The reflection of objects upon the surface of water, may have contributed to the great progress of the art in the expression, upon a plain, by light and shade, or a gradation of colours, of roundness in a body. It would lead us entirely from our purpose, to trace back to the most fabulous ages, the history of the fine arts. It is sufficient to observe that, with one exception, they remained among all the nations of antiquity in a state of infancy. With the Grecians, the fine arts reached a degree of perfection, in some respects, unattainable by us. When the Romans had subjected Greece, all the treasures of Grecian genius were transferred to Rome, and excited in those proud conquerors a taste for the arts, until then neglected by them. They had resorted to Etrurian workmen in all cases that required artificial skill. Moral and civil corruption soon followed upon the heels of splendid conquests, and with the overthrow of the republic, were destroyed all records of the sentiments and tastes of the ancient Romans, and effeminate luxury usurped their places. This degenerate taste was not satisfied with the noble simplicity of the ancients; it endeavoured to flatter the enervated senses by artificial charms. This decay in taste became manifest under the first emperors, and although there was an apparent restoration of the arts in the happy age of the Autonines, it was only the transient and momentary brightness which preludes entire extinction. The want of good artists daily increased, and there is a striking instance of it in the times of Constantine. When in the year 312, that emperor had conquered the tyrant Maxentius, and was to make a solemn entrance into Rome, the senate and the people desired to erect him a triumphal arch, but could not complete it without breaking down the works in relievo of a triumphal arch of Trajan, and fixing them upon their new structure. Consequently only a few basrelievos, rudely made, could refer to the deeds of Constantine, and those few are far behind the more ancient, in drawing, invention, and composition.* There are still at Rome, of that colour, the figures of the Chaldeans," &c. The Syriac interpreter translates the word red colour with minium. Homer's Il. ii. 637. speaks also of red-painted vessels. See Cook's Travels, in Hawkesworth's compilation, t. ii. p. 56, i. 374; Meares' Voyage from China to the North-West Coast of America, pp. 112, 247, 252; Cook's Voyage to the Northern Hemisphere, t. ii. p. 305, vi. 327, 370, 379; Forster's Observations made during a voyage around the world, p. 587; Captain Bligh's Voyage to the South-Sea, p. 51; and many others. *Comp. Bellori's Arcus Veteres. Nos. 24, 25, are bas-relievos of the ancient triumphal arch of Trajan and represent the occurrences of the Dacian war. Nos. 46, 47, are the new ones, made for Constantine. Varchi, in his Istor. lib. xv. p. 588, relates that under the reign of Pope Clement VII., Lorenzo de Medici, called Lorenzino, the murderer of the Duke Alexander, caused all the heads of the slaves age, a statue of Constantine under the portico of St. John, of Lateran, and two others upon the Capitolium. Some are of opinion, that the goddess Roma, which is still preserved in the palace Barberini, is a fresco-painting of that age, but Winkelman* seems to doubt it, and yet he mentions some drawings in the library of Cardinal Alessandro Albani, which are supposed to be copies from paintings of the age of Constantine, the originals of which no longer exist. Some paintings which were afterwards discovered in the ruins of the former baths of Constantine are published by Cameront and Winkelman ascribes to the fourth century two manuscripts of Virgil and Terence in the Vatican library, ornamented with figures; the former of these manuscripts (No. 3225 in 4to.) was engraved in copper in the year 1677, by Pietro Sante Bartoli. One who has not an opportunity of seeing the original, which has become, through age, almost irrecognizable, runs the risk of pronouncing an erroneous judgment respecting it, as happened to the Englishman Spencet-the same work reappeared from the press in the years 1725 and 1741, enriched with some copperplates, engraved after a very old manuscript of Virgil in the same library, No. 3867. The last edition was by Monaldini, Rome, 1782. As to the Terence, it is very inferior in beauty to the Virgil. It has twice issued from the press; Christ. Henr. Berger also made use of it in his Treatise on the Masks of the Ancients. Winkelman, in order to prove the decay of the arts of sculpture and architecture in the age of Constantine, mentions the supposed temple of Bacchus, near the Church of St. Agnes, outside of Rome. He pretends that, from the examination of the localities, it results, that it is an old church which Constantine caused to be built at the request of his daughter Constantia, and maintains contrary to Ciampini, that this work may be dated as belonging to the times when the old monuments were begun to be pulled down to form upon the triumphal arch of Constantine, to be stolen in the night. The Pope, in his rage, upon this information, gave orders that the ringleader, whoever he should be, except Cardinal Ippolito de Medici, should be hanged, without any further legal proceeding; but Cardinal Ippolito, who was informed of the affair, endeavored to soften the anger of the Pope, by representing to him, that this passion for antiquities was peculiar to all the members of the family of Medici. The same arch was afterwards repaired by the order of Clement, in 1732, to which a medal, in memory of that Pope, representing a copy of that monument, has reference. * Ital. edit. of Fea. t.i. p. 54. The baths of the Romans Tab. 40-53. Marco Carloni published at Rome, (1780,) 12 pieces in coloured copper engravings. Polymetis Dial. viii. p. 105. See Comment. de personis, vulgo larvis-Comp. Le Maschere sceniche e le figure camiche di F. Ficoroni. Vet. Monum. t. 1. the materials of new. It is true that the dissimilarity of the pillars and their capitals and similar circumstances prove, really, that the building was composed of such fragments-still we cannot believe, that Constantine ever destroyed heathen temples at Rome to form churches out of them. In these early times of Christianity, not even the profane buildings of the heathens, as the Basilica and Thermæ, &c. were so reformed, which plainly shows that Constantine endeavoured to acquire the love of the Romans by his delicate conduct, so that while he declared himself in favour of Christianity, he yet permitted and indulged others in their national creed and temples; nay, could we rely on an inscription,* which no longer exists, he even restored the portico of the temple of Concord. Besides, there are, when strictly examined, but a very small number of churches which can be said with any certainty to have been once heathen temples. In the whole of Rome, we can reckon no more than ten which have undergone this change of their religious destination, while there are, on the other hand, an infinite number of churches in Rome, as well as in other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, which were built upon sites and ruins of old pagan temples, as Marangonit has shown with great learning-yet these transformations all took place in subsequent ages. How could Winkelman have, even for one moment, believed that the patched upper part of a pillar, placed upside down, could belong to the age of Constantine? How was it possible that an art, founded on rules and measurement, could have suf-. fered such an unprecedented decay in the short space of twenty years from the time of Diocletian to that of Constantine? We know the marvellous buildings of the former at Spalatro in Dalmatia from the ruins, engraved in copper, by R. Adam, ("Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro," &c. &c.) and although, the Abbè Fortis in his travels through Dalmatia, maintains that these buildings have been greatly embellished in the drawings of Adam, he still acknowledges that, upon the whole, the gross work of the chisel and the bad * Martian. Typograph. Roman. lib. ii. c. 10. + They are, 1st, So. Stephano, surnamed Rotondo, said to have been a temple of Faunus-2dly, S. Cosmo and Damiano, of which it is uncertain whether Romulus and Remus or Castor and Pollux were, of old, worshipped there-3d, So. Teodoro, formerly sacred to Romulus-4th, Sa Maria Rotunda, the former Pantheon. 5th, Sa. Maria Egiziana, a temple of Fortuna Virilis-6th, So. Stephano delle Carozze, sacred to Hercules-7th, So. Lorenzo in Miranda, a temple of Antoninus and Faustina-8th, Sa Maria de Febribus, sacred to Mars-9th, Sa. Costanza, &o. 10th, So. Urbano, both of them temples of Bacchus. + Delle cose gentilesche ad uso delle chiese: 0 t. ii. taste of the age stand in most striking contrast with the magnificence of the plan and architecture. Looking at these works, we could scarcely expect, so shortly after, to meet pillars pervertedly placed, and other similarly gross faults. It is a general error in almost all authors to suppose that the fine arts, and especially architecture suddenly degenerated. On the contrary, we have every reason to believe, that they did not commence, until the end of the fifth century, to patch up buildings with old frag ments. This degeneracy was at its height at Rome during the Pontificate of Gregory the Great, although the bishops of of some of the Roman provinces had been busy, in the preceding centuries, in demolishing temples to manufacture churches and basilicas as shall be shown hereafter. Among the churches built by Constantine at Rome, that, sacred to St. Paul, upon the road to Ostia, deserves particular notice, because while the others built by him have, with the progress of time, been so disfigured by modern additions, that nothing of their ancient simplicity and character is to be seen; this church has suffered so little change or alteration, that it might deceive Cicero or Cæsar, were they permitted to ascend from the Elysian fields, into the belief that they stood in an ancient basilica, The vulgar tradition that Constantine had taken the pillars from the Mole of Adrian and ornamented this church with them, is positively false, since it is well known, that the Mole still remained in its original sound condition, two centuries after the erection of St. Pauls.t In spite of the facts above stated, we can justly date a second era of the decay of the arts from Constantine, because, in his reign, many new circumstances commenced, operating disadvantageously upon them. These circumstances, together with those which contributed subsequently through the whole of the middle ages, to produce the same effects, may be divided into six chief points : I. The transference, by Constantine, of his residence from Rome to Constantinople, was of serious disadvantage to the Western empire in this, and many other respects. II. The rights which Constantine granted to the Christians, by signing, in 313, at Milan, the famous law of tolerance, by which the practice of the Christian religion was allowed equally with Paganism; for Constantine wrote to the governor of Bithynia, that he had introduced that law "ut daremus Chris tianis et omnibus liberam potestatem sequendi religionem, quam quisque voluisset." III. The invasions of different barbarous nations into the Western empire. IV. The various schisms between the Latin and Greek churches. V. The various sects, and especially the new religion established by Mohammed. VI. The Iconoclasts. We shall endeavour to display the influence of these causes, which were sometimes varying, sometimes contemporaneous and co-operating, as far as the extent of our knowledge and the imperfection of historical materials shall permit us, always endeavoring to preserve the chronological order. As soon as Constantine had conceived the vast project of building a new Rome upon the site of the ancient Byzantium, he sent off to Rome, not only for all the artists of any merit, but also for all the noblest works of painting and sculpture. The consecration of this new seat of empire took place in the year 330. It was built in great haste, and was ornamented and embellished with all the monuments which were carried, for that purpose, partly from Rome and partly from Greece and the other provinces of the empire. The statues of Apollo Pythius, and Smintheus, the trestles of the Delphic Oracle, the Muses of the Helicon, the famous god Pan, the Cybele which the Argonauts‡ are said to have placed upon mount Dindymus, the Minerva of Lindus,the Amphitrite of Rhodes, and many others were, according to the testimony of Eusebius, admired by the people, no longer with any idolatrous reverence, but as mere ornaments. All these works of art were afterwards mutilated and destroyed by the Christians. Flaminius Vacca¶ and others assure us, that in digging about the grounds of old churches, for whatever reason, they generally found old statues which had been broken to pieces and buried there by the Christians, who thought, by these infamous actions, to disgrace the heathen idolatry. We should not, however, be astonished at the existence of many idols of marble and metal even in our day, in spite of the *Lactantii liber de moribus persecutorum. cap. 48. ap. Steph. Balwz. Miscellan. Historic. t. i. p. 10 ed. Mansi. + St. Hieronymus says in his Chronic. "It appears that Constantine has plun dered the whole of the East, to fill up the single town of Constantinople." In Life of Constantine, lib. iii. c. 42. Appol. Rhod. Argon. i. 1119. Comp. Heyne's Comment. de priscæ artis operibus, quæ Constantinopoli exstitisse memorantur, in the Comment. Societat. Gætting. t. xi. ¶ See Nardini, Roma antica. t. iv. |