第18章　米开朗琪罗之后

凡事都是有起有落，绝不会一帆风顺的。雕塑艺术一直都在向上发展。自“文艺复兴”发端之后，雕塑艺术始终都在朝着日益完美的方向发展。而“文艺复兴”时期的雕塑艺术，以米开朗琪罗的作品为标志，达到了巅峰状态。

接下来，

它

就

开

始

走

下

坡

路

了！

米开朗琪罗之后的两百年里，尽管出现了数百位雕塑家，可其中优秀的雕塑家，却是屈指可数的。其中一位就是切利尼，即浇铸了青铜塑像《珀耳修斯砍下美杜莎头颅》的那位金匠。另一位则是博洛尼亚的约翰，他是比利时人。

John of Bologna was born in Belgium but he didn't stay there. He moved to Italy and lived in Italy the rest of his life.All of his important work was done in Italy.When a famous fountain he made was placed in the city of Bologna in Italy, people began to think he was a man of Bologna and called him Giovanni da Bologna, which means John of Bologna.

When people get joyful news, you may have heard them say，“I'm walking on air！”That is really pretty hard to do. Don't try it.But Bologna made a statue that is walking on air.How?A statue can't walk on air any more than a person can！But this statue is walking on air.It is Bologna's masterpiece and it is called Flying Mercury.

Now to make Mercury fly through the air, there shouldn't be anything but air to hold him up. So Bologna held Mercury up by the wind.The wind is a bronze wind and is shown coming out of the mouth of a bronze wind god.The wind is blowing on the bottom of Mercury's foot.Look closely and you can see the head of the wind god facing up toward the sky.

博洛尼亚的约翰出生于比利时，可他并没有一直待在国内。后来，他来到了意大利，并在意大利度过了自己的余生。他所有的重要作品，都是在意大利完成的。他曾经为意大利的博洛尼亚修建了一座有名的喷泉；此后，人们便开始将他视为博洛尼亚人，纷纷称他为“乔瓦尼·德·博隆亚”，意思就是“博洛尼亚的约翰”。

你们可能听到过，人们在得知喜讯的时候，会说：“我高兴得飘上天了！”可实际上，要飘到天上去，要漫步云端，却是件很不容易的事情呢。你们可别去试啊。但是，博隆亚却的确制作出了一件飘在空中的雕塑作品。这是怎么回事呢？连人都不能飘在空中，更何况是一尊雕塑呢。可是，那尊雕像，却真的是飘在空中！这件雕塑，就是博隆亚的名作，叫作《飞行的墨丘利》。

注意，要让墨丘利在空中飞行，那么他的脚下就不该有其他东西，只应当有空气。于是，博隆亚便用风来支撑雕像中的墨丘利。当然，这阵风是用青铜雕制而成的，从同样是用青铜铸就的一位风神嘴中吹出来。这阵风，就在墨丘利的脚底下吹

Mercury really looks as if he were running in the air as well as flying with his winged cap and sandals and his caduceus-a winged staff or wand with two snakes curling around it. Mercury was the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology.He was also the god of commerce, thievery, travel, and science.If you ever want to think of someone considered to be very important, think of Mercury.

His caduceus is a Roman symbol of truce and neutrality. When animals or people quarreled, the caduceus was supposed to make them friends again.Mercury once saw two snakes fighting.He threw his staff down between them and the two snakes curled peacefully around it.So Mercury kept them there to show the power of his staff.Today the caduceus is used as the symbol of doctors in the United States Army.

Now when people think of Mercury, they generally think of Flying Mercury by Bologna. That statue fits my idea of how flying Mercury should look.Does it fit yours?

拂着。仔细观察，你们就能看出，风神的头部朝上，正对着天空。

的确，这尊雕塑中的墨丘利看上去就像是在空中飞奔着，头上戴着那顶长有双翅的帽子，脚穿飞鞋，手持节杖飞行着；他的节杖，就是一根长有翅膀，上面还盘着两条蛇的棍子或者魔杖。在古罗马神话里，墨丘利是众神的信使。他还是掌管商业、盗窃、旅行和科学的神灵。假如你们希望自己了解哪位公认的重要人物，那么，想一想墨丘利就行了。

墨丘利手持的那根节杖，是古罗马时期停战和中立的标志。如果动物之间或者人们之间发生了争执，据说这根节杖就可以让他们重新言归于好呢。墨丘利曾经看到两条蛇在打架。他将自己的节杖扔到两条蛇中间，那两条蛇便一起缠到了节杖之上，和平共处了。于是，墨丘利便让那两条蛇一直盘绕在节杖上，以此来表明他的节杖具有魔力。如今，美国陆军仍然用这根节杖来作为军医的标志呢。

现在，人们一想到墨丘利，便会想起博隆亚创作的这尊《飞行的墨丘利》。这尊雕塑，完全符合我想象中的、飞行着的墨丘利应有的样子。它与你们想象中的样子，是不是也相符合呢？