The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-20 00:00:00

New Statues for the British Museum,

The British Museum received yesterday the
statues from the Farnese Palace at Rome, recently
purchased from his Majesty, the ex-King of Naples.
These. statues, nine in number, are as follow :-
1. A Mercury, nearly identical in pose and scale
with the celebrated statue in the Belvedere of the
Vatican. Another copy of this work exists in the
gallery at Lansdowneshouse, of which it forms the
principal ornament. Of these three Mercuries the
one in the Farnese Palace is the most complete,
having undergone very little restoration, and it was
by reference to this figure that Visconti showed
that the figure in the Vatican was not an Antinous,
as Ras formerly supposed. All three statues are
doubtless copies of some celebrated original. It
would be difficult, without placing these statues
side by side, to determine which of the three is the
most beautiful work of art, but competent judges
are disposed to give the palm to the Farnese Mer-
cury as the figure which preserves most faithfully
the style of the exquisite Greek original which has
formed the prototype of all three. The head of
this figure is remarkable for that pensive expression
which ancient art delighted to associate with the
perfection of physical beauty. Every feature is
intact, and the surface of the marble in admirable
condition. The neck is inclined gracefully on one
side, and there is in the form that inimitable com-
bination of suppleness with strength which the
sculptor had for ever before his eyes in the pa/tesa
tra, and which may still be seen in some bf the races
of the Levant. Vestiges of colour may yet be traced
is the drapery at the back of this figure.
2. An equestrian statute of a Roman Emperor
of heroic size. The head is that of Caligula, but
doubts have been entertained whether it belongs to
the body. The legs of the horse have also been
restored in places, but on the whole this group is
in very fine condition, and especially interesting, as
being one of the very few equestrian statues which
have been preserved to us from antiquity. Indeed,
it is believed that only four such groups exist in
marble, viz., the two statues of the Balbi in the
Museo Borbonico at Naples, the mutilated torso of
a Persian figure from the Mausoleum, and tho
Farnese group.
As a work of art, this group is inferior to the
two groups at Naples, and also to the bronze
Nlareus AureEuA of the Roman Capitol. It is, how■
ever, a good sp-eimen of R3llllll monumental art,
and may b 2 studied with advantage by the student
of the present day.

3. The celebrated and unique copy of the Diadud
menos of Polycletus. This figure, an engraving of
which is given in K. 0. Muller's Kenk?naler d. a.
_Kunst, taf. xxxi., No. 136, rPpresents a Greek
athlete binding a diadem round his held, whence
the name Disdumenos, by which the figure wee
known in the ancient schools. In the form we see
the same characteristics as in the types of Phidias,
great muscular development in all the nobler points
of the figure, united with an exquisite harmony of
proportion, so that the predominant expression
which the figure suggests is rather that of grace
than of mere brute force. This figure has a special
interest to the student of art, because it is an un.
questioned copy, and the only one in existence in
the round from that work of Polycletus which the
judgment of antiquity esteemed one of his two
masterpieces ; which, like his other chef d oeuvre,
the Doryphorus, was used as a canon of proper.
tions in the ancient schools, and which, at a later
period, sold for the enormous sum of 100 talents,
equal to £25,000.

4. An Apollo playing on the lyre, in the same
attitude as the beautiful statue from Cyrene, in the
British Museum, but naked. This figure has been.
a good deal restored, but the modern additions have
been made with great skill and knowledge.
6. An heroic figure, to which no name has as yet
bean assigned. It may possibly represent a King of
the Macedonian period in the character of a Deity,
according to the system of ideal portraiture which
came in after the time of Alexander the Great.
This figure is well modelled.

7. A Satyr holding up a basket in which is an
Amorino. The statue is of the Roman period, and
not very finely executed, but the motive is nail and
unusual, and the sculpture in admirable condition.
The two remaining statues in the collection are a
group of Mercury and HerE€ badly restored, but
interesting on account of the subj2et, and a male
torso.

An interesting notice of the statues now acquired
by the British Museum, from the pen of Professor
Gerhard, of Berlin, is to be found in Bunsen's great
work on the topography of Rome. -These statues
formed part of the celebrated Farnese collection,
the remainder of which is now in the Maseo Borboa
nico at Naples, and most, if not all, of which were
found in the Baths of Caracalla.

While we congratulate the country on this value(
able accession to the national collection of ancient
sculpture, we are bound to mention that this acqui.
sition is mainly due to the friendly intervention of
Mr William Story, the well known American
sculptor at Rome, whose Cleopatra and African
Sybil were so justly admired in the Great Exhibi%
tion, and whose Saul, still in his studio, is a work
of even greater power. To Mr Storey the first over.
tures respecting this purchase were made, and it was
by his untiring zeal and patience that the long and
tedious negociation which ensued was brought to ci,
satisfactory termination.

TROOPS IN NEW ZEALAND.—lnstructions have
been sent out by the War-office for the retura of several of
the regiments which have been engaged in the New Zealand
war. The termination of hostilities will enable the troop!!
to return at once,—New Zealand Examiner.

SHOCKING DEATH.—On the morning of Saturday
last a man named John Kelly, a labourer employed
in the chemical works of Messrs Ward and Co., Garscube-
road, met his death by accidentally falling into a large pall
of boiling liquid used in the manufacturing of potash. Ile
was engaged at the time in stirring the liquid, and had
stumbled and fallen into the pan, which is about 9ft deep by
Oft in diameter, and was full at the thee of the liquid. Hie
shrieks were herrd by some of the workmen, and immediate
assistance was rendered, but the unfortunate man had sunk:
to the bottom, death, it is thought, being almost instanta-
neous, and some time elapi,ed before the body Was recovered.
It was then conveyed to his hou Wr.odside-road.
lle
has left a widow and seven children.-- No? th British mad.
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MOSES AND SON'S
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sunset until Saturday evening at sunset, when business is re-
sumed unil I t o'clock.

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