There is an equestrian statue of King Augustus, in a kind of open place or square, between the old city and the new. The workmanship is but indifferent; however, I was desired by our Cicerone to admire this very much, because—it was made by a common smith. I begged to be excused, telling him that I could not admire it, had it been made by Michael Angelo.
Few Princes in Europe are so magnificently lodged as the Elector of Saxony. The Palace and Museum have been often described.—The last was begun by the Elector Augustus, and still retains the name of the Green Room, though it now consists of several apartments, all painted green, in imitation of the first. I will not enumerate the prodigious number of curiosities, natural and artificial, to be seen there. Some of the last are curious, only because they are invisible to the human eye. Of this number, is a cherry stone, upon which, by the help of a microscope, above a hundred faces may be distinguished. Undoubtedly these little mechanical whims display the labour, perseverance, and minute attention of the workman; but I cannot think they are proofs of the wisdom of those who could employ artists to so little purpose. Let the astonishing minutiæ of nature be admired through microscopes; but surely nothing is a proper work for the hands of man, which cannot be seen by the unaided human eye.
A work of the jeweller Dinglinger, which represents the celebration of the Mogul’s birth-day, is much admired. The Mogul sitting on his throne, his grandees and guards, with a great many elephants, are all exhibited upon a table about an ell square. This work employed Dinglinger, and some assistants, above ten years. Do not you think this was leaving so ingenious an artist a little too long in the Mogul’s service?
A simple list of every thing valuable and curious in this Museum, would exceed the bounds of one of my longest letters; I shall therefore pass them all over in silence, except the story of the prophet Jonah, which it would be impious to omit. The ship, the whale, the prophet, and the sea-shore, are all represented in pearl; but the sea and rocks are in a different kind of stone, though, in my opinion, there was no occasion to vary the materials; for surely there is as great a difference between a prophet and a whale, as between a whale and a rock. So that if the first two could be represented with the same materials, I do not think it was worth while to change the composition for the third.
The gallery of pictures is highly esteemed. To enumerate the particular merits of each, would fill many volumes, and requires a far greater knowledge of painting than I can pretend to. The most valuable pieces are by Corregio and Rubens. There are three or four by the former, and of his most capital works; and a very considerable number by the latter. The strength and expression of this great artist’s pencil, the natural glow of his colouring, and the fertility of his fancy deserve the highest encomiums. Yet one cannot help regretting, that he had so violent a passion for fat women. That kind of nature which he had seen early in life in his own country, had laid such hold of his imagination, that it could not be eradicated by all the elegant models he afterwards studied in Italy. Some of his female figures in this gallery are so much of the Dutch make, and so fat, that it is rather oppressive to look at them in this very hot weather.
In the Museum, within the Palace, there is a most complete collection of prints, from the commencement of the art of engraving till the present time.