Wonders of sculpture . h, they can here see the sculptors first crudethought, and the secret of his mode of working is * Beneath the Brutus, the following distich has been engraved :— Dum Bruti effigiem sculptor de marmore ducit,In mentem sceleris venit, et obstupuit. (When the sculptor was carving the figure of Brutus in marble,he remembered his crime, and, in his stupor, he paused.) The President De Brosses relates that one day Lord Sandwichwas looking at the Brutus, and shocked at the blame of this greatrepublican, he at once composed the following contradictorydistich :— Brutum efiecisset
Wonders of sculpture . h, they can here see the sculptors first crudethought, and the secret of his mode of working is * Beneath the Brutus, the following distich has been engraved :— Dum Bruti effigiem sculptor de marmore ducit,In mentem sceleris venit, et obstupuit. (When the sculptor was carving the figure of Brutus in marble,he remembered his crime, and, in his stupor, he paused.) The President De Brosses relates that one day Lord Sandwichwas looking at the Brutus, and shocked at the blame of this greatrepublican, he at once composed the following contradictorydistich :— Brutum efiecisset sculptor, sed mente recursatTanta viri virtus, sistit et obstupuit. (The sculptor would have finished Brutus, but at the thought ofthe virtue of this great man, he suddenly stopped, discouraged,) 212 ITALIAN SCULP TURK. revealed. Truly this secret is worthy of study, andit is easy to see to what perfection the artist couldattain when he chose to work patiently, becausethe Dninkcn Bacchus, which is probably his most. Fig. 44.—Ivy-crowned Bacchus. (Florence.) delicate and highly finished work, is near at of the passion, the stern pride of the Mosesat Rome, the Bacchus is full of grace and tender-ness. Crowned with ivy and vine leaves, he is ITALIAN SCULPTURE. 213 pressing grapes into a cup, from which a littlesatyr, wrapped in a goats skin, is trying to drinkunobserved. The smiling mouth, the sleepy eyes,the languid attitude, the apparent difficulty inremaining standing, all admirably express theefifects of drunkenness. Florence may count herself fortunate in havingcollected these productions of her illustrious son ;for we learn with dismay how many of MichaelAngelos works, besides his celebrated cartoon ofthe Pisan War, have perished and disappearedfrom the world, leaving no trace but their 1492, a Colossal Heracles, sent to Charles France ; in 1495, a Sleeping Cupid, sent to theDuke of Mantua; in 1501, a bronze David, ob-tained by a certain Fl
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublis, booksubjectsculpture
