no. xiv.
The Family of Niobe.
Amongst the busts which orna-
ment the Museum, this group,
with the head of Niobe, ought to
engage particular attention, from
the acknowledged purity of style
which reigns throughout the heads
which compose it. The Abbé
Winkleman the most classical judge
of the arts, has pronounced the
head of Niobe to be a model of the
highest style of beauty, and Guido,
the painter of the graces, made it his
peculiar study. The age of their ex-
ecution is supposed to be that of the
highest glory of the arts, that is,
in the time of Phidias, but it is not
ascertained whether the statues
which now compose this interesting
group at Florence, are the originals
or not. By the jealousy and hatred
of Latona, the children of Niobe
fell victims to the darts of Apollo
and Diana, and the expression of
the head of Niobe, is strongly indi-
cative of such peculiar distress.