DOI chapter:
Chapter II: Naples - The Museum - Capo di Monte
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0080
Naples—The Museum—Capo di Monte
statue seems to be in one sense or another Homeric-
in its simplicity or in its fibre. In all this art there is
something epic.
And what glories of more recent art 1 Pass among
the bronzes of those so-called decadent days. Here
the achievement of a perfected artistic ideal is evident,
and how little do these bronzes, full of fiery force,
reflect the spirit of decline ! Here the religious ideal
is no more found : it has given place to forms real-
istic and grotesque in their powerful characterisation
of Nature. A dwarfed and knotted Silenus staggers
under the weight of a candelabra which he holds in his
right arm. The muscles of his diminutive stature are
strained and tense in a masterpiece of natural poise.
A drunken faun reels backward, balancing an enormous
wine-skin, his face a play of tipsy joviality. We can
almost see the sunshine warm upon the figure, and the
sense of movement fills it with breath. I know not
what delicate psychology of spirit has enabled the
creators of these types to extract from such simple
material such perfect artistic achievement. These art
treasures may be classed in the same category as the
priceless gems of antiquity, where in a minute cameo
colossal effects are produced, and breadth of treatment
is tempered by exquisite refinement of proportion.
And in these bronzes now before us there is an acute
realism as modern as that which artists seek for in
our own day, and with it a technical excellence which
perhaps will never be surpassed.
So, in this epitome of antiquity in the Naples
31
statue seems to be in one sense or another Homeric-
in its simplicity or in its fibre. In all this art there is
something epic.
And what glories of more recent art 1 Pass among
the bronzes of those so-called decadent days. Here
the achievement of a perfected artistic ideal is evident,
and how little do these bronzes, full of fiery force,
reflect the spirit of decline ! Here the religious ideal
is no more found : it has given place to forms real-
istic and grotesque in their powerful characterisation
of Nature. A dwarfed and knotted Silenus staggers
under the weight of a candelabra which he holds in his
right arm. The muscles of his diminutive stature are
strained and tense in a masterpiece of natural poise.
A drunken faun reels backward, balancing an enormous
wine-skin, his face a play of tipsy joviality. We can
almost see the sunshine warm upon the figure, and the
sense of movement fills it with breath. I know not
what delicate psychology of spirit has enabled the
creators of these types to extract from such simple
material such perfect artistic achievement. These art
treasures may be classed in the same category as the
priceless gems of antiquity, where in a minute cameo
colossal effects are produced, and breadth of treatment
is tempered by exquisite refinement of proportion.
And in these bronzes now before us there is an acute
realism as modern as that which artists seek for in
our own day, and with it a technical excellence which
perhaps will never be surpassed.
So, in this epitome of antiquity in the Naples
31