Naples Museum

“ The best pictures in the Naples Museum are not very numerous, but are admirable specimens of the Italian schools. They are collected into one or two rooms, deserving time and study. A cursory view of the others will be sufficient to satisfy most people. There is much more to be seen besides the relics from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the statues and pictures. ”

“ The two most important variations executed by the master, or under his immediate direction, are the full-lengths of the Pitti Palace and the Naples Museum, in both of which sumptuous court-dress replaces the gala military costume. They are practically identical, both in the design and the working out, save that in the Florence example Philip stands on a grass plot in front of a colonnade, while in that of Naples the background is featureless. ”

“ By a drive of three or four miles to the west, along the bay, you get a fairly good view of Naples, embracing Pompeii and Herculaneum nestling insecurely at the foot of Vesuvius, but not equal to the one as you enter the bay.
We were told the churches were not so gorgeous and rich as those of Genoa, Pisa, or Rome, so we did not visit them. The only public building of great interest is the Museum of Ancient Sculpture and Paintings; it is large and well appointed, and contains more than any other public building in Italy. ”

“ There are afternoon hours that can be passed pleasantly amidst the endless halls and galleries of the great Museo Nazionale, where the antiquities of Pompeii and Herculaneum may be studied in advance, for the wise traveller will not rush headlong into the sacred precincts of the buried cities on the Vesuvian shore, before he has first made himself thoroughly acquainted with the wonderful collections preserved in the Museum. ”

“ The museum at Pompeii suffers from the best things found in the city having been sent to the Naples Museum. In the Pompeii collection, after the dead Pompeians in glass cases, there is very little to see, but they are wonderful enough to satisfy{205} the greatest curiosity hunter. It gives one a little flutter of excitement to look at a man, perfect in form and feature, lying just as he died on that terrible November day in 79—to see his hands clenched and his teeth set, and the very look of horror on his face that came there as he fell, fleeing from the doomed city—fell to rise no more. ”

“ Domestic articles like lamps or vessels were often very indelicate in their designs, and a large collection of such things is kept in a separate room in the the Naples museum. Outside the walls of houses too one not unfrequently comes across indelicate figures. ”

“ Of course there were many picturesque and fanciful designs, of which the best have been removed to the Museum in Naples; but several good ones are still left, and (like that of the Wild Boar) give names to the houses in which they are found.
But, after all, the great wonder, the glory, of these Pompeian houses is in their frescos. If I tried to give an idea of the luxury of color in Pompeii, the most gorgeous adjectives would be as poorly able to reproduce a vivid and glowing sense of those hues as the photography which now copies the drawing of the decorations; so I do not try. ”

“ The amphitheatre was evidently a grand structure, and with the base below the general surface of the earth, it is arranged with ascending rows of stone seats for the accommodation of a large assemblage. All the buildings are of stone.
“There is an extensive museum at Naples, which contains all the varieties from this reservoir of antiquarian relics; and to make the tour of this establishment, with a proper examination of these articles, and others of interest collected there, requires two weeks of unremitting observation.” ”

“ As regards the ancient city of Hercules, therefore, we must perforce remain content to inspect the magnificent bronzes and the other objects of interest that are to be found in the Museum of Naples, for we are not likely to see any further researches just at present, more’s the pity, since there is every reason to suppose that a thorough investigation conducted regardless of cost would yield up to the world the most marvellous and valuable results. ”

“ They are of the sort with which God keeps troth. The child who went by singing "O bella libertà, o bella!" does not flute so sweetly now he is a man, but his hands have taken hold, and his heart is set on the greatness of his motherland.
The sun lies thick and hot in the Toledo, that long and crowded street which is the chief thoroughfare of Naples. It is hotter still when, having toiled as far as the museum, I turn off along the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele, which winds along the hillside, giving at each turn grand views across the town and harbour towards Capri shining in the west. ”

“ The marble has evidently suffered much by it. Why is such a valuable piece of sculpture not preserved in the Museum?
On the Chiaia are restaurants and cafés. 'Tis here also that the nobility display their carriages and horses, it being the fashionable drive in the afternoon: and certainly, except in London, I have never seen such a brilliant display of carriages as at Naples.
The principal street at Naples is the Strada di Toledo. It resembles the Rue St Honoré and can boast of as much wealth in its shops. The houses are good, solid and extremely lofty, and the streets are paved with lava. ”

“ In 1860 Garibaldi, when dictator at Naples, proclaimed the museum and the territory devoted to excavation to be the property of the nation, since which time it has been called the National Museum. Vast numbers of specimens have since been added to it both by purchase and from excavations, and it is now unique as a treasure house of Italo-Greek and Roman antiquities, besides containing a fine library and an important collection of pictures. ”

“ The columns of the peristylium are covered with yellow stucco and its chambers are floored with mosaic. A colonnade rises on three sides of the dining-room, and one of twenty-four columns, red below and white above, supports the portico. A garden to the left of the atrium and in front of the portico is adorned by a pretty fountain. An exquisite bronze statuette of a dancing faun, now in the Naples museum, gave its present title to the most beautiful and also one of the largest houses in Pompeii. The discovery of this house was first made in 1830, in the presence of a son of the poet Goethe. ”

“ Of late years excavations have been again undertaken, and many art treasures from the entombed city now repose in the National Museum at Naples. The Italian government is now pushing excavation with renewed vigor. ”

“ Bronzes, being by nature dark, look well against a larger variety of backgrounds than marble or terra cottas, yet here, too, care must be taken that the color is not too light, as otherwise the contrast will be too sharp. The red color used as a background in the Naples Museum in the room of the Farnese Bull has been highly praised as an excellent color for sculpture, its warm and glowing tone enlivening the cold marble. A more attractive room is the small gallery in the Terme Museum in Rome, where the Fanciulla d'Anzio stands. ”

“ The museum at Naples excels all others in ancient bronze, a substance which, although dearer, more difficult to be wrought, more inviting to the rude grasp of avarice, and less beautiful than marble, forms the greater proportion of the statues. ”

“ The practice of chipping stones from a building of note, or taking up loose pieces, cannot be too severely reprehended, and ought sometimes to be punished. The guides at Pompeii are not allowed to receive any gratuity from the visitors, but they make a little by an accorded permission to sell photographs of the ruins.
Passing through an old gateway, we were ushered into a museum, the contents of which are not numerous, as the bulk of the articles found is sent to the large Museum of Naples. ”

“ Anyone who visits a museum of Greco-Roman antiquities, in which are exposed to view objects found in rich and highly cultivated districts,—that of Naples, for example, where so many objects excavated from the ashes of Pompeii are to be seen,—can easily convince himself of this curious phenomenon, and realise more vividly, by contrast, the carelessness, roughness, and commonplace vulgarity of the objects made by modern machinery. ”

“ Museum, this observing the daily life of the populace, and bargain-hunting in the Strada de’ Tribunali, are agreeable enough for a while, but of necessity there comes a time when the mind grows weary of yelling people and of jostling crowds, of stuffy churches and of the chilly halls of the Museum, of steep dirty streets and of glaring boulevards, so that we begin to sigh for fresh air and a change of scene. ”

“ It was discovered about the commencement of the last century, by the digging of a well immediately over the theatre. For many years the excavations were carried on with spirit; and the forum, theatres, porticos, and splendid mansions, were successively exposed, and a great number of the finest bronzes, marble statues, busts, &c., which now delight the visitor to the Museum at Naples, were among the fruits of these labors. ”

“ Uncle Bob was in such a hurry to reach Florence that the travelers did not stay long in Naples—only long enough to visit the famous Aquarium with its myriad of strange sea creatures, and to take a flying glimpse of the Museum. It was at the latter place that Jean saw the celebrated Naples Vase which, Uncle Bob told her, was found over a hundred years ago in a tomb in Pompeii.
"It probably was made by very skilful Grecian workmen about the year 70 a.d. Think how wonderful it is that there were artists living many thousands of years ago who knew how to make such a beautiful thing. ”

“ The museum at Naples has it, and if it be not there it is nowhere. Time, the atmosphere, and the sunlight have destroyed it. Therefore, those who make out an inventory of these houses for you are preparing you bitter disappointments.
The only way to get an idea of Pompeian artPg 171 is not to examine all these monuments separately, but to group them in one's mind, and then to pay the museum an attentive visit. Thus we can put together a little ideal city, an artistic Pompeii, which we are going to make the attempt to explore. ”

“ Valuable finds are wall paintings, illustrative of decorative art; floor mosaics, etc., which may be seen in the Royal Museum of Naples. Another of the most recent discoveries is that of the temple of Venus Pompeiana in the southern corner of the city; others are the remains of persons who, carrying valuables, perished in a wayside inn where they had sought refuge. ”

“ If, upon going to a place, say the Museum, they be dismissed, they will hang about for an hour, hoping to get the return fare. But driving is really the only way by which one can see some parts of Naples. The town swarms with people to an extent which, unless seen, can hardly be either realized or credited. ”

“ Persons interested in frescoes will admire those in the former monastery at the back of the church of S. Maria Donna Regina and those in the cloister of S. Severino and Sossio. A more ancient Christian monument than any of the convents or churches is the catacombs, which extend a great distance underground and are in many respects finer than those at Rome. The entrance is at the Ospizio dei Poveri di San Gennaro (see Schulze’s monograph, Jena, 1877) .
Of the secular institutions in Naples none is more remarkable than the National Museum, formerly known as the Museo Borbonico. ”

“ The treasures and mementoes of the ancient world found in Pompeii and Herculaneum have been collected and preserved in the National Museum in Naples, which is therefore unique in its value and Museum.importance among the Museums of the world. A collection of no less than 1600 wall paintings gives the visitor a fairly correct idea of the art of painting as it was practised among the ancient Romans in the days of their highest prosperity and civilization. ”

“ It is not enough to go to Pompeii—you must visit the museum in Naples as well. But the brasses and the marbles in the museum are p. 109especially fine, such as the Farnese Bull, and the Farnese Hercules, and the Roman Emperors. In the churches there is little to see, and nothing to admire. There are showy shops in the Toledo, and at the end, as you enter, an arcade as handsome as is to be found anywhere in Europe. There are good public gardens where you may hear excellent music on a summer night, and no city has better tramcars, and more civil drivers and conductors. ”

“ Naples; Laocoon group in, 76; historical statues in, 78 Naples, Museum of; "Venus Callipiga" in, 87; and "Farnese Bull", 76; "Farnesian Hercules" in, 88 Napoleon and Canova, 242, 243 National Gallery, London, 277 "Nativity," by Rossellino, 152; by Anguier, 228 Nemesis of Agoracritus, 51 Neptune; by Sansovino, 186; by Cellini, 190; by Giovanni da Bologna, 214 Nero, and the Thespian Cupid, 61; and Grecian spoils, 84 Niccolò of Arezzo, 135 Nicodemus; by Krafft, 170 ”

“ Splendid fireworks have been given three evenings in succession, in honor of San Gennaro. The Neapolitans are masters of this art. Pity only it is, that so much art and so much money are spent so often upon these empty pleasures, which are no longer pleasures to the population of Naples. It has evidently had enough of them.
September 24th.—Two days spent in the Museo Borbonico, have left with me this residuum: that which is peculiar in this interesting museum consists in treasures preserved from the cities buried in the ashes of Vesuvius—Pompeii, Herculaneum, Staba, St. ”