LUIGI, a celebrated Italian archaeologist, and the historian of Italian art, was born in 1732, at Monte dell' Almo (Olimpum), near Fermo, in the States of the Church. He was carefully trained at home, and made great and rapid progress, especially in the classics. Cicero was his favourite author. He used to boast that he knew nearly all his works off by heart. In his eighteenth year he joined the Jesuits, studied at their college in Fermo under the celebrated Bessewich, taught publicly in various schools, and made himself a considerable name as a teacher and elegant writer. When the order of Jesus was suppressed, he adopted the career of letters. In 1776, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, made him sub-director, and, in the following year, antiquario, or conservator, of the Florentine Gallery. The next six years of his life were spent in preparing his Guida della Galleria di Firenze, in which the history of the objects in the collection is traced with great learning and critical skill, and, at the same time, so agreeably as to interest the mere pleasure-seeker. In 1789 he published his Saggio di lingua Etrusca. His design in this essay was to draw the attention of scholars to the archaeology of Tuscany; and he may be said by it to have created this difficult branch of erudition. Before his day native antiquarians had been in the habit of elevating the civilization of Etruria, by maintaining that its religion and mythology owed nothing to Grecian influence. Lanzi, taking a different Lanzi's view claimed a Greek origin for both, and his opinion has been followed by continental scholars. His *Saggio* was a work of immense erudition and research, and placed him at the head of the antiquarians of modern Italy. In the course of his wanderings through Italy in quest of materials for these works, Lanzi had conceived the idea of a general history of Italian art. He was encouraged in the idea by his old friend and colleague, Tiraboschi, who had some time before completed his own history of Italian literature. The *Storia Pittorica della Italia* came in time to supply a want that had long been felt. There was no general history of painting, and the histories of particular epochs, as well as the biographies of individual artists, merely recorded the private opinions and prejudices of their authors. They were all partial, and without method, or a philosophical standard of taste and criticism. Lanzi, following out the plan of Winckelmann, gives a separate history of each school. After giving its general character, he distinguishes it into three, four, or more epochs, according as its style underwent changes with the change of taste, in the same way that the eras of civil history are deduced from revolutions in governments, or other remarkable events. A few celebrated painters, who swayed the public taste, and gave a new tone to the art, are placed at the head of each epoch; and their style is particularly described, because the general and characteristic taste of the age was formed upon their models. Their immediate pupils and other disciples follow the great masters; and, without a repetition of the general character, reference is made to what each has borrowed, altered, or added to the style of the founder of the school.

This method, though not susceptible of strict chronological order, is much better adapted to a history of art than either an alphabetic arrangement or a body of separate lives. The first portion of the *Storia Pittorica*, containing the schools of Lower Italy—that is, the Florentine, Sienese, Roman, and Neapolitan schools—was published in 1792. The publication of the rest of the work was delayed by the author's bad health, and only appeared in 1796, at Bassano, whither he had gone to recruit. There is a good translation of it in English by Thomas Roscoe. When the French became masters of that part of Italy, Lanzi retired to Treviso, and afterwards to Udine. In the latter city he remained till 1801, when he returned to Florence, and resumed his duties in the ducal gallery. Soon after his return, he was made president of the Criscan Academy. His next literary undertaking was three dissertations upon *Ancient Painted Vases*, commonly called *Etruscan*, which he followed up with his learned and pleasantly written *Inscriptionum et Carminum libri tres*. Among his latest productions may be mentioned his edition of Hesiod's *Works and Days*, with valuable notes, and a translation in *terza rima*. It had been begun as far back as 1785; but was re-cast and completed in 1808. The list of his works closes with his *Opera Sacra*, a series of treatises on spiritual subjects. Lanzi himself attached more importance to these than to any other of his writings, and was often heard to say that he would gladly renounce all kind of literary honours for the pleasure of being assured that his sacred works had in any degree promoted the cause of Christianity. Lanzi died of apoplexy, March 30, 1810, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was buried in the church of the Santa Croce at Florence, by the side of Michael Angelo.

**Laocoon**, in ancient mythology, a Trojan hero, was a priest of Apollo, or, according to some, of Neptune. While the Trojans were hesitating whether they should convey into the city the wooden horse which the Greeks had left at their pretended departure, Laocoon urged them to destroy it, and, at the same time, pierced its side with his lance. The horse had been consecrated to Minerva, who punished the sacrilege. Soon after, when Laocoon was sacrificing a bullock to Neptune on the shore, two enormous serpents issued from the sea, and attacked his two sons, standing beside the altar. The father, rushing to their aid, was likewise involved in their coils, and all three perished. This story, so often sung by ancient poets, is interesting to us, chiefly from being the subject of a magnificent piece of sculpture, which was found, in 1506, among the ruins of the palace of Titus, was bought by Pope Julius II., and placed in the Vatican. It represents three persons (of whom the middle one, Laocoon, is the tallest) struggling in the folds of two monster serpents, and with intense agony visible in all parts of their bodies. According to Pliny, with whose description it has been identified, it is the work of three Rhodian sculptors, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, and stood in the palace of Titus. He also supposes it to have been made out of one stone, but minute examination can discover five pieces, artfully joined together. The right arm of Laocoon, which was wanting when the group was dug up, has been skilfully replaced. The date of the work is not fixed. Lessing places it in the reign of Titus, and Winckelmann in the time of Lysippus and Alexander. This group has been made the subject of an essay by Lessing, and has been described by Heyne and others.

**Laodicea**, a name common to four places—one in the western part of Phrygia, on the borders of Lydia; a second in the eastern part of the same country, denominated Laodicea Combusta; a third on the coast of Syria, called Laodicea ad Mare, and serving as the port of Aleppo; and a fourth in the same country, called Laodicea ad Lycamum, from its proximity to that mountain. The first-named, lying on the confines of Phrygia and Lydia, about 40 miles E. of Ephesus, is the Laodicea of Scripture.

Laodicea was the capital of Greater Phrygia, and is supposed to have received its name from Laodice, wife of Antiochus Theos. Before this time it had been called Diospolis and Rhoas. It was a very considerable city at the time it was named in Scripture (Strabo, p. 678); but the frequency of earthquakes, to which this district has always been liable, demolished, some ages after, great part of the city, destroyed many of the inhabitants, and eventually obliged the remainder to abandon the spot altogether. Smith, in his *Journey to the Seven Churches* (1671), was the first to describe the site of Laodicea. He was followed by Chandler and Pococke; and the locality has, within the present century, been visited by Mr Hartley, Mr Arundell, and Colonel Leake.

Laodicea is now a deserted place, called by the Turks Eski-hissar (old castle), a Turkish word equivalent to Paleo-kastro, which the Greeks so frequently apply to ancient sites. From its ruins, Laodicea seems to have been situated upon six or seven hills, taking up a large extent of ground. To the N. and N.E. runs the River Lycus, about a mile and a half distant; but nearer it is watered by two small streams, the Asopus and Caprus, the one to the W., and the other to the S.E., both passing into the Lycus, which last flows into the Maeander (Smith, p. 85).

Laodicea preserves great remains of its importance as the residence of the Roman governors of Asia under the emperors,—namely, a stadium, in uncommon preservation; three theatres, one of which is 450 feet in diameter; and the ruins of several other buildings (*Antiq. of Ionia*, part ii., p. 32; Chandler's *Asia Minor*, c. 67). Colonel Leake says, "There are few ancient sites more likely than Laodicea to preserve many curious remains of antiquity beneath the surface of the soil; its opulence, and the earthquakes to which it was subjected, rendering it probable that valuable works of art were often there buried beneath the ruins of the public and private edifices (Cicero, *Epist. ad Attic.*, ii. 17; iii. 5; v. 20; Tacit, *Annales*, xiv. 27). And a similar remark, though in a lesser degree, perhaps, will apply to the other cities of the vale of the Maeander, as well as to some of Minerals differ greatly in the physical property of hardness; and this is so marked a feature, that a scale has been formed in which certain well-known minerals are arranged as standards of comparison; they increase gradually in hardness from No.1 in the scale, represented by talc, which is very easily cut, to No.10, the diamond, which nothing will cut. No.2 is compact gypsum, No.3, calc-spar; No.4, fluorspar; No.5, apatite; No.6, felspar; No.7, quartz; No.8, topaz; No.9, sapphire.

Stones are usually cut or polished by means of harder stones, in the form of powder, applied to the edge, or on the surface of certain disks of metal, wood, etc., revolving horizontally, on vertical axes, and called mills. The annexed figure represents the lapidary's bench, consisting of a stout plank, supported on a frame. The top is formed into two unequal compartments, and a rim rises above it to prevent the dispersion of the waste emery and water. In the compartment A is a hole and collar, through which passes the vertical spindle of the driving-wheel W, which is about 18 inches in diameter, and is worked by the handle represented in A. In the compartment B is another vertical spindle, carrying the mill M, which is 8 or 9 inches in diameter, and also the pulley P, which causes it to revolve by its connection, by means of a cord, with W. D is a square wooden rod, supporting a horizontal iron arm, in which the top conical end of the spindle works. At C is an iron support, called a gim-peg or germ-peg, the use of which is to support the arm of the workman in grinding the edges of small stones, and also as a guide for the vertical angle in cutting facets, for which purpose a wooden socket C is slipped over the upper part of the peg, and held by a wedge, while holes or notches in the side of the socket enable the operator to place at the proper angle the stick S, upon which is cemented the stone to be cut.

Diamond powder is preferred as the cutting material, even where sand or emery might be employed. It does its work far more rapidly than any other material; it lasts much longer, it can be used with very thin plates, which not only expedite the process, but waste much less of the material in the cutting than thick slices. Diamond powder is prepared from bort, as diamond fragments are called, or from imperfect stones; they are crushed in a mortar of hard steel, a process rendered easy by the brittleness consequent on the crystalline structure of the diamond. If not made sufficiently fine by this means, the powder is mixed with oil of brick, placed on a flat piece of iron, and worked with another piece of iron as a muller.

The slicer is of planished iron, 8 or 9 inches in diameter, and \( \frac{1}{2} \) inch in thickness. The diamondal powder is formed into a paste with oil of brick, and is applied to... the edge of the slicer with a piece of stick or a slitted quill, and the particles of diamond are pressed into the iron with a piece of agate or flint applied to the edge. This seasoning, as it is called, will last several hours. The stone to be cut is applied lightly to the edge of the slicer, which, to prevent heating, is made to revolve with moderate velocity by turning the handle, shown in A; the slicer during the cutting being well supplied with oil of brick.

The flat surfaces produced in the above arrangement, which is called a slitting-mill, are ground upon what is called a roughing-mill, which consists of a lead lap charged with emery and water. It is polished in the polishing-mill, on a lead or pewter lap, supplied with rotten-stone and water.

When a stone is to be worked into a definite shape, a pattern is cut out in card, and this being laid upon the stone, the outline is marked with ink. The stone is then roughly worked into shape by means of flat nippers of soft iron. The stone is then cemented to a stick, and the exposed portion is ground by holding the stick upon a flat mill, and imparting to the stone certain peculiar motions, which are well understood by working lapidaries, who produce rounded, elliptical, and other faces and edges, with surprising accuracy. The numerous forms of faceting are performed with the assistance of the gin-peg, as already explained.

Diamonds are, for the most part, cut at Amsterdam, where the steam-engine is used to give motion to the mills. (c.7.)