DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0033
Ch, I.
THROUGH ITALY.
23
stands in the church, and represents the apostle as
holding his own skin, which had been drawn off
like drapery over his shoulders. The play of the
muscles is represented with an accuracy, that ra-
ther disgusts and terrifies than pleases the spec-
tator. The sculptor Agrati may have just reason
to compare himself, as the inscription implies, to
Praxiteles; but his masterpiece is better calculated
for the decoration of a school of anatomy than
for the embellishment of a church. The exterior
of the chancel is lined with marble divided into
pannels, each of which has its basso relievo ; the
interior is wainscoted, and carved in a very mas-
terly style. The whole of the chancel was
erected by St. Charles Borromeo. Two large
pulpits stand one on each side of its entrance;
that on the right, appropriated to the reading of
the gospel, rests upon four bronze figures repre-
senting the four mysterious animals of Ezechiel;
that on the left is supported by the four doctors of
the Latin church in the same metal.
But it is not my intention to enumerate all th©
ornaments of this church, but merely to enable
the reader to form a general idea of its magni-
tude and decorations. When we saw it, its mag-
nificence was on the decline; the income des-
tined for its completion and support had been
considerably retrenched by the Emperor Joseph^
3
THROUGH ITALY.
23
stands in the church, and represents the apostle as
holding his own skin, which had been drawn off
like drapery over his shoulders. The play of the
muscles is represented with an accuracy, that ra-
ther disgusts and terrifies than pleases the spec-
tator. The sculptor Agrati may have just reason
to compare himself, as the inscription implies, to
Praxiteles; but his masterpiece is better calculated
for the decoration of a school of anatomy than
for the embellishment of a church. The exterior
of the chancel is lined with marble divided into
pannels, each of which has its basso relievo ; the
interior is wainscoted, and carved in a very mas-
terly style. The whole of the chancel was
erected by St. Charles Borromeo. Two large
pulpits stand one on each side of its entrance;
that on the right, appropriated to the reading of
the gospel, rests upon four bronze figures repre-
senting the four mysterious animals of Ezechiel;
that on the left is supported by the four doctors of
the Latin church in the same metal.
But it is not my intention to enumerate all th©
ornaments of this church, but merely to enable
the reader to form a general idea of its magni-
tude and decorations. When we saw it, its mag-
nificence was on the decline; the income des-
tined for its completion and support had been
considerably retrenched by the Emperor Joseph^
3