The text focuses on the study and comparison of a gladiator sculpture, noting its unique stance where one leg appears longer due to tension. Different plates present measurements of the statue in various views, and the analysis emphasizes how the sculpture represents both strength and agility. There's also a description of another figure in a marble group depicting a mother questioning her senator son in the Ludovisia Villa.
Method for Learning
Comparing them to each other, at least they all agree that this is the most important for study, that it is the one in which the most truth is found, and that this truth is extremely learned. One notices in this Gladiator something quite peculiar: it is that the leg which extends backwards is longer than the other. This is a truth of nature that might have escaped anyone other than this great Artist. In the extreme tension found in this leg, the joint sockets do not fit with the same precision as in a leg upon which the body rests, and the gap they then leave produces an elongation. It is possible that it might be somewhat exaggerated, but one must have seen it in nature before making a statement. Moreover, this nature perfectly fulfills the sculptor's assumption in this figure, for it is equally suited for strength contests, due to its vigorous character, and for agility contests, due to its lightness.
Plate 66, presents the measurements of the Gladiator seen from the front, and in foreshortening in various ways: Plate 67 shows it in profile; this same figure is seen from the front and shaded in the first figure of Plate 68: finally, the head is given separately in the second figure of the same Plate, and the feet on the first Figure of Plate 69. Moreover, not being able to divide the entire statue into a certain number of parts, due to its posture, it was content to measure it by nose length, each divided into six parts.
On the second Figure of Plate 69, there is a figure that is part of a marble group in the Ludovisia Villa; this group represents a senator's mother questioning her son about what happened at the Senate.
Translation Notes:
- "Gladiator" refers to a sculpture figure known for a recognizable pose. - "Foreshortening" is a technique used in perspective to represent an object or figure in depth.