DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0695
VARIATIONS ON OLD TYPES.
657
and the accompanying Roma was a copy of Polycleitos' Hera at Argos. A
glance through the exhaustive work by Matz and Duhn, where works found in
Rome are classified, and page after page is taken up with descriptions of the
same subject and its variations, enables us, partially at least, to realize the ex-
tent of this reproductive art.I2« Many of these works are decidedly inferior;
but we are reconciled to the fact, since through them the archaeologist is often
able, by skilful combinations, to trace an original of the palmy days of Greek
art. Scarcely a god or goddess of Greek mythology
is left unrepresented. The statues of Aphrodite and
Dionysos, with their followers, are, however, most fre-
quent, being by their nature better adapted to cheer-
ful decoration. Thus, over thirty statues of the satyr,
traceable to Praxiteles' original, exist in various gal-
leries, all being executed according to a uniform scale
of proportions."5° Too often these works of Roman
art have fallen into the hands of "shallow botchers,"
who have so mutilated them with would-be restora-
tions, that their original beauty, to say nothing of sig-
nificance, is lost. It is often a difficult matter, or even
an impossibility, to know what is restored in these
works, until the archaeologist, on his ladder, has ex-
amined them with finger and knife, and traced in
archives the modern hands through which they have
passed. In general, it seems that the better statues
are the earlier ones. Those of Hadrian's time, for
instance, are usually marked by a very strong polish,
and more academic character than the works of the
previous centuries.
Among these many graceful variations on older
works, none is better known than the Venus di Medici
(Fig. 26S), doubtless one of the very distant changes
rung on Praxiteles' great original at Cnidos. Whether
this Medici Venus was discovered in the gardens of
Nero on the Tiber, or in the Portico of Octavia, as was
long supposed, is uncertain ; but its inscription, stating it to be by Cleomenes,
son of Apollonios, is proved by Michaelis to be a falsification of the seven-
teenth century A.D. 125' On the removal of the statue to Florence, it was
seriously broken ; and its restoration was undertaken, after 1677, by Ercole
Ferrata, to whom are due the lean fingers, so out of keeping with the dainty
and soft feet. Venus here, in variation from the original by Praxiteles, is not
represented as engaged with the bath, all intimations of which are wanting;
but we simply see a nude female looking out into the world, and covering her-
Fig. 268. The Venus di Medici.
Uffizi. Florence.
657
and the accompanying Roma was a copy of Polycleitos' Hera at Argos. A
glance through the exhaustive work by Matz and Duhn, where works found in
Rome are classified, and page after page is taken up with descriptions of the
same subject and its variations, enables us, partially at least, to realize the ex-
tent of this reproductive art.I2« Many of these works are decidedly inferior;
but we are reconciled to the fact, since through them the archaeologist is often
able, by skilful combinations, to trace an original of the palmy days of Greek
art. Scarcely a god or goddess of Greek mythology
is left unrepresented. The statues of Aphrodite and
Dionysos, with their followers, are, however, most fre-
quent, being by their nature better adapted to cheer-
ful decoration. Thus, over thirty statues of the satyr,
traceable to Praxiteles' original, exist in various gal-
leries, all being executed according to a uniform scale
of proportions."5° Too often these works of Roman
art have fallen into the hands of "shallow botchers,"
who have so mutilated them with would-be restora-
tions, that their original beauty, to say nothing of sig-
nificance, is lost. It is often a difficult matter, or even
an impossibility, to know what is restored in these
works, until the archaeologist, on his ladder, has ex-
amined them with finger and knife, and traced in
archives the modern hands through which they have
passed. In general, it seems that the better statues
are the earlier ones. Those of Hadrian's time, for
instance, are usually marked by a very strong polish,
and more academic character than the works of the
previous centuries.
Among these many graceful variations on older
works, none is better known than the Venus di Medici
(Fig. 26S), doubtless one of the very distant changes
rung on Praxiteles' great original at Cnidos. Whether
this Medici Venus was discovered in the gardens of
Nero on the Tiber, or in the Portico of Octavia, as was
long supposed, is uncertain ; but its inscription, stating it to be by Cleomenes,
son of Apollonios, is proved by Michaelis to be a falsification of the seven-
teenth century A.D. 125' On the removal of the statue to Florence, it was
seriously broken ; and its restoration was undertaken, after 1677, by Ercole
Ferrata, to whom are due the lean fingers, so out of keeping with the dainty
and soft feet. Venus here, in variation from the original by Praxiteles, is not
represented as engaged with the bath, all intimations of which are wanting;
but we simply see a nude female looking out into the world, and covering her-
Fig. 268. The Venus di Medici.
Uffizi. Florence.