The touching point in the
story is not the fact itself, but the firm belief that an ancient body,
which was now thought to be at last really before men's eyes, must of
necessity be far more beautiful than anything of modern date.
Meanwhile the material knowledge of old Rome was increased by
excavations. Under Alexander VI the so-called 'Grotesques,' that is,
the mural decorations of the ancients, were discovered, and the Apollo
of the Belvedere was found at Porto d'Anzio. Under Julius II followed
the memorable discoveries of the Laocoon, of the Venus of the Vatican,
of the Torso of the Cleopatra. The palaces of the nobles and the
cardinals began to be filled with ancient statues and fragments.
Raphael undertook for Leo X that ideal restoration of the whole ancient
city which his (or Castiglione's) celebrated letter (1518 or 1519)
speaks of. After a bitter complaint over the devastations which had not
even then ceased, and which had been particularly frequent under Julius
II, he beseeches the Pope to protect the few relics which were left to
testify to the power and greatness of that divine soul of antiquity
whose memory was inspiration to all who were capable of higher things.
He then goes on with penetrating judgement to lay the foundations of a
comparative history of art, and concludes by giving the definition of
an architectural survey which has been accepted since his time; he
requires the ground plan, section and elevation separately of every
building that remained.
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