Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

Page concordance

< >
Scan Original
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
< >
page |< < of 320 > >|
    <archimedes>
      <text>
        <body>
          <chap>
            <p type="main">
              <s>
                <pb xlink:href="003/01/213.jpg" pagenum="161"/>
              into the Repreſentation of God, ought to be
                <lb/>
              the nobleſt Material that can be had. </s>
              <s>Next to
                <lb/>
              the nobleſt is the rareſt; and yet I would not be
                <lb/>
              for making them of Salt, as
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Solinus
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              informs us
                <lb/>
              the
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Sicilians
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              uſed to do; nor of Glaſs, like
                <lb/>
              ſome mentioned by
                <emph type="italics"/>
              Pliny;
                <emph.end type="italics"/>
              neither would I
                <lb/>
              have them of maſſy Gold or Silver, not that
                <lb/>
              I diſlike thoſe Materials for being produced of
                <lb/>
              a barren Soil, or for their ſickly Hue; but for
                <lb/>
              other Reaſons: Among which one is, that I
                <lb/>
              think it ſhould be a Point of Religion with us
                <lb/>
              that thoſe Repreſentations which we ſet up to
                <lb/>
              be adored as Gods, ſhould bear as much Re­
                <lb/>
              ſemblance to the Divine Nature as poſſible.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>For this Reaſon, I would have them made im­
                <lb/>
              mortal in Duration, as far as it is in the Power
                <lb/>
              of mortal Men to effect it. </s>
              <s>And here I cannot
                <lb/>
              help enquiring, what ſhould be the Reaſon of
                <lb/>
              a very whimſical, though very old Perſuaſion,
                <lb/>
              which is firmly rooted in the Minds of the Vul­
                <lb/>
              gar, that a Picture of God, or of ſome Saint in
                <lb/>
              one Place ſhall hear the Prayers of Votaries,
                <lb/>
              when in another Place the Statue of the very
                <lb/>
              ſame God or Saint ſhall be utterly deaf to them?
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Nay, and what is ſtill more nonſenſical, if you
                <lb/>
              do but remove the very ſame Statue, for which
                <lb/>
              the People uſed to have the higheſt Venerati­
                <lb/>
              on, to ſome other Station, they ſeem to look
                <lb/>
              upon it as a Bankrupt, and will neither truſt it
                <lb/>
              with their Prayers, nor take the leaſt Notice of
                <lb/>
              it. </s>
              <s>Such Statues ſhould therefore have Seats
                <lb/>
              that are fixed, eminent and peculiar to them­
                <lb/>
              ſelves. </s>
              <s>It is ſaid, that there never was any
                <lb/>
              beautiful Piece of Workmanſhip known in the
                <lb/>
              Memory of Man to be made of Gold, as if that
                <lb/>
              Prince of Metals diſdained to owe any thing to
                <lb/>
              the Skill of an Artificer. </s>
              <s>If this be true, we
                <lb/>
              ſhould never uſe it in the Statues of our Gods,
                <lb/>
              which we ſhould deſire to make ſuitable to the
                <lb/>
              Subject. </s>
              <s>Beſides that, the Thirſt of the Gold
                <lb/>
              might tempt ſome not only to rob our Statue
                <lb/>
              of his Beard, but to melt him quite down. </s>
              <s>I
                <lb/>
              ſhould chuſe Braſs, if the lovely Purity of fine
                <lb/>
              white Marble did not oblige me to give that
                <lb/>
              the Preference. </s>
              <s>Yet there is one Conſiderati­
                <lb/>
              on which weighs very much in Favour of Braſs,
                <lb/>
              and that is its Duration, provided we make our
                <lb/>
              Statue not ſo maſſy, but that the Odium and
                <lb/>
              Deteſtation of ſpoiling it may be much greater
                <lb/>
              than the Profit to be made by melting it down
                <lb/>
              for other Purpoſes: I would have it indeed no
                <lb/>
              more than if it were beat out with a Hammer,
                <lb/>
              or run into a thin Plate, ſo as to ſeem no more
                <lb/>
              than a Skin. </s>
              <s>We read of a Statue made of
                <lb/>
              Ivory, ſo large that it would hardly ſtand under
                <lb/>
              the Roof of the Temple. </s>
              <s>But that I diſlike,
                <lb/>
              for there ought to be a due Proportion obſerv­
                <lb/>
              ed as well in Size, as in Form and Compoſiti­
                <lb/>
              on: Upon which Accounts too the Figures of
                <lb/>
              the greater Deities, with their gruff Beards, and
                <lb/>
              ſtern Countenances, do not ſuit well in the
                <lb/>
              ſame Place with the ſoft Features of Virgins. </s>
              <s>I
                <lb/>
              am likewiſe of Opinion, that the having but
                <lb/>
              few Statues of Gods, may help to increaſe the
                <lb/>
              People's Veneration and Reverence to them.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>Two, or at moſt three, may be placed proper­
                <lb/>
              ly enough upon the Altar. </s>
              <s>All the reſt may be
                <lb/>
              diſpoſed in Niches in other convenient Places.
                <lb/>
              </s>
              <s>In all ſuch Repreſentations of Gods and Heroes,
                <lb/>
              the Sculptor ſhould endeavour as much as poſ­
                <lb/>
              ſible, to expreſs both by the Habit and Action
                <lb/>
              of the Figure, the Character and Life of the
                <lb/>
              Perſon. </s>
              <s>Not that I approve of thoſe extrava­
                <lb/>
              gant Attitudes which make a Statue look like
                <lb/>
              the Hero of a Droll, or a Prize-fighter; but I
                <lb/>
              would have ſomewhat of a Dignity and Maje­
                <lb/>
              ſty both in the Countenance, and all the reſt
                <lb/>
              of the Body, that ſhould ſpeak the God, ſo that
                <lb/>
              he may ſeem both by his Look and Poſture to
                <lb/>
              be ready to hear and receive his Adorers. </s>
              <s>Such
                <lb/>
              ſhould be the Statues in Temples. </s>
              <s>Let others
                <lb/>
              be left to Theatres, and other profane Edifices.
                <lb/>
                <figure id="id.003.01.213.1.jpg" xlink:href="003/01/213/1.jpg" number="59"/>
              </s>
            </p>
          </chap>
        </body>
      </text>
    </archimedes>
Impressum