Our Italian collection is formed, chiefly, from the busts of the
Capitoline Museum, at Rome, where Pius VII., in 1820, founded a portrait
gallery of celebrated Italians, to which he gave the name of the
Protomoteca. This gallery contains about 70 busts, and though dedicated
especially to the honour of Italians, still finds room for some of the
distinguished foreigners who derived much of their eminence from
studying at Rome. These are Nicolas Poussin of France, Raffaelle Mengs
the Bohemian, Winckelmann the German antiquary, Angelica Kauffman, the
most accomplished painter of her sex, and Giuseppe Suée, a French
painter. The busts of living men are not admitted, and the honour of
joining the famous company is awarded by the Academy of Rome, assisted
by men learned or skilled in any special science or art.
The series is a very complete one, and begins as early as the XIIIth
century. It is to be regretted that so few of these busts have been done
from the life; although it must be understood that none is the work of
mere imagination, some authenticated portrait having in every case
furnished a model. Most of these busts are the work of sculptors of the
time of Canova, and many of them were executed at his expense, and
presented to the collection. In general, it will be remarked that a
certain grandeur prevails in the treatment of the heads, an element that
seems to belong, naturally, to the works of the best Italian artists,
whether in painting or sculpture. Even where existing casts from the
face prove to us that in these busts there has been a certain departure
from the real features, we see it has been done only to afford a more
exalted idea of the person, and to give the stamp of that nobleness and
dignity which characterize the finest efforts of portraiture. A
comparison of the busts of Galileo, Nos. 185 and 185A, and of Michael
Angelo, Nos. 143 and 143A, will illustrate this point.
There is also in the Capitoline Museum, a large collection of antique
portrait busts, embracing many of the ancient philosophers, poets, and
Roman Emperors, a selection from which, as we have already stated, is
found in the Greek and Roman Courts.
In the Vatican (the palace of the Pope, at Rome), a splendid edifice,
which has, from time to time, been constructed and enlarged by various
eminent architects, and decorated by the greatest painters of the world,
are preserved many _chefs d’œuvre_ of art that are to be seen in no
other place. The collection of the Vatican includes many portraits of
every kind; but one portion of the vast structure is exclusively devoted
to portrait-statues and busts. This is a spacious and magnificent
apartment called the Rotonda, paved with antique mosaics, and surrounded
with antique statues and busts on pedestals of the rarest marbles.
Adjoining this saloon is another noble gallery, built by Pius VII. which
contains many statues of the Greek sages, and of other illustrious men.
In the Florence gallery there is a most interesting series of portraits
of painters by their own hands--a unique and unrivalled collection,
begun by the Cardinal Leopold, the brother of Ferdinand II., and
increased by the addition of the portraits from the collection of the
Abbé Pazzi, purchased by the Grand Duke Leopold in 1765. Besides these
paintings, there is a collection of more than 4,000 engraved gems and
cameos, amongst which are many antique portraits. There are also about
100 antique portrait busts, of which the rarest and best preserved are
Cicero, Marc Antony, Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Caligula, Galba, and Otho.
As the visitor will observe, several of these are in our portrait
gallery.
The Naples collection, besides many fine works of antiquity of every
kind, has contributed in the most important manner to the subject of
antique portraiture. It contains the invaluable relics found at
Herculaneum and Pompeii: and amongst these have, from time to time,
appeared portrait busts, statues, and even pictures with names upon
them, by which busts elsewhere have been recognised. There are in this
Museum, about 200 portraits in marble and bronze, from which our
collection has been enriched.
* * * * *
(_The portraits of Italians begin immediately behind the Statue of
Rubens, in the great Transept, on the east side of the Nave._)
ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS.