218 Roman Sculpture. conception and fine execution. These bas-reliefs represent scenes in the actual life of the deceased, allegories re- lating to the future state, or mythological groups. The Vatican and the Doge's Palace at Venice contain many fine specimens. Our limits forbid us to attempt even a passing allusion to the countless minor antique art objects in the numerous public and private collections of Europe ; but we must not close our notice of the sculpture of the heathen world without a word on the famous Portland Vase in the British Museum, and the great cameos of antiquity. The Portland, or Barberini Vase was found in a sarco- phagus, in the sixteenth century, in the monument called the Monte del Grano, about two miles from Rome. It was placed in the British Museum by the Duke of Port- land, and we mention it here on account of the beautiful white bas-relief figures with which it is adorned.* The art of cameo-cutting was carried to the greatest perfection by the Greeks and Romans. The finest existing specimen is thought to be the Gonzaga cameo, now at St. Petersburg, which represents the heads of some royal per- sonage and his wife, and is six inches long by four broad. The Cabinet of Antiquities at Vienna contains a cameo of almost equal merit, and we must also mention one in the Louvre, which is thirteen inches long by eleven broad, and that called Cupid and Psyche in the Marlborough col-
- The Portland Vase was wantonly broken by a visitor to the
British Museum, in 1845, but has been so ingeniously joined together, that the fractures are scarcely visible. A small number of copies were made by Mr. Wedgwood, and are now very valuable.
