quire an astonishing collection of ancient vases, gems,
coins,
bronzes,
glass, and armor.
He watched the
frequent eruptions
of Vesuvius with
the eye of a naturalist and was just
The author���s bedroom.
as excited about
the discoveries revealed during the excavations at Pompeii. With the assistance of P. F. Hugues, he catalogued
and disseminated his Collection of Etruscan, Greek and
Roman Antiquities in four stunning volumes published in
black and terracotta in the late 1760s. And it is likely that
he commissioned Rehberg���s drawings and Piroli���s engravings, which gave his wife���s classical representatons
much greater currency. As Horace Walpole quipped,
���Sir William has actually married his gallery of statues.���
The best description we have of one of these performances can be found in Goethe���s Italian Journey, written following his visit to the Hamiltons in 1787. Emma
emerges as an ���English girl of twenty with a beautiful
face and a perfect figure���:
He has had a Greek costume made for her which
becomes her extremely. Dressed in this, she lets
down her hair and, with a few shawls, gives so
much variety to her poses, gestures, expressions,
etc., that the spectator can hardly believe his eyes.
HYLAND
