DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0553
' THE -XJLE' OF THE VATICAN.
5'7
The Nile of the Vatican is probably from the age of the Ptolemies.
This well-known and magnificent work was found, together with ' the
Tiber ' (in the Louvre), near the ' sopra Minervam ' Church in Rome,
which stands on the site of a Temple of Isis. The general effect is
grand and pleasing, but in the details,—e.g. the representation of the
Flora and Fauna of the Nile,—the pictorial element is made too
prominent. This feature, however, adds greatly to its popularity, as
do the sixteen little Cupids, conceived in the spirit of the Alexan-
drine Idyll, signifying the number of cubits which the sacred river
ought to rise at the time of the inundations. The figure of the river
god himself is bold and majestic, and is no doubt moulded after some
production of a happier age.
' The Tiber' of the Louvre is in a similar style, but inferior both
in design and execution.
5'7
The Nile of the Vatican is probably from the age of the Ptolemies.
This well-known and magnificent work was found, together with ' the
Tiber ' (in the Louvre), near the ' sopra Minervam ' Church in Rome,
which stands on the site of a Temple of Isis. The general effect is
grand and pleasing, but in the details,—e.g. the representation of the
Flora and Fauna of the Nile,—the pictorial element is made too
prominent. This feature, however, adds greatly to its popularity, as
do the sixteen little Cupids, conceived in the spirit of the Alexan-
drine Idyll, signifying the number of cubits which the sacred river
ought to rise at the time of the inundations. The figure of the river
god himself is bold and majestic, and is no doubt moulded after some
production of a happier age.
' The Tiber' of the Louvre is in a similar style, but inferior both
in design and execution.