FINE ARTS,
MODEL OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME.
A MOST superb and complete Model of St. Peter's at Rome, on a grand scale, showing the interior as well as the exterior of the edifice, is now exhibited in Pall Mall, opposite the Italian Opera. Every one who desires to form a correct idea of the magnificence of this architectural wonder of the world, or who, having seen the original, may be carious to ascertain with what perfection its stupendous proportions and sumptu- ous decorations may be copied in miniature, should visit this matchless model of a matchless structure. It is on the scale of one to a hundred ; its dimensions are twenty-one feet in length and six feet four inches in height; and it occupied the artist, Signor ANDREA GAMBASSINI, four- teen years to complete. This will not appear extraordinary when it is considered with what elaborate minuteness all the architectural details, and embellishments of sculpture and painting, are imitated. The exte- rior of the model is of itself a surprising effort of ingenuity : it is con- structed of maple, and is admirable regarded as a piece of joinery merely : the architectural forms are sharply defined, the columns and cipit.ls accurately cut, and the statues delicately carved in ivory. A few figures only are wanted to afford a scale by which to estimate the o basal proportions of the colonade and_the church. The =idol 111
made to open, like a cabinet, to show the interior : being divided down the centre, one side is detached from the other ; and the visiter is thus enabled to form a conception of the surpassing splendour and richness of the coup-d'seil, and to examine in detail the plan of the structure and its decorations. The gray marble colums, the inlaid floor, the gilded ceiling, the painted dome, and walls enriched with the treasures of painting and sculpture, are exposed to view : the east end and the transepts also open, and by means of a mirror every recess of the chapels becomes visible. The mosaic pavement is composed of various woods resembling coloured marbles, but the marble pannelliugs of the walls are painted by hand ; the statues are carved in ivory, and the mosaic altarpieces and other pictures of the dome and ceilings are exe- cuted on copper in the most finished style of miniature-painting : not a statue is omitted, nor a slab of marble but is faithfully represented. The extraordinary patience and ingenuity of the maker have not been misbestowed, if to produce a model unique in point of beauty and com- pleteness be the triumph of skill in this Liliputian branch of art. One cannot but be struck with the majestic boldness and simplicity of construction in the dome of St. Peter's ; which, immense as it is, forms one vast vault of solid stone, the inner side being a counterpart of the outer form, and of one substance with it. What a contrast to the imposing sham of the dome of St. Paul's !—which is but a shell of metal, propped up on a timber framework, supported on a conical core: the cone is the real covering of St. Paul's, the inner dome of the ceiling and the outer one of the roof being equally fictitious. St. Paul's dome is an ingenious deception ; St. Peter's a sublime reality.
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