第18章　米開朗琪羅之后

凡事都是有起有落，絕不會一帆風順的。雕塑藝術一直都在向上發展。自“文藝復興”發端之后，雕塑藝術始終都在朝著日益完美的方向發展。而“文藝復興”時期的雕塑藝術，以米開朗琪羅的作品為標志，達到了巔峰狀態。

接下來，

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米開朗琪羅之后的兩百年里，盡管出現了數百位雕塑家，可其中優秀的雕塑家，卻是屈指可數的。其中一位就是切利尼，即澆鑄了青銅塑像《珀耳修斯砍下美杜莎頭顱》的那位金匠。另一位則是博洛尼亞的約翰，他是比利時人。

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.

博洛尼亞的約翰出生于比利時，可他并沒有一直待在國內。后來，他來到了意大利，并在意大利度過了自己的余生。他所有的重要作品，都是在意大利完成的。他曾經為意大利的博洛尼亞修建了一座有名的噴泉；此后，人們便開始將他視為博洛尼亞人，紛紛稱他為“喬瓦尼·德·博隆亞”，意思就是“博洛尼亞的約翰”。

你們可能聽到過，人們在得知喜訊的時候，會說：“我高興得飄上天了！”可實際上，要飄到天上去，要漫步云端，卻是件很不容易的事情呢。你們可別去試啊。但是，博隆亞卻的確制作出了一件飄在空中的雕塑作品。這是怎么回事呢？連人都不能飄在空中，更何況是一尊雕塑呢。可是，那尊雕像，卻真的是飄在空中！這件雕塑，就是博隆亞的名作，叫作《飛行的墨丘利》。

注意，要讓墨丘利在空中飛行，那么他的腳下就不該有其他東西，只應當有空氣。于是，博隆亞便用風來支撐雕像中的墨丘利。當然，這陣風是用青銅雕制而成的，從同樣是用青銅鑄就的一位風神嘴中吹出來。這陣風，就在墨丘利的腳底下吹

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?

拂著。仔細觀察，你們就能看出，風神的頭部朝上，正對著天空。

的確，這尊雕塑中的墨丘利看上去就像是在空中飛奔著，頭上戴著那頂長有雙翅的帽子，腳穿飛鞋，手持節杖飛行著；他的節杖，就是一根長有翅膀，上面還盤著兩條蛇的棍子或者魔杖。在古羅馬神話里，墨丘利是眾神的信使。他還是掌管商業、盜竊、旅行和科學的神靈。假如你們希望自己了解哪位公認的重要人物，那么，想一想墨丘利就行了。

墨丘利手持的那根節杖，是古羅馬時期停戰和中立的標志。如果動物之間或者人們之間發生了爭執，據說這根節杖就可以讓他們重新言歸于好呢。墨丘利曾經看到兩條蛇在打架。他將自己的節杖扔到兩條蛇中間，那兩條蛇便一起纏到了節杖之上，和平共處了。于是，墨丘利便讓那兩條蛇一直盤繞在節杖上，以此來表明他的節杖具有魔力。如今，美國陸軍仍然用這根節杖來作為軍醫的標志呢。

現在，人們一想到墨丘利，便會想起博隆亞創作的這尊《飛行的墨丘利》。這尊雕塑，完全符合我想象中的、飛行著的墨丘利應有的樣子。它與你們想象中的樣子，是不是也相符合呢？