No. 215 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - Aug. 8, 1835

PIASSA OF MONTE CAVALLO.
Wood Cut Engraving (File size 23K)

THE Piazza or Square of the Quirnal, now more commonly called the Piazza of Monte Cavallo, from the statues of the two horses (cavalli), is, taken altogether, not only one of the finest parts of Rome, but one of the most favourable points from which to see the rest of that city. This square is on the Quirinal Mount, which is the highest of the seven old hills: it commands some of the finest views of the modern city, with the noblest of its palaces and churches, fountains and obelisks. From one part of the Quirinal Hill the eye looks down upon the Campus Martius; in another direction it takes in the grand column of the Emperor Trajan, and, in an opposite point, it reposes upon the long galleries of the Vatican, and the massy walls and sublime dome of St. Peter's, and the shady sides of Monte Mario. La Strada Pia, one of the finest streets in Europe, gives access to the square, on one side of which there stands the Quirinal Palace,--a plain but imposing edifice, in which the pope generally resides in summer, on account of its elevated situation and the coolness and purity of the air. The palace, like the square, is now more commonly called of Monte Cavallo. In the rear of this palace are fine and spacious gardens with shady groves and fresh fountains, and in front of it are most happily placed the statues represented in our view. These statues are of colossal size, and of such great beauty, as to have been attributed, though without any historical authority, to Phidias and Praxiteles, the greatest sculptors of ancient Greece. They were brought to Rome from Alexandria in Egypt, at the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era, by Constantine the Great, and placed in the Thermae, or baths, which that emperor erected on the Quirinal Hill, very near to the spot where the statues now stand. These old baths were in good preservation when they were knocked down about the year 1610, during the pontificate of Paul V. by the Cardinal Borghese, who built upon their site and chiefly out of their materials the splendid palace now called Palazzo Mazzarino. The statues, however, were removed from the baths some years before their destruction, and placed where they now are by the architect Fontana, in the time of Sixtus V., who was pope from 1585 to 1590. Fontana also superintended the restorations of the statues which had been somewhat mutilated in the course of many ages and accidents. Each of these groups consists of a fiery horse held by a bold young man, and hence the Roman antiquaries, who often leaped to conclusions from still weaker premises, were induced to believe that they both were intended for Alexander the Great in the act of checking Bucephalus, and consequently the names of the conqueror and the steed are inscribed on the bases the statues stand upon. Of late years, however, it has been rather the fashion to call them Castor and Pollux; and if they must have names--which we think scarcely necessary--these are probably as good as any. At all events, Phidias could not have made a statue of Alexander, from the simple circumstance that he died nearly a hundred years before the "Macedonian madman" was born. But notwithstanding that their names are confidently set down, "Opus Phidiae" being inscribed on one base, and "Opus Praxitelis" on the other, it is more than probable that they were the works of very different men, though from their beauty and spirit they must have been produced by great masters at a time when art was in high perfection. Like the famous bronze horses at Venice and the rilievos from the Parthenon of Athens now in the British Museum, they will always be cherished by people of taste as precious relics of ancient sculpture. From a roughness and want of finish in the hinder parts of the horses, it should seem they were originally intended to stand with their backs close to some building. The obelisk that now towers between them, and which is one of the granite columns brought from Egypt by the old Romans, is a fine but comparatively-modern addition to the splendour of this piazza. It was set up, about half a century ago, by Pope Pius VI., and we believe, the pleasant fountain with the large granite tazza or basin was completed at the same time. Neither the obelisk nor the fountain occur in the old views of Rome, nor are they represented even in Piranesi's engravings. In the rear of these very striking objects, and on the side of the square opposite to the papal palace, there is a curious quaint building called La gran Guardia, which is occupied by the Swiss soldiers in the service of the Pope. Beyond this are the beautiful Colonna gardens, the tall green trees of which contrast delightfully in the view with the stern palaces and masses of stone and marble. At another corner of the square stands the vast palace of the Rospiglioso family. In short, whichever way the eye turns it is struck with objects of beauty or grandeur, or objects that are interesting from their antiquity and associations.

In the days of the Roman Empire, the Quirinal Mount was covered with buildings as it now is; and, besides the baths of Constantine, which we have mentioned, there was a splendid temple of the sun on the level space now called the square of Monte Cavallo. The aristocracy of the Catholic Church have built upon the ruins of the aristocracy of the Roman Empire as some future race will build upon their ruins, when, at some distant day, these proud palaces shall have crumbled and been deserted. The poet Martial is aid to have had a house on the Quirinal Mount.