DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0269
Letter XXVII. MR. BLTJXDELL WELD'S COLLECTION.
257
portico is a lion about to devour a dead heifer ; very animated
and true. A colossal tragic mask is also remarkable. The rest
are very commonplace.
In the building itself I remarked the following works :—
The torso of a nymph, in motive and proportions resembling
the Anchirroe at Tegel, the before-mentioned seat of the Humboldt
family, but, though the drapery is of good style, and otherwise
well executed, far inferior to that. The head, the arm, and the
right foot are new.
The conquered province of Bithynia : a female figure support-
ing her left hand on a ball; in the right, which is new, a tim-
brel. The execution very poor.
The torso of a youthful satyr, with strongly projecting chest;
soft in the forms, and of excellent workmanship.
Statue of a Roman in a toga, called Cicero, but the strange
head, though an antique, does not confirm this appellation. The
workmanship is mediocre.
Preparation for the sacrifice of a heifer. This solemnity is
represented with singular distinctness of arrangement in a relief.
The workmanship is also of merit.
I proceed to the busts.
Head of a young man, of antique conventional arrangement of
the hair, appears to me a Greek production shortly previous to the
time of Phidias, or, if not that, a very good imitation ; the nose
and the bust are new.
Venus : of very noble ideal character ; the fulness of the under
eyelid only slightly given ; the hair arranged almost exactly like
that in the Apollo Belvedere. The careful execution masterly.
Julius Caesar : although somewhat rude in the rendering of the
forms, yet the very careful execution in the hard material—a fine
reddish porphyry—is doubly remarkable ; the bust part is new.
The head of a child : the treatment of the eyes and hair shows
it to be a tolerable work of the cinquecento time.
Marcus Brutus: of mediocre workmanship; the nose and a
part of the mouth are new.
Seneca, in bronze ; of rude, but animated forms.
Faustina the younger, and another Roman empress, whom,
however, I did not recognise ; of animated conception and good
workmanship ; noses and busts of each are new.
Socrates, in bronze ; very animated, but the rude form of
vol. iii. s
257
portico is a lion about to devour a dead heifer ; very animated
and true. A colossal tragic mask is also remarkable. The rest
are very commonplace.
In the building itself I remarked the following works :—
The torso of a nymph, in motive and proportions resembling
the Anchirroe at Tegel, the before-mentioned seat of the Humboldt
family, but, though the drapery is of good style, and otherwise
well executed, far inferior to that. The head, the arm, and the
right foot are new.
The conquered province of Bithynia : a female figure support-
ing her left hand on a ball; in the right, which is new, a tim-
brel. The execution very poor.
The torso of a youthful satyr, with strongly projecting chest;
soft in the forms, and of excellent workmanship.
Statue of a Roman in a toga, called Cicero, but the strange
head, though an antique, does not confirm this appellation. The
workmanship is mediocre.
Preparation for the sacrifice of a heifer. This solemnity is
represented with singular distinctness of arrangement in a relief.
The workmanship is also of merit.
I proceed to the busts.
Head of a young man, of antique conventional arrangement of
the hair, appears to me a Greek production shortly previous to the
time of Phidias, or, if not that, a very good imitation ; the nose
and the bust are new.
Venus : of very noble ideal character ; the fulness of the under
eyelid only slightly given ; the hair arranged almost exactly like
that in the Apollo Belvedere. The careful execution masterly.
Julius Caesar : although somewhat rude in the rendering of the
forms, yet the very careful execution in the hard material—a fine
reddish porphyry—is doubly remarkable ; the bust part is new.
The head of a child : the treatment of the eyes and hair shows
it to be a tolerable work of the cinquecento time.
Marcus Brutus: of mediocre workmanship; the nose and a
part of the mouth are new.
Seneca, in bronze ; of rude, but animated forms.
Faustina the younger, and another Roman empress, whom,
however, I did not recognise ; of animated conception and good
workmanship ; noses and busts of each are new.
Socrates, in bronze ; very animated, but the rude form of
vol. iii. s