' ta trabea, t assisi
sopra i loro cavalli . 0 §ni cinque anni poi appena giunti al Campidoglio,
scendevano da Cavallo, e presolo per mano lo guidavano avanti al Censore ivi
assiso sopra una sedia curale ; ed egli comandava di ritenere il Cavallo, se
bene aveva il Cavaliero adempiuto a suoi doveri ^e di venderlo, se aveva
malamente eseguito le sue incombenze. Leg^ geva il Censore in tale occasione il
catalogo de^ Cavalieri yC si chiamava il Principe de* Giovani o della Gioventù
quello che era da lui nominato il primo ; e ciò non perchè fossero attualmente
tutti gióvani, ma perchè lo fàrono nella prima istituzione^ e perchè Veta
giovanile si estendeva pressò i Romani fino a quarantacinque anni. Principe
de’Senatori o del Senato ne*primi tempi della Repubblica si chiamava quello che
il primo tra*Sena- tori viventi era stdto Censorey poi quel che dal Censore
fosse stato nominato ili primo nel leggere il catalogo d^ Senatori y e nell\
anno dalla fondazione di Roma quel, che dal Censore era riputato degnissimo.
(al) Pompeo y domato il Re Tigrane y costrinse gli Armeni a ricevere da* Romani
in segno di servitù i Rettori. Si liberarono essi da un tal giogo y ma Cajo li
obbligò nuovamente a soffrirlo, e vendicò in tal guisa i dritti d*Augusto y che
dal Senato e dal Po^ polo romano fu per mezzo di Valerio onorato del luminoso
titolo di Padre della pAt<‘ia, ^ (^a) I Parti tentavano di farsi padroni
delV Ar- mersia Ora il mio Duce alle latine aggiunga L*eoe ricchezze. E voi j
Cesare e Marte, Entrambe Padri soccorrete il Figlio, Che in difesa di Roma
espon sua vita; Come già Marte^or tu, Cesar, sei nunie Ecco raugurio mio; tu
vìncerai; Sciorrò co’ carmi allora il voto ; degno* Tu allor fatto sarai d’alto
poema. Porrai le squadre in ordinanza, e all’ armi Co’ versi miei 1 ’
esorterai: tenaci Di me nel tuo pensiero i detti imprimi. 11 petto forte de’
Romani, il tergo (24) Io canterò de’ Parti, e l’inimico Telo, che vibran dal
cavallo in fuga. Mentre tu fuggi, o Parto, e cosa al vinto, Oude sia vincitor,
tu lasci ? Il tuo .Marte recò finora infausto augurio. Dunque quel dì verrà,
Cesare, in cui Tu di natura la piò amabìl opra Di lucìd’ oro adorno andrai
tirato Da quattro^ candidissimi cavalli ? Or mal sicuri nella fuga i Regi
Partici andranno innanzi, il collo carco Dì pesante catena • Insiem confusi
Giovani lieti e tenere Donzelle, D* un’insòlita gioja il cor ripieno, Mireran
lo spettacolo gradito. " Se una di quelle a te richiegga i nomi Di que’
Re, di que’ monti, di que’ fiumi, (a3) Fu Cesare Augusto ascritto in aita fra i
Dei, $d ebbe perciò onori diHni. ’ (a4) Avevano i Parti in ' costume di
guerreggiar fuggendo, ed anzi si rendevano formidàbili, mentre ^ibravan le lor
saette^ da wjt cavalle rivoltp in fuga. Di que* paesi 9 a tatto ciò' rispóndi;
£ non richiesto ancora il; tutto narra, E le cose puf anco a te mal note. Cinto
di canna il crin l’Eufrate è questo, (aS) 11 Tigri è quel colla cerulea chioma.
Ecco gli Armeni^, e Perside che tragge (a6) Da Perseo il nome suo ; nell’
achemenie Valli questa Città si giacque . Il nome Dirai di questi e di que’Re,
se il sai, O almen 1 ’ adatta . L’imbandite mense Facile danno ed i conviti
accesso, Ove da far contenti i tuoi desiri V’ è cosa anc’ oltre i vini: ivi
sovente Calcò di Bacco l’orgogliose corna Con le tenere mani il bel Cupido, Di
cui se intrise sien 1 ’ ali nel vino Più non puote fuggir: grave s^ asside; Tu
umide penne, è ver, veloce Scote. Ma non vola per questo, anzi novelli Desta
incendj nelP alme, che dal vino Sono disposte e rese atte al calore. Ogni atra
cura e molce e fuga il vino; Allora il riso ha loco ; allor l’abietta Mendica
gente pure il capo innalza; Fuggon le cure, il duci ; le crespe fronti Vengono
liete ; e la si rara in questi Tempi semplicitade i più secreti Pensier
dell’alma svela, che il Dio Bacco UEufrate ed il Tigri, avendo, secondo Vo^
pinione d*alcuni, la lor sorgente nei Monti armenii si prendono qui dal poeta
per li principali fiumi del» V Armenia, (a6) Persìde è una famosa città, che
vuoisi fab.-» bracata da Perseo figlio di Danae nelle valli persiar ne, dette
achemtiiie dal Re Achemene Ogni mistero svela e l’arte infrange De’ Giovanetti
il cor ivi ben spesso Rapiron le Fanciulle ; Amor nel vino Fu foco a foco unito
• Ma non troppo A lucerna ti fida ingannatrice; Mal nella notte, e fra i
bicchier ricolmi Della beltade si può far giudizio. Allo splendor del giorno, a
cielo aperto Paride rimirò le Dive allora Che alla Madre d* Amor disse: tu
vinci L’ una e 1 ’ altra in beltà, Venere bella. S’ asconde nella notte ogni
difetto; Ad ogni vizio si perdona, e allora Ogni donna sembrare alPuom può
bella; Consulta il di guai gemme e quali lane, Tinte di tìria porpora, sien
atte A fsLjp bella la faccia e il corpo ^ Come Io delle Donne numerare il ceto
Di non ardua conquista ? E assai maggiore Dell’ arene del mar . Come di veli Di
Baja. i lidi narrerò coperti. E per calido zolfo acque fumanti? Riportando
talun ferito il petto Da queir.onde, non son, ( come racconta La fama ) dice,
salutari ognora. Ecco di Cinzia suburbana il tempio Ì ayl Alludesi al
pros^erhio latino in vino veritas. Baja in Campania, o com'oggi dicesi in ter-^
ra di Lavoro i era un amenissimo Castello^ che con- teneva entro di se degli
ottimi bagni caldi, e alcuni laghi in cui rrnvigavan gli antichi con diverse
barche variamente dipinte, sulle quali facevano ancora de^ gli allegri conviti.
Questa Dea, che si chiama Lucina in Cielo, Eeate neW inferno, e Diana in terra,
ha ancor fra Silvestre» ed ecco ì conquistati Regni. Perchè vergifte ella è »
perchè ella in odio Ave d’Amor gli 8tijali,.al popol diede» £ mai sempre darà
mille ferUè. Fin qui Talia sopra ineguali rote Come tu debba scer T amato
oggetto» E dove tender t’insegnò le reti. Della tua Bella onde adescare il cére
Preparo or io delF arte opra speciale. Uomini» voi chiunque » e donde siate,
Porgete al mio parlar docili menti» E le promesse mie ptopizj udite. Tosto
nell’ alma tua scenda la speme Di conquistarle» e vincitor sarai; gli altri
nomi quello di Cinzia » perchè essa ed Apoi* lo nacquer nelVIsola di Deio » ov^
è il Monte Cinto. I popoli del Chersoneso » o com* ora chiamansi » della Crimea
» le immolavano gli ospiti ivi spinti dalle tempeste, he femmine romane » dopo
Vavere ottérsuto ciò che htamavun co" voti, andavano a* d*Agosto con le.
faci ardenti in mano, e la corona eul capo\ al Tempio suhurbano di questa Dea
situato in Arì^ eia. Quivi frequentemente i Sacerdoti succedevano gli uni agli
altri » mentre, non godevano di questa di* gnità solamente gV ingenui, ma se la
contrastavano anche i servi e i fuggitivi in una guerra particola* re » in cui
chi riportava la vittoria, otteneva a un tempo stesso il Sacerdozio » che
apprezzavano come un Kegno. Una tal Dea peraltro y quantunque sten* desse dal
cielo per godere del suo Pastorèllo Endimione » fu sommamente gelosa della
propria pudici* zia, giacché trasformò in Cervo Atteone \ perchè osò di
guardarla quando era nuda in un bagno. (3o) Talia è quella Musa » che presiede
principale mente a* Canti piacevoli e amorosi. Dice OVIDIO che dia insegnò
sopra inegnali rote ec. alludendo al diè stico latino » il di cui Esametro ha »
com* è noto ^ sA piedi, e cinque il Pentametro^ Ma intanto tender dei T
insidie: prima Gli augelli taceran di primavera, Le cicale in estate, e il can
d^Arcadia Incontro a lepre prenderà la fuga, Che dolcemente Femmina tentata A
Giovine resista ; e quella ancora Tu vincerai, che ti parrà ritrosa. Come il
piacer furtivo è grato alF Uomo, £ grato alla Donzella . Asconde questa Le
brame sue, T nomo le cela invano; Ma se tu possa* vincerla una volta, Preverrà
con le sue le tue preghiere. Ne’ molli prati al suo Torello accanto La giovenca
muggisce ; e la Cavalla Col suo nitrir fa lusinghiero invito Al cornipede
maschio . In noi pkt forti^ Ma non però cosi furiosi, sono Gli stimoli d’ amor
i lodevol fine Ha la fiamma delP Uomo. A che di Biblì Ricorderò, che d’ un
vietato amore Arse pel suo Fratello, e pon un laccio Vendicò da se stessa il
suo misfatto? Non, come Figlia dee,Mirra amò il Padre,( a^ BiUi nata da Mileto
e dalla Ninfa. Gianczf, amò perdutamente Canno suo fratello. Siccome non Ve
riuscì di renderlo à sitò riguardo amoroso ^ si die in preda a un pianto così
dirotto ( se si presti je e al libro IX. delle Metamorfosi ) che fu convertita
VI un fonte yo( se si crede al libro presente ) si prò-- curò ella etessa con
un laccio la morte. Avendo Mirra concepito un immenso amore per Cinìra suo
padre, gli fu posta in letto da me nutrice in luogo della consorte. Accortosi
Cinira del fallo, tentò di uccìderla } ma essa fuggì bay ove fu cangiata in
albero, e diede alla luce il bellissimo Adone, che fU V ‘unico frutto d un st
fu nesto incestuoso accoppiamento. E oppressa ora si cela in chiasa scorza:
Delle lagrime poi, che dal suo tronco Odoroso essa elice ^ ungiam le membra.
Che s^ban quteste stille il primo nome, Del frondos’Ida nelVombròse valli. Era
forse la gloria e la delizia Deir armento un Torel candido, solo Negro segnale
avea fra corno e corno: Una sol f^u la maccbìa, e latteo il resto. Questo
bramaron sostener sul tergo Le giovenche ginosie e di Canea. Oodea di farsi
adultera Pasifae (34) Del Toro., e'nel ano ooj geloso sdegno Nutria contro le
amabili giovenche: Io cose note canto; e ciò non punte Creta negar, quantunque
siai*iqendace. Creta, cui son cpnto Città soggette. Con r inesperta man ;
Pasifae ali Totro Dicesi recideste or verdi frondey S 1 Or r erbe tenerissime
de’ prati.2 Erra compagna dèli’st>nentOì,;e invano- Del maiitoy pensier T
arresta j vinto. Era Minos da-un hove ^ A rche* tu vesti, . Donna, preziose
spoglie ? Il tuo Diletto Mà è un mont 0 ^ Creta ; nè deéù qui còn^ fondere cpl
Monta, Ida^ pqiaao, ope seguii la famgsa lite fra Venere y Pallade e Óit^none.
(34) Sdegnata Venere contro il Sole y perchè Vavea fatta sorprèndete da^*Numi
det letto con Marte ffe* à che Pasifae figlia del .medesimo, e moglie di Mi-»
nos Re di Creta, ^ innamorasse ardentemente d* un Toro. Essendosi questa racchiusa
in una Giovenca di legno coitmtta da Dedìdà y si congiunse col Toro diletto, e
diede al Sole, in nipote il celebre Minotaio- To, che fu ucciso da Teseo nel
famoso làbcrkito» Di tai ricchezze non conósce il pregio. Mentre vai di montano
armento io traccia, A che giova lo specchio, a che le chiome. Lassa, adornar si
spesso ? Ah I presta fede Pare allo specchio 4 che bovina forma Ti nega ; invan
veder sulla tua fronte Desideri le cornac Se ti piace ' Minos, a che un
adultero ricerchi P E se brami ingannarlo, a ché noi fai Con un Uomo? Per
boschi e per foreste Oià la Regina, il talamo lasciato, ^ Vanne quasi
fiaccante, a cui furore Spiri P aonio Dio . Oh quante volte La giovènca «rivai
con volto iniquo Mirò, e fra se, perchè tu piaci, disse, Al mio Signor ? Ve^com^*
in facciala lai* Scherza sull’erbe tenere, ed esulta,, E tài fóIlié/-non dubito
non credai ^ Per lei decenti: mentre in suo pensiero: Volge tai còse, ordina
che sia tolta* Dal gregge immenso, è immeritevol venga Al curvo giogo
strascinata, o vuole Di snperstizion sacrai * fra-l’are Vittima cada;!e nella
fi^ta dtwtr^ Gode tener .le.:.viscero fumanti -Dell’uccisa rivai. AHI quante
voke ? Gon le uccise rivaV placando i NUìiii, ^ Disse,
tenendo'visceri\-'piacete Al mio Dilettov e quante volte ancora Chiese in
Europa èsserconversa e in Io, Europa figlia di Agenorg Re di Fenicia, ^ éorella
di Cadmo, era dotata di^ sorprendente^ bellezza. Aree Giòvo per Ui. di un amore
così violento, aS Che questa è una Giovenca, e quella ìMotso' Premè d’ un Bovo
. Fè le strane voglie Paghe Pasifae ascosa in lignea vacca, Onde il parto alla
luce uscì biforme. Se sapeva piacere ad un sol uomo^ (36) E foggia di Tieste il
turpe amore D’ Atreo la Sposa, non avrebbe Febo Il cammino sospeso in mezzo al
corso, E rivoltato il carro, i suoi destrieri Mossi incontroairAurora. Anco la
Figlia, Che i purpurei capelli involò a Niso, Coprì del corpo suo le parti
estreme Con la sembianza de’ rabbiosi cani. thè trasformatosi in Toro, la portò
sul suo dorso in quella parte di Mondo, che dal nome della medesu ma si chiama
Europa. Io y o Iside fu, come Si è detto al numerò ii. epnoertita dallo stesso
Giove in una Giovenca. Erope moglie d* Atreo giacque con Tieste fra^ tello del
medesimo, e nacquer da essi due figlj, che avendo Atreo dati a mangiare al lor
padre medesimo in un convito, il Sole per celare un tanto misfattò tornò
indietro, e corse incontro aWAurora. Scilla, figlia di Niso Re di Megara s^
inva^ ghì di Minos Re di Creta, che le assediava la pa^* trìa, e a lui recò il
purpureo capello del padre, dal qual dipendevano i fati di quella Città. Essa
fu jj^i disprezzata harharamente dalV ingrato Minos, e fu, secondo le
metamorfosi, cangiata in uccello. Vi fu però un^altra Scilla figlia di Eorci,
la quale, avendo bevuto un^acqua per lei avvelenata da Circe, venne subito
trasformata in un mostro, la di ciS parte inferire era simile a quella di un
Cane. Con-^ eepì la medesima tanto orror di sé stessa, che si get>» tò in un
golfo del mar di Sicilia, che ha preso da ^ella il suo nome» Ovidio ha qui confuso
fseste due Il Figliuolo d^Atieo, che in terra e in mare Di Marte e di Nettuno
evitò V ira. Cadde vìttima poi della Consorte. Chi di Creusa sull’inìqua hamma
Non sparse il pianto, e sulla Strage orrenda Che fe* de’proprj figli un* empia
Madre ? Frivo degli occhi pur pianse Fenicio, (4o) E voi, oarallì spaventati,
il vostro Agamennone è veramente figlio di Filistene, ma da Ornerò^ e da tutti
gli antichi poeti gli vien dato per padre Aireo suo aco come un personaggio più
celebre» Fu dichiarato Agamennone per le sue mira^ bili imprese il Re deTle di
Grecia, e per tradimento di Clìtennestra sua moglie ucciso da Egisto, dal quale
era ella amata impudicamente, Giasone j abbandonata Medea, sposò Creusa figlia
di Creonte Re di Corinto, Medea per vendicarsi di tafe infedeltà, f^ strage di
due teneri fanciulli nati da lei 4 da Giasone, e ridusse con fuoco ariifi- doso
in cenere ì* infelice Creusa e tutta la famiglia e la Reggia di Cleonte, (40)
Furono tratti gli occhi a Fenicio figliuol d^A^ mintore, perchè una concubina
del padre Vaccusò falsamente d'acerle tolto Vonore, Ricuperò egli la vista per
i farmaci a lui apprestati da Chirone, il qual gli die poi in custodia il
giovine Achille, con cui andò aWassedio d,i Troja, Ippolito figlio di Teseo
disprezzo Vamorosa corrispondenza che gli esibì Fedra sua matrigna, Sdegnata
ella fieramene di ciò, disse al padre, che le aveva il medesima insidiato V
onestà ^ e Teseo lo abbandonò al furor di Nettuno, Essendo per ciò comparso un
orribil mostro marino^ mentre Ippolito se ne andava sul suo, carro lungo la
spiaggia del mare, i cavalli per lo spavento preser la fuga, marciarono il
legno in pezzi ^ e trucidarono miseramente il lor Cgxìdottii^o, > Condottier
tracidaste.E perchè» o Pinco, Gli occhi tu togli agPinnpcenti figlj ? Ah che la
atessa ^eaa. il tuo delitto Un dì vendicherà. Tali infortunj ^ Da uno sfrenato
aq^or trasse sorgente Delle lubriche donpe . Ornai t’ affretta, £ non temer di
ritrovar contrasto Nelle Donzelle ; appena, una fra molte * Ne incontreraiepe.
a te neghi vittoria. E r indulgènti e, le ritrose pure lì Goì^qu esser pregata;
pna ripulsa I Non ti spaventi ^ è questa ingannatrice. iMa perchè ingannatrice
Y ognor pip grata INuova per esse voluttà riesce. |E l’alma loro adescan
facilmente |l novelli amatori ..'Il vici^ campp Ci sembra più .ijber^^so,^0 il
gregge altrui Vedi che a parte sia della Padroni Ov, Arte (Tarn. b Fineo
figlimi Agenore Re Arcadia yO come ad altri piaqe, di Tracia, o di Paflagonia y
sposò Cleopafi^a figlia di Bqrea, e‘. n*ehbe due figli. O sia che questa
morissero che fosse da lui ripudiata y prese il medesimo in moglie Arpài ice, e
cornane dò, che fossero ioltìr gli occhi a* due figlj della sua prima eoniorte,
perché temè che aiiesjser avuto un illecito commercio con Ija novella sua sposa.
Fu da Borea vendicata V innocenza do* nipoti con Vacciecof- mento di Fineo, e
Giunone e Nettuno gli mandarono sulle mense le Arpie y che a lui macchiavano
turpemente quelle ‘ vivandé y che non mangiavano essa stesse De’ nascosti
consiglj, e de’ piaceri Suoi più segreti. Con promesse e prieghi Corrompi la
sua fi; tutto otterrai, Quand’ ella voglia, e non ti sia contraria, Dalla
facil. tua Bella • Il tèmpo scelga. Come i Medici sogliono, propìzio. Onde il
tuo amor nel dodi cor le infonda. Ella il tuo amor le infonderà nel core,
Quando per lieti eventi andrà giuliva Come lussureggiare in pìngue campo '
Suole la biada. Quando r alma è scarca Dalle pallide cure, e lieta esulta. Si
spande allora, e dà facile accesso ÀH’arti lusinghevoli d’amore. Mentre fra i neri
affanni involta visse " Troja, con V armi si difese ; e lieta (43) Il
cavai di soldati e insìdie pieno Àccolèe entro le mòra. Ancor si tenti, £ non
rimanga inyendicata, quando Si dorrà, chè riceve ingiuria e scorno Dall*
impudica Amante del Marito. La punga a sdegno la fedele Ancella, Quando col
pettin mattutin compone Gl* indocili capelli, ed alle vele. L’ ajuto aggiùnga
anco de’ remi, e dica, Sospir seco tràehdo, in bassa vocè: Tu noli potrai,
cred’io » come si merta. Rendergli la pariglia. Allor le parli Di te con detti
insinuanti, e.giuri Che tu brugi per lei d’immenso amore. Mentre il tempo è
propizio, ella s’ affretti Alludesi al cavallo di Ugno ^cht il perfido Sinone
introdusse pien di soldati in Troja, quando tra assediata da* Greci» Virgilio
Endde IÀh»lÌ»v» Che non cadan le vele, e cessi il vento. Come sì scioglie il
gel, V ira, indugiando^ Si dilegua così. Forse mi chiedi. Se la servente
innamorar ti giovi ? Tai cose ammesse, il rischio é manifesto^ Una rende V amor
più diligente, L’ altra più tarda e meno attenta: questa Alla Padrona sua ti
serba in dono, Quella a se stessa • esito dipende Dalla fortuna, che quantunque
arrichì Agli audaci ^ a te do fedel consiglio. Che d’ un’ impresa tal lasci il
pensiero. Non per scoscese perigliose strade Andrò, nè, duce me, verrà
ingannato Alcun Giovine amante * Ma se poi, Mentre riceve e assiduamente porta
L’innamorate cifrerà te non solo Per la sua fedeltà piaccia, com’ anco Per la
beltà del corpo ; allor procura Della Padrona in pria il possesso, e ch’indi
Questa la segua: l’amoroso gaudio Non dall’ Ancella incominciar tu dei* Se
all’arte mia si crede, e i detti miei Non portano pel mar rapaci i venti,
Questo consìglio mìo nell’alma imprimi: Non mai tentar 9 se non compisci
l’opra» Se a parte ella verrà del tuo delitto. Non la temere accusatrìce •
Invano Invischiato l’angel tenta la fuga. Nè riesce già uscir dalle allentate
Reti al cinghiale • Il pesce all’ amo colto Si scota invano ; tu la premi e
assedia. Nè la lasciar, se vincitor non sei. Se a una colpa comune ella
soggiace, Non temer tradimenti ; a te saranno Note della Padrona opre e parole.
Se cauto celerai 1’ accusatrice. Sempre, contezza avrai della tua Amica. Folle
è colui che in suo pensier si crede òhe sol debban del cielo osservar gli astri
Della terra il cultore ed i nocchieri. Non a’ campi fallaci ognor sì debbe
Cerere abbandonar, nè alle tranquille*^ Cerulee onde del mar la curva prora. Ah
1 che non sempre assicurar ti puoi Il cor di vincer delle Belle; spesso Ciò
s’otterrà, se il tempo sìa propìzio. Se deir Amica il natalizio giorno (44)
(44) Era presso gli Antichi in gran venerazione il giorno natalizio: e gli
Amanti celebravano ‘ con feste e con doni quello^ in cui eran nate le Donne che
ama^ vano . Si dee preferir certamente questa lieta costui manza a quella che
hanno adottato i Messicani e i Cinesi, i quali riguardano un tal giorno come
infausto e doloroso . Alcuni di essi invece di ricevere con acclamazioni di
gioja la nascita d^ un figlio, gli rispondono ai suoi primi singulti, mio
figlio tu sei venuto al mondo per soffrire \ soffri ^ e t’acquieta . Si fab-
hrican altri di buon^ ora la tomba, e vanno ogni giorno a renderle omaggio come
al termine consolator é d^.lor giorni . Non poco influisce, a dir vero, un tal
uso a fomentare il barbaro costume d^ uccidere i proprp figli in un popola ^ il
guala non gli Ottimi suoi libri classici illustrati dall* immortai Confueio e
con le savissime leggi, su cui ha stabilito il suo pacifico Impero, cerca di
rendersi virtuoso ed illuminato. Èra presso i Romani nel suo pieno vigore P uso
delle visite e de* doni nel principio dell* anno, il qua- le incominciava
anticamente col mese di Marzo, le di cui Colende eran consacrate al Dio Marte .
Cele- hravand in Roma nel primo giorno d*un tal mese alcune feste dette
matronali in memoria della pace Ricorra, o le Calende che seguito Abbiaa quelle
di Marte, a Vener piace, O sia che il Circo sì rimiri adorno, Non come in altre
età, di statue lievi. Ma per le spoglie ivi de i Re deposte, L’ opra
differirai: sovrasta allora Con le piovose Plejadi P inverno; Allor nella
marina onda s’immerge Il Capro tenerello ; allora giova Deporre ogni pensier .
Chi al mar s’afSda Del lacero naviglio appena puote 1 miseri campar naufraghi
avanzi. Tu se in quel dì incominci, in cui si vide che le Sabine avevano
appunto in tal di stabilita fra i loro SpoH, ed i loro Padri, i quali volevano
con V armi vendicare il ratto delle medesime . Le persone maritate avevano
solamente diritto a queste feste / ed OraT^io nell* Ode ottava del Libro III. si
scusa, perchè vi prende parte anch? egli, essendo celibe. Siccome il mese d*
Aprile è sacro a Venere, e suc^ cede a quello di Marzo dedicato a Marte, dice
il Poeta che Venere gode che abhian le sv^e Calende seguito quelle di Marte per
alludere alVamorosa cor^ rispondenza che ella aveva coi Dio della guerra . Le
Ihnne e le Matrone romane facevan nelle Calende d*Aprile gran festa a questa
lor Pea tutelare ; e gH Amanti contribuivano alle medesime con le donazioni.
Non vuole il Poeta, che si studino i Giovani per adescar le Donne nel lor
giorno natalizio, nel principio dell* anno, e in occasione de^trionfi celebrati
nel Circo, perchè essendo le medesime allora occupate in adornarsi,
incontrerebbono qiiP gravi pericoli, che sono qui espressi con l* allegoria dell*
Inverno, e con quella delle Plejadi e del Capro, le quali stelle sorgon sull*
orizzonte nel mese d* Ottobre, che è un tempo pieno di pioggia e di tempeste, e
perciò non propizia a* Naviganti.. Scorrer sanguigno umor la flébìl Allia Per
le piaghe latine, o in quello in cui Torna la festa settima, che è sacra Al
Palestin siriaco, e in cui s’ astiene Ognun dalla fatica, avrai mai sempre
Culto superstizioso al di natale Delia tua Bella ; pur funesto giorno Sia
quello, in cui tu offrir dono le debba; Ma a te lo rapirà, se tu gliel nieghi,
Che a Femina mancar non puote 1’ arte Per carpir le ricchezze a Giovin caldo.
Del Mercante il Garzon verrà discinto Alla vogliosa ed avida Padrona, E porrà
le sue metti in vaga mostra, Mentre tu giungi, e al fianco suo t’assidi. Essa
ti pregherà, che tu le osservi Per additarne il prezzo ^ e liberale Ti sarà di
preghiere e ancor di baci, Perchè le compri, e giurerà contenta D’ esserne per
molt’ anni, e che non puoi Comprarle cosa che le sia più accetta. Se poi ti
scusi che non hai denaro, Ti chiederà il tuo nome, e turpe fia Per scusa addur,
che tu firmar noi sai. Rinasce poi, quando le fa bisogno, A ih. Agosto ebbero i
Romani una sconfitta da* Galli sul fiume Allia non lontano da Roma, onde come
infausto e di pessimo nome fu condannato un tal giorno . Crede il Poeta, che
debbano i Giovani onorare il dì natalizio delle lor Belle, e vuole che
intraprendano V amorose loro conquiste 0 in que malinconici tempi qui figurati
sotto il giorno alliense, CUI aman le Donne d* esser rallegrate, o in
que^giorni festivi simili a* sabbati giudaici, ne* quali non è alle medesime
permesso 4 * occuparsi in alcun lavoro. Che dell* offerte natalizie il giorno
Rìeda y e di pianto sa bagnare il volto Per la supposta perdita di pietra. Che
le orna 1’ orecchio . D’altre cose L’ uso ti chiedrà, che date poi Renderle
nega ; tu le perdi, e invano Speri per ciò che grata ti si mostri. No, quando
avessi dieci lìngue e dieci Bocche, io già non potrei dell’ impudiche Donne
n^^rare le sacrìleghe arti, li guado tenti un ben vergato foglio; E della mente
tua la prima volta Sia nunzio ; le carezze, e le parole, Che imitino il
linguaggio d’ un Aliante Rechi, e fervide aggiungi anco preghiere. Donò
da’prieghi mosso a PriamoAchille Di Ettor l’esangue spoglia; e Iddio sdegnato A
voci supplichevoli si piega. Prometti pur, che nuocer già non ponno Mai le
prorjaesse ; ognun può farai ricco Con semplici parole. La speraD 2 $a Data una
volta, lungo tempo dura: C' inganna, è ver, ma Diva utile è a noi. Se liberal
con lei fosti di doni, Avrà ragion d* abbandonarti ; quello, Che già le desti,
è suo, nò può timore Di perdita nutrir . Ognor tu devi Achille dc^ aper
ttraseinato tre volte intorno alle mura di Troja il corpo d* Ettore da lui
ucciso alV assedio di quella Città y lo rese finalmente y 0 a dir meglio, lo
vendè\ a- ^Priamo Padre del, medesimOy che prostrato a* suoi pièdi > lo
pregava di ciò caldamente^ Exanimumaue amo oorpns vendebat Achillea. 1 Virgil
Finger di dar quel che non desti; spesso Fu deluso così di steril campo II
credulo Padron • Così, perdendo A perder segue il giocator, nè lascia Per
questo il gioco ; e il lusinghiero dado Nelle cupide mani agita ognora. Questa
è Tiinpresa, e qui il Valore è posto; Ascolta ; senza doni il suo cor tenta La
prima-volta, ancor che ì doni apprezzi; Se lor liberal ti sia, 8«^rallo Ognora.
Vada dunque il tuo foglio, ma vergato Con detti lusinghieri ; della Bella La
mente esplori,*e primo il caihmin tenti. Cidippe ingannò un pomo, in bui rincue
Note leggendo, fu di queste preda. O Giovani romani, io vel consiglio. Deh
coltivate le bell’ arti ; solo Non utili Saran per la difesa ' De^ paurosi Rei
; ma dalla forza Del facondo parlar, vinta la mano A voi daran col Giudice
severo. Con lo scelto Senato, e ilPopol folto Ancor le culte amabili Donzelle.
Da Zea una delle Isole Clclàdì andò Acanzio in Deio per assistere a* sacrifici
di- Diana, che là si celebravano splendidamente. Ivi ei concepì uìà^ immenso
amore per Cidippe, ma non ardiva di chiederla in is- posa . Stette molto tempo
dubbioso nello scegliere lin mezzo per appagare la sua passione ^ ma in lui
ces^ sarono i dubbj quando intese che vigeva in Deio una legge, per cui restava
concluso tutto ciò che si diceva nel tempio di Diana ; è però gettò a* jùedi
della sita Bella un pomo y in cui erano scritti i versi seguenti* Juro tibi
sane per mystica sacra Dianae He Ubi venturam comitem sponsamque futuram:
Ascosa V arte resti, e da principio Non sii eloquente. Da’vergati, foglj Vadan
lungi parole aspre e ricerche. Chi mai, se non. di senno affatto privo» In
tuono volgerà declamatorio . ; Alla tenera Amica il suo discorso? Oh quante
volte fu giusta cagione Di grave sdegno un foglio ! 1 detti tuoi Meritin fede,
e adopra usati accenti» Ma sempre, lusinghieri » onde l,e sembri^ D’udirti
ragionare . Se ricusa, Di ricevere il foglio, e sena’ averlo, . Letto a te lo
rimandi » |a speranza Però non t’abbandoni » e,il mio consiglio, Serba in
memoria, II. collo al giogo piega Il Giovenco difficile col tempo» E a soffrir
s’ammaestra il lento freno Col tempo anco il Cavallo. Un ferjreo anello Dal
cootinao nso si consuma » e il vomere* Dal continuo rivolgere la terra Che del
sasso è più duro? e che più molle ' Avvi dell’ onda ? eppure il duco sasso
Dall’ onda molle vieu scavato . Ancora» Se sii costante» vincerai col tempo
Penelope med^sma: » A vero»,, Caddero al suolo le trojatie.^muri^» Ma pur
caddero alfin 1 ìtiglj tuoi, Leggerà anch’ oasa » e non darà risposta» Cui tu
non debbi violentarla: solo Fa che ognor legga lusinghieri accenti» £ di
risposta alba sarà cortese A ciò che l^sse ; a gradi e con misura Succedefansi
questi ufficj ; Forse / Verrà da. prima A tc foglio dolente», à a Con cui ti
pregherà, che r amoroso Linguaggio cessi ; nia desia il contrario Entro il suo
core, e vuol che tu prosegua. Continua danque;e alfin resi contenti Saranno ì
voti tuoi . Quando supina Vien trasportata sulle molli piume. Fingendo
indifferenza, ti presenta Della Padrona alla lettiga ; e canto, E in cifre
ambigue quanto puoi favella. Onde qualchfe importuno udir non possa Il vostro
ragionar 7 Sé’ volge il piede Negli spaziosi portici, tu quivi Trattienti fin
eh* ella^ vi fa dimora. Or la precedi ed or la segui a tergo: Or lento movi il
passo, ed or t* affretta. Nè d^ inoltrarti iU ntezzb alle colonne Abbi rossor,
nè di sederle al fianco. Non ne’ Teatri senza te si trovi, E segnai póVti al
teigo, onde la vegga. Giacch* ivi il puoi, contemplala, e le dici Quanto brami
co’segni è con lo sguardo. Alla saltante applaudisci l e sii Favoirevole a quei
che rappresenta Personaggio amoroso . S* ella sorge, Sorgi ; e ti assidi pur,
s’ ella s’assida; £ a suo ^piacere il tèmpo tuo consuma. Ma non volere
innanelìare il crine Coiì’càldo ferro, e con lUordacè pomice ' Stropicciarti le
gambe ; il che tu lascia A’molli Sacerdoti di Cibale. Oj9e, o Vesta, che ancor
dicevi Rea yC la Dea Buona, è Madre degli Dei, e si chiama Cibale ; perche nel
monte Gibele dU Frigia U furono la prima Beltà negletta agli uomini conviene:
Vinse Teseo; Afianna » e la rapio Disa.doroo le<t;onipie, il cria scompQsto;(
So) Arse pe}*:FiglÌQ:Fe.drtt., ed era incolto; Cura e deli^^ia. della Dea ;d’.
Amore . Fu Adon,:che fra le selve i di traeva. S’ann^grin pur le membra al
marzio Campo, Ma si^o monde, e monda sia la ve8te.(Si) Aspra non sia la lingua,
e netti sieno.i Dalla lug^e i denti; il mobil».piede . > Non nuoti ih larga
pollo ;^*ed ìne6perta i>olta kelel^ati i sacrificj » T suoi Sacerdòti"
éràtio ew.- nuchi, e ogni giorno,ger comparir moftdi, si raschia^ van membra, t
Ari^nay figlia del Re Minos, s’innamorò perdutamente di Teseo, che fu da* Greci
mandato con al- tri giovani in Creta per esser divorato dal Ii/Iinotauro~, Etsa
gV insegnò la maniera d*'uscir dal làbérinto quàn^ do avesse ucciso quel
mostroe in compagnia di dra sua sorella s*.iifcamminò con. VAmante^ che dpmato
il Minofauro y tornava in Grecia vittorioso . Teseo chi nel viaggio orasi gik
invaghito di Fedra ^ lasciò bar-' Caramente in Nasso Arianna, .e andò con la
sorella Ì2i Atene sua patria . Ivi questa dioonne, come si è detto, amante
d*Ippplito nato da Tesele da Ippolita Regina duello Amaz%oni. Venere amò
ardehtemente Adone ^figlio di Cinirq, e di Mirra, quantunque vivesse
continuamente né^ boschi intento a caccksre le fiere. Pianse ella amaramert’^
te perchè questo giovinetto fu ucciso da un cinghiale^ e nony avrebbe mai reso
a Proserpina, se Giove non comandava', che per otto mesi avesse Venere il
possesso d* Adone, e per gli altri quattro sei godesse Proserpina. Nel Campo
martió d facevano in Roma alcuni giochi, pe*quali i giocatori si snudavano
interamente, « si dngevan le membra con degli unguenti, che rendeano a*
medesimi nera la pelle Forbice non ti renda il crin deforme t Ma da maestra
iuan^ ti sia recisa E la chioma e la barba i $enza macchie Sian r unghie, nè
soverchinoi le dita; Nelle concave nari non si scorga Alcun pelo; nè esali nn
tris^to fiato* - ' La bocca; e il naso non rimanga olfeilO „ Da che il fetido
becco ognora sape^ ' A lasciva Fanciulla il resto lascia, £ alla bardassa . Ma
già Bacco òhiama Il vate suo: soccorre ei pur gli amanti; E, la fiamma che
learde ei favorisce. Furente errava la creten.^ Ppnna Pcjr di Nasso ignota
arena, Che flagellano ognor T onde dei mare» Ella coperta con discinta veste
Come nel sonno, nudo il pjede e sciolte Le crocee chiome, al sordo mar si
volge;. E bagnando di lagrime le gote, Teseo chiama in alto suòli: grida, E in
un piangea la mìsera, ma in lei Era tutto decente ; nè men bella Fu di lagrime
aspersa « di dolore. Mentre di nuovo con le man fa ingiuria Al delicato petto,
a che fuggisti t É cosa fia.di me, perfido? dice^ Di me che fia, ripete ; e
intanto il lido De* cìtnbali e de’timpani p^cossi' Da un* attonita mano il
suono assorda. Quando Arianna si vide aèhandonata nell* sola di Dfasso^si diede
in preda all* ultima dispera^ sùone . Bacco ivi accorso con le Baeeànti e Cón
Sileno, sfio pedagogo, la prpse in sposa y e collocò la. di hi chioma in Cieìp
prenQ ad 4 rtur ^t \ v.t Ca<l’ ella al suolo 4a timor sorpresa; Le mbucaa le
iparole ; e piik pon scorro Per le;geliAe} oppresse membra il sangue. S’ appreesan
ile ^eoauti^ U<cfia disciulto^ Ed opQO;i liéyl 3iltiri soiio Previa turbo
del DiOi*;£coo sul dorso D* uo< pasciuto asinel V ebrio Sileno Carico d’
anoi.y^^che :si reggo appena, E profiumo aspirare>i )brevi crini. Meiìftr
eglit seguei'le! Saeeanti, e queste Lo cfaiadianp /oggende ; l’inesperto .
Cavaliere il qjUadrtipedo, suo si^za. Deir aaiào orecchiuto al capo scorre, E a
terra cade: i Satiri griderò; Sorgi V deh sorgi y o Padre . Intanto giunge 11
Dio ^ che d’ uva al carro adorno accoppia Le tigri, a ouircoh le dorate briglie
11 freno regge, • Partì: Teseo, e insieme D’ Arianna, fa voce ed il dolore.
Tentò tre volte di fuggir, ma invanoy Chè il timor la trattenne, e inorridita
Tremò qUal steril spiga al vento,e com# Leggiera canna in umida palude; Allora il
Dio le disse: * ogni timore, Cretease 'Donna, dal tuo cer disgombra; In me tu*
vedi un più fedele amante; Di Baceo anzi sarai la dolce sposa. Tu spazierai nel
ciel ; la tua corona Lucida stella in ciel sarà di scorta Air incerto Nocchiero
in suo cammino. Di^se, e dal carro scese, onde non debba Seatir paura delle
tigri, e il piede Sulla docil arena impresse Torme. Eapilla poscia, e se la
strinse al seno> Chè tentato avria id van forgi! contralto^ Mentre fonile a
un Dio tutto si rende. De’suoi segnacr imen cantd una parte, L’altra ripetè in
alto snon gli evviva. Cosi al letto nuziale il 0io 4 la Sposa ' Furon guidati^
e s’annoSdaro insieme. Quando tu sederai con donna a mensa, E di Bacco a te
offerti i doiii siedo, > Tu a Bacco,èa‘*NunJi che^han fa cena in euri
Porgerai voti, onde (dal Vrn non venga Offeso il capo ’ tuo ; Quivi* tu puoi ‘
‘ Con ambigue parole a lèi far iloti’ " ; I segreti del cor, ma per6^in
modo ' Che ben s’ accorga esser a lei dirette. Potrai tu ancor con gocmole di
vino Teneri accenti esporre, onde conosca, Ch’ ella assolnto ha nel tuo core
impero. Co’ tuoi s’incontrin jgli oocbi suoi,<ed il fòco Che t’arde il sené,
a lei foccian palese; Parla talora col silenzio il volto. Procura il primo di
rapir la tazza. In cni bevv’ ella, e dove i labbri impresse. Bevi tn pur:
qualunque il cibo sia Bichieder dei, che tocco avrà col dito; E mentre il
chiedi, a lei strìngi la mano. Volgi i tuoi voti pure, onde tu piaccia Della
Bella, al Marito . Assai ti puoto * Util recar, se a te sia fatto amìcoi Se dai
la legge al bere, a lui la mano Solevano i Rfìmarù appena posti a mensa eleg^,
gere il maestro della cena y che da Orazio {lib. i.od^ 9. ) li chiama il
Taliarco\ Prescriveva il medesimo U leggi del convito e la manieM di^ becere
y'e ordi^ Ce^i, e riponi dal tuo capo tolta La corona sul suo. Sia a te
inferiore, Egual sia pur, si serva in tutto il primo; E seconda parlando il suo
linguaggio. Col Telo d’amistà tessere inganno È vìa sicura e frequentata, pure
Non è senza delitto. 11 Talìarco Ancor che troppo generoso appresti I
moltiplici vini e le vivande; £ benché creda di dover più assai Veder di quel
che fu ordinato, certa Avrai nel ber da noi legge e misura. Onde la mente e il
piè si serbin atti A’ loro ufficj: d’ evitar procura Gli alterni detti e gV
ingiuriosi accenti, £ vìe più ancor se sien dal vin prodotti; E troppo faeil
non indur la mano napa alle Polte Commensali che ognuno, bevuto il suo
bicchiere di pino, proponesse qualche amena que^ stione . Auguravansi spesso
tanti anni quanti bicchieri di vino bevevano, e spesso ne bevean tanti quante
e- ran le lettere che formapano il nome della Beliamo deW Uomo insigne, a cui
facevano un tale onore . Se molti erano gli anrd augurati, o se molte erari le
leU tere componenti il nome della persona in onore di cui heveano ; mescepano
allora il vino in una tazza assai grande, e compensavan così i molti bicchieri
che apreb’^ ber doputo puotare . Era poi in uso al termine della mensa il
vibrare in aria con le due prime dita i semi d* una mela fresca: si credepano fortunati
in amore quando toccapan con quelli il soffitto della camera ov*era
apparecchiata la tavola^ e si riputavano infe* ìici quegli amanti, che non li
facean sorgere a queU V altezza, De^moÙi altri giochi ^ che i Romani usa^ vano
in queste circostanze, non ne è a noi perve^ nuta che un* oscura notizia A
perigliosa rissa. Al suol trafitto Euritone cadéo, perchè soverchio Bebbe i
vini apprestati. A* dolci scherzi Atta è la mensa e il vìu: 8*hai bella voce^
Non ricusa cantar ; salta s’ hai molli E pieghevoli braccia ; e finalmeute
S’hai doti onde piacer, piaci. La vera Ebrietà nuoce ^ può giovar la finta.
Balbetti in tronco suon l’astuta lingua^ Onde di ciò che tu ragioni, o fai
Oltra ’l dovere, il vino sol s'incolpu Augura alla Padrona ed al Marito Una notte
felice ; ma per questo Fa tacito nel core opposto voto^ Tolta la mensa, allor
che i Convitati Saranno per partir, tra lor ti mischia ; ( La turba e il loco
ti daran T accesso ) A lei che fogge t’ avvicina, e il fianco Le premi
dolcemente, e il piè col piede •. Abbia ora il conversar libero campo, E tu
lungi, o pudor rustico, vanne. Che la fortuna e Venere propizj Sono agli
audaci. De’ precetti nostri Or r eloquenza tua non abbisogna; Principia pur che
ben sarai facondo. Imitare il linguaggio dell’ amante Debbi, e mostrar d’ aver
ferito il core; E onde ti presti fede ogni arte adopra.. Ardua impresa non è
1’esser creduto. {Sii^ ElurUone è quel Centauro^ che reso caldo dab vino y
tentò nelle nozze dì Piritoo di rapire Ippoda»^ mia: Teseo lo percosse perciò
così fortemente, che fw costretto y.come dice Ovidio nelle Metamorfosi, cu vo^
nàtar V anima e il vino Mentre Donna non v’ha, che sè non stìmi^ Sia, quanto
imn^agìhar ài può, deforme. Atta a piacer ; e aémprè inver non epiace. Quante
vòlte in^amor chi sol fingendo Incominciò, d’ un vera amòr fu preda! Siate
indulgenti pur, vezzose Donne, «Con questi menzogner, se voi bramate Che in
sincerò si cambi un falso amore. Con accorte lusinghe ora si tenti Di guadagnar
le Belle, come Tacque Sa penetrar la sottoposta riva. Deh non t’incresca ora
lodar la faccia, Ora i capelli, i lunghi è ì rotondetti Diti, ed il breve piè.
Le più ritrose E le più caste godono alle lodi Della loro bellezza ; e son pur
grate ^T innocenti Vergini i anzi il primo È la beltà d* ogni lor cura oggetto.
Percliè tuttora di rossor la faccia Tingon Palla c Giunca volgendo iti mente Le
frigie selve ed il fatai giudìzio f L’augel sacro a Gìunon le penne ostenta
(56; Se tu le lodi ; e le nasconde allora Che tacito le miri» Anco il
destriero. Quando contrasta il rapido cammino. Péllade e Giunone ^vergognandosi
d^essere stc^ te da Paride giudicate .met^ belle di Venere, tentare Tono di
ripagare una tate infamia col procurare n questa Dea vincitrice del Pomo tutti
que*danni, eh% sono resi ormai cèlebri' da' Virgilio e da Omero z Manet i^ha
Bueat# repo^tuiu' Judicium Faridis spretaeqtte ipjuria fbrmae. VIRGILIO (si
veda), Eneid. I Paooni ^(hrisi ^li at^elH di Giunone, pospr che
solcpano'essLHinàfe ibìqarroidi fonta Dea*, 4» Gode vedersi il crine adorno, e
il collo Accarezzato. Franco pur prometti, E tutti chiama in testimonio i Numi,
Che alle promesse pedon facilmente Le tenere Donzelle. Su dal Paltò D*un
spergiuro amator Giove si ride, £ comanda che sien per l’aria spersi I
giuramenti dagli eolii venti. Solea per l’onda stigia a Giuno il falso Giove
giurar ; utile è un tale esempio. Giova de^ Numi resistenza e giova Che noi pur
la crediamo ; incenso e vino Lor su gli antichi focolari offriamo: No, non è
ver che una secura quiete! A letargo simil gli occupi; i Numi Veggon r opere
nostre. Innocua vita Si tragga adunque ; ad altri il suo si renda; Sii
religioso in consesrYar la fede, Stia la frode lontana, ed abbi ognora Vacua la
dostra* dalle stragi. Solo È permesso ingannar, se siete saggi, Le donne impunemente.
Abbi rossore D’ogni altra frode pur, ma non di questa. Le ingannatrici
inganninsi, che sono La maggior parte di profana stirpe; Cadan ne* lacci, cbt^
da lor far tesi, l^àrrasi che restasse un di l’Egitto ^ DelFacqua a* campi
salntevol privo Per ben nov*anni ; allor che al Re Busiri Trasio si fece
innante, e mostrò come Possa Pira placar di Giove il sangue D^un ospite; la
vittima tù il primo Sarai di Giove, a lui disse Busiri, Ed ospite darai Pacqua
all’ Egitto. Falarìde cosi nell’ infocato Toro arder fè le membra di Perillo, E
T infelice autore il primo empiéo L’opera sua. Fu 1’uno e l’altro giusto^ Nè vi
puote esser mai legge più equa Di quella y che a morir l’autor condanna Del
tormento inventato. La tradita Donna si dolga che col proprio esempio Spergiurando
s’ingannan lé spergiuro Meritamente. Utili a te saranno Le lagrime; con queste
anco il diamante Ti ha dato ammollir. Fa, se lo puoi^ Che di pianto bagnate
ella rimiri Le guancie tue; se il pianto a te non scende, Che non si versa
sempre a grado nostro^ Tu con la mano inumidisci il cìglio. Chi mai alle dolci
parolette i baci Saggio non mischierà ? S’ ella ricusa Darli, tu li rapisci,In
prima forse Combatterà ; di scellerato il nome Avrai da lei; ma pur ella desia
Pugnando che la vinca. Sìa tua cura, Che da' rapiti baci i tenerelli Labbri non
sian offesi, o non si dolga Che furon duri. Quei che i baci tolse. Se il resto
non procura, è degno invero Di perder ciò che a lui fu dato. Quanto Perillo
fabbricò un Toro di bronzo, e lo dor nò a Falaride crudelissimo Tiranno
de'Grigeati in Si cilia, perchè collocandolo pieno di rei sopra il fuo* co )
potesse intendere d^ lamenti simili a' muggiti de'booì. Falaride accettò il
dono y e volle che subito w entrasse Perillo per incominciar da lui il proposto
esperimento» Mancò a far paghi dopo i baci i voti! Ciò non pador, rusticità
s’appella. Benché si chiami forza, è questa grata Alle donzelle ) che amano
sovente Esser forzate a dar quello che giova. 1 piaceri d’amor, se sian rapiti,
Gode la Donna, e la franchezza ha il premio. Ma quella che poteva esser
forzata. Ed intatta rimase, ancor che in volto Mostri allegrezza, ha mesto in
seno il core. Soffrir violenza Febe e la sorella, Ma fu grato ad entrambe il
rapitore. La donzella di Sciro ìnsiem congiunta Con l’emonio Guerrier, favola è
invero Nota, ma degna pur d’esser narrata. Dopo la lite della valle Idea Per la
lodata sua bellezza il premio Già la Diva avea dato. A Priamo giunta Dall’
opposta regio Deaera la nuova, E già viveva nell’ iliache mura Come un’argiva sposa.
I Greci”tutti Castore e Pollice rapirono le due sorelle Febe e ilavra, che
Leucippo padre delle medesime aoea date in spose a Ida e Linceo, Venere per
premio del Pomo da lei ottenuto, promise a Paride Èlena moglie di Menelao ^ e
Pa^ rìde la rapì, e la condusse in Troja sua Patria. Siacome i TVojani
ricusarono di render Piena Greci ^ che la richiescr più volte, questi
intrapresero contro quelli un formidabU assedio. Tetide adendo inteso, che il
suo figlio Achille sarebbe morto se andava al* la guerra di Troja, per
assicurargli la vita lo mandò in abiti femminili a Licomede Re di Sciro. Ivi
s’innamorò perdutamente di Deidamia Princi* possa reale, ed ebbe dalla medesima
in figlio il ce* Icóre Pirro. Deir offeso marito avean giurato Di vendicar V
oltraggio, e fero allora D^'un sol uomo il dolor causa comune. Se noi forzava^
le materne preci. Eterna infamia coprirebbe Achille, Perchè con lunga veste
ascose Tuomo., Che fai, nipote d^Eaco ? Non sono Atte a filar le mani tue la
lana. Con arte ben diversa ora tu dei Volger la mente alla palladia gloria. A
che questi cestelli ? Il braccio tuo Deve portar lo scudo; e in quella destra.
Per cui un giorno cadrà Ettore, io veggo Or la conocchia ? Del filato stame I
fusi carchi getta, e Pasta impugna. Un letto sol la Vergine reale E Achille
accolse ; ed ivi ella conobbe Che di femmina avea solo la gonna. Con la forza
fa vìnta ; almen sì crede; Soggiacere alla forza a lei fu dolce. Quando
soverchio s’affrettava Achille, Che altr’armi avea che la deposta rocca. Spesso
gli disse: per pietà t’ arresta. Qual valore or dov’è ? Perchè trattieni Con
lusinghiera supplichevol voce Li’autore,o Deidamia,di tua sconfitta? Di pudico
rossor copre la gota. Se dee la donna far la prima offerta, lilla Tè grato il
soffrirs*altri incomincia. Ah I nella sua beltà troppo si fida Quel giovine,
che aspetta che primiera Ella lo preghi. Deve sempre 1* uomo Essere il primo ad
accostarsi a lei; Ju uom le sue preci esponga, e le sue r Riceverà
cortesemente. Fréga Che ti voglia accordare il suo possesso; Ella ha piacer d’
esser di ciò pregata. Fa lor palese il tuo desio, che Giove Supplichevol si
fece ognora innanzi AlF antiche Eroine, e non fanciulla Offrì preghiere, benché
grande, a Giove. Ma se t’ accorgi che alle tue preghiere Si fa vie più superba,
allora l'opra Abbandona, ed il piè rivolgi altrove. Molte amano chi fugge ^ ed
odian quello Che troppo le frequenta; impara dunque A non tediarle. Nè chi
prega sempre Dee del delitto palesar la speme, Ma sotto il manto d’ amistà
velato insinui Amor. Con questo mezzo vidi Deluse rimaner ritrose e fiere
Donzelle, e divenir T amico amante. Non dee il nocchier, che le marine spume
Solca soggetto alla solare sferza, Candido avere il volto, e pur disdice Al
cultore de* campi, chfe rivolge Col vomer curvo, e con pesanti rastri Le dure
zolle, e per te turpe fia Candide aver le membra, che il tuo crine Cerchi
adornare del palladio ulivo. Sia pallido ogni amante ; è questo il suo Proprio
color ; tinto di questo il volto Sarai creduto infermo. Fra le selve Pallido
errò per Lirice Orione, Giops, Mercurio, e Nettuno furono henisd* mo accolti in
casa d* Iréo uomo assai povero* Avendo questi domandato medesimi un figlio, che
non dovesse ad alcuna donna la nascita, i tre Ospiti di- E per ritrosa Najado
fu Dafni Pallido L^almà discopra il volto Estenuato ; nè a schifo; avrai di
pórre Sulla nitida ^chioma un pìcòiol manto. Le cure ^ il duolo ^ le vegliate
notti. Che origin traggon dà nn Violento amore, I Giovanetti estenuai! ; non tf
incresca Comparire infelice, se tu brami Di far paghi-ì tuoi voti,'onde ognun
dica Che ti rimirà: è (Questi unWeto amante. Mi dorrò fbrsè, 0 pur' ti farò
dk>ttò A usar rarti pt^rmessé e le vietate? Ah che amicizia è fè^^on^nòmf
vani i Lodar quella, che adori, al tuo ^compagno, E perigliosa imprésa, ché se
crede Alle tue Iodi, gli verrà vaghezza D'entrar nél posto tuo. L'atto rea
prole Non cercò profanai* d-Achillé 11 letto vini hagnàti^no della ptopHa ofina
la pelle del Toro da lui ucciso per Viàrio loro in cidoy é assicurarono che da
mtella nascerebbe un fanciullo: JVé nacque infatti Orione ^ che fu un ottime
Cacciatore. Non si sa chi sia Lirico da lui: amata Vedansi le note faU te a
questo libro dal Ckier Néiruio.^ Dafni figlmel di Merèurio rtacque in Sicilia,
ed k VAutore de^virsi buìieeliei. Amando egli una' Ninfa, da cui era ^matà
egualmente, ottenne dal Cielo, che divenisse cieco chi di loro oiolasse il
primo la fede giùtata,Immemore Dafni del voto fatto, j* mnémo rò d^ uha ritrosa
Nomade, e divenne cieco. Quando i Romard soffrivano qualche incorno^ do di sai
ute, si coprivano il capo con un piccol maa- to da loro iifè/to Piu li alani.
Patroclo nipote d^Attore € figlio di Mentàpo fu amicissimo Achille. Non cercò
Fedr^ di sedar T amico. Di Teseo Piritoo ;aè in altra guisai [ Pilade la
consorto af«(ò à' Oreste, Che come Fcho Palla ^ od il tuo O Tindaro,gemeUo amò
ia suora^ Ma non sperato rionofvatì spesson J Sìmili esempi, se non spe^ri
ancora ; Veder spuntar dal tramarisco i pomi, E in mezzo al huine ritroTare,il
mele. . Quello che è turpe :giova > e ognun ricerca Il piacer proprio >
che divien più grato. Se altrui costa dolor . Do^e, 8 !:intese Scelleraggin piA
grande ? Pel nemico Non debhi .amante: paventar .soltanto, Ma fuggir dei, se
vuoi viver, sicuro,; . Quei che credi fedeli, e siimi amici. Il Fratello, il
Cognato,, ed il diletto ; Compagno temi ; questa tufba tutta;, ; Vera ti
recherà cagion d^ angoscia. Già toccavo la meta ; ma diversi. Sono cosi delle
Fanciulle^ \i i ’u Che varj mezzi ancora usar si 4enno, Piritoo e Teseo
concepirono V uno per Poltro una stima si f^rànde, ohe giurarono di non àhhan^\
donarsi giammai, o itifMi si prestarono vicendevole mente soccorso in tutte U
occtìrrettoo^ Pirotop ^ querie tunque frequentasse taaasa di Teseo, limita
sèmpre la sua beneoolenaa per Fedra a* sentimenti d* amìci"\ aia e di
stima.Pilade figliuolo di. Strofa ^ ehbé per Oreste un*amicizia con sincera^
^le.nonjo abbandonò nel- le più pericolose circostanze a rischio di perder
anche la vita. Castore e Polluce figli di Tindaro amaron la lor sorella Elena
con quell* amore, con cui debbono i fratelli amare le sorelle. Per adescarle.
Non la stessa terra Ogni cosa produce ; atta alle viti £ questa ; quella vuol
gli olivi ; e in altra Lussureggian le biade. I nostri affetti Varian come nel
mondo le figure. Piegar si sa chi ha senno ad ogni umore; E come Proteo, si
farà nell’ onde ( 67 ) Sottile ; ed or sarà leone, ed ora Àlbero 9 ed or
cinghiale irsuto. I pesci Altri si piglieran col dardo, ed altri Con r amo ^ e
alcuni ancor saranno tratti Àir ampie reti con la corda tesa. Nè giova ad ogni
età lo stesso modo; La vecchia cerva scorgerà da lungi Le insidie . Se
s’accorge l’ignorante Che tu sii dotto, e ardito una modesta, Si porranno in
difesa, onde avvien spesso Che quella che di darsi a un uom d’ onore Ebbe temenza,
fra gli amplessi vili Giaccia d’ un servo . Parte avanza ancora. Parte ebbe fin
dell’ opra intrapresa ; Fermo qui tenga l’ancora il naviglio. Arte ^am. c
Proteo figliuol di Nettuno era un Dio mari-^ no, che si solwa cangiare in
^alsivoglia forma y e di qui ha origine il proverbio: Proteo mutabilior. I3ite
e ridite lodi al delio Nome: La desiata preda è alfin caduta In queste reti.
A’versi miei ramante Lieto conceda rigogliosa palma; Al Vale ascreo ed al
meonio Omero (i) Son Dreferito. Tal di Priamo il figlio (a) Con la rapita^ a
Menelao consorte Trionfante spiegò le bianche vele Dair armifera Amìcla, e tal
pur era Il Vate ascreò è Esiodo ^ e ph si è veduto al» V annotazione 5 del Lib,
/. perchè gli venga dato uts tal nome. Critei de, ad onta della custodia che ne
aveva Vargivo Creonte^ senza divenir moglie d*alcuno^ divenne madre d^un
figlio, che chiamò Meletigene dal jwmt Me]e«^ in vicinanza del quale parton. Si
sa, che essendo Melesigene accieeato, fu soprannominato Omero, perchè i Cumani
chiamavan con tal nome tutti i ciechi ; ma non si sa se questo inimita» ìfil
Poeta dicasi meonio perchè Meone fosse suo pa» dre, o perchè da Meone Re
de^Lidj fu poscia adot» tato in suo figlio. Paride figlio di Priamo rapì Elena
moglie di Menelao nella Città d*Amicla, donde la condusse trionfante in T^oja
sua patria Pelope allox che te vinta traeva Sul carro peregrino, o Ippodamia:
Perchè, o giovin t’afFretti ? in mezzo alPonde Naviga il tuo naviglio, e lungi
è,il poxto Più dt quello ché bramo* A te non’basta Che tratta t’abbia la
fanciulla innanzi Io tuo poeta: presa fu con l’arte; Con l’arte ancora
conservar si debbe. Non vi bisogna già niìnor virtude Perchè non
fu^gan^ritroVatè: è quella Opra del caso, e questa sol delParte. Siimi
propizio, o Amore, e Citerea; E tu, Er^tp pur V qhe* il ncfme pqrti ': D’Àmor,
m’assisti» pra a cantar m’accipgo Enomao Re Elìde e^ di Pisa senti coloy, ohe
sarebbe eglt-uodid nel ygiorno^ da avesse presoi in isposa la sua figlia
Ippodan^a^ Per allontanare dalla medesima à molti giovani, che ambivano
d'acquistarsi una 5 I belici fttnóiulia in con^ sorte, gV invitò tutti un
giorno a far ^secè il gioco d'una corsa, col patto che. sarebbe^
irpmancabilmente trucidato chi fosse rimasto vinto da lui, e che do-^ vesse
> chi aveva la fortuna di vincerlo^ sposare Ip-> podamia. Pelope fu
vincitore con Vajnto di bfirtilo, a cui promise, che. nella prima notte de^
suoi sponsali gli avrebbe in ricompensa accordato }L dolce possesso 4dla sposa
novella. Immernorè egli però della data parola, e del segnalato servigio a lui
reso ^ con^ dusse sul carro vincitore in trionfo la bellissima Ip- podamia, e
quando Mirtilo gli richiese Vadempirnento delle sue lusinghiere promesse, lo
gettò barbaramente in .mare. Da EpMT«, che in greco idioma significa Amo-, re,
ha preso il suo nome la Musa Erato. Fu essa, madre di Tamita ^ che cantò il
primo di tutti i versi^ amorosi, ed a lei si attribuisce da alcuni greci ùom-^
mentatòri V invenzion della Éiusica c del BaUf^ Cose stupende: con qual arte
Amore Tener si possa io vi dirò, bench’ abbia In Vasto mondo ei di vagar
diletto. Egli è leggiero, © doppio p^rta al tergo * OrdÌB‘'*di'jpènbo, Onde'
riniporgli legge È difiScfr impresa. Àvea'aMa fuga DelP ospito Mibos ckiusa
Ogni via, (5) Ma ntì'àmdace sentier trovò con Tali. Poiché Dedalo chiuse il
Minotauro, Giustissimo Minos, disse, abbia £ne Ora'il’mio esilio, ed il paterno
suolo 11 ceder mio riceva. Io non potei. Perseguitato ogUór da iniqui fati,
Vivore in patria, almen morir vi possa. Se a me ricusi un tal favor, che sono
Carico d*anni ^ lo concedi al figlio, E se al figlio .noL vuoi ^ lo dona al
padre. Queste e molt^ altre ancor cose dicea, • Ma a lui Minos hón permettea il
ritorno. Di sua eVentura cèrto», a se medesmo Allor Dedalo disse, hai tu
materia Onde mostrar Pingegno; e terra e mare È in poter di Minos: e mare e
terra Or ci vieta la foga ; a me rimane Il cammino del ciel ; questo si tenti
l^tdato, come già si è accennato, fabbricò irs Creta il celebre Labirinto, in
cui fu racchiuso il Sfinoiaiiro. A^endògli' Minos vietato d* uscir da quel^ '
io' f non trovò altro mezzo per ritornare alla patria y se non se di fabbricar
dell* ali congiungendo insieme varie penne d* aòcelii, ed accingersi in tal
guisa a ' 'Volar per il cielo in compagnia d'Icaro suo figlio. Questi per altro
innalzò troppo il suo volo, e preci^ pkò miseramente in quel mare, che prese da
lui ii nome Icario. Sommo Giove, perdona ^ questa impresa: DelP Empireo
stellato non aspiro Già le sedi a toccar ; sol questa strada Onde fuggir dal
mio Signor mi resta* Se Io stìgio sentiero a me si mostri, 10 r onde stigie
varcherò • Debh’ ora I dritti rinnovar di mia natura. I mali aguzzan 1*
intelletto. E quando Si avrebbe dato fà che un uom potesse Premer le vie del
cielo.? In ordìn vario Dispon le penne, che per V aria sono 11 remo degli
augelli ; e unisce insieme Con del ritorto Un 1’ opera lieve. Con cera al foco
sciolta insieme accoppia Le parti estreme ; e già della nuov’ arte Era venuta
la fatica a fine; Ma intanto che trattava e penne e cera. Rideva il figlio,
ignaro che quell* armi Sarian la sua difesa al tergo unite. Con tal naviglio, a
lai diceva il Padre, Si può alla Patria far ritorno ; in questa Guisa fuggir
Minos, che ogni altra chiude Fuor che T aerea via « Tq che lo pupi, Con questa
ch’io inventai arte novella^ Fendi gli aerei spazj ; ma la vista Della Vergin
tegea, e del compagno Calisto i Licaone Ra d* Arcadia ^ è soprannominata Tegea,
da una Città di tal nome soggetta alV impero del padre della medesima. DaU V
illecito commercio, che ebbe essa con Giope, diede alla luce un figlio chiamato
Arcade, e fu da Giunone per ciò tra^ormata in Orsa ad oggetto di ven* dicarst
deW infedele suo sposo ^ il quale la collocò in oielo fra le stelle col nome,
che ancor oggi conserta, d’Orsa Maggiore. Di Boote Orion cinto di spada Tu dei
fuggir • Con V apprestate penne Mi segui ; io ti precedo, e sia tua cara
Batter^ V isteasa via ; da rae guidato Incolume sarai, li’aeree strade Se
calcherem troppo vicini al Sole, Al suo caler si scioglierà la oera; Se al mar
propinqui batterem le pennei Da’ vapori del mar saran bagnate. Spiega il tuo
voi fra ^1 Sole e il mare; i venti Pur anco temi, o figlio ; e all’ aure in
preda Dà le tue vele allor che sian propizie. Mentre in tal modo V istruisce ^
ài figlio Il lavoro dispone, e mostra come Muover lo debba: in guisa tal la
madre La pennuta ammaestra inferma prole. L’àJe poi di sua man per se costrutte
Accomoda al suo tergo, e nel novello Cammin timido libra, in aria il - corpo..
Allor che al volo si accingeva, al figlfo Diò molti baci, e le paterne gnauce
Furon di calde lagrime bagnate. Sorgea sul piano un colle assai minore Del
monte, e quivi V uno e l’altro corpo Si diede in preda a perigliosa fuga.
Mentre le penne sne Dedalo move. Quelle osserva del figlio, e ognor sostiene In
aria il corso Icaro si diletta Del novello sentiero, e ornai deposto Orione
figlio Ireo ( annot.) Untò di dare un disonesto assalto alla casta Diana ; ma
essa lo fece uccìdere da uno scorpione, e poi mossa a pietà lo trasmutò presso
a Boote in una costellazione fatta a guisa di spada Ogni timor con arte audace
vola Più ibrtemente. Un che insidiava a’ pesci Con la tremula canna, alzato il
guardo, Li vide in ariane abbandonò P impresa. Già da sinistra avean passato
Samo, E Nasso e Paro e Delio al clario Dio Sommamente gradita ^ ed alla destra
Si lasciar dietro Labioto, e Calìnna Per selve ombrosa, e Stampaglia di guadi
Feraci in pesci cinta, allor che il figlio Temerario con troppo incauto ardire
Spiegò senza ìL suo duce in alto il volo* S’allentano i legami ; al Sol vicina
Liquefassi la cera, e i .tenui venti Male sostengon le commosse braccia. Dal
sommo cielo spaventato il guardo Rivolse al mare, e dal timor già sorta Si
offro al suo sguardo tenebrosa notte. Si liquefò la cera, e i nudi braco!
Dibatte ; trema ; e ìnvan ricerca il modo Di sostenersi *« Cadde, e o padre, o
padre Gridò cadendo, via son tratto, e T onda Cerulea chiuse al suo parlare il
varco. Ma Pinfeiice Padre.(ah non più padre!) Icaro, grida, Icaro, dove sei?
Sotto qual asse voli ? Icaro grida, £ nuotanti sul mar mira le penne Copre P
ossa la terra, è prende il mare Il nome suo • Minos già non poteo D’ un uoni
frenarle penne,ed io m’accingo Un Nume alato a trattener? S* inganna Cfii fa
ricorso all’ arti emonie, e appresta Dalla tenera fronte del cavallo Lo svelto
a forzalppomane. Non Verbe ( 7 ) Pon di Medéa far viv*?re l’amore; Non 1
Tharsfejj^ncàntesmi . Se potesse Una tal'arte ptolàligàrto, avria ' Medea
Giasbn', Cfrcfe teénto Ulisse . ( 8 ^ Nè i pallidi apprestati* éill%*dónzelle
F'iTtri* Valséro { aU’alrne Son nòcivi, Ed inspirai) farot .'Ogni delitto Vada
put lungi ; se attti essere amato, Amabile ti- ttióstraf I a: ciò^ nTort giova
* Solo’ le^ menibtk àlve'r’by^^ e là-faècia. ^ Sii pur Nireó tfaro^ ^11’
aiitibd^ Omero ; ' ^. t L ; >(Q^^àevano gli an tichi, e fra questi ancora
Pii- nio ea Aristotile, che si potesse còncìliar l*amore per mezzo
éAl^lppòinsLne, cioè di qtàel pézzetté rotondo di carrie .nera ^ che han\
sulla, fronte iì cavalli nati di fres^qp, Jfa Mars^ figlio^^efia/venefica
Circe^^ t^aj- ser l a lo ro orig ine i M ar si. Abitarono questi popoli m
lidlia non fontani,àa Uòma ^e Jfùrorio~reputati, èc- celleràPneWarte dellc^ '
niagìq:,iÌÌe«/èa \e Circe fdronp dii^ ihsiAni Ma^he ^ je insieme due
a^passioriaté 'mài. cohisposte dmànii\ poicHè 'fiorì pótérono có'loro magici
incanti trattenere Ùiasoné\d Utisse i che amavano tèneramente, t Filtri
preparati dalle Maghe, eran composti di fichi salvatici ^ éP uòva e di penne di
civetta, di * sangue e di. pòlfnone di ranocchie, e d*os5Ì di cani e 'di serpenti'Sventrati.
Lèggasi ài Libro quinto V Ode 'd*Orazio cprìlró Canidia. Nireo], nafo dd Aglajd
e dal Re Cecrope, andò alt*assedio di Trojq ; e vien da Omero nel Li-* hro
secondo dell*Iliade lodato per la sua sorprenden^ te bellezza. Ercole amò
sommamente Ila figliuol di ‘Teodamahte, c lo condusse con se, quando navigò
alla volta di Coléo. MetltP era iri viaggio lo mandò un giórno ad attinger
Vacq.ua dal fiume Ascanio nel’» la Misià ma essendo ivi disgraziatarkente
caduto^ han finto i poeti, che fosse rapito dalle Nufadi Dea de*fiumu O il
tenerello un giorno Ila rapito Dalle callide Najadì: se brami Conservarti Y
amor della toA donna, E non vederti abbandonato, aggiogni Deir alma i preg)
alla beltà del corpo. È la beltade un ben caduco e frale, Che con gli anni
decresce, e a un fisso tempo Fugge mai seiupre • Le violette^ e i gigij Non
fioriscono ognor;Ia spina, ^ cui Colta la rosa sìa, rigida viena*,^ ^ ' Vago
garzon, i tuoi capelli un giorno Verranno bianchi, e il corpo tuo le rughe Ti
solcheranno . Formati ed aggiungi Alla beltade un animo che ^uri: Sol ei riman
fino agli estremi roghi* Ni sia rultima ina cura con Farti Ingenuo Padornarlo ^
e di due lingua Renderlo dotto . Non fu bello Dlisso, Colisse t figlia, come
credono alcuni, delVO* etano e dì TeHde, accolse cortesemente il naufrago
Ulisse nell* ìsola Ogigia, ov* essa regnala. Dimorò questi per sette anni con
la Ninfa suddetta, da cui ebbe varj figli, e poi fu costretto a dividersi da
lei per comando de*Numi, quantunque non lasciasse elìa alcun mezzo intentato
per ritenerlo sempre appresso di se. Reso Re dei Traci detto odrisio perchè
cornane dava alla Traqia nazione degli Odrini, e sitonio^ perchè anticamente la
Tracia ^si chiamava Sithon, fu ucciso da Ulisse e da Diomede, mentre andava con
un esercito in soccorso di Troja. D* ordine de*suoi Troiani si portò Dolone ad
osservar gli andamenti dell*armata de* Greci ; ma incontratosi con Diomede td
Ulisse, che pure osservavano la condotta del cam^ po Trojano, svelò a*meiesimi,
dopo d*aver preso Vim^ punita y tutte le più segrete determinazioni de* suoi
concittadini. Volendo egli poi per premio i cavalli emonj d*Achille, fu
ba^aramente trucidato da Ulio^ se e Diomede uccisori di Reso Ma facondo ; c per
lui ferito H petto Portar* r equoree Dive. Oh quante volte Di sua partenza si
lagnò Calisso^ E dicea che non atte erano a* remi L’onde del mar! Oh quante
volte udire Bramò di Troja i casi, ed ei sovente Narrò lo stesso con diversi
modi I Stavan sul lido insiem, quando la bella Calisso ehiese la dolente
istoria Del Duce odrisio; ed ei con tenue verga ( Mentre a caso la verga in man
teqea ) Finge Popra richiesta in sull’arena. Questa» le^disse, è Troja (e
fe’sul lido I muri) . È questo il Simoe,e queste fingi Che« sieno le mie tende
. Il campo osserva (E intanto lo disegna) che col sangue Sì sparse di Dolon,
quando gli emonj Cavalli scaltro d’ involar procura. Fur del sìtenio Reso ivi
le tende; In questa uotte da i deitrier rapiti ^ Fui strascinato . Dipingea più
cose, Ma improvvisa del mar onda furiosa Via trasse Troja, e col suo Duce
ancora . Le trinciere di Reso. Allor la Diva, Vedi quai nomi s’inghiottiron
Ponde^ £ vuoi che al tuo cammiò sieno propizie? Ardirai dunque di fissar tua
speme In fallace fij^ura? e più del corpo Altro tu non avrai solido e degno?
L’accorta compiacenza a noi concilia Gl’ animi, ma l’asprezza e le severe
Parole contro noi muovon lo sdegno. Si ha in edio lo sparvier, perchè tra V
armi Traggo sua jriU, e i lupi che assalire Hanno in costume il timoroso
gregge. Mite è la rondinella, e innocua vive Dall’insidie dell’uomo ; e l’alte
torri Abita là colomba a lei gradite. Vadali lungi le liti e i detti amari; Con
soavi parole amor si nutre. Stia la discordia tra marito e moglie; Si faggan
questi, e credano a vicenda Di difender lor dritti • Ciò conviene Alle
tnògli/che ognor funesta dote Recan di lìti . Il dolce suono ascolti Degli •
accenti bramati ognor V amica; Legge non havvi per gli amanti ; in loro^ Ìj
amore è legge • Parolette grate Reca, e dolce lusinga à lei 1’ orecchio. Onde
alla vista tua lieta si faccia. Non io d^ Amor maestro a’ ricohì parlo. Che chi
pnote donar > dell’ arte mia Non abbisogna • Chi quando a lui piace, Prendi
j può dir, non manca mai d’ingegno. Cedere a Ini dobbiam, che più gradito Sarà
dell’opra nostra. Il vate io sono J>e’ poveri, dhe ognor povero amai. Dar
doni non poteva, e diei parole. Cauto ognor sìa povero amante, e tenga La
lìngua a freno, e soffra quel che un ricco Non soifrirebbe . l^el ponsier mìo
torna, Che irato aia di delia mia Bella feci Al crine oltraggio . Un tale
sdegno ah quanti Giorni mi fe’ passar pallidi e tristi I Noi credo, e noi
compresi, che la vesta Io le stracciassi allor, ma lo diss’ ella, £ comprarne
altra a me fu d’ uopo. O voij Che avete ingegno, del Maestro vostro Fuggite il
fallo, e né temete i danni. J8ia la guerra co’ Parti, e ognor la pace Con
l’Amica diletta'. Usa gli scherzi, E tutto quel che favorisce Amore. Se a te
che l’ami, docil non si mostra Qual vorresti e cortese, il suo rigore So^ri
costante, e diverrà benigna. La forza usando, il curvo ramo frangi, Che con
dolcezza addirizzar potevi. Varcasi 1’ acqua cón pazienza, e malo Vìnconsi i
fiumi, se pigliar tu tenti Contrarie Tonde rapitrici k nuoto. I numidi leon, le
fiere tigri Pan le lusinghe mansuete e miti; Ed al rustico aratro la cervice /
A poco a poco sottopone iJ toro. Dell'arcade Atalanta e chi più fiera.
Mostrossi mài? Eppur quella crudele Soggiacque anch’essa al mèrito d* un uomo,
Narra la fama, Melamon piangesse, Sotto un arbor giacente all’ombra, spesso
Suoi tristi casi e la crudel Fanciulla. Spesso* portò le ingannatrici reti Sul
vinto collo, e con spietato ferro L’arcade Atalanta, figlia di Jasio o d’Aban^
te, fu un.’eccellente cacciatrice,e si fe* compagna di Diana per consertare
illibato il candore della sun verginità, Finta essa p<ù dalla fedele e lunga
servitù prestatale da Meleagro o da Melanione, si abbando^ nò finalmente in
braccio ni medesimo, ed ebbe in fi^ glio il celebre Partenopeo, Sono tra loro
cod diverse le memorie .a- noi lasciate dagli antichi scrittori riguardo a
Melanione 0 aid Atalanta, che è impossibile il dar de’ medesimi «Hit distìnta
notizia Uccise spesso i barbari cinghiali. L’arco teso d’Ileo soffri piagato,
Ma conoscea più ancor 1’ arco d’ Amore. Non vo’che armato le menalie selve Tu
salga, e che le reti al collo porti; Hò già t’impongo il petto alle vibrate
Saette espor • Dolci più assai saranno, Se udir mi vuoi, dell’ arte mia le
leggi. A lei che è ripugnante, ognora cedi; E vincitore partirai cedendo.
Eseguisci fedel ciò eh’ ella impone: Biasma Quello che biasima, ed approva Quel
che le piace, e il suo parlar seconda. Di rider ti ricordo al riso suo. Di
piangere al suo pianto, e i moti ancora A suo piacer del vento tuo componi. Se
giocale nella man P eburneo dado Agita, tu ancor l’agita, e lo getta (14) Oltre
il gioco de* dadi era presso i Romani in uso quello dclVAlìosso detto da loro
Talut, che con^ sistema in piccoli quadrati d*osso j ne* quattro lati de* quali
erano notati separatamente i numeri uno, tre, quattro, sette. Doleva pagar
senza lucr^o una mone^ ta chi avesse gettato l* uno, che chiamatasi Ganis o
Òanicula. Guadagnata sei monete e ciò che ateta perduto nel gettare il Cane chi
scoprita la parte op* posta all* uno ^ cioè il sette che ateta il nome di *
Yenns o Gons,* ne guadagnata tre chi gettata il Seniofper cui intendetasi il
tre, e quattro chi ates^ se rappresentato U Ghio, che esprimeva il numero
quattro. Si rileva da**latini Scrittori che fu VAliosso giocato anche
ditersamente ; ma basta per la chiara intelligenza di questi versi U sapere che
erano i Cani dannosi ^ mentre esprimevano l* ano ^per cui si dote^ va senza
lucro pagare una moneta. Il Gioco, ohe rasfvmbra a guerra, è, come facilmente
ri QQtnprew* dp ^ qugllo degli Scacchi, In modo cV«lIa vinca. L’Àliosso Se
trae, farai in maniera cbe la pena Non soffra d’ ^sser vinta, e tuoi saranno
Sempre i dannosi cani ; e s’ ella' pone Opera a gioco « che rassembri a guerra,
Fa cbo perisca dal nemico vinto Il tno soldato. Sulle verghe steso Tieni r
ombrello, e, nella densa folla Per dove idee passare, il varco l’apri; Vicino
al letto non t’incresca porre Lo scanno, e fai piede dilioato togli E riponi la
scarpa .iDei sovente. Benché ti prenda orror, della Padrona L’algente,mano
riscaldare al seno. Non creder turpe, henchè a te rassembri. Con destra ingenna
sostener lo specchio, Se a lei ciò piacerà. Chi ’l fiero sdegna Otaneb.della
matrigna in domar mostri. Che ora è nel Ciel, ohe primo egli sostenne. Si
crede, tra Ife joniche Fanciulle Che tenesse il cestello, e che filasse
Rnstiche lane . Si l’Eroe tirinzio Servi all’impero d'una Bella ; or dnnqne
Dubiti di soffrir ciò eh’ei sofferse? Se ti comanda esser presente al Foro
-Previeni 1’ ora del comando, e sempre ^eoU ' mnst valorosamente ( Annoi.) tutu
s mostriyche contro di lui suscitò la tua rnatngna Giunone, e sostenne sulle
sue spai- ad Atlante affa- incarico. Innamoratosi egli poi dH)n- '‘iff reale
della Lidia, vestì abiti femi- mh, e m qualità d’ancella iella medesima filò
vilmente l»inne con quella man valorosa, con cui per le rmrabilt sue gesta s’
era colmato di gloria. Ne partirai più tardi • Se ^t* impoiàfe Di gire in altro
loco’, ogni altra cura Lascia da parte, corri ^ uè la turba '' LMutrapreso
cammìti trattenga, e còma ‘ Servo, sé vuol, tu Taccompagna a Casa- Tolte le
mense, e^già sorta^ la liOtte; > Se fosse in villa,*e tf dicesse:
vr<eni> Col piè premi la via, se manca il eocebiò, Che Amor odia
gl’inerti . Il btiitasoosò Tempo nè la Canicola assetàtai ^ ' n / Nè per
scaduta nòve il sentìev biénco - p’ ostacolò ti aien ^ Simile a gòfei/ra * ^ E
r amore, da cui vadano lungi ' I codardi . Nò, sotéo tali itìsegné* II timid’
uòmo guerreggiar tiòu' debbe* La notte, il verno, disastrose strade, ' ’ Dolor
cocenti, e ogni altr’aspra fatica Racchiudono que’mòlli ttccampaihetttli* Di
pioggik dalle untole tìiscioitu'^ Ben spesso intrisa avrai la -veste,-è‘Spesso
Gelato giacerai sul nudo suolo." Dicesi che dì Cinto il'Nume' nu giorno (i
6) Pascesse le ierée vacche d’ Admeto, £ s’ascondesse in umil capanna.' A chi
non converrà ciò che coriTenné ‘ Apollo, che dicesi i/-Nuine- 4 ì'Cinto fper^hè
( Ànrvot. 1^9. del Lib, /. ) nacqueove giace 4 in tal monte y sentì il pin,
intenso, dolere ^ quanda Giove fulminò Esculapio di, lui figlio, perchè faceva
rivivere i morti con V ajuto della -Medicina. Per veti^ dicenrA pertanto in
qualche maniera d* una tale ingiur- ria, egli uccise i. Ciclopi y che
fabbricavano le saette a quel Nume supremo, il quale lo spogliò per ques to
della divinità, e lo costrinse a pascolar le vacithe 4 * Admeto Re de* Ferei in
te staglia^ A Febo ? O ta, che in lungo amor ^impegni, Il fasto lascia • Se un
cammiii seeuro £ facil ti si nega, e se alla porta Ritrovi impedimento, allor
t’insinua Dal precipizio d’ùn aperto tetto, O da ascoso sentier d’ alta
finestra. Lieta ne fia, quando del tuo periglio Intenda la cagion ; di certo
amore Sarà per la tua Bella un grato pegno. Spesso potevi dalla tua Diletta
Star lontanerò Leandro, ma varcavi ( L’ onda del roar, perchè le fosse noto L’
amante core • Guadagnar l’ancelle Non abbi a vile, e in special modo quella.
Che sarà favorita, e ancora i servi. Non temer d’ avvilirti: ognun saluta Col
proprio nome, e alle lor destre umili, Ambizioso, d'unir cerca la tua; Ma al
servo che ti prega ( è lieve spesa) Porgi piccoli doni, ed in quel giorno Pure
air ancella, in cui restò ingannata Leandro amò Con tal forza Ero Sacerdotessa
di venere, che spesse volte varcò VEllesponto per visi^ tarla. Essa accendeva
Una fiaccola sopra una torre, affinchè potesse il suo Amante camminar piu
sicura^ mente, e quando intese, che era il medesimo misera^ mente annegato, si
diede in preda aW ultima dispe-* razione, e slanciossi intrepida nel mare, Ai q
di Luglio celebravasi in Roma splendi--^ damente una festa, a cui concorrevano
le Servé‘ ve^ stile a Matrone romane, in memoria delV util servii gio che
avevano esse in tal giorno prestato alla Pu^ tria. Ecco ciò che ne dice il
Macrohio, Post Urbe in captam, cum aedatus esset gallicus motus, res vero
publica esset ad tenue reducta, Finìtimi opportuni- Da veste maritai gallica
truppa, E che pagò d’ un folle ardire il fio. Ti fida a me ; fa tua la plebe, e
sempre Sia fra (juesta V ascierò, e quel che giace Sulla porta del Talamo . Io
non voglio Che ricchi doni appresti alla Padrona; Piccioli sian, ma convenienti
e accorti. Mentre è ferace il campo, e mentre i rami Piegan pel peso di mature
frutta. Porti fanciullo in un cestel gli agresti Doni, e dir ben potrai che da
una villa Suburbana ti vengano, quantunque tatem invadendi romani nominis
aucupati praeferant sibi Postlmmium Livium, Fideoatiam Dictatorem, qui,
mandatis ad Senatum misis, postalayit, nt si yelleut reliquias suae ciyitatis
manere, matres fa* Hiilias sibi et yirgines dederentur . Cumque Patres esseat
in ancipiti deliberatione suspensi, ancilla nomine Phìlotib teu/ Tutela,
poilicita est se cum cae- teris ancillis sub nomine Dominarum ad hostes ita-
ram: habituqae matrnm familiat et yirginum sumpto, hostibas cum prosequeatium
lacrjmis ad iidem dolorii iogestae sunt. Quae cum a Livio in castris di-
stributae faissent, viros plurimo vino proyocarunt, diem fbstum apud se esse
simulantes. Quibus sopo- ratis, ex arbore caprifico, quae castris erat proxima,
signum Romania dederunt, qni oum repentina incursione snperassent ; memor
beneficii Senatus, omnet ancillas manu jùssit emitti, dotemque eis ex publico
fecit, et ornatum quo tunc erant usae, gestare cou- cesfit, diemque ìpsum Nonas
Gaprotinas nuncupa- yit ab illa Caprifico, ex qua signum yictoriae coe- perunt,
sacrificiumque statuit annua solemnitate ce<- lebrandum, cui lac, quod ex
Caprifico manat, propter memoriam facti praecedentis adhibetur. Questa è la
fedele esposizione del fatto, d cui non pare che si uniformi il Poeta Tu gli
abbi compri nella laera via. ( 19 ) Rechi pur Tu ve » e le aastagne care Un
giorno ad Amafilli, e che ora a vile Parehè dono legger avrebbe anch* esso,
Co’t^rdi pure e con ghirlanda mostra Che memor vivi della tna padrona. Si
compra turpemente con tai mezzi D’orbo vecchio l’affetto, e la speranza Di
godere i suoi beni. Ahìperan qnelli Che Così vii disegno a donar move. E che !
t’insegnerò teneri versi Io diluviar Fa me lo credi, i carmi Non ton molto
graditi ; e benché Iodi Ottengano talor, maggior lusinga Han gli splendidi
doni: Un ricco piace Ancor che nato in barbara contrada. Questa è per vero dir l’età
dell’oro^ Giacché con Voto compransi gli onori, Criacchè con V oro piegatisi le
Belle. Se tu medesmo con le Mute, Omero, Venga privo di doni, ab ! tu seaeciato
Sarai di casa. Di fanciulle dotte ^ Havvi turba rarissima, ed un’altra. Che sé
reputa tal benché ignorante, L’une e l’altre s’encomino co’versi^ Che ottengan
dal lettor lodo pel suono Facile e lusinghiero \ a queste e a quelle Tenue e da
aVersi a vii sembrerà dono In loro onore vigilato carme. ^ Usa in maniera ché V
amica ognora VendéQasim Ronia ogni torta di frutti e d*al^ tri generi nella Via
sacra, che acquistotti un tal nóme, perchè furono ivi conclusi con gran^
sagrifizf i patti fra Romolo e Tazior A far ti preghi quel che util ti sembra,
E che far già volevi. Se promessa Abbi ad alcun de’ Cuoi' la li ber Cade, Fa
pur elisegli la chiegga alla padrona. Se ta rimetti al servo il suo delitto,^
Se le catene sue dure disciogU, ; Te ne sia debitrice. ^ A lei la •gloria> A
tediatile venga. Sul:tuo eore Mostra ohe elFabbia un prepotènte impèro^ Ma
illesi serba ognora i dritti tuoi. Tu che nutrì desio della tua cara ' ^ ^
Consfetvarti V amor, fà oh’ ella pensi Che tu getonito sei di sua Heltade.* Se
le sue menàbra in vtiria veste avvolga, Le sii largo (U lodi, e se le doe ' .
Cinge, dirai che accrescono i suoi Veazi. Se poi s* adorna con aurata veste, *
Dille che più splendente èli’è dell’ oro. Se prende la pelUcela, e tu T
approva; * Se la tomita lieve, allora, esclama ' Che, desta incendj, e con
ièmmes^a voce Pregala che schivar proeuii il. freddo. Sia il orine in duo
diviso, oppur da oaldo Ferro ritorta, tu dirai: mi piace. Di lèi, se.danai,
ammirerai le,braccia, Di lei, ^ canta, 1* armoniosa voce,. ' E a lei dimostra
con dolèntii note^ Perchè fpresto diè fine, il tuo scontento. Loda gli
abbmcciamenti,:e in suon piètoso E querulo ie mostra con KJUéiI foraa ..Presso
i Homani eruno cortamente i servi in una condizione sì miserache (^iputavansi
fortuna^- a, quando i padroni per un effetto di^somma cUmon^n accordavano loro
la liberty, ^ -, D’insolita jilaowrfe: il. cor t’inonda. Gon questi- un4incoc
che-|}iù. violenta Foss’ ella di Medusa ^ e indite: e giusta (ai) Dìvetrài.co»,
l’ ansante,* Sia .tua cura - Di non sembrane -iagantiatore ; e il volto Kon
distrugga i tnoi> detti. Ascosa Térte Giova j e svelata la vergogna apporta,
E Ii^ tfe. 00» ragiOp j toglie per. sempre. Spesso Sotba l’ÌAu)tjnA0tì,( iiti
quella bella Parte dall’sanitOf,-^ cui vosaeggia Priva Del purpureo, lioór ;
rieolnta » quando Il freddo,«cura la?f»reiuej ed era il «aldo La soioglie,). Pìncostante.
aere d cagione Di languore, alle-metubra,* Elhi^pur viva Sana, masO'.inat
giaceja-in, letto in ferma. Soffrendo. ..drd tmaligqogciol V Infinstoi La tua
pìetade:;ecP AQt^ctW> palese Sia alloca .alla fanqiullaj^ fi getta il aenae
Di ciO .cbe mieter, debbi, a larga falce.' Nè del liingaauo mal poja',ti,
prenda^, E faccia» le tue man cid che permette. Te rimiri piangente, ed i .tuoi
baci: Non r.inore«qa;S<^l-Ìr,;'flon arse labbia, Beva il tàO ;piantp,. 4 Ì»
.ciel voti farai. Ma ognor,.palesi,,e di narmr: ti .piaccia Be» spesso,fausti'
sogni..:Àn| sua'magione Guida la-ivacohiarella, che con ?ìolfo iaa) (ai)
]ffedasa figlia di Forci^'ed ufl'a delle tre Gorgoni, incontrò-lo tdogn» di
Minerva, perché à prestò all’ impudiche iooglie, di Nettuno • nel Tempio della
medesima* Questa Dea le trasformò^ pertanto i capelli in serpenti, e fece si
che fosse convertito in -sasso chiunque ardiva di riguardarla. (ìa) ponducivàn
gli antichi le vecchiarelle nello àuse d^gV frifermi, affinché con le lor
preghiere di Purifichi la stanza e insieme il letto, E con tremola man T ova le
rechi. Di tua premura avrà cosi 1* amica Kon dubbj segni, e con tai mezzi molti
Far dalle Belle istituiti eredi. Ma deir inferma per soverchia cura Deh non
volerti procacciar lo/sdegno; Àbbian tuoi dolci uffioj il lor confinej Non le
vietare il cibo ; il tuo rivale, • E non la destra tua* pòrga la tazaa Colma
de* succhi amari. Or che n^ll* alto ^ Del mar solca la nave, usar non dei Lo
stesso vento, con cui già dal lido Le vele hai sciolto. Mentre Amor va errando
Novello ancor, con Taso forza acquisti; Stabil verrà, se lo saprai ' nutrire.
Ebbe vitel le tue carezze il toro, Che or è de'tuoi timori oggetto, e Talbore,
Sotto cui posi, un di fu tenue ^etga. Nasce povero d'acque il fittnré, e forza Acquista
nel suo corso, e dà Ogni parte Gli vien tributo di novello umore. S’accostumi
con te, che nulla puote Più di tal cosuetudiue giovarti. Mentre l’adeschi, a te
grave* non sia Di soffrire ogni tedio • Abbia te sempre Dinanzi al guardò ;
ognor tuoi détti ascólti; La notte e il di le pinga il volto tuo* Ma quando poi
sicura avrai fiducia Di poter esser ricercato, allora Scacciassero Sa quelle,
gli spettri. Epicuro deve soffrire i rimproveri degli Stoici, e VOratore
Eschino quei di Demostene, perchè avevano le lor madri Ulk simile impiego che
riputavasi vile Vanne pur lungi, che la cura sua Sarai benché lontan . Prendi
riposo; Ciò che s’afBda al campo riposato Bende ei ben generoso e l’arsa terra
Bey e l’acqua del ciel. Finché pxesente Fa a Filli Demofonte, il di lei seno
Senti mediocre amor, ma in vasto incendio Arse allor che le vele ci diede^’
venti. Mentre vivea lontan l’astuto UÌìsse Penelope soffriva cura mordaeCr Tu
ti dolesti pur, Laodamla, Lontan Protesilao. Brieve tardanza £ mai sempre
sicara. Allevia il tempo 11 dolor dell’assenza ^ e dal pensiero e dà loco a
nuovo amor 1’ assente* Mentre tu, Menelao, stavi lontano Fillidt, figlia di
lÀcurgo He di 'Tracia, rice* Vè cortesemente nella Reggia e nel letto il
naufrago Demofoonte figlw di Teseo. Quandi egli partì per % Città d* Atene .,
colera chiamato dalla cupidigia di regnare, le diede parola di ritornarsene a
lei dentro un mese . Aspettò Fillide lungo tempo il suo caro sposo, e poi
afflitta e disperata per la tardanza di lui, si tolse da se stessa crudelmente
la vita. È noto il verace affetto che aoea Penelope pet Ulisse suo spesole però
si può facilmente comprendere quanto fosse vivo il suo dolore per la lunga
dimora che fece fi medesimo alV assedio di Troja. ^uS^ Laodamia amo sì
ardentemente Protesilao detto in latino Phyllacides daFilaco.4uo avo, che fu
sempre occupata dal più vivo dolore mentre era esso al- V assedio di Troja, e
fece far del medesimo dopo la sua morte, una statua di cera, che ogni notte
pone- vasi nel letto quando vi andava a dormire. Menelao trovavasi in Vreta,
ove .l* aveano richiamato i suoi affari, quando Paride di lui confi- mcpte gli
rapì la bellissima E.lena pia consorte Sulle piume giacer sole non volle Siena,
e nella notte al caldo seno l)eir ospite fu striata. E chi mai puote Di ciò
nutriremo Menelao, stupore? Solo partivi, e nel medesmo tetto Era la moglie e T
ospite. In custodia T,ii folle le colombe al. falco fidi, Ed al montano lupo il
pieno ovile? Siena non ha colpa, e non commise L’adultero delitto ; ei fece
quello Che tu faresti, e che farebbe ognuno. Ad esserti iiifedel la donna
sfórzi^.j Se il tempo e il loco a lei concedi. Quale Oonsiglio ella usò mai se
non il tuo? Che dovea far ? Il suo marito è lungi, Ed un amabil ospite
presente, E giacer sola teme in vacuo letto. Ciò a Menelao era noto. Io dal
delitto Siena assolvo ; usar volle di quella Libertà, che il marito a lei
concesse Cortese c umano. Non così feroce Flavo cinghiai si mostra in mezzo
all’ira Contro i rabidi cani, allorché il dente Fulmineo rota, nè così lionessa
Che a’cari figli suoi porga le mamme, Nè da piè ignaro vipera calcata ; Coni’
àrde e mostra 1 ’ agitata mente Donna che la rivai trovi nel letto Del suo
consorte: e corre, e dà di piglio Al ferrò e al foco, e ogni decor deposto,
Rassembrà una Baccante. La spietata Medea nel sangue vendicò de’figlj fay)
Vedaii V annotaz. del Lib Del marito il misfatto ^ ed i violati Dritti di
sposa. Àltr^empia genitrice, Mirala in rondinella trasformata. Or di sangue
macchiato il petto porta. Tali delitti sciolgono V amore Meglio composto e più
costante ; e cauto Gli dee r uomo fuggir, gli dee temere. Nè ad una sola donna
io ti condanno; Portin migliore augurio i sommi Dei ! Così rigida legge appena
puote Seguir sposa novella. Abbiano pure Loco gli scherzi, ma celar ti piaccia
Sotto furto modesto il fallo tuo. Da cui già non voler cercar la gloria. Altra
non mai conosca i doni tuoi; Nè prefigger tu dei 1 * ora medesma Agli amori
furtivi, e in un sol loco Condur le belle, onde non le sorprenda La donna tua
ne’ noti nascohdiglj ; E quante volte scrìvi, i fogli osserva; Che molte
leggeran più assai di quello Che tu loro scrivesti. Amante offesa Move bene a
ragion Tarmi, e sovente Come a lei desti, a te di duol dà causa. Mentre il
figlio d'Atréo fu d’ una sola (29) Ov. Arte d^am. d Progne figlia di Pandìone,
e moglie di Teseo ^ fu dagli Dei cangiata in Rondine, perchè vendicane dosi deW
ingiuria recata da Teseo a Filomena di lei sorella, uccise Iti suo figlio ^e lo
apprestò al Padre barbaramente per cibo, Agamennone rapì Criseide figlia di
Crise cerdote d*Apollo, il quale in abiti sacerdotali si portò inutilmente dal
medesimo per ricuperarla j tolse Bri* seide ai Achille ; e condusse poi in
Grecia Cassandra Contentò e pago, quella visse casta. Ma per i vìej del marito
poi Divenne infame. Inteso avèa che Crise, Le fasce in capo e il lauro in man
portando, Ottener non potè 1* amata figlia. Inteso avea il tuo ratto, il tuo
rossore, O Briseide, e per quai turpi dimore Fosse la guerra prolungata. Queste
Cose la fama a lei narrava. Vide Con gli occhi prhprj poi la figlia stessa Di
Priamo: vincitor fosti ad un tempo E preda, o Agamennon, della tua preda. Nel
cor, nel letto ricevè ella poscia Il figlio di Tieste, e vendicossi Così
de’falli del marito infido. Gli amori tuoi tener cerca nascosti. Ma se fian
noti e manifesti, sempre Però li nega, nè ti mostra allora Nè più sommesso o
più giocondo: reo Ti fa ria ciò scoprir. Novelle prove Le dà deir amor tuo.
Queste il sostegno Son della pace. La tua prima amante Fa che di ciò non abbia unqua
contezza. Havvi chi la nociva erba consiglia Santoreggia di prender; ma ciò
stimò Atro veleno. Mischian altri il pepe Nel seme dell’ortica, e nell’ annoso
Vino tritano il callido pilatro., figlia di Priamo, la qual fu a luì concassa
nella di* Vision della preda. Clitennestra sua moglie, e figlia di Tindaro non
potè reggere a tanta infedeltà, e /?«- rò accolse nel letto Egisto figlio^ di
Tieste, da cui ' { Annotaz.) uccidere il suo marito. La Dea che sul ombroso
Érice monte Ave il suo tempio, no, soffrir non puote Che siau forzati i suoi
piacer. Si prenda Pure il candido Bulbo che a noi manda La Città di Megara, e
la salace Erba che cresce ne’giardini. L’ova, L’imetto mel, del pin le acute
noci Si prendan pur. Perchè alla medie’ arte, Erato, or tu ti volgi f II
cocchio nostro Debbe più da vicin toccar la meta. Tu che celavi per consiglio
mio Poc* anzi i tuoi delitti, or altra strada Batti, e per mio consiglio i
furti scopri. Nè di volubil già merto la taccia: Non col medesmo vento i
passeggieri Porta la curva nave ; ora si corre Col tracioBorea, ed or con Euro,
e spesso Dal Zeffiro si fan goiihe le vele, Talor da Noto. Osserva come in
cocchio L’auriga ora le brìglie allenta, ed ora Frena con l’arte i rapidi
cavalli. Compiacenza servii le rende ingrate, E amor senza rivale
illanguidisce. Se la fortuna sia propizia, Talme Divengono lascive, e faci!
cosa Venere aveva un magnifico Tempio in Sicilia sul monte Erice, donde fu
detta firicina., Sotto il nome di Bulbo iniendonsi tutte^ le radici rotonde
come agl) e cipolle, che i Romani facevan venire dalla Città di Megara
fabbricata da Alcatoo figlio di Pelope. {jòi) Il vento Borea f spirando a
Settentrione, vien qià dette treicio perchè la Tracia è più settentrional della
Grecia y e dell* Italia, Euro spira da Levante [ Zeffiro da ponente, e Noto da
Mezzogiorno, Non è serbare in mezzo allieti eventi IL cor tranquillo. Come
lieve foco, Che perduto abbia a gradi il suo vigore, Ascpndesi, e nell’ ultime
faville La cenere biancheggiale se v’unisci Zolfo, Testinta fiamma manifesta, E
a splender torna il consueto lume; Così ove pigra e torpida si giaccia L’alma,
destar cop forti e lusinghieri Stimoli è d’uopo in essa allor Tamore. Fa che di
te paventi: ognor riscalda L’intiepidito core, e impallidisca Al, solo udir che
tu infedel le sia. Oh quattro volte e quante io non so dire Felice quei, di cui
si lagna offesa La sua fanciulla, e che giugnendo annunzio D’un tal delitto
alle sue triste orecchie Cade, e il color le manca e la favellai Ah foss’io
quello, a cui furente straccia Il crine ! ah foss’ io quello a cui con l’unghie
Sgraffia le gote, che or piangente mira Or con bieco ciglio, e senza cui
Vorria, ma non può vivere ! Se chièdi Il tempo, onde di te la lasci offesa
Lagnarsi, io ti dirò: sia questo breve. Perchè lo sdegno suo forza maggiore Con
dimora soverchia non acquisti. Con le tue braccia il bianco collo cingi^ E
piangente nel tuo seno l’accogli; Asciuga co* tuoi baci il . pianto suo, E i
piaceri di Venere concedi A lei che piange. Già la pace è fatta; Con questo mezzo
sol cessa lo sdegne. Se feroce divenga, e a te rassembri Veramente nemica »
allor le chiedi Un dolce amplesso, e la vedrai placata. Ivi déposte Varmi è la
concordia^ £d in qael loco » a me lo credi, nacque La tenera amistade. Le
colombe. Che già fecero guerra, i rostri insieme Dolcemente congiungono ; di
quelle 11 mormorio son voci, e son carezze. Fu il mondo in prima una confusa
mole; Non ordine regnò, non vi fu legge ; £ stelle e terra e mar solo una
faccia Mostravan ; sulla terra il ciel fu posto E fu dal mar la terra
circondata, £ diviso cessò l’inane caos. Presero ad abitar le fiere allora
Entro le selve ; a star gli augelli la aria; £ s’ascosero i pesci entro dell*
onde. L’uomo errò allor ne^aoUtarj campi. Ma rozao 9 inerte corpo, e senza
genio* T'u il bosco la sua casa ; il cibo l* erba; Lie frondi il letto ; e già
per lungo tempo Visser fra loro sconosciuti. Dicesi, Che le feroci loro alme
piegasse La dolce voluttà. Lo steiso loco Abitarono insiem Tuoibo e la donna;
Non da maestro furon fatti dotti Di ciò che dovean far ; Venere loia La dolce
opra compì senz’arte alcuna. Trova da amar Paugel dolce compagna, E in mezzo
all’acqae pur con chi s’accoppj Non manca al pesce. Il maschio ainato segue La
cerva, ed il serpente a’dolci inviti. Della femmina cede. Insiem congiunta La
cagna al can s’annoda. Il suo montone Soffre lieta Tagnella; la giovenca
Gialiva è col torello, e la stizzosa Capra 1’immondo becco non disdegna.
Parenti le cavalle i maschj segnono Per lungo spazio, e varcan fino i fiumi Che
li tengon divisi. A che più tardi ? T’affretta dunque, e alla sdegnata porgi Il
bramato sollievo; questo calma L’atroce suo dolore, e questo vince I succhi
d’Esculapio • Il fallo tuo Dei con ciò cancellar, tornarle in grazia. Mentr’ io
cantava queste cose, Apollo apparve » e mosse dell’ aurata lira Col pollice le
corde • In man tenea L’ alloro, di cui cinta avea la chioma; ^Queir ammirando
vate allor mi disse: O de’ lascivi amor maestro, guida 1 tuoi scolari alfine al
tempio mio; Ivi sta incisa la famosa legge, Che conoscer se stesso a ognuno
impone. Amar solo potrà prudentemente Quegli che se medesmo appien conosce, E
alle sne forze sa adattar Tìmprese. Procuri che la Bella ognor Io guardi Quel
cui Natura diè leggiadra faccia. Si mostri spesso con le spalle ìgnude Chi
candide ha le membra ; parli pure Quei che lo fa soavemente, e canti, E beva
quel che a bevere e a cantare Con arte apprese, ma non mai interrompa Alludtd
al Tempia consacrato in Delfo ad Apollo ove era scritta a caratteri à* oro
qaest^ aurea legge: nosco te ipiam L’altrui discorw P eloquente, e in mezzo Al
ragionar non reciti importuno I suoi carmi il Poeta . In questa guisa Febo
i^egnomnii, e. voi di Febo adesso Seguit^e i precetti. Ah no ! non ponno Mancar
di fe gli oracoli d’ Apollo. Or son chiamato a più'vicini oggetti. Chi sagace
amerà ; chi la nostr’ arte In uso saprà porre f avrà vittoria. Non sempre i
campì rendon con usura Le biade seminate, e a dubbia n^ve, Non sempre fausto è
il vento. Ah! sono brevi I piaceri d’ amor, lunghe le pene. Onde Amante a
soffrire il cor disponga: Quante in Ato son lepri, e quante in Ibla Pascolan
api, quante olive accoglie II verd' arbor di Palla, • quante il lido Del mat
conchiglie ; tanti son gli affanni Che soffrenti in amor, tanti gli strali Jlal
felo intrisi che ci passan V alma. A te diran che usci fuora di casa Quando con
gli occhi tuoi forse la vedi. Ma creder dei che uscì, che vedi il faUo. Mella
notte promessa a te la porta Forse chiusa sarà ; soffri, e le membra Riposa e
adagia sull’immonda terra. Mendace ancella forse in tuon superbo Dirà; perchè
le nostre porte assedjf Cortese e supplichevole stropiccia Il limitar della
crudel Fanciulla, ^ E al capo tolte ivi le rose appendi. Quando vorrà,
t'appressa, e quando il vieta Tu vanne lungi. Uomo non dee sincero Di sua
presenza far soffrir la noja. Digitized by Google 8o Non sempre con ragion ti
potrà Jirer A me fuggir costui non è permesso* Non creder turpe di soffrir
ingiurie, Nè d* esser dalla tua Bella battuto, Nè sul tenero piè d’imprimer
baci. Ma a che mi fermo nelle tenui cosef Or subietto maggior m’agita l’alma.
Io canterò prodigj ; il volgo attonito Ascolti i detti miei, mi sia propizio. A
difficile impresa ora m’accingo. Che nel difficil sol glòria si merca.
Dall’arte una si chiede ardua fatica. Soffri il rivai pazientemente ; teco
Starà vittoria, e n’otterrai trionfo. Non già un mortai, male pelasghe
querce(33) Ti dieron tai precetti . Ah i iio, non puote Dir r artè mia di ciò
cosa maggiore. Farà un cenno amoroso al tuo rivale, E tu lo soffri ; sctiverà, e
t’ astieni Dal toccar le sue carte ; e venga e tomi Senza le tue doglianze ove
le piace Con legittima moglie usi il marito Quest’indulgenza pure, alior che
notte Le tenebre distende, e il sonno regna. Non io, Io debbo confessar, non
sono In quest’arte perfetto. E che far deggiof Io de’ precetti miei minor mi
trovo. Io soffrirò che, me presente, un segno Si faccia alla mia Bella, e il
freno all’ira Io potrò por ? Ah mi ricordo ancora ^3) Fabbricarono i Pelasgi un
Tempio dedicalo a Giovò, in vicinanza del quale era situato un bosco di querce,
da cui davano le colomba risposta umana Che il suo marito nn di le diede un
bacio, Ed io del bacio a lei feci querela; Abbonda il nostro amor di
crudeltade. Non una volta sol mi fu nocivo Un vizio tal ; piti dotto invero è
quello Per cui, lieto il marito, in casa ingresso Hanno altri amanti. Ma saria
più grato L’esser di questo ignari. Ah lascia dunque D’amore i furti ascosi,
onde non fugga Dal vinto labro, confessando i fallì, Lungi il pudor. Deh
risparmiate, o amanti. Di sorprender colpevoli le amate. Schetzino pur, ma
almeno a se medesme Perauadan che il fer’ solo in parole. Sorprese, in esse pel
rivai maggiore Si fa r affetto ; e dove egual la sorte Fa di due, 1* uno e
Paltro son costanti La causa in sostener del danno loro. Favola iu tutto il
elei nota si narra: Venere e Marte dagP inganni presi Pur di Vulcan. Ferito il
petto avea Marte per Vener da un apaore insano, E divenuto di guerriero amante.
Nè rustica o difficile mostroàsi (Non v’è di questa Diva altra jpiù molle)
Venere al suppliéhevole Gradivo (34). Oh quante voltè la lasciva risé ^ da
Marte si Marna Gradivo da apa/vav, ehe si^ grufiea in greco linguaggio
vtbraziorfe d'AVta. Aven^ do Giooo preeijntaio Vulcano in Lenno 'per 1 la
defar-^ mità del suo corpo, si tuppè questo misero Diojin tal caduta una gamba
^ e così divenendo zoppo ^ di^ canne ancorst mSgiortncnU deforme. Sa ^ Di
Valcano pei piedi e per le mani Nere e incallite pel lavoro e il foco.
Contraffaceva pur di Marte in faccia Sempre piena dì grazie il suo marito^ Ma
solean ben celare i primi amplessi, E coprian col pudore il fallo loro; Ma il
Sol che tutto vede ( e chi ingannare 11 Sol può maif ) fece a Vulcan palesi L’
opre della Consorte • Ah quai ne porgi Funesti e perigliosi, o Sole, esetuplit
Perchè del tuo tacere a lei non chiedi Un dono, eh* avrebb* ella il tuo
silenzio Potuto compensare in mille modi. Vulcan sopra e d’intorno adatta al
letto Un* invisìbil rete, e finge a Lenno Di far viaggio: a’ noti
abbracciamenti Tornan gli amanti, e nudi entrambe sono Ne^ lacci avvinti.
Quegli i sonimi Dei Convoca, e fanno L prìgiohier di loro Vago spettacol. Potè
appena il pianto Venere allora trattener sul ciglio; Non alla loro nudità
potere Oppor la mano, e non coprir la faccia* Uno de’ numi allor ridendo disse:
O fortissimo Marte, in me que’ lacci Deh trasferisci pur^ se ti son gravi.
Nettuno, appena per le tue preghiere Ebbero i prigionier le membra sciolte.
Chela Dea in Pafo, e Marte andonne in tracia. £cco,o Vulcano, il tuo profitto:
in prima Celavano il Ipr fallo ; or senza freno Lo commetton, fuggito ogni
pudore. Sovente, o stolto, confessar dovrai Che tu dj^rasd da pazzo, e già ( la
fama Karra.) dell’ira tua ti aei pentito* Quest’ io vietai. La 6glìa dionea
(35) Or vieta a voi di tender quelP insidie Ch’ ella stessa soffrì. Nè voi
cercate Por ne’ lacci il rivai, nò legger quello Che vergato ha^la bella in
cifre arcane. Faccian questo (se lor piace) i mariti Che legittimi rese e T
onda e il foco. (36) Io'di nuovo, raffermo: in queste carte Nulla vietato dalle
leggi chiudo» Nè a pudica Matrona i nostri scherzi Recano ingiuria. Chi
a’profani i riti Osò di Cerere svelare, e i sacri Misteri nati nella tracia
Sanio f Non nel' silenzio per coprir gli arcani Gran; virtude abbisogna è colpa
grave Però dir'qnfello che (tacer si dehbe^ t Ben a. ragion da Tantalo «loquace
Venere, sepondo alcuni, eifbe in madre Dio^ ne 9 e però si chiama la Figlia
dionea. (36) Solevano i Romani nelle nozze solenni offerii re alla Sposa V
acqua ed il foco \ 'perchè pensavano che si genesUts^ il tutto dall* umore -e
dal icàhre ^ ed anzi lavatiri^ Inacqua f stessa i piei^ Sposa ed alla Sposo^ ',
I I Sagrifiz) di Cerere t)ea delle biade, ehe furono, secondò Dtodoro, '
inventati Heltà' Samotrd» eia, si celelfravanà dagli aw^ìd con tal \ segretezza
g che acqmdurono il nome di mister Tqntalo, figlio della Ninfa Piote, palesò
agli uomini le' supreme, determinazioni, che si manìfesta^^ reno
scambievolmente gli Dei in un Convito, cui fu ammesso
e^i*pare.da^Giolve.,peTiitaleiempH-^ tà joacpiatO riell^ infermo, iOfl^ à
cofitidftaeqMate,cfudar^ io da una barbara fape, e^ chè è,eireondatò dàìVacqua
e da diversi ' phmi, ékà fuggono àgnor shp'suòl Idìlli i^qmndo *viol*pré*a'^
arsene Fuggono i pomi; o all*assetato labfo L'acqua mai sempre. Citerea comanda
In special modo di tener celate Le sacre cerimonie. Io v’ammonisco Che alcun
garrulo'a quelle non s’accosti* Se sepolti non restano fra’cesti I mister] di
Venere, se i bronzi Per furiose percosse non risuonano, Usi abbiam noi pih
moderati, e in mòdo* Che si voglion però tenére ascosi. / Quando le vesti
Venere depone, La nudità con la sinistra copre. Nella pubblica via spesso 1 *
ugnella. Si unisce al suo compagno, e la fanciulla^ Da tal oggetto altrove il
guardo volgew Atto è il talamo chiuso a’furti nostri E a non mirar ciò che la
veste > ascóndo* i Non le tenebre noi, ma nube opacUi ì; Cerchiamo, e i
luoghi ove 1’ aperta luce - Minor risplenda. Fin d’allor ché il tetto Non
difendea dal Sol, non dalla pioggia, £ dava il cibo e in un la quercia albergò.
Gli uomini non gustar’ palesemente. I piaceri di' Venfet ma negli antri ^ ' • f
i ne^bosqhi; cosi dell’onestade * i preudea cura quella ro^sza gente** \ Ora
gli atti si celebraa notturni,, £ nulla più si compra a caro prezzo Che di
poter’ parlar: or le donzellò Ovniique cercherai solo onde dica Qiinsla ancora
fo. nostra, ed onde .posniA ^ Mòsttktla ò' dito, e &r ohe sia deb vol^, '
Dc^^b li pòssèsso^tuòVfev;òIa ^ r.«r. poco «iwiihe ^ini «dolSP* aU>Ì, Òose
che nègherebbono accadute* £ di favori vantatisi non veri ; E se invàn di
toccar, cercare il corpo. Cercano àlmen d’offenderne P onore, Che le accusi la
fama ancor che caste. Chiudi, o custode rigido, le porte ; Guarda la tua
fanciulla, e cento spranghe A’durissimi stipiti ora opponi. Cosa havvi di
sicuro in faccia a questi Adulteri di nome, che creduti Esser desian ciò che
tentare invano ? Parchi in parlar noi siam de’veri ainori^ E fedelmente ognor
tenghìam celati Col velo deP mistero 1 furti nostri. Deh non voler rimproverar
giammai Di nati^ra i difetti alle donzelle. Che fù dissinìularli utile à molti.
^ Perseo che al piè portò le gemìn’ ali (3g), Tlon del color d* Andromedà
lagnossi. Comparve a tutti Andromaca maggiore D’ uim giusta statura, ed Ettor
solo iXèrcurió adatfò *U idi Ud ambedue i piedi di J^érseo^ iluo amiiéo y e
fi^ió di Danae e di Giope, de qu§$iix AndrovaeduslegaiOKyad uno scoglio per
ra'deillcNeTcìdi,^e,\c]^pe, che dovea^esser dioorata da Ceto mastro
marin^,,perchè Cassìope, madre della medesima ebèè la vanagloria di dire ^ che
la sua fi-* glia vinceva > ir^ bellezza le stesse Nereidi, Mosso Perseo a
pietà, della' sventurata donzella, uccise il mostro col jmrgli. davanti agli
cicchi la testa di Me^ dusa f è dopo d^aveHa in tal guisa saLveta da un tanto
pericolo y V ottenne in isposa, he mai le riìf fàpciÒ[ suo fosco colori,
essendo ella nata in Etiopia, " Andromaca è figlia di Elione . Re di Tebe
e mo* glià di Ettore j il qual chiamava medìo^e la sua statura quantunque fosse
veramente sproporziqnatq. Mediocre la dicea. Quel che or ti lembra Darò a
soffrir, deh soffri; e verrà uà giorno Che lieve impresa ti sarà il soffrire^
Mentre ogni pena raddolcisce il tempo. Nuoyo arboscel che in verde scorza
cresce^ Cade, se vento placido lo scote ; Ma indorato dal tempo arbor diviene.
Resiste a* fieri Noti ^ e alfin s’ adorna, Degl* innestati fratti. Un giorno
spio Paò la bruttezza cancellar del corpo,^, £ sempre il tempo fa sembrar
minore Ogni difetto. L* inesperte nari Mal da principio pon soffrir 1* odore
Della pelle del toro, ma dalTuso Dome non più risentono mólestia. I vizj
ricoprir con dolci nomi Fa di mestier: bruna chiamar si debbo Quella che piùehe
pece ha negro il sangue» Se ha gli occhi loschi, a Vener l!as 8 omiglia^^ E se
bianchi, a Minerva. Sia 9 Ì scarna, Che appena in piedi sostener si possa.
Gracile la dirai. Nana rassembri, E tu svelta la chiama, e piena quellf .,. Che
è turgida oltremodo g, e asconder tenta. Col bene non lontano il vizio ognora.
Gli anni mai non cercar, nè sotto quale \ Consol sia nata: al rigido Censore.
Tai cure lascierai. Maggior riguardo . Usa per quelle che passate il fiore
Hanno di giovinezze » e i più bei giorni, Non si sa paacepire corno Ooidio
chiami loschi gli occhi di Venere, quando essa fu lodata da Pari^ de. Dubitano
alcuni pertanto y che nelF originale la^, ' ripe si 4tiba leggere leu invece di
peU» E cui incomincia a incanutir la chioma* .Utile è questa o più matura
etade, 0 giovani ; e aarà ferace in biade Questo campo » ed arar però si debbe.
Mentre gli anni il permettono e le forze, Soffrire la fatica. Ah già la curva
Vecchiezza con piè tacito s’accosta! O il mar co’ remi solchisi, o la terra Col
vomere, o s^impugnin Tarmi fiere, O si usi il fianco, T opra, e la forza Con le
fanciulle^è questa una milizia, E con ciò pur s’ accumulan ricchezze. S’ artoge
a ciò che la prudenza in loro Maggior sempre delT opere risiede, E l’esperienza
sol può far maestro. San compensare dell’ etade i danni Con la mondezza, e in
opra e studio ed arto Pongon per ricoprir la tarda etade. Come più brami
accarezzarti sanno In mille guise ; in più diversi modi Pittor non puote
colorir le tele. Non irritata voluttà per loro Si gode, e danno e gustano il
piacere; 10 se non è scambievole Tho in odio, E però fuggo de’garzon P amore.
Odio il furor di quella che il concede. Perchè a darlo è forzata, e pensa solo
All’ ntil proprio. A me non è gradito 11 piacer che mi dan sol per dovere; Da
questo io violentier le donne assolvo. Godo ascoltar le voci che il diletto Mi
palesin di loro, e di frenarmi Mi preghino ora, ed or perchè mi affretti. Godo
di rimirai languidi gU dicchi . Della mìa bella, che mi dica: è assai. Questi
favor natura non concede Air inesperta gìoventCì ; si godono Quando il settimo
lustro ornai si compie. Chi soffre sete, il nuovo mosto beva; Di vecchio vin
ricolmo a me s’ appresti Vaso che sotto i Consoli vetusti Sia fabbricato. Al
sol resiste vecchio Il platano, ed offesi i nudi piedi Sono da’nuovi prati; e
chi potria Ad Elena preporre Ermione? Altea (Era forse miglior della sua madre
? Se tu t’ accosti a una noi^, giovin bella, £ sii costante, avrai degna
mercede. Già riceve i dae.amanti il conscio lètto; Fuof delle chiuse porte ora
rimanti, O Musa ; senaa te sapran ben essi Trovar di che occuparsi, chè lor
porge Amore i mezzi. Il valoroso Ettorre (4a) Di cui fu il brando a Troja util
cotanto, Giacque pur con Andromaca, ed Achille Con la lirnessia giovine rapita,
Allorché dal nemico affaticato Prese ristoro sulle molli piume. Da quelle man
di frigio sangue tinte Ricevevi, o‘Brhcide, le carezze, E perciò forse à te più
assai gradito Fu alla vittfice destra unir tue meuibra. (4 A Ermione è figlia
della famosa Elena moglie di Menelao, (4a) Achille # aseedìafa la Città di
Lirnesso, uccise barbaramente Minete marito della bella Briseide^ che si prese
egli stesso in isposa, e che dal noma 4 M(k iiMk Pàtria soprannominata iÀtuwia
Di Venéfe i piaceri » a me lo credi, Non SI deniio affrettar; ma a lunghi torsi
Berli. La donnà, se vedrai diletto Che abbia d’èsser toccata, a te non freni
Pudore allora inopportuno. Gli occhi Suoi scintillar d*'un tremulo splendore
Mirerai, come dalle liquìd’ onde ^ Riflette il Sole i suoi splendidi raggia. ^
Udrai nn lamento e uh dolce mormorio^ Gemiti grati, ed amòtose note. Quando
thtte le Vele avrai spiegate, Tu abbandonar non dei la tua diletta. Nè preceder
ti debbe ella nel corso. Correte insieme alla prescritta meta. Che il piacer
vostro diverrà perfetto. Se giacerete a un tempo stesso vinti. Queste leggi
seguir dovete quando A voi concessi siano 02 ] tranquilli, Nè ad iin furtivo
oprar timor v* astringa. Quando Tindugio è mal sicuro, allora Tutti forzar si
denno i remi, e il fianco Premere del cavai d’acuto sprone. L’opra è condotta
al fin. Giovani grati, A me la palma concedete, e il crine Odoroso cìngetemi di
mirto. Non presso i Greci Podalirio tanto Fu per la medie’ arte in pregio,
Achille Per il valore, e Nestor per pi'udenza; Non fu Calcante così esperto e
grande Nel conoscer le viscere, nè Ajaco Nel maneggio dell’armi, e Automedonte
Nel condur cocchj ; compio sono espCito E grande nell’amor. Me celebrate,
Uomini tutti ; a me si dian le lodi; Nel mondo intero il nome mio ti canti. L*
armi io vi porsi come già Vulcano Le diede a Achille. Or con tal doni voi
Vincete pur, com’egli vinse un giorno; Ma chi col brando mio potò le fiere
Amazzoni atterrar, sopra le vinte Spoglie scriva: Nason ci fa Maestro. Le
tenere fanciulle a m^ le preci Ecco che porgono, onde lor cortese Sia de’
precetti miei. Ah t sì, sarete Cura primiera de* futuri carmi porsi contro lo
guerriere donne A’ Greci 1’ armi ; or dare a te le deggìo^ Pentesilea, e alle
Amazzoni seguaci. Ite alla guerra uguali, e vincan quelle Cui son propizi
Venere e il Fanciullo, Che in tutto il mondo ha di volar diletto. Giusto non
era il combatter nude Contro gli armati ; e vincerle per voi. Uomini, turpe mi
sembrava. Alcuno Dirà fra molti: perchè aggiunger cerchi 11 veleno alle serpi ?
e perchè in preda Lasci alle lupe rabide 1’ ovile? Di poche il fallo non
vogliate in tutte Diffonder ; pe’ suoi merti ogni Donzella Considerar si dee .
Se Menelao Ha di dolersi d’ Elena cagione^ Pentesilea Regina delle Amazzoni
andò contro i Greci in soccorso d^ Trojani,e fu dopo varie glo^ riose azioni
uccisa da Achille. Sotto il nome di Greci P intendono però- dal Poeta quegli
uomini, che cingono a conquistare le donne qui figurate sotto il nome di
Amazzoni. Vedasi V Annotaz, 5 q del Lib. I. e l*Annotaz, ueuSdelldb.If. Ved.
Vannot. 38 del Lib. /. eVannot. ao del Lib. II. £ se di Clitennestra i rei
costami SoQ gravi ad Agamennon ; se d’Ecleo Il figlio scese co* cavalli vivi.
Dalla spietata Enfile^ tradito, Vivo egli stesso a Stige^havvi pur anco
Penelope che pia serbossi e fida Al suo marito, benché senza lei Due lustri
errasse, e per due lustri ancora Passasse i giorni suoi sempre alla guerra.
Protesilao rimira e la consorte, Che, come narran, pria degli anni suoi Vide
Testremo fatele scese a Dite Ombra indivisa del marito . Mira La Sposa pegasea
dall’empia sorte Anfiarao figlio di EcUo ed eccellente indovino ^ ascose in un
luogo segreto per non esser costretto a portarsi alla guerra di Tebe, in cui
sapeva di do-* ver certamente morire* Eri file sua moglie allettata da un aureo
monile promessole, da Polinice, insegnò a questo ov'egli sfava, celato* 4 n 4 à
pertanto Anfiarao forzatamente alla guerra^ ma appena giunse in Tebe, gli si
spalancò sotto i piedi la terra, e rimase in quella sepolto.Penelope è V
esempio deWamor con fugale* Si conservò essa sempre fedele al suo sposo Ulisse,
ben* che vivesse egli lontano da lei per lunghissimo spa* zio di tempo, e
benché fosse ella continuamente assediata da mille fervidi amanti. Protesilao
andò aneW egli all*assedio di Troja, e fu il primo tra Greci, che vi perdesse
la vita poi che Ettore lo ferì mortalmente, nientre scendeva dal* la sua nave.
Desolata Laodàmia sua moglie da una tale sventura, ottenne con le sue lagrime
da* Numi di poter veder V ombra del suo amato consorte, e neWabbracciarla morì*
Soffriva Admeto una malattia coà grave, che secondo la risposta dell* oracolo ^
era necessario per salvargli la vita^ che un uomo o una donmft^ morisse Admeto
liberare, onde famoso Rese il suo nome . Evadne a Capaneo Disse: m* accogli ;
il cener nostro insieme Si confonda ; e slanciossi in mezzo al rogo; È la
Virtude d’abito e di nome Femina, nè stupore è, se propizia Si mostra e
favorisce al sesso suo. La nostr’arte però queste non chiede Alme sublimi 9 e
con minori vele Naviga il legno mio • Per me soltanto S’imparano a trattar amor
lascivi. Io insegnerò in qual modo amar si debba La donna, che non face ed arco
scote Sempre crudeli ; agli uomini quest’armi Nuoccìon più parcamente 9 io ben
lo vedo: Gli uomini più spesso ingannano di quello^ Che ingannin noi le tenere
fanciulle; E poche troverai, se cerchi, xee Di perfido delitto. Il traditore
Giason Medea lascia già madre 9 e in braccio Gittossi ad altra sposa. Oh quante
volte Per te 9 Teseo 9 Arianna abbandonata per lui4 Alceste sua moglie^ che
dicesi sposa pagasea dalla città di Pagasa in Tessaglia, volle essa stessa
liberar gen^osamente il caro suo spoeo, ed incontrò con intrepidezza la morte.
Quando Eoadne intese che era stato ucciso a/« la guerra di Tebe il caro suo
sposo Capaneo ^ conce» pi nell’animo un dolor sì fiero ^ che corse valorosor
mente a morire sul rogo dell* estinto consorte. Adoravano i Romani la Dea Virtù
vestita in abiti femminili. Annotaz. 89 del Lih. /Arianna fu da Teseo
abbandamata {Annoi. So. del lÀb» I. ) nell*isola di Nasso j e però avrà te»
muto gli Augelli marini provenienti da quella pcffte di mare, in cui viaggiava
il suo perfido amante la solitaria t sconosciuta riva Temè gli auge! marini ! E
perchè Filli Calcò per nove volte il sentier stesso. Cerca, e perchè, la chioma
lor deposta, Piansero Filli le dolenti selve. L’Ospite, che concetto ha di
pietoso. Porse la cauta e il ferro alla tua morte, Misera Elisa. E che I narrar
vi deggio Delle vostre sventure io la sorgente? Voi non sapeste amar ; mancò in
voi l’arte, Mentre con l’arte solo amor si eterna. Sariano ignare ancor, ma
Cìterea Vuol che per versi miei sien fatte dotte. Mentr’ella stessa innanzi al
mio cospetto Si fermò, e disse: di qual fallo mai Si fecer ree le misere
fanciulle. Che inermi si abbandonano agli armati? Tu con gemini libri bai resi
questi Nell’arte esperti ; or co’ precetti tuoi Tu devi ancora ammaestrar le
donne. SteSicoro ohe in pria cantò i delitti Impaziente FUlide per la
lontananza del suo Demofoonte eorse per nooe volte al lido, dà cui do^ vetfa
egli passare nel ritorno ; e alfine disperata cd afflitta per la tardanza di
lui ( Annoi, a 3 del Lib, li.) si tolse da se stessa crudelmente la vita. Le
fabbricarono i suoi parenti un sepolcro, in vicinanza di cui nacquer degli
alberi, che in un certo tempo, secondo quello che han scritto i poeti, deposte
le lor foglie, piangevano la morte della medesima. Enea, che vien
soprannominato il Pio, di^ sprezzando Vamore, che è il nome proprio di Didone,
fu causa cVella si precipitasse sulle fiamme ohe ardevano la eittà e la reggia
di Cartagine. Stesicoro siciliano è un poeta lirico ^ che doto-' Sto ne* suoi
versi Elena detta tersnoea dal castello ìa D* Elena, poi con più felice lira
Disse le lodi sue. Se V indol bene Io tua conobbi, no ^ non sei capace offender
Tamorose e culle donne. Per fin che vivi a te tal grazia chieggo. Disse, e di
mirto (poiché avea le chiome Di mirto ornate quando a me comparve ) A me una
foglia diede e poche bacche. Ricevuti i suoi doni, io mi sentii Invaso dal suo
nume, e Paer più puro Splendermi intorno, e facile l’impresa Comparirmi al
pensier. Mentre l’ingegno E desto, a me i precetti richiedete, Che a voi,
donne, ascoltarli ora è permesso Dal pudor, dalle leggi e da ogni dritto. Siate
memori ognor della ventura Vecchiezza, e per voi il tempo ozioso mai Non
passerà. Scherzate ora che lice, Nè si consumi invano il fior degli anni, Che
come 1 onde fuggono veloci. Tornar non puote alla sorgente il fiume. Tornar non
puote la passata etade. Cadete dunque, che trascorre il tempo Con frettoloso
piè, nè lieto mai Come il primiero siede. Or bianco miri Questo stelo, su cui
già in prima vidi Io rosseggiar le viole, e questa spina Grata al c^pe mi porse
un di corona. Stagion verrà che tu, che "fchivi adesso L’amante, fredda e
abbandonata in letto cui, nacque y perche^ da essa ebbe erigine la rovina di
Troja. Ma i fratelli della medesima, Castore e Polluce Vacciecarono crudelmente
; ed ei per ricuperare la sta, fu costretto a comporre un poema in sua lode»
Digitized by Google Giàf&ttsi vecchia giacerai. Notturna Rifsa non fia che
la tua porta atterri, Nè sul mattino troverai di rose II limitar della tua casa
asperso. Misero me ! come corrotti presto VeggoDsi i corpi dalle rughe, e, come
^ Langue ih nitido volto il color primo! Quei che sul capo tuo bianchi capelli
Si miran* or,che fin da’di più acerbi Giuri che furon tali ; ah che ben tosto
Si spargeran per tutto il capo. Méntre (i 4) La sua spoglia sottile il serpe
lascia. Ringiovanisce ; e rinnovando i cervi Le corna, non rassembrano^ mai
vecchi. Fuggon senza speranza i nostri beni; Cogliete il fior, che se non colto
vegna, Cadrà miseramente. A questo aggi ungi Che fan più breve giovinezza i
parti; Invecchia il campo per continua messe. Non di vergogna a te, Cinzia, fu
causa Il latmio Endimion, nè già doveo Per il rapito Cefalo arrossire I
Serpenti si spogliane ogni anno della luto scorza* I Cervi cangiano ogni anno
le qorna ; ma ne * rimangono privi se sian castrati mentre le hanno de~ poste,
e più non le varifino, se soffrano una tale ope* razione phma di deporle.
Impiegano i medesimi cin^ que o sei anni nel crescere, e però tioono’ solamente
circa trentacinque o quarànta anni, ttd ortta di tutte * le fuoole, che gli
antichi hanno scritte sulla lunga ìor vita. Buffon nella sua Storia naturale.
Cinzia ( Annoi, del Lih, I. ) scendeva dal cielo per godersi Endimione, che qui
dicesi latmio per^ chè s^ascondeva ifi Latmo spelonca del monte, di Caria. S*
innamorò la rosea Aurora di Cefalo figlio di Mercurio, e però lo rapì « Prgcri
sua moglie La rosea Diva. Adori si lasci a parte, Tuttor di pianto a Vetieré^
cagione, Com’ebb’olla Antonia, cotii* ébbe Enea ? Seguite" tiiir P esémpid
delle Dive, O bellezze tóót^aK, é a^ desiosi ' UomìAì noilitìegate il favor
vostro.: Siano essi ingannatori ; e che perdete? Mille vi godan pur<;‘tutto
rimane Nello stato pritòiér. Gon Fuso il ferro* Si consuma e la‘ pietra ; in
Vói non pudte Cosa alcuna peirir, ricever danno. Chi ^vieterà cW dal vicino
lùme*^ Il lume non si prenda ? e chi nel vasto Seno del mar V onde serbar
procura? Tu mi dirai che non convien che a un uomo Si dia la donna in preda ;
ma che perdi Altro che l’acqua che ricever puoi? Non vogliono i mìei carmi o la
mia vocb» Al libero dell* uom commercio esporvi^ Ma vietanvi temer le cose
inani; Non posson soffrir danno i doni vostri. Me un’aura lieve, mentre siamo
in porto» Spìnga, che,al soffio dì più forte vento Sono per cominciar maggior
viaggio. Dalla cnltura io do princìpio. Il vino Ceneroso dan sol le calte
vigne, £ sol né’campiVcoltìvatì miri Lussureggiar le biade. £ la bellezza Dono
del cielo, e come ah vien superba OQ.Arteà'am. e La Dea Venere éhhe à(jL Arichise
il figlio Enea, e da Marte la figlia Anmónia, Bastano . tàli esemp) per provare
che ella permise a molti di possederla . Digitized by Google pJbeU^z<i ogui
danpa 1 1Ja «ran parte Di voi prirs rù^.A quf»to 4ouo. . Con U coltura la beiti
ai 4CqWti Cile si perdo nfgfct^ ^ apci^r cjio eguale A gueili fosse dpU'idalia
Diy*., Se Io prische fasullo, il corpo Joì;a Non coti custodirò ^ se gli
autieri Uomini incolti vissero, se cinse; Pesante gonna.AndroiMCjayìo non
yeggo>(f 9 ) Bagjon 4i,,ayiglia^I es^SA d’un rezzo, Guerrier fu^^mpgli^.
Fprsé a Ajace incontro Adorna andap dpvea la sua consorte, (ao) Se a Ini la^
pflle .poi di sette bovi Servia di veste ? Ne^ primieri tempi Rozza regnò
semplìcitade, e immense Ricchezze Roma del soggetto mondo Ora possiede. Osserva
quale adesso \ Sia,il OampidogUo, e gual no’giorni andati^ E dovrai dir
c]lie,fa d'un altro Giove. Ventre dicesi idalia dal monte Idale in Cif^ro a lei
consagrato, Andromaca fa moglie A*Ettore Capitano deU VArmata Uroijana,
Annótàz, 89 del Lih, li. (ao) AJaae figli^di Telamone è oelebràto daOm'e^' ro
nella sua Iliade come uno piu valorosi Prine^ che andarono all*assedio di
Trofa. Sposò egU an*an^ cella nominata Teemessa; e però dice Or ozio Movit
Ajacem Telamone natura ’ Fórina captiTflB Dominuin Teemessa. La Curia fu
anticamente, secóndo F’arrone, distribuita in due parti, in una delle quali
custodi^ vano i Sacerdoti le cose diwine, ’e neWaltra tratta^ vano i Senatori
le cose umane. TaaUr fu un Re de Sabini così accorto 9 che seppe ottener da
Rpmelaiina parte del Regno dopo d*aver perduto un'atroce bai» taglia. La Curia,
che di tanto ora' rasaembra Concìlio degna, fu di Tazio a’tempi Di rozza paglia
intesta. Qoe'palagi- Ch# ora risplendon sacri a Febo e a’Ooci; Che furon maì^
se non pascolo un giorno Agli aratori buoi f Piacciano ad altri Le cose antiche
; io meco stesso godo D’essere in questa età nato conrorme A’ miei costumi, non
perchè si tragga Dalle vìscere cieche della terra 11 dutil oro, o perchè venga
a noi Scelta conchiglia da diverso lido; Nè perchè i monti facciansi minori Per
i marmi scavati ^ o perchè altere * Sorgano moli ove giaceva il mare; Ma perchè
regna or la cultura, e a’nostri Tempi rusticitade agli avi antichi Cara non
giunse. non fate carchi 1 vostri orecchi di preziose pietre, Che in mar lo
scolorilo Indìan raccoglie; Nè comparite già gravi per Toro Tessuto sulle
vesti, onde ben spesso Le ricchezze cercate e le rapite. Dalla mondezza noi
sìam vinti. Il crine Si disponga con legge; un pettin dotto R dona e toglie a
suo piacer bellezza. Non r ornamento stesso a tutte giova; Quello scelga
ciascuna, in cui più splende^ E si consigli col fedel suo specchio. Chiede una
lunga faccia che sul capo (za) OTTAVIANO (si veda) fabbrica nel suo palazzo un
Tempio consacrato ad Apollo Palatino. 1 Duci ^ a* quali ^ dim cesi sacro il
palazzo medesimo, sono Augusto e Tim bario, mentre quegli vi nacque, e questi
vi abitò» loe Siati ben divisi non velati i crini; Così avea Laodàmia le chiome
adorne* Voglion le piene e ritondette guance^ Che della &onte sul confin vi
lasci Piccol nodo onde veggansi, gli orecchi, D’an*altra il orin flagelli ambe*
le spalle,^ Quale al canoro Apollo allor che in mano Piglia la lira. Come Pagi!
Diana Altra gli .abbia legati, alLor che al bosco Peiseguita le fiere pau^ròse.
Convien che questa abbia i capelli gonfj; £ strettamente quella il crine
implichi* Altra s’adorni in guisa tal la ehioma,^ Che alla cilleuia cetera
assomigli; Questa V increspi in modo ohe rassembri Onda marina. Numerar non
puoi Quante sulla ramosa elea sian ghiande. Quante in Ibla sian api, e quante
fiere S’ascondano nell’alpi, io pur non posso A te narrare le diverse fogge Di
dar la legge al crin, mentre ogni giorno Ne sorgono novelle. A molte giova Che
sia negletto: crederai che il capo Quelle jerì s^ornasser, che con nuova Cura
testé si pettinar’la chioma. Studia con l’arte d’imitar Natura. Era Jole così,
quando la vide Mercurio inventò la Lira fatta a gedsa di te» staggine, e questa
dicesi cillenia ^ perchè egli nacque nel monte Cillene in Arcadia, Se Ooìdio tornasse
a vigere in questo secolo, dorrebbe certamente veder con Rubilo che le nostre
Dame seguono con la massima esattezza i suoi proietti nell* adornarsi i
capelli. Amò Èrcole ardentemente Jole figlia di Eu» riio, il qual rìcue/ò di
dargliela in isposa, quoMtun» Ercole ; presa la cittade » e disse: lo ramo; e
tal Pabbandonata ; donna Quando sai carro sosteneala Bacco» E i Satiri gridare:
evviva » evviva. Quanto in favor della bellezza vostra Fu Natura indulgente» o
donne I Voi In mille modi ricoprir potete Z vostri danni. Invan noi ci
asix^ndiamò; Cadono per 1’etade i capei nostri Come le foglie allor ebe Borea
soffia. Con le germanicb’ erbe asconder pnote La donna la canizie » e può con
Parte Miglior del vero altro cercar colore. Vanne la donna con la chioma folta
f 'glUVaotsu solennemente proméssa, frritmto gli pertanto da una tal negativa,
debellò la Città d^Occatia » 09 e questi regnava » e gli rapì la sua diletta
denteila. :(a&) si sa veramente auali si fossero quell^er- he germaniche ^
del di egù amore eUrattivo compone- vano gli antichi un medicamento » col quale
i capelli bianchi si riducevan neri o biondi. Si Sono però, trovate a’ nostri
tempi molte ricette, ohe compensano largamente una tal mancanza. Cosi se i
capelli sìan bianchi, si posson ridut neri col far uso d*una pomata, a cui
siasi aggiunto una piccola porzione di nero d*aoorio ben macinato » oooero di
sughero bru- glato unito all’azzurro di Berlino. Resta pm assai difficile di
ridurli biondi » se non si vogUono adoperar polveri d^amido leggiermente
torrefatte. La miglior ricetta che si può per quest* effetto accennare » é la
seguente: si faccia una forte liscioìa di cenere di sarmenti ; vi si unisca una
piccola quantità di radice di brionia e di celidonia; si faccia il tutto
bollire; ed in fine vi Raggiunga altra più piccola pdtr- zione di zafferano
dell* Indie, di fiorì di stecaae e di ginestra. Si coli per tela, e si laoino
con una tal acqua piu volte i capélli. fOft Per i compri capelli, e col denaro
In mancanza de* saoi porta gK altrou Nò il coidprar ciò palesemente teca
Ve^ogna i noi vediam che son venduti D* Ercole in faccia e del virgineo coro. Che
dirò della veste f Oro ed argento 10 non ricerco ^ o che rosseggi tinta La lana
in tiria porpora. Se mille A prezzo più leggier vi son colori,,, É qual è dì
follia segno piò espresso Che di portar sul corpo i propr} censìf Ecco il color
delFaria allor che searca Si rimira di nubi, e il tepid*au8tro Non apporta la
pioggia: eccone un altro Simile a te che sostenesti nn giorno Come si narra, e
Frisse ed Elle quando Fuggir* le frodi d* Inoe. Imita questo 11 cernleA mare ^
da ciò traggo Il proprio nome, e di tal veste 10 credo Si coprisser le Ninfe.
Altro è simile (28) Si rUeva di qui, che in faccia mi Tempia fMrtcata in onore
d'Èrcole e delie Muse, avevano i Romani una bottega 9 in cui vendei ansi i
capelli. ' (a^) Frisso ed Elle figli dì Adamante Re di Tebe fuggir dalle frodi
d* Inoe loro matrigna, salirò no' sopra il montone ornato del Vello d^oro^ che
Mercurio diè in dono a Nefale madre d^ medesimi. Frisso fu da quello
felicemente portato in Coleo, ma Elle'precipitò in quel mare, che prese da lei
il nome d^ Ellesponto. Con ^esta favola vuol però dire il Poe* ta 9 che era
presso i Romani in uso ( e lo è pure cd di nostri ) il colore che si assomiglia
a quello dell* oro^ -Essendo il giovinetto Croco impaziente di poe* cedere
Snùlaoe sua dUetta amante 9 fu trasformato in un fiore che dicesi volgarmente
ZefBivano, o che da lui Ica preso il nome di Croco. £t Grocam ia parros yersam cum Smilace flore». Ovid, Metam. TOS AI
Croco, e qàaiido accoppia i Ittraihbsi Destrier, con cròcea reste pur' si rela
La rugiadosa Dea. Di'Pafo a’mirti ' Questo assomiglia, e quello alle purpuree
Amariste, alle rose biancheggianti Uno‘^ ed tin altro aÈa'straniera grue. Le
ghiande tuè ti sod pure, o Ainarilli, Nè ri tnancanr le mandorle, e il suo nome
Diede alle lane per la eera. Quanti Fiori produce la norella terra ~ Allor che
fugge iUpìgro rCrnò, e stilla Gemme la rite ^ tanti beo la lana Color dirersi,
e quello scei tu dei> Che col tuo rolto Si confà. Ogni reste Non conriene a
ciascuna. I neri ammanti- Fan risplender le bianche. Assai più. bella
firiseide, allor che fu rapita, apparre, Perchè le membra accolse in negra reste*.
Odora alle brune donne il color bianco: E tu piaceri, o di Oefeo, In bianca resta allor che di Serifo
Passeggiar! le rie* Io diei consiglio Che del capro il fetor sotto V ascelle
Non passi, e che non sian per duri peli Aspre le gambe,. Ma non io già deggio
Delle caucasee rupi le £snciulle Far dotte, o quelle che di Caico misio ÀmaUsta
è una gemma, il di. oui colore è- quasi simile a quel della porpora. La figlia
di Cefeo à Andromaca: avrà essa probabilmente passeggiai per le vie di Serifo
> perchè è questa una piccola Isola del mare egeo, nella quàU fu edueato
Perseo suo liberatore. Gli abitatori del monte Caucaso furore antica--
menteiCome lo sono tuttora, ferocissitni. FI Caico-è unfiu^ me della Frigia e
della Lidia ^ che proviene dalla JS/Lsia. Bevano all*onde. Che non siano i
denti V*ammonirò per hidblenza foschi, E che si lavin sul mattin 1 ^ guanoe Con
man dell’onda aspersa. Voi sapete Pjocacciarvi il candor con distemprata Cera;
e con Parte divien rossa quella. Cui non colora il sangue suo la. faccia: Voi
con Parte il confin nudo del ciglio Fate ripieno, e voi con tenue pelle
Ricoprite talor |e vere gote. Stropicciar gli occhi poi non è vergogna Con la
cenere tepida „ o col crocb Che nasce presso te, lucido . Cinno. (3a) Tengo un
libretto picciolo, ma grande ^ Opra per il pensiero, in cui i rimedj - Qià
v’insegnai per la bellezza vòstra Con felice successo adoperarono le Dame Ro^
mane la cera distemprata per far fianca la peUe ; e con faUe^ ti Adopera ancora
in questi tempi dalle nostre Dame . Ecco il modo di prepararla: ad una parte di
cera bianca di Venezia si uniscono otto parti d* acqua, a cui si aggiunge una
piccola porzione d*alcali vegetale y e si di^cioglie il tutto finché non si
abbia una sostanza consimile al latte* he Dame ro^ mane solevano ancora
adornare co* colori, e riempire co*peli ben disposti quello spazio ài pelle
nuda che é fra il ciglio e il sopracciglio, s ! • Il le •apercìlium magaa
faligine tinctum « Obliqua producit acu. Giovenale. Dalla Cilicia che è
irrigata dal fasme Ciano fa» cevano esse venire il zaffarono ed altre céneri
atte a purgar gli occhi dagli umori soverchp; e a renderli per cònseguenza
maggiormente^vivaci. Ha scritto Opì- dio un piccolo libro de medicamiue faciei
quale inségna alle Donne tutti i rimedj, che possono contri» buire a far bella
la lor faccia e le loro membra. Quindi riparo alla figura offesa Cercate, che
non è per gli usi Vostri Inefficace Farte mia. L’apiaìite Non miri apertamente
i vasi esposti. Che Tarte ascosa giova alla beltade. A chi non spiaceria mirar
sul volto Stendere quella feccia, e lentamente' Cader pel peso suo nel caldo
seno? Quàl dall* immonda lana dell* agnella €2 Fahhricavasi in Atene con In
lana sudicia e molle un medicamento che i Greci chiamavano Etipo. Le Donne
facevano uso di questo per mollificare le ulceri di qualche delicata lor parte.
Vedasi Diosco* ride y Plinio il Mattioli nel suo erbario ; che ne parlano a
lungo, ed insegnano la maniera di fabbri^ cario, ' Non d può accennare qui il
modo, con cui prepa^ radano gli antichi i midolli della Cerva yper averne un
composto atto a far bianchi i denti, era i molti medicamenti che hanno per
quesV effetto inventati i nostri Chinùci, ci piace di riportar qui la polvere,
V oppiata i e le spunghe ; di^ cui dà Mons, Beaumé la ricetta nella sua
Farmacia, Ad un*oncia di pomice, di terra sigillata^ e di corallo rosso
s*aggiunga mexz*oncia di sangue di Dra^ go, un* oncia e mezza di cremar di
tartaro^ se ne fac^ da una polvere sottilissima, e vi si unisca una pie- cola
porzione di garofani e di cannella. Per compor quindi V oppiata > si prenda
un* oncia della polvere suddetta, due once di lacca rossa da Pittori, quattro
di mele di Narhonne, due di siroppo di more ; a queste ù uniscano due gócce d*
dio essen-- ziale di garofani, e si avràr un* oppiata, che S4^à opportuna, come
la polvere, a ripulire, imbianchire, e preservare i denti da molti incomodi.
Una stessa virtà hanno le spunghe preparate, e intrise in una tintura fatta con
lìfibre quattro a^ua, in cui abbina hoUUo quattVonce di legno del Bras^*
Daraiìne ing^rato odòrè- il 'sugo estratta^ Benché da Atene a noi si mandi t
Inverò^ Lodar non so cl^ alla presenza altrui Della cerva i midolli insìem
mischiati Piglinsi, e che palesemente i denti Si faccian netti* Utili alla
beltade Sono. tai cose, ma deformi troppa Agli occhi nostri* Molte cose fatte
Piacciono, e turpi son mentre si fanno» Le statue di Mirone opre famose, Furono
inerte peso e dura massa, Per farsi anello, Toro in pria si frange, E quelle
vestì, onde vi fate adorne,, Furon. sordide lane* Era aspro marmo,. Mentre
erano a scolpirla intenti, quella Statua nobile in cui Venere nuda Trae fuor
dall* onde gli umidi capelli. Fa che pensar possìam che dormi allora Che tu
Vadornì, Io lusingl>ieTa forma Sarai mirata se alla tua cultura le, tre
dramme di cocciniglia soppesta, e quattri) di alume di rocca . Quando queste
spunghe si sono, imbevute d* una sufficiente quantità d* una tal tintura, si
fanno asciugare, si pongono per alcune ore nello- spirito di vino, a cui siasi
aggiunte una porzione di- olio di cannella y di garofani,.e di spigo ec.;
quindi si spremono, e sì conservano per valersene al bisogno, ih vaso di Oetre
ben ehiuso. Mirone discepolo d^ Ageladé seppe formare in bronzo còsi
perfettamente le statue, che Petronio dite aver egli compreso nel bronzo V
anima degli uomini e delle bestie Alludesi alla famosa statua di PrassiteU, che
rappresenta Venere nuda neW atto d^ uscir dal mora. Fu questa collocata in Roma
nel Tempio di Bruto Callaico insieme col Colosso di Marte pvesso - il Circeo
ffaminio Diligente darai T ultima mano. Del talamo le porte ben raccbiudi.
Perchè vuoi far^ palese un’opra rozaaf Molte COEC' ignorar gli uomini danno.
Di. cui gli ofiendón molte, se non copri Ciò, che et d’uopor di tener, celato.
Vedi quelle che pendono^ da un culto> Teatro aurate statue, a osserva bene
Qual lieve foglia il legno lor ricopra.. Ma come quelle al popolo* non lice
Veder ae non sien poste in vaga mostra^ Così se non elea gli uomini lontani,
Non si procuri d’acquistar bellezza. Non vieteiò cbe al pettine abbandoni
Palesemente 1 tuoi capelli, quando Scender potran per tutto il tergo aspersi.
Di non esser procura allor molesta, • Ne aciorre spesso le mal calte chiome.
Sicura sìat quella che il crin t’adorna; Odio colei che le ferisce il volto Con
l’un ghie liCi con rapito ago le punge 1 ( braccia Allor d’ancella là detesta.
Le tocca il capo, e sull’odiate trecce* Col piaotn suo scende mischiato il
sangue* Quella che il capo.ha.quaai calvo,ipoDga^ Sulla porta il oustode, o
della Dea Gibele al ten^pio ad adornar si vada. ’ CibéU aveva in Roma un
Tempio, in cui non potevano aver gli uomM V accesso: 4 Sacra Bona maribas non
adeunda Des. Tibullo, Insinua pmttauio Ovidio con questa frase Me Donne di non
pettinarsi alla pretenza^ degli uomini^ se non so» Mli i ìorq capelli fui
annunziato airimprovviso un giorno A una -donzalla; e torbida i non suoi Velò
capelli. Uo tal ro 88 or > ricopra La faccia alle nettiicbe, e questa^
infamia Fra le particele Nuore abbia soggiorno. Turpe è Tarmento senza corna, e
turpe Senza gramigna è il campo, Tarboscello Senza le foglie, e senza i crini
il ^apb» Non-vennero ad udire i miei precetti Semele, Leda ^ o la sidonia donna
Che via portò pel tnar fallace Toro, O la tua sposalo Menelao, cW chiedi Bene a
ragione, e che a ragion si tiene 11 Rapitor Trojano^Ecco una turba Di belle
donne e dì deformi a un tempo ( Ahi sèmpre il ben dal male è snperato ! ) Che
chiède i miei precetti, ma non tanto Cercan questi le belle, e men dell^rfe
Procurano rajoto. Han quelle in dota Beltade senza Parte assai possente. Quando
tranquillo è il mar, sicuro bessa^ Il nocchier dal lavoro, e mentre è gonfio Si
asside, e in opra pone ogni socConk). Rara è beltà che senza macchie Sia; Le
cela, e i vizj del tuo jcorpo ascondi Semeie figlia di Cadmo He di TeÒe
e.madre^ di Bacco, Leda figlia di Tindaro, e sorella di Ca- stare e Pollice,
Buropa figlia di Agenore He di Fenicia ove giace la città di Sidone, da cui
élla vieti detta Sidonia, furono dotate d’una tal bellezza, che innamorarono
vivamente lo stesso Giove, il quale non^ ebbe à vile di prender per esse le più
strane sem^ hianze. Queste con Elena mogUè 'di Menelaosi pro» ^ pongono qui dal
Poeta, come eiélnpi troppe rari dì: perfetta bellezza. Quanta più puoi'« Se di
statura breve Tu sei, t’assidi, onde seder non sembri Allor che in piedi stai.
Se oltre misura Però lo fo^si^ allor ti porca, e ascondi Con le vesti su’piedi
un tal difetto. Quelle che sono gracili e minute Debbon di grossi drappi
ornarsi, i quali Sciolti cader si lascin dalle spallo. Tocchi il suo corpo con
purpurea verga Chi è pallida ; e chi è nera abbia ricorso Al fario, pesce. Un
piò lungo e deforme Sottu candida alunda pgnor si celi, Nè secche gambe
.sciolgansi da lacci. È certo, gU onticfd aoéoano de* medicamenti, co* quali ti
coloravan la faccia ^, benché non d sappia di qual natura^ quelli si fossero .
Il belletto > che si usa pretentemente è composto di rosso e di biancone
sarà forse pià efficace di quel che adopra* vano le Daàte romane. Si è per
qualche, tempo im-^ piegata Cernita il magistero di Bismuto^ detto altrimenti
bianco di spanna com« quello, che avendo un leggiero color d’incarnato, era pià
analogo aHa pelle ; ma sì l’una che l’altro anneriscono e guastano la
carnagione, mentre tutte le calci metallici^ riprèndono una parte del loro
flogisto, e, si ripristinano Si è pertanto sostituita alla cerussa ed al
bismuto la pomata di spermàceti^e l’olio di mandorle dolci, unendovi una
porziànè di falco'biancò finissimo. Col talco bianco ùmilmente barico,della
parte coloranto de* fiori di Cqrt^mfi j a,,cui si aggiungono poche gocce di
olio di Beri, per renderlo pastoso è molle, si compone il roiso y che ancor
chiamasi-rosso di porto- gallo o roSso'vegetale. Il /arto pesce é il coccodrillo
y degl* interiori e della sterco del quote sh servivano i Homani e(f i Greci
per fare un composto atto a render bianca e splendida, lo pellé. X’Alauda b una
pelle moUissiuia, Tenue eoscm conviene ad alte spalici E se il petto sìk
turgida, il circondi Fascia, e lo stringa. Se le dità pin^ui^ E scabre T ùnghie
avrai, allor di rado Accompagna congesti i detti tuoi. Chi grave dalla bocca
esala oddte ' Digiuna mai non parli ^ e dalla bocca Deir uom stia lungi. Negri,
e troppo grandi Se i denti siéno, o in non belFordin natii Massimo il «iso
allora apporta danno. Chi ^1 crederiaMiC donne apprendon pure Le. maniere del
ti80,'e in qùesta parte Nuovo per lor procacciano òtnatoeùto. Non troppo-larga
apri la bocca, e brievi Sian le pozzette in ambedne le. gote, E le radiche
ognor copra de’denti L’estremità de’labbri, e non bisogna. Affaticar con
smoderato riso . Il fianco, mentre deve ancor nel riso. - Dar proprio, delle
donne urf dolce sùono'. V’ è pur chi in mille guise il volto- Con male acconce
risa*, ed altra credi Piangere allor che tutta allegra ride$ Quella tramanda
un, rauco suono ; e stride Cosi inamabilmente, che ^assembra ; Asìnella che
ragli, allor che intorue s 5 Alla macina gira.^E'do Ve l’arte ^ Non giugno ?
Coù decòro itnpajfan ) A lacrimare, e come, e qhandò sembra, ^ Loro opportune.
E che dirò di quelle. Che niegano agli accenti intera forma, E fan con studio
balbettar la linguaf ^ Credon che sia lìa grazia ancor nel viziò^. E
pronunciano mal varie paròle^ rrii E con arte studiata altre ne lasciano. A
tutto ciò, che ben giovar vi puote^ Ponete cura, e con femineo passo Imparate a
portare il corpo vostro^ Havvi nel portamento anco il decoro. Con cui si fan
fuggir, con cui si allettano Gii uomini ignoti. Muove questa il fianco Con
arte, ed ondeggiar lascia le gopne Air aure in preda, e stesi i piedi porta Con
maniera superba. Altra cammina Qual deir umbro marito la consorte. Rubiconda, e
con piede in dentro volto rapassi move smisurati •y in q^uesto Serbisi, e in
altro pur giusta misura» Rustici ha questa i moti, e troppo quella^ E molli e
ricercatk LMraa* parte Della spalla, e r estrema ancor del braccio Di nuda,
onde chi posto è al manco lato Veder la possa. -Hi special modo a voi Gioverà
che qual neve avete bianca Ina pelle. Quando questa io mira, sem-pr^ Sulla
spalla scoperta i bacci imprimo. Col dolce suon della canora voce Fermàr le
navi più spedite al corso Le Sirene* del mare iniqui mostri. Condanna OVIDIO
(si veda) a ragione come rozze le mogli degli Ultori popoli forti e a un tempo
stesso /«- voci f che abitarono in Italia sul monte Appennino, I>c Sìrerse
sono tre barbari mostri che dimorarono nel mar di Sicilia, Col suon lusinghiero
deWarmoniosa lor voce'allettavano queste in tal maniera i naviganti, che si
lasciavano essi predar facilmente. Ulisse per evitare un tanto pericolo, chiuse
con la cera ^^^cchie suoi compagni^ e si legò strettamente'^ M albero della
na^e ^da cui si disciolse dopo jia Udite qneste, se medesmo sciolse DalParbor
della nave, e con la cera Chiuse Ulisse accompagni ambe le orecchie. È
lusinghiero il canto . Le fanciulle Apprèndano a cantar ; la voce a molte Senza
bellezza conciliò gli affetti. Cantino quel che udirò ne’ marmorei Teatri f ed
or versi costrutti in metro Niliaco; e culta femina tenere Sappia per mio
giudizio or nella destra 11 plettro, ed or con l’altra man la cetra. Il tracio
Orfeo con la sua lira mosse Le fiere, i sassi, le paludi stigie, Ed il triforme
Cane . O della madre Giusto vendicatore al canto tuo Cortesi i sassi fabbricar’
le nlura. Benché sia muto, il pesce ( è nota al mondo Favola) al suon del
arionia lira sentito il dolce cànto di quelle . Le donne imparino dunque a cantare,se
ooglionsi conciliare, come dice Otfidio, P qmore degli uomini, E!ran famigliari
a* Romani le canzonette ame^ rose, e spesso lascile, ahe si cantavano in
Egitto, ove scorre il celebre fiume Nilo, Orfeo nato in Tracia da Apollo e da
Calilo • pe col suono armonioso della sua Lira fece sì che gli corressero
dietro per ascoltarlo, gli alberi, i sassi, i fiumi, e le beloe feroci: Quand*
egli intese la morte d* Euridice sua moglie, scese con la lira all* Infernot e
con quella intenerì talmente gli Dei infernali, che a lui la restituirono,
purché non ardisse di riguar-- darla prima d’uscir dall’Inferno, Non p9té l*
amo^ toso consorte obbedire a tal legge, e però ella dovè involarsi a suoi
sguardi subito ch^ ei la mirò Anfione figlio di Giove e d’Antiope indusse le
pietre col suon della Lira a fabbricar le mura della città 4i Tebe. Picesi
vendicator della madre, perchè. Si fe* pietoso . Anco a toccare impara Con Tana
e l’altra man le dolci corde Del Salterio ; son atte a cari scherzi Di
Callimaco a te smn noti i carmi. Quelli del eoo Poeta, e quei del tejo Vinoso
Vecchio. A te Saffo sia nota (Son più degli altri i carmi suoi lascivi) E quel
per cui viene ingannato il padre Del servo Oeta con la callid’ arte. Del tenero
Properzio i versi leggi, O quei di Gallo, o quei del buon Tibullo, O i velli
insigni per le bionde fila insieme fratello Leto la vendicò dall’ingiurie, che
recatale Ideo di lei marito y col trucidarlo nel letto y ove lo sorprese con
Dirce sua concubina y a cui pure tolse la vita. Atwne nacque in Metinna, e fu
im eccellente Po&^ ta lirico, e nel tempo medesimo un ricco mercante.
Ufosid alcuni suoi comùttadini dal desiderio di godere delle sue ricchezze
fissarono di gettarlo in mare, mentre egli se ne tornala alla patria. Accortosi
di ciò Arione cantò intrepidamente una canzonetta, ed un-' Delfino, allettato
da una sì dólce melodià, Vaccai^ se sulle sue spalle y e lo portò in Tanaro
promontorio della Laconia, Accenna ora Òoidio i Poeti che piacevano ai suoi
tempi, e per lo stile e per le materie galanti, come a* dì nostri piacciono
Ariosto, Passo, Guaritù, è Metastasio ec. Fiteta fiorì a* tempi d*Alessandro
Magno per li suoi' versi elio^afici, e dicesi eoo Poeta y perche Coo /if ia sua
patria. Anacreonte nacque in TeJo, e scrisse mol^ te canzoni veramente
leggiadre in onore del buon vino, delle donne y e del giovinetto Batillo.
Terenùo compose una commedia, in cui il padrone, ed il fratello sono ingannati
da Geta asti^^ to lor servitore. one Àttacino cantò ne* suoi versi la spe^
dizione in Coleo degU Argonauti. Il vello d* oro, che j ii 4 Che far fanesti, ó
Prisso ^ alla tua aaara Cantati da Varrone, q il pio Trojano Di coi non y’ha
nel Lazio opra più chiara. Ma forse un dì con 'questi andrà conginnto H nome
nostro, nè i miei scritti in Leta Saran dispersi/Dirà aldino: leggi, I culti
versi del maestro nostro^ Con cui poteo far dotti uomini c donne.^ Fra’suoi tre
libri che hanno infronte scritto II titolo d* amor 9 scegli que^ verai t Che
legger tu potrai con docil bocca Più mollemente ; oppur con ferma voco, Canta P
Eroìdi, ignota opera agli altri Ch’egli compieo. Ahi cosi piaccia aFebo^ Pel
corno a Bacco insigne/ ed allò Muse, Numi che son propizj a noi Poeti. Chi
dubitar potrà ch^ìo la fanciulla Non voglia al ballo istrutta, onde poi toltq
Il vino dalla mensa » ella le braccia Volga in composte ed ordinato moto?
Amansi i danzator che della scena Sonò spettacol, perchè san con arte: V
Saltare y e con decoro. Io mi vergogno Di doverla ammonir di tenui cose, _
questi ivi andarono a conquistare, fu funesto ai Elle sorella di Frisso y
perchè ella, come si è accennato y cadde miseramente in mare, mentre il Montone
ador^ no d* un tal vello la portava insiem col fratello ih Coleo,, Tl pio
Trojsno h, come è noto y Enea, sulle aùoni del quale ha scritto Virgilio quell*
aureo Poe» ma che porta il nome d* £aeidb. OVIDIO (si veda) fra l*altre sue
opere annovera ancora ire libri d* Elegie intitolati gli Amori, ed un libro -
intitolato V ^roidi, perchè comprende ventuno lettere amorose y che fa scrioère
scambievolmente dagli Eroi all’Eroine^ e dalfEroioe agli £roi. P’istruirla a
gettare or l’aliosso, £ a conoscer de’ dadi anco il valore. Or tre numeri
getti, ed ora accorta Pensi qual parte segua acconciamente E qual richieda.
Canta in finta guerra (5o) Muova i soldati, che da duo assalito Nemici uno
perisce. Il Re sorpreso Senza la sua compagna ^ si difenda Da se medesmo, e
f’emulo ritorni Per lo stesso seotier.' La tasca è aperta^ E ornai son sparse
le pulite palle; Quella che prendi sol muover tn dei. Ravvi un: gioco diviso in
tante parti (Sai Quanti numera mesi il luhric^anno. Breve tabella prende da
ogni parte (S3)- Tre tenni pietre, e il vincere consiste Nel disjpor queste in
una dritta Mille giochi vi SOI» che turpe fia A una donzella d* ignorar ; col
gioco Si può l’amore conciliar. Leggiera Fatica è appreodero a giocar ;
maggiore Opra é il compmrre allora i suoi costumi. Non sappum Diramente per
qual ragione si~ éovesse procurare tempi, in cui vivcóa Ovidio di gettar tre
numeri nel gioco d^ Dadi. 5 •S£r»/erÌjco»o questi versi al gioco degli Scacchi.
(Si) questo un gioco, di cui non possiam dare tucuna notula. Sembraci f che sia
questo il gioco, che r pure dell» Dama. Alludeu (d gioco del Filetto, che . or
gioeano' nule campagne i ragazzi. Così b decaduto un gioco - 0^ formava la
delizia delle Dame romane, e coi» aecaderanno ancor quelli che si hanno in
pregio a‘ dk nostri, ® ' Mentre s’applica al gioco, incanti siamo, E i
reconditi sensi alloc dell’ alma Facoiam palesi. Ci deforma il volto ^ j Il
cieco sdegno, e sono ognot col gioco Il desio del guadagno, le .pontese, » 11
sollecito duol, le stolte tìsse.^ j Rinfaccìansi i delitti ; di clamori * V
aere risuona, e in sno favor s’invocano Gl’ irati Dei. Non v’ è fede nel gioco
Il qual co’ voti non divìen secondo; Vidi le gote ognor molli di pianto: Da voi
che amate di piacere all’uomo, Giove tenga lontan questo delitto. Diè la pigra
natura allo fanciulle Silaili giochi ; ad altri pii sublimi S* applica l’ uom:
per lui sono il paleo» I dardi, 1 ’ armi, le veloci palle; E il cavallo
costretto a gire i^^no. Voi non acosf^il’-campo.o'ra gelata Vergin, nè voi
sulle sue placid’ onde j Porta il toscano fiume* Ah ! voi potete Gire all’
ombre pompeje, anzi vi giova 1 Quando i destrier del Sole ardono il capo H
Paleo i urto strumento fatta a guisa Jt trottola, eoi quale giocaoano i
fanciulli romani fa- tendalo con una sferza girare intorno. Nel Campo Marzio si
esercitavano » romani in tutti que’giuochi cU potevano «P^* renderli valorosi
guerrien. Era ivi ta Vergine dalla fanciulla che ne scopri la sorgente, ed in
quella si lavavano i giratori le di polvere e di sudore. Il Tevere e qui detto
fannie tascsno, perchè dall’Appennino la Toscana nel f<u-t il siSo corso
alla wta di tioma. Annoi, q. del fàh. I, ^ Alla vergin celeste. I sacri a Febo
i’alagi visitate ; egli sommerse In alto mar le paretonie navi. I monumenti
ancor» che fur costrutti» Dovete frequentar, da Ottavia e Livia Una suora del
Ehjce, altra consòrte, E quelli pur del valoroso Agrippa, Che ha cinto il capo
di navale onore. Della menfitica Iside agli altari Siate frequenti, ov^ ardesi
P incenso, E ne’luoghi cospicui a’tie teatri. Di caldo sangue le macchiate
arene Ite a mirare, e la prescritta meta. Rapido intorno a coi si volge il
cocchia. Quel che si cela ò ignoto, e ciò che è ignoto Nessun desio risveglia ;
è lungi il frutto Se manca il testimone a un bel sembiante. Benché nel canto
superi Tamira Dicé con OVIDIO (si veda) ancora VIRGILIO (si veda), che Apollo
nella guerra Azziaca prestò il suo soccorso ad Augu^ sto y il quale aveoagli
innalzato un ternpio nel pro^ prio palazzo . Apollo in conseguenr^a, ^Hcondo
questi poeti, sommerse le navi egiziane deste paretonie da Paretonio città
marittima d*Egitto, che Pompeo avem va armate contro d*Augusto. Ved^i l*annot,
8 e g del Libro /. Augusto decorò A grippa suo generò della Corona navale dopo
d^aver debellato Pompeo ^ ed innalzò al medesimo un portico y che fu chiamato
il Portico d’A^rippa. Annoi, li del Lib, /. Dice Sirabone che giacevano tre
superbi Teatri in vicinanza del Campa Marzio. Fu Tamira un poeta tragico che
ardì con la sua lira di provocare le stesse Muse ^ credendosi a quelle
superiore nella dolcezza del cantoma\dalle medesime fu vinto, ed in pena della'
sua arrogwiza gli furono tolti gli occhi. Ed Àmebeo, sarà priva d’ onor« L’
ignota cetra» Se di Coo il Pittore Vener ritratta non avesse^ immersa Sare^bbe
ancor nelle mailne spume. £ che ricercan maggiormente i sac^i Poeti che la fama
? E questo il fine Cui tendon tutte le fatiche nostre. Fur de’Numi e de'Re
delizia un giorno. 1 Poeti, ed immensi ottener premj I cori antichi* Venerando
allora, £ d’ una santa maestà ripieno Fu questo nome, ed ebbero sovente Larghe
ricchezze. Ennio che il suo natale Trasse ne’monti calabresi, degno Si fé’
d’esser unito al gran Scipione. (6i) Or giaccion senza onor Federe, e il nome
Ha d’inerte colui, che i sacri studj Cari alle Muse a coltivar s’accinge» Giova
cercar la fama, e chi d'Omero Contezza avrebbe, se in obblió sepolta Ateneo^
Plutarco ed altri parlano con somma lo^ de d*Amebeo ateniese, perchè sonava
eccellentemen- te la cetra, Apelle nativo di Coo dipinse Venere nel- ratto di
uscire dalVonde marine \ ed Augusto coliocè una tal pittura nel Tempio dì
Cesare suo Padre, ÉrUiio è tra i Latini un poeta che si può da- gV Italiani
paragonare a Dante. Ennius ingenio maximus, arte xudis. Owd. Trist, Ub. IL EL
I, Fu egli, nativo di Rudia in Calabria, e visse sommamente caro a Scipione
Affricano il vecchio, ed a molti altri insigni Cavalieri romani. Morì in età di
anni settanta, e dicevi che fu collocata la sua statua di marmo nel sepolcro
degli Scipioni. Cicerone ^ro Archia Peata, così parla di ciò: Garas fuit Af-
iiricano superiori ngster Ennius ; itaque in tepulcro ScipioQum putatur is esse
constitutus e marmore. L'Iliade o^ra imxnortal foase rimasa? ^ Chi Danae
conosoiata avr^a, se ascosa Posse étata mai sempre^ e «e già vecchia' Si
fo8a''ella lacchiusa eptro la torre? Utile è a voi, bèllé e vezzose donne, Di
porre oltre le soglie il vago piede< La lupa a molte agnello insidie tende
Per predarne una, e sopra molti augelli Vola 1 Augel dj Giove. Il volto mostri
Sposa_ leggiadra ^1 P®poI<>> o fra molti Un solo appéna rimai^rà sua
preda. In ogni loco ove si tro^, attenda Sempre a piacere; ed abi>ia special
cura Di sua bellezza. Puote in ogni incontro Sempre molto la sorte. Getta
l’amo, Chè in quel gor^o, ovemen lo pensi, il pé^co t alor SI trova . Erran
sovente indarno Per boschi montuosi i cani, e il cervo Cade fra’ lacci, mentre
uinn l’insegne. D Andromeda l^ata a un duro scoglio Il niTPf far, che a un uom
piacesse Il pianto sue ? ài cerca spesso un uomo Ne funerali del marito ; i
crini Sciolti portar conviene, e sian la gote Di lagrime bagnate . Ma fuggite
Gl, uomini che d’aver le ^mbra adorne hi fanno un pregio ; della lor beltade
Vanno superbi, e portano le chiome Con ricercata simmetria, disposte. Ciò che
dicono a vói, dissèro a m{llé; D’ uno in un altro àmot Tàgando vanno, Senza
restarsi in dmha "parte mai. Che d’un tal uomo effeminato, a cui Forse
molti non mancano amatori. Dee fer la donna ? 11 crederete appena. Ma credetelo
pur, Troja' àncor ferma Starebbé,se di Priamo avesse ih uso\ Posto gl*
insegnamenti . H'a^yi di quelli Che sotto il mantó di fallate amore
V’assalgono, e tiòèrcan coh‘ tai mezzi Vergognosi guadagni . Ntìn la chioma Per
il liquido nardo nitidissima ^ V'inganni, o breve fascia con cui stringa Le
pieghe della veste ; nè v’ illuda Toga che sia di tenue,fil tèssuta; O anel con
cui s’adorni uno o più. dita. Chi fra questi è più colto, è forse un ladro, E
d’ amore arde per la ricca veste. Gridano spesso le spogliate Donne; Il mio a
me rendi, e il suon per tutto il foro Rimbomba, e s’ode ; a me deh rendi il
mio. Tu da tuoi templi d’oro adorni miri Con le femmine d’ Appia indifferente,
Venere, queste lìti, Ancor vi sono Pessimi nomi'pei^'non dubbia, fama-. Priamo
iruinuava «’ tuoi Trojatti di rtrtdtr àoeva nella via appia tomo al quale
abitarono molte donne sacrifici che queste rendevano a quella lor lare,
consistevano in prestar liberante tl lor corpo alle voglie sfrtnatt desìi uomm
Iwrnnio E molte che rimasero ingjinnatp Da molti amanti, or d’ un egual delitto
Si trovan .ree. Dalle quetele altrui; Imparate a; temer le^ vostre ; chiusa,
Sia mai sempre la porta ad uom fi^lace. Donne ateniesi, uon prestate fade
(j66)‘ A Teseo ancor, che giuri In testimonio Come invocolli nn giorno, i Numi
invoca. Tu del delitto, oJDemofonte, erede. Di Teseo più non meriti credenza,
Perchè ingannasti Fillide . Se molto A te pròmetteran, loro prometti j Con
eguali parale . So di doni, Ti siano liberali, lor concedi I promessi piacer,
ma se gli nìeghi II dono ricevuto, ancor potrai. La fiamma estinguer deUa vìgil
Vesta, Rapir da’templi dTside gli arredi, E air uom porger T. aconito mischiato
Con la trita cicuta«tll mio desire, Mi spinge ora a ;fcenarmi, e: tu ritieni.
Musa, le brìglie: nè le mosse rote * Ti dian.terror» Tentino in prima il guado
Ov..Arte d-am. Teseo abbandoni Arianna in Nassa, Demofe^nte non serbò a Fillide
la premesti^ di ritornarsene a lei dentro due mesi, Con questi versi vuol
significare il poeta che è capace di commettere ogni sceUeratezza quella don~
na, che nega il favor suo a quegli uomini da* quali ha ricevuto de^ doni,
Riputavasi in fatti da* Romani un enorme delitto il rapire il fuoco custodito
dalle Vestali, o i .sacri arredi del tempio d’Iside; e da ogni nazione si è
creduto sempre colpevole colui che porge alVuQmo /^aconito con la cicuta, cioè
il vet^no. Xrli scritti fogli, e T inviate cifre Riceva accorta ancella .
Apprendi e vedi Dalle stesse parole che tu leggi, Se finga, o par se son
sinceri i prieghi. Dopo breve dimora ognor rispondi^ Mentre, se è bre;i^e, è
stimolo agli amanti. Deh non prometti al giovin che ti prega D’ esser docile
mai, ma in duri accenti Non.gli negar ciò che dimanda . Tema E speri a un
tempo^ e ognor che tu il licenzi Sia minore il timor, maggior la speme. Scrivi
culto parole e consuete, Che un famigliare stil più eh’ altro piace. Ah quante
volte arse per dólci note II cor di dubbio amante, e fu nociva Una barbara
lingua a bella Donna! Benché voi siate nell’onor perdute. Tutte le cure vostre
or son dirette A ingannate i Mariti . Idonea mano D’esperto giovin, di fidata
ancella Rechi le dolci lettere, e tai pegni Non sian fidati ad un novello
amante. Vidi ben spesso impallidir le donno Per tal timore, e vìvere i lor
giorni Miseramente in sehìavitudin dura. Perfido è quei ohe tali doni serba.
Che qual fulmine etnèo sono in sua mano. Si può tener, se al vero io non
m’appongo, Lungi la frode con la frode ognora; Contro gli armati impugnar 1 ’
armi, logge Nissuna vieta . A imprimer sulla carta S’accostumi la man diverse
cifre. Ah ! peran quelli contro cui vi deggio Avvertir di tal cose. In foglio
mondo La risposta si scriva, onde non sembri Da due mani vergato . Al suo
diletto Scriva la donna, .come un uòmo amante Scrive air amata » ed usi V uom V
opposto. Ma da lieve materia innalzar V alma Ora a me piace a più sublimi cose,
E le vele spiegar gonfie dal vento. Opra è del volto i rabidi trasporti Saper
frenar: candida pace all* nonio Convien come alle belve ira crudele. Si fan per
Tira tumide le guancie; Vengpn nere le vene, e inocchio splende Più truòemente
del gorgòueo ‘fòco. Vanne lungi da 'metromba importuna^ Disse’Pallade ^ allór
che il volto suo (*^0) Mirò )iel fiume . Se voi iii mezzo all’ ira Riguardate
lo specchio ^ alcuna appena liistinguére pbtm W figura. ' Nè dannosa a Voi
supérbr^^ facòià j TurgidJ il voltò ; có^ be^nigiii sguardi Deèsi a^es9ar 1 ’
amóre ‘J Odiahio ( e voi Già 1 fó^cre((efé che. ìie siete esperte) ‘ I fasti
inambderatl^e spesso chiude Deir odio 1 sómi taciturna faccia. / Guard^ ^uel
che ii mira, e ùi olle mente Sorrmi 'a^ueì cjhe rid^ e se à te un cenno §ia .
Gorgoni étart t^e mostri \^enimente orribili per ìaHesta circonddia di serpi, e
per Vocchio spaven^ tegole che ateoanò in: mezzo alla fronte . Chi fissava
occhi in faccia*'alle medesime, rimaneva di sasso, Pallàde / sécorido^alcuni y
gettò via la tromba, perdhè ^s’accorse chè ih sonarla si faceva troppo gòHf^ la
faccia. ‘ ' Con tai preludj il favcitilletlo Amor» Pose i rozzi da parte, e diè
di piglio A! dardi acuti della sua faretra. Vadan lungi da noi le donne meste;
Ajace ami Tecmessa t noi sol puote Tener ne’lacci suoi lemina allegra.Non fa
giammai che a voi porgessi preci, O Andromaca o Teome^sa, onde a me foste O r
una o Valtra amiche. Appéna posso Creder che in letto maritar giaceste, Quando,
a crederlo astretto io son da^iiglL Fprse ad Ajace la dolente sposa ‘ Avrà
detto: mia luce, e gli altri accenti, Cari agli uomin|^ tanto f £ chi mai
Vieta, Applicar gravi esempli a tenni cose, E di guerrier non paventare il
npmef Cento soldati a questo^ il Duce esperto Diè a regger cop la vite,|è a
quello cento Cavalieri, e lasciò'T altro in custodia ^ Delle l^andiere A; qual
vedete impresa Atti noi siamo ; e^nel suo posto'o^gntipo ^ Venga locato. Un
ricco a voi dia doni^ ' Vi sia propizi o, il Giudice, e ; il facondo ‘ Difenda
i dritti vostri .'|loi poeti, Donp possiam far solo di carmi. 3a più degli
altri amare il coro nostro; Andròniaca dopo ìa rnòrté ^&toré amato sud
sposo, r dopo V incendio di-Trofa-fpssssò for i rn i s uns nm ti alle nozze di
Pirro ^ e però vìsse con ^uosto/s^ssai malinconicà. Teemessa, moglie di Ajace,
er^ una schiava y e però, secondo Ovidio y. doveva aver sempre Vanirne occupato
da una grave, tristezza Da/ Comandante solevansi affidile^cento soldati al
Centurione il quale aveva per sua insegna U 9 ramo di vite. Uua grata beltà
cott ampie lodi Sappiamo celebirare, e va fainoso Dì Nemesi per noi, di Cinzia
il nome. E dove nasce, e dove muore il Sole Conobbero Licori., e chieggon molti
Chi sia Corinna nostra. Aggiungi a questo che son l’insidie ignote a’sacri
Vati, Che giova l’arte nostra a^ lor costumi. Kpa ambiziosa voglia, e non desio
D’aver ci punge. Noi sprezziamo il foro E son graditi a noi l’ombra ed il
letto. Facili amiamo ognor con certa fede, £ in vasto incendio, il nostro core
abbrucia. Con placid’arte docile T ingegno Facciamo, e ben s’adattano co nostri
Studj i postumi. A* Vati aonj, o donne. Siate indulgènti, che gl^inspira un
Nume,. E lor son fauste le pierie uive. Ci agita un Dio.; abbiam col Cièl
commercio;. Ci vien lo spirto dall* eteree sedi. Chiedere il pre^o è
scelléra^in grande Ad ottimo Poeta. Oh me infelice. Che scelle raggio tal piti
non si teme Dalle jauciulle • ALmen dissimulate, Nè vi fate veder tosto rapaci.
No, non cadrà nella prevista rete Un novèllo amatore . Il Cav^aliero Nemesi è
amata a celebrata da Tibullo, Cia zìa da Properzio, tdcori da Gallo, a Ovidio
ha^da^ to ne^ suoi versi alla propria amante il nome, di Corinna. Le Muse si
chiamavano le Dive pierie, 0 per^ chi abitarono nel monte Pierio in Tessaglia,
o perche vinsero e trasformarono in gazze le figlie di Pierio.Non reggerà T
indomito cavallo Al par di quello che già al freno è avvezzo* Nè lo stesso
sentier batter tu dei Per adescar la verde gìoventude, E le menti già stabili
per gli anni QuelP inesperto, che la prima volta Sotto si pone all’amorose
insegne. Che preda nuova nel tuo letto giacque. Te sol conobbe, e a te sia
unito ognora; Si cìnga d’ alte siepi una tal messe. Schiva d’aver rìvjaì;ta
vincerai, S’ei r amor suo con altra non divide; 1 regni e amor non vogliono
compagni. Quel che invecchiò nell’ amoroso agone. Con prudenza amerà, saprà
soffrire Ciò che invan soffrirla guerrier novello. Non frangerà le porte, e non
furente Fiamma v’ applicherà. Non dell’ amata Farà con 1’ unghie ingiuria al
delicato Volto ; e non straccerà della Fanciulla Le vesti, e non le proprie ; e
per dolore Non svellerassi i crini • Questi eccessi Convengon solo a’
Giovanetti acerbi Caldi per poca età, per troppo amore. Tranquillo ei soffrirà
la cruda piaga; Qual face inumidita a foco lento Abbrucìerassì, o quale in
giogo alpestre Fresco ramo reciso: è quest’amore Più certo, è quel più breve e
più fecondo. Con sollecita man cogliete i pomi Che fuggon. Tutto ormai s*
insegni; schiuse Son le porte al nemico ; e siate fide Mentre ingannate altrui.
Facil Donzella Puote mal conservare un lungo amore. Sla la ripulsa rara » e
venga sempre Da lieti scherzi accompagnata • Giaccia Alla porta nrosteso, alto
gridi: Porta crudele ; e molte cose umile Faccia 9 e molt^ altre minaccioso. Il
dolce Noi mal soffriam ; ci sana il succo amaro; Pere spesso la nave » e fausto
ha il vento. Ecco perchè non amansi le mogli; Seco stanno i mariti a grado loro.
Chiudi la porta 9 e in aspro suon TuBciero Gli dica f entrar non puoi ;
escluso, in seno Di lui per te si desterà l’amore. Deh riponete i rintuzzati
brandi; Con gli acuti si pugni, ch^ io con l’armi Mie già non temo d’ essere
assalito. Mentre ne^ lacci un amator novello Cade, gli fa sperar xhe del tuo
letto Solo godrà ; poscia il rivai conosca E i divisi piacer ; senza quest’
arte Amor illanguidisce • Il generoso Destrier,se venga dal suo career schiuso.
Corre velocemente, se il preceda Altri nel corso, o se lo segua . Estinto Ancor
che sembri l’amoroso foco Con nuova ingiuria si riaccende, ed io, Lo deggio
confessar, soltanto offeso Nutro r amor . Non troppo manifesta Sia la causa del
duolo ; e ansioso creda L’amante che maggior fia ancor l’offesa Di quello che
gli è noto ; ed or l’inciti L’aspra custodia di fallace servo, n geloso rigore
or del marito; E men grato il piacer senza contrasto Èeiichè tu sii di Taide
più. }asciya, Fingi timpri ; e ancor che per la porta Meglio il possa introdar,
fa eh’egli venga Dalla finestra, e nel tuo volto i segni Mostra di Donna da
timor sorpresa» Venga l’ancella frettolosa, e dica: Ah siam perduti 111 trepido
Garzone Allora ascondi; col timor si debbe Mischiar piacer sicuro, onde
1’apprezzi» Come il marito accorto e il vigli servo Si possano ingannare i’avea
taciuto Tema una Sposa il suo Consorte^ e viva Certa che altri la guarda ; è
ciò decente; Vuol ciò il padoi:, la legge, e F equitade. Chi soffrirà che
custodita sii Tu, che or la verga del Prétor redense? Odiose vuoi ingann^kT,
miei sacri carmi» T’ osservio puro occhi miglior di quei Ch’ebbe il guardiano
d’io, sii risoluta, £ tesserai l’inganno E puote invero Chi t’ ha in custodia a
te vietar che scriva Se non si vieta a te di gire al bagno? E se potrà, de’tuoi
segreti a parte, Terenzio da il nome di Taide ad una donna lasciva, che forma
la parte principale della sua Commedia intitolata /^Eunuco. Parla qui il poeta
delle donne schiave y che divenivano libere quando il Pretore aveva toccato al»
le medesime il capo con una vèrga detta yindiqta, e che occupavano nelle case
delle Matrone Romane unposto corrispondente a quello delle nostre Cameriere.
(Giunone diede, cento occhi ad A^go custode d'io, perchè potesse soddisfare
esattamente al suo incarico, ma il Dio Mercurio Pàìsdpì col suono del* la lira,
e gli recise la testa Recar V ancella i foglj ricoperti Nel caldo seno da una
larga fascia^ O nasconderli avvinti infra le gambe, O sotto i piedi f Se a tè
ciò il custode Vieti, P ancella porgerà le spalle Di carta invece, e porterà su
queste li^amorose tue cifre impresse. Un foglio Con fresco latte scrìtto
inganna 1’ occhio^ Con la polve l’aspergi del carbone, £ legger lo potrai • Del
paro inganna Lettera pura in cui sia stato scritto Con la punta del lino
inumidito, E le note ‘segrete incise porta . Intento Acrisie a custodir la
Figlia, In opra pose ogni più esatta cura: Eppur col suo delitto il fece eli’
avo. E che fa il Custode, se cotanti Sono in Roma Teatri, e se a suo grado Non
mancano a^dì nostri degli inchiostri sìrw^ patiei y che superano ne^loro
effetti la virtù degli antichi. Con un^ oncia di Ut or girlo y e cinque d^ace»
to stillato si fa un composto, che chiamasi aceto di Satarno. Con questo si
scrioe sulla carta bianca, e quando è asciutta non si scorgono in alcun modo i
caratteri. Si sparge quindi sopra la carta una piccola porzione d’un liquore
fatto con un’oncia d’or pigmento e due once di calce viva sciolta nell* acqua ;
éd allora compariscono i caratteri d*un coloraperfet’- tamente nero. Il calore
e la luce coloriscono altresì i caratteri scritti con alcune soluzioni
metalliche allungate con Vacqua, cioè con quella dell’oro, dell’argento, e
principalmenie del bismuto. La tintura di galla è pure ì^n inchiostro
simpatico, purché si faccia passar sopra di essa una qualunque marziale
dissoluzione, Annota (a del lÀb. Presente Può rimirar le corse de* destrieri f
Quando nel tempio d’Isi assister puote Al concerto de sistri, e p^pte in altri
Lochi ella gire » ove l’ingresso poi È vietato a’ compagni ? Se da’ templi
Della Dea Buona può fuggir gli sguardi D’ogni uom fuor di quel eh’ ella desia f
lyientre il Custode fuor del bagno serba Gli abbigliamenti della sua Padrona,
Se può mrtivo nel; sicuro bagno Celar 1* Aàotante ? Se ove 1’ uopo il chiegga
Per finto morbo giacerà 1’amica O se per vero, a lei cederà il letto? Quando la
chiave adultera col suo Medesmo nome cosa far c’insegna^ Nè sol la porta dà il
bramato ingresso? S’inganna pur con molto vin la cura Di vigile Custode, ancor
che colte Vengan l’uve nell’aspro ispano giogo. Vi sono ancora i farmaci che al
sonno Aggravan le pupille quasi vinte Dalla notte letea • Nè mal trattiene La
non ignara ancella l’importuno Con le tarde delìzie, end’ ella possa Star col
suo vago quanto più le piace. Che far tante parole, e cosi lievi .Gli uomini
non potevano interpénire nel Tenu» pio d'Iside, quando le donne celebravano le
sue fo» ste col serbarsi, almeno apparentemente, easte per molti giorni, Era
agli uomini vietato V ingresso nel Tem» pio della Dea Buona o sia di Cibele.
Denota il Poeta il vin poco generoso, che i Romani facevano venire dalia
Laleiania in gna provincia di Spagna Porger precetti, se con picciol dono Si
corrompe il Custode ? A me lo credi. Gli Uomini e i Dei guadagnansi co’doni, £
i doni placan pur lo stesso Giove. Che farà il saggio, se de’ doni ancora Gode
lo stolto ? Ricevuti i doni, Si farà muto anco il marito istesso. Per tutto
Panno guadagnar si debbo Una volta il Custode, e quelle mani Che un di vi
diede, vi darà sovente. Feci querela, e l’ho ferma in pensiero Che temer si
dovessero i compagni; Nè diretta soltanto all’ uomo è questa. Se credula sarai,
carpirann’altre 1 tuoi piaceri, e avrai cacciato il lepre Per esse. Quella, che
t’appresta il letto, E che officiósa a te concede il loco. Giacque più. volte,
a me lo credi, meco. Nè troppo bella sia l’ancella tua; Sovente meco fe’della
padrona Ella le veci. Ah ! dove ora mi lascio Io stolto trasportar ? Perchè
contrasto Col petto inerme contro il mio nemico, Ed io da me medesmo mi
tradiscof Come pigliar si debba al cacciatore L’auge! non mostra y ed a’ nocivi
cani Come inseguirla non la cerva insegna. L’ utll vostro mi piace: io
fedelmente Vi spiegherò i precetti, ed alle donne Di Lenno io porgerò contro il
mio fato Lè Donne di Lenno in una notte, uccimo i loro mariti, e però OVIDIO
(vedasi) sotto il nome di tende quelle che con gli uomini sono troppo severe Sà
Da me stesso il coltello. Ahi fate in modo ( Ardua non è V impresa ) che
crediamo D’ esser amati, mentre ogutìno crede Farcii ciò che desia. La donna
miri Con infocato sguardo il fido amante, Tragga dal sen sospir profondo, e
chiegga Perchè sì tardi venne. Aggiunga il pianto, E finga gelosia della
rivale, £ gli percota con le mani il volto. Tosto vivrà sicuro, e nel suo petto
Facile nutrirà per te pietade, E dirà fra se stesso: ah si consuma Questa per
me d*amore i e specialmente Se lo specchio consulta, e colto sia, D’innamorar
ei penserà le Dee. Ma a te chiunque sii, grave disturbo Non arrechin le
ingiurie, e sbigottita Non ti mostrar, della rivale il nome Allor che ascolti,
e facile credenza Non presta aMetti altrui. Ah quanto nuoccia Il creder
facilmente, a te lo dica Quello che adesso narrerò di Proori. Scorre vicino del
fiorito Imetto A’ be’ purpurei colli un sacro fonte. Di cui le sponde ognor fan
grate e molli Verdi cespnglj . Ivi non alta selva Procri figlia d’Eretteo Re
Atene per sos- petto di gelosia si portò segretamente nelle selve e né boschi
ad osservar Cefalo figlio di Mercurio, sua Sposo, ed ottimo cacciatore . Mentre
egli prendeva riposo in un ombroso colletto, essa celandosi dietro alle siepi,
mosse disgraziatamente le foghe degli alberi» Credè Cefalo che s’ascondesse fra
quelle una fiera y e però vi scagliò una saetta che gli uccise la sua dìletta
consorte. Un l^co forma; gli arboscelli l'erba Ricoprono, e un soave odore
esalano II rosmarin, l’alloro, il negro mirto. Non il tenne citiso, il colto
pino, E il fragil tamarisco ivi già manca^ E non folto di foglie il busso.
Scosse Da dolci aeffiretti « e da salubre Aura treman le foglie mnltiformi, £
le cime dell^ erbe. Ama la quiete Cefalo. Abbandonati i servi e i cani. Ivi
stanco il Garaon spesso s’adagia; Solea cantar: mobil auretta, vieni Onde
t’accolga nel mio seno, e allevj Il cocente càlor. Le intese voci Da un
malaccorto far recate intere Alle timide orecchie della moglie. Tosto che
Procri il nome adì dell’aura, Qnal fosse uua rivale, a terra cadde; Ammutolissi
pel dolor ; nel volto Impallidid^ come le tarde foglie. Se colte sieno dalle
viti l’uve. Sogliono impallidir dal verno offese, O i maturi cotogni, i di cui
rami Piegansi, o le corniole ancor non atte A* cibi nostri. Tosto che;
rinvenne. Straccia dal petto suo le tenui vesti. Con V unghie impiaga le
innocenti guance. Jndugie non conosce, e qual Baccante Mossa dal J'irso,
furibonda vola Per le pubbliche vie, sparsa i capelli. Ma già vicina, in una
valle lascia I suoi seguaci ; intrepida e furtiva Nel bosco con piè tacito
s’innoltra. QuaPera il tuo consiglio, allor che stolta O Procri, t’ascondeyi ;
e quale ardore NelPattonito séno allor ti corset Già tu pensavi di sorprender
l’aura Qualunque fosse, e di mirar co’proprj Occhj P infedeltà del tuo
Consorte. Quivi d’esser venuta ora Rincresce; Or la rivale di mirar ti piace,
Ed or ti penti opposti affetti in seno Destan tumulto. A creder la costringe (
Che quel che tenie ognor crede l’amante ) L’accusatore, il loco, il nome.
Quando SulP erbe vide impresse Torme umane, Balzolle il cor nel pauroso petto.
Già T ombre brevi aVea il meriggio strette, E in spazio egual giaceva l’Occaso
e l’Orto, Allor che di Mercurio il figlio Cefalo Dalle selve ritorna, e T
innainmate Guance delTacque di quel fonte asperge. O Procri, tu t’ascondi
ansiosa ; ei giace Sull’ erbe consuete, e vieni disse, ZefHro fucile, o molle
curetta vieni. Quando conobbe il dolce error del nome, AlT infelice il cor
tornò nel seno, E il primiero color sul volto suo. S’alza, movendo il corpo e
move ancora Le frondi circostanti ; e fra le braccia Va per gittarsi del marito
Mosso Credendo quel rumor da qualche belva, Imprudente la man slancia
sull’arco. Ed ave i dardi già nella sua destra. Infelice che fai? non è una
fiera, rw Deponi ì dardi.... Oimè la tua consorte Dalle saette tue giace
trafitta. Oh me infelice i eéclamà ; in petto amico Vibri il tuo dardOi o
sposo. Ah che fa sempre Da te questo trafitto! Io pria del tempo La morte trovo
« noa offesa almeno Da un rivale .^h farà ciò la terra, Ov* io riposi, a nae
cara e leggiera. Fra quest’aure ^ che odiai sol per un nome. Già spazierà il
mipspirto.. oh Dio!•• vacillo. Mi chiuda i lumi quella destra amata. Le membra moribonde
egli sostiene Nel mèsto seno, e la crudel ferita Con le lagrime asperge^ Ella
già spira, E la bocca del misero marito Lo spirto accoglie che dal petto
incauto Deir infelice, Porcri alfine eeala. Ma sul sentier si torni. lo debbo
adesso Agir palesemente, onde il naviglio Indebolito tocchi i porti suoi. Ch’io
ti scorga a conviti aspetti forse, e ch’io ti guidi in questo pure attendi? Non
t’affrettar; vien tardi, e già sia posta La lacerna i e decente i passi volgi.
Grato è a Vener Findugio, e molto giova. Benché bratta tu sii, sembrerai bella,
che coprirà la notte i tuoi difetti. Prendi co’ diti il cibo; havvi pur l’arte
nel modo di cibarsi; con l’immonda mano cerca non ungerti la faccia; nò mangiar
prima in casa, ma t’astieni dal farlo allor che avrai mangiato meno di quel che
il ventre tuo capè, e tu brami. Paride, se veduto avesse Elena cibarsi
avidamente, avria per lei nutrito sdegno, e detto fra se stesso: Ah fui ben
stolto nel rapir costei! Meno disdice a donna il ber, che Bacco £ di Venere il
figlio uniti vanno. Sì beva pur fin che il permetta il capo, E Talma e ì piè
siaxi atti a loro nfficj, nè raddoppiati sembrinti gli oggetti. Donna che
giaccia per soverchio vino, £ turpe, e di soffrir merta ogni assalto.
Sparecchiata la mensa, è gran periglio cadervi per il sonno; in mezzo a quésto
Molte si soglìon far cose impudiche. Io di stender più innanzi i^niiei precetti
Sento rossor. La figlia dionea Mi disse: utile è a noi quelPòpra ìstessa che in
se desta vergogna. A voi si sveli. Donne, ogni fatto. I varj atteggiamenti Noti
vi sien, che a tutte non conviene la medesma figura. Tu che sei pel volto
insigne, giacerai supina quella che ha bello il tergo, il tergo mostri. Recava
Melanion sulle sue spalle le gambe d’Atalanta; se sian belle. Si dee imitare allora
un tale esempio. Porti il cavai pìccola donna ; avéa statura immensa la tebana
sposa; Suirettoreo cavai però non giacque. Quella che può mostrare un lungo
fianco prema con le ginocchia il letto e alquante ritorca la cervice chi le
membra Ha giovanili, e senza macchie il seno mentre l’uomo sta in piedi, ella
corcata giaccia obliqua sul letto nè già turpe Credete scioglier qual Baccante
il crine. XeSpoifk tsUoa 4fl4rQmcé mQglk E ondeggiando i capei, piegate il
collo. Tu pure, a cui la pronuba Lucana macchiò il ventre di rugh, imita il
l’arte Quando combatte sul cavai fugace, Ben mille son di Venere le foggie, ma
la piò facil, di minor fatica È quella, in cui semisupina giace Sul destro
fianco, I Tripodi febei, O il cornigero Ammon cosa piò vera Non conteran di
quel che or la mia Musa- se Parte, che ci costa un lungo studio, merita fè,
credete, ancor che i carmi Nostri eccedano forse ogni credensà Venere abbrugi
le'midolle e l’ossa delle donne, e sia caro ad ambedue Lo scambievol piacer. Un
mormorio dolce, e parole lunsinghiere e grate non manchino, nè tacita si stia
in mezzo ascari scherzi unqua la donna, tu, cui d’amor negò natura il gaudio,
finger lo devi con mendace suono; Lucina è un nome di Giunone, la quale
presiede a matrìmon) ed apparti, i Greci dopo d^ a^er ointo i Persiani nella
battaglia di Platea, levarono una decima suUe spoglie per fare un Tripode d’oro
eonsagrato ad Apollo, Ateneo lo chiama il tripode della verità perchè si
ritrovavano verissimi gl’oracoli di questo dio, Ammone è un soprannome di
Giove, Quinto Curzio fa menzione del magnifico Tempio che gli fu edificato
nella Libia, La sua statua avea la figura d’a- liete, e però si chiama
cornigero Ammone. Dava essa de certi oracoli a chi la consultava, ed era a
guisa d’un automa, che crollava la testa per additare a sacerdoti la strada,
che dovean fare quando la portavano in processione. Ben infelice e miseranda
donna È quella, che a sa stessa ìnntil tragga unutile pèr l’uomo i giorni suoi.
Mentre e#ò fingerai, che non ti scofira Cerca, é col moto, fin con gl’occhi
stessi procura d’ingannar. Faccian palese un frequente respiro e dolci accenti
quello che giova. Termini novelli Sa la donna inventare in quegristanti quella,
che chiede dopo il gaudio i doni, non sia molesta almen con le preghiere. Nè il
pieno giorno introdurrai nel talamo chè giova a voi tener del corpo vostro
molte cose celate. Ha fine il gioco. È tempo ornai di scendere da’Oigni che sul
collo guidaro il nostro cocchio, e come fero i giovanetti un giorno, così la
turba delle donne scrìva sulle spoglie, Nason ci fu maestro. Nome compiuto:
Gianni Carchia. Keywords: ars amandi, erotica, il bello, la comunicazione dei
primitivi, Ovidio, arte amatoria. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di
H. P. Grice, “Grice e Carchia” – The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza,
Liguria, Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Cardano: la
ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale del valore civico di
Melanippo -- Caritone -- the tasteful Milanese maschi – prospero – scuola di
Pavia – filosofia pavese – filosofia lombarda -- filosofia italiana – Luigi
Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The Swimming-Pool Library (Pavia). Filosofo
pavese. Filosofo lombardo. Filosofo italiano. Pavia, Lombardia. Grice: “I’m
sure Cardano does not mean chance by aleae! It’s a Roman
notion, not an Arabic one!” Grice: “Cardano is a fascinating philosopher, but
then so is I [sic]!” Grice: “My faavourite philosophical topic by Cardano is
what he calls, well, his Italian translators call – recall that Italian
philosophy is written in the ‘learned’! – ‘gioco d’azzardo’, ludo alaea – which
is what conversation is – what is conversation is not a game of azzardo? But
Cardano also refutes all that Malcolm says about ‘dreaming,’ never mind Freud –
Italians are obsessed with a male sleeping: Rinaldo, Tasso, Botticelli
(“sleeping Mars”), not to mention the search for the Etruscan equivalent to
‘oneiron,’ the god – one of my most precious souvenirs is a little medal of
Cardano: not so much for his very Roman nose (charming as it is) but for the
backside, which represents Oneiron, indeed, aong the ladies!” Poliedrica
figura del Rinascimento. Riconosciuto come il fondatore della probabilità,
coefficiente binomiale e teorema binomial. A lui si deve anche la parziale
invenzione dell’ implicatura e della serratura, della sospensione cardanicache
permette il moto libero, ad esempio, delle bussole nautiche ed è alla base del
funzionamento del giroscopioe della riscoperta del giunto cardanico. Animos
scio esse immortales, modum nescio. So che l'anima è immortale, ma non ho capito
come funzioni la cosa. Figlio del nobile Fazio, un giurista esperto nella
matematica tanto da essere consultato da da Vinci su alcuni problemi di
geometria. Fazio conobbe a Milano la vedova, madre di tre figli, Chiara
Micheri (o de Micheriis) di cui s'innamora iniziando con questa, che vive con
la famiglia del defunto marito, una relazione clandestina che porta al
concepimento di un quarto figlio. Per non essere coinvolto nello scandalo prega
un suo amico di Pavia, il patrizio Isidoro Resta, affinché assumesse Chiara
come governante nella sua casa. Prima che lei partorisse, i suoi tre figli
morirono quasi contemporaneamente di peste e lei tenta allora di abortire,
senza riuscirci, del nascituro che ebbe il nome di Gerolamo e che lasciò scritto
nella sua autobiografia. Dopo che mia madre tenta senza risultato dei preparati
per abortire, vengo alla luce a Pavia. Come morto, infatti, sono nato, anzi
sono stato strappato al suo grembo, con i capelli neri e ricciuti. Il bambino contrasse
la peste dalla sua balia, che ne morì, e fu allevato da altre nutrici. E
trasferito a Milano dal padre che anda ad abitare con lui solo quando ha solo sette
anni, età in cui prese ad accompagnare il padre nei suoi viaggi d'affari.
Essendo delicato di salute, si ammala gravemente. Solo dopo una lunga
convalescenza poté riprendere a viaggiare con il padre dedicandosi nel
frattempo agli studi di filosofia, nei quali ha modo di eccedere per le sue
doti quando puo iscriversi a Pavia e Mantova per studiare filosofia, contrariamente
ai desideri del padre che avrebbe preferito avviarlo agli studi giuridici.
Lasciata Milano in preda alla peste e sconvolta dalla guerra francese, si
trasfere a Padova e si laurea a Venezia. E oggetto dell'astio che molti tutori
hanno nei confronti di quello tutee geniale ma dal carattere scontroso e talora
offensive. Sono poco rispettoso e non ho peli sulla lingua, soprattutto mi
lascio trascinare dall'ira, al punto che poi mi dispiace e me ne vergogno. Riconosco
che tra i miei vizi ce n'è uno molto grande e tutto particolare: quello di non
riuscire a trattenermianzi ne gododal dire a chi mi ascolta ciò che gli risulta
sgradevole udire. Persevero in questo difetto coscientemente e volontariamente,
pur sapendo quanti nemici da solo mi abbia procurator. Nel frattempo a Milano e
morto il padre che ha regolarizzato la sua convivenza sposando la madre del
filosofo. Non potendo tornare a Milano per l'epidemia e la guerra, prese
dimora a Piove di Sacco. Esercita la sua professione a Gallarate. Ottenne
la cattedra per l'insegnamento della filosofia presso le scuole Piattine di
Milano, dove aveva insegnato anche il padre. La sua fama di esperto dottore si
accrebbe per aver risanato alcuni membri della famiglia Borromeo. Dovette
rifiutare alcuni incarichi di prestigio perché non retribuiti fino a quando e ammesso
nel Collegio dei medici di Milano. Accetta di ricoprire la cattedra di
filosofia a Pavia, rifiutando le offerte che gli venivano reiterate dal papa Paolo
III. Cura, con esiti positivi, l'arcivescovo di Edimburgo John Hamilton, malato
d'asma. Intuì probabilmente la natura allergica della malattia proibendo a
Hamilton di usare cuscini e materassi di piume. Per aumentare la sua fama volle
fare l'oroscopo all'arcivescovo e al re, e lesse nelle stelle un futuro radioso
per entrambi. Hamilton fu impiccato quasi subito dai riformatori. Il re muore
di tubercolosi. Rifiuta le prestigiose e ben retribuite offerte del re di
Francia e della regina di Scozia. Colpito da un doloroso avvenimento
riguardante il figlio Giovanni Battista, medico anche lui, che, nonostante gli
avvertimenti del padre, aveva voluto sposare una donna povera e di cattivi
costume. Per necessità economiche il figlio coabita dai parenti della moglie
avviando una convivenza caratterizzata dalla nascita successiva di tre figli e
da continui litigi dovuti anche alle infedeltà della moglie che egli decise di
uccidere, con la complicità di una serva, facendole mangiare una focaccia
avvelenata con l'arsenico. Arrestato subito per uxoricidio, il figlio confessa
il delitto e dopo un veloce processo, nonostante la difesa con tutti i mezzi
messa in atto dal padre, fu condannato alla decapitazione. Gerolamo, convinto
che la durezza della condanna fosse dovuta all'invidia dei suoi colleghi, per
sfuggire alle malevole voci che lo accusavano di intrattenere rapporti illeciti
con i suoi tutee, si trasfere a Bologna. Venne ulteriormente amareggiato dalla
condotta scapestrata del figlio Aldo che lo diffama per tutta la città e che
arriva a derubarlo così che il padre dovette denunciarlo alle autorità che
espulsero il figlio dal territorio bolognese. A questa disgrazia si aggiunse
inaspettata la notizia che si stava preparando contro di lui un'accusa di
eresia tanto che il cardinale Giovanni Morone gli consigliò di lasciare il
pubblico insegnamento della filosofia. Questa misura prudenziale non valse però
a salvare Gerolamo che fu arrestato per eresia assieme al suo tutee Rodolfo
Silvestri che non volle abbandonare il tutore. Non si conoscono le accuse
che gli erano rivolte dall'Inquisizione. Tuttavia si era distinto per una certa
imprudenza nei confronti della Chiesa, governata dal severo Papa Pio V, per
aver compilato un oroscopo di Gesù, la cui vita così sarebbe stata decisa dalle
stelle, scritto l'encomio di Nerone, persecutore dei cristiani, e soprattutto
per i suoi confidenziali rapporti con i circoli protestanti frequentati dal suo
tuteei, dal genero e dall'editore e tipografo dei suoi libri. Nonostante le
testimonianze a suo favore di quasi tutti i suoi tutee, C. fu messo in carcere
e poi agli arresti domiciliari sino a quando la Sacra Congregazione tramite
l'inquisitore di Bologna gli impose la professione dell'abiura prima in forma
grave (de vehementi) coram populo e successivamente in forma meno infamante (coram
congregationem). Si sottopose docilmente alla abiura promettendo in una
lettera a papa Pio V di non insegnare più pubblicamente filosofia (la cattedra
all'università gli era stata intanto tolta) e di non pubblicare altre
opere. Lasciata Bologna Cardano si trasfere, sotto la diretta protezione
di Pio V, a Roma dove fu ben accolto ma gli fu negata una pensione che gli fu
invece assegnata da Gregorio XIII che era stato suo tutee a Bologna..E ammesso
al Collegio romano. Si dedica alla composizione della sua autobiografia De vita
propria. Il punto focale della sua filosofia è il concetto rinascimentale di “uomo
universale" che dà alla sua ricerca della verità un contenuto
enciclopedico. Scrive più di duecento opere che solo in parte furono pubblicate
nel XVI secolo e che, altrettanto parzialmente, confluirono nei dieci volumi della
monumentale “Opera omnia” dove si trattano temi di metafisica, omosessualita,
mascolinita, il machio, il maschile, la medicina, scienze naturali, matematica,
astronomia, scienze occulte, tecnologia. Egli, che si occupa anche della
interpretazione dei sogni, della chiromanzia, della numerologia, del
paranormale rende difficile distinguere nella sua filosofia il contenuti
moderno del sapere dalle tradizioni metafisiche e magiche del passato. Vuole
arrivare a una sistemazione unitaria della molteplicità dei saperi così che la
nostra incerta conoscenza eviterebbe la confusione se potesse discendere
dall'uno ai molti. Ma questo obiettivo, di origine neo-platonica, sfugge però
all'uomo il quale allora è preferibile che occupi il suo intelletto in quei
campi dove riesce, quasi come un dio creatore o ‘genitore’ – o ingegnero, a
fare le cose. Questo avviene nell’aritmetica che si incarna nell'esperienza in
un rapporto astratto-concreto la cui definizione ancora non è in grado di
elaborare Dopo aver analizzato nel “De subtilitate” i molteplici principi
delle cose naturali e artificiali, si rivolge allo studio di tutto l'universo e
delle sue parti (De rerum varietate), che concepisce come legate da sim-patia
(attrazione) e anti-patia (repulsione) fra gli astri e l'uomo) e connessioni
che consentono al filosofo, che conosce il linguaggio della natura e gli
effetti degli influssi astrali sulla vita sessuale umana, di compiere quei
"miracoli naturali" che sono le magie, di elaborare previsioni
astrologiche e di stendere gli oroscopi delle religioni come quello dedicato a
Cristo. Il contributo in matematica Noto soprattutto per i suoi
contributi all'aritmetica, pubblica le soluzioni dell'equazione cubica e
dell'equazione quartica nella sua “Ars magna”. Parte della soluzione
dell'equazione cubica gli era stata comunicata da Tartaglia. Successivamente
questi sostenne che C. aveva giurato di non renderla pubblica e di rispettarla
come di sua origine. Si avvia così una disputa che dura un decennio. C.
sostenne di averne pubblicato il testo solo quando era venuto a sapere che il
Tartaglia avrebbe appreso la soluzione dalla voce dal bolognese Scipione del
Ferro. La soluzione di Tartaglia, pur essendo successiva a quella di Scipione
Dal Ferro (comunque mai pubblicata), risulta essere indipendente da questa. La
soluzione della equazione cubica è detta comunque di C.-Tartaglia. L'equazione
quartica venne invece risolta da Lodovico Ferrari, un tutee di C.. Nella
prefazione dell'“Ars Magna” vengono accreditati sia Tartaglia che Ferrari. Nei
suoi sviluppi delle soluzioni occasionalmente si serve del concetto di numero
complesso, ma senza riconoscerne l'importanza come invece saprà fare Bombelli. Nell'ambito
della scienza medica, l'esempio di Vesalio, che negli stessi anni aveva
contestato l'anatomia galenica, spinse C. a definire Galeno un cattivo
interprete di Ippocrate. Le sue critiche a Galeno erano comunque presentate
come parte integrante di un tentativo di recuperare una tradizione ancora più
antica e, si presumeva, più autentica. Fu il primo a descrivere la febbre
tifoide. Venne invitato in Scozia a curare l'Arcivescovo di Sant'Andrea che
soffe di asma probabilmente d'origine allergica. Seguendo i precetti di
Maimonide riusce a guarirlo utilizzando delle cure modernissime per l'epoca:
eliminare piume e polvere e mantenere una dieta controllata. Al ritorno dalla
Scozia si ferma a Londra, dove incontrò il re d'Inghilterra per il quale
redasse un oroscopo secondo il quale prospetta Edoardo VI una lunga vita
seppure turbata da alcune malattie. La sua fama di si diffuse in Inghilterra
tanto da interessare Shakespeare che nella "Tempesta" rappresenta un
personaggio molto simile a C. ed inoltre una prova della sua perdurante
popolarità può essere vista nel fatto che un’edizione del suo ‘De Consolatione’
è proprio il libro che Amleto tiene in mano quando recita il suo celeberrimo
monologo ‘Essere o non essere’. De subtilitate e il libro che Amleto tiene in
mano all'inizio del secondo atto, quando Polonio gli domanda cosa stia leggendo
e lui risponde: "parole, parole, parole". Progetta inoltre svariati
meccanismi tra i quali: la serratura a combinazione; la sospensione
cardanica, consistente in tre anelli concentrici collegati da snodi, in grado
di ospitare una bussola o un giroscopio, garantendo la libertà di movimento
dello strumento; il giunto cardanico, dispositivo che consente di trasmettere
un moto rotatorio da un asse a un altro di diverso orientamento e viene tuttora
usato in milioni di veicoli. Ma pare fosse già conosciuto, anche se porta il
suo nome perché appare nella sua opera De Rerum Varietate in una illustrazione navale. L'invenzione di
questo tipo di giunto in realtà risale almeno al III secolo a.C., ad opera di
scienziati greci come Filone di Bisanzio, che nella sua opera Belopoiika lo
descrive chiaramente. Egli dette svariati contributi anche all'idrodinamica. Sostene
l'impossibilità del moto perpetuo, con l'eccezione dei corpi celesti. Pubblica
anche due opere enciclopediche di scienze naturali che contengono un'ampia
varietà di invenzioni, fatti ed enunciati afferenti all'occultismo e alla
superstizione: il De Subtilitate e successivamente il De Varietate. Introdusse
la griglia cardanica, un procedimento crittografico.A Cardano è attribuito
anche il gioco rompicapo descritto nel De subtilitate, ma probabilmente
risalente a un periodo più antico, chiamato Gli anelli di C.. Altre opere: Della
sua vita avventurosa e molto travagliata, rimane testimonianza nella sua
autobiografia. Ebbe spesso problemi di denaro e per cavarsela si dedicò ai giochi
d'azzardo per i quali ha una vera passione di cui si pente. Così ho dilapidato
contemporaneamente la mia reputazione, il mio tempo e il mio denaro. (zeugma –
segnato da ‘dilapidare’ – denaro, dilapidare il suo tempo, dilapidare la sua
reputazione. Pubblica un saggio sulle probabilità nel gioco, “De ludo aleae”
che contiene la prima trattazione sistematica della probabilità, insieme a una
sezione dedicata a metodi per barare efficacemente. Oltre alla produzione
dialettica, di carattere più strettamente filosofico sono invece il De
subtilitate e il De rerum varietate, ampie raccolte delle sue osservazioni
empiriche e delle sue speculazioni occultistiche. Della sua produzione
filosofica sterminata possono considerarsi come le opere più importanti:
De malo recentiorum medicorum usu libellus, Venezia (medicina). Practica
arithmetice et mensurandi singularis, Milano. Artis magnae sive de regulis
algebraicis liber unus (conosciuta anche come Ars magna), Nuremberg. De
immortalitate. Opus novum de proportionibus. Contradicentium medicorum. De
subtilitate rerum, Norimberga, editore Johann Petreius (fenomeni naturali). De
libris propriis, De restitutione temporum et motuum coelestium; De duodecim
geniturarum -- commento astrologico a dodici nascite illustri. De rerum
varietate, Basilea, editore Heinrich Petri. Fenomeni naturali. De signo. De
causis, signis, ac locis Morborum. Bologna. Opus novum de proportionibus
numerorum, motuum, ponderum, sonorum, aliarumque rerum mensurandarum. Item de
aliza regula, Basilea (matematica). De vita propria. Proxeneta (politica).
Metoscopia libris tredecim, et octingentis faciei humanae eiconibus
complexa, Liber de ludo aleae, postumo (probabilità). Le sue opere vennero
raccolte e pubblicate a Lione in 10
volumi. L’Encomio di Nerone. A lui è dedicato il cratere lunare Cardano e
un asteroide. È intitolato a lui l'Istituto "G. C." della sua città natale, nel
cui cortile interno è posta una scultura che rappresenta il giunto cardanico,
nonché infine l'omonimo collegio universitario pavese. La blockchain
"Cardano" (ADA) prende il suo nome, in quanto basata su un approccio
scientifico e matematico. Della mia vita. Somniorum synesiorum omnis generis
insomnia explicantes (Basilea). tti del Convegno, Castello Visconti di San
Vito, Somma Lombardo, Varese ed. Cardano); Università Bocconi. Equazione di
terzo grado" Il Rinascimento. Omeopatia
e allergie, Tecniche Nuove); Cardano, Edizioni Cardano, Il Prospero della
"Tempesta” somiglia tanto a Cardano
in Corriere. La tecnologia scientifica, in La rivoluzione dimenticata: il
pensiero scientifico greco e la scienza moderna, Feltrinelli Editore); Il libro
della mia vita, Cerebro editore); Della mia vita, Alfonso Ingegno, Serra e Riva
editori, Milano). La formula segreta. Il duello matematico che infiammò
l'Italia del Rinascimento. ileae, per Ludouicum Lucium); “De propria vita”
(Milano, Sonzogno). Lugduni, sumptibus Ioannis Antonii Huguetan et Marci
Antonii Ravaud. Aforismi (Milano, Xenia). Palingenesi. Dizionario biografico
degli italiani. Il filosofo quantistico. L’avventure di Cardano, filosofo e
giocatore d'azzardo (Bollati Boringhieri, Torino Edizione); “La mia vita” (Milano,
Luni). Che sfortuna essere un genio. Indice delle Opera omnia Volume
1 Frontespizio Lettera dedicatoria Praefatio Vita
C. per Gabrielem Naudaeum Testimonia Elenchus
generalis Index librorum tomi primi Previlege du roy 1De
vita propria. De libris propriis. De Socratis studio. Oratio ad I. Alciatum
Cardinalem sive Tricipitis Geryonis aut Cerberi canis. Actio in Thessalicum
medicum. Neronis encomium. Podagrae encomium. Mnemosynon. De
orthographia De ludo aleae De uno Hyperchen. Dialectica Contradictiones
logicae Norma vitae consarcinata, sacra vocata Proxeneta De
praeceptis ad filios De optimo vitae genere De sapientia De
summo bono De consolatione Dialogus Hieronymi Cardani et Facii C.
ipsius patris Dialogus Antigorgias seu de recta vivendi ratione Dialogus
Tetim seu de humanis consiliis Dialogus Guglielmus seu de morte De minimis
et propinquis Hymnus seu canticum ad Deum De utilitate ex adversis
capienda De natura Theonoston seu de tranquilitate Theonoston
seu de vita producenda Theonoston seu de animi
immortalitate Theonoston seu de contemplatione Theonoston seu
hyperboraeorum historia De immortalitate animorum De secretis De
gemmis et coloribus De aqua De vitali aqua seu de aethere De
aceti natura Problemata Se la qualità può trapassare di subbietto in
subbietto Discorso del vacuo De fulgure De rerum varietate De
subtilitate In calumniatorem librorum de subtilitate (Archivio) Indice
rerum De numerorum proprietatibus Practica arithmeticae Libellus qui
dicitur, Computus minor Ars magna Ars magna arithmeticae De
aliza regula Sermo de plus et minus Geometriae
encomium Exaereton mathematicorum De proportionibus Operatione
della linea Della natura de principii et regole musicali De
restitutione temporum et motuum coelestium De providentia ex anni
constitutione Aphorismorum astronomicorum segmenta septem In Cl.
Ptolemaei de astrorum iudiciis De septem erraticarum stellarum
qualitatibus atque viribus. De iudiciis geniturarum De exemplis centum
geniturarum Geniturarum exempla De interrogationibus De
revolutionibus De supplemento almanach Somniorum
synesiorum Astrologiae encomium Medicinae encomium De sanitate
tuenda Contradicentium medicorum De usu ciborum De causis,
signis ac locis morborum De urinis Ars curandi parva De methodo
medendi De cina radice De sarza parilia Disputationes per
epistolas liber unus De venenis In librum Hippocratis de alimento
commentaria In librum Hippocratis de aere, aquis et locis
commentaria In septem aphorismorum Hippocratis commentaria In Hippocratis
coi prognostica commentaria In librum Hippocratis de septimestri partu
commentaria Examen aegrorum Hippocratis Consilia De
dentibus De rationali curandi ratione De facultatibus
medicamentorum De morbo regio De morbis articularibus Floridorum
libri sive commentarii in Principem Hasen Avicenna Vita Ludovici
Ferrarii Vita Andreae Alciati De arcanis aeternitatis (Archivio)
Politices seu Moralium liber unus Elementa Graeca inventione De
naturalibus viribus De musica Artis arithmeticae tractatus de
integris (Archivio) 10.8Expositio Anatomiae Mundini In libros Hippocratis
de victu in acutis commentariaIn libros epidemiorum Hippocratis
commentaria De epilepsia De apoplexia De humanis civilibus
successionibus (Paralipomena) De humana perfectione
(Paralipomena) Peri thaumason seu de admirandis Paralipomena De
dubiis naturalibus (Paralipomena) De rebus factis raris et artificiis humana compositione naturalium De mirabilibus
morbis et symptomatibus (Paralipomena) De astrorum et temporum ratione et
divisionibus Paralipomena De mathematicis quaesitis Paralipomena Historiae
lapidum, metallicorum et metallorum (Paralipomena) Historiae animalium
Historiae plantarum De anima De dubiis ex historiis (Paralipomena) De
clarorum virorum vita et libris (Paralipomena) De hominum antiquorum illustrium
iudicio. De usu hominum et dignotione eorum, tum cura et errore. De
sapiente (Paralipomena. De vita propria.
De libris propriis. De Socratis studio. Oratio ad I. Alciatum Cardinalem sive
Tricipitis Geryonis aut Cerberi canis. Actio in
Thessalicum medicum. Neronis encomium. Podagrae encomium. Mnemosynon. De
orthographia. De ludo aleae. De uno. Hyperchen. Dialectica. Contradictiones
logicae. Norma vitae consarcinata, sacra vocata. Proxeneta. De praeceptis ad
filios. De optimo vitae genere. De sapientia. De summo bono. De consolatione. Dialogus Hieronymi Cardani et Facii Cardani
ipsius patris. Dialogus Antigorgias seu de recta vivendi ratione. Dialogus
Tetim seu de humanis consiliis. Dialogus Guglielmus seu de morte. De minimis et
propinquis. Hymnus seu canticum ad Deum. De utilitate ex adversis capienda. De
natura. Theonoston seu de tranquilitate. Theonoston seu de vita producenda.
Theonoston seu de animi immortalitate. Theonoston seu de contemplatione.
Theonoston seu hyperboraeorum historia. De immortalitate animorum. De secretis.
De gemmis et coloribus. De aqua. De vitali aqua seu de
aethere. De aceti natura. Problemata. Se la qualità può trapassare di
subbietto in subbietto. Del vacuo. De fulgure. De rerum varietate. De
subtilitate. In calumniatorem librorum de subtilitate. De numerorum
proprietatibus. Practica arithmeticae. Libellus qui dicitur, Computus minor.
Ars magna. Ars magna arithmeticae. De aliza regula. Sermo de plus et minus.
Geometriae encomium. Exaereton mathematicorum. De proportionibus. Operatione
della linea. Della natura de principii et regole musicali. De restitutione
temporum et motuum coelestium. De providentia ex anni constitutione.
Aphorismorum astronomicorum segmenta septem. In Cl. Ptolemaei de astrorum
iudiciis. De septem erraticarum stellarum qualitatibus atque viribus. De
iudiciis geniturarum. De exemplis centum geniturarum. Geniturarum exempla. De interrogationibus. De revolutionibus. De
supplemento almanach. Somniorum synesiorum. Astrologiae encomium. Medicinae
encomium. De sanitate tuenda. Contradicentium medicorum. De usu ciborum. De
causis, signis ac locis morborum. De urinis. Ars curandi parva. De methodo
medendi. De cina radice. De sarza parilia. Disputationes per epistolas. De
venenis. In librum Hippocratis de alimento commentaria. In librum Hippocratis
de aere, aquis et locis commentaria. In septem aphorismorum Hippocratis
commentaria. In
Hippocratis coi prognostica commentaria. In librum Hippocratis de septimestri
partu commentaria. Examen XXII. aegrorum Hippocratis. Consilia. De dentibus. De
rationali curandi ratione. De facultatibus medicamentorum. De morbo regio. De
morbis articularibus. Floridorum libri sive commentarii in Principem Hasen
(Avicenna). Vita Ludovici Ferrarii. Vita Andreae Alciati. De arcanis
aeternitatis. Politices seu Moralium. Elementa Graeca. De inventione. De
naturalibus viribus. De musica. Artis arithmeticae tractatus de integris. Expositio Anatomiae Mundini. In libros Hippocratis de victu in acutis
commentaria. In libros epidemiorum Hippocratis commentaria. De epilepsia. De
apoplexia. Paralipomena. De humanis civilibus successionibus. De
humana perfectione. Peri thaumason seu de admirandis. De dubiis naturalibus. De
rebus factis raris et artificiis. De humana compositione naturalium. De
mirabilibus morbis et symptomatibus. De astrorum et temporum ratione et
divisionibus. De mathematicis quaesitis. Historiae lapidum, metallicorum et
metallorum. Historiae animalium. Historiae plantarum. De anima. De dubiis ex
historiis. De clarorum virorum vita et libris. De hominum antiquorum illustrium
iudicio. De usu hominum et dignotione eorum, tum cura et errore. De sapiente. Melanippus
and Chariton Italy Greek athletes Lovers separator. Hieronymus the peripatetic says that the loves of youths used to be much
encouraged, for this reason, that the vigour of the young and their close
agreement in comradeship have led to the overthrow of many a tyranny. For in
the presence of his favorite a lover would rather endure anything than earn the
name of coward; a thing which was proved in practice by the Sacred Band,
established at Thebes under Epaminondas; as well as by the death of the
Pisistratid, which was brought about by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. "And
at Agrigentum in Sicily the same was shown by the mutual love of Chariton and
Melanippus - of whom Melanippus was the younger beloved, as Heraclides of
Pontus tells in his Treatise on Love. For these two having been accused of
plotting against Phalaris, and being put to torture in order to force them to
betray their accomplices, not only did not tell, but even compelled Phalaris to
such pity of their tortures that he released them with many words of
praise. Whereupon Apollo, pleased at his conduct, granted to Phalaris a
respite from death; and declared the same to the men who inquired of the
Pythian priestess how they might best attack him. He also gave an oracular
saying concerning Chariton - 'Blessed indeed was Chariton and Melanippus,
Pioneers of Godhead, and of mortals the one most beloved. M/M: Chariton and
Melanippus, Blessed Pair: Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae. Like the Athenian couple
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the couple Melanippus and Chariton are also seen as
symbols of political freedom. Felix et Chariton et Melanippus
erat, mortalium genti auctores coelestis amoris. εὐδαίμων Χαρίτων καὶ Μελάνιππος ἔφυ, θείας ἁγητῆρες ἐφαμερίοις φιλότατος. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae; Tr. into Latin by Iohannes
Schweighaeuser Chariton et Melanippus were blessed; Pinnacle of holy love
on
earth. ATHENAEUS MAP: Name: Athenaeus Works: Deipnosophists
REGION 4 Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western
Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern
Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans BIO:
Timeline: Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in Naucratis (modern Egypt)
during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume work, the Deipnosophists,
are invaluable for the amount of quotations they preserve of otherwise lost
authors, including the poetry of Sappho. ROMAN GREEK LITERATURE
ARCHAIC; GOLDEN AGE; HELLENISTIC; ROMAN; POST CONSTANTINOPLE; BYZANTINE:M/M:
Melanippus and Chariton, Two Lovers of Freedom Athenaeus, Deip. Like the Athenian couple Harmodius and
Aristogeiton, the couple Melanippus and Chariton are also seen as symbols of
political freedom. ut ait Heraclides Ponticus in libro De Amatoriis. Hi
[Melanippus et Chariton] igitur deprehensi insidias struxisse Phalaridi, et tormentis
subiecti quo coniuratos denunciare cogerentur, non modo non denuntiarunt, sed
etiam Phalarin ipsum ad misericordiam tormentorum commoverunt, ut plurimum
collaudatos dimitteret. ὥς φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἐρωτικῶν, οὗτοι φανέντες ἐπιβουλεύοντες Φαλάριδι καὶ βασανιζόμεναι ἀναγκαζόμενοί τε λέγειν τοὺς συνειδότας οὐ μόνον οὐ κατεῖπον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Φάλαριν αὐτὸν εἰς ἔλεον τῶν βασάνων ἤγαγον, ὡς ἀπολῦσαι αὐτοὺς πολλὰ ἐπαινέσαντα. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae; Tr. in to Latin by Iohannes
Schweighaeuser. According to The Lovers by Heraclides of Pontus, [Melanippus
and Chariton] were caught plotting against Phalaris. Even when they were
tortured to provide the names of their accomplices, they refused. Moreover,
their plight moved Phalaris’ sympathy to such an extent that he praised them
and released them. ATHENAEUS MAP: Name:
Athenaeus Works: Deipnosophists REGION 4 Region 1:
Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa;
Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the
Balkans BIO: Timeline: Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in
Naucratis (modern Egypt) during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume
work, the Deipnosophists, are invaluable for the amount of quotations they
preserve of otherwise lost authors, including the poetry of Sappho. ROMAN
GREEK LITERATURE ARCHAIC; GOLDEN AGE; HELLENISTIC; ROMAN; POST CONSTANTINOPLE;
BYZANTINE. KrisArmodio,
che viene riparato dal braccio sinistro del compagno più adulto. Quel gesto
inavvertito o solo genericamente descritto dalle letture critiche, tese più che
altro alla considerazione dei principali contenuti politico-encomiastici del
gruppo si fa segno leggibile invece di una categoria interiore trasversale a
tutte le epoche e alle geografie e tanto presente nello spirito antico quanto
nel nostro: l'omoaffettività. Un uomo della fine del VI secolo a.C., chiamato
Aristogitone, che aveva affrontato un rivale, oggi potrebbe chiamarsi Marco,
Francesco o Giovanni, e compiere un medesimo atto, allungando poi un braccio
come uno scudo su altri Armodio, dai nomi di Mario, Alessandro e Franco, per la
reciprocità, l'attaccamento, il calore e il mutuo soccorso che il sentimento di
essere in due sempre realizza. Quel gesto del braccio, inventato da Nesiotes e
Kritios, fissa dentro un modello di valore civico per la retorica libertaria il
segno di un amore. Armodio e Aristogitone tirannicidi ateniesi Lingua Segui
Modifica Armodio e Aristogitone (in greco antico: Ἁρμόδιος, Harmódios e Ἀριστογείτων,
Aristoghéitōn) furono gli ateniesi tirannicidi che cercarono di porre termine
al potere personale della famiglia di Pisistrato. Statua di Armodio
e Aristogitone, Napoli. Copia romana di originale greco perduto Sono noti come "i
tirannicidi" per antonomasia, che assassinarono il tiranno di Atene
Ipparco, ma vennero a loro volta uccisi dal fratello di costui, Ippia.
AntefattoModifica Pisistrato riuscì nel 534 a.C., dopo vari tentativi (meno
riusciti) negli anni precedenti, approfittando delle tensioni che laceravano la
città di Atene, ad assumere su di essa un potere personale. Pisistrato fu un
tiranno,[1] prese il potere con la forza, ma, a giudizio unanime degli storici,
fra i quali Erodoto, Tucidide e Aristotele, non ne abusò per modificare le
istituzioni di cui la città disponeva e governò più da cittadino che da
tiranno. Quando morì, i suoi figli Ippia e Ipparco gli succedettero.
Ippia, il figlio maggiore, tese a continuare nella politica paterna, mentre
Ipparcoebbe un ruolo minore nella tirannide, ma l'atteggiamento del regime mutò
profondamente in seguito alla fallita cospirazione. I fatti si svolsero a
quattordici anni dalla morte di Pisistrato. Tucidide racconta che a far
scattare la messa in atto della congiura vi furono motivi personali di tipo
sentimentale. Ipparco s'invaghisce del giovane Armodio che, secondo quanto
racconta lo storico Tucidide, "era allora nel fiore della bellezza
giovanile", dal che si deduce che doveva avere 15 anni. Armodio era
l'eromenos(giovane amante) di Aristogitone, descritto da Tucidide come "un
cittadino di mezza età" - probabilmente aveva 35 anni - e appartenente ad
una delle vecchie famiglie aristocratiche. Le relazioni sessuali fra un
uomo più anziano (l'erastès) e un giovane non erano di costume sanzionate ad
Atene ed altre città greche, sebbene tali rapporti non fossero omosessuali nel
moderno senso della parola, ma pederastici. Certe relazioni erano governate da
severe convenzioni, e le azioni di Ipparco per cercare di rubare l'eromenos di
Aristogitone erano un deciso affronto alle regole (Tucidide dice aspramente che
Aristogitone "era il suo amante e lo possedeva"). Armodio
rifiutò Ipparco e raccontò ad Aristogitone cos'era successo. Ipparco,
rifiutato, si vendicò ottenendo che la giovane sorella di Armodio fosse esclusa
dalla cerimonia di offerta alle feste Panateneeaccusandola di non essere
sufficientemente nobile. Questa offesa fu così grande per la famiglia di
Armodio che egli decise di assassinare, con la complicità di Aristogitone, sia
Ippia che Ipparco e rovesciare la tirannia. L'uccisione di
IpparcoModifica Il piano - che doveva essere portato a termine con pugnali
nascosti nelle corone di mirto cerimoniali - coinvolgeva anche un certo numero
di cospiratori, ma vedendo uno di questi salutare amichevolmente Ippia il
giorno fissato, i Tirannicidi pensarono di essere stati traditi ed entrarono
subito in azione, senza rispettare l'ordine che si erano dati. Riuscirono così
ad uccidere Ipparco, pugnalandolo a morte mentre stava organizzando le
processioni delle Panatenee ai piedi dell'Acropoli, ma perirono per mano delle
guardie del tiranno senza scatenare ribellioni. Aristotele, nella
Costituzione degli Ateniesi, tramanda una tradizione che vede la morte di
Aristogitone avere luogo solo dopo una tortura volta alla speranza che questi
indicasse il nome degli altri cospiratori. Durante la sua agonia, personalmente
sovrintesa da Ippia, questi finse benevolenza affinché egli tradisse i suoi
cospiratori, sostenendo che la sola stretta di mano del tiranno sarebbe bastata
per garantirgli la salvezza. Nel ricevere la mano di Ippia si dice che
Aristogitone l'abbia criticato per aver stretto la mano dell'assassino di suo
fratello, al che il tiranno cambiò immediatamente idea e lo uccise sul
posto. Allo stesso modo, una tradizione dice che Aristogitone fosse
innamorato di una etera dal nome di Leaena(leonessa) che era ugualmente tenuta
in tortura da Ippia - in un vano tentativo di costringerla a divulgare i nomi
degli altri cospiratori - finché questa morì. Si diceva che era in suo onore
che le statue ateniesi di Afrodite furono da allora accompagnate da leonesse
[secondo Pausania]. L'assassinio del fratello portò Ippia a stabilire una
dittatura ancora più severa che fu molto impopolare e che venne rovesciata, con
l'aiuto di un esercito proveniente da Sparta, nel 510 a.C. Questi eventi furono
seguiti dalle riforme di Clistene, che stabilì in città la democrazia. La
fama successivaModifica Magnifying glass icon mgx2.svgLo stesso argomento in
dettaglio: Gruppo dei Tirannicidi. La mitologia successiva venne così ad
identificare le figure romantiche di Armodio e Aristogitone come martiri della
causa della libertà ateniese, e divennero noti come i Liberatori (eleutherioi)
e Tirannicidi (tyrannophonoi). Secondo scrittori successivi, ai discendenti di
Armodio e Aristogitone furono concessi privilegi ereditari come la sitesis (il
diritto di mangiare a spese pubbliche al palazzo del governo cittadino),
l'ateleia (esenzione da certi doveri religiosi), e la proedria (posti in prima
fila a teatro). Visto che non si sa se Armodio abbia avuto discendenti (è
inverosimile che li abbia avuti anche Aristogitone), questa potrebbe essere
un'invenzione seguente, ma illustra la loro fama postuma. La storia d’Armodio
e Aristogitone, e come venne trattata dai successivi scrittori greci, è
dimostrativa dell'attitudine nei confronti dell'omosessualità al tempo. Sia
Tucidide che Erodoto dicono che i due erano amanti senza commentare il fatto
presumendo la familiarità dei loro lettori con tale pratica sessuale
istituzionalizzata senza trovarvi stranezze. Per esempio, il politico
Timarco è perseguito per ragioni politiche per il fatto che si è prostituito.
L'oratore che lo difende, Demostene, cita Armodio e Aristogitone, così come
Achille e Patroclo, come esempi degl’effetti benefici delle relazioni
omosessuali. Con la celebre spiegazione di Cornelio Nepote, nel mondo greco vienne
chiamato tiranno chi è signore di una città precedentemente libera Voci
correlate Omosessualità militare nella Grecia antica Omosessualità nell'Antica
Grecia Pederastia greca Tirannide Aristogitone e Armodio, in Dizionario di
storia, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Armodio e Aristogitone, su
Enciclopedia Britannica. La storia d’Armodio e Aristogitone. Da: Projet
Androphile. Portale Antica Grecia Portale Biografie Portale LGBT
PAGINE CORRELATE Ipparco (tiranno) tiranno di Atene, figlio di Pisistrato Ippia (tiranno) tiranno di Atene, figlio di
Pisistrato Leena di Atene etera ateniese --se Sive Œconomia omnium Operum
Hieronymi Cardam, forum. Signum t prifixum, ea denotat, qui modo in Iuccm
prodeunt. PHILOLOGICA, Logica, Moralia.Vita propria, Libet. Ephemerus, de
Libris proprii». SPe|[)K De Libris propriis, eoruaaquevfu.exeditRovilliji. ltMriijs De Libris
propriis et eorum usu, ex edit.
Henricpetr. V Aeca De Socratis (ludio. Oratio ad Cardinalem Alciatum, (ive
Tricipitis Geryonis, aut Canis
Cerberi. In Theffalum Medicum, Attio secunda. Encomium Neronis. Encomium Podagri.
Mneroofynon. De Orthographia. De
Ludo alel. DIALETTICA.
Contradictiones logici. De Vno.
Hyperchen. Norma viti confarcinata.facra
vocata. Proxeneta, feude Prudentia ciuili. De
Priceptis ad filios. De
Optimovitx genere, De Sapientia. De Summo bono. De Consolatione. Dialogus
Hieton. Cardani, et Facij Cardam patri».
Dialogus Antigorgias, feu De retta vivendi ratione. Diaiogus Tetim, feu
De humanis confiltii. Dialogus De morte, feo Guglielmus. De Minimis et propinquis.
Hymnus, feu Canticum ad Deum, Moralia quidam, Physica. Vtilitate ex adversis
capienda. De Natura, Thconofton de Tranquillitate. Dialogus de Vita producenda,
feu Thconofton Thconofton. dc Animi immortalitate. Thconofton feu de Contemplatione. MTheonofton
seu Hyperboreorum. De Immortalitate animorum. De Secretis. De Gemmis, et coloribus. De Aqua. Dc Vitali
aqua, seu aethere. De Aceti natura.
Problematum fc&ionesfcptcm. Discorso
del Vacua. Se la qualita puo trapaliare di subbietto in subbietto. Dc fulgure.
Physica. De subtilitate. Aftio prima in Calumniatorem librorum dc Subtilitate.
DcKcrum varietate. Arithmetica, Geometrica,
Mufua. t 1 A E Numerorum
proprietatibus, Pradtira
Arithmetica. Computus minor.
Artis magnx, sive de Regulis Algebraicis. Liber Artis magnx, five
quadraginta capitulorum, Si
quadraginta quxftionum. De Aliza regula. Sermo de plus fcminus. Exxreton mathematicorum. Encomium
Geometnx. Operatione della linea, De Proportionibus numerorum, motuum,
ponderum, f onorurm, Delia natura deprincipij, e regolo Muficali. AJlronomica, AJlrologica,
Onirocritica, DE Reftitutione temporum et motuum cacleftium. De Prouidentia ex
anni conftitutionei Aphorifmotum Aftronomicorum fegmenta feptem. Commemarij in
Ptolcmxum, de Aftrorum judiciis. De
feptem Erraticarum ftellarum
viribus. De
Interrogationibus. De ludiciis geniturarum. De Exemplis cdhtum
geniturarum. Liber duodecim genurarum. De Revolutionibus. De fupplemento
Alraanach. Somniorum Synefiorum libri. Medicinalium primus. Ncomiutn Medicini, De Sanitate
tuenda. Contradicentium Medicorum Ubii duo, olim' impreffi, nunc audtiores.
Contradicentium Medicorum Libri
o&opofteriores, nunc primum in lucem emergentes. Medicinalium
fecundus. LVfu ciborum. De Causis,
Signis, ac locis morborum. De Vrinis. Ars curandi parva. De Methodo medendi,
fettiones tres priores.dempta quarta que Confilia quidam continebat, fuo loco redituta. De Radice Cina- De Cyna radice, seu de
Decodis magnis. De Sarza parilia. De
Oxyinelicis usu in plcuritide. De Venenis Commentarij in librum
Hippoc. de Alimento. Medicinalium
tertius. Commentarij in librum Hippocr. De Aere, aquis, et locis.
Commcntarij in Aphorismos Hippocratis. Conclufiones de Lapidibus Galeni in explicatione Aphorifmoru. Apologia ad Andream
Camutium. Commcncarij in lib. Prognofticorum Hippocrati. Medicinalium quartus et poliremus. Commentarij in
lib. Hippocr. De Septiroeftri partui
Examen agrorum Hippocr. in Epidem. Lonliha varia partim edita,
partimhaidenusanecdota. Opufcula
Medica lenii ia, (eu
de dentibus De
Dentibus, liber cjuintus, seu de morbis articularibus. Floridorum
s ive Comtnent. in Principem Hazen.Vita Ludovici Ferranj, et Alciaci. Miscellanea, ex Fragmentis, et
Paralipomenis: L fragmenta. EArcanis
xternitatis,tractatus. Politica, seu Moralium, Laber vnus. Elemehta lingua:
Grscx. De Inventione.V. t De Naturalibus
viribus, traftatus. De Musica. De Integris, traftatus
Arithmeticus. Expositio Anatomix Mundini-Commentarij in libros Hippocr. de
Viftu in acutis. Commentarij in duos libros priores Epidem.Hippocr. De
Epilcplia, traftatus. De Apoplexia. PARALlFOMENON
Itbri. De humanis ciuilibus fucceffiombus. De humana perfectione. HI. tn«o',
feude Admirandis.De dubiis naturalibus, De rebus faftis raris,
et artificits. M.S. De
humana compolitione naturalium. De mirabilibus
morbis Stfymptomatibus. Deaftrorum et temporum ratione et divisionibus.
De mathematicis quxlitis. Historix lapidum, metallicorum et metallorum.
Hiftorix animalium. Hiftorix plantarum. De anima. De dubiis ex hiftoris.
De clarorum virorum vita Selibris. De hominum antiquorum illuftrium judicio.
De vfu hominum, et dignotione eorum,
tum cura Sc errore. De sapiente. Nome compiuto: Gerolamo
Cardano. Hieronimo Cardano. Hieronymus Cardanus. Keywords:
masculinity, machio – maschile, Prospero, De signo, De signis, de Casis,
signis, ac locis Morborum, ten volumes of “Opera omnia” analytic index – he
wrote about almost everything – including logic, dialettica, metafisica,
psicologia, anima, fisionomia, same-sex, he criticised Galenus for not
realizing the distinction that at 14, a puer becomes an adolescent – his oeuvre
is being examined in masculinity studies – masculinity Italian, Bolognese
masculinity. He claimed that Bolognese males were ‘tasteful’ and underrated
compared to Milaenese or Florentine males – he lived all over the place – he
had many tutees, whose names survive – he was possibly paranoid – Silvestri was
his best known tutee –analytic index of “Opera Omnia” -- Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di
H. P. Grice, “Grice e Cardano” – The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza,
Liguria, Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Cardano: la ragione
conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale del Pietro della Lombardia – scuola
di Lumellogno – filosofia lombarda – filosofia novarese – filosofia piemontese
-- filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The
Swimming-Pool Library (Lumellogno).
Filosofo lombardo. Filosofo piemontese. Filosofo italiano. Lumellogno, Novara,
Piemonte. lombardia -- Grice: “If William was called Ockham, I should be called
Harborne, and Petrus Lombardia!” -- Pietro Lombardo rappresentato in una
miniatura a decorazione di una littera notabilior di un manoscritto Pietro Lombardo
o Pier Lombardo (Lumellogno di Novara, 1100Parigi, 1160 circa) teologo e
vescovo italiano. Nacque a Novara o nei dintorni (a Lumellogno esiste una
lapide su di una casa che risorda il luogo della nascita), all'inizio del XII
secolo. Ricevette la sua prima formazione teologica a Bologna, dove acquisì una
perfetta conoscenza del Decretum Gratiani. Si recò a Reims e poi a Parigi, dove
fino alla sua elevazione alla sede vescovile di questa città insegnò teologia.
Almeno una volta in questo periodo si recò alla corte pontificia, dove venne a
conoscenza della traduzione del De fide orthodoxa di Giovanni Damasceno,
compiuta da Burgundio Pisano per incarico di Eugenio III. Quasi certamente è
uno dei teologi che nel sinodo parigino presero posizione contro Porretano.
Dopo un breve episcopato morì. Il suo epitaffio si conservò nella chiesa di
Saint Marcel fino alla Rivoluzione francese. ALIGHIERI (si veda) lo nomina in
Paradiso. Oltre ai commenti all'opera di Paolo di Tarso e ai Salmi, la sua
opera maggiore rimane il Liber Sententiarum (Libro delle Sentenze), per la
quale ottenne l'appellativo di Magister Sententiarum. Sebbene il testo rientri
in un genere letterario tipico della teologia medievale, ossia l'esposizione
delle sentenze delle autorità di fede (i padri della chiesa ed i riferimenti
biblici) l'opera del Lombardo, per l'ampiezza delle fonti e la sua originalità,
diverrà il testo di riferimento per la didattica nelle facoltà di teologia e
l'elaborazione letteraria nello stesso campo. Egli infatti attinge ad una vasta
letteratura in merito, adottando anche testi che normalmente non erano
contemplati in queste composizioni, come Il De fide ortodoxa di Damasceno. Con
la sua opera il Lombardo tenta di sistematizzare e armonizzare la disparità e
le divergenze che la pluralità delle auctoritates aveva generato, dando luogo
ad un certo scompiglio ermeneutico e dottrinale. Riprendendo la classica
distinzione agostiniana tra signa e res, Lombardo afferma che il motivo delle
divergenze non appartiene alla natura delle cose trattate, bensì alla
metodologia esegetica. Il testo si divide in quattro parti: la prima tratta di
Dio, della sua natura e dei suoi attributi; la seconda delle creazione degli
angeli, del mondo e dell'uomo sino al peccato originale; la terza dell'incarnazione
cristica e della promessa della Grazia; la quarta dei sacramenti. Anche lo
sviluppo del testo mantiene la distinzione tra res (le prime tre parti) e signa
(l'ultima) Lo stile del Lombardo snoda l'esposizione delle sentenze
coll'eleganza dialettica di tipo anselmiano mantenendosi aderente al rispetto
delle varie auctoritates anche riguardo o stile letterario col quale egli opera
una volontaria mimesi. Il testo venne criticato sin dalla sua prima uscita per
via del cosiddetto nichilismo cristologico. Lombardo descrive infatti
l'incarnazione nei termini di assumptus homo, ossia la persona divina del
Cristo avrebbe assunto una natura umana (accessoriamente). Ciò contrastava con
la determinazione di origine boeziana per la quale la natura cristologica
traeva la sua forma da un sinolo unico di divino ed umano. Note Per
approfondimenti vedere: Nicola Abbagnano, Storia della filosofia, II, pag.30 e
seg. Novara, Istituto Geografico de Agostini, per Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso,
Roma (I contenuti di questo volume sono tratti da: Abbagnano, Storia della
filosofia, Torino, Pomba, e Abbagnano, Dizionario di Filosofia, terza edizione
aggiornata ed ampliata da Giovanni Fornero, Torino, Pomba 1998) Nicola
Abbagnano, Storia della filosofia, II, pag. 37 e seg. Novara, Istituto
Geografico de Agostini, 2006 per Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso, Roma (I
contenuti di questo volume sono tratti da: Nicola Abbagnano, Storia della
filosofia I, II, III, quarta edizione, Torino, Pomba, e Abbagnano, Dizionario
di Filosofia, terza edizione aggiornata ed ampliata da Giovanni Fornero,
Torino, Pomba); Colish, C., Leiden, Brill; C. Atti del Convegno: Todi, Spoleto,
Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, Minuscule 714il
manoscritto del Nuovo Testamento e di "Sententiae". Libri Quattuor
Sententiarum Scolastica (filosofia) C. su TreccaniEnciclopedie on line,
Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Francesco Pelster, Pietro Lombardo, in
Enciclopedia Italiana, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. C., su Enciclopedia
Britannica, Siri, C. in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Istituto
dell'Enciclopedia; C., openMLOL, Horizons Unlimited, C., Les Archives de
littérature du Moyen Âge; C. Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company.
Rovighi, C., in Enciclopedia dantesca, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, C.,
Opera Omnia dal Migne Patrologia Latina con indici analitici.Chisholm, C., in
Enciclopedia Britannica, Cambridge; Illustrare 'k iSlosofia di C. finora casi
trascurata dagli' storici della filosofia è im lavoro del tutto nuovo
spedialmente per lltalia. Protois affe!rim»a decisamente che C. non è un
filosofo, Thaureau ch'egli è il principe degl’indifferenti in materia
fìlosofica. Entrambe le asserzioni sono affrettate. Solo in Germania C. venne
studiato con maggior serietà e con particolare attenzione! Kogel pubblica a
Lipsia una monografia su C. Questa però parve confusa ed inesatta ad
Espenberger che intraprese un studio acuratissimo della filosofia di C. e della
posizione sua nel Beitràge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalter
diretti da BàumJcer e Herttìng. Di tale pubblicazione mi servii in special modo
[Notre auteur ne fui donc pas un philosophe.] De la philosophie scolastique
Paris, [Cesi lui qua notes reconnaissons corame le chef des indiffèrents en
matière de philosophie. C. in s. Stellung
z. Phil. d. Mittelal, Leipzig. Die philosophie des C. und ihre Stellung im
vwblften Jahrhundert. Aschendorffschen
Milnster] per questi miei appunti sulla filosofìa di C. sebbene mi pervenisse
al momento di stenderli e troppo lardi per farne Fesaane minuto che essa si
merita. Poiché è veramente questo il primo saggio che si occupa con severa e
profonda indagine critioa della filosofia del Maestro delle Sentenze. L'autore
dimostra una profonda conoscenza delle opere patristiche e delle scritture
sacre colle quali esercita opportuni raffronti. Egli non si è poi solo limitato
all'esame del Libro delle Sentenze, ma ha giustamente esteso le sue indagini
alle altre opere meno conosciute di C. e pure ricche di impvortanti digressioni
filosofiche, quali il Commentano o Gloessa dei Salmi detto anche Salterio, ed i
Commentarli alle Epistole di S. Paolo. Solo non ha tenuto conto dei Sermoni che
sottio tra le cose più interessanti se non più belle del Sentenz.iario, pur nel
severo giudizio di Hanreau e Bourgain, di cui Protois ha tratto dai mss. degli
utili estratti mentre se ne trova l'intero testo con poche varianti nelle Opere
Omnia del vescovo Ildeberto. Essi sono utili per completare la figura
intellettuale di C. Del quale a questo punto ripeleremo le parole: sed terrei
immensitas laboris. In verità quantunque grande sia la nostra buona volontà non
ci dissimuliamo la vastità del lavoro intrapreso: onde lo restringeremo entro i
limiti a noi concessi, raffigurandoci un poco a quello spigolatore che move
fidente sulle orme dei più abili mietitori pago di fare un piccolo fascio delle
spighe dimenticate. HAUREàU Not. et Extr. t. Ili p. 49. BouBGAiN. La chaire firancaisc au XII
siede Paris, cfr. FjsBitT (La faculiè de Theol.). I Padri della Chiesa iniziarono la filosofia
oristiana, ma in forma espositiva, avendo ripugnanza a sottopome troppo minute
dimostrazioni le verità rivelate. È secondo il pensiero di Gregorio una
profanazione fassoggettare il verbo divino ALLE REGOLE DI DONATO. Ma quando,
prima chei si diffondessero per tutta Europa le opere di Aristotile, si attese
a studiare con amore i libri dell’Organum tradotti da BOEZIO, si accede quella
tendenza già iniziata nei secoli antecedenti a fortificare il dogma col
sillogismo e l'autorità della ragione. Da questo connubio della teologia colla
dialettica del LIZIO nasce la scolastica la quale se ha i suoi precursoiri nei
primi secoli del cristianesimo non riconosce i suoi veri fondatori che nel
secolo di Abelardo e di C. Essa nasceva per una necessità di rendere più
conformei la fede al sapere più progredito. E se da una parte non cessa di
fiorire la .scuola dei mistici con Bernardo e gli Ai tempi di Abelardo e di C.
non si possede altro d'Aristotile che la logica, cioè ciò che si chiama
l'Organum e comprende: le Categorie coll'introduzione di Porfirio,
l'Ermeneutica, gl’Analitici, i Topici, la Sofistica nella traduzione di Boezio,
(Cousm Fragments philosophiques Paris) abati Ugo e Riccardo di S. Vittore, da
un'altra il mal compresso bisogno di libertà di pensiero apre la via ad
interminabili dispute quali giungevano talvolta ad intaccare il dogma, come
accadde per Abelardo. C. apparve come moderatore tra le due opposte tendenze:
la mistica e la speculativa, e valendosi dello stesso metodo dialettico usato
dagli avversarti eerli si propose di dimostrare come le apparenti
contraddizioni che si rileivano nelle Scritture sacre e patristiche
rischi'arate dalla ragione riconducono a rinvigorire maggiormente te verità
della fede. C. però nel Prologo delle Sentenze si scaglia contro coloro qui non
rationi voluntatem suhiiciunt, che la ragion sommettono al talento, traduce
ALIGHIERI, e vogliono fare credere per verità, i sogni di lor mente inferma.
Qui non irationi voluntatem subiiciunt, nec doctrinae studium impendunt, sed
his quae somniarunt sapientiae verba coaptare nituntiu, non veri sed placiti
etiam sectantes. C. è dunque tenuto dallo stesso compito che egli si era
pronosto, cioè di dimostrare cHte nelle scritture sacre non v'ha vera
sconcordanza e che ogni ragionamento umano si riduce in ultima analisi a
dimostrarne la veracità assoluta, a non imporra egli stesso nuove e diverse
dottrine le auala lo avrebbero condotto fuori della sua serena imparzialità. Se
ciò si possa chiamare indifferentismo io non so, poiché il Maestro delle
Sentenze non sdegna di entrare e di approfondirsi nelle più minute distinzioni
e controversite fìlosofìche, cosi care ai suoi tempi, sforzandosi con passione
di ricavarne le verità da lui srià piresupposte. Nella sua umiltà che diventò
poi lefir-srendaria esrli preferisce lasciar la parola affli altri, a Gerolamo,
ad Ambrogio, e specialmente ad Agostino che è il stio autore preferito come
quello che suipera tutti srli altri padri per profondità di vedute e copia
d’argomenti nelle questioni fondamentali del dogma. Ma non è vero che il
Maestro rimanga empire nascosto e non ap- [Questi ultimi conobbero oltre
Aristotile anche Platone a cui sembrano dare la preferenza e non furono del
tutto stranieri alle vedute dei neoplatonici. V. Bòbba La dottrina
dell’intelletto in Aristotile e nei 8140Ì pie illustri commentatori; paia di
tratto in tratto a mostrarci la via da seguire, per non perderci nel djedalo
inestricabile delle questioni. JJei «resto i più che hanno parlato di C. si
sono aoconlentati di scorrere i libri delle Sentenze: non hanno letto i suoi
lunghi e lucidi Commentarii alle Epistole di Paolo, e neppure quelli ai Salmi
che egli riunì sotto il titolo sintetico di Psaterium, nom^ i sjuoì ispirati
Sermoni che si trovano manoscritti alla Biblioteca Nazionale di Parigi, e
stampati tra quelli del vescovo Ildeberlo. In tutte queste opere C. non è solo
un puro e disadorno espositore di dottrine. Certamente il Maestro va
considerato precipuamente mei suo saggio delle Sentenze, il quale lormò testo
nelle scuole ed è letto e commentato più della Bibbia mentre le altre opere
vennero più presto dimenticate. Ma anche qui se egli non espone dottrine nuove,
ha però il merito grande e riconosciuto da tutti gli storici della filosofia di
distribuirle con metodo razionale, cosi che esse ricevevano lume le une dalle
altre. Metodo già sperimentato con altro intento d’Abelardo, ma dal Nostro
condotto a singolare perfezione. Egli slesso sull'autorità d’Agostino, espone
l’ordine col quale si deve disputare. (Sent.): Gaeterum, ut in primo libro de
Trinitate Augustinus docet, primo secundum auctoritates Sanctarum Scripturanim
utrum fides ita ee habeat demonstrandum est. Deinde adversus gamilos
ratiocinatores elaliores magis quam capaciores, rationibus catholicis et
similitudinibus congniis ad defensdonem et assertioneim fidei utendum est; ut
eorum inquisitionibus satisf<icientes, mansuetos plenius instruamus et illi
si nequiverunt invenire quod quaerunt, de suis menlibus polius quam de ipsa
veritate vel de nostra assertione conquerantur. . Il Deniflb in Carivi, Univer.
Paris IntrodttcHo Methodus Abaelardi in IHo etiam opere quod in schoh's
Theologiae per aliquot saecula adhibebatur usurpata est, dicimus Sententias
Magistri C.Per queste come per le altre numerose citazioni delle opere di C. ci
serviamo della Patrologia dil Migne, Paris. Fu in apecia»! modo ai metodo da mi
usato che si deve J'eaiorme diffusione del libro delle Sentenze nelle scuole.
Esso nel mentre veniva a soddisfare la naturiate curiosità del conoscere ed a
dare la spiegazione di molte credenze poneva dei limiti alla libertà del
raziocinio. Ma vienne sempre lasciato un cantuccio alle discussioni
intermmabili sulle questioni minori, dalla risoluzione delle quali in un senso
o in un altro poco aveva a soffrirne l'ortodossia. yui si esercitavano le
intelligenze, inquisitionibus satisfacientes, SMANIOSE DI SOTTILIZARE e di sillogizzare,
con tanta maggior sicurezza, quanto minore era il pericolo di intaccare la
fede. Lo stesso C. nel suo saggio non si trattiene dal diffondersi nell'esame
di questioni che a noi sembrano del tutto FUTILI e vane come quelle ad esempio
che riguardano la natura degli angeli. E non è raro anche il caso che le lasci
insolute. Cosi nel libro I, laddove domanda perchè mentre amare è lo stesso che
essere, si dice che il Padre ed il Figliuolo non sono in essenza costituiti
dell’amore col quale si amaaio scambievolmente, CONFESSA MODESTAMENTE CHE LA
QUESTIONE GLI SEMBRA TROPPO DIFFICILE e che egli si propone più di riportare le
dottrine dei Padri che di accrescerle: Diffìcile mihi fateor hanc quaesti onem,
praecipue cum ex praedictis oriatur quaei siniilem videntur habere rationem
quod meaei intelligentiae attendens infirmitas turbatur, cupiens magis ea
dictis sanctorum referre. Il De Vulf, Hist, de la phil. Medievale, Louvain,
come il Dknefle da un troppo reciso apprezzamento. Ces sinthèses thèologiquea, dont
la premiere idee semble appartenir à Abelardo ètaient appellées a un succès
immense. Il faut en chercher le secret dans le besoins de la classification et
d' orgànisation qu^on eprouvait devant la masse des materiaux rassemblès, bien
plus que dans l’originante de ceux qui ont appose leur signature a ce travail
de mise en oeuvre. Cosicché il libro
fatto per conciliare ogni controversia sembrò sortire l'effetto contrario.
Erasmits in Mattaei I, iP (cit. Da Fabricius, Bib. m. aevi) e Siquidem apparet
illum hoc egisse ut semel collectis quae ad rem pertinpbant, questiones omnes
excluderet. Sed ea res in diversum exiit. Videmus enim ex eo opere nunquam
fìnìendarum quaestionum non exanima sed maria prorupisse. Flettrt, Hist eccl.
Paris] ri quam uff erre >k E limsce col coaicmiDa^e. Eam tameu quaestionjeon
leolorum ddligentiae plenius dijudicandam atque absolvendam ireiiinquimus ad
hoc minus sufficientes. Perciò l'opera del Sentenziario ha un intento assai
modesto, né presume di sciogliere ogni dubbio e di dirimere ogni questione. Qui
il Maestro risentei della scuola di Abelardo il quale (nel trattato Sic et non
riconosceva ai pastori il diritto di emendare le opere dei dottori della Chaesa
(Migne) « Hoc et ipsi eccleisiastici dactores attendentes et nonnulla in suis
operibus corrigenda esse credentes posteris suis emendaindi vel non sequendi
licentiam concesserunt ». E il nostro C. così dice di sé: (Sent. in prol.): In
hoc aulem tractatu, non solum pium leolorem, sed etiam correctionem desidero,
maxime ubi prolunda versatur veritatis quaestio, quae utinam tot haberet
inventores quot habet contradictores ! » Il libro delle Sentenze dove così
riuscire più accetto giacché il giogo del dogma era imposto alla libera
riflessione del pensiero con assai più illuminata larghezza che non fosse
abitudine del passato. Tanto che parve a più d'uno dei suoi contemporanei la
sua dottrina pericolosa e Giovanni di Goimovaglia potè chiamarlo uno dei
quattro labirinti della teologia ponendolo allo stesso livello di GijDerto
Porretano, Pietro di Podtiers, Abelardo. Scopo di C. è di fare un trattato che
risparmiasse al lettore tempo e fatica. È per rispetto ai suoi tempi un
volgarizzatore della scienza teologica dispersa ne^ libri canonici e negli
scritti malagevoli dei Padri e incompiutamente contenuta nei libri di Abelardo,
PuUeyn, Ugo di S. Vittore. Egli compila una specie di Enciclopedia teologica
ove il lettore avesse a trovare senza sforzo tutto quanto gli facesse al ciaso.
Però avverte nel Prologo. « JNon igitur debet hic labor cuiquam pigro vel
multum docto videri superfluus, cum multis impigris multisque indoctìs, inter
quos etiam et mihi, sàt necessarius: brevi volumine complicans Patrum sentias,
appositis eonim testimoniis ut non sit necesse quaerenti librorum numerositatem
evolvere, cui brevitas quod quaeiritur oBert sine labore». E cosi nel
distribuire la materia egli seguì un nuovo ordine sistematico e compiuto non
seguito né da Ugo di S. Vittore, né da Roberto PuUeyn, né da Abelardo {Am quali
pure trasse assai dalle sue doltrine) e pose a ciascun capitolo un titolo per
facilitare le ricerche (Sani, in prol.) Ut autem quod quaeritur facilius
occurrat, titulos quibus singnlarum capitula dislingumitur praemisimus.
Relijiiooe e scieoza. Giovanni Scoto Erigena afferma che la teologia e la
filosofia sono una sola e una medesima scienza (1). Ma giustamente si
poa&ono fare a questo punto delle riserve perché la scuola e la chiesa si
accodano nel dire che l'ordine della ifede non é Tordine della jnagione e che
sia pei filosofi come per i teologi vi sono dei limita al proprio dominio. Con
lutto ciò la ragione e la fede non riusdroTio mai a vivere completamente
separate. Ed a torto credano alcuni che si cominciò propriamente dalla
scolastica a coffiy ciliare colla scienza la religione. Anche ai primi Padri
della Chiesa piacque di giovarsi di entrambe e Clemente Dragone, Agostino, sono
nello stesso tempo filosofi e teologi. L'opposizione alla filosofìa come
indegna di essere applicata ai veri divini, non fu più propria e peculiare
dell'età patristica che della scolastica, le quali non sono già in opposizione,
ma Funa é naturale svolgimento dell'altra. Questo sforzo di comporre il
dissidio ira Taulorità e la speculazione filosofica si continuò per tutta i se^
coli fino al nostro SERBATI che parlando dell età dei Padri e dei Dottotti
scrive. L'uomo allora sentiva altamente che la teologia non era divisa da luii,
e che, sebbene ella travalicasse, per l'origine e la sostanza, i limiti della
natura, passava dal ragionevole al rivelato, quasi ascendendo da un palco in*
(1) De praedestinatione (Collection de Mangin). Coniicitur inde veram esse
philosophiam veram religionem, conversimque veram religionem esse veram
philosophiam, cit. in Coasin Cours de la phU, I p. 344. feriare ad un altro
superiore dello slesso palagio delia mente, con un solo disegno da Dio
fabbricatogli. La teologia in quell'età era senza contrasto la conduttrice e la
custode di tutte le altre scienze, la signora delle opinioni. Chi avrebbe
allora pensato che sarebbe venuto un altro tempo in cui alcuni pensassero
doversd la teologia dividere interamente dalla FILOSOFIA? Vediamo ora in quale
rapporto si tirovassero le verità teosofiche colle verità filosofiche nel
pensiero di Lombardo. Il Maestro si attiene in massima alle parole d’Agostino
(sup. Joan). Credimus ut cognoscamus, non cognoscimus ut credamus. E nella
distinzione XXII del libro III, là dove esaminia si Christus in morte fuit
homo, e risponde che benché Pietro morì come uomo, tuttavia era in morte Dio ed
uomo, non mortale e non immortale, e tuttavia vero uomo, dice a coloro che
voglioo io troppo sotìsticare sulla ragione di ciò. Illae enim et Jiujusmodi
argutiae in creaturis locum habent sed fidei sacramentum a philosophicis est
liber. linde Ambrosius (De. fide): Aufer argiimenta, ubi fides guaeritur. In
ipsis gymnasìis suis dam dialectica taceat, piscatoribus creditur, non
diaileoticis. Ma questa fede da pescatori però, C. aggiuge più oltre, non è
cosa a noi lutto affatto estranea, peirchè essa non può essere di ciò che l'animo
ignora. E qui egli sente rinllusso del misticismo del suo- protettore. Bernardo
e dei Vittorini che primi lo accolsero a Parigi (Sent. Ili dist.). Cum fides
sit ex auditu non modo exteriori sed etiam interiori, non potest esse de eo
quod animo ignoratur. Ancora è necessario fare con Agostino una distinlone.
Alcune cose non sono intese se prima non si credono. Ma è pure vero che alcune
cose non si possono credere se prima non sono intese, come la fede in Dio che
[Opere edite ed inedite di SERBATI Introd. alla Filosofia Casale Tip. Casuccio
p« 48 sgg. Per maggiori notizie sul teismo degli scolastici vedi: ERCOLE (si
veda), Il teismo filosofico cristiano Torino Pbantl - Geschicte d. Logik] viene
dalla predicazione, e queste pai per la fede intendono di più. Uoc. cil.). Ex
his apparet quaedam intelligi aliquando etiam antequam credanlur al nunc eliam
per tldem ampiius intelligìintur linde colligdtur quaedam non credi nisi prius
intelligantur et ipsa per fidem ampiius inleJlegi. Quanto poi alle cose che
mima sono credute che comprese esse non sd ignorano ael lutto perchè anche si
amano (Sen.). Nec ea quae prius creduntur penitus ignorantur tamen ex parte,
quia non sciumtur. Creditur ergo quod ignoratur non penitus sdcut etiam amatur,
quod ignoratur. Pensiero ripetuto in AQUINO ed in ALIGHIERI. In conclusione C.
si libra Ira un misticismo ed un razionalismo temperato non sfuggendo alla
contraddizione, ma affronlaaidola. Il suo concetto è quello che informa in gran
parte il cattolicismo. La fede non distrugge la ragione ma al contrario le da
ali più potenli per sollevarsi. Ed è in questo senso che bisogna mtendere le
parole d’Agostino: Intellectum ualde cana, e quelle d’Anselmo: Fides quaerens
intellectum. Principia rerum inquirenda sunt prius ut earum notitia plenior
haberì possi t. (Prol. in Collectanea). Dell’arti e delle scienza del trivio e
del quadrivio, secondo la celebre classificazione data da Marciano Capella e
riprodotta da BRIUZI e da Isidoro, LA DIALETTICA ovverosia la logica che da
principio parve una scienza preparatoria avente per ogge'tio più le parole che
le cose, acquistò nelle scuole un tale sviluppo che fini col proporsà i più
alti problemi metafisici e diventare la prima delle scienze. Tra questi
problemi, il più importante, anzi il fondamentale che sembra raggruppare sotto
di sé tutti gl’altri, ed agitò potentemente l'età di cui parliamo, è il
problema degl’universali, quale LA FILOSOFIA si è posto innanzi in tutti i
tempi. Protois scrive che la questione degl’universali ha a suo autore Roiscelino.
Ma ciò è per lo meno detto male. Già Aristotele nel LIZIO si è posto innanzi il
problema nelle “Categorie” ed in molti altri suoi libri; e nella prefazione
della Isagoge di Porfirio tradotta da BOEZIO, esso è pure [Haurbaux De la
philosophie scoi. Paris] enuniciato, ma non risolto, parendo esso al
commeintatore d’Aristotele di troppo grave importanza. Ecco le parole Ui
Porfirio. M Cosi tralascierò di dire SE I GENERI E LE SPECIA SUSSISTONO o sono
soltanto e puramente nei pensieii, se come bUSbisleaiti sono corporei od
incorpoi'ei, se sono fuori oppure entro le cose seìusibili e con esse
coeistenti: essendo troppo grave una tale impresa e rictiiedendo maggiori
ricerctxe Porfirio divide cosi il problema nelle sue III questioni fondamentali
e iu in tal modo che esso è segnalato ai primi scolastici. I I generi e le
specie sussistono per sé o consistono semplicemente in puri pensieri ? II Come
sussistenti, sono essi corporei od mcorporei ? Ed infine: III sono essi
separati dagl’oggetti sensibili o sono contenuti negli oggetti stessi formando
con essi qualche cosa di coesistente? A ragione Porfirio reputa queste
questioni di somma difficoltà. Perchè comunque vi si risponda si è condotti
nell'alto mare della speculazione, ed ognuna di esse sembra pod risolversi nelle
suprema questione della quaile tutte dipendono: Che cosa è l’essere? JNuUa di
più naturale che gli scolastici inoltrandosi a disputare di un tale argomento
con molto ardire ed acutezza d mgegno, ma non con pari preparazione filosofica
sollevassero infinite e tempestose discussioni che molto spesso non approdavano
ad alcun risultato. Tre furono le scuole principaU che si avviarono ad una
diversa soluzione del problema: quella dei REALISTI, dei NOMINALISTI, dei
CONCETTUALISTI. Il nome di realisti è dato a coloro che affermano che i generi
e le specie -- gli universali insomma -- sono una realtà sostanziale, una vera
entità distinta dall’altre. NOMINALISTI sono detti coloro che negano la realtà
di questi universali, e li ritenevano come semplici concezioni astratte del
soggetto ricondotte ad una idea comime per mezzo della comparazione. Ma poiché
questa conclusione, dovendo ammettere che tutto ciò che v'ha di comune non è
ohe im suono, un nome vuoto di significato, flatus vocis, porta alla negazione
di ogni scienza, sorsero i CONCETTUALISTI i quali aggiungeno che un tale suono,
im tal nome rappresenta un pensiero, un concetto il quale proviene dalla
somiglianza delle cose diverse: il che non è sostanziale ma è percepito
dall’intelligenza umana come inerente a una natura individualmente
deiterminata. Dopo che Scoto porta agl;estremi il realismo, venne Roscelino che
parve dirigere la dottrina del nominalismo contro lo stesso dogma sollevando un
grave scalpore nelle scuole. Poiché, se nulla esiste che non sia individuale,
il dogma del divino, uno in tre persone vienne dalla ragione ricalzato nelle
sue basi. È bensì un errore l'uso stesso d’armi dialettiche prò e contro i
misteri della fede, perchè l'ordine della fede non è quello della ragione, ma
d'altra parte è un errore rimediabile. Ed a difesa della realtà univereale si
leva AOSTA (si veda), prima abate di Bec in Normandia poi arcivescovo di
Cantorberv e Guglielmo di Chamoeaux, il fiero avversario d’Abelardo. Ed è
quella del primo propriamente un realismo mistico, quello del secondo un
realismo scientifico. Abelardo poi è il capo riconosciuto, a volte vincitore, a
volle vinto, del CONCETTUALISMO, col anale si possono trovare molti riscontri
nella filosofìa moderna. Quale dove essere l'opinione dei Dottori della Chiesa
in tanto contrasto di idee? Evidentemente nessuna delle suesposte- se e quando
lo notevano. I realisti confondeno le cose con la generalità delle idee, i
concettualisti negano il reale fondamento delle idee universali, i nominalisti
le idee stesse. I dottori non possono appartenere a nessuna di queste dottrine
pericolose. Essi doveno essere tratti a trovare un criterio conciliativo, né
ciò è diffìcile, secondo l'avviso dellHaureau. E quale è questo criterio? La
specie non è solamente un concetto. Essa è altresì una cosa, non una cosa in
sé, a parte dell’oggetto sensibie, ma nna cosa facente parte con essi, formante
con essi qualche cosa di co-esistente. Tale a un dipresso la posizione dei
dottori tra le scuole che divideno i logici disputanti, corrispondenti sotto
altro nome alla scuola dell'idealismo critico ed alla scuola dell’idealismo
trascendentale. Tra questi dottori concilianti che l'Haureau non propriamente
chiama indifferenti si trova il nostro Maestro delle sentenze, il quale pero
non si occupa espressamente della questione, ma solo ne tratta per incidenza,
ragionando della Trinità nel 1 libro delle Sentenze. Per C., l'universale non è
come per Guglielmo di Champeaux un solo essere dappertutto identico e però
difficile a comprendere, ma al contrario colla moltiplicazione numerica
dell'individuo diventa anche in essenza tante volle accresciuto. Se l’animale è
il genere, dice il Maestro, e IL CAVALLO la specie si avranno III CAVALLI ed
anche tre ammali (Sent. I d. XIX, 8) CVM SI ANIMAL GENVS ET EQVVS SPECIES
APPELLANTUR III EQVI IIDEMQVE ANIMALIA. Perciò, quando la specie può dirsi
triplice devono anche essere III gli individui. Tutto dunque si raccoglie
nell'individuo. Ma egli poi aggiunge : SMITH, JONES, WILLIAMS -- Abramo,
Isacco, Giacobbe sono tre individui. Ma, nello stesso tempo, anche tre uomini e
tre animali. Specie e genere non sono quindi forme soggettive, ma un oggetto
che è nelle cose poste al difuori di noi. Ma non si dirà che l'essenza divina è
una specie e le persone individui, come è specie Tuomo e sono individui Àbramo,
Isacco e Giacobbe. Poiché se l’essenza divina fosse una specie come l’uomo,
come non si direbbe che Abramo, Isacco e Giacobbe sono un sol uomo cosi non si
direbbe una essenza essere tre persone (Sent.)..Sicut enim dicuntur Abraham,
Isaac, lacob, TRIA INDIVIDUA ITA TRES HOMINES ET TRIA ANIMALIA 10: Nec speoies
est essentia divina et persona individua, sicut homo species est, individua
autem Abraham, Isaac et lacob. Si enim essentia specìes est ut homo sicut non
dicitur unus homo esse Abraham, Isaac et lacob. ita non dicitur una essentia
esse tres personas. Il Maestro quindi, a mio parere, non nega all’universale un
fondamento reale in quanto però va unito all’oggetto sensibile, ma distingue
nettamente le cose temporali dalle cose divine alle quali NON convengono i nomi
di universale e di partìcdare e le distinzioni della logica. Abael hist.
cai.:Erat antem in ea sententia de communitate universaliam, nt eandem essenti
ali ter rem totam simtil singulis suis inesse astrueret individuis. cfr.
Espenberg Die phil. d C. EsPENBEROER. « Art nnd Gattung sind demnach nicht
subjektive Gebilde, sondern objektiv in der una mngebenden Auszenwelt
begrìindet », Teoria della coi>osc^i>za. i\el Gommenlario delle Epistole
di S. Paolo C. -venendo a parlare delle visioni le distingue 'n tre generi:
corporali, spirituali, intellettuali. E le ultime sono le. più perfette perchè
vedono non cogli occhi corporali ó colla immaginazione, ma per sé stesse. Qui
il Maestro viene a toccare sebbene in modo indiretto della conoscenza che noi
abbiamo coi sensi corporali, ei di quella che acquistiamo colla memoria, la
quale ci ripresenta immagini vere quali abbiamo già apprese coi sensi o finte
quali rimmagin azione forma secondo il suo potere (Collectanea in epist. ad
Cor.). In bis tribus
generibus (scil. visionis) illud primum manifestum est omnibus quo vid'etur
coelum et omnia oculis conspicua. Nec illud alterum quo absentia oorporalia
cogitantur, insinuare difficile. Coelum enim et terram et quae in eis videre
possumus, etiam in eis constituti cogitamus. Et aliquaiido nihil videntes
oculis corporis* animo tamen corporales imagines intuemur vel veras sicut ipsa
corpora vidimus et memoria retinemus vel fictas sicut cogitatio formare
potuerit. Aliter cogitamur quae novimus, aliter
quae non «novimus w. Altrove nel Commentario dei Salmi paragona la memoria al
ventre che riceve i cibi : (Comm.) Sicut enim venter escasi recipit ita memoria
rerum tenet notitiam. Nel libro III delle Scinlenze C. pariando della fede dice
che essa si riferisce soltanto alle cose che non ci appaiono è sostanza di cose
sperate come disse Paolo e ripetè poi ALIGHIERI (1), che conobbe il Maestro
forse più d’AQUINO. E qui contrappone la fede alla conoscenza che si ha delle
cose evidenti, tra te qiiali pone anche l'anima deiruomo che sebbene non
veduta, è da lui intuita cogitando. Concetto raccolto poi e svilupipato da
Cartesio, il quale prende la coscienza umana come il punto di par [Paolo (Ep.
ad Eb. XI\* « Est fides sperandanim snbstantia rerum, argumentum non
apparentinm. ALIGHIERI (Par.): Fede è siLStanzìa di cose sperate - ed argomento
dene non parventi. ieaia dì ogni indagiiie filosofica ed argomenterà che IV
sistenza ci è data dal pensiero: cogito ergo sum. Sent.). c( Non sicul corpora
quae videmus oculis corporeis, et per ipsorum imagines quas memoria tenemus,
etiam absentia cogitamus; nec sicut ea quae non videmas et ex his quae videmus
cogitalionem utromque formamus, et memoriae commendamus, nec sicut hominem,
cuius animam etsi non videmus, ex nosbna coniicimus et ex motibus corporis
hominem sicut videndo didicimur, intuemur etiam cogitando: non sic vìdetur
fides in corde in quo est, .ab eo cuius est, sed eam tenel oerliseima scientia.
CosH nel capitolo già citato delle CoUectanea, il Maestro tocca della
conoscenza che noi abbiamo del nostro intelletto intellicfendo. E' insomma
nella ragione stessa la spiegazione della nostra ragione (In epist. ad Cor.)
Hac visione quae didtur intellectualis ea cemuntur, quae nec cemuntur corporea,
nec ullas gerunt formas similes corponim, velui ipsa mens et omuis animae
affectio bona. Quo enim alio modo nisi intellisrendo intellectus consoicitur?
Nullo. C. paragona l’intellieenza ad una luce interiore che illumina
res<=ere intelligente: (im epist. ad Eph.). Omnis qui inteiligit quadam luce
interi ore illusfrRtiir». Ripete in sostanza il concetto già espresso da S.
Agostino: (in ps. 41 n. 2 Mierne) « omnis qui inteiligit luce quadam non
corporali, non carnali, non exteriore sed interiore illustratur. Chiarito il
modo di conoscere, resta a parlare dell'oggetto della conoscenza. Che cosa è il
vero? Tutto che è è vero, secondo il concetto della filosofia patristica, come,
e questo Io si vedrà in appresso, tutto ciò che è è pure buono. Il falso va
inteso in un sen®o del tutto privativo, cioè non è sostanza di qualche cosa,
non è ciò che è, ma è ciò che non è. (In ps.). Veritas enim est de eo quod est.
Mendacium vero non est subslantia vel natura ìd est, non est de eo, quod est
natuiraliter, sed de eo, quod non est. Ed
in altro luogo dice il Maestro : la verità è ciò che è come vien detto : (in
ps.). Veritas est cum res ita est cum dicitur. Quia ip9e diodi ei faeta suut
Paolo Sostanza e^ accM^ote. S. Agostino concepiva la sostanza come il concetto
di assenza o di naliu-a preso in senso generale da subsistere peirchè ogni cosa
sussiste a sé slessa : omn«is enim res ad se ipsam subsistil. Ma in senso più
particolare, s'intende di ciò che è soggetto d'altre cose come del colore,
delle forane corporee, ecc. J\on attrimenti Pier Lombardo: (sent.; in ps.).
Substanlia intelligitur illud ouod sumus: homo, pecus, terra, sol; omnia ista
substantiae snnt : eo ipso quo sunt naturae, ipsae substantiae dicuntur. Nana et quod nulla est
substantia, nihil omnino est. Substantia enim est cdiquid esse ». Ma in quest'ultima significazione, il detto .^oncetto
non appropriasi a Dio perchè Dio è semplice. (Sent.) « Res ei^o anutabiles. .
. proprie dicuntur substantiae, deus autem, si subsistit, ut substantia proprie
dici possit, inest in eo aliquid in subiecto et non est simplex ». E' quindi a torto che parlando di Dio si dice che è
una sostanza, perchè non vi è nulla in lui che non ©ia Dio, e la parola
sostanza non si dice propriamente che delle creature. Parlando di Dio è meglio
servirsi della parola essenza» Riguardo all'accidente il maestro delle Sentenze
è dello stesso avviso di BOEZIO che lo definisce: (in Porph. ed. Basii) Accidens est quod adest
et abest praeter subiecli corruptionem. (Sent.)
a non sicut accidentia in subiéctis quaé possunt abesse vel adesse ». S.
Agostino e BOEZIO sono i due filosofi ai quali iì nostro C. attinge con eguale
misura. Nelle Sentenze parla degli accidenti, cioè delle apparenze che gli
sembrano piuttosto esistere senza soggetto che essere nel soggetto, quali il
sapore ed il peso (accidenti) nel sacramento della Eucaristia, che sono senza
soggetto, poiché quivi non è altra sostanza che quella del sangue e del corpo
del Signore, che non soggiaciono a quelli accidenti. Perciò son quegli
accidenti per sé sussistenti. (Sent. IV d. XII, 1; in epist. ad Cor.). Si autem
quaeritur de acciflentibus quae remanent i. e. de speciebus et sapore et
pondere, in quo subiecto fundentur, potius mihi videtur fatendnm existere sine
subiecto quam esse in subiecto, quia ibi non est substantia nisi corporis et
sangumis dominici, quae non affìcitur illis accidentibus... remanent ergo illa
accidentia per se subsistentia ad myslerium riti ». « Natura multiplex nomen est.
Nam et philosophi et ethici et theologi usu plurimo ponunt hoc nomen». Cosi Porrelano (in Boet. ed. Basii). Ma se molli sono
i nuovi significati presso i filosofi, vediamo in quale senso più propriamente
l'adopera il nostro Pier Lombardo. Per lui natura è ciò che é concreata colla
sostanza. (Sent.). Substantiae nomine atque naturae dicunt signifìcari
substantias ipsas et ea quae naturali ter habent scilioet quae concreata sunt
eis sicut anima naturaliter habet intellectum et imaginem et volnntatem et
huiusmodi». Le €086 che awemgano per causa seminale, si dice che aweaigono
secondo natura, quelle invece fuori natura avvengano soltanto per volontà
divina. Ne viene che ogni creatura obbedisce a leggi naturali. (Sent.). Et illa
quae secund'um causam seminalem fìunt, dicuntur naturaliter fieri, quia ita
cursus naturae hominibus innotuit. Alia vero praeter naturam, quorum causae
tantum suni in deo... omnis creaturae cursus habet naturales leges. yuale sarà
dunque la legge naturale ? Quella che ebbero anche i pagani (2), che indica
all'uomo ciò che è bene e ciò che è male e che si riassume nel non fare agli
altri ciò che non si vuole sia fatto a noi. (in epist. ad Rom.). Etsi non
habeat (s'cil. gentilis homo) scriptam legem, habet tamen naturalem, qua
intellexil et sibi conscius est, quid sit bonum quidve malum; lex enim naturalis
iniuriam nemini inferre, nihil alienum praecipere, a fraude et penuria
abstinere, alieno coniugio non insidiari et caelera alia et ut breviter dicatur
nolle aliis facere auod tibi non vis fieri. Quanto poi alla persona, il
Lombardo, parte dal concetto ^ià enunciato da BOEZIO che la persona è la
sostanza individuale d'una natura ragionevole: (ed. Peiper). Persona est
naturae rationalis individua substantia. Ovunque noi troviamo una sostanza
individuale nella specie umana, ivi è una persona. Ma l'anima che è sostanza
razionale, è dunque una persona? C. risponde negativamente ricorrendo
all'airtificio di parole ^à adoperato da BOEZIO nel sfuo libro de duabus
naturìs (ed. Peiper). Cioè Tanima è sostanza razionale, ma non tuttavia
persona, perchè non è per se sormns^ cioè è congiunta ad altra cosa. Dio solo
può agire contro natura: (Sent. loc cit) super hunc naturalem cursum Creator
habet apud se posse de omnibus facere aliud, quam eorum naturalis ratio habet;
ut. scilicet, vir^a arida repente fioreat, et fructum ^^at. et in juventute
sterilis femina, in senectute pariat, ut asina loquatur et huiusinodi.
CICERONE, De leg.; Atque, si natura confirmatura ius non erit, virtutes omnes
toUentur Nam haec nascuntur ex eo, quia natura propensi sumus ad diligendos homines,
quod fundamentum iuris est. (Sent.) Nam et modo anima est substantia
rationalis, non tamen persona, quia non est per se sonans, imo alii rei
comiuncta. Tuttavia l'anima è persona quando per se est: onde quando è sciolta
dal corpo è persona come è Fangelo. (Sent.) « Anima, non est persona, quando
alii rei unita est personaliter absoluta enim a corpore persona est siculi
angelus. U^ià Agostino parla di una materia informe dalla quale sarebbero
derivate tulle lè cose che sono distinte e formate. (de genes. contra Manich.
Migne). Primo ergo materia facta est confusa et informis unde omnia fìerenl
quae distincta atqua formata sunt, quod credo a graecis caos appellari). Così
pure BOEZIO (edit Basii p. 1138) parla di una materia informe e siemplice come
la ale e di una materia formata e non semplice come i corpi. Anche per C. le
cose create furono formate da una materia informe (I'n ps.). Quoniam ipse dixit, idest voluit
et facta sunt (scil. coelum et terra) id est formata de informi materia. E cosi pure nel secondo libro delle Sentenze :
(dist.). Alii vero hoc magis probaverunt et asseruerunt, ut prima materia rudis
atque informis creata sii Postmodum vero ex illa materia rerum corporalium
genera sunt formata secundum species propria. D’Agostino C. deriva pure il suo
concetto della forma. (Sent.) Dicit Augustinus causas primordiales omnium rerum
in deo esse mducens simililudinem artifìcis in cuius dispositione est qualis
futura sii arca. Il Maestro ripete a questo punto appoggiandosi intieramente ad
Agostino quanto Abelardo e Gilberto Prretano dicono con compiuto linguaggio
scientifico quando chiamaiio le idee forme esemplari della mente divina. Non
così chiara come in questi elementi platonici è l'idea della forma presso i
sentenziarii ai tempi aristotelici. Causalità. Qui il Maestro dà questa
definizione della idea di causa. Tutto ciò che in sé permanendo genera od opera
qualche cosa, è il principio, ossia la causa di ciò che genera od opera. (Sent.). Si autem quicquid in se
manet et gignit vel operatur aliquid, principium est eius rei quam gignit vel
edus quam operatur. Dio però si dice
eh fa ed opera qualche cosa, perchè è la causa delle cose scientemente
esistenti. (Sent.). Deus ergo aliquid agere vel facere dicitur, quia causa est
rerum noviter existentium. Con ciò vien presupposto che tutto ciò che avviene,
avviene per una causa necessaria e che nulla nasce che non sia preceduto da una
legittima cagione. C. in seguito si domanda se nulla possa sfuggire o questa
legge di causalità e possa awemare per caso. Ma egli risponde : se qualche cosa
avviene nel mondo per caso, non tutto il mondo è regolato dalla divina
pìnovvidenza. Se non tutto il mondo è regolato dalla divina provvidenza, v'è
qualche natura o sostanza che non appartiene all'opera della Providenza. Ma tutto
ciò che è, è buono per la partecipazione di quel bene che noi chiamiamo divina
provvidenza. Nulla dunque può avvenire per caso. Inutile è il notare che questo
argomento si trova già in Agostino, Ugo di S. Vittore, Abelairdo. (Sent.) Si
ergo casu aliqua fiunt in mundo, non providentia universus mundus
administratur. Si non providentia universus mundus administratur, ali- [Vedi
EspuNBKBOBB] qua natura vel substanlia est quod ad opus providentiae non
pertinel. Omne autem quod
est... boni illius partecipatione... bonum est, quod divinum bonum provideoliam
vocamus. JNihil ergo casu flit in mundo. Le
nozioni di spazio e di misura, ci vengono date da C., laddove parla di Dio che
è immensurabile ed iniCBteso. (Sent.) Neque dime(nsionem habet (sdì. deus)
sicut corpus cui secundimi locum assigmatur principium, medium et finis et ante
et retro, dextera et smistra, sursum et deorsum quod sui interpositione facit
distantiam et circumstantiam... dicitur in Scriptura aliquid locale sive
circumscriplibile et e converso, sci!, quia diimensionem (bapierus
longiltudinis et latitudinis distaailiam lacit in loco ut corpus. Più avanti
definisce il luogo nello spazio ciò che è occupato in lunghezza, altezza e
larghezza da un corpo (Sent.) « Locais in spatio est quod lopgiludine et altitudine et
latitudine corporis oocupatur)). Come
Dio neppure gli spiriti creati possono essere circonscritti nello spazio. Essi
però possono in certo modo essere locali perchè quando si trovano in un luogo
(non si trovano in un altro : però non hanno dimensioni e per quanto siano
numerosi, non possono riempirlo. (Sent.) « Spiritus vero creatus quodammodo est
localis, quodammodo non e®t localis. Localis quidem dicitur, quia definitione
loci terminatur, quoniam cum alicubi praesens sit totus, alibi non invenitur.
Non autem ita localòs est ut dimensionem capiens distantiam in loco faciat. C.
infine conclude che Dio non si muove né nello spazio, né nel tempo, che Tanima
si muove nel tempo, ed il corpo nelo spazio e nel tempo. Di qui le loro diverse
natuire. Ecce hic aperte oistendilur, quodi nec locis aec temporibus mutatur
vel movetur Deus, spiritualis autem natura per tempus unovetur, corporalis vero
etiam per tempus et locmnn. Che cosa è il tempo ? Ad una tale domanda cosi
risponde S. Agostino nelle Confessioni: Se nessuno me lo chiede lo so; se
voglio spiegarlo a chi me lo chieda non lo so: con piena fede dico tuttavia di
sapere che se nulla passasse, non vi sarebbe un tempo passato e se nulla
dovesse avvenire^ non vi sarebbe un tempo futuro, e se nulla fosse non vi
sarebbe un teimpo presente. C. definisce il tempo, la variazione delle qualità
che sono nella stessa cosa che si muta. (Sent. ) <( Mutari autem per tempus
est variari secundum qualitates quae sunt in ipsa re quae mutatur... Haec enim
mutatio qua fìt secundum tempus, vanatio est qualitalum et ideo vocatur tempus.
L'eternità fa antilesi al tempo. Il Lombardo come Abelardo ripete qui le parole
di Boezio: Stabilisque manens das cuncta momri quando dice: (In ps.) «Et video, id est sciam, quoniam
tu es proprie qui stabiEs manens das cuncta moveri. Garattei'a appunto dell'eternità è la stabilità, del
tempo la mutabilità (in epist. ad Hebr. I) « In aeternitate enim stabilitas
est, in tempoire autem varietas ; m aeternitate omnia stamit, in tamporei alia
aocedunt, alia sucfcedHint. Il problema cosmologico si presenta al Maestro nel
libro II delle Sentenze alla prima distinzione. Egli dimostra sulla fede delle
Sacre Scritture, che non vi è che un prinMiGNB ( Espenberger). Quid est tempus?
Si nemo ex me quaerat, scio; si quaerenti explicare velim nescio: fidenter
tamen dico scire me, quod si nihil praeteriret, non esset praeteritum tempus ;
etsinihil adveniret, non esset fUtunim tempus, ei si nihil esset, non esset
praesens tempus, cipio solo di tulle le cose. Alcuni (ilosoli, come Platone ed
Anstolile, avevano pensalo che il mondo avesse molti principii, che la materia
che lo comipone fosse increata ed eterna, che Dio non ne fosse punto il
Greatore, ma semplicamente l' oa^ganizzatore. Ma la dottrina cattolica al
contrario ci insegna che Dio solo, principio di tutte le cose, ha tutto crealo
dal nulla, le cose visibili e le invisibili, il cielo e la terra (Sent.).
Creationem rerum insinuans Scriptura deum esse creatorem initiumque temporis
atque omnium visibilium ved invisibilium creaturarum in primordio suo ostendìft
dicens (g:en. I, 1) In principio creavit deus caelum et terram. His enim verbis
Moyses... in uno principio a deo creatore mundum factum refert elidens errorem
quorundam plura sine principio fuisse opinantium. Plato namque tria inilia
existimavit deum scilicet exemplar et matenam et ipsam mcreatam sine principio
et deum quasi artificem non creatorem. E altrove conferma che il mondo non è
coetemo a Dio e senza alcun principio, ma creato da Dio come insegna la
scrittura. (in ps.) « Quia ipse dixit et faota sunt hoc dicit contra illos qui
dicunt mundum deo coateoiimn. Dio creò ogni cosa dal nulla : creare è
propriamente ricavare qualche cosa dal nulla : onde a Dio solo compete il nome
di creatore (Sent.). Creator enim est, qui de nihilo aliquid facit. Et creare
proprie est de nihilo aliquid facere hoc nomen (scilicet creator) soli deo
proprie congruit. Ipse est ergo creator et opifex et factor. C. passa poi ad
esamina-re la creazione del mondo e specialmente .l'opera dei sei giorni
commentando il racconto della Genesi. Le spiegazioni ch'egli offre, sono tolte
ai padri antichi tra i quali S. Ambrogio, Agostino, Gregorio, il venerabile
Beda e Giovanni Grisostomo. Insieme con vedute geniali e profonde, si trovano
in quella parte dei suoi libri ove si paria della creazione, alcune teorie che
le scienze naturali hanno poi definitivamente condannate. Basta ricordare la
teoria dei quattro elementi di cui si compone il cosmo, e quella che considera
il firmamento come una immensa volta solida alla quale sono attaccati gli
astri, e Topinione che i piccoli insetti nascano &6 dalla corruzione dei
carpi organici. Ma il Lombardo espone la scienza dal secolo decimosecondo :
d'altronde egli di tali cose sembra parlare in forma dubitativa e come è suo
costume non fa che esprimere le opinioni che ai suoi tempi correvano.
dell'uorpo o^il'unlv^rso* Là dove parla della creazione, il Maestro pada anche
del fine per il quale l'uomo e l'angelo furono creati. La somma bontà divina ha
voluto far parte della sua felicità etema a due delle sue creature, all'angelo
ed all'uomo : perciò li creè ragionevoli affinchè conoscessero il sommo bene,
l'amassero, ed amandolo lo jK>ssedesseiro e possedendolo fossero felici.
L'angelo di natura incorporea e l'uomo composto di anima e di corpo furono
creati per lodare e per servire Iddio; non già perchè questi abbia bisogno dei
servigi umani, ma affinchè l'uomo godesse nel servirlo, poiché in questo si
giova chi serve e non colui al quale si serve. (Sent.) Factus ergo... homo
projter deum dicitur esse, non quia creator deus et summe beatus alterutrius
indiguerit officio... sed ut servirei ei ac fruirelur.'.. in hoc ergo proficit
serviens... non ille cui servi tur. Pensiero che vien perfezionato da S. Tommaso
(Sum. contra gentes) e d'ALIGHIERI (Parad.): Non per avere a sé di bene
acquisto Ch'esser non può, ma perchè suo splendore Potesse risplendendo, dir:
Subsisto. In seguito aggiunge che come l'uomo è stato fatto per Dio, così il
mondo per l'uomo, il quale si trova in un mezzo tra ciò che a lui serve e ciò a
cui egli stesso deve servire. (Sent.) « Et sicut factus est homo propter deum i. e. ut
ei serviret, ita mundus factus est propter é6 hominem, scil. ut ei servirei.
Positus est ergo homo 'n medio ut et ei servirelur et ipse serviret; ut
acciperet utrumque et reflueret totum ad bonum hominis et quod accepit
obsequium et quod impeffidit. L
uomo infine si distingue da tutti gli altri animali per la sua aspirazione alle
cose superne, ed è perciò che egli ha il corpo eretto e quasi rivolto al cielo.
(Sent.) « Ecce
osl^isum est, secundum quid sit homo similis dei. Sed in corpore quaaidam
proprieitatem habet quae haec indicat, quia §st erecta statura secundum quam
corpus ajiimae rationali congruit, quia a caelum erectum est ». È LO STESSO
CONCETTO DI CICERONE (De legibus). Nam quum caeteras animantes abiecisset ad
pastum, solum hominem erexit ad caelique quasi cognationis domiciliique
pristini conspectum excitavit. E non
di CICERONE soltanto. Tra i gentili cf. OVIDIO Metamorf. SALLUSTIO Catil. Tra i
filosofi cristiani Agostino (de gen. centra Manich. I, XVII), BRUZI (de anima)
Beda (in hexaem I) Abelardo (in hexaem). Tantum enim, ut tradit auctoritas, cognoscit ibi quiHque
quantum diligit. (Sent.) Foteoze
d^ll'anirpa. 11 problema psicologico veniva proposto da Ugo di S. Vittore in
queisti termini: (de sacram.) yuaerunlur autem quiam plurima de origine animae,
quando creata fuit et tolde creala fuit et qualis creata fuit. (cfr. August. de
quant. animæ). August. de quant. animæ). È questione tra i filosofi secondo
Giovanni di Salisbury (Mei.) se è una sola potenza la quale ora sentisse, ora
ricoondasse, ora immaginasse o se pur rimanendo l'anima semplice, essa è dotata
di molte potenze (MieNB) – H. P. Grice, “The Power Structure of the Soul.”. Recolo enim fuisse philosophos,
quibus placuit, sicut incorpoream simplicem et individuam esse substantiam
animae, ita et unam esse potentiam, quam multipliciter prò rerum diversitate
exercet. Eorum ergo opinio est, quod eadem
potentia, nunc sentiat, nunc memoretur, nunc immaginetur; nunc discemat
investigando nunc investigata assequendo intelligat. Sed plures sunt e
contrario sentientes animam quidem quantitatem simplicem, sed qualitatibus
compositam et sicut multis obnoxiam passionibus, sic multis potentiis utentem
». V. Espenberger. C. si attiene in ciò a S. Agostino e definisce quei^le potenze
come naturali proprietà dell'anima, yueste sono una sola sostanza ed esistono
nell'animo sostanzialmente; e noiii accidentalmente : poiché sebbene relative
tra di loro ciascuna è sostanzialmente nella sostanza oell animo. (Sent.) « Hic
attendendum est ex quo sensu accipiendum sit quod supra dixit, illa tria,
scilicet memoriam, intelligentiam, voluntatem esse unum, imam mentem, unani
essentiam, quod utique non videtur esse venim juxta »pix>piietatem
sermonis... Illa vero tria, naturales proprietales seu vii-es sunt ipsius
mentis. Sed jam videndum est quoniodo liaec tria dicantur una substantia. Ideo
quia sciJicet in ipsa anima vel mente substantialiter existunt, non sicut
accideiitia in subiectis, quae possunt adesse vel abesse uiide Augustinus in
lib. IX de Trm. cap. 5 alt : Admonemur, si utcumque videre possumus, haec in
animo existere substantialiter, non tanquam in subiecto, ut color in corpore;
quia etsi relative dicuntur ad invincem, singula tamen substantialiter sunt in
substantia sua. Spiegata cosi coli autorità altrui la natura delle potenze dell
anima, il Lombardo distingue nella ragione due parti : la parte superiore che
si volge alle ragioni eteme delle cose, la inferiore che si piega a osservare
le cose temporali! (Sent.) Ratio vero vis animae est superior, quae, ut ita
dicamus, duas habet partes vel differentias, superiorem et inferiorem. Secundum
superio«rem, supemis conspiciendis vel consulendis intendit; secundum
inferiorem, ad temporalium dispositionem conspicit ». Da ciò deriva la
distinzione ch'egli fa della sapienza e della scienza. La definizione che
diedero gli antichi della sapienza, cioè : Sapientia est rerum divinarum
humanarumque scientia, va divisa cosi che sapienza si dica propriamente della
conoscenza delle cose divine, scienza della conoscenza delle cose umane.
(Sent.). Illa definitio dividenda est, ut rerum divinarum oognitio sapientia
proprie nuncupetur, hùmanarum vero rerum cognitio proprie scientiae nomen
obtineat. L'influsso mistico di S. Bernardo suo protettore e dei suoi primi
maestri di S. Vittore, si fa sentire in C. là dove afferma che la maggiore o
minore quantità di sapere deriva dalla quantità di amore: (Sent.) Sed qui magis
diligit plus coginioscit ». Abelardo definisce Tanima come una certa essenza
spirituale e semplice: (introd. ad theol. Ili, 6) « Anima quippe spiritualis
quaedam et simplex essentia est ». Non diversamente la definisce il nostro C.
là dove dice (sent.) « Mens enim i. e., spiritus rationalis essentia est spiritualis et
incorporea ». Così Abelardo come C., si riconnettono a
Agostino che in più luoghi dei libri tratta deU anima -n quanto spirituale ed
incorporea. L'anima si dice semplice perchè non si diffonde in estensione, ma
in qualunque corpo in tutto o in qualsivoglia paorte di essa è intiera. Cosi
quando avviene qualche cosa nella più piccola parte del corpo, che sia
avvertita dall'anima benché non avvenga in tutto il corpo, tutta Tanima sente
perchè non tutta si tien nascosta. (Sent.) Simplex dicitur anima) quia mole non
diffunditur per spatium loci sed in unoquoque corpore et in toto tota est et in
qualibet eius parte tota est. Et ideo cum fit aliquid in quavis exigua
particula corporis quod sentiat anima, quamvis non fiat in toto corpore, illa
tamen tota sentit quia totam non latet. In ciò segue C. la dottrina professata
da Agostino e da Plotino, il primo nel libro di trinitate, de quantitate
animae, de immut, animae, il secondo in enn. (edit Volkmanm). Ma se l’anima è
semplice, dice il Lombardo nel luogo citato, in confronto del corpo, per sé
stessa non è semplice ma molteplice. Poiché altro è essere operoso, altro
Inerte, altro acuto, altro memore, altro è desiderio, altro è timore, altro è
letizia, altro è tristizia, e queste cose ed altre dello stesso genere si
possono trovare nella natura delVanima ed alcune senza le altre ed alcune più
ed altre meno, onde è manifesto che la natura dell'anima non é semplice, ma
molteplice « unde manifestum est animae non sim plicem sed multiplicem esse
naturam. In conclusione la natura dell’anima offre due lati: è semplice da un
lato se si paragona colla natura del corpo molteplice se si paragona colle sue
potenze Ma ranima è altresì immortale. L'uomo è fatto a somiglianza di Dio e la
somiglianza nella essenza perchè essa è immortale ed indivisibile (Sent.) Factus est homo ad similitudinem
dei -- similitudo in essentia quia et immortalis eit indivisibilis est. linde
Augustinus, de quant, anim. Anima facta est similiter deo, quia immortalem et
indissolubilem fecit eam deus. Ma la
filosofia scolastica fedele al precetto: distingue prequenier^ come limita e
divide il concetto della semplicità deiranima cosi na limita e divìde quello
della immoortalilà, distinguendo il coooeilto della morte intesa in senso
assoluto di annientamento da quello della stessa intesa in senso relativo di
mutazione : ed in quest'ultimo senso l’anima non è del tutto immortale (Sent.)
In omni mutabili natura nonnulla mors est ipsa mutatio quia fecit aliquid in ea
non esse quod erat, unde et anima humana quae ideo dicitur immortalis quia
secundum modum suum nunquam desinit vivere^ habet tamen quandam mortem suam.
Riguardo all’origine dell’anima si agitavano ai tempi di C. due diverse
opinioni, l’una del traduzionismo (1) che pretendeva che l’anima vienne
generata come il corpo, l'altra del creazionismo che pretendeva al contrario
che è creata da Dio direttamente. A quest ultima si attiene naturalmente C. con
Abelardo, Roberto PuUus, Ugo di S. Vittore. Dio creò ranima dal nulla dice il
Maestro: (Sent.) «Flatus factus est a deo, non de deo, non dealiqua materia sed
de Odo di Cambra!: (de pen. orig. II) « Sunt autem multi qui volunt animam ex
traduce fieri sicut corpus et cum corporis semine vim etiam animae procedere »
Vedi Espen. 6, I 101 nihilo ». Quindi cornhatte; ropinione di coloro che
affermaaio con Origene che le anime sono state tutte create al principio del
mondo, e quella di coloro che con i Lu^ciferiani e Cirillo ed alcuna dei Latini
pensano che Tanima si comunichi ai figli per generazione e nello stesso modo
che il corpo. Mentre Tanima non è infusa nel corpo che quando esso è tonnato ed
adatto a riceverla. (Sent.) Sed quicquìd de anima primi hominis aestimeoitur,
de alias certissime sentiendum est, quod in corpore creentur; creando emim
infundit eas deus et infundendo creat ». E più avanti: (Sent.) e( Unde
Augustiiniis in ecclesiast, dogm. animas hominum di<rit non esse ab initio
inter creaturas intellectuales natuT^as nec simili creatas sicut Origenes
fìngit necque in corporibtis per coitum seminum sìcuT Luciferani et Cyrillns et
quidam LatiinoiTum praesuanptoìres affìrmant, sed dicimus corpus tantum per
coniugii oopulam seminari, creationem vero animae solum cneiatoirem nosse
eiusque iudicio formato iam corpore animam creavi atque infimdi ». E nel libro
IV spiega ancor meglio quest'ultimo pensiero ricorrendo all'esempio della casa
e del suo abitatore che vi entra soltaoito quando è ben costruita (Sent.). Sed
iam formato corpori anima datur, non ini conceptu corporis nascitur cum semine
derivata. Nam SI cum semina et
anima existit de anima, tunc et multae animae quotidie pereunt cum semen fluxu
non proficit Ti'ativitati. Primum
oportet domum compaginari et sic habitatorem induci». E qui è opportu/no
ricordare che questa teoria dell'anima si trova pure con poche varianti nel
canto del Purgatorio laddove il Poeta discorre della nascita dell'uomo e spiega
come (Tanimal divenga fante. Relazione tra Fanirpa ed il corpo. . Seguendo il
concetto aristotelico dell'età di mezzo, il Lombardo ritiene Tanima come forma
del corpo. (Sent.) « Formatum vero intelligitur corpus propria anima animatum
et informe quod nondum Habet animam. Un tal concetto va intimamente collegato
con un passo della Bibbia: (Exod.) « Si quis percusserit mulierem praegnantem
et aborlivum fecerit, sì adhuc informalum fuerit, multabitur pecunia; quod si
formatmn fuerit, reddel animam prò anima », C. deride le favole di coloro che
immaginano che le anime siano rinchiuse nel corpo, come in un carcere, per i
peccati commessi in cielo (Sent.) Multi in fabulas, vanitatis abierunt dicenls,
quod animae sursum in caelo pecoant, et secundum peccata sua ad corponia prò
meritis diriguntur, et dignis sibi guasi carceribus includuntur. lerunt hi
tales post cogilationes suas et versi sunt in profundum, dicentes animas in
caelo ante conversatas et ibi aliquid vel mali egisse et prò meritis ad corpora
terrena detrusas esse. Hoc autem respuit catholica fides ». Ma invece Dio diede
senso alla natura coirpoTea perchè l’uomo capisse che se potè unire due cose
cosi diverse, quali l'anima è il corpo in una tale unità, non è impossibile
ch'egli possa partecipare per quanto umile alla sua gloria (Sent.) Lufeamque
materiam fecit ad vitae sensum vegetare, ut sciret homo, quia si potuit deus
tam disparem naturam corporis et animae in federationem unam et in amicitiam
tantam coniungere, nequaquam ei impossibile futurum rationalis creaturae
humilitatem ad sua Rloriae partecipationem sublimare. C. non crede che il corpo
sia carcere dell'anima nel senso che sopra si è detto, perchè f)er essere opera
di Dio è un bene: ma è pure un carcere nel senso che il corpo a corrompe e
corrompendosi aggrava l’anima (in ps.) «Vel potius corpus est career non utique
secundum id, quod deus fecit ipsum bonum est, sed secundum id, quod comimpitur
et aggravat animam i. e. oorruptio eius quae venit ex peccali, career est.
Altrove chiama il corpo quasi strumento e servo delTanima : (in epist. ad Rom.)
« Si corpus, quo inferiore tamquam famulo vel instrumento utitur anima... ». E
cosi pure si legge in un suo sermone : (2P De codem die: In passione Domini seu
in annuntiatione (Protois). Dominus est spiritus noster, anima tamquam domina, corpus
tanquam servus. Hi tres ini domo una cooperantur et si
oonveniunt in bono, vdr bonus intelligilur ». Che cosa è infatti Tuoino se non
un'aniina fornita di corpo? si domanda Ugo di S. Vittore (1). Però a questo
riguardo il Lombardo usa di una certa moderazione; ed il suo modo di pensare
intomo alla persona deiruomo ci fa credere che egli dà un posto importante
anche alla vita. Il Maestro delle Sentenze sul finire del suo libro principe,
cioè alla distinzione, entra poi a discorreire della morte e della risurrezione
del corpo. E fu il padre Michele da Carbonara il primo a far notare la
conformità che vi è tra le dottrine svolte da Pier Lombardo e i luoghi della
Divina Commedia che parlano della risurrezione, quantuncfue la ragione
fondamentale di essa data dal Maestro diversifichi in sostanza da quella data
dal Poeta. Nella risurrezione ciascuna anima separata riprenderà il coqx),
ripigtierà sua carne e sua figura (Inf.) quale era nel fiore della età: e sarà
mage^iore allora la sua beatitudine e la sua cognizione : amplior erit eorum
cognitio. Ciò è diffìcile a spiegarsi, dice il Maestro. Ma è certo che
nell'anima è un vivo desiderio di ripigliare il corpo; riunita al corpo Tanima
ha perfectum naturae suae modum ed ha ampliorem cognitionem. Altri che verranno
poi, si spingeranno più addentro nella questione come farà S. Tommaso. Ma, dice
il Carbonara, il Maestro sta come colui che tira le linee più larghe d'un
quadro, in suU'indeterm inalo; e si legga at[Sent., Migm. Quid enim est homo
nisi anima habens corpus ? Nel sermone 11 (in die Cineris ad poenitentes .Ms.
lat. in Protois p. 138): «vita praesens messi comparatur et aestati, quia nunc
inter ardores tentationum colligenda sunt futurorum merita praemiorum.
Carbonara, ALIGHIERI (si veda e C. (Sent.) con prefazione e per cura di Murari
2 ediz. Città di Castello Collezione di Opuscoli Danteschi inediti o rari
diretti da Passerini. tentamente questo tratto « ^f mmor sU healitudo sanctorum
post iudicium; sì leig'gta attentamente e si vedrà che se vi è trailo che
specchi il canto del Paradiso, questo tratto è desso. La slessa queslfone, gli
stessi punti determinali; ma Insieme rindeterminatezza, il vago, che
neirinsieme domina il Maestro, si risente nel Poeta. Come la carne gloriosa e
santa Pia rivestita, la nostra persona Più grata fia, per esser tutta quanta :
(cperfeobum natuirae suae modum habebit anima».Omne qaod est, in quantum est,
bonum est. Tutta TEtica scolastica è necessariamente compenetrala della
dogmatica teologica. Quella di C. non diversa in sostanza da quella dei suoi
maestri^ si riattaeca alle discussioni teologiche intorno alla morale che ai
suoi tempi si dibattevano. La prima questione che ci conviene esaminare, è
quella che riguarda il libero esercizio della volontà. La libertà, pensa egli
con Ugo di S. Vittore (Sent.), di cui sente più volle l'influsso, chiede di
poier compiere non solo il male, ma anche il bene. (Sent.) « Verum nobis magis
placet ut ipsa libertas arbitrii sit et illa, qua magi® liber est malum, et
alia qua quis liber est ad bonum faciendum. Ex causis enim variis sortitur diversa vocabula. Il
Lombardie si chiede in appresso quali fattori determinano la libertà umana e ne
distingue due, cioè la ragione e la volontà. La prima disceme tra il bene ed il
male, la seconda si muove con desiderio spontaneo ad effettuarlo. Ecco la
definizione e la spiegazione del libero arbitrio secondo C. (Sent.). Liberum
verum arbitrium est facultas rationis et voluntatis, qua bonum eligitur gratia
assistente, vel malum ea desistente. Et dicitur liberum, duantum ad voluntatem
quae ad utrumlibet flecti potest. Arbitrium vero, quantum ad rationem, cuius
est facultas et potentia illa, cuius etiam est discemere inter bonum et malum
et aliquando quidem discrelionem habens boni et mali, quod malum est eligit,
aliquando vero quod bonum est...,.» e più avanti: (Sent.) Liberum ergo dicitur
arbitrium quantum ad voluntatem, quia voluntaTie moveri et spontaneo appetitu
ferri potest ad ea quae bona vel mala indicet vel indicare potest. Il Lombardo
si affretta poi a spiegare un passo di S. Agostino, ove questi afferma che
l'uomo perde il libero arbitrio dopo il peccato, onde si legge nei Vangeli:
(Pel.) A quo erdm devictus
est, huic servus est (Vedi August. enchirid. Migrie). TIon ciò non si vuol dire che l'uomo perde
intieramente la libertà, ma solo quella che ci trattiene dalla miseria e dal
peccato (Sent.) <( Ecce liberum arbitrium dicit (scil. Augustinus) hominem
amisisse; non quia post peccatum non habuerit liberum arbitrium, sed quia
libertatem arbitrii perdidit non quidem a necessitate, sed libertatem a miseria
et peccati. Est namque lib^rtas
triplex, scilicet a necessitate, a peccato, a miseria. A necessitate et ante
peccatum et post aeque liberum est arbitrium. Sicut enim lune cogi non poterai, ila nec modo.
Ideoque voluntas merito apud deum indicalur, quae semper a necessitate libera
est *i iiiunquam cogi potest. Ubi necessitas, ibi non est libertas; ubi non est
libertas, nec volunlas et ideo nec merilum. Haec libertas in omnibus est tam in malis quam in
bonis. Il Sentenziario perciò nel suo Commentario nei Salmi (rimprovera coloro
che attribuiscono alle stelle ed al fato, la colpa dei loro peccati facendone
in certo modo responsabile Iddio, che è Tautoire del creato: (in ps.) « Ila
clamel aeger ad medicum, et dicat: Cum libero arbitrio creavi! me Deus: ideoque
si peccavi, ego peccavi non fatum, non fortuna, non diabolus, me coegit : sed'
ego persuadenti consensi ». io: In conclusione, il maestro delle Sentenze^ come
già si è veduto, definisce il libero arbitrio un& facoltà della ragione' e
della vodontà colla quale si sceglie il bene col soccorso della grazia od il
male se la grazia ci manca. Ma questa definizione, aggiunge l'autore, non
conviene a Dio né ai santi che par essere incapaci di peccare, hanno un libero
arbitrio più perfetto. 11 libero arbitrio di Dio è la sua volontà ònnisapiente
ed onnipotente, che fa senza necessità e liberamente tutto ciò che le piace.
Quella degli angeh e dei santi non può più portarsi verso il male, perchè essi
sono coiiifermati neha beatitudine e neilla grazia. L'uomo dopo il peccato ha
pure conservato il suo, ma perchè egli voglia il bene gli è necessaria la
grazia del Redentore. La teoria del libero arbitrio, che il Maestro professa,
intesa a conciliaire il dogma coi dettami della ragione, non sfugge, come è ben
naturale, a gravi difficoltà. Cosi egli è costretto per quaiinto si sforzi di
provare il contrario, a mettere l'uomo in una posizione non del tutto giusta,
rispetto alla sua libertà, poiché se egli fa il male, ne è tutta sua colpa
(ideoque si peccavi ego peccavi in ps. loc. cit.) quantunqua non possa andare
^nte dal peccalo, mentre se fa il bene, il merito è tutto di Dio. (Sent.) « Non
tamen sine libero arbitrio proveoiiunt merita nostra, scilicet boni effectus
eo-rumque progressus atque bona opera quae Deus remunerat in noDas et haec ipsa
sunt Dei dona. Unde Augustinus ad Sixtum presbyterum: Cum coronat Deus merita
nostra nihil aliud coronai quasn munera sua. Quamto poi alla obbiezione che se
Dio sa tutte le cose che debbono avvenire, noi non possiamo fare in altro modo
di quello che a lui è noto, dal che ne verrebbe la negazione di ogni libertà
umana, egli non oppone nulla in questo punto dove espone la teorica del libero
arbitrio. Ma noi possiamo conoscere il suo parere in proposito, purché noi ci
riportiamo a quel punto del libro P, ove parla della prescienza di Dio, allora
assai dibattuta dalle sette scolastiche, come quella che sembrava condurre a
riconoscere il fatalismo. Il Maestro delle Sentenze per rispondere a questo
argomento, fa uso della distinzione così nota agli scolastici del senso
composto e del senso diviso, ovvero del senso congiuntivo e del disgiuntivo;
cioè che non si può dare che Dio abbia preveduto una cosa e ch'essa non
avvenga, ma è possibile che essa non avvenga, e allora Dio non Tavrebbe
preveduta. Sottigliezze a cui la scuola dogmatica è costretta a ricorrere ogni
qualvolta vien messa ale strette. Ondie il Pomponnazzi nel suo libro: De Fato,
libero (mbitrio et providentia Dei (V lib. Bàie) ove si sforza egli pure si
conciliare il destino la provvidenza e la libertà deiruomo, finisce col non
saper dare altre soluzioni che quelle poste innanzi dalla scolastica,
confessando però che esse sono piuttosto delle illusioni che delle vere
risposte: Videntur potius esse illusiones islae quam respomiones. Fine a cui
tendiamo tutti é la felicità : (sent.) Beatos autem esse velie, omnium hominum
esl ». C. ricorda le parole di CICERONE: Beati certe omnes esse volufnus, ed è
lontano dal contraddirvi, ma anzi ne deduce che poiché tutti desiderano la
felicità, tutti ne hanno dentro di sé la conoscenza: sequitiu' ut omnes beatam
vitam sciant. Vediamo ora come procede il Lombardo neiranalisi della felicità.
Sul principio del primo libro egli comincia dal distinguere la differenza che
v*è tra usare di una cosa e fruirne. Usare d'una cosa è adoperarla a compiere
la nostra volontà, fruirne è usarne con gioia, è aderirvi per amore e ciò non
avviene in questa vita. (Sent.) « Uti est assumere ali<juid! in f acultateni
voluntatìs. Frui autem est, uti cum gaudio, non adhuc spei sed jam rei... et
ita in hac vita non videmur frui sed tantum uti, ubi gaudeamus in spe, cum
supra dictum sit, frui esse amore dnhaerere alieni rei propter se : qualiter
etiam hic multi adhaerant De. ALIGHERI, Purgatorio: Ciascun confusamente un
bene apprende Nel qual si queti T animo, e desira: Perchè di giugner lui
ciascun contende. E poiché questo sembra far iidsceire eontraddiàoni, egli la
rivolse così chiarendo il suo concetto. Tanto qui come nel futuro si può in
certo modo fruire della beatitudine eterna, ma mentre in cielo noi la godremo
in modo perfetto perchè, come dice S. Agostino, l'avremo vicina qui in terra,
non la godiamo che per riflesso ed è ciò che ci fa sopportare i travagli della
vita. (Sent.) « Haec ergo quae sibi contradicere videmtur, sic determinamus,
dioente», nos et hic et in futuro frui : sed ibi proprie et perfecle et piene
ubi per speciem videbimus quo fruemur, hic autem, dum in spe ambulamus fruimur
quidem sed non adfeo piene... Idem (scil. Augustinus) in Uh. de Doc. christ.
ail: Angeli ilio fruentas jam beati sunt quo et nos frui desideramus; et
quaai'timi in hac vita iam fruimur, vel per speculum, vel din aenigmate, tanto
nostram peregrinationem et lolerabilius sustioemus et ardentius fruire cupimus
». In questa teorioa il Lombardo si liem stretto a Agostino ed esprime 41
medesimo comcetto che più tardi sarà svolto da S. Tommaso col fine mediato ed
iumiediato. guanto alla questione, se si possa gioire della virtù per sé stessa
o solo come mezzo di acquistare la vera felicità, egli si prova come è suo
metodo di conciliare la prima opinio*ne, che sembra confortata da un passo di
Ambrogio, con la seconda professata da S. Agostino, affermando che la virtù può
essere amata per sé slessa, ma che non dobbiamo fermarci lì, ma bisogna tendere
ad un fine più elevato e riferire la virtù a Dio come fine ultimo. Amoralità
d^Ue aztooi urpaoe* Quali sono le azio^ni umane che si debbono chiamare buone
secondo C. e quali cattive ? Egli risponde suirautorità d’Ambrogio e d’Agostino,
che ciò che fa buona o cattiva una azione è Tintenzione. Ed in ciò non discorda
da Abelardo che afferma appunto nelFEtica: Unde ab eodem homine cum in diversis
temporibus Ilo idem fiat, prò divemsitate tametn intentionis eius operatio modo
bona modo mala dicitm. Infatti il Maestro nel libro secondo d^e Sentenze
(dist.) dice quasi allo slesso modo : « Nam simpliciter ac vere sunt boni illi
actus, qui bonam causam et intentionem id est qui voluntatem bonam comitantur
et ad bonum finem tendunt: mali vero simpliciter dici debent qui perversam
habent causam et intentionem ». E cita a questo proposito le parole di S.
Agostino : (enarr. in ps.) « Bonum eriim opus intentio facitìK In conseguenza è
un'azióne buona confortare i poveri se si fa per compassione e misericordia :
ma la stessa azione diventa cattiva se la si fa per ambizione. Vi sono tuttavia
delle azioni le quali sono cattive per sé stesse e che la intenzione non può
rettificare: tali sono la menzogna e la bestemmia. Ksse poi sono cattive in
quanto sono privazioni dell'essere, perchè ogni cosa, in quanto è, è buona :
Omne quod est in quantum est bonum. L.a le^^e fT)orale« Stabilito cosi guali
sono le azioni buone o cattive, et seconda dell'intenzione, restava a
determinare quale è il caratieire morale che deve contraddistinguere le nostre
azioni e qual norma si deve necessariamente seguire per muovere al bene : dione
insomma dove deve dirigersi- la buona intenzione. In coerenza colle dottrine da
lui professate, •il Maestro pone la regola delle azioni umane nella legge
divina : perciò il peccato consiste in una infrazione alla legge divina. (Sent.) « Peocatum est omne
dictum vel factum vel concupitum quae fit contra legem Dei, Quid est ipeccatum
nisi legis divanae praevaricatio? ». n
C. ammette altresì una legge naturale, lex natu^ raliSj la quale ebbero anche i
Gentili, ma questa non basta a condurre a salvamento. Ili Nofli è qui il luogo
di indicare il difetto originale d una tale dottrina che nel porre fuori di noi
la legge del nostro operare, si condanna alla, contraddizione. Mi basterà
ricoirdare che essa si presenta assai più sviluppata in AQUINO, il quale pone
innanzi iJ concetto aristotelico della ragione umana, la quale è la natura
dell'uomo in quanto è uomo: ondfe poiché ogni cosa è buona quando è conforme
alla sua propria natura, ogni cosa sarà buona rispetto airuomo quando sarà
conforme alla ragione. Ma questa stessa ragione e natura umana ripete il suo
potere regolativo dalla natura divina : « quod autem ratio umana sit regula
voluntatis humanae, ex qua eius bonitas mensuretur, habet ex lege aeterrm quae
est divina ». (Sum theol..). In conclusione la filosofia patristica e
scolastica, si accorda nel porre il principio normativo dell'operare umano
fuori aeiruomo stesso, cioè nella sapienza divina identica essenzialmente col
suo volere. Bei}e ^ n)ale. Abbiaino veduto come Pier Lombardo affermi che tutto
ciò che è, in quanto è, è bene : « Omne quod est, in quantum est, est bonum »
(Sent.). E poiché l3io é d'autor© di tutto ciò che esiste Dio é rautore di ogni
bene. (Sent.) (Deus) omnium quae sunt auctor est, quae in quantum siuiif bona
sunt. Ma non viieme di conseguenza che Dio sia l'autore anche del male, giacché
il Lombardo come tutti gli Scolastici, concepisce il male come gualche cosa di
propriamente negativo, cioè come la privazione o la corruzione del bene.
(Sent.) « Malum enim est comiptio yel privatio boni... Quid enim aliud quod
malum dicitur nisi privatio boni?». Anche Agostino nel libro De civitate Dei
(Migne) parla di causa deficiente e non efficiente del cattivo operare « Nemo
igilul* quaeral ellkientem causani malae volunfalis: non enim efficiens est,
sed deflciens, quia nec illa effectio est sed defeclio. E di qui trae buon
argomento il Maestro a confutare l'obbiezione di eoJoro che insinuano che Dio
essendo autore di tutto ciò che esiste, deve essere altresì autore del peccato.
(Sent.) « Quocirca
mali auctor non ^t (scil. deus) et ideo ipse summum bonum est, a quo ^n nullo
delicere bonum est, et malum est deflcere. Non est ergo causa deficiendi id' est tendendi ad
jion esse, qui, ut ita dicam, essendi causa est, quia omnTum quae suoit, auctor
est, quae in quantum sunt, bona sunt... Ecce aperte habes quod deficere a
deo... malum est ». L.oiT7bardo nel cielo del 5oIe. Entrato €on Beatrice nella
sfera del sole Dante, appreoide diairanima di S. Tommaso chi essa sia e chi
siano i fulgor vivi e vincenti Sella sua ghirlanda. Se si di tutti gli altri
esser vuoi certo, Di retro al mio parlar ten vien col viso * Girando su per lo
beato serto, QuelValtro fiammeggiare esce dal riso Di Graziano, che Vano e
l'altro foro Alutò si che piace in Paradiso. L'altro ch'appresso adorna il
nostro coro Quel Pietro fu che con la poverella Offerse a Santa Chiesa suo
tesoro {Par.);. Qui Buti commenta : con la poverella offerse fece la sua
offerta della sua facilità, come la po-verella della quale dice rEvangelio di
Santo loanni, che offerse poco, perchè «poco aveva, ma con buon cuore e peirò
Iddio accettò più la sua offerta che quella del ricco, che, benché offerisse
molto, non offerse con si buono animo. Commento di Buti sopra la Divina
Commedia per cura di C. Giannini Pisa I più dei oammentatapi ricordano le prime
parole del prologo del Liber Sententiarum : « Cupientas aJiquid de penuria a-c
temiitate nostra cum paupercula in gazophilacium Domini miUere ardua scandere
et opus supra vires nostras praesumpsimus». Le parole di C. chiaramente
fidludono al noto episodio della poverella, riportato da San Luca e da S. Marco
e nooi da Giovanni come erroneamente riferisce il Buli. Dice San Luca: «
Respiciens autem vidit eos, qui mittebant munera sua in gazophilacium diviles. Vidit autem et quamdam viduam
pauperculam mittenlem aera minuta duo. Et dixit: Vero dico vobis, quia vidua
haec pauper, plus quam omnes misit. Nam omnes hi ex abundantia siti miserunt in
munera Dei : haec autem et ex eo, quod deest illi, omoiem victum suum quem
habuit misit. Così ad un dispreeso racconta San Marco
con leggere vananti : solo è da notarsi che egli chiama la donna uidua una
pauper e vidua hxiec pauper e non mai col diminutivo tanto affettuoso di
paupercula che per essera stJ^lo scelto da Pier Lombardo fa pensare ch'egli si
sia riferito in special modo al passo di San Luca della Volgata. Ma ciò poco
importa : importa invece assai il notare come l'umiltà della vidua paupercula
avesse toccato «profondamente il cuore di C. il quale nel vergare quelle parole
doveva forse ricordarsi con teneirezzìa di un'altra vedova poverella di un
lontano paese di Lombardia: e come ALIGHIERI che nei veirsi che dedicava ai
persooiaggi della sua^ Commedia soleva «per lo più introduirre l’elemento
soggettivo dei ricordi ed affetti personali non senza ragione ricordò quel
punto e quello solo dell'opera di C. L'influenza che il ma^fister Petrus esercitò
sul pensiero del Divino Poeta non è stata ancora tutta quanta spiegata e
compresa nella sua giusta entità. 11 tkeologus . Dantes nullius dogmatis expers
dà a S<a«n Tommaso il posto d'onore che gli conviene, ma ad AQUINO
commentatore di C.. Se ALIGHERI ed AQUINO non si possono ancor dire
contemporaiiiei sono vissuti a poca distanza di tempo e sono entrambi
commentatori e perfezionatori dell'opera ancora rozza si ma feconda di Pier
Lombardo : l'uno raggiunge finalmente colla sua maunifica somima quel connubium
fidei ac rationis che il Magister aveva solo tentato, Taltro ina canta il
trionfo glorioso. Che Dante avesse letto il Rbro delle Sentenze con mollo amore
ci è provato non solo dai versi succitati, ma da numeirosi passi del Paradiso
ove come diremo tosto rimitaziione risulta evidente : ed io sarei anche
propenso a credere che rAlighieri non si fosse Termato alla lettura di quel
libro solo ed a tutti noto di Pier Lombardo. Qui sono tratto ad accennare
fuggevolmente alla famosa questione del viaggio di Dante a Parigi : questione
ove troppo, eletti ingegni si cimentarono perchè io presuma di recare qualche
nuovo raggio di luce. Dante zill'Uoiversiià di Parigi. Giovanni di Serravalle
comme«ntatore racconta. Anagogico dilexit Theojogiam sacram, in qua diu studuit
tam in Oxoniis in regno Angliae quam Parisius in regno Franciae : et fuit
Bachalarius in Universitate Parisiensi in qua legit Senlentias prò forma
magisterii : legit Biblia : respondit omnibus doctoribus, ut moris est, et
fecit omines actus qui fieri debent per doctorandum in Sacra Theologia. Egli
continua poi a dire che Dante non potè ottenere la laurea perchè gli mancò il
denaro per la licenza (deerat pecunia). Onde tornò in Firenze per acquistarlo,
optimus artista, perfectus Theologus e quivi fatto «priore si diede ai pubblici
uffici e più non si curò della Università di Parigi. Il (racconto di Giovainni
di Serravalle fu accolto dairOzanam e dairArriviabene con maggior serietà che
mm me(1) TiBABOSOBi, storia della leti. Hai. Modena - Fratria F. de Serravalle
Translatio et comentum totius libri Dantis Aldighieri cum textu italico Fratria
Da Colle, nunc primum edito Prati - (Jiachetti in fol. ritasse. Secondo un tale
racconto ALIGHIERI (si veda) sarebbe andato a Parigi contro raffestazione di
Villani, di Boccaccio, di Benvenuto da IMOLA (si veda) che fanno il viaggio
degli ultimi anni. Ed il chiaro professor Cipolla osserva che è appena
credibile che ALIGHIERI (si veda) fossei in cpiel tempo cosi spirovviiyto di
credito da non potere ottenere la somma che gli era necessaria: onde giudica il
racconto di poca probabilità. Ma TinverosimigHanza di lutto il racconto appare
manifesta quando un poco si pensi al modo come è organizzata la facoltà di
FILOSOFIA di Parigi ai tempi d’ALIGHIERI (si veda). Il buon vescovo di Fermo
volendo mostrarsi molto approfondito nella conoscenza dei gjradi accademici
commette degl’errori grossolani: et fuit Bacchalarius – cf. H. P. Grice, B. A.
Oxon. -- in vniversitate parisiensi in qua legit Sententias pro forma
Magisterii: legit Biblia. Ma si è veduto nella parte storica del lavoro che
l’anno in cui il baccelliere éiventsiV a Sententiarius cioè commenta in
pubblico il libro delle Sentenze non precede, ma segue la spiegazione della
Sacra scrittura. Dopo quell'anno, il baccelliere si chiama baccalaureus
FORMATVS, che risponde, mutatis mutandis al nostro laureando a BOLOGNA. Perciò
Giovanni di Serravalle per essere esatto come vuol parerlo, avrebbe dovuto
invertire l'ordine delle parole. Ma non vogliaino essere molto esigenti su ciò:
c'è ben altro. Gli omnes aclus qui fieri dehent per doctorandum in sacra
Theologia sono e forse Giovanni di Serravalle lo ignora, i sermoni (sermones) e
le conferenze (controversiæ) che si dovevano tenere nei tre o quattro anni che
precedeno la licenza ed infine le tre dispute pubbliche di cui la più solenne
vienne chiamata sorbonica. Ma la licenzia (LICENTIA) che vienne dopo tali prove
accordata e che il Serravallei chiama con termini vaghi inceptio, conventus non
esige alcuna pecunia di sorta. Il SerravaUe e tutti i Commentatori si
riferivano all’accenno Dantesco; si come il baccelUer s'arma e non paria, fin
che il MAESTRO (MAGISTER – H. P. Grice, M. A. Oxon) la question propone, per
approvaria e non per terminarla. Par. - i8, Infatti già il concilio Lateranense
proclama due punti fondamentali: la necessità e la gratuità della licenza ed un
tale decreto trova posto nelle Definire di Gregorio IX. Solo per eccezione è
eoncesso a Comestore, cancellario di Nótre Dameij per i suoi pregi personali,
da Alessandro III, di prelevare uoiia piccola rimunerazione per la concessione
della licenza. Ed ancora il Regolamento di Courcon insiste sulla concessione
gratuita ed ìncondiziomita della licenza: ed una tale disposizione veniva
conifermata nelle reigole aggiunte dal papa Gregorio II di cui conosciamo il
benefico intervento nei dissensi tra rUniversità ed di Re di Francia. Nella
famosa bolla Parens scientiarum viene prescritto formalmente « che il
cancelliere non potrà esigere da coloro ai quali conferirà la licenza né giunamento,
né obbedienza, né denaro, né cauzione, né promessa ». Ora è noto a tutti che lo
statuto di Roberto di Courcon confermato e completato dalla bolla di Gregorio
IX, la quale fu pure rinnovata senza modificazione da Urbano IV continua ad
essere per tutto il secolo XIII 'a legge fondamentale deirUniversità e pertanto
della facoltà teologica di Parigi. Per il che sembra a me che il fondo storico
del racconto di Giovanni di Serravalle venga a mancare sempre più di
consistenza. Cipolla nel suo dotto ìavaro Sigieri nella Divina Commedia, dopo
avere ossei-vato che il Sigieri ricordato tra i beati del canto X deve
ritenersi come Sigieri di Brabante, e non va identificato col Sigieri de
Conrtrai {Le Clero) visisuto in epoca diversa, e neppure con quello di cui si
iparla nel sonetto del Fiore (Castets) avverso ad AQUINO, crede probabile, che
ALIGHIERI fn a Parigi negli ultimi anni di sua vita ed airin e non vi ascoltò
le lezioni di Sigieri di Brabante perché questi era morto avanti il 1300 (
Feret tornando su questa questione nel volume II deiropera cit. (Les
Sorbonnistes) crede errat-ì così, l'opinione del Le Clerc che del Castets,
combatte ^e Giornale storico den« Lett. It. Torino LoescUer] asserzioni di
Gaston Paris, ed airiimesso che il Sigieri d’ è il SigieriALIGHIERI (si veda)
di Brabante che quitla cette vie en reputation d'une orthodoxie parfaite, non
si discosta mollo dalle oonclusdoni del professor Cipolla che mostra di mion
conoscere. Questo sembrerebbe coaidurci assai fuori del nostro argomento se una
buòna osservazione del prof. Cipolla a questo proposito della partecipazione
dell'Alighieri alle lezioni dd Sigieri non mi facesse tosto ritornarvi. Egli
afferma che « per ciò che riguarda Sigieri, altro è ammettere nel luogo
Dantesco vm ricordo personale, ed altro è credere che questo ricordo personale
sia tale davvero da comprenderà poS la partecipazione dell'Alighieri alla
scuola di quel filosofo. Alle scuole di Parigi i libri del Sigieri eratno
rimasti auasi come lesti agli scolari, tanta Sama le sue lezioni vi avevano
lasciato. Cosi per ciò che riguarda Pier Lombardo, io aggiungerò che oer
spiegare la profonda conoscenza che Dante ebbe del Libro delle sentenze, non è
necessario di credere col Serravalle che Damle abbia commentato le sentenze
nella scuola di Teologia perchè lo studio che in quei tempi se ne faceva in
Parigi, la fama che vi godeva e che già aveva provocato i lamenti di Ruggero
Bacone, certo potevano non poco contribuire a farglielo conoscer© più in là del
frontìsipizio e del prologo. Per fama egli conobbe a Parigi Sigieri, per fama
vi conosce C. ed entrambi egli ricordò con particolar cura nei suoi versi ove
palpita un affetto personale. Ma se poca o nessuna influenza ha la filosofìa di
Sigieri nell’opera d’ALIGHIERI; molta invece ne ha in quella di C. Un esempio:
Speme dissHo, è un attender certo Della gloria futura, il qual produce Grazia
divina e precedente merlo. {Par.) P. Fkrkt La f acuite de Tkeol, de Paris –
Ricarcl] Pietro di Dante, TOttimo, la Chiosa Cassanese, ricordano la definizione
di Pier Lombardo: «est spes certa exjeiotatio futurae beatitudinis veniens ex
Dei gralia et mentis praecedentibus ». (Lib. Seni. IH. dist.). Iacopo della
Lama, rÀnonimo rioooimno assai meno opportunamente a San Toit^màso: spes est
motus appeWiiae virtutis consequens apprehensione boni fulnri adnui possibilis
adiptsci. Ho citato, per ppoporre un esempio, uno dei tanti luoghi ove il
Lombardo viene dal poeta preferito all'Aquinale, o meglio dire ove cosi San
Tommaso come Dante attingono -alla medesima fonte: Pier Lombardo. Qui si ha una
traduzione letterale delle parole del Maestro che appaiono anche in San Tommaso
sotto una veste più filosofica. Ma non è questo il solo punto ove un tale
raffronto è possibile. Fu uno dei più assidui, il Senatore Carlo Neg'-;ni, a
far notare la ^ainde importanza che ebbe il libro del Maestro nel pensiero di
Dante. JNella prefa/jine al volume. .V. della Bibbia volaare ri884), accennando
a Pier Lombardo della cui opera si giova Tespositore dei salmi di quella
Bibbia, promise di occuparsene : « In un altro mio scritto dove avrò Taiuto di
un teologo profondo, e mio buon amico, farò il confronto tra le «proposizioni
teologiche della Divina Commedia e quelle dei libri delle Sentenze: ed il
lettore vedrà che le prime non sono altro che Tespressione poetica delle
seconde, fedelissima e latta con invidiabile precisione ». Disgraziatamente
Negroni occupato in altri lavori, non potè adempiere .alla sua promessa, ma
dando esempio dì larghezza d'animo, consigliò ed aiutò l’amico suo Carbone,
(Carbonara), poi prefetto Apostolico deirÉritrea, nell'opera a cui egH non
poteva attendere, e ne promosse la pubblicazione. Carbonara pubblica infatti
Slcuni Studi Danteschi e Tortona Tip. A. Rossi Stttdi Danteschi; Dante e S.
Francesco; ALIGHIERI e FIDANZA (si veda) Nella Biblioteca Negroni si trovano
nel carteggio privato le lettere che Carbone indirizzava a Negroni piene
d'erudizione e di affetto per l'illustre amico. Trov.ansi pure tra i copiosi
ms. due fascicoli; n. 26: Pier L. nel Paradiso; n. 27: Appunti Danteschi. Essi
contengono citazioni, note erudite che il Negroni veniva man mano scrivendo. La
malattia e la morte tolsero il modesto studioso e generoso filantropo aUa
tranquilla ed utile sua operositét letterarii^. nel volume I. dedicato al
Neuroni, prese in esame» il I\' Libro delle Sentenze collo studio: Dante e C.
Questo appunto- che è il migliore ed il più originale, entrò poco dopo inella
collezione di opuscoli inediti e rari diretta da Passerini per cura di Murari.
In esso il Carbone che si limita «all'esame delle distinzioni delle Sentenze,
conclude che il seme che è nel libro delle Sentenze di Pier Lombardo mostra i
suoi fiori ed i suoi frutti ini Dante. Nella tornata del 19 Aprile 1891
airAccademia Pontaniana, il socio residente Alberto Agresti le^e una memoria
dal titolo: Eva in Dante ed in Pier Lombardo (1) ed anch'egli ricordò a
proposito di questi studi, Tamico Negroni e lo studio di frate Michele da
CARBONARA (si veda). Ponendo a raffronto i passi danteschi ove vien citala Eva
(tacendo di tre che non danno alcun ^udizio della sua colpa : (Purg.) uno
comune con Adamo (Purg.); gli altri (Purg.; Par.), ove si dà un giudizio
sfavorevole di Eva ed il passo del DeViilgari Eloquio ove ALIGHERI chiama Eva
praesumptuosissimam), cerca da quali letture Dante ricavò il severo giudizio.
Combatte To•pinione di V. Imbriani, (Studi danteschi. Firenze, Sansoni) che
coIFesempio del Boccaccio vuol dimostrare 'i& scarsa erudizione teologica
di Dante. Nella testimonianza di San Tommaso {Summa) Isidoro {Sentent.),
Sant'Anselmo {De pec-orig.), Ugo da S. Vittore, FIDANZA non trova la ragione
delli eccessiva severità deirAlighieri, bemsì in Pier Lombardo (Lib. II. dist.
22) che così si esprime: Adamo non istimò vero ciò che il diavolo aveva
suggerito; stimò di peccare in maniera da esserne perdonato. Forse come vide
che la donna, gustato il frutto, non era peranco morta, prevaricò e volle
ainch^'egli fare esperimento del legno proibito. Più però Ta donna, perchè
volle usurpare l'eguaglianza della divinità e levata in superbia nimia
vraesumptione^ credette così doversi avverare. Adamo non volle contristare la
donna, ma certo non vinto da carnale concupiscenza, non sentila peranco in
Napoli, Tip. della R. Università, lui, ma per una certa amichevole heoievotenza
per la quale il più delle volte avviene che si offende Dio per non offender
l'amico. In un certo modo Adamo fu anch'egli deceptus ! Nella donn<a /fu
majoris tumoris praesumptio : ella peccò in sé, nel prossimo, in Dio : l'uomo
solo ui sé ed in Dio. E l'Agresti finisce insomma col concludere che « studiare
la D. Commedia al lume dei libri delle Sentenze è tutto un lavoro nuovo che
manca alla letteratura danteca ». A me non resta che augurarmi che un tale 1'
si compia e che una feconda curiosità subentri alla sterile dilRdenza
nelFaprire il libro di P. L. che Dante non certo per cura della rima chiamava
il suo tesoro. I ìinyiìì dell'erudizione. Ristrettezza di tempo mi ha impedito
di dare, com'era mio desiderio, maggior svolgimento a questi insufficienti
cenni sull'influenza esercitata dal maestro delle Sentenze sull'opera
d’ALIGHIERI (si veda) e non sulla Divina Commedia soltanto. Dell'utilità di una
maggiore e più profonda conoscenza di tali rapporti, è prov:a quanto si è
venuto in questi anni scrivendo dagli studiosii di Dante coll'intento in verità
non sempre raggiunto di recar "maggiore luce airinterpretazione' del poema
dantesco. Ancora in un recente fascicolo del Bollettino della Società Dantesca
Italiana. Parodi m una dotta recensione consacrata ad un apprezzato studio del
prof. Surra su La conoscenza del futuro e del presente nei dannati danteschi
(Novara, Tip. Guaglio), si vale del confronto colla dottrina del Maestro delle
Sentenze per meglio chiarire i dubbi che le parole di Farinata non sciolgono
sul modo di conosceniza dei dannati. Contro la tesi del Surra, che
fortificandosi del concetto delFìrrazionale nell'arte, ampiaonente illustrato
da Fracoaroli, vuol chiudere il passo ^ai diritti 3eireru3ìzioaie, Parodi
dimostra, citando una distinzione del IV delle Sentenze. Ve animabus damnatorum
si qua habent notitican eorum quae hic fiunt, come l’esposizione di Farinata
cresce d'importanza venendo a combaciare colla dotlrin<a professata dal
Maestro. Ed è certo che se la contraddizione non può essere evitata dal
pensiero umano, specie cpiando s'aderge sulle ali della poesia, tanto in Dante
come in C., scola5?tóci entrambi, v'è Tidentioa «preoccupazioaiei di sfug^rle
colla cura più scrupolosa. Non si può riconoscere tuttavia all'erudizione il
diritto di andar troppo oltre, specie nelle sue conclusioni, perchè
Terudizioflie è alla poesia come la ragione è alla fede, che il sapere
riconosce potene illuminare senza spiegarla interamente. Se anche col raffronto
più minuto dei passi danteschi ooiropera di C. (non limitato alle Semtenze) noi
potremo trovare nuove e curiose rispondenze che ci dimostreranno le fonti di
sapere e d'inspirazione del Poeta divino, dovremo limitarci a riconoscere nulla
più che la materia preziosa, ma informe trasportata e nobilitata dalFopera (in
che è il fatto nuovo) dello statuario. E\ per limitarmi ad un solo esempio,
notevole il modo onde mei Sermoni vengono disposti gli argomenti morali che il
Lombardo distilla da un qualunque versetto biblico: sono quasi sempre tre i
sensi che se ne ricadano ed il numero 3 entra con una particolare predilezione
ìiell armonica e spesso sin troppo misurata distribuzione delle parti nei suoi
discorsi. Queste ed altre minuzie di logica arTres igitur tortae pani8 tres
sunt modi dìvinam paginam intelligendi Triplex igitar pani8 eat intellectus:
tropologicus, scilicet moralis vel historicus; mysticus, idest allegoricus et
anagogeticum Moralis mores componit, exhauriens malos et confovens bonos;
allegorìcufl mentis acuit oculos ut mysterioram abdita penetrare valeant;
anagogeticus mentes super se effundit ut in voce exultationis et confessionis,
constituto die, e condensis usque ad domum Dei rapiatur; nam sicut allegoria
alitar intellectus, ita anagoge superior sermo vel sursum tendens
interpretatur. Moralis, idest tropologicus, est dulcior, historicus facilior,
mysticus auctior. Historicus insipientibus, moralis proficientibus, mxsticus
perfìcientibus congruit.- Sermone: Convertimini fili revertentes fine inedita
riportata da Haureau op. cit* chitettura oasi caire a Pier Loonbardo, come si
avverte nello slesso Prologo delle Sentenze', do ve vaino esercitare il loro
influsso nel poeta della Vita Nuova e del Paradiso. Ma non dal solo Pier
Lombardo, bensì da tutta 'a scienza teologica, Dante raccolse mei grande
specchio ustorio della sua mente, la luce che brilla nel suo divino Poema. Né
possiamo comprendere come uno studiotso deìlla coltura del prof. Amaduocd,
possa restringere nelrarido opuscolo di San Pier Damiano, quasi l'unica tonte
del poema dantesco, lo schema dottrinale a cui Damte avrebbe informato, con
perfetta fusione della lettera coll'allegoria^ la Commedia, e annunciare
seriamente che distinguendo i 100 canti nelle 42 marcie e fermate {numsioni}
deirallegorico viaggio degli Ebrei contemplato dalla modesta fantasia di San
Pier Damiano, verrà sostituito nell'esame del poema ai fondamenti ipotetici, il
fondamento scientifico, gli enigmi di sei secoli, troveranno fàcile spiegazione
e sarà aperta la via ad una nuova valutazione artistica. Ma tale via non Tha
aperta Dante stesso coU'opera sua? Z/' opuscolo XXXII di S, Pier Damiano fonte
diretta della Divina Commedia? in Grùymaìe Dantesco dir, da G. L. Passerini -
Firenze, Dischi. cfr. Parodi La fonte diretta della divina Commedia in
Marzocco, Firenze. A questa trattazione epero far seguire prosslntamefite un
canltolo, su C. E LA SCUOLA. Ohe per l'economia dei presente iavoro non potè
essere inoluoo. Le origini oscure. La nascita a Lumellogno. L'ambiente nativo.
Dipendenza di Lmnelil^gno dal Capitolo Novarese Stato delle scuole novaresi.
Pier Lombardo fu allo studio Bolog^nese? Gap. il Nell'ombra del cammino Alla
scuola di Leutaldo novarese a Reims. « ParisiUiSi » La universitas scholarium.
San Vittore. Santa Genoveffa. Nella luce della fam^i. La scuoia di Nòtre Dame.
L'episcopato. La morte. La tomba di Marcello. Le onoranze. L'opera e la fortuna
di Pier Lombardo. Le Sentenze. I Sentenziarii. I detrattori. Il « tesoro ».
Opere edite ed inedite. I Seamoni. LA DOTTRINA FILOSOFICA. Posizione di C.
nella filosofia. Metodo. Religione e sciens&a. Problema metafisico e
conoscitivo Teoria degli universali. Teoria ctella oonoscenza. Problema
ontologico e cosmologico. Sostanza ed accidente. Natura e persona. Materia e
forma. Causalità. Spazio e tempo. CosmoJKJgia Posizione dell'uomo neirunàverso.
Cap. Problema psicologico. Potenzie dell' aiiim.. Natura dell'ajiima. Origine
dell'anima. Relazione tra l'anima e il corpo. Problema morale. Libero arbitrio.
Felicità. Moralità delle azioni umane La legge morale Bene e mailie. Lm
dottrina scolastica in C. e ALIGHIERI (si veda) Pier Lo!ml>ardo nel cielo
del Sole. Dante adl'Università di Parigi. Influenza di Pier Loonbardo
sull'opera di Dante. Aggiunta necesaaria. I limiti dell'erudizione. Ritratto di
Pier Lombardo dall'incisione del Thevet « Les vrais portraàts ecc. » Paris.
Portico della Canonica di Novara da un'incisione delle « Monografìe Novanesi »
MigUo Vene de la VUle de Paris du coté de Vlsle N. Dame (antica incisione). A.
Nótre Dame de Paris, (antdca incisione). Con Agostino si opera, per la prima
volta e in maniera esplicita, una completa saldatura fra la teoria del SEGNO e
quella del linguaggio. Per trovare una altrettanto rigorosa presa di posizione
teorica bisogna aspettare il Corso di lin¬guistica generale di Saussure,
scritto quindici secoli dopo. La grande importanza che la tematica
semiolinguistica ha in Agostino deriva in gran parte dal suo assorbimento della
lezione stoica, come del resto testimonia il trattato DE DIALECTICA De
dialectica. In esso sono riassunti molti dei principali temi stoici in materia
semiotica, tra cui il princi¬ pio che la conoscenza è, in linea generale, conoscenza
attra¬ verso segni (Simone). Ma vari elementi differenziano l'impostazione
agostinia¬ na da quella stoica. In primo luogo, infatti, gli stoici, racco¬
gliendo e formalizzando una lunga tradizione di origine so¬ prattutto medica e
mantica, consideravano propriamente segni (smeia) solo i segni non verbali,
come il fumo che svela il fuoco e la cicatrice che rinvia a una precedente
feri¬ ta. Agostino, invece, per primo nell'antichità, include nella categoria
dei signa non solo i segni non verbali come i gesti, le insegne militari, le
fanfare, la pantomima ecc., ma anche le espressioni del linguaggio parlato. Noi
diciamo in gene¬rale segno tutto ciò che significa qualche cosa, e fra questi
abbiamo anche le parole -- De Magistro. In secondo luogo, gli stoici avevano
individuato nell'e¬ nunciato il punto di congiunzione tra il significante
(semaf¬ non) e il significato (semain6menon), elemento che comun¬ que non
coincideva con il segno (semefon). Agostino, invece, individua nella singola
espressione linguistica, cioè nel verbum (''parola"), l'elemento in cui
significante e signifi¬ cato si fondono, e considera questa fusione un segno di
qualcos'altro ("Quindi, dopo aver sufficientemente assoda¬ to che le
parole [verba] non sono nient'altro che segni [si¬gna] e che non può essere
segno ciò che non significhi [si¬ gniflcet] qualcosa, tu hai proposto un verso
di cui io mi sforzassi di mostrare che cosa significhino le singole paro¬
le", De Mag.). In terzo luogo, gli stoici avevano elaborato una teoria del
linguaggio che aveva le due caratteristiche di essere formale (il lekt6n non
coincideva con alcuna sostanza) e centrata sulla significazione. Agostino,
invece, elabora una teoria del segno linguistico che ha un carattere
psicologistico (i si¬ gnificati si trovano nell'animo) e comunicazionale
(passano nell'animo dell'ascoltatore) (Todorov; Markus). 10.1 n triangolo
semiotico e la stratificazione ter¬ minologie& È del resto con l'analisi
della nozione stessa di parola (verbum simplex) che si apre il De dia/ectica ed
è con questa nozione che si inaugura una serie interessante di distinzioni
terminologiche. Al capitolo V, Agostino elabora una triplice distinzione che
possiamo mettere in corrispondenza con i moderni con¬ cetti di significato,
significante e referente. Infatti individua in primo luogo la vox articu/ata (o
il sonus) della parola, cioè quello che è percepito dali'orecchio quando la
parola viene pronunciata. In secondo luogo individua il dicibi/e1 (corrispondente,
anche dal punto di vista della trasposizio¬ ne linguistica, al /ekt6n stoico),
definito come ciò che viene avvertito dall'animo e che è in esso contenuto. In
terzo luogo, infine, distingue la res, che viene definita come un og¬ getto
qualsiasi, percepibile con i sensi, o con l'intelletto, op¬ pure che sfugge
alla percezione (De dialect.). È così possibile ricostruire il triangolo
semiotico nei se¬ guenti termini: dicibile vox articulata (o sonus) res Ma
Agostino guarda ai segni anche dal punto di vista del loro potere di
designazione, oltre che da quello della signifi¬ cazione. Questo lo spinge a
elaborare un'ulteriore suddivi¬ sione terminologica in corrispondenza dei due
aspetti che può assumere il referente di una parola: può infatti avve¬ nire che
la parola rimandi a se stessa come proprio referente (fatto che si verifica nel
caso della citazione, ovvero della designazione metalinguistica), e allora
prende il nome di verbum; oppure può avvenire che la parola, intesa co¬ me
combinazione del significante e del significato, abbia come referente una cosa
diversa da se stessa (come avviene con l'uso denotativo del linguaggio), nel
qual caso prende il nome di dictio.3 È precisamente la nozione di dictio che,
come ha osserva¬ to Baratin, costituisce l'elemento di congiunzione tra la
teoria del linguaggio e quella del segno. E ciò in virtù di uno sfasamento
semantico che la nozione stoica di léxis (si¬ gnificante articolato, ma senza
essere necessariamente por¬ tatore di significato) ha subìto nel corso degli studi
lingui¬ stici antichi. Dictio è traduzione di léxis; ma non ha lo stesso
significa¬ to che le attribuivano gli stoici, bensì quello che le davano i
grammatici alessandrini, in particolare Dionisio Trace, che definiva la léxis
come "la più piccola parte dell'enunciato costruito" (Grammatici
graeci), a metà strada tra le lettere e le sillabe, da una parte, e
l'enunciato, dall'al¬ tra. Questa sua particolare posizione fa sì che la léxis
venga considerata come portatrice di un significato (in contrappo¬ sizione alle
lettere e alle sillabe che non lo posseggono), ma incompleto (in opposizione
all'enunciato che porta un sen¬ so completo). Lo spostamento di fuoco dalla
centralità stoica dell'e¬ nunciato alla centralità alessandrina della singola
parola, fa sì che quest'ultima assuma al(\une delle funzioni prima spet¬ tanti
solo all'enunciato. In particolare, quella di essere un segno.4 Agostino
definisce decisamente la parola come un segno al cap. V del De dialectica:
"La parola è, per ciascuna cosa, un segno che, enunciato dal locutore, può
essere compreso dall'ascoltatore". E, del resto, il segno viene definito
come "ciò che presentandosi in quanto tale alla percezione sensi¬ bile,
presenta anche qualche cosa alla percezione intellet¬ tuale (animus)"
(ibidem). Relazione di equivalenza e relazione di im¬plicazione Ponendo
l'accento sulla parola, anziché sull'enunciato, Agostino ritrova l'opposizione
platonica tra parole e cose. Incontro non casuale, in quanto Platone è l'unico,
prima di Agostino, ad avere una concezione semiotica del linguag¬ gio; per
Platone, infatti, il nome era d/Oma, svelamento di qualcosa che non è
direttamente percepibile, ovvero dell'es¬ senza della cosa. Ma mentre nel
Crati/o platonico si discute se il rapporto tra nome e cosa sia un rapporto
iconico (pe¬ raltro con la soluzione che conosciamo, cfr. cap. 4), in Agostino
tale rapporto - configura subito come una rela¬ zione di significazione: il
nomt "significa" una cosa (nozione equivalente a quella di
"essere segno di" una cosa). Nel momento in cui Agostino propone la
sua concezione della parola come segno, si producono alcune modificazio¬ ni
teoriche, conseguenti allo spostamento di prospettiva. In effetti nelle teorie
linguistiche precedenti a quella di Agosti¬ no il rapporto tra le espressioni
linguistiche e i loro conte¬ nuti era stato concepito come una relazione di
equivalenza. La ragione, come noto, era di carattere epistemologico e ri¬
guardava la possibilità di lavorare direttamente sul linguag¬ gio, in
sostituzione degli oggetti della realtà, dato che il lin¬ guaggio veniva
concepito come un sistema di rappresenta¬ zione del reale (per quanto mediato
dall'anima). Al contrario, il rapporto tra un segno e ciò a cui esso rin¬ via
era stato concepito come una relazione di implicazione, per cui il primo
termine permetteva, per lo stesso fatto di esistere, di arrivare alla
conoscenza del secondo. Eco (1984: 33) ha suggerito che, nell'enunciato stoico,
i rapporti tra la relazione segnica e quella linguistica possono essere
illustra¬ ti da uno schema in cui il livello implicazionale si regge su quello
equazionale: onIE=>c m_E:! c dove E indica "espressione", C
"contenuto", ::J "implica" e == "è equivalente
a". In Agostino l'unificazione tra le due prospettive avviene a livello
della singola parola e senza chiamare in causa rapporti di equivalenza. Caso
mai la dic¬ tio, che è rappresentabile con il livello i, è costituita dali'u¬
nione, o prodotto logico, di una vox (significante) e di un dicibile
(significato), unità che diviene segno di qualcos'altro (livello ii).
Conseguenze dell'unificazione delle prospettive La prima conseguenza
dell'unificazione agostiniana, come sottolinea Eco, è che la lingua comincia a
trovarsi a disagio all'interno del quadro implicativo. Essa infatti costituisce
un sistema troppo forte e troppo strutturato per sottomettersi a una teoria dei
segni nata per descrivere rapporti così elusivi e generici, come quelli che si
ritrovano, a esempio, nelle classificazioni della retorica greca e romana.
Infatti l'implicazione semiotica era aperta alla possibilità di percorrere
l'intero continuum dei rapporti di necessità e di debolezza. Inoltre la lingua,
come del resto Agostino mette in risalto nel De Magistro, possiede un carattere
peculiare rispetto agli altri sistemi di segni, corrispondente al fatto di essere
un "sistema modellizzante primario",5 cioè tale che qualun¬ que altro
sistema semiotico può essere tradotto in esso. La forza e l'importanza della
lingua fanno sì che i rapporti con gli altri sistemi di segni si rovescino, e
che essa, da specie, divenga genere: a poco a poco, il modello del segno
lingui¬ stico finirà per essere senz'altro il modello semiotico per eccellenza.
Ma quando il processo evolutivo arriva a Saussure, che ne rappresenta il punto
culminante, si è ormai venuto a perdere il carattere implicativo, e il segno
linguistico si è cristallizzato nella forma degradata del modello dizionariale,
in cui il rapporto tra la parola e il suo contenuto è concepito come situazione
sinonimica o definizione essenziale. La seconda importante conseguenza
dell'innovazione agostiniana riguarda il problema della fondazione della dia¬
lettica e della scienza (Baratin). Fintanto¬ ché il rapporto tra linguaggio e
oggetto del reale era conce¬ pito nei termini dell'equivalenza, il primo non
appariva di¬ rettamente responsabile della conoscenza del secondo. Ma nel
momento in cui si attribuisce un carattere di segno alle espressioni
linguistiche, la conoscenza delle parole sembra implicare, di per se stessa, e
a priori, la conoscenza delle co¬ se di cui esse sono segno. Tutta la grande
tradizione semiotica, del resto, convergeva nel considerare il segno come il
punto di accesso, senza ulteriori mediazioni, alla conoscen¬ za dell'oggetto di
riferimento. Il problema che si pone ad Agostino è allora quello di prendere
una posizione rispetto alla questione se il linguag¬ gio fornisca o meno, di
per se stesso, informazioni sulle co¬ se che significa. Agostino affronta la
questione del carattere informativo dei segni linguistici nel De Magistro.
L'opera, in forma di dialogo tra Agostino e il figlio Adeodato, inizia stabilendo
due fondamentali funzioni del linguaggio: in· segnare (docere) e richiamare
alla memoria (commemorare), sia propria sia degli altri. Si tratta di funzioni
con¬ temporaneamente informative e comunicative, in quanto coinvolgono in
maniera centrale la presenza del destinatario nel momento in cui forniscono
informazione. La prima parte del dialogo è tesa a dimostrare che queste
funzioni, principalmente quella informativa, sono svolte dal linguaggio in
quanto sistema di segni. Sono le parole, infatti, che, in qualità di segni,
danno informazione sulle cose, senza che nient'altro possa assolvere alla medesima
funzione. Nella seconda parte del dialogo, però, Agostino ritorna
sull'argomento e cambia completamente la sua prospettiva. Fondandosi ancora una
volta sul fatto che la lingua è un in¬ sieme di segni, egli mostra che si
possono presentare due ca¬ si: il primo caso è quello in cui il locutore
produce un se¬ gno che si riferisce a una cosa sconosciuta al destinatario; in
tale situazione il segno non è in grado, di per se stesso, di fornire
informazione, come dimostra l'esempio, riportato da Agostino, dell'espressione
saraballae, la quale, se non precedentemente nota, non permetterà di
comprendere il ri¬ ferimento ai "copricapr', che essa effettua; il secondo
caso è quello in cui il locutore produce un segno che si rife¬ risce a qualcosa
che è già noto al destinatario; e nemmeno in questa evenienza si potrà parlare
di un vero e proprio processo di conoscenza (De Mag.). Alla fine Agostino
conclude invertendo il rapporto cono¬ scitivo tra segno e oggetto, e stabilendo
che è necessario co¬ noscere preliminarmente l'oggetto di riferimento per poter
dire che una parola ne è un segno. È la conoscenza della co¬ sa che informa
sulla presenza del segno e non viceversa. La soluzione ha una ascendenza
chiaramente platonica, e a essa si collega anche la presa di posizione, di
marca ugual¬ mente platonica, che la conoscenza delle cose deve essere pregiata
maggiormente della conoscenza dei segni, perché "qualunque cosa sta per
un'altra, è necessario che valga meno di quella per cui essa sta" (De
Mag.). Ma se per le cose sensibili (sensibilia) sono gli oggetti esterni che ci
permettono di arrivare alla conoscenza, non altrettanto avviene nel caso delle
cose puramente intelligibi¬ li (intelligibilia). Per queste ultime Agostino
individua una soluzione "teologica": la loro conoscenza deriva dalla
rive¬ lazione che viene fatta dal Maestro interiore, il quale è ga¬ ranzia
tanto deli'informazione quanto della verità (De Mag.). Ma anche con questa
soluzione teologica del problema linguistico, al linguaggio è lasciato uno
spazio, che in parte coincide con la funzione del segno rammemorativo, ma in
parte la supera: quando conosciamo già l'oggetto di riferi¬ mento, le parole ci
ricordano l'informazione; quando non lo conosciamo, ci spingono a cercare (De
Mag.). In Agostino la soluzione teologica non è una scappatoia per uscire da
un'impasse teorica. Al contrario, essa mette capo a nuove problematiche. È nel
De Trinitate che viene affrontato il tema dell'espressione del verbo interiore,
una volta che sia stato concepito nella profondità dell'ani¬ mo. In effetti,
per poter comunicare con gli altri, gli uomini si servono della parola o di un
segno sensibile, per poter . AGOSTINO provocare nell'anima dell'interlocutore
un verbo simile a quello che si trova nel loro animo mentre parlano (De Trin.).
D'altra parte Agostino sottolinea la natura prelinguistica del verbo interiore,
il quale non appartiene a nessuna delle lingue naturali, ma deve essere
codificato in un segno quan¬ do ha bisogno di essere espresso e portato alla
comprensio¬ ne dei destinatari. Il verbo interiore ha, del resto, una duplice
origine: da una parte esso costituisce una conoscenza immanente, la cui
sorgente è Dio stesso; dall'altra esso è determinato dalle im¬ pronte lasciate
neli'anima dagli oggetti di conoscenza. Ma anche in questo secondo caso esso è
riconducibile a Dio, in quanto il mondo è il linguaggio attraverso il quale Dio
si esprime. Si trovano qui gli embrioni del simbolismo univer¬ sale, che tanta
parte avrà nella cultura del Medioevo. Quello che comunque emerge con sempre
maggiore chia¬ rezza è il carattere comunicativo della semiologia agostinia¬
na, che è individuabile anche nello schema riassuntivo pro¬ posto da Todorov:
oggetti di conoscenza potenza !Immanente verbo verbo verbo divina interiore -
esteriore - esteriore pensato proferito sa pere. È comunque innegabile che se
la semiologia agostiniana presenta un aspet¬ to "teologico", connesso
al problema del verbo divino, tut¬ tavia possiede anche un ben individuato e
autonomo aspet¬ to laico, che prende in considerazione i caratteri che il segno
ha di per se stesso. Fanno parte di quest'ultimo aspetto le varie
classificazioni dei segni, alle quali Agostino si dedica soprattutto nel
trattato De doctrina Christiana secondo il modo di trasmissione: vista/udito
secondo l'origine e l'uso: segni naturali/segni intenzio¬ nali secondo lo
statuto sociale: segni naturali/segni conven¬ zionali secondo la natura del
rapporto simbolico: proprio/tra¬ slato secondo la natura del designato:
segno/cosa con aggiunte più tarde), ma che ritorna anche in varie altre opere .
Todorov individua e analizza cinque tipi di classificazione a cui Agostino
sottopone la nozione di se¬ gno : Todorov lamenta il fatto che Agostino
giustappone quel¬ lo che in realtà avrebbe potuto articolare, in quanto gene¬
ralmente queste opposizioni sono tra di loro irrelate. Questo non è però del
tutto vero, perché (soprattutto nel De Magistro) c'è un tentativo di dare una
classificazione combinata di alcuni aspetti del segno. A questo proposito è
possibile ricostruire tale classifica¬ zione ordinandola secondo uno schema
arboriforme (Ber¬nardelli), secondo il modello dell'albero di Porfirio (Eco).
La classificazione di Agostino non è totalmente a inclu¬ sione, come tende a
essere quella porfiriana; e si può osser¬ vare che se venissero sviluppati i
rami collaterali, si vedrebbero comparire, una seconda volta, alcune categorie
elenca¬ te sotto il ramo principale. Tuttavia è Agostino stesso a metterei
sulla strada di una classificazione inclusiva da ge¬ nere a specie quando
definisce la relazione tra nome e paro¬ la come "la stessa che c'è tra
cavallo e animale" e includen¬ do la categoria delle parole in quella più
ampia dei segni (DeMag.). genen· e specie AES SEGNO PAROLA NOME segno udibile
di cose (funzione denotativa) res sensibili (Romulus, Roma, fluvius) differenze
significanti qualcosa verbale (voce articolata) differenze (significabilis, non
significanti nome in senso particolare non verbale (gesti. insegne, lettere,
tromba militare ecc.) altra parte del discorso (si, ve/, ex, nsmque, neve,
ergo, quonism ecc.) segno udibile di segni udibili (funzione metalinguistìca)
res intelligibili ( virtus) SIGNIFICANTE delle .. AES" La prima relazione
interessante è quella tra res e signa. Per quanto il mondo sostanziahnente
venga diviso in cose e segni, tuttavia, Agostino non concepisce tale
distinzione co¬ me ontologica, bensì come funzionale e relativa. Infatti anche
i segni sono delle res e l'uomo è libero di as¬ sumere come segno una res che
fino a quel momento era sprovvista di quella dignità. Anzi, la stessa nozione
di res viene definita in termini rigorosamente semiologici (Simone): "In
senso proprio ho chiamato cose (res) quegli oggetti che non sono impiegati per
essere segni di qualche cosa: per esempio i legno, la pietra, il bestiame"
(De doctr. Christ.). Ma, immediatamente dopo, cosciente del¬ la pervasività dei
processi di semiosi, aggiunge: "Ma non quel legno che, leggiamo, Mosè
gettò nelle acque amare per dissipare la loro amarezza (Esodo); né quella
pietra sulla quale Giacobbe riposò la sua testa, né quella pecora che Abramo
immolò al posto di suo figlio. L'articolazione che esiste tra segni e cose è
analoga a quella dei due processi essenziali: usare (ut1) e godere (jrul) (De
doctr. Christ.). Le cose di cui si usa sono tran¬ sitive, come i segni, che
sono strumenti per giungere a qual¬ cos'altro; le cose di cui si gode sono
intransitive, cioè sono prese in considerazione per se stesse. Nel De Magistro
Agostino propone anche un nome per le cose che non sono usate come segni, ma
sono significate attraverso segni: significabilia. Niente toglie che in un
secondo momento anche quest'ultime possano essere assun¬ te con funzione
significante. Dopo aver così articolato i rapporti tra segni e cose, Ago¬ stino
propone questa definizione di segno nel De doctrina Christiana: "Il segno
è una cosa (res) che, al di là dell'impressione che produce sui sensi, di per
se stessa, fa venire in mente (in cogitationem) qualcos'altro". Nel nostro
albero porfiriano abbiamo deciso di ricostrui¬ re la principale suddivisione
agostiniana dei segni secondo la dicotomia verbale/non verbale, anche se altre
opzioni, ugualmente esplicite nei testi di Agostino, erano disponibili. Questa
decisione è autorizzata da un passo del De doctrina Christiana in cui, a
conclusione di un'analisi dei vari tipi di segni, Agostino sostiene:
"Infatti di tutti quei se¬ gni, di cui ho brevemente abbozzato la
tipologia, ho potuto parlare attraverso le parole; ma le parole in nessun modo
avrei potuto enunciarle attraverso quei segni". Viene esplicitamente fatto
riferimento al carattere, tipico del linguaggio verbale, di essere un sistema
modellizzante primario, e tale carattere viene assunto come criterio della
divisione fondamentale dei segni. Segni classificati in base al canale di
perce¬ zione Una classificazione incrociata rispetto alla precedente è quella
effettuata in base al canale di percezione. Agostino infatti sostiene che
"tra i segni di cui gli uomini si servono per comunicare tra di loro ciò
che provano, certi dipendono dalla vista, la maggior parte dali'udito,
pochissimi dagli altri sensi" (De doctr. Christ.). Tra i segni che vengono
percepiti con l'udito ci sono quel¬ li, fondamentalmente estetici, emessi dagli
strumenti musicali, come il flauto e la cetra, o anche quelli essenzialmente
comunicativi emessi dalla tromba militare. Naturalmente, ritroviamo tra i segni
percepìbili con l'udito, in una posizio¬ ne dominante, anche le parole:
"Le parole, in effetti, hanno ottenuto tra gli uomini il primissimo posto
per l'espressione dei pensieri di ogni genere, che ciascuno di essi vuole esternare"
(De doctr. Christ.). Tra i segni percepibili con la vista Agostino elenca i
cenni della testa, i gesti, i movimenti corporei degli attori, le ban¬ diere e
le insegne militari, le lettere. Infine vengono presi in considerazione i segni
che riguar¬ dano altri sensi, come l'odorato (l'odore dell'unguento sparso sui
piedi di Cristo), il gusto (il sacramento dell'euca¬ ristia), il tatto (il
gesto della donna che toccò la veste di Cri¬sto e fu guarita). "Signa
naturalia" e "signa data" Sicuramente fondamentale, anche se non
direttamente integrabile al nostro albero inclusivo, risulta lo schema di
classificazione che oppone i signa naturalia ai signa data. I primi sono
"quelli che senza intenzione, né desiderio di si¬ gnificare, fanno
conoscere qualcos'altro, oltre a se stessi, come il fumo significa il
fuoco" (De doctr. Christ.). Ne sono esempi anche le tracce lasciate da un
animale e le espressioni facciali che rivelano, inintenzionalmente, irrita¬
zione o gioia . Dopo averli definiti, Agostino dichiara di non volerli trattare
ulteriormente. È invece maggiormente interessato ai signa data, in quan¬ to a
questa categoria appartengono anche i segni della Sa¬ cra Scrittura. Essi
vengono definiti come "quelli che tutti gli esseri viventi si fanno, gli
uni agli altri, per mostrare, per quanto possono, i movimenti della loro anima,
cioè tutto ciò che essi sentono e pensano (De doctr. Christ.). Gli esempi sono
soprattutto i segni linguistici umani (le parole) . Ma Agostino, curiosamente,
include in questa classe an¬ che i segni emessi dagli animali, come quelli che
si hanno quando il gallo segnala alla gallina di aver trovato il cibo. Questo
crea una marcata differenza rispetto ad Aristotele, che include i gridi degli
animali tra i segni natu¬rali (De int.). Ma Aristotele opponeva
"naturale" a "convenzionale", mentre i signa data non sono
i "segni convenzionali", come Markus aveva suggerito (e come del
resto era sta¬ to proposto dalla traduzione francese di Combès e Farges). I
signa data sono i "segni intenzionali" (Engels; Jackson), e
corrispondono a 1:1na AGOSTINO ben precisa intenzione comunicativa (De doctr.
Christ.). È del resto il carattere intenzionale che permette ad Agostino di
includere tra i signa data quelli emessi dagli animali, anche se egli non si
pronuncia sulla natura di que¬ sta intenzionalità animale (Eco). Del resto,
come nota Todorov, porre l'accento sull'idea di intenzione corrisponde al
progetto semiologico generale di Agostino, orientato verso la comunicazione. I
segni intenzionali, o meglio, creati espressamente in vista della
comunicazione, possono essere messi in corrisponden¬ za del syrnbolon di
Aristotele e della combinazione stoica di un significante con un significato;
quelli naturali, ovvero già esistenti come cose, corrispondono invece ai smeia,
sia aristotelici che stoici Uno dei punti fondamentali della semiologia
agostiniana è costituito dalla ricerca dei modi in cui si può stabi¬ lire il
significato dei segni. Tale indagine è condotta soprat¬ tutto nel De Magistro,
dove si può rintracciare una conce¬ zione semantica che si avvicina al tipo
della "semiosi illimitata" di Peirce –discusso da H. P. Grice: “Seminar
on Peirce”, Oxford.. Come ha rilevato anche Markus, il significato o segnato di
un segno, per Agostino, può essere stabilito o espresso mediante altri segni,
per esempio: fornendo dei sinonimi; attraverso l'indicazione con il dito
puntato; per mezzo di gesti; tramite astensione (De Mag.). Questa concezione
del significato si rende possibile sol¬ tanto nel momento in cui viene
abbandonato lo schema equazionale del simbolo, per adottare, come fa Agostino,
quello implicazionale del segno. La teoria semiologica ago¬ stiniana si apre
così, come ha messo in evidenza Eco, verso un modello "istruzionale"
della descrizione semantica. Se ne può cogliere un esempio neIl'analisi che
Agostino conduce insieme ad Adeodato del verso virgiliano "si nihil ex
tanta superis placet urbe relinqui" (De Mag.). Esso viene definito come
composto di otto segni, dei quali, appunto si cerca il significato. L'indagine
comincia da l si l, di cui si riconosce che espri¬ me un significato di
"dubbio", dopo aver tuttavia sottoli¬ neato che non si è trovato un altro
termine da sostituire al primo per illustrare lo stesso concetto. Si passa,
poi, a lni¬ hi/1, il cui significato viene individuato come !'"affezione
dell'animo" che si verifica quando, non vedendo una cosa, se ne riconosce
l'assenza. In seguito Agostino chiede ad Adeodato il significato di lexl ed
esso propone una definizione sinonimica: lexl sa¬ rebbe equivalente a l de l .
Agostino non è soddisfatto di questa soluzione e argomenta che il secondo
termine è certo un'interpretazione del primo, ma ha bisogno di essere a sua
volta interpretato. La solu2ione finale è che l ex l significa "una
separazione" da un oggetto. A questa conclusione, pe¬ rò, viene aggiunta
anche una successiva istruzione per la sua decodifica contestuale: il termine
può esprimere separa¬ zione rispetto a qualcosa che non esiste più, come nel
caso della città di Troia a cui si allude nel verso virgiliano; oppu¬ re il
termine può esprimere separazione da qualcosa che è ancora esistente, come
quando diciamo che in Africa ci sono alcuni negozianti provenienti da Roma. Il
significato di un termine, allora, "è un blocco (una se¬ rie, un sistema)
di istruzioni per le sue possibili inserzioni contestuali, e per i suoi diversi
esiti semantici in contesti di¬ versi (ma tutti ugualmente registrabili in
termini di codice).” La struttura implicativa permette regole del tipo "Se
A appare nei contesti x, y, allora significa B; ma se B, allora C; ecc.",
regole che sono comuni tanto al modello istruzio¬ nale quanto alla semiosi
illimitata. In definitiva, è proprio grazie ali'assunzione generalizza¬ ta del
modello implicazionale che la semiologia agostiniana riesce a porsi sia come
sintesi delle acquisizioni semiolingui¬ stiche del mondo antico (teoria della
parola come segno), sia come potente anticipazione di alcune delle più recenti
tendenze della ricerca attuale in campo semantico (modello istruzionale) . 1 In
altre opere, al posto di dicibile troviamo l'espressione significatio; a
esempio in De Magistro. Si deve notare che Agostino adopera l'espressione
verbum in due sensi: uno tecnico e specifico, che è quello dell'uso
metalinguistico della parola; uno generale, che corrisponde alla nozione ampia
di "parola", co¬ me "segno di ciascuna cosa che, proferito dal
parlante, possa essere inteso dalJ'ascoltatore. La natura della nozione di
dictio, come composizione di significante e significato, è messa chiaramente in
risalto dalla definizione del cap. V da De dialectica. Quel che ho detto dictio
è una parola, ma una parola che significhi ormaj le due unità precedenti
conten1poraneamente, la parola (verbum) stessa e ciò che è prodotto nell'animo
per mezzo della parola [dicibile]". La dictio, inoltre, "non procede
per se stessa, ma per significare qualcosa d'altro. Si ricorderà che dagli
stoici un segno era concepito, in termini proposizionali, come un antecedente
che rimandava a un conseguente; cfr. Sext. Emp., Adv. Math. Per questa nozione,
cfr. Lotman-Uspenskij. Piètro Lombardo. Teologo. Novara. M. Parigi, chiamato
dai posteri magister sententiarum. Il suo scritto principale, i Libri
Sententiarum, il testo teologico più diffuso nel Medioevo, gli fruttò una
celebrità mondiale, entrando fra i fondatori della teologia sistematica. Egli,
infatti, è uno dei primi a racchiudere in un'opera organica l'intero materiale
dogmatico. Di umili origini, fu presentato da s. Bernardo ai canonici di San
Vittore a Parigi, dove era giunto dopo esser passato per Reims e dove è
probabile che già prima del 1142 (data d'inizio delle Sententiae, v. oltre)
cominciasse a esercitare il suo magistero; a questi primi anni parigini
risalgono il Commentarius in Psalmos e i Collectanea in Epistolas Pauli.
L'insegnamento lo rese presto famoso: fu tra i magistri del consiglio di Reims
che giudicarono Gilberto Porretano; nel 1151-52 venne a Roma presso papa
Eugenio III e fu creato vescovo di Parigi. Il suo epitaffio si conservò nella
chiesa di Saint Marcel fino alla rivoluzione francese. Opere Delle opere di P.
abbiamo ricordato quelle esegetiche: di esse la prima illustra il testo biblico
versetto per versetto, in completa dipendenza dalla tradizione patristica, con
forte allegorismo; la seconda (detta anche Maiores glossae epistolarum o
Magnaglossatura) introduce nel commento più ampie questioni teologiche e
costituisce una preparazione all'opera sua maggiore, i Libri IV sententiarum
(detti comunemente Sententiae): sono probabilmente il frutto delle sue lezioni.
L'opera, nel suo progetto di raccogliere e sistemare organicamente attorno ai
principali problemi teologici le sentenze (o auctoritates) dei Padri e degli
autori medievali, dipende così dalla tradizione canonistica, soprattutto da
Graziano, come dalla Summa sententiarum (opera forse di origine vittorina), ma
anche da Abelardo, da Anselmo di Laon, da Ugo di S. Vittore e da Giovanni
Damasceno (conosciuto nella traduzione latina di Burgundio Pisano). P. organizza
la materia in quattro libri (divisi in capitula, mentre il raggruppamento in
distinctiones non risale all'autore): Dio uno e trino; creazione, peccato e
grazia; 3) incarnazione, redenzione, virtù teologali e doni dello Spirito
Santo, comandamenti; 4) sacramenti e novissimi. Attorno a questi argomenti P.
raggruppa le testimonianze della tradizione patristica (prese direttamente o da
florilegi), ma dà anche molto spazio a opinioni di maestri più recenti e
contemporanei, citati spesso con un semplice «quidam»: l'importanza della sua
opera sta appunto in questa raccolta di auctoritates, non in uno sforzo di
approfondimento personale, perché intento di P. è l'attenersi alle più
autorevoli opinioni tradizionali senza ricorrere, anzi spesso opponendosi, a
ogni innovatore sforzo dialettico e filosofico. Ma di qui deriva anche
l'immensa fortuna delle Sentenze, che, dopo alcune prime violente opposizioni
(promosse da Giovanni di Cornovaglia, Gerhoh di Reichersberg, Gualtiero di San
Vittore, Scuola porretana, Gioacchino da Fiore; particolarmente criticata la
sua dottrina detta nichilismo cristologico, per cui l'unione in Cristo delle
due nature sarebbe puramente accidentale), entrò dal sec. 13º nelle università
sotto l'autorità pontificia come testo fondamentale per l'insegnamento della
teologia e tale restò fino a tutto il Rinascimento (di qui l'enorme numero dei
commenti alle Sentenze). P. è autore anche di ventinove Sermones, mentre
sicuramente spurie sono altre opere a lui di tempo in tempo attribuite.Refs.:
Luigi Speranza, “Philosophical psychology in the commentaries of Pietro
Lombardo and Grice,” per il Club Anglo-Italiano, The Swimming-Pool Library,
Villa Grice, Liguria, Italia. Lombardia Grice: “It is strange that he was called Piero da Lombardia;
it would be like ‘a lad from shropshire.’ ‘Lombardia,’ unlike Ockham, ain’t a
townbut a full regionIt’s different with ‘veneto,’ which is toponymic and
metonymic for Venice. But if Milano was the main ever settlement in Lombardia
this would be “Peter, the one from Milan.” Nome compiuto: Lombardo Pietro
Lombardo Lumellogno Cardano – Grice: “It’s only natural that he was Pietro
Cardano – after the city in Lombardy, Cardano – Plus, the implicature that he
went by “Peter of Lombardy” having been born in Piemonte, means that the locals
never saw him as one of their own!” -- Pietro Cardano – la stirpe Cardano --. Familia patrizia di Novara. Pietro Cardano. Keywords:
Cardano, implicatura. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P.
Grice, “Grice e Cardano,” The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza, Liguria,
Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Cardia: la ragione
conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale del culto del laico – scuola di
Roma – filosofia romana – filosofia lazia -- filosofia italiana – Luigi
Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The Swimming-Pool Library (Roma). Filosofo romano. Filosofo lazio. Filosofo italiano. Roma,
Lazio. Grice: “Cardia is what I would call the Italian Hart – with a tweak –
Italy and religion is Cardia’s forte – recall that the bishop of Rome has the
roots in the ‘pontifex’ of old Rome, so he knows what he’s talking about!” –
Grice: “Like me, Cardia has philosophised, as what the Italians call a
professore di filosofia del diritto, on the ethical versus legal implicatures
of the very idea of a ‘right’ (diritto). We don’t have that economy of
vocabulary in Engish – calling Hart the professor of right would be
unnacepptable at Oxford!”. Si laurea a Roma. Clifton has chapel services and a
focus on Christianity. This is the Chapel: here, my son, Your father thought
the thoughts of youth, And heard the words that one by one The touch of Life
has turn'd to truth. Here in a day that is not far, You too may speak with
noble ghosts Of manhood and the vows of war You made before the Lord of Hosts.
The magnificent Chapel sits at the heart of Clifton both spiritually and
physically and has played an important part of life. Topped by a striking
copper-clad lantern and built from soft red and honey-coloured stone, the
Chapel provides Christian calm, and forms a powerful link between past and
present. It is a place where the community come to mark milestones and
celebrate successes, and for quiet contemplation or spiritual guidance.
Brass plates placed on the back of the staff stalls mark the names of all those
who have carved out a reputation. High on the walls are memorials of pupils of
another age who died by accident or disease serving the Empire. One bears the
moving epitaph ‘A good life hath but few days but a good name endureth
forever.’ The Chapel was built to a design by C. Hansom. It is a
narrow aisleless building. It
is the gift of the widow of W. J. Guthrie. Hansom is given permission to quarry
sufficient stone from the grounds of Clifton for the purposes of the Chapel
building". The Chapel building is licensed by the Bishop of Gloucester and
Bristol. Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale
Rivista telematica statoechiese.it) Colaianni (ordinario di Diritto
ecclesiastico nella Facoltà di Giurisprudenza dell’Università degli Studi di
Bari) Quale laicità. Con questo saggio C. si affaccia sul versante polemistico
della letteratura giuridica con la maestria affinata attraverso una copiosa
produzione saggistica e con la non comune versatilità che negli ultimi anni lo
ha portato ad occuparsi dei problemi di tutela non solo delle confessioni
religiose ma anche dei diritti umani. I bersagli della polemica sono indicati
nel sottotitolo: etica, multiculturalismo, islam, non in sé naturalmente ma in
quanto declinati in maniera rispettivamente relativistica, separatistica,
fondamentalistica. Capaci cioè di esaltare le identità oltre ogni limite e di
attentare, quindi, a quello “stato laico sociale” che, dopo secoli di storia
travagliata e i totalitarismi del secolo breve, a cavallo del nuovo millennio
ha trionfato un po’ dovunque in Europa e in tutto l’occidente. Questo carattere
ben si coglie secondo l’autore nella “rivincita dei concordati”. Un fenomeno
effettivamente impressionante, tanto più perché si inserisce in un trend
favorevole alle relazioni con le confessioni, da cui non prendono le distanze
neanche l’Unione europea, in base ad una dichiarazione allegata al trattato di
Amsterdam, e la Francia della Loi de séparation, secondo le proposte della
commissione governativa Machelon1. Da esso C. deduce che lo stato è ormai amico
delle religioni, che contribuisce attivamente a sottrarre all’irrilevanza degli
affari privati e a reimmettere nel circuito pubblico, relegando l’ostilità del
laicismo ottocentesco nel museo della memoria. C., Le sfide della laicità.
Etica, multiculturalismo, islam, Edizioni San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo,
destinata alla pubblicazione sulla rivista “Laicità”, Torino. Cfr. F. MARGIOTTA
BROGLIO, su Reset Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale Rivista telematica Dal
quale non varranno a riesumarla le “guerricciole”, rinfocolate dal
“micro-massimalismo” di chi spera di “rivivere un po’ dell’epopea del passato”
e non si accorge che ormai lo stato italiano gli accordi li fa anche con
confessioni non cattoliche e, peraltro, non è l’unico ad integrare le scuole
private e confessionali nel sistema scolastico, ad assicurare l’insegnamento
religioso confessionale nelle scuole pubbliche, a finanziare lautamente la
chiesa cattolica ma anche le altre confessioni. L’agile sintesi
storico-politica, condotta nella prima metà del libro, consente a C. di
avallare questa laicità realistica, che ad altri è sembrata più propriamente
“praticistica”. A quella stregua l’autore tratta con sufficienza i rinnovati
contrasti tra stato e chiesa (che pure sono al centro delle preoccupazioni di
altri libri coevi3 ) tanto quanto con drammaticità le sfide suindicate. A
cominciare dal multiculturalismo, che in effetti nella versione spinta si
presenta sotto la forma di un comunitarismo senza coesione. Il “fascino
discreto” che in molti differenzialisti suscitano gli statuti personali, di
medioevale o ottomana memoria, è giustamente visto come una relativizzazione
della laicità: a vantaggio, in particolare, dell’islam. Ovviamente C. è severo
con la “partita giocata su due tavoli”: non si può invocare la laicità contro i
“simboli e la memoria del cristianesimo” e a favore di quelli dell’islam, per
cui “verrebbero estromessi i crocifissi, ma sarebbero ammessi il velo e la
preghiera degli islamici”. Ma i termini del paragone sono omogenei solo
apparentemente: il crocifisso fa problema per la laicità non se portato addosso
al corpo, se fa parte del libero abbigliamento dei cittadini (come il velo o
altri segni religiosi), ma in quanto esposto autoritativamente, cioè imposto,
negli spazi pubblici, scolastici, giudiziari. In effetti, è tutta la seconda
parte del libro a risentire di questa drammatizzazione impressa ai vari
scenari. Islam versus cristianesimo. Di là un sistema chiuso ad ogni
interpretazione evolutiva, un’identità fissa e immutabile, di qua una religione
tollerante, aperta all’interpretazione storico-critica dei testi sacri e alla
laicità, la quale in essa sarebbe addirittura “germinata”. La schematizzazione
diventa 2 Per esempio a BELLINI nel saggio coevo Il diritto
d’essere se stessi. Discorrendo dell’idea di laicità. Come quelli di
ZAGREBELSKY, Lo stato e la chiesa, o di BIANCHI, La differenza cristiana, o di
RUSCONI, Non abusare di Dio. Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale
Rivista telematica inevitabile. In realtà, l’involuzione della seconda metà del
XX secolo, a parte i fanatismi e i terrorismi, non è riuscita a spegnere le
numerose voci laiche dell’islam moderno4 né, a livello istituzionale, ad
annullare, pur frenandola, l’applicazione negli stati islamici di una legge non
religiosa, il kanun, “nel senso laico di ‘legge di stato’in contrapposizione
alla sharī ‘a” 5. D’altro canto, bisogna riconoscere che abbiamo tutti
sovracaricato il detto evangelico “Quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, quae sunt Dei
Deo” di un significato improprio e anacronistico, in termini appunto di
laicità, che nessun biblista ha mai potuto avallare (vorrei ricordare qui
almeno Barbaglio, che ci ha lasciato pochi mesi fa: nel suo La laicità del
credente non cita mai il versetto di Matteo). Storicamente poi, anche a voler
retrodatare – seguendo Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde6 - alla lotta delle
investiture l’inizio del processo di secolarizzazione, non v’è dubbio che per secoli
la chiesa ha sostenuto la supremazia del potere spirituale ratione peccati o
salutis anche nella sfera mondana. E al giorno d’oggi la più netta distinzione
degli ordini formulata dal Concilio non sta impedendo il tentativo di informare
la legislazione italiana al magistero ecclesiastico: è la chiesa dei no alla
procreazione medica assistita (divieto dell’eterologa, della diagnosi
preimpianto dell’embrione), al testamento biologico, visto come anticamera di
pratiche eutanasiche, al riconoscimento pubblico di unioni civili in qualsiasi
forma (pacs, dico, cus, ecc.), emblematicamente (a luglio alla Camera) al
richiamo del principio di laicità come fondamento di una legge sulla libertà di
religione (che pur non tocca la chiesa cattolica). Neanche C. indulge su questi
punti. Il suo no è altrettanto netto. In nome della laicità e contro il
relativismo etico. Ma poiché su quei punti, con varie sfumature, il pensiero
laico (di non credenti e agnostici ma anche di credenti) è per il sì, è
evidente che ci si trova davanti ad una diversa concezione della laicità. Tanto
rispettabile nei suoi riferimenti eteronomi, divini o naturali e perciò antichi
o “ancestrali”, quanto incapace di far capire - per dirla con Habermas7 -
“quale ruolo e significato i fondamenti giuridici secolarizzati della
costituzione possono avere per una società [Cfr. l’antologia di BRANCA e
quelle più recenti di V. COLOMBO. 5 Così ne Il linguaggio politico
dell’Islam B. LEWIS, studioso fra i più citati nel libro. 6 Cfr.
BÖCKENFÖRDE, Diritto e secolarizzazione. HABERMAS, Il futuro della natura
umana. Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale Rivista telematica (statoechiese postsecolare”, come la nostra. In una
democrazia necessariamente relativistica (se, al contrario, fosse assolutistica
non sarebbe democrazia, insegna Kelsen) la laicità alimenta norme non di
supremazia ma di compatibilità, espressive di una vocazione non paternalistica,
ma responsabilizzante, nei rapporti tra stato e cittadini: visti non come meri
educandi, da guidare nelle scelte etiche in base a valori esterni, ma come
persone responsabili delle loro scelte nella propria autonomia e capaci di
mediarle alla ricerca di quella “giusta”8. Una laicità pluralistica e perciò
non espressiva di una sola cultura ma interculturale (come dovrebbe porsi ormai
tutto il diritto secondo Otfried Höffe9 ). Le cui sfide, e il libro di Cardia
stimola ad intraprendere questo percorso di riflessione, non vengono da una
parte sola. 8 In questo senso rilegge il da mi factum, dabo tibi
ius RODOTÀ, La vita e le regole. 9 Cfr. O. HÖFFE, Globalizzazione e
diritto penale. LA LAICITA’ IN ITALIA (C.) (Convegno Giuristi) Sommario.
Premessa. 1. La laicità in Italia tra conflitto e moderazione. 2. Laicismo,
intransigenza cattolica, isolamento culturale. 3. Dai Patti Lateranensi al
modello costituzionale di respiro europeo. 4. La crisi della laicità. Laicità
ed etica. 5. Cultura laica e questione islamica. Laicità e multiculturalismo.
Ambiguità e prospettive. Premessa. E’ mia intenzione soffermarmi sulle
problematiche attuali della laicità in Italia, anche perché sono diverse e
complesse. Però, penso sia necessario dare spazio a qualche riflessione storica
che ci aiuti a comprendere meglio le questioni che abbiamo di fronte nel tempo
presente. Si tratta, più che di una analisi organica, di spunti ricostruttivi
utili a cogliere alcune costanti della nostra tradizione. Ho avvertito questa
esigenza perché l’esperienza italiana ha un tratto caratteristico che non si
rinviene altrove, avendo dato vita nello spazio di poco più di un secolo a tre
tipologie diverse di relazioni ecclesiastiche: una laico-separatista, una di
tipo concordatario neo-confessionista, e quella costituzionale che poi si è
evoluta nel quadro di una Europa che ha finito per seguire il nostro modello.
Infine, l’Italia sta vivendo una vera crisi della laicità, in rapporto alla
questione etica, e al multiculturalismo, ed è entrata in quella globalizzazione
dei rapporti tra religione e società che riguarda l’Occidente nel suo
complesso. Quindi, l’esperienza italiana non è comprensibile all’interno di un
solo orizzonte storico-culturale, mentre l’analisi deve mantenere un respiro
più ampio e saper individuare delle linee trasversali di riflessione, dei fili
conduttori che chiariscano il percorso storico complessivo che si è compiuto.
La laicità in Italia tra conflitto e moderazione Il primo filo conduttore che
voglio privilegiare è il rapporto che si è determinato tra conflitto e
moderazione, tra correnti estreme del pensiero laico, e di quello cattolico, e
soluzioni storico- 2 normative che sono state adottate. La storiografia più
accreditata ci ha abituati a interpretare questo rapporto a tutto favore della
conflittualità e a discapito della moderazione. Ancora oggi il conflitto tra
Stato e Chiesa è considerato un tratto eminente della storia italiana, il punto
focale che illumina tutto il resto. Il processo di unificazione nazionale viene
letto alla luce del contrasto tra laici e cattolici, della fine del potere
temporale, della prevalenza della modernizzazione sul conservatorismo
cattolico. Anche l’epoca autoritaria che dà vita ai Patti Lateranensi è vista
in chiave di rivincita cattolica e di sconfitta laica, come un rovesciamento di
fronte rispetto all’epoca liberale. Questa interpretazione resta valida perché
permette di capire tante pagine della nostra storia nazionale, ma può essere
integrata con un’altra chiave di lettura che aiuti a vedere anche i
chiaro-scuri, i toni più morbidi, della storia italiana. Questa chiave di
lettura è quella della moderazione e dell’equilibrio che, pur nelle vicende
aspre che conosciamo, ha segnato la storia italiana. L’Italia è stata moderata
ed equilibrata nel separatismo, in parte nel sistema concordatario, in modo
speciale nella elaborazione della Costituzione. Quando parlo di moderazione non
intendo esaltare il carattere per così dire compromissorio generalmente
riconosciuto alla genti italiche. Mi riferisco ad un dato realmente presente
nelle nostre leggi, in ampi settori della cultura laica e di quella cattolica,
che ci aiuta a meglio comprendere la storia e l’evoluzione della laicità in
Italia. La moderazione del periodo separatista si manifesta in tanti modi, ma
nell’insieme consente all’Italia di operare un sottile, solido compromesso con
l’anima cattolica del paese su punti essenziali, ed evita l’affermazione di
tendenze francesizzanti che pure esistono in esponenti della classe dirigente
liberale. In Italia non si afferma mai l’idea della reformatio ecclesiae come
obiettivo proprio dello Stato. L’aspirazione ad una evoluzione della Chiesa è
parte integrante del pensiero laico e dei riformatori cattolici dell’Ottocento,
ma da noi non si trovano tracce significative di quel disegno (tipicamente
transalpino) che mira alla costituzione civile del clero, a stravolgere le
strutture ecclesiastiche, a creare una chiesa nazionale quieta e obbediente al
potere civile. La struttura della Chiesa, gli enti ecclesiastici mantenuti,
l’educazione e la disciplina del clero, non subiscono ingerenze o
stravolgimenti diretti a modificarne la natura. Nel dibattito sulle Facoltà di
teologia è il ministro Correnti che respinge le tentazioni giurisdizionaliste e
afferma che lo Stato non ha “né interesse, né volontà, né facoltà di creare
teologi”, che l’evoluzione della religione è compito della Chiesa, e la “Chiesa
troverà in sé stessa, e solo in se stessa può trovare, la volontà e la forza di
ravvicinarsi” alla modernità. L’unico intervento chirurgico è quello che
sopprime le corporazioni e le congregazioni religiose. Ma anche in questo
intervento, che storicamente si giustifica con la necessità di ridistribuire la
grande proprietà ecclesiastica, non mancano i segni di moderazione, se vogliamo
della dissimulazione. Come quando le comunità religiose si ricostituiscono
progressivamente al riparo delle c.d. frodi pie, che consentono l’utilizzazioni
di proprietà immobiliari messe a disposizione da veri prestanome. Comunque, a
nessuno in Italia è mai venuto in mente di adottare leggi draconiane come
quelle transalpine, la prima che vieta alle congregazioni religiose non
riconosciute l’insegnamento, la seconda che prevede multa e carcere per chi
apra una scuola nella quale insegni anche un solo religioso. Ho sfioato il
problema della scuola, perché su questo terreno si opera il più grande
compromesso italiano, sul quale storici e giuristi si soffermano poco. Alla
laicizzazione della scuola italiana, con la Legge Casati, non segue la
cancellazione della presenza cattolica nel corpo scolastico pubblico. Se
l’insegnamento religioso viene escluso nelle scuole superiori, rimane però in
quelle elementari. La Legge Coppino non dice nulla al riguardo, e questo
silenzio, con l’aiuto del Consiglio di Stato, consente di mantenere
l’insegnamento religioso che, ci dice Francesco Scaduto, viene attivato da
quasi tutti i Consigli comunali e seguito dalla totalità delle famiglie
italiane. Neanche si può dire che la questione passi sotto silenzio, perché un
Regolamento conferma l’insegnamento religioso, e la Camera respinge nello
stesso anno una mozione di Bissolati che chiede di vietare ogni presenza
religiosa nelle scuole. Molto chiaramente Minghetti compara gli inconvenienti
di una scuola che preveda l’insegnamento religioso a quelli di una scuola che
lo esclude, e afferma che “i primi saranno sempre minori di quelli di una
scuola che dovrebbe essere popolare, ma che senza Dio ripugna alla coscienza
popolare e addiviene atta a soddisfare soltanto una piccola minoranza”. Si può
dire che è poco, invece è moltissimo, perché la scuola elementare è l’unica
vera scuola di massa dell’epoca. Per questa ragione l’Italia separatista ha
operato le grandi riforme della modernità ma ha saputo mantenere un raccordo di
fondo tra il sentire comune della popolazione e una legislazione non aggressiva
e non punitiva. E’ l’Italia laica e separatista che affida ai maestri e alle
maestrine della letteratura dell’Ottocento l’onere di trasmettere elementari ma
importanti valori religiosi e morali nelle nuove generazioni. L’elogio della
moderazione non deve fare aggio sull’altro fattore endemico dell’esperienza
italiana, su quella arretratezza che, in modo diverso, caratterizza alcuni settori
della cultura laica, e della cultura cattolica, e che provoca per lungo tempo
un isolamento rispetto ad altre più avanzate esperienze europee e alla cultura
anglosassone, cioè rispetto al resto del mondo. Mi riferisco alle correnti
laiciste che animano la cultura politica, danno vita al pensiero più
autenticamente anticlericale, rendono la laicità ostile alla religione. Ma
anche all’arroccarsi di quell’intransigenza che frena la capacità di iniziativa
dei cattolici, li estranea a lungo dalla vita politica del Paese. Nel
conflitto, e nel corto circuito, tra intransigenza cattolica e correnti
laiciste sta la radice di una chiusura provinciale che in Italia condiziona a
lungo le relazioni ecclesiastiche. Il radicarsi di queste tendenze immette
nella cultura italiana semi che tornano a fiorire di tanto in tanto. Il
laicismo produce cultura, mentalità, costume, e fa sì che anche da noi come in
Francia, laicità voglia dire tante cose negative: estraniazione della religione
dalla società e dalla dimensione pubblica, ostilità alla scuola privata
nonostante il liberalismo sia altrove il difensore del pluralismo scolastico,
riduzione della Chiesa ad un ambito puramente cultuale. In Italia, come
oltr’Alpe, il termine laico è contrapposto a cattolico, e questa antitesi,
sconosciuta nei paesi anglosassoni, diviene da noi categoria del pensiero e del
linguaggio. Quando faccio riferimento alle tendenze laiciste mi riferisco sia
all’anticlericalismo di matrice ottocentesca che alle correnti culturali di
grande dignità che da Spaventa a Bissolati rivivono poi in Salvemini e in Rossi,
e che di più aspirano ad una Chiesa riformata, apparentemente tutta spirituale
ma muta sul piano civile e sociale. Queste correnti si ravvivano quando
l’accordo tra Chiesa e fascismo di fatto umilia la laicità, provocando una
frattura seria tra la cultura laica ed un cattolicesimo al quale viene
restituito un ruolo di primo piano, ma con il sacrificio di altre idealità e di
altri ruoli. Anche l’intransigenza cattolica riaffiora più volte nella storia
italiana, impedisce a tratti di cogliere le trasformazioni della società, di
discernere gli aspetti positivi dalle spinte disgreganti, porta
all’arroccamento su posizioni che potrebbero essere evitate. La critica più
autentica a questo corto circuito non è diretta alle singole posizioni radicali
che produce, quanto al fatto che da lì è derivato un certo isolamento rispetto
alla cultura anglosassone, rispetto ad altre esperienze europee, come quelle
dell’Olanda, del Belgio e della Germania, dove già nell’Ottocento maturano
equilibri più stabili tra religione e società. Una conferma di questo
provincialismo sta nell’incomunicabilità tra esperienza italiana ed esperienza
statunitense, alla quale pure molti laici si richiamano, senza mai averla
capita e forse conosciuta. Lo stesso Salvemini, che pure conosceva la società
americana, di quell’esperienza evoca sempre e soltanto la parola separatismo,
non i suoi contenuti, né la sua anima pregna di rispetto e di amicizia verso la
religione. Possiamo verificare questa lontananza della cultura laica rispetto
alle correnti del pensiero anglosassone su un particolare problema, quello
della scuola privata, nel quale il liberalismo italiano si è discostato dai
canoni del liberalismo classico per seguire un indirizzo statalistico destinato
a dominare a lungo. C’un dibattito di metà Ottocento (oggi dimenticato ma molto
importante all’epoca) nel quale BERTI (si veda) critica quei liberali che per
paura di monopolio combattono la libertà di insegnamento, e afferma che questa
trae il suo diritto dall’individuo medesimo, dalla sua libertà, ed è da
annoverarsi tra “gli altri diritti naturali”. È SPAVENTA (si veda) che si
oppone a BERTI (si veda) ed esplicita la vera ragione della contrarietà alla
scuola privata. La ragione sta nel fatto che “i paladini” del libero
insegnamento finiscono per portare acqua al mulino della “libertà del papa”,
perché in Italia dare via libera alle scuole private vuol dire favorire la
scuola cattolica. Quindi, con grande trasparenza si riconosce che il vero
liberalismo postula la libertà della scuola, ma in Italia questo liberalismo
non è praticabile perché se ne avvarrebbero i cattolici. Insomma, al
liberalismo si ricorre quando fa comodo, altrimenti lo si mette da parte. 3.
Dai Patti Lateranensi al modello costituzionale di respiro europeo In Italia,
però, si ritrova un altro elemento equilibratore che consente di attenuare le
asperità e finisce col favorire le soluzioni strategiche adottate in sede di
Costituente. Parlo di quella questione romana che nessun altro Paese conosce, e
che tocca all’Italia affrontare e risolvere in modo autonomo. Anche su questo
problema vorrei offrire uno spunto ricostruttivo diverso rispetto alla
storiografia prevalente. E’ vero che la questione romana ha costituito il punto
di maggiore attrito tra Stato e Chiesa, ed ha agito come coagulo
dell’intransigenza cattolica e come bersaglio dell’anticlericalismo. Tuttavia,
pur nei termini del conflitto che conosciamo, essa ha rappresentato anche un
elemento equilibratore nel periodo separatista, con la stipulazione dei Patti
Lateranensi, soprattutto all’atto della elaborazione della Costituzione
democratica. Quando parlo di elemento equilibratore intendo dire che la
presenza della Santa Sede ha fatto uscire il meglio di sé dalla classe
dirigente liberale nell’Ottocento, ha attenuato gli effetti che i Patti
Lateranensi hanno avuto sulla società italiana, ha favorito notevolmente il
lavoro che ha portato alla formulazione del disegno costituzionale complessivo
dei rapporti tra Stato e Chiesa. Già nell’Ottocento, la classe dirigente
liberale conferma la propria lungimiranza con quella Legge delle Guarentigie
che, pur temporaneamente, risolve la più grande questione storica europea, e,
dovendo misurarsi con un evento che interessa i cattolici di tutto il mondo, si
rivela capace di ad attenuare, smussare, equilibrare le asperità del
separatismo. Anche quando il Concordato ferisce duramente la laicità e la
cultura laica italiana, la soluzione definitiva del questione romana stempera
il valore politico del patto con il FASCISMO. Non a caso il giudizio delle
forze politiche ANTI-fasciste sui Patti Lateranensi si presenta come scisso in
due: severo e aspro, anche da parte cattolica, nei confronti dell’accordo
politico tra Chiesa e fascismo e del Concordato, ma positivo e accogliente nei
confronti del Trattato del Laterano. Sin dall’inizio Croce approva la soluzione
della questione romana, riservando le sue critiche al Concordato. Ma anche
Salvemini, durissimo con il Concordato, riconosce che la questione romana è ben
risolta, anzi afferma che ciò che è stato fatto avrebbero dovuto farlo i
liberali. Infine, i programmi elaborati dai leader dell’antifascismo durante la
guerra in vista della ricostruzione del Paese, concordano nel non voler rimettere
in discussione i risultati del Trattato del Laterano. Credo si possa dire che,
senza una questione romana risolta, forse non avremmo avuto quel tipo di
rapporti con la Chiesa che l’Italia elabora e che ha saputo anticipare un
modello oggi utilizzato in un numero considerevole di Paesi europei.
Nell’incontro tra le correnti del cattolicesimo democratico e la maggioranza
della cultura laica, l’Italia trova il modo di abbandonare un certo
provincialismo e riesce a parlare un linguaggio europeo, supera quel corto
circuito che l’aveva appesantita a lungo. Le scelte del costituente non sono
riconducibili al solo articolo, quanto alla maturazione di una laicità che è
destinata a fare scuola, a prefigurare un modello di Stato laico sociale che
diverrà prevalente nell’Europa che si unisce e conosce la fine dei
totalitarismi. Si tratta di una laicità complessa dove converge il meglio della
tradizione separatista (in materia di libertà religiosa), e dove il laicismo è
superato dal riconoscimento pieno della presenza e del ruolo sociale della
religione. Si abbatte il muro della incomunicabilità tra religione e società,
si conferma e si estende il metodo della contrattazione e dell’incontro, tra
Stato e Chiese; si supera l’ultimo tabù dell’Ottocento, per il quale nessun
culto dovrebbe essere finanziato dallo Stato perché lo impedirebbero le
differenti opinioni religiose dei cittadini. Sul finire del Novecento questo
Stato laico sociale trionfa un po’ dovunque. Non si contano più i concordati
tra Santa Sede e Stati in Europa, che sono oltre 20, come non si contano più
intese, accordi, convenzioni tra Stato e confessioni religiose, protestanti,
ebraica, islamica, e altro ancora. Ma è nel merito delle relazioni
ecclesiastiche che il modello italiano fa scuola in Europa. Dall’Atlantico alla
Russia, ovunque troviamo una laicità fondata su principi comuni: libertà
religiosa, tutelata nel quadro dei diritti umani, riconoscimento delle Chiese
come entità impegnate in molteplici attività, sostegno pubblico alle
confessioni. Insomma, un mixer tra la tradizione nordamericana di amicizia
verso la religione, e la tradizione europea di contrattazione e reciproca
integrazione. Tanto solido è questo nuovo orizzonte di laicità sociale che
ormai in Europa si discute di riforma dei rapporti tra Stato e Chiesa soltanto
in Inghilterra e nei Paesi protestanti del nord, dove ancora esistono Chiese
ufficiali sottomesse e apparentate alle dinastie regnanti. La laicità torna
di attualità e vive una crisi di cui non siamo ancora pienamente consapevoli,
su terreni nuovi e in editi, come quelli dell’etica e del multiculturalismo. Si
tratta di fenomeni molto diversi, perché nel primo caso siamo di fronte ad un
uso indebito, quasi una strumentalizzazione, del concetto di laicità, nel
secondo assistiamo ad un pericoloso arretramento dei valori più intimi dello
Stato laico. Non entro nel merito del rapporto tra etica e diritto. Non è
oggetto della mia relazione, non è possibile neanche sfiorarlo nella sua
complessità. La mia attenzione è più ristretta, riguarda il rapporto che
esisterebbe tra laicità ed etica nel momento in cui un ordinamento è chiamato a
pronunciarsi su questioni decisive per la collettività, come la famiglia,
l’ingegneria genetica, l’eutanasia, e via di seguito. Alcune elaborazione teoriche
danno per scontato che il pluralismo etico non è che un altro aspetto del
pluralismo religioso, e “come oggi ammettiamo e rispettiamo le varie
confessioni religiose, così dobbiamo riconoscere le varie moralità che
affiancano o sostituiscono la fede religiosa”. D’altra parte, si aggiunge, come
nella religione non si dà verità oggettiva, ma solo opinioni, così in campo
etico lo Stato deve accettare tutte le convinzioni e le scelte che si
contendono il campo. Questa similitudine tra religione ed etica è accattivante,
ma nasconde un’insidia dialettica. In primo luogo perché la neutralità dello
Stato riguarda le convinzioni religiose, la sfera più intima della spiritualità
e della coscienza, non i comportamenti delle persone, tanto meno quelli che
coinvolgono gli altri. In questa materia la legge non pretende mai di definire
qual è la verità, ma sceglie sulla base di valori che hanno una loro validità
nel tempo, nella struttura sociale nella quale si incarnano, e che possono dar
vita a equilibri diversi tra etica e diritto. In secondo luogo, si trascura il
fatto che una neutralità dello Stato estesa a tutte le scelte etiche porterebbe
alla paralisi del legislatore e allo svuotamento della funzione della legge.
L’ordinamento non si interesserebbe più della procreazione, dei doveri verso i
figli, non potrebbe più disciplinare il matrimonio, dovrebbe consentire tutto
in materia di bioetica. Uno Stato eticamente neutrale dovrebbe disporre il
“rompete le righe” e preoccuparsi solo di regolare il traffico delle attività
sociali. C’è, poi, un corollario di questa impostazione che viene utilizzato
frequentemente. Si tratta di quel ritornello che in Italia viene ripetuto
spesso, secondo il quale in queste materie lo Stato deve permettere, non
proibire. Infatti, se permette non obbliga nessuno, ma se proibisce impedisce a
qualcuno di realizzarsi. Lo Stato che liberalizza l’eutanasia non obbliga
nessuno a praticarla, ma consente a chi vuole di scegliere un’altra opzione. Se
permette la fecondazione eterologa, non la impone, ma se la nega erode spazi
all’autonomia individuale. Io credo che ci troviamo di fronte ad un uso
improprio della laicità, e ad un vero sillogismo. Se applicata coerentemente,
questa logica porterebbe a risultati che ben pochi si sentirebbero di sostenere.
Si legittimerebbe la pratica della clonazione umana, perché una legge che la
liberalizzasse non costringerebbe nessuno a clonare cellule e individui, mentre
un divieto impedirebbe ad alcuni di seguire i propri convincimenti. Dovrebbe
essere permesso di intervenire sul genoma per determinare alcune
caratteristiche del nascituro, come il sesso, o il colore della pelle o degli
occhi, perché in ogni caso non si obbligherebbe nessuno a queste operazioni,
mentre vietandole si diminuirebbe l’autonomia individuale. Questa impostazione
dovrebbe indurre l’Authority inglese a rispondere positivamente al recente
quesito del King’s College, se sia lecito produrre ibridi di umanità e
animalità. Infatti, consentendo questa pratica non si impone a nessun
ricercatore di creare la chimera, ma proibendola si violerebbe la libertà di
quanti non hanno remore nel procedere su questa strada. Molti sostenitori del
relativismo si dichiarano contrari alla clonazione, alla chimera e ad altre
scelte estreme, ma spesso non sanno dire il perché. E non sanno dirlo perché
dovrebbero riconoscere che clonazione e chimera possono essere escluse soltanto
se si fa leva su valori antropologici primari, meritevoli di trovare spazio nel
mondo del diritto. Si dovrebbe allora riconoscere che la laicità dello Stato
non c’entra nulla quando la discussione riguarda questi valori. E che nel gioco
democratico della discussione, del convincimento, si determineranno gli
equilibri essenziali, modificabili nel tempo, sui confini del diritto, sul
rapporto tra autonomia e solidarietà. In questa discussione vi è spazio per
tutti, per le convinzioni religiose e per quelle filosofiche, per l’apporto
delle scienze e la mediazione della politica. Ma se il confronto viene
by-passato ricorrendo alla laicità per sbarrare la strada a determinate scelte,
vuol dire allora che c’è insicurezza in alcune posizioni relativistiche, le
quali non riescono ad elaborare valori convincenti, e utilizzano impropriamente
la laicità per dare alle proprie tesi una forza che probabilmente non hanno. 5.
Cultura laica e questione islamica L’analisi si fa più complessa se affrontiamo
il tema del multiculturalismo, perché questo fenomeno costituisce una grande
opportunità ma anche un grande rischio. Una opportunità per la laicità, che può
far risaltare il suo volto accogliente e il suo carattere universale di fronte
al mischiarsi delle popolazioni, delle pagine della storia, e della geografia.
Ma anche un rischio se con il multiculturalismo si vogliono reintrodurre nelle
nostre società antiche intolleranze, o costumi e tradizioni che evocano un
lontano passato. Le prime risposte a questo evento sono deludenti, alcune
preoccupanti, ma tutte riflettono un disorientamento generale. Vi sono a volte
reazioni di tipo islamofobico che fanno d’ogni erba un fascio, alimentano paure
e diffidenze, che vogliono negare all’islam ciò che la laicità deve garantire a
tutti. Mi sembra, però, che siano prevalenti le reazioni opposte, perché la
cultura laica sta rispondendo con uno spaesamento che tradisce incertezza e
insicurezza. Il multiculturalismo sta facendo emergere una insicurezza dei
valori della laicità, della loro validità e tendenziale universalità. Anche
quell’orgoglio che ha dato forza allo Stato laico, che ha prodotto diritto e
storia, sembra vacillare di fronte a chi appare più estraneo ai principi di
libertà ed eguaglianza. Potrei citare una pluralità di fatti, ed eventi, che
sembrano slegati tra di loro ma sono uniti da un robusto filo conduttore. Ne
indico alcuni per far riflettere sul loro significato complessivo. Pochi si
accorgono che si sta creando un divario crescente tra l’atteggiamento nei
confronti delle Chiese tradizionali e quello che si manifesta di fronte a
clamorose lesioni della laicità per motivi di multiculturalismo. Le prime
riflettono un’antica suscettibilità, quasi la memoria del conflitto, le altre
sono fatte di stupore e di silenzi. Se una Chiesa lucra ancora oggi qualche
favore giuridico, si reagisce con veemenza perché la laicità dello Stato
sarebbe in pericolo. Ma se vengono lanciate fatwe di morte contro letterati,
giornalisti o registi, per offese all’Islam, si tratta di episodi che non
riguardano lo Stato laico, non costituiscono istigazione all’omicidio. Se una
fatwa viene eseguita, l’omicidio è di competenza della cronaca nera. 8 Se
in un paese europeo si discute su temi etici, le prese di posizione delle
Chiese cristiane sono viste come espressioni di un nuovo temporalismo. Ma se,
in Europa o ai suoi confini, avvengono omicidi di donne che rifiutano regole
tribali, di derivazione islamica o meno, oppure se il diritto di cambiare
religione conduce ancora alla morte o all’emarginazione sociale, si considerano
questi eventi come frutto di arretratezza, anziché un salto indietro nella
storia della laicità. Nessun grido, nessun manifesto, nessun convegno è
dedicato loro. Uno strabismo particolare colpisce la cultura laica quando è in
gioco la questione femminile. Mentre gli ordinamenti europei adottano raffinati
strumenti per rendere effettiva la parità tra uomini e donne, normativa e
pratiche aliene che discriminano le donne, o le umiliano, non suscitano
ribellione o ripulsa. Un tempo la cultura laica reagiva con forza, definendole
oscurantiste e censorie, alle richieste di non eccedere nella liberalizzazione
dei costumi, e di frenare la licenziosità con cui veniva usata la figura
femminile. Oggi tace, quasi si nasconde, quando le donne vengono chiuse nel
burqa, o si chiedono classi separate nelle scuole, spiagge differenziate,
reparti ospedalieri distinti, o gli uomini rifiutano di essere subordinati sul
lavoro a dirigenti donne, e via di seguito. In diversi paesi occidentali,
dall’Inghilterra al Canada, dalla Germania al Belgio ai paesi del Nord Europa
si moltiplicano le proposte di introdurre la scharì’a, o suoi segmenti, senza
che suscitino scandalo per la ferita che porterebbero ai diritti umani
fondamentali. Soltanto il 24 ottobre corso, con grande ritardo, il Parlamento
europeo, ha approvato una risoluzione (peraltro molto positiva) sulla
condizione delle donne, sulla illegalità della poligamia, sulla lesione dei
diritti fondamentali. Le reazioni islamiche al discorso di Benedetto XVI a
Ratisbona sono ormai note, e non mi ci devo soffermare. Ma nessuno ha notato un
fatto che, in tema di laicità, ha sovrastato tutti gli altri. Il silenzio che i
più rigorosi laicisti hanno mantenuto nel difendere la libertà di parola e di
espressione contro minacce, violenze, ricatti. Eppure, per decenni questi
gruppi hanno ripetuto sino alla nausea il pensiero di Voltaire per il quale,
anche se non si condividono le idee di un altro, si è però pronti a spendere la
propria vita perché l’altro possa esprimere quelle idee. Ma dopo Ratisbona, non
si è spesa neanche una parola per difendere il diritto del Papa, come di
chiunque altro, ad esprimere le proprie valutazione sul rapporto tra fede e
violenza. A questi silenzi si aggiunge un fenomeno culturale meno appariscente
e più sotterraneo. Il cattolicesimo, e il cristianesimo, sono stati per due
secoli letteralmente vivisezionati per criticare e sradicare tutto ciò che
sapesse di temporalismo, di anti-modernità, per spezzare la loro alleanza con
il potere politico. Sull’intreccio tra altre religioni e sistemi politici
dittatoriali, oggi prevale l’afasia nella cultura liberale, in quella marxista
o anti-istituzionale. Sembra quasi che la critica illuministica e storicistica
che, pur con asprezze a faziosità, ha saputo fustigare, in certa misura ha
contribuito a rinnovare, le Chiese delle nostre società, scelga il silenzio di
fronte a ben più pesanti congiunzioni tra religione, violenza, dispotismi più o
meno teocratici. Tutto ciò apre degli interrogativi sul futuro della laicità in
Italia e in Europa; e li apre non su un punto o su un altro, ma sulla spinta
propulsiva che la laicità ha esercitato nel realizzare lo Stato moderno. Da
questi, e altri episodi, sta scaturendo una sorta di assuefazione rassegnata di
fronte alla mutazione genetica della laicità come la conosciamo in Occidente,
che può portare ad un esito paradossale: ad una laicità occhiuta e diffidente
verso le religioni tradizionali e ad un multiculturalismo disarmato e senza
valori verso altre religioni e tradizioni. Sarebbe la fine della neutralità
dello Stato. Laicità e multiculturalismo in Italia. Ambiguità e
prospettive Per meglio capire i rischi di questa frattura tra laicità e
multiculturalismo torniamo per un attimo all’esperienza italiana. L’Italia,
ancora una volta, si è dimostrata più di altri Paesi equilibrata e accogliente,
non condizionata da pregiudizi etnici o religiosi. L’Italia non ha fatto la
guerra al velo, e a nessun simbolo religioso, forse perché di simboli
confessionali ne conosce tanti da tanto tempo, dalle cattedrali alle chiese,
dai conventi ai battisteri, alle fogge vestiarie di religiosi e religiose
d’ogni genere. Quindi non avvertiamo disagio per un modesto velo che peraltro
può appellarsi alla libertà di abbigliamento. L’Italia ha predisposto una vasta
rete di accoglienza e sostegno sociale per l’immigrazione; sta cercando in
tanti modi di soddisfare le esigenze di culto dei soggetti dell’immigrazione;
prevede nei contratti di lavoro spazi per pratiche religiose, diversità
alimentari, tradizioni come quello del ramadan. Ma questo che può essere
considerato legittimamente un nostro vanto, si sta trasformando lentamente in qualcosa
d’altro. Si sta trasformando nell’oscuramento di principi e valori essenziali,
e nella accettazione di una cultura della separatezza che può colpire la
laicità. Parlo della tendenza a rimuovere il crocifisso dalle aule scolastiche,
e più in genere, tutta una simbologia e una tradizione di memorie del
cristianesimo, riprendendo concezioni laiciste superate. E’ di questi giorni la
notizia che nelle scuole, negli alberghi, in luoghi pubblici e privati
diminuiscono i presepi e gli alberi di natale per non urtare suscettibilità di
persone aderenti ad altri culti. Si realizza così quella che da tempo definisco
una partita giocata su due tavoli: quello della laicità che limita o cancella
simboli e presenze cristiane, e quello del multiculturalismo che legittima
altri simboli o presenze religiose. Sempre in Italia si manifestano i primi
sintomi di un cedimento multiculturale che mette a rischio i diritti
fondamentali dei cittadini, in primo luogo delle donne. Si accetta qua e là la
presenza del burqa, aumentano le voci favorevoli alla poligamia, si introducono
in qualche parte forme separate di vita collettiva, nelle scuole, nei luoghi
pubblici, si consente l’apertura di scuole islamiche fuori dei canoni previsti
dalle nostre leggi. Si tratta di primi sintomi, ma sono parecchi e di
significato univoco, e ci dicono che neanche noi siamo immuni dal rischio della
perdita di senso della laicità e dei suoi valori. Altra cosa sarebbe se della
laicità si offrisse il volto più maturo e accogliente, quello che sa distinguere
tra quanto di autenticamente religioso emerge da una tradizione, e quanto
appartiene ad arretratezza storica e culturale. Che sa rispettare e tutelare il
patrimonio spirituale di ciascuna religione ed etnia, ma sa criticare e
respingere ciò che collide con il sistema universale dei diritti umani, con la
libertà religiosa, con l’eguaglianza tra uomo e donna. Che sa, cioè, promuovere
il meglio della nostra e delle altrui tradizioni, ma si impegna a far arretrare
il resto. Sarebbe un’altra cosa, un’altra storia, e potremmo dedicarvi un altro
convegno. Trovare l’uomo capace, e l’investirlo de’ simboli della
capacità (culto, o com’altro sì chiami) così ch’egli possa avere agio a
governare secondo la propria facoltà, è l’officio di ogni procedura
sociale. A questo punto il Carlyle riscrive ‘worship’ WORTH-ship,
per accentuarne l’etimologia da ‘worth,’ valore, compincendosi che la ragione
etimologica venga quasi ad attestare la nocessità del fatto che gli sta tanto a
cuore. Per mantenere questa relazione logica Loubatières muta
‘worship’ nell’*équivalent adequat* di *élection* da prima, e poi di
*élite*. ‘Carlyle,’ soggiunge Loubatières, de son pergant et rapide regard, dénude
la racine des mots et des choses.’ Carlyle
non è punto tenero degli studi etimologici. Le parole gli si
dischiudono ad un tratto come si fendono le roccie allo sguardo diabolico del
suo jötun Hymir. Ci fa ripensare a quello che dice Daudet: ‘Il y a dans cortains
mots que nous employons ordinairement un ressort cachè qui tout à coup les
ouvre jusqu’au fond, nous les explique dans leur intimité exceptionelle.’
‘Puis le mot se replie, reprend sa forme banale et roule insignifiant, usé par
l’habitude et le machinal.’ Nome
compiuto: Carlo Cardia. Keywords: il laico, filosofia vs. teologia, italia
anti-papista, il filosofo italiano deve essere neutro in questione di
religione. Verdi – il papa – stati papali – repubblica italiana – liberta di
culto – giurisprudenza – religione dell’antica roma – il pontifice nella religione
romana antica – credenza religiosa – credenza naturale – credenza
super-naturale – il sovra-naturale – il naturale – l’idea di religione nella
antica Roma – il mito romano – la mitologia romana antica – il sacro – il
pagano – la filosofia della roma antica pagana – la critica dei antichi romani
al cristianesimo, il culto del laico, worship of the hero, il culto dell’eroe
-- Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, “Grice e Cardia,”
The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza, Liguria, Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Cardone: la ragione
conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale -- La nudita eroica di
Napoleone -- Clark Kent; ovvero, sul sovrumano – trasumanar – l’eroe di Vico –
hero-worship -- Annunzio e il fascismo – scuola di Palmi – scuola di Reggio
Calabria – filosofia calabrese -- filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza, pel
Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The Swimming-Pool Library (Palmi). Filosofo calabrese. Filosofo italiano.
Palmi, Reggio Calabria, Calabria. Grice: “Cardone plays with a coinage,
sobraumnao, in Dionigio e Luciano – it triggers implicata: what’s wrong with
‘human’? One is reminded
of Pico (‘dignita dell’uomo’) and D’Annunzio – it is a problem of linguistic
botanising for Italian phiosophers, ‘altreuomo’ being rendered as a translation
of Emersen’s ‘plus man’ – and cf. Carlyle – D’Annunzio, who should have known
better, prefers ‘suPer,’ when we know that in the ‘volgare,’ the ‘p’ becomes
‘v’, so Cardone has it just right!” Si
laurea a Roma. Membro de Partito Socialista Unitario. Fonda "Ebe" e
la rivista "Rivista". Fonda “Ricerche filosofiche”. Fonda la Società
Filosofica Calabrese. Aattività deontologica per la realizzazione di un'etica
sociale della Cultura, in difesa e promozione della civiltà, onde onorarlo per
le sue incessanti iniziative anche in favore della fratellanza umana. Altre
opere: Saggi di storia, filosofia e diritto; Il relativismo gnoseologico”
(Palmi, A.Genovesi et figli ed); Reazione collettiva (Torino, Paravia et C); I
filosofi calabresi nella storia della filosofia, con appendice sui sociologi e
gli psicologi, Palmi, A.Genovesi et Figli ed., “La filosofia dello Stato”
(Città di Castello, Casa Editrice Il Solco); Filosofia della vita, Città di
Castello, Casa Editrice Il Solco); Umanismo (Messina); Cristianesimo,
liberalismo e comunismo, Palmi, G. Palermo ed); Il Divenire e l'Uomo, Palmi,
Ricerche filosofiche, “Civiltà, Palmi, G. Palermo ed); Vita di Gesù secondo il
Vangelo incompiuto, Modena-Roma, Guanda Editore); La filosofia di Gesù, Milano,
Bocca ed); L'uomo nel cosmo. Storia e prospettive, Palmi, Ricerche filosofiche
ed); Bio critica, a cura della sezione bibliografica della Società Filosofica
Calabrese, Bologna, Mareggiani ed); Seguito alla Bio critica, a cura della
sezione bibliografica della Società Filosofica Calabrese, Cosenza, MIT); La
vita come esperienza inutile, Cosenza, Pellegrini); L'ozio la contemplazione il
gioco la tecnica l'anarchismo, Roma, Ricerche). Ricerche filosofiche, Torino,
Edizioni di Filosofia). Il Divenire” (Padova, Rebellato Editore). Si vis pacem
para pacem, Montepulciano, Editori Del Grifo, Ludi. Bologna, Soc. Tip.
Mareggiani ed); I confini dell'anima, Palmi, Ed. Del Fondaco di Cultura); La
banca della carità” (Milano, M. Gastaldi Terapia del tramonto (Milano, M.
Gastaldi); Il figlio del dittatore” (Milano, M. Gastaldi); Canti del Sant'Elia,
Poggibonsi, Lalli); L'assenza e la mancanza: meditazioni quasi poetiche,
Cosenza, MIT). Dialogo sulla solitudine. divenir e vita. Filosofo-poeta. Un
inattuale nella sua attualita. i Napoleone non mi sembra per nulla così grande
come il Cromwell. Le sue enormi vittorie, che s’ estesero A 1 «Napoleone fu
l'idolo della comune degli " 3 i gli nomini, perchè a le qualità e le
facoltà degli Cn OI k Ni Chi co: i 0 fesso moderno; auche quand'è all'apice
della fortuna; “gli aleggia dentro lo stesso spirito che troviamo nei giornali
del tempo. da 7 si limitò alla piccola Inghilte che gli alti trampoli ti la
statura dell'uomo per essi lui sincerità parl d'una specie molto inferiore: NOn
quel suo silenzioso. Per 1 L'universo; NOn il « cammino co lo chiamava;
‘pensiero, il valore, che S1 co latenti, © 8° accendono poi quasi amm Napoleone
vive in un’ epoca che non avera più este: ; fede in Dio; che considera
non-entità jl significato ; a d’ogni silenzio, d'ogni qualità latente: non PIù
sulla |. È Bibbia puritan& aveva egli et fondarsi, ì scettiche
Enciclopedie. Eppure, tanto ei giunse- ed meritorio L essere arrivato così
lontano. Tl suo carattere: compatto, pronto ed articolato, in ogni senso, è in
sè stesso piccolo; forse, a paragone i quello del nostro i grande Cromwell,
caotico ed inarticolato. Non è « muto profeta che si sforza di parlare.; >
ha piuttosto in sè un portentoso miscuglio di ciarlataneria ! Il concetto di
Hume, d'una fanatica ipocrisia, Con quanto è in esso di vero, potrà applicarsi
molto meglio Napoleone che nons’applica a Cromwell, Maometto od ai loro simili,
per 1 quali realmente, preso et tutto rigore, conteneva a mala pena alcuna
stilla di verità. Sin da primcipio, appare in quest’ uomo un elemento di
riprovevole ambizione, che alla fine lo vince, trascina lui e l’opera sua in
ruma. a SE vi be divenne motto prover= era necessario di Ei a Se ARen alto il
coraggio de’ DARE bisognava tenere aggio de’ suol uomini e così plesso, non ci
son ; via. Fio Non è un santo, mon è un cappuccino, per Usare la nemmeno un
eroe, nell'alto signi \ x guificato d al capo VI: Napoleone o l' uomo di pagata
pa tutta 1 Europa, mentre il e: o di et da espressione sua; È ; » (Emerson, op.
cita È dedi $ A. prrura SEST è i eglio, lungo e stato ID o resse Ind so, se non
at i oleone ste55° ; atti, ba alcun proposito che sì ; :orno; ch'è destinato e
KI x . ‘no vantaggio può mal ve- anl a dolo one? Le menzogne SI scoul a ruinos@
La prossima agi ‘ near È e prestar fe al bugiardo; quand an +1 della più alta
impor prono, © se nessuno VOST Da uand' anche s1a che dica il vero» È ;l
vecchio grido: < Al tei venga creduto. A cr È Una bugia è nulla; al nulla,
nom Potere lupo ‘> a farete, e avrete vare qualch - alla fine, null er
giunta rimess Y x È Dare verain Napoleone una certa sincerità ; anche è) nella
insincerità, bisogna distinguere quanto è super: ficiale da quanto è
fondamentale. A traverso et que ste sue macchinazioni esteriori, et queste
ciarlatanerie, ch''erano molte e riprovevolissime, vediamo pure nel Jla realtà,
istintivo e impossi l'uomo un certo senso de ) bile a sradicare; vediamo ch' el
Sl fondò sul fatto. SI n lui l'istinto di na tanto ch’ ebbe alcun fondamento. I
tura è superiore alla cultura. Il Bourrienne ' racconta che i suoi savants, in
quel viaggio d’ Egitto, s' affanna= vano una sera a dimostrare che non ci può
essere Dio. Erano riusciti a provarlo, a loro grande soddisfazione, con ogni
maniera di logica. Napoleone, guardando su, alle stelle, risponde : «La
dimostrazione è molto ingegnosa, messieurs ; ma chi ha fatto tutto ciò? » La
dot trina atea gli passa sopra come un’ ondata ed egli rimane al cospetto del
grande fatto: « Chi f ti ci09 > Similm Ì | fece utto ente nella pratica:
come 0 possa essere grande e trionfare i gni.u9Maro onfare in questo mondo,
egli 1 Mémoires de Mi de Rourri. i Villemarest, Paris, chez Tadrocat, lui-meme,
rédigéa par Mi de Fauyol Fauvolot do Bonrrionna, amico d'infanzia e segretario
timo di Napoleone, colui MA i, colui cho formulò, d'accordo co diem nl DE Oi
orrori contenuti ola COLI REA to I ‘ourrienne et nen erreura volontaires dI RT
fontraverso tuttii viluppi, il nocciolo pra vede, de direttamente.! tione; ed a
quello ten 9 2 bj pei driscalco del suo palazzo delle Tuileries gli e
tappezzerie, dimostrandogli ‘con me fossero magnifiche, e DEF giunta @ He,
mercato; Napoleone, Per tutta risposta, hiese Sa Ni forbici, mozzò una napPInA
dl oro dele o finestra, se la messe in tasca, e tirò via. Qualche Hai : dopo,
la cavò fuori al momento buono, gran È SE rore del suo fornitore: non era Oro,
ma. orpello! ; notevole come anche a Sant' Elena, sempre; sino et # ultimi
giorni, egli insista sul pratico, sul reale: < A che parlare e lamentare? et
che, sopra tutto, leticare? Non ‘gi viene con ciò ad alcun risultato; nulla si
riesce, a far nulla. E se nulla potete fare; tacete! > Parla ‘spesso così a’
suoi poveri seguaci malcontenti ; è come una forza silenziosa tramezzo alle
loro morbose querele. A E per conseguenza, non possiamo dire che fosse in n lui
pure una fede genuina, Der quant’ era possibile? Ve- i deva in questa nuova
enorme democrazia, che s’ affer- n mava nella rivoluzione francese, un fatto
che non sì può sopprimere, un fatto che il mondo intero, con tutte le sue
vecchie forze e le instituzioni, non può metter da parte: di ciò egli aveva il
vero intuito, e quell’ intuito trascinava seco la sua coscienza ed il suo
entusiasmo : era la sua fede. Forse che non ne interpetrò bene l’oscura portata
? La carriòre ouverte auv talents gli strumenti et chi sa maneggiarli: quest’ è
effettivamente la verità, tutta la verità anzi, e comprende tutto il si- : bo
dell riluzione fece 0 i a ix Ò n ‘ » al ieri i dda DE nidi pae CE cedono
innanzi a quest'uomo Dire ecm vr i rat dp degli soci dl diplomati e vugle cha
ogni ir facoltà di RIGA RARI HRolnio: egoista, prudente, psn se : ale parvenza
altrùi, uè da e sntisinne. 1a Siocniae da alcuna @ re, da nessuna fretta. »
(Emerson, loco cit, sì VI meg SaIoaaai Si ù Napoleone nel suo primo periodo sie
to “vero democratico ; nondimeno, Per sua natura, QI ati ita mili sapeva che Ja
democrazia, in quanto mai fosse verità, non poteva essere: RIO ed odiava cordialmente
P'anarchia. T1 20 giugno 5 seduto col Bourrienne in un caflè, mentre la folla
Diso, schiamazzando, Napoleone esprime il più DIOCr, a 3 isprezzo per le
antorità che non reprimono que! dio dine. Il 10 agosto sì meraviglia che
nessuno prenda 1 o di que’ poveri Svizzeri : vincerebbero Se uves: dante. Tanta
fede nella democrazia, eP7 comand sero un coman I I pure tant! odio dell’
anarchia sostengono apoleone IM illanti campagne grande Opera. Nelle br IO]
d'Italia, via via sino alla pace di Léoben,' 81 direbbe che il suo ideale sia
questo: fatta trionfare la rivoluzione francese; affermarla contro questi
simulacri aus striaci che 0Sano dirla, un simulacro! Nondimeno, egli sente
pure; ed ha diritto di sentire, quanto neces? siria sia una forte autorità; e
come senz) essa l’opera della rivoluzione non possa prosperare nè durare.
Frenare quella granda rivoluzione devastatrice, che divorava sè stessa ;
domarla così, che, raggiunto il suo intrinseco scopo, essa possa divenire
organica, capace di vivere tra gli altri organismi, tra le altre cose formate,
e non soltanto quale opera di devastazione, di distruzione : non mirava egliin
parte a questo come alla vera mèta della sua vita? non s'ingegnò, anzi,
effettivamente, di far IA A traverso Wagram ed Austerlitz, a traverso Re. SOT
aan Hg per osare ed operare, € s'inalzò ica IRE re. Tutti gli uomini videro
sione Cad Ro ioni soldati solevano dire ai dala avvocati di Parigi, tutti
‘Bisogna che mettiamo là il Pan Diga ‘andarono, e lo messe ni nostro Petit
Caporal!> E S ro là; essi, e tutta la Trancia in tutta la sua DAI massa E
poi il consolato; 1° impero; la vittoria su tutta pEuropa {.. È abbastanza
naturale che il povero luogo- n tenente del reggimento La Fère, potesse
apparire ai proi ‘n erande fra quanti nomini fossero da 56 sto punto; quel
fatale elem nto di ciarla0. Rinnegando la sua vel chia fede nei fatti, cOn jò a
credere nelle parvenze, brigò per imparentarsì con le dinastie austriache, col
papati, con le vecchie false feudalità, che pure un tempo gli apparivano
chiaramente false; pensò et fondare una e così via come se la enorme mirasse
che @ dinastia Sua rivoluzione francese non era dunque € dannato a zogna;> è
terribile, m® il vero dal falso quando v ventosa ammenda, questa, che 1 uomo
paghi per avere ceduto alla infedeltà del cuore. La falsa ambizione ego stica
era divenuta ora il suo dio: una volta scesi sino all’inganno di sè stessi,
tutti gli altri inganni seguono naturalmente, € si cade sempre più e più basso.
In quale gretta e rappezzata miseria, in quale mascherata teatrale di manti di
carta e d'orpello, aveva ravvolta quest'uomO la propria grande realtà,
immaginando cor ciò di farla più reale! E quel vacuo Concordato col papa; che
pretende ristabilire il cattolicismo mentr' egli stesso 1 riconosce ch è il
metodo di estirparlo, la vaccine religioni e quelle cerimonie d’incoronazione,
quelle conÈ sacrazioni nella chiesa di Notre-Dame per mezzo della Ai. vecchia
chimera italiana cui nulla mancava, come disse l’Augereau,' ca completarne la
pompa, Se non'quel mezzo milione d’uomini, morti per far finire tutto
ciò!...> + | RIA Ae di Cromwell fu con la spada e con la ja, e dobbiamo
dirla genuinamente vera. La spada \aneria prese Da or Francesco Auger at Drama
EETUIGIO), ANA onu, duca di Castiglione, maresciallo e pari di | ‘che fu
governatore a Berlino nel 1818, è difese Tione 18 fruttidoro (LT9T); © ne ESTA.
i ETTURA SES ; lui senz alcuna chiblemi del purttatni Aveva usato en; I a et
pretendev® ora difenderle! bagliò credette troppo vide nell'uomo di -]* i ta facilità...
della fame © di questa 12 Siglo ta (Lor che edificasse sulle nubi, e: SAR ina,
e di arve dal mondo? i ni Sì ‘gua casa IN confusa rund; | i DO art in ciascuno
di noi, esiste quest SE. e potrebbe svilupparsi ove la tenti ciarlataneria, ;
fosse forte abbastanza. € on Ma il suo sviluppo; invero; | come ingrediente
riconoscibil e ie DE: Sa a di Napoleone, et stessa piccina. Che fu dunque 1
opere SI i lpore? Uno sprazzo come di po malgrado di tanto sca p 3 Re vere da
fucile largamente sparsa; Una fiamma t) di eriche secche. Per un'ora, |
universo intero sembra avvolto dal fumo e dalle fiamme; ma per un' ora
soltanto. Poi svanisce, ed ecco riapparire Vl umiverso CON le sue vecchie
montagne ed i vecchi fiumi, con le stelle nell'alto e giù sotto il benefico
suolo. Il duca di Weimar diceva sempre agli amici di farsi animo, chè questo
Napoleonismo era ingiusto, era menzogna, e non poteva durare. La teoria è vera.
Più questo Napoleone calpestava il mondo, tenendolo tirannicamente + oppresso,
più fiera sarebbe un giorno la reazione del mondo contro di lui. L' ingiustizia
si ripaga da sè, e con uno spaventevole interesse composto. Non so davvero a in
dina pro alt OG Dio si ha risersata jar lui Ladino Boo oi SA TmaSoni ne PESI
Lira si, Sraianol: cho vuol gio del HIFEMENE la la mila cl 1 ila son fumi tie
tnio parere non durabile perchè LARA RE LIE ICINLI cod’ artiglieria 0 veder
affogare il suo reg jelior pal 7 ; cite rimento migliore, anzichè fucilare quel
povero libraio {edesco palm!? Fu un'aperta ingiustizia, una, tirannia, un
assassinio, che nessun uomo, la dipinga pure con uno strato di colore alto un
dito, potrà mai far apparire altrimenti. Questa ed altre simili ingiustizie s'
impres? sero profonde nei cuori; un fuoco represso balenava dagli occhi degli
uomini quando vi ripensavano aspettando il giorno! Ed il giorno venne: € la
Germania gli si sollevò d’ intorno. L'opera di Napoleone sl ridurrà a lungo
andare et quanto egli compì giustamente, 2 quanto la natura sancirà con le sue
leggi, a quanto di realtà era in lui; ® tanto, e nulla più. Il resto fu tutto
fumo e sciupio. La carrière ouverte Aux talents: questo grande messaggio di
verità, che ha ancora da articolarsi e da adempiersi dappertutto, ei lo lasciò
in uno stato affatto inarticolato. Egli fu un grande schema, un abbozzo, non
mai completato: ed invero, forse che il grand’ uomo è mai altro? Ma egli,
ahimè, rimase in uno stato tr0ppo rudimentale |... È quasi tragico il
riflettere alle sue opinioni sul mondo, quali le esprime là, a Sant'Elena.
Sembra provare la più sincera meraviglia che tutto sia andato et quel modo: ch’
egli sia stato gettato là, sulla rupe, e "che il mondo ruoti ancora sul
suo asse. La Francia. è ‘grande, anzi è sola grande; ed in fondo Napoleone è la
Francia. La stessa Inghilterra, egli dice, non è per naura che un'appendice
della Francia; < è per la Francia n'altra isola d’Oleron. >» Così era per
natura, per l ‘Non può comprendere, non sa concepire che la realtà «ela
confederazione del Reno veniva formandosi, la polizia scoperse al Sci librai
furono arrestati ) ono per avervi avuto parte e Napol Sa commissiono militare.
Quattro degli Roca LARE oro provincie: due, Schiderer e Palm, condannati a mi %
4 to Napoloone fece grazia, una il libraio Palm di Norimberga vi atura di
Napoleone. Guardate, infatti : ECCOMI QUI da i 1 Nel 1806, mentre l’ esercito
francese occupava ancora la Germania, cuni documenti, che rivelavano i piani
d'un comitato segreto d'insurre- e LEmTURÀ de mma; che la Francia TR da ci c
jeposto al suo P o, Ji non S1a la Francia. 3 ‘n a credere ciù andezza, © dI DI
ipbia i nesta “iano, COSÌ compatta, così ana, ì g'è involuta; s'è quasi sua N°
0 ante un temp: e a di fanfaronnadi da tmosfer: torbida n'ai osto et lasciarsi
calpe: LS contastare come pla si tà alla Francia ed a sè; 0A it A mire!
Napoleone 7 1 costene Ma, ahimè, OF he giov Le, ui ; e natura, anch’ ess% si
dia Essendosi UNA volta staccato 1) st e) scamp nel vuoto; è Vv ebbe per o di
rado tocco ad un uomo sorte tanto desolata: e dovette morire; povero
Napoleone!.. mento troppo presto sciupato, sino et "& ecco il nostro
ultimo eroe! A si er * * Sa Tiltimo in un doppio significato, poichè debbono
con ‘]ui terminare queste nostre peregrinazioni a traverso ‘tempi e luoghi così
diversi, cercando, studiando gli eroi. UR ME ne rinoresce: era un piacere per
me in quest’ occupazione, sebbene misto a molta pena. È un grande s0g= 5 molto
grave, molto vasto, questo che io, appunto darmi tropp'aria di gravità, ho
chiamato cult@ Esso penetra profondo nelle secrete vie del‘e ne’ più vitali interessi
di questo mondo; tei ge bro ben degno di svolgimento. In sei Invece che sei
giorni, avremmo potuto far meglio. lo: chi sa se nemmeno vi sono riuper
penetrarvi un poco, dovetti Dn DIRE Tronno spesso, con bruuttate là isolate,
senza commento, ho ‘cortese benevolenza, non voglio ora parlare. per saviezza e
leggiadria, ha ascoltato pazient pozze parole. Sentitamente, cordialmente, vi rendo zie, ed a tutti
dico: Dio sia con voil Precisely a century and a year after this of Puritanism
had got itself hushed-up into decent composure, and its results made smooth, in
1688, there broke-out a far deeper explosion, much more difficult to hush-up,
known to all mortals, and like to be long known, by the name of French
Revolution. It is properly the third and final act of Protestantism ; the
explosive confused return of mankind to Reality and Fact, now that they were
perishing of Semblance and Sham. We call our English Puritanism the second act
: “Well then, the Bible is true ; let ils go by the Bible 1 ” “ In Church,”
said Luther ; “ In Church and State,” said Cromwell, “let us go by what
actually God’s Truth.” Men have to return to reality ; they cannot live on
semblance. The French Revolution, or third act, we may well call the final one
; for lower than that savage Sansculottism men cannot go. They stand there on
the nakedest haggard Fact, undeniable in all seasons and circumstances ; and
may and must begin again confidently to build-up from that. The French
explosion, like the English one, got its King, who had no Notary parchment to
show for himself. We have still to glance for a moment at Napoleon, our second
modern King. Napoleon does by no means seem to me so great a man as Cromwell.
His enormous victories which reached over all Europe, while Cromwell abode
mainly in our little England, are but as the high stilts on which the man is
seen standing ; the stature of the man is not altered thereby. I find in him no
such sincerity as in Cromwell; only a far inferior sort. No silent walking,
through long years, with the Awful Unnamable of this Universe; ‘walking with
God," as he called it; and faith and strength in that alone : latent
thought and valour, content to lie latent, then burst out as in blaze of
Heaven’s /lightning 1 Napoleon lived in an age when God was no longer believed
; the meaning of all Silence, Latency, was thought to 'be Nonentity : he had to
begin not out of the Puritan Bible, but out of poor Sceptical EncyclopMies,
This was the length the man carried it. Meritorious to get so far. His compact,
prompt, everyway articulate character is in itself perhaps small, compared with
our great chaotic /^articulate Cromwell’s. In- stead of 'dumb Prophet
struggling to speak,' we have a por- tentous mixture of the Quack withal I
Hume’s notion of the Fanatic-Hypocrite, with such truth as it has, will apply
much better to Napoleon than it did to Cromwell, to Mahomet or the like, where
indeed taken strictly it has hardly any truth at all. An element of blamable
ambition shows itself, from the first, in this man ; gets the victory over him
at last, and in- volves him and his work in ruin. * False as a bulletin’ became
a proverb in Napoleon’s time. He makes what excuse he could for it : that it
was necessary to mislead the enemy, to keep-up his own men’s courage, and so
forth. On the whole, there are no excuses. A man in no case has liberty to tell
lies. It had been, in the long-run, better for Napoleon too if he had not told
any. In fact, if a man have any purpose reaching beyond the hour and day, meant
to be found extant next day, what good can it ever be to promul- gate lies ?
The lies are found-out ; ruinous penalty is exacted for them. No man will
believe the liar next time even when he speaks truth, when it is of the last
importance that he be believed. The old cry of wolf 1 K Lie is nMhing ; you
can- not of nothing make something ; you make nothing at last, and lose your
labour into the bargain. Yet Napoleon had a sincerity; we are to distinguish
be- tween what is superficial and what is fundamental in insin- cerity. Across
these outer manceuverings and quackeries of his, which were many and most
bian>able, let us discern withal that the man had a certain instinctive
ineradicable feeling for reality ; and did base himself upon fact, so long as
he had any basis. He has an instinct of Nature better than his culture was. His
savans, Bourrienne tells us, in that voyage to Egypt were one evening busily
occupied arguing that there could be no God. They had proved it, to their
satisfaction, by all man- ner of logic. Napoleon looking up into the stars,
answers, “Very ingenious. Messieurs ; but who made all that?” The Atheistic
logic runs-off from him like water ; the great Fact stares him in the face : “
Who made all that ?” So too in Practice : he, as every man that can be great,
or have victory in this world, sees, through all entanglements, the practical
heart of the matter ; drives straight towards that. “N^en the steward of his
Tuileries Palace was exhibiting the new uphol- stery, with praises, and
demonstration how glorious it was, and how cheap withal, Napoleon, making
little answer, asked for a pair of scissors, dipt one of the gold tassels from
a window- curtain, put it in his pocket, and walked on. Some days afterwards,
he produced it at the right moment, to the horror of his upholstery functionary
; it was not gold but tinsel I In Saint Helena, it is notable how he still, to
his last days, insists on the practical, the real. Why talk and complain ;
above all, why quarrel with one another? There is no result in it ; it comes to
nothing that one can do. Say nothing, if one can do no- thing I” He speaks
often so, to his poor discontented follow- ers ; he is like a piece of silent
strength in the middle of their morbid querulousness there. And accordingly was
there not what we can call a faith in him, genuine so far as it went? That this
new enormous De- mocracy asserting itself here in the French Revolution is an
insuppressible Fact, which the whole world, with its old forces and
institutions, cannot put down ; this was a true insight of his, and took his
conscience and enthusiasm along with it, a faith. And did he not interpret the
dim purport of it well? La carriers ouverte aux ialens^ The implements to him
who ran handle them; this actually is the truth, and even the whole truth ; it
includes whatever the French Revolution, or any Revolution, could mean.
Napoleon, in his first period, was a true Democrat. And yet by the nature of
him, fostered too by his military trade, he knew that Democracy, if it were a
true thing at all, could not be an anarchy : the man had a heart-hatred for
anarchy. On that Twentieth of June (1792), Bourrienne and he sat in a
coffee-house, as the mob rolled by : Napoleon expresses the deepest contempt
for persons in authority that they do not restrain this rabble. On the Tenth of
August he wonders why there is no man to command these poor Swiss; they would
conquer if there were. Such a faith in Democracy, yet hatred of anarchy, it is
that carries Napoleon through all his great work. Through his brilliant Italian
Campaigns, onwards to the Peace of Leoben, one would say, his inspir- ation is
; ‘Triumph to the French Revolution ; assertion of it against these Austrian
Simulacra that pretend to call it ‘a simulacrum’ Withal, however, he feels, and
has a right to feel, how necessary a strong Authority is ; how the Revolution
cannot prosper or last without such. To bridleMn that great devouring,
self-devouring French Revolution ; to tameit, so that its intrinsic purpose can
be made good, that it may be- come organic, and be able to live among other
organisms and formed things, not as a wasting destruction alone : is not this
still what he partly aimed at, as the true purport of his life ; nay what he
actually managed to do ? Through Wagrams, Austerlitzes ; triumph after triumph,
he triumphed so far. There was an eye to see in this man, a soul to dare and
do. He rose naturally to be the King. All men saw that he was such. The common
soldiers used to say on the march. These babbling Avocats, up at Paris ; all talk
and no work ! What wonder it runs all wrong ? We shall have to go and put our
Petit Caporal there I” They went, and put him there ; they and France at large.
Chief-consulship, Emperorship, victory over Europe ; till the poor Lieutenant
of La Fire, not unna- turally, might seem to himself the greatest of all men
that had been in the world for some ages. But at this point, I think, the fatal
charlatan-element got the upper hand. He apostatised from his old faith in
Facts, took to believing in Semblances ; strove to connect himself with
Austrian Dynasties, Popedoms, with the old false Feud- alities which he once
saw clearly to be false ; considered that he would found “ his Dynasty” and so
forth ; that the enormous French Revolution meant only that ! The man was
‘given-up ^ to strong delusion, that he should believe a lie a fearful but j
most sure thing. did not knowJrue from false no\y.wheiLj he looked at them, —
the fearfulest penalty a man pays for yielding . to untruth of heart. Self and
false ambition had now become ^ his god : j^^deception once yielded to, all
other deceptions follow naturally more and more. What a paltry patchwork of
theatrical paper-mantles, tinsel and mummery, had this man wrapt his own great
reality in, thinking to make it more real thereby ! His hollow ^-Concordat,
pretending to be a re- establishment of Catholicism, felt by himself to be the
method of extirpating it, ^fa vaccine de la religion his ceremonial
Coronations, consecrations by the old Italian Chimera in Notre- Dame, “wanting
nothing to complete the pomp of it,” as Augereau said, “nothing but the
half-million of men who had died to put an end to all that” ! Cromwell’s
Inauguration was by the Sword and Bible ; what we must call a genuinely one.
Sword and Bible were borne before him, without any chi- mera : were not these
the’’ r^a/ emblems of Puritanism ; its true decoration and insignia ? It had
used them both in a very real manner, and pretended to stand by them now 1 But
this poor Napoleon mistook : he believed too much in the Dup^~ ability of men ;
saw no fact deeper in man than Hunger and this 1 He was mistaken. Like a man
that should build upon cloud ; his house and he fall down in confused wreck,
and de- part out of the world. Alas, in all of us this charlatan-element exists
; and might be developed, were the temptation strong enough. ‘ Lead us not into
temptation’ I But it is fatal, I say, that it be developed. The thing into
which it enters as a cognisable ingredient is doomed to be altogether
transitory; and, however huge it may look, is in itself small. Napoleon’s
working, accordingly, what was it with all the noise it made ? A flash as of
gunpowder wide-spread ; a blazing-up as of dry heath. For an hour the whole
Universe seems wrapt in smoke and flame ; but only ^for an hour. It goes out :
the Universe with its old mountains and streams, its stars above and kind soil
beneath, is still there. The Duke of Weimar told his friends always, To be of
courage ; this Napoleonism was unjust^ a falsehood, and could not last. It is
true dqctrine. The heavier this Napoleon tram- pled on the world, holding it
tyrannously down, the fiercer would the world’s recoil against him be, one day.
Injustice pays jt- self with frightful compound-interest. I am not sure but he
had better have lost his best park of artillery, or had his best regiment
drowned in the sea, than shot that poor German Bookseller, Palm I It was a
palpable tyrannous murderous injustice, which no man, let him paint an inch
thick, could make-out to be other. It burnt deep into the hearts of men, it and
the like of it ; suppressed fire flashed in the eyes of men, as they thought of
it, waiting their day 1 Which day came : Germany rose round him. What Napoleon
did will in the long-run amount to what he did justly j what Nature with her
laws will sanction. To what of reality was in him; to that and nothing more.
The rest was all smoke and waste. La carri^re ouverte aux talens : that great
true Message, which has yet to articulate and fulfil itself everywhere, he left
in a most inarticulate state. He was a great Sbatiche, a rude- draught never
completed ; as indeed what great man is other? Left in too rude a state, alas 1
His notions of the world, as he expresses them there at St. Helena, are almost
tragical to consider. He seems to feel the most unaffected surprise that it has
all gone so ; that he is flung-out on the rock here, and the World is still
moving on its axis. France is great, and all-great ; and at bottom, he is
France. England itself, he says, is by Nature only an ap- pendage of France ;
“another Isle of Oleron to France.” So it was by Nature, by Napoleon-Nature ;
and yet look how in fact — Here am I I He cannot understand it : inconceivable
that the reality has not corresponded to his program of it ; that France was
not all-great, that he was not France. ‘Strong delusion,’ that he should
believe the thing to be which is not I The compact, clear- seeing, decisive
Italian nature of him, strong, genuine, which he once had, has enveloped
itself, half- dissolved itself, in a turbid atmosphere of French fanfaronade.
The world was not disposed to be trodden-down underfoot ; to be bound into
masses, and built together, as he liked, for a pedestal to France and him : the
world had quite other pur- poses in view! Napoleon's astonishment is extreme.
But alas, what help now ? He had gone that way of his ; and Nature also had
gone her way. Having once parted with Reality, he tumbles helpless in Vacuity;
no rescue for him. He had to sink there, mournfully as man seldom did ; and break
his great heart, and die, this poor Napoleon ; a great implement too soon
wasted, till it was useless : our last Great Man I Our last, in a double sense.
For here finally these wide roamings of ours through so many times and places,
in search and study of Heroes, are to terminate. I am sorry for it: there was
pleasure for me in this business, if also much pain. It is a great subject, and
a most grave and wide one, this which, not to be too grave about it, I have
named He?'o-worship. It enters deeply, as I think, into the secret of Mankind’s
ways and vitalest interests in this world, and is well worth explaining at
present. With six months, instead of six days, we might have done better. I
promised to break-ground on it ; I know not whether I have even managed to do
that. I have had to tear it up in the rudest manner in order to get into it at
all. Often enough, with these abrupt utterances thrown-out iso- lated,
unexplained, has your tolerance been put to the trial. Tolerance, patient
candour, all-hoping favour and kindness, which I will not speak of at present.
The accomplished and distinguished, the beautiful, the wise, something of what
is best in England, have listened patiently to my rude words. With many
feelings, I heartily thank you all ; and say, Good be with you all! Nome compiuto: Domenico Cardone. Domenico Antonio
Cardone. Keywords: Clark Kent; ovvero, sul sovrumano, “Ricerche filosofiche”;
futilitarianism, inutilitarianism, Grice, “The philosophy of life,” Grice,
“Philosophy of life”, essere e divenire – il sovraumano, Nietzsche, Bergson,
D’Annunzio, sobra-uomo, super-uomo. Jesus as a philosopher! Tommaso Carlyle, Il
culto degl’eroi – culto, worth-ship, valore, Napoleone, natura italiana -- --
Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, “Grice e Cardone,” The
Swimming-Pool Library, Vill Speranza, Liguria, Italia.
Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Carifi: la
ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale dell’ablativi relativi
– Roman implicata – scuola di Pistoia – filosofia toscana -- filosofia italiana
– Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The Swimming-Pool Library
(Pistoia).
Filosofo toscano. Filosofo italiano. Pistoia, Toscana.
Grice: “I would call Carifi a poet rather than a philosopher! He did indeed
philosophise ‘in difesa della filosofia,’ but that should read of ‘his’ ‘filosofia,’ which he
sees as an elaboration on death! My favourite are his ‘lezioni’ di
filosofia and his ‘ablativo assoluto,’ something English lacks, but ‘deo
volente’ doesn’t!” -- Studia sotto
Bigongiari, tra i maggiori esponenti dell'ermetismo fiorentino, profondamente influenzato dalle voci liriche
di Rilke e Trakl, su cui si è esercitato anche come traduttore, oltre a essere
poeta, svolge l'attività di critico letterario e filosofico. Autore de “Il
segreto”. Al fianco degli studi filosofici, vi sono quelli di psicoanalisi a
Milano. Mentre nelle liriche si risente la dizione rilkiana e emerge il debito
verso Heidegger, nei componimenti successivi questi motivi vengono amalgamati a
nuove istanze della sensibilità. In particolare dopo la dura prova della
malattia, l'incidente, come lui chiama l'ictus da cui è stato colpito, i suoi
versi abbracciano una nuova forma di rarefazione dissolvente in cui l'essere,
attraversato dal dolore, cerca una via estrema di comunicazione per
ricongiungersi al mondo. Luoghi e figure dell'anima. Due sono i temi che
incardinano la sua poetica: la madre e il legame con la città natale, Pistoia,
che di quel rapporto affettivo è l'emanazione, entrambi raccolti
filosoficamente nel rimando all'infanzia, epoca originaria dei sensi, periodo
d'elezione per l'anima ma anche ingrato, di cui si fatica a cogliere l'essenza
se non a patto di una discesa spossante. Ora è l'attimo che attende, è
l'istante che prepara i tempi a un altro istante dove si deve attendere
l'infanzia, quella bastarda che era là, tragico volto dei bambini. La madre,
dolorosa musa, abbandonata dal marito quando il bambino aveva appena tre anni,
ha lungamente accompagnato e sorretto la voce del figlio. La sua scomparsa è
una perdita incolmabile nella vita e nel suo immaginario. La città rappresenta
un caldo grembo, dove tutto rimanda a quel legame dissolto ma anche alle tante
amicizie e perfino a quegli spiriti gentili di artisti e letterati che
continuano ad aggirarsi, figure di sogno, nelle strette strade del centro. Bigongiari
era di Pistoia. Era figlio del capostazione e abitava in Via del Vento, accanto
a Manzini. Nei miei viaggi onirici li vedo tutti e due, Bigongiari e Manzini,
camminare tra Via del Vento e Via Verdi, in silenzio perché parlano una lingua
muta, una lingua del deserto che solo i poeti e i mistici capiscono. Nei suoi
versi rivive di continuo la devozione spirituale per il luogo, la cui essenza
poetica sta nell'intreccio di memorie che lo abitano, un passato con cui si
misura in uno stato di incerta beatitudine tra sogno e veglia. Nasco filosofo
con una grande tensione verso la poesia. Una tensione, la mia, che si è poi
sviluppata fino a rendermi filosofo, ma soprattutto poeta. La filosofia arriva
fino ad un certo punto, da quel punto in poi c’è la poesia. La poesia parla del
cielo, delle foreste degli uomini, fa un salto verso la verità. Abbandona il
linguaggio su cui, bene o male, la filosofia regge e sceglie un linguaggio
pre-sentativo'', il linguaggio della presenza. La sua ricerca è la
risposta alle varie vicende dell’uomo. L’uomo colma e coglie sé stesso
attraverso il percorso del lume, l’apertura alla conoscenza. L’uomo mite che
miete la luce, capace di cuore della verità, che non rinuncia al pensiero della
responsabilità e della parola, è l’uomo C.. Non bisogna accostarsi a lui con il
timore di leggere un incomprensibile tomo di filosofia analitica alla teoria
dell’implicatura di Grice, sia pur condividendo con lui che non esistono
concetti semplici, né concetti già pronti, perché la filosofia analitica di
Grice è, Grice morto, in divenire, è in movimento. Un sottile ma preciso filo
conduttore che caratterizza la raccolta delle sue lunghe e silenziose
riflessioni è la pratica dell’intensità, destini che si rivelano fino in fondo.
Esercita il bello della profondità portandola, a tutti, sul piano conoscitivo
della conversazione. Le sue opere sono cammini culturali e spirituali dove
l’uomo ed il valore sono all’unisono un giro concentrico di piaceri. La
conversazione è un abisso che, in un’intima solidarietà, unisce il moto
interiore all’estetica dell’espressione, e la conversazione diviene il veicolo
principale dove il silenzio meditativo e contemplativo si colora di una
dimensione inter-oggettiva. La conoscenza dell'altro.L'uomo del pensiero:
Roberto Edizione Polistampa, Firenze. Poesia e filosofia convivono e si
alternano nella sua vasta produzione, tra i maggiori autori contemporanei. E
conosciuto per i testi filosofici e per l’intensa attività poetica,
influenzata, a partire dagli anni Ottanta, dall’amicizia con Bigongiari; ma
anche per le traduzioni in italiano di Hesse, Rousseau, Racine, Bataille, Trakl
e Weil. La poesia è una stretta di mano su «Naturart», rivista di cultura, Giorgio
Tesi Editrice» Scopre il dolore con la perdita della madre che diventa la
sua ossessione poetica, descritta come un pozzo in cui scendere. Le sue due
antologie poetiche (Infanzia; Nel ferro dei balocchi), pur seguendo percorsi
diversi, si ergono entrambe su due abissi: l'infanzia personale, ma al contempo
quella di intere generazioni europee, segnate da un legame indissolubile.
Archivio Festival Letteratura, Palazzo Ducale, Mantova. È una poesia in cui la
forte componente autobiografica trasfigura il vissuto, in quanto ciò che si
racconta assume valore paradigmatico: situazioni ed episodi emblematici in cui
l’uomo incontra l’assoluto. Incontro su «VIinforma», rivista culturale della
Banca di credito coooperativo di S. Pietro in Vincio» «La raccolta Madre,
proprio perché torna su un tema già fortemente praticato, consente di guardare
al complessivo percorso poetico di Carifi potendo distinguere in esso un
momento di passaggio e di mutamento, determinato prima dall’avvicinamento al
buddismo, poi dalla malattia. Giuseppe Grattacaso, Supplica alla madre su
«Succedeoggi» Cultura nell’informazione quotidiana» Opere Raccolte
poetiche Simulacri (Forum/Quinta Generazione, Forlì); Infanzia (Società di
Poesia, Milano, rist. Raffaelli, Rimini ); L'obbedienza (Crocetti, Milano);
Occidente (Crocetti, Milano); Amore e destino (Crocetti, Milano); Poesie (I
Quaderni del Battello Ebbro, Porretta Terme); Casa nell'ombra (Almanacco
Mondadori, Milano); Il Figlio (Jaca Book, Milano); Amore d'autunno (Guanda,
Parma-Milano); Europa (Jaca Book, Milano); Il gelo e la luce (Le Lettere,
Firenze); La pietà e la memoria (Edizioni ETS, Pisa); D'improvviso e altre
poesie scelte (Via del Vento edizioni); Nel ferro dei balocchi (Crocetti,
Milano 2008); Tibet (Le Lettere, Firenze ); Madre (Le Lettere, Firenze); Il
Segreto (Le Lettere, Firenze ); Racconti Victor e la bestia (Via del Vento
edizioni, Pistoia); Lettera sugli angeli e altri racconti (Via del Vento
edizioni, Pistoia); Destini (Libreria dell'Orso editrice, Pistoia); Saggi Il
gesto di Callicle (Società di Poesia, Milano); Il segreto e il dono (EGEA,
Milano); Le parole del pensiero (Le Lettere, Firenze); Il male e la luce (I
Quaderni del Battello Ebbro, Porretta Terme); L'essere e l'abbandono (Il Ramo
d'Oro, Firenze); Nomi del Novecento (Le Lettere, Firenze); Nome di donna
(Raffaelli, Rimini ). Rilke, L'angelo e altre poesie, Via del Vento edizioni,
2008; Georg Trakl, La notte e altre poesie, traduzione di Massimo Baldi e
Roberto Carifi, Postfazione di Roberto Carifi, Via del Vento edizioni. Tiene la
rubrica mensile "Per competenza" sulla rivista «Poesia». Per
ulteriori notizie si veda la sezione dedicata ai cenni biografici del poeta nel
volume Roberto Carifi, D'improvviso e altre poesie scelte, Via del Vento
edizioni, Da Roberto Carifi, Tibet, Le Lettere,. Da Pistoia in parole. Passeggiate con gli
scrittori in città e dintorni, Alba Andreini, introduzione di Roberto Carifi,
Edizioni ETS,. M. Baudino, Nel mitico
mondo di Carifi, «Gazzetta del Popolo»; C. Viviani, Il mito e il nuovo inquilino,
«Il Giorno», F. Ermini, Il mito per relazionarsi al reale, «Il quotidiano dei
lavoratori», G. Giudici, Il gesto di Callicle, «L'Espresso»; A. Porta, Il gesto
di Callicle, «Alfabeta», M. Spinella, La microfisica del significante poetico,
«Rinascita», nQui sento odor di buoni versi, «Il Messaggero»; Infanzia, «Il
piccolo Hans», Al fuoco di un altro amore, Jaca Book, L'anima e la forma nel
verso. «Avvenire»; P.F.Iacuzzi, Il paradosso della poesia italiana. «Paradigma»;
Utopisti e menestrelli, «L'indice», R. Nostalgia del tragico, «Corriere del
Ticino»; I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro. Basso continuo del rumore bellico per
litanie epiche sull'occidente, «Il Manifesto». Il filo del tramonto e del
rimpianto, «Il Giornale», La poesia, il luogo del ritorno a casa, «La Nazione»,
La lingua continua a battere dove la carità duole, «Il Mattino», Il buio
mondo che ci avvolge, «Il Sole 24 ore», Il lato oscuro delle cose, «La
Repubblica»; Sul vuoto appesi alla
parola, «La Nazione», Amore senza tempo, «Il Sole 24 ore»,; E per musa
ispiratrice la nostalgia, «Avvenire», Classici pensosi versi, «Gazzetta di Parma», Amore
per una donna e per il nulla, «Il Giorno», Gli amori di Carifi, «La Nazione»;
B. Manetti, Carifi il poeta errante, «La Repubblica»; D. Attanasio, Amore e
morte trascendenti segreti, «Il Manifesto», R. Copioli, Carifi: il desiderio è
mitico, «Avvenire», 14 maggio 1994; E. Grasso, L'amore quando il lume si spegne,
«L'Unità»; A. Donati, Intervista a Roberto Carifi, «Il Giorno», Doni al confine
del tempo, «Il Sole 24 ore»; L'angelo poetico della solitudine, «Il Giorno», R.
Figli innamorati del proprio destino, «Avvenire»; Il male come provocazione
estetica – estetica del male -- Chiaroscuro con lampada e scialle, «Il Sole 24
ore»; Chi son? Sono un poeta, «Il Giornale»; Il dolore nelle sillabe, «La Gazzetta
di Parma»; Un angelo in esilio, «Avvenimenti»; U. Piersanti, Il figlio, «Tutto
Libri»; Bigongiari, Carifi: parole e voce di Figlio, «La Nazione»; Quel
contratto da verificare, «Il Sole 24 ore», Angeli sospesi tra essere e
abbandono, «Avvenire», Un neoromantico invoca il cuore, i sogni, l'addio, «Tutto
Libri», Amore d'autunno, «L'Espresso», Morte
di madre. Quando la poesia "riversa la vita", «Il Giornale», L’elegia
di uno stile semplice, «Avvenire»; Quei legami vitali tra figlio e madre, «La
Nazione»; Tra infelicità e silenzio, «Il Sole 24 ore»; Un dolcissimo amore d'autunno,
«Il Giornale», L'estetica dell'amore, «Il Tirreno», Dalla parte del cuore,
«Gazzetta di Parma»; E. Coco, Rivista de Literatura. Un dialogo a distanza
sull'alterità del figlio, introduzione a C. e U. Buscioni, Figure
dell'abbandono, maschiettoemusolino, Siena; Il pathos del sublime: la poesia di
Carifi, «Atelier», D. Fiesoli, Europa, «Il Tirreno», B. Garavelli, Addio alla
madre, «Avvenire», G. Colotti, Europa, «Il Manifesto»; La religiosa tragicità di Carifi, «Poesia»; F.
A. Scorrano, La conoscenza dell'altro. L'uomo del pensiero. Edizione
Polistampa, Firenze, S. Ramat, C. nel nome della madre, «Il Giornale», Per la sezione bibliografica questa voce trae
informazioni dalla inglese. Piero Bigongiari Gianna Manzini Pistoia Via
del Vento edizioni //poesia.blog.rainews//09/blog Poesia Rai News L'UOMO DEL
PENSIERO. Saggio sulla poesia di Carifi Tre poesie su «Sagarana», su
sagarana.net. Una recensione di Infanzia, su margininversi.blogspot. C., Il
sisma silenzioso del cuore articolo di Galgano su «Clandestino». Grice: “One impotant thing to consider is the passive voice of the
future perfect – TEMPVS PLVSQVAMPERFECTVS PRAETERITVM – there was a specific
form, ‘dedidi’ i. e. an inflected form, only in the passive voice. However, no
record was found of the passive voice, except by use of what I call an
‘auxiliary’ verb – ‘have’ – cf. my notes on ‘do’ – ‘do’ and ‘have’ as
auxiliary. However, the Romans found a way: the ablativo assoluto – the house
given, she proceeded to furnish it. Money having been given to the merchant,
the buyer left – Admirably, as Aelfric noted, in Latin, the pluperfect,
strictly tempus praeterium plusquamperfectum, is formed without an auxiliary
verb . MODUS INDICATIVUS/SUBJUNCTIVUS. Pecuniam mercatori DEDERAT. Pecunimam
mercatori DEDISSET – Ha had given money to the merchart. He should have given money
to the merchant. The Roman even had a choice of the ablative absolute hrase,
consisting of the noun and the perfect participle in the ablative case.
Pecuniis mercatori datis cessit emptor, Money having been given to the
merchant, the buyer left. pecuniis mercatori non datis non cessit emptor. Money
not having been given to the merchant, the merchant killed one of the buyer’s
slaves. The difference is merely implicatural. In the verbal form (dederat,
dedisset) is is explicated that it was the buyer who paid. In the
absolute-ablative case, it is merely implicated. For all the utterer cares, it
could have been the buyer’s slave. Cicero refers to an use of the RELATIVE
ablative which is even ‘more slippery’ and thus optimal for cross examination.
Money. Nome compiuto: Roberto Carifi. Carifi. Keywords: ablativi relative, filosofia
e poesia – l’implicatura del poeta – l’implicatura di Blake – l’implicatura di
Guglielmo Blake – rhyme or reason – the invention of rhyme – l’invenzione della
rima – empedocle: ragione senza rima -- Heidegger, conversation, language,
silence, being, inter-subjectivity. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco
di H. P. Grice, “Grice e Carifi,” The Swimming-Pool Library, Villa Speranza,
Liguria, Italia.
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