There is considerable difficulty in fixing with precision the works expressly due to this period.

To inscribe on the plinth of the statue of an illustrious foreigner of a former age the name of a Roman warrior or statesman was, according to Cicero, a reprehensible act of frequent occurrence; and Suetonius informs us of a still more violent appropriation by Caligula, who collected antique statues of gods, famous for their beauty and the veneration paid to them, removed the heads and replaced them with his own. He carried his destructiveness still further, as he demolished or dispersed the statues of many distinguished personages set up in the public places in Rome; while Nero exceeded him in barbarism, for in his progress through Greece he overturned the statues which had been erected in honor of victors at the different national games.

The best known sculptors of this epoch are Posidonius and Coponius, who embellished the theatre of Pompey; Pasiteles, master of Stephanus, and Menelaus, his pupil ; Arcesilaus, who produced the Venus Genetrix, placed in his Forum by Julius Cæsar ; Thaletion, a freedman of Mæcenas; Chimarus, who made the shrine and statue of Germanicus; Zenodorus, who executed the colossal figure of the Sun, 120 feet high, intended to represent Nero, which was put in front of his golden house; Agesander, Athenodorus and Polydorus, authors of the Laocoon, of which many reproductions were known to exist.

Apollodorus, of Athens, superintended the erection of Trajan's column, enriched with bas-reliefs, showing powerful forms in natural and appropriate attitudes. Zeno, of Caria, Papias and Aristaus, of Cyprus, flourished under that emperor, who revived the art, then hastening to its decline.

The names of many of these persons sufficiently denote the foreign extraction of those who bore them.

Statues in the Museum ascribed to this period are No. 5, Antinous; 16, Canephora ; 17, Castor and Pollux; 19, Cupid and Psyche; 31, Flora; 35, Germanicus; 46, Laocoon; 55, Pudicitia.

The period of primitive Christian Sculpture may be briefly passed by, inasmuch as unfortunately the Museum does not yet possess any of its curious and suggestive productions.

Drawing his inspiration from the pure sources of Holy Writ, absorbed by a devout enthusiasm, the chief aim of the early Christian Sculptor was a pious illustration of his subject, rather than a display of technical dexterity or an adherence to the rules of Art.

The oppression to which he was exposed by reason of his creed restricted the exercise of his abilities in a great measure to sepulchral and monumental works usually executed in relief.

Still a rare gleam of intellect occasionally shines through some of these simple and truthful labours, and although instances occur in which the mythology of ancient times b

is strangely intermixed with the new religion, the innocence, sincerity, and tenderness of motive of the designer may well disarm criticism on the homely nature of the execution.

Upon the change of the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople, the Emperor Constantine was soon impressed with the irresistible conviction that the principal impediment to making the city of his choice surpass all others in magnificence was the decline of Art.

Unable to resuscitate the expired genius of a former time, he imitated the rapacity of his predecessors; in order to heighten the splendor of his new "Colonia," the noblest and most favored daughter of old Rome, he denuded all other parts of the empire of their fairest ornaments.

Trophies of memorable wars, the statues of gods and heroes, of sages and poets, were transported to Byzantium, so that "nothing seemed wanting except their souls to animate the astonishing resemblances of these illustrious beings." Of these statues not fewer than 427 were assembled in the temple dedicated to St. Sophia,† the Divine Wisdom.

The oriental character being unsuited to the severe study of Sculpture, Art took in the East a new direction; while Italy, reduced to the humiliating position of a power of secondary dignity, became a prey to successive wild invaders, whose only regard for works of Art was a superstitious dread of injuring such as their ignorance invested with a power of enchantment or sorcery.‡

For more than 600 years—from the time of Hannibal-no foreign enemy had insulted the walls of Rome. Alaric was the first who in her hour of weakness dared to aspire to the conquest of the eternal city.

He led his Visigoths from his conquests in Macedonia and Illyria, besieged thrice, and finally, A.D. 410, took and sacked the city, 1163 years after its foundation.

Genseric, A.D. 455, crossed with his Vandals from Africa, and plundered Rome of what had been left after or accumulated since the former pillage; and an avenging Nemesis gave to Carthage, at the hands of a barbarian, born on the shores of the Baltic, the spoils of her ancient and remorseless foe. In his heroic resistance to the furious assaults of Vitiges, A.D. 537, pent within the sepulchre of Hadrian, which, in his extremity, he converted into a fortress, Belisarius hurled upon the heads of the besiegers the statues with which that remarkable structure had been decorated; and the defenders of the capital thus reluctantly became the destroyers of its choicest and most esteemed

ornaments.

Under such rude shocks as these the arts succumbed. They suffered still more, however, from the utter exhaustion of the human mind in the regions where they had formerly

* Cedrenus, 369. Byzan. Script.

† Codinus, Ex. 8. Byzan. Script.

The singularity of this exception was not admitted by the Iconoclasts at a later period, under Leo III., the Isaurian, about A.D. 730, and his successors.

flourished, from the obliteration of all refined sentiment and the destruction of the whole spiritual and ideal world of antiquity to which they had been so much beholden.

Then closed on them the obscurity of that long and dreary interval of many hundred years, during which the Sculptor rarely showed his skill, except when associated with the Architect.

The Sculptor's hand produced on such occasions the accessory embellishments for those vast and elegant structures which remain monuments of the architectural ability and the exquisite taste of Ecclesiastics, the only depositaries of learning in a rude and uncouth age.

About the fifteenth century a fresh life was infused into the arts.

The recovery of manuscripts of many of the classical authors; the circulation and study of these, facilitated by the invention of Printing; the exhumation of some of the noble statues, buried for centuries beneath ruins; the improved condition of society in the principal states of Europe; the increase of wealth and the enlightened patronage of men of letters and of Artists, contributed to a development of the human intellect in literature, science, and the fine arts, as rapid as it was remarkable and brilliant.

An enumeration of the great masters, preceding and of the time of the Medici family, is needless. Their world-renowned names are imperishable: they live in their works. These combine the vigor of the pagan era and the spirituality of the new belief which displaced the old merely human ideal.

Statues and Reliefs which belong to this period are No. 20, Cupid; No. 45, Julian de Medici; and Holy Family, relief, by Michael Angelo Buonarotti; No. 48, Mercury, by John of Bologna; Boys, in relief, by Fiamingo and Donatelli; with Panels of the Gates of the Baptistry at Florence, by Ghiberti.

From that period to the present the transition has been gradual. Temporary fluctuations have occurred, according as the eminence or success of some particular master has captivated the public and directed the course of his admirers or imitators.

Comment upon the work of the contemporary Sculptor it is not proposed to submit. A decision upon it involves not only an acquaintance with the history of his art in its former phases, but of that of Architecture, with which it has so often acted in unison, and that of Painting, to which it is so closely allied.

It demands that a just allowance should be made for the embarrassments which impede attempts to render in the spirit of the antique, yet without slavish copying, subjects taken from the remote history of people, whose manners, customs, habits, were so different from ours; or those drawn from an extinct mythology, the mysterious origin of which is in so many of its recesses unknown, forgotten, or misunderstood. It requires, also, that consideration should be shown on account of the obstacles which encumber efforts to impersonate Christian virtues or abstract ideas, the rendering of which is completely arbitrary.

It enjoins moreover, an insight, thorough and exact, into the influences which so frequently fetter genius and confine the Sculptor to the duty of pourtraying the commonplaces of living human passion, and the unpicturesque incidents of modern days.

Regarding the Sculptor as the expositor of man's thought and belief, the visitor to this collection, small and rudimentary though it be, may form his own opinion as to what has been in different ages esteemed the faithful rendering of the grand, the sublime, the beautiful, the true.

Statues and Reliefs in the Museum by sculptors of modern times are Nos. 18, Cupid; 24, Diana; 28, Dorothea; 29, Eve at the Fountain; 38, Graces; 39, Greek Slave; 40, Hercules and Omphale (as the restorations and additional figure entitle Flaxman to the merit of having converted a mutilated torso into a complete group); 43, Innocence; 47, Mercury; 50, Mother and Child; 51, Musidora; 52, Narcissus; 53, Perseus; 58, St. George and the Dragon; 59, Tambourine Girl; 60, Terpsichore; 67, 68, 69, Venuses; 70, Venus and Cupid; and reliefs by Flaxman, Gibson, and Thorwaldsen.

The foregoing observations are presented with a diffidence much increased in consequence of the difficulty which has been experienced in the endeavours to reconcile conflicting chronological statements advanced, and the contrariety of view entertained by the learned writers consulted during the preparation of the Catalogue.

The authorities referred to have been verified, so that errors, which a more abundant leisure might have escaped, may be corrected; and omissions, necessary to avoid prolixity, or which the absence of means of obtaining information has caused,* may be supplied by the diligent and indulgent reader.

It would be ungracious to conclude without adverting to the fact that the Trustees owe to the generosity of friends formerly resident here, as well as of others but incidentally connected with the country, many of the interesting objects which the Museum contains.

These represent more than £800 expended in the purchase; but as furnishing means of enlightened gratification and material instruction in the practical branches of art-manufacture and design, and also as affording testimony of the kind support of the givers, they possess an enduring worth much exceeding their mere money value.

The pleasure originally afforded to the donors in presenting them to the institution for the benefit of the community, will doubtless be enhanced by the knowledge that the usefulness of their well directed liberality is thoroughly appreciated by the public of Victoria.

* One may well exclaim with the polished scholar and learned antiquarian, that "it is pity there is not something like a public register to preserve the memory of such statues as have been found from time to time, and to mark the particular places where they have been taken up, which would not only prevent many fruitless searches for the future, but might often give a considerable light into the quality of the place, or the design of the statue."-ADDISON, "Travels in Italy."

Trustees of the Melbourne Publiq Libyary,

"Colonial Secretary's Office,

"Melbourne, 19th July, 1853.

66

BY A PROCLAMATION, PUBLISHED IN THE VICTORIA GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,” 20TH JULY, 1853, BEARING DATE,

"His EXCELLENCY the LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR has been pleased to appoint
(a) "His Honor Mr. Justice BARRY.

(b) "The Honorable WILLIAM FOSTER STAWELL, Esquire, Attorney-General.
"The Honorable JAMES FREDERICK PALMER, Esquire, Speaker of the House
of Assembly.

(c)

(d)

"The Honorable HUGH CULLING EARDLEY CHILDERS, Esquire, Collector of H.M. Customs.

"DAVID CHARTERIS MACARTHUR, Esquire.

"The Honorable Sir FRANCIS MURPHY, Speaker of the House of Assembly. "Trustees of the Melbourne Public Library."

(a) Now Sir REDMOND BARRY.

(b) Now Sir WILLIAM FOSTER STAWELL, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

(c) Now Sir JAMES FREDERICK PALMER, President of the Legislative Council.

(d) Now Member of Parliament for Pontefract (England).

(e) In the place of the Hon. Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, resigned.