VIII. caus’d the Coliseum to be demolish’d, and made use of the Stones for building the Palaces which are now inhabited by their Families.
Having entertain’d you sufficiently with the public Structures, let us now take a View of some of the private Palaces; but before I introduce you into them, I will give you my Thoughts of the Palaces of Rome in general. I don’t deny that there are finer and greater Palaces here than elsewhere; but of these there are few; and as for the others, they are not worth so much Notice as is taken of ’em. Methinks, ’tis with the Buildings of Rome, as with those People, whose Reputation being once well establish’d, we are apt to applaud in them, what in others perhaps we shou’d censure. A great many Palaces are admir’d here, barely from the Prepossession that Architecture flourishes here more than any-where else. Indeed, this was true enough heretofore, in the Time of a Sixtus V. a Paul V. and an Urban VIII. who had the Embellishment of Rome at Heart; but ’tis not so now, since the indolent Popes have nothing more of that Work upon their Hands. I can assure you, that they actually build now much better in France than they do in Italy, especially as to the Distribution of the Apartments, of which the Italians have no Notion. Most of the Apartments of Rome consist of a long Suite of Rooms, often very small ones, which have no Way out of them but the Door you enter at; and commonly the Rooms have no Light, nor Chimney, nor Place to set up a Bed, or Canopy; which is the Reason that those two Pieces of Houshold Stuff are seldom fix’d where they shou’d be; mean time, Canopies are what the Roman Princes and Cardinals are very fond of, and many of them have no less than five or six; vain Ostentation, which makes those Gentlemen fancy they are
giving Audience, when they are only receiving Visits! After all, one must not look for such Ornaments here as they have in France, and elsewhere. As to their Floors, they are only made of Bricks; they know nothing of Wainscotting; their Glazing is horrible; and most of their Ceilings, tho’ there are some very magnificent, are of Timber, so coarsly work’d, that the Gilding employ’d on them serves only the more to expose their Deformity. The Furniture is almost everywhere the same; consisting either of red Damask, with an upper Border of Velvet, of the same Colour, adorn’d with Tinsel Lace and Fringe resembling Gold, or else of Pictures, which are, indeed, the most perfect of the Kind; but when I see five or six Rooms all together in a Row, full of Paintings, I fancy myself in some Picture-shop at the Fair of St. Germain. Besides, these Pictures are in such sorry old-fashion’d Frames, that they disparage them. They have but few Looking-glasses, and those very small. As for Porcellane and crystal Vessels, they are not much in Vogue; but, on the other hand, here are beautiful Statues which I admire, and think very fine; but I shou’d be better pleas’d to see them in a Gallery, in a Salon, or in a Garden: For I don’t think they look well in a Chamber. All the Furniture one sees here is antique, having been laid in, for most part, by Popes that have been a long while in their Graves; and there’s no House furnish’d in the modern Taste, except those of the Cardinals del Giudici, Albano, Bolognetti and Carolis.
’Tis time now to enter into some of the Palaces. That which they call here the Farnese Palace, is, in my Opinion, the most magnificent in Rome; Michael Angelo was the Architect. Most of the Stones of this Building were taken
out of the Coliseum of the Emperor Vespasian, by Order of Paul III. who made no Scruple to destroy the proudest Monument of Antiquity for the sake of furnishing his Nephews with a Palace. This Palace is two Stories high, and has a perfect Square before it, adorn’d with two stately Fountains, the Water of which continually spouts up fifteen Feet high, and then falls by two Sheets into a Shell or Cistern of oriental Granate, of a vast Bigness, and all of a Piece. The Entrance to this Palace is through a great Court, adorn’d within by Doric Pillars; and this leads to a square Court, the Buildings of which are supported by Arches, with great Galleries well cover’d over, where we see the famous Statues of Hercules and Flora, which are really worthy the Observation of the Curious. In a second Court, which is pretty much neglected, there is to be seen, in a wooden Case, the magnificent Groupe of white Marble, all of one Piece, representing the Fable of Dirce, fasten’d to a Bull, by Zethus and Amphion, the Sons of Antiope, Wife of Lycus King of Bœotia, who, to take Revenge for their Mother, whom Lycus had divorc’d, because she had suffer’d herself to be debauch’d by Jupiter in the Form of a Satyr, were so barbarous as to murder Lycus, and to tie Dirce by the Hair of her Head to the Horns of a wild Bull, by which she was dragg’d about, till the Gods, pitying the State of this Princess, turn’d her into a Fountain. This great Machine was brought from Rhodes to Rome by Order of the Emperor Antoninus Caracalla, and was found under Ground in the very Place where were formerly the Baths of that Emperor, from whence Paul III. had it brought to the Palace of his Family, that it might serve as a Vista to the grand Gate; but it has not yet been plac’d there.
The great Stair-case which leads to the Apartments is adorn’d with several fine Statues. We enter first into a great Hall, where we have the History of Alexander Farnese, when he pass’d the Scheld, who is represented as crown’d by Victory, with Flanders and the Scheld chain’d to his Feet. There is also a Number of other fine antique Statues in several Niches, and upon several Pedestals. The first Chamber is painted in Fresco by Salviati and Zucaro. There we see the Emperor Charles V. and Francis I. King of France, shaking each other by the Hand; the memorable Transactions of Paul III. and Martin Luther in Conference with that Pope’s Nuncio. In the next Apartments there are a great many fine Bustos and Ceilings, well painted and richly gilt. But the finest Piece of all in this Palace is the Gallery, which was painted throughout by Annibal Carache, whose skilful Hand has therein represented with very great Art the several Deities assisting at the Triumph of Bacchus. In fine, no Cost has been spared in this Palace. I have been assured, that the Furniture of it was very magnificent formerly; but it is since all taken away, and the Palace serves to lodge the Minister of Parma. ’Tis pity that ’tis not finish’d, for in Truth it wou’d be a fine Piece of Building; but the Case is the very same with all St. Peter’s Miracles, which is the Name they give to all the Palaces built by the Popes for their Families. The Popes are old Men when they come to the Pontificate, and Modesty, or Decency, hinders them from doing any thing for their Families, the first Year or two; so that they begin in the Decline of their Years, to undertake vast Designs, which they don’t live to finish; and ’tis seldom that their Nephews pursue what was begun by their Uncles, either because they don’t care to make a Shew of the Wealth that
was left them, or else because they have not Souls great enough for the Undertaking; for, to be plain, those Nephews of the Popes are seldom good for much, and have had a poor Education. The Generality are Persons of a mean or base Extraction, who become Princes without any Merit but the Fortune of their Uncles, and are so intoxicated with their Grandeur, that they are swallow’d up in Sloth, and think of nothing, not even of the Preservation of their growing Families; so that they quickly fall to decay, and as soon as their Spring is over, they are snatch’d off on sudden by Winter.
Paul III. had a Project for building a Bridge over the Tyber, behind the Farnese Palace, in order to give it a Communication with the Garden of the little Farnese Palace, which is on the other Side of the River, in the Quarter call’d Longara; and if this Design had been executed, the Duke of Parma wou’d have had a much finer Palace at Rome, than he has in his own Capital.
The Barberini Palace is in no respect inferior to the Farnese, and is larger, and, without doubt, richer in Pictures, Statues and Tapestry. The Stair-case is very much taken Notice of, which runs up winding, and forms a great oval Well in the Middle, from the Bottom to the Cupola. The great Hall, which is a stately Room, is painted in Fresco by Peter Cortona, who has artfully represented the four Cardinal Virtues, and the Triumph of Glory, with their proper Figures and Ornaments, all to great Perfection. The Apartments to which this Hall leads, are very spacious, and really contain a vast Treasure in Pictures and Statues, of which were I to give you all the Particulars, I shou’d never have done. That which very much disfigures this Palace is the Entrance to it, a Defect which however might