Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/108

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NOTP:S AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. FEB. 7, 191*.

MEMORIALS OF GALILEO IN ENGLAND.

(See ante, p. 81.)

Statues. On the northern fagade of Burlington House, facing Savile Row, are two rows of statues (22) of great men of all nations. In the upper row (first on the left) is a fine statue of Galileo by Wyon, circa 1869. It is of Portland stone, stands 7 ft. clear, and is a truly admirable likeness.

Just inside the entrance to the Western Galleries, South Kensington, is another fine statue in terra-cotta. It is the work of Andrea Boni of Milan, and was purchased in 1864. The figure is 6ft. 3 in. high; the left hand is slightly extended, and holds the end of a string, terminating in a ball. The face is inclined towards the pendulum, as is also the right hand, as if in the act of demonstrating.

Seeing my inquiry in ' N. & Q.,' 20 Sept., 1913, p. 229, MB. W. H. PATTERSON of Strandtown, Belfast, kindly sent me the following interesting description of a statu- ette in his possession :

" The statuette (13 in. high, including base) represents a man, of 50 to 60 years, seated on a chair or stool of classical design. He has a good deal of hair and a wavy beard, a long face with rather rugged features. The material Is ala- baster. He is dressed in flowing robe, a fur hood or collar, and over this another and larger collar ; the shirt or vest is open at the throat ; sandals on feet. The hands are missing broken off or mutilated. On the knees he holds a partly un- rolled scroll with astronomical signs traced upon it. On the front of the cylindrical plinth or base is a group consisting of foliage, sphere, compass, and square ; the rest of the plinth is fluted, and under this is a ' foot ' with acanthus ornamentation. No doubt it was produced in Italy. The sculptor, or some later possessor, has painted the hair and beard black, and has put numerous spots in dark blue all over the robe. It is in three pieces foot, plinth, and figure."

From this description and a small photo- graph subsequently sent me, it is easy to see that the statuette is a copy of the cele- brated marble statue of Galileo by Emilio Demi of Florence, executed in 1839, and now in the University of Pisa. In MB. PATTERSON'S replica the hands are broken off, as stated above ; but in the original the left hand is upturned and holds a globe ; the right hand is extended towards the globe, and the whole attitude is that of one de- monstrating. The only difference between statuette and statue is in the treatment of th,e pedestals. In the latter the base is a massive cube or parallelepiped, and bears

a long laudatory inscription ; while, as we- see above, that of the statuette is cylindrical and more artistically finished.

Busts. For a long time Prof. Favaro had been searching for traces of two busts of Galileo which he knew had been com- missioned early in 1612 one to be executed by Giovanni Caccini, and the other by Oratio Mochi, both eminent sculptors of the period. My friend had almost given up the search in despair, when, to his great delight, both busts were discovered quite recently and almost simultaneously. That by Mochi was found in a forgotten corner of a ground-floor room in the Palazzo Pitti r Florence, and that by Caccini in the Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. Know- ing of the existence in Cambridge of the portrait by Ramsay, and seeing by chance an old ' Guide to Cambridge,' 1830, in a local old-curiosity shop, I turned to the pages descriptive of Trinity College, hoping to find something fresh about the Ramsay picture. It was not mentioned ! but just at the end I read :

" Here [i.e., in the Master's Lodge] is also a, bust of Galileo by Carcini [sic], presented to the- Society by Dr. Bobert Smith, former Master of the College " !

From information most kindly sent m& by the present Master, I learn that the bust is of plaster, 2ft. broad, and about 2 ft. 1 in. high, and bears the name " Galileo. ' r It stands on a pedestal, on one side of which is inscribed " Rob fc Smith Posuit 1759," and on the opposite side " Caccini Fecit. ' r Dr. Butler adds :

" It seems more than probable that Dr. Smith brought it with him when he returned from a visit which he is known to have made to Italy."

Another very interesting bust in bronze- of Galileo is in the possession of Mr. Rosen- heim of Belsize Park Gardens, N.W. Seven years ago it was bought by the late Mr. Max Rosenheim, and previously to that it had been for many years in a garden in the West of England. It is attributed to Pietro Tacca, a pupil of the celebrated sculptor Giovanni Bologna. Tacca was an intimate friend of Galileo, and there is a tradition in Florence that the latter made all the cal- culations for determining the stability of his friend's larger works especially the colossal equestrian statues of Philip IV. at Madrid, and of the Grand Duke Fer- dinando I. in the Piazza SS. Annunziata, Florence.

In the Western Galleries, South Kensing- ton, and not far from the statue, there is-