MUSEUM, a collection of rare and in teresting objects, selected from the whole circle of natural history and the arts, and deposited in apartments or buildings, either by the commendable generosity of rich individuals, general governments, or monarchs, for the in. spection of the learned, and the great mass of the public.
The term, which means, literally, a stu dy, or place of retirement, is said to have been applied originally to that part of the Royal Palace at Alexandria appropriated for the use of learned men, and the re ception of the literary works then extant. According to ancient writers, they were formed into classes or colleges, each of which had a competent sum assigned for their support ; and we are further in formed, that the establishment was found ed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who added a most extensive library.
It would answer little purpose to trace the history of museums, as the earlier part of it is involved in much obscurity, and as we approach our own time, they multiply beyond a possibility of noticing even the most important. Within our brief limits we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to those at the Vatican, Flo rence, Paris, Oxford, and London. That of the Vatican might originally have been said to occupy every apartment of.the palace, which are more numerous than is any other royal residence in the world; the pictures, the books, the manuscripts, statues, bas reliefs, and every other de scription of the labours of ancient artists, were select, uncommon, and valuable, in the extreme, particularly the Laocoon, which some authors assert is the same that adorned the palace of the Emperor Titus, and mentioned by Pliny, as Open omnibus et Picture, ei stab/aria., artis, pre firendlon, who adds, that it was made by Agesandcr, Polvdorus, and Athcnodorus, natives of Rhodes, from a single mass of marble, which circumstance has since caused a doubt whether the groupe of the Vatican is really the original, as Mi chael Angelo discovered that it is com posed of more than one piece. It was found in 1506, near the baths of Titus, and, whether an original or a copy, has obtained and deserves every possible ad miration.
This invaluable collection continued to increase for several centuries, and till nearly the present period, when Rome narrowly escaped another sacking; but as a taste for the arts has fortunately dis tinguished the French, in some particu lar instances, it appeared in this, as a transfer of the richest articles to France has happily been preferred to destroying them.
The Grand Dukes of Tuscany were for a long series of years ardent admirers of the arts, ancient and modern, and re gretted no expense in obtaining the most rare and beautiful objects, which vast treasures were capable of consequently their museum at Florence vied with that at Rome, and, in some in stances, the value of particular articles exceeded any possibility of rivalship ; we allude to the Venus de Medicis, of which Keysler speaks thus, in his excellent ac count of part of the continent: " I shall conclude this short criticism on the cele brated Venus de Medicis with the follow ing observations, made by some able con noisseurs, namely, that if the different parts of this famous statue be examined separately, as the head, nose, &c. and compared with the like parts of others, it would not be impossible to find parts equal, if not superior, to those of the Venus de Medicis; but, if the delicacy of the shape, the attitude and symmetry of the whole be considered as one as semblage of beauties, it cannot be paral leled in the whole world. This beauti ful statue is placed between two others of the same goddess, both Which would be admired by spectators in any other place ; but here all their beauties are eclipsed by those of the Venus de Medi cis, to which they can be considered only as foils, to augment the lustre of that admired statue." The effects of the present dreadful, and apparently endless, war were severely felt at Florence; nor was it to be supposed that the museum of the Grand Duke would escape unmolest ed, when the contents of others, far less important, were conveyed to Paris : aware of the probable fate of the beat articles, many of them are said to have been re moved to places of safety. And particu larly the beautiful Venus, and the Her cules Farnese, to Sicily. Little is known in England of the state of the Florentine museum, but it is feared to be deplora ble.