A NOTE ON STORIA, STORIATO I

* A great colomne, in ye wliich are carved by historiés the things mémorable, which hâve been clone in this Hippodrome ' (II, XVI, 50 b).

' A great colomne of marble historied after the maner of those of Antonin and Adrian... at Rome' (ibid.).

John Evelyn, in his Diary (1645) :

' A long and spacious walk, fuU of fountaines, under which is historized the whole Ovidian Metamorphosis inrarely sculptur'd nieiio relievo' (6 May).

Richard Lassels, in his Voyage oj Ilaly (c. i6éo) :

' In the Sacristy we were shown... the curions back ot an altar of ivory eut into historiés after a rare manner ' (éd. 1670-98, I, 76).

' Doors ail of brass historied with figures containing the remarkable historiés of both the Testaments' (Jbid.,\, 127).

' Brazen doors historied with a fine basso rcl'wvo ' {ibid., l, 148).

Thomas Gray, in his Elegy lurillen in a Counlry Cburchyard (1750):

' Can storied urn' or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? '

(Stanza XI.)

Erasmus Darwin, in his Botanic Gardai (1791) :

'The storied pyramid, the laurel'd bust, The trophy'd arch had crumbled into dust'

(Part II, p. 59.)

H. W. Longfellow, in his Outre-Mer (1833) : ' Are then the sculptured urn and storied monument nothing more than symbols of family pride ? '

{Prose Works, 1886, I, 75.)

I. It is curiousto note that of the teu Italian and French translations ot Gray's Elc^iy included in the volume of translations of the poem pnblished by Alessandro Torri at Verona in iSiyonly one, that of Domeuico Trant, gives the phrase (' l'urna istoriata ') corresponding to Gray's ' storied urn'. Two of the translators, Cesarotti and Lastri, prefer the phrase ' urna effjgiaia ' ; the others employ a paraphrase ,

200 PAGET TOYNBEE

T. N. Talfourd, in his Castilian (1853) :

' Softest light Shed b\' one silver lamp revealed the walls Of alabaster, storied witb the deeds Of saints and martyrs .

(Act III, se. IV.)

The saine terms were applied to mosaic, tarsia, and other inlay work. Thus Ristoro d'Arezzo, in his Composi^ione dd Moîido (1282), comparing the heavenly constellations to designs in mosaic, says :

' Pare che le figure del cielo fossero disegnate e composte di stelle, a modo delli savi artefici che fanno la nobilissima operazione mossaica, ad ardonare od a storiare le pareti e pavimenti de' palazzi de' grandi imperadori e de' grandi re e de' grandi templi ' (I, 7, cd. 1859, p. 7).

' E' 1 cielo pare che sia ordinato e istoriato di figure d'animali ' e pesci dalle stelle, quasi a modo musaico (éd. cit., I, 7, p. 8).

' Troviamo la parte di settentrione del cielo tutta piena e storiata d'animali ' {éd. cit., I, 10, p. 11).

And Giovanni Villani, in his Cronica, in his account of the damage done by the damp to the mosaic designs in the dôme of the Baptistery at Florence :

' Nel detto anno [1345] si cominciô a rivolgere e rinnovare la coperta del marmo del duomodi San Giovanni, e la cornice d'intorno troppo più hella che non era prima, perocchè per lungo tempo la coperta de' marmi in prima in alcuna parte era rotta e guasta, e faceva acqua e guastava le dipinture d'entro e le storie del musaico ' (XIT, 46, éd. 1823, Vol. VII, p. 117).

In the Storia délia Vendetta di Cristo (c. 1380), quoted b}' Tramater, we read :

' In questa cella era la passione di Cristo tutta istoriata ad opéra musaica '.