A museum has been established in the disused Gothic Church of St Anne, in which some fine examples of classic sculpture are preserved. Besides the Pagan sarcophagi above referred to it contains some Roman or rather Greek sculptures of considerable purity and beauty; the Grecian descent and culture of the country being distinctly observable in these monuments—just as the same Greek feeling prevails in the paintings and sculpture of Pompeii. The fragment of a statue of a female dancer ([Fig. 14]) is particularly graceful in pose and in the execution of the drapery. The sarcophagus ([Fig. 15]), with an inscription and two well carved festoons, is called the Tomb of Cornelia. [Fig. 16] shews a finely carved oak wreath and vase on the monument to the “good Goddess,” and a beautifully sculptured though mutilated bust of the Empress Livia. [Fig. 17] represents a fragment of very spirited carving of foliage said to be from the frieze of the Arc de Triomph, an amphora and a Corinthian capital.
FIG. 16. FROM ARLES MUSEUM.
The Museum also includes a large number of early
FIG. 17. FROM ARLES MUSEUM.
Christian monuments. That in [Fig. 18], representing scenes from the life of our Saviour, exhibits figures carved in the Roman manner, and wearing the Roman costume, but degraded in style,—evidently the work of the Low Empire. Christ occupies the central compartment, and four wide arches contain figure subjects,—those on the extreme right and left representing the Magdalene and Pilate, while the two central compartments contain saints bearing palm branches.