DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15101#0118
69
sleeping figure. Thus, Pausanias(3) describes a statue of Venus at
Sicyon, who was represented with a poppy in her hand, perhaps,
too, because the poppy was also an emblem of fertility. With
respect to the lizard, it is not only the attendant on Cupid, but it
likewise accompanies the figures of Apollo and Bacchus. It is
sometimes difficult to follow the mythology of the ancients in their
introduction of different symbols; but, in this instance, we may
quote a passage of Theocritus,(1) for the somewhat different
idea that that animal formed one of the ingredients of a
philtre or love-potion. With regard to the lion's shin on which
the statue reposes, it is enough to state that this skin and
the club are obvious attributes of Hercules. Thus in many of
the later monuments, Cupid(,) is represented as vanquishing the
gods of the Pantheon, and despoiling them of their arms. So
here the allusion may, not unnaturally, be to the conquest of
Hercules by the God of LoAre. Clarac(c) has given engravings of
many similar statues now existing in different European collec-
tions. No one, however, of these is so elegant in conception and
form as the one before us.
In this statue, the nose, both feet, and the upper part of the
right wing have been restored. It was dug up in a vineyard
belonging to the Marchese Capponi, near the Flaminian Gate, at
Rome, and was brought to England by Mr. Lyde Browne, who
had obtained it from Cardinal Albani.
It is of Parian marble, and is in length 3 feet 6 inches.
3 rifTi-oojrai Sf ek \nvaov Kai iXtfavrog (jytpovaa itti r?j Kt(j>a\y 7ro'Aoj>, tuiv
\apiLi> Si t\Et nj /itv fii'iKtiiva, rif St trtQn, fii]\ov.—Paus. Lib. 11. c. 10.
4 Sauoav rot rptyaaa, kcikov ttotov avpiov olau). —Thcocr. Idyll, ii. 58.
5 Pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit. — Stat. Theb. x. v. 108. Cf. also
Ovid. Remed. Amoris, v. 549, who states that in the temple of Venus Erycina, near the
Porta Collina, at Rome, there was a statue of Amor Lethanis represented sleeping;, and
that it was difficult to distinguish this figure from that of Sleep.
6 Clarac, PI. 613, Nos. 1457, 1458, 1459.
sleeping figure. Thus, Pausanias(3) describes a statue of Venus at
Sicyon, who was represented with a poppy in her hand, perhaps,
too, because the poppy was also an emblem of fertility. With
respect to the lizard, it is not only the attendant on Cupid, but it
likewise accompanies the figures of Apollo and Bacchus. It is
sometimes difficult to follow the mythology of the ancients in their
introduction of different symbols; but, in this instance, we may
quote a passage of Theocritus,(1) for the somewhat different
idea that that animal formed one of the ingredients of a
philtre or love-potion. With regard to the lion's shin on which
the statue reposes, it is enough to state that this skin and
the club are obvious attributes of Hercules. Thus in many of
the later monuments, Cupid(,) is represented as vanquishing the
gods of the Pantheon, and despoiling them of their arms. So
here the allusion may, not unnaturally, be to the conquest of
Hercules by the God of LoAre. Clarac(c) has given engravings of
many similar statues now existing in different European collec-
tions. No one, however, of these is so elegant in conception and
form as the one before us.
In this statue, the nose, both feet, and the upper part of the
right wing have been restored. It was dug up in a vineyard
belonging to the Marchese Capponi, near the Flaminian Gate, at
Rome, and was brought to England by Mr. Lyde Browne, who
had obtained it from Cardinal Albani.
It is of Parian marble, and is in length 3 feet 6 inches.
3 rifTi-oojrai Sf ek \nvaov Kai iXtfavrog (jytpovaa itti r?j Kt(j>a\y 7ro'Aoj>, tuiv
\apiLi> Si t\Et nj /itv fii'iKtiiva, rif St trtQn, fii]\ov.—Paus. Lib. 11. c. 10.
4 Sauoav rot rptyaaa, kcikov ttotov avpiov olau). —Thcocr. Idyll, ii. 58.
5 Pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit. — Stat. Theb. x. v. 108. Cf. also
Ovid. Remed. Amoris, v. 549, who states that in the temple of Venus Erycina, near the
Porta Collina, at Rome, there was a statue of Amor Lethanis represented sleeping;, and
that it was difficult to distinguish this figure from that of Sleep.
6 Clarac, PI. 613, Nos. 1457, 1458, 1459.