eBooks Base 2000

It is floored with
rich marble in beautifully arranged compartments, and the walls are
almost entirely eased with marble of various sorts, the prevailing kind
being giallo antico, intermixed with verd antique, and I know not what
else; but the splendor of the giallo antico gives the character to the
room, and the large and deep niches along the walls appear to be lined
with the same material. Without coming to Italy, one can have no idea of
what beauty and magnificence are produced by these fittings up of
polished marble. Marble to an American means nothing but white
limestone.
This hall, moreover, is adorned with pillars of Oriental alabaster, and
wherever is a space vacant of precious and richly colored marble it is
frescoed with arabesque ornaments; and over the whole is a coved and
vaulted ceiling, glowing with picture. There never can be anything
richer than the whole effect. As to the sculpture here it was not very
fine, so far as I can remember, consisting chiefly of busts of the
emperors in porphyry; but they served a good purpose in the upholstery
way.


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