rian's
villa. A Neapolitan by birth, but called to Rome by his friend Pope Paul
IV. (Caraffa), Ligorio, upon his arrival was associated with the aged
Michael Angelo in the building of St. Peter's.

With the arrogance of youth he quarrelled with the great master and did
not hesitate to speak of him openly as a dotard who had outlived his
usefulness and should yield his place to a younger genius. Paul IV. had
the wisdom to retain Michael Angelo in his important post, and the tact
to take the sting from Ligorio's removal by giving him the commission
for the casino in the Vatican Gardens which (as it was not finished
until the pontificate of Pius IV.) was destined to bear the name of the
Villa Pia.

Learned authorities have endeavoured to find the original of Ligorio's
masterpiece in some ancient building, whereas the perfect adaptability
of its plan to new requirements proves that it could never have been
produced earlier than the Renaissance. It has been well epitomised as
the "day-dream of an artist who has saturated his mind with the past."

[Illustration: Antinous as Bacchus, in the Museum of the Vatican
Permission of Alinari.]

In the profusion of joyous mythological deities which give the facade of
the Casino the richness of decoration of a jewel-casket, nymphs and
graces dance, Pan flutes, and marine monsters frolic with all the
abandon of classical feeling, and it is in the ornamental details, not
in the conception of the ensemble, that we detect the influence of the
Villa of Hadrian. When the papal villa was approaching completion,
Ligorio attracted the attention of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este II. (the
patron of Tasso) a connoisseur and dilettante in all the arts, who
wisely entrusted to the young architect the construction of his famous
villa at Tivoli.

The Cardinal had the right to quarry materials from the neighbouring
ruins, and among the first of the great discoveries which Ligorio
records is that of a statue of Antinous. It depicted the youth under the
attributes of Bacchus, and was possibly a replica of the beautiful
statue found later at Praeneste and now in the Sala Rotonda of the
Vatican.

From the hour that it was carried in triumph to the terraces of Villa
d'Este, Ligorio and his patron as well, were taken captive by a new
enthusiasm, for a lucky chance had guided the excavators to the most
richly ornamented of all the apartments in the Emperor's wonderful
palace--the heavy-folded curtain of Time