The text describes the discovery of another statue of Antinous and provides detailed descriptions and measurements of various figures from plates 62 to 65. There is a comparison between figures like Venus, Apollo, and Antinous, and a description of the famous Laocoön sculpture from the Vatican. The discussion includes units of measurement used in artistic contexts.
THE DRAWING
Another figure of the same Antinous has been discovered, in a different posture, but which does not at all detract from this one; and according to the opinion of some artists, it is superior in several aspects. This new figure was found in the City of Hadrian, which was a pleasure house of Emperor Hadrian; it is currently placed in the Capitoline.
The first figure in Plate 62 represents Antinous, viewed from the front with its measurements; Figure 2 shows it from the back; Plate 63, Figure 1, shows it in profile; and Figure 2 of the same plate provides the measurements of its feet, enlarged. The entire statue, in the first three figures, is supposed to be divided into twenty-eight parts or "nez", which are subdivided into six others.
Plate 64 provides a comparison of the three antique figures that we have just given, which have the most connection with each other: namely Venus, Apollo, and Antinous, each measured with particular divisions, although defined on the same scale, to facilitate comparison.
Laocoön. Plate 65.
This famous group, seen in Rome in one of the niches of the Vatican courtyard, is one of the most admirable sculptures that have come down to us from Greek antiquity. It is known that Laocoön was a priest of Apollo and Neptune, who was devoured, with his two children, by two enormous serpents, as he was preparing to make a sacrifice to Neptune by the sea. Here we see this unfortunate old man, entwined by these serpents.
Translation Notes
Nez: Refers to a unit of measurement based on the nose, a common term in artistic measurements.