'Introduction', continued: 832/12.A.f.2

Materials used in production

Ink

Components of the work

Support composed of paper
Leaf Height 330 mm Width 190 mm

Techniques used in production

Handwriting : Pen and ink on ruled paper

Inscription or legends present

• Text: Permit me to deviate from the direct scope of my subject a / few moments into short but important arguments on the equal / Injustice & Impolicy[sic] of removing the works of Ancient sculpture / from Italy - we will begin with the Injustice as the most / immediately atrocious, although the consequences of such acts will generally prove they were counselled by folly, / The City of Rome since Constantine removed the seat / of Empire to Constantinople has been burnt seven times, / which in addition to the several calamities of Famine, / Pestilence Sieges Tumults with the natural decay / produced by time itself was reduced to a condition so / dispoiled[sic] and ruinous that only six statues were enu / =merated by a diligent observer Poggi in the beginning / of the 15.th Ceny within the walls the rest had long been buried under the mouldering fragments and rubbish of / Palaces and Temples, once decorations of the Impe / =rial City in her splendor[sic] - from the latter end of / the 15.th Century the Pontiffs, Italian Princes & Nobility / have with great labor and expence[sic] rescued these won / =ders of ancient art from the bowels of the earth, restored / their mutilated forms, placed them in Galleries and / Museums and with a liberality which the real love / of knowledge alone inspires have given the learned / traveller and artist of all conditions and countries / free access to their Treasures - be it known[deleted] remembered / that the ancient Romans despoilers of Greece, have long since quitted this / stage of life - the Despoiled Greeks have also long since been swept / away in the lapse of time so that their successors in name & territory / of the present day a various mixture of barbarous nations neither[deleted] / neither know nor are interested in the possessions or sufferings of / their long past predecessors and changes and destruction of sue- / =ceeding / ages have enveloped the memory of their descendants in / such impenetrable darkness that we are uncertain whether any / race or even particular family now living can fairly claim
• Location: Recto
• Method of creation: Ink

• Text: the distinction of being their direct representatives - / as they cannot now be restored to their original owners, / who can justly and reasonably plead so good a claim to / their possessions as those whose Intelligence, exertions / and benevolence have rescued these precious remains from their graves and generously given them to the public / for the purpose of promoting knowledge and raising the / intelligence to elevated and worth pursuits? / These precious remains were not obtained by the / Italian Nobles without considerable expence[sic] for the Medici / Family appear to have paid 1800 Crowns for the group of / boxers when it was first found, one of the figures being / headless which sum is more than equal to 2000 £ value / of our money in England at this day and Cardinal / Borghese / built the front of a Church in recompence[sic] / for the beautiful statue of Hermaphrodite lately in the / Borghese Villa on the Pincian Hill, we may form some opinion of the sums expended in restoring the / works of Antiquity from the following instance, / A beautiful and extensive mosaic pavement con / =taining two every large circular friezes of figures, / the subject of one the battle of the Lapithae[sic] and Centaurs, / the other[deleted] subject of the other Tritons & sea monsters, this / was brought to Rome by order of Pope Pius 6th laid down / and restored in the great Hall of the Vatican at the expence[sic] of 60,000 crowns about the value of 30,000 £ of our present / money in England. / Every person desiring to complete a liberal Education / receives the rudiments in a School preparatory to / finishing his studies in a University - a like proceeding / is requisite to educate a painter or sculptor, he com / =mences his studies in his native Academy, and afterwards / goes to Italy to make himself acquainted with the originals / of those casts and prints he has copied in his own Country,
• Location: Verso
• Method of creation: Ink

Identification numbers

Accession number: 832/12.A.f.2
Primary reference Number: 40851
Stable URI

Audit data

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints