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VATICAN

and was divided into six compartments by arches resting on Dorian columns of vari-coloured marble. In addition to many vessels of costly marbles, eight magnificent candelabra of white marble, after which this hall is named, are especially conspicuous. The exquisitely fine tracings and arabesques are among the finest examples of this form of art. A Ganymede carried away by an eagle, a local goddess of a town in Antiochia, a Greek runner, and a fighting Persian are the most important among the numerous sculptures. Especially valuable is a sarcophagus with a repre- sentation in mezzo-riUevo of the tragedy of the daugh- ters of Niobe. This hall was selected by Leo XIII to immortahze, through Ludwig Seitz, some of the most important acts of his pontificate. In a deeply thoughtful composition the artist represented St. Thomas Aquinas as the teacher of Christian phi- losophy, the agreement between religion and science, the union of ancient pagan and Christian art, the Rosary and the battle of Lepanto, and Divine gi-ace in its various activities as working in Sts. Clara of Mon- tefalco, Benedict Labre, Laurence of Brindisi, and John Baptist de Rossi, canonized in 188L Seitz also jiainted a symboUc representation of foiu' ideas taken from the EncycUcals of Leo XIII: Christian mar- riage, the praise of the Third Order of St. Francis, the condemnation of Freemasonry, and the agreement between secular and reUgious authority. This cla-ssi- cal cycle of paintings is important (cf. Senes, "Gal- leria dei Candelabri, affreschi di Ludovico Seitz", Rome, 1891).

(d) Sala rotonda. — Built after the model of the Pantheon by SLmonetti, this hall contains as its most ])recious object the bust of the Zeus of Otricoli. Pius IX paid 268,000 lire ($53,600) for the colossal gilt bronze statue of Hercules. The Barberini Hera, as it is called, is an exquisite work of art. The great mosaic in the floor, in the centre of which is a monster porjihyr}' shell, was discovered at Otricoli in 1780.

(e) Sala delle Muse. — The eight -cornered hall, which Pius VI commissioned Simonetti to build, was intended to receive the nine Muses under the leader- ship of Apollo, as well as busts of all those who should have acquired renown in the service of the same. Pius VI here paid brilliant homage to art and science, representing truth with a noble magnanimity against the brutal caricatures of culture of the waning eighteenth century, (f) Sala degli animali. — This room contains the richest collection in the world of I about 1.50) representations of animals from classical aiili(iuity, many of the works of art being of high im- ! 14S4-92) had a summer-house erected in the vicinity of the Belvedere, and had it adorned with frescoes by Mantegna and Pinturicchio. Clement XIV and Pius VI had this building altered, antl transferred thither such important treasures as the Weeping Penelope, the Apollo Sauroktonos, the Amazon from the Villa Mattel, a Greek monumental stele, the Sleeping .\riadne, and the Barberini Candelabra. (h) Sala dei Busti. — In this second division of the former summer-house are over 100 busts of Romans, gods and goddesses, etc. (i) Gabinetto delle Mas- rhere. — The floor mosaic with masques, found in the Villa Hadriana at Tivoli in 1780, gives this third division of the sinnmer-house its name. Worthy of sj)ec'ial mention is the renowned Sat\T, of rosso antico, and the dancing woman of Pentelic marble from Naples, (j) Corlile del Belvedere. — The former square court belonging to the ancient Belvedere was adorned in 177.') with a pillared hall, and in ISO.'? the chamfered corner halls were converted into little tem- ples. In the first of these stands the unrivalled and celebrated Laocoon group. II was discovered near Selte Sale in l.'iOt), iluring the reign of Julius II, and w.'iK named by Michelangelo the miracle of art. In the second little temple is the admirable Belvedere
 * Miiiance. (g) Galleria delle statue. — Innocent VIII

Apollo, discovered near Grotta Ferrata about 1490. Canova was allowed to exhibit his Perseus and the Two Boxers in the third temple, where, however, they ,

are not seen to advantage. In the fourth temple is 1

the well-known Hermes dating from the fourth cen- J

tury before Christ; formerly this statue was thought |

to represent Antinous. (k) Gabinetti del Belvedere. I

— In the three cabinets, or atria, are conspicuous the statue of Meleager, the above-mentioned Torso of Bel- vedere, and the sarcophagi and inscriptions relating to the Scipio family.

(2) The Galleria Chiaramonti. — Thirty-four pilas- ters indicate the thirty sections into which the Gal- leria Chiaramonti is divided in the corridor 492 feet long. More than 300 sculptures, mostly of smaller dimensions, and of a variety of subjects, are here artis- tically exhibited. They are chiefly the work of Greek sculptors living in Rome, and are carved after Grecian models. Prominent among the original Greek works are the Daughters of Niobe, a relief in Boeotian lime- stone, and the head of Neptune.

(3) The Braccio X'^uovo. — Although many of the halls of the Museo Pio-Clementino, especially those built by Simonetti, viewed from the purely architec- tonic standpoini, make a very lirilhant impression and justly command much admuation, still the Braccio Nuovo is incontestably the crown of the museum buildings. The general impression of absolute per- fection and symmetry is effected by the harmonious proportions of the long hall, the method of lighting, and the arrangement of the masterjjieces exhibited. This haU was erected by Raphael Stern at the com- mission of Pius VII, at a cost of 1,.500,000 lire (S300,- 000). The magnificent barrel-vault is decorated with richly gilt cassettes; the cornices, the fourteen antique columns of giallo antico, cipoUino, alabaster, and EgJ^5tian granite, the transverse hall equally dividing the whole, the marble floor, all contribute an appro- priate setting for the iiiasiiijiicces. In this museum stand twenty-eight si aim.- in as many niches, while in the transverse hall arc tifteen more. Between the niches on marble consoles are twenty-eight busts; others rest on mural consoles; between these and the cornice beautiful bas-rehefs are set in the walls. At the rear of the hall stands the statue of the Athlete (of Apoxyomenus) cleaning himself of sweat and dust with a scraper. This statue, as well as that of the other Athlete (the Doryphorus, or spearsman), are antique copies of the Greek originals of Lysippus and Polycletus. The majestic statue of Augustus har- anguing his soldiers bears evident traces of having once been painted. Among the abundance of treas- ures here exhibited is t he colossal recumbent figure of the Nile, on whose body play sixteen children rep- resenting the sixteen cubits in the annual rise of the river. (Consult Amelung, "Die Skulpturen des vatikanischen Museum", 2 vols., with charts, Berlin, 190.5-08.)

(4) The Egj-ptian Museum. — The collection of Egj-ptian objects was begun by Pius VII, but the museum was not opened until 1S3S, during the pontifi- cate of Gregory X VI. The Ca\-aliere de Fabris super- intended the decorations in Egyi)tian characters, while the Barnabite Father .\loys Ungarelli ar- ranged the objects for exhibition. The basis of the museum was siipiiliecl by the collections of Andrea Gaddi and Cardinal Borgia of Velletri, and by the ob- jects of public i)roi)ertv distributed throughout the Papal States. Other valuable objects were acquired bv iwrchase. Most of the pap\Tus nuinuscri]>ts were brought hither in ISIS bv the Franciscan Angelo da Pofi. .\lthough the ten halls full of statues, sar- cophagi, mummies, sacred animals, and other thing.s, do not attain the import anceof the Eg>i5tian museums in Berlin, Paris, London, Turin, and Hildesheim, the Rom.an is among the first Egvptian collections of second rank. Particularly notable are the sculptures