DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0062
59
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. IL
and plundered Pome, a guard was established
in these very halls, and fires were lighted in the
miod'e of each room for their accommodation.
The consequences of this deed, so characteiistic
of the barbarian horde of the German Emperor,
are sufficient to account for the faded tints and
obscure shades of many of these celebrated
pieces, without the influence of dampness, which
cannot be supposed to exist on a site so elevated,
and in so dry a climate; or to the guilt of neg-
ligence, so incompatible with that love of the
arts, and that princely encouragement of genius
which has so long been the predominant spirit of
the Roman government.
Two antichambers large and painted by great
masters, lead to the first hall called the Sala di
Costantino, because adorned with the grand
achievements of that Christian hero ; and thence
to the second Camera, where the story of Helio-
dorus from the Maccabees, the interview of Pope
Leo and Attila, the miracle of Bolsena and
above all, the deliverance of St. Peter from pri-
son, attract and charm the eye. Then follow
the third Camera with the School of the Philo-
sophers, the Debate on the Holy Sacrament,
the Judgment of Solomon, and Parnassus with
its groves of bays, Apollo, the Muses, and the
poets whom they inspired: and the fourth with
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. IL
and plundered Pome, a guard was established
in these very halls, and fires were lighted in the
miod'e of each room for their accommodation.
The consequences of this deed, so characteiistic
of the barbarian horde of the German Emperor,
are sufficient to account for the faded tints and
obscure shades of many of these celebrated
pieces, without the influence of dampness, which
cannot be supposed to exist on a site so elevated,
and in so dry a climate; or to the guilt of neg-
ligence, so incompatible with that love of the
arts, and that princely encouragement of genius
which has so long been the predominant spirit of
the Roman government.
Two antichambers large and painted by great
masters, lead to the first hall called the Sala di
Costantino, because adorned with the grand
achievements of that Christian hero ; and thence
to the second Camera, where the story of Helio-
dorus from the Maccabees, the interview of Pope
Leo and Attila, the miracle of Bolsena and
above all, the deliverance of St. Peter from pri-
son, attract and charm the eye. Then follow
the third Camera with the School of the Philo-
sophers, the Debate on the Holy Sacrament,
the Judgment of Solomon, and Parnassus with
its groves of bays, Apollo, the Muses, and the
poets whom they inspired: and the fourth with