The most
prominent object is the famous bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius,
which cannot fail to rivet the attention of the least enthusiastic
spectator. I observed at each angle of the facade of the Capitol a colossal
statue of a captive King in a Phrygian dress; but still more striking than
these are the colossal statues of Castor and Pollux leading horses, which
stand a little in front of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, and
nearer the _escalier_, the one on the right the other on the left. Two
lions in basalt on each side of the _escalier_ are very striking objects,
and the _escalier_ itself is the most superb thing of the kind perhaps in
the world. This _escalier_ and the Marcus Aurelius, unique also in its
kind, are both the workmanship of Michael Angelo.[87] We descended this
_escalier_ and then fronted it to take a view of the Capitol from the
bottom; but the statue of Marcus Aurelius is so prominent and so grand that
it absorbed all my attention.
After dinner I walked a little in the gardens on the Pincian hill, and then
visited some friends belonging to the French Academy of Painting and
Sculpture, who were so good as to shew me their productions, and also a
copy of the superb folio edition of Denon's work on Egypt which to me, who
had been in that country, was highly gratifying.
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