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·SHARA
THE
PUBLIC
LTURARE
ATIONAL
ALLERI
A Selection from its Pictures.
ENGRAVED BY GEORGE DOO, WILLIAM FINDEN, JOHN AND HENKY LE KEUX,
JOIIN PYE, EDWARD GOODALL JOIN BURNET, W. BROMLEY,
GEORGE COOKE AND OTIIERS.
WITII
BIOGRAPIUOAT AND DESCRIPTIVE LETTERPRESS.
A NEW 80TION, MA'M THE ORIGINAL. PLATES
London:
CHATTO AND WIN DUS, PUBLISHERS.
1875.

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·al CONTENTS. SUBJECT. BY 11 13 17 21 + . 25 29 33 . 37 41 45 THE ADORATION OF THE SITEPHERDS, Rembrandt l'un Rhyn, THE VILLAGE FESTIVAL (l'rontispicre), Darid Wilkie, R.A., AN ITALIAN SEAPORT: SUNSET, Claude Lorraine, THE REPUTED PORTRAIT OF GEVAKTIUS, Sir Anthony l'andyck, folio EVENING; A COMPOSITION, Albert Cüyp, or küyp, A LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES, Claude: Lorraine, A VIEW IN VENICE, Antonio Canaletti, PORTRAIT OF SMR PETER PAUL RUBENS, Sir Anthony Vandyck, THE APPEARANCE OF CIIRIST TO ST PETER, , Innibale Caracci, TIIE PORTRAIT OF A JEW MERCULANT, Rembrandt, TIIE RAPE OF THK, SABINES, Rubens, THE VILLA OF MÆCENAS AT TIVOLI, Richard Wilson, A SPANISH PEASANT BOY, Murillo, THE BANISHED LORD, Sir Joshua Heynolds, THE MARRIAGE FESTIVAL OF ISAAC AND REBECCA, Claude, A BACCIIANALIAN SCENE, Nicholas Poussin, A LANDSCAPE, WITI FIGURES, Gasparo Poussin, PORTRAIT OF LORD IIEATHFIELD, Sir Joshua Reynolds, TJIE WATERING-PLACE, . Thomas Gainsborough, THE EMPEROR TIIEODOSIUS REFUSED) ADMITl'andyck, TANCE TO THE CHURCII, THE MARKET CART, Gainsborough, 49 53 57 . . 01 09 783 77 . 8] ·vi CONTENTS SUBJECT. BY Paul Veronese, 80) Annibale Caracci, 9:3 . ST NICHOLAS CONSECRATED BISHOP OF MYRA, SILENUS, A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES, CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS, Claude, 97 Rembrandt, 101 . TIJE EMBARKATION OF SAINT URSULA, Claude, 105 SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS, Ludovico Caracri, 109 PEACE AND WAR,. Rubens, 113 . TIIE HOLY FAMILY, Correggio, 117

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THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
Rembrandt van Rhyn.

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·TUBLIC LUNTRY ded THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. REMBRANDT VAN RHY'N EMBRANDT, the great master of the Dutch school, whom Fuseli designates "a meteor in art,” wag of humble extraction; yet the force of his genius, and his persevering industry, overcame the disudvantages of birth, and obtained for him u permanent and descrveid renown. He was the son of a millor named Herman Cerretz, but called Van Rhyn, from the situation of his mill near a branch of the Rhine, adjacent to Leyerdorl; and in that mill (or its attached dwelling), on the 15th of June 1606, Rembrandt was born. lliy lively disposition induced liis father to send him to the College at Leyden; but scholastic learning was not his forte, and he was removed to Amusteruniu, to study the principles of painting and design, for which arts he had evinced a strong passion. His biographers disngrec a to the names of his first instructors; but lloulraken, on whose uuthority we cau best rely, assures us thut he was placed in the nelwol of Jacques Van Swauenbourg, with whom he continued three yours; nfier which he becnnio, for about six months, the pupil of Peter Lastnian, and on leaving him, .practined for soni time under Jacques Pinas. But whatever acquirements he might vlerive from those masters, or however their precepts were recollected in his futuro studies, it is certnin that his exalteil fame is due alone to the vigour, application, and originality of his own talents, and prurticulurly to his transcendent power of colouring, which imparted to his compositions a brilliancy and effect of the highest order. After leaving l’inas he returned to his father's mill, where he diligently pursuced the study of his urt; und by admitting the rays of light into his painting-room only through a single aperture, and by other experiments in obtaining strong shuclown, he ucquired that counprehensive knowledge of light and shude, the almost magical effect of which 50 peculiarly listinguishes his works from the production: of all other artists. "He tinged his pencil,” says Fuseli (in that discriminating and powerful language which made his lecturos so impressive), "with equal succes in the cool of dawn, in the noontide ray, in the vivid flash, in cvanescent twilight, und rendered durkneus visible !" B ·10 THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. Rembrandt is, by some writers, supposed to have visited Venice in 1635, that date, with the name of the city, being marked on three of his etchings;* yet others state that he never was in Italy, and thut the supposition merely rests on the circumstaucc just related. From the sale of a picture, for one hundred florins, to a connoisseur at the Hague, his abilities, as an artist, first became known and his works popular. His consequent celebrity occasioned his removal to Amsterdam, where he established a school, and obtained so much omployment, that, according to Sandrart, his yearly income amounted to 2400 florins. Notwithstanding this success, his means failed, and he was involved in bunkruptcy; but from what causo has not been ascertained. The original papers relating to his insolvency were recently discovered among the records in the Stadt-house at Amsterdam, together with the sale cutalogue of his pictures, drawings, &c., which wero sold publicly by the young Haring (whose portrait he etched) on the 25th and 26th of July 1665. There was also found a legal document signed by Titus Van Rhyn (only son of Rembrandt Van Rhyn und Saskia Van Uylenburg, buth deceased), acknowledging the receipt of 6952 florins 9 sols for the purchase of the house of his father, situated in the St Anthony's Bree-straat in 'This deed bears date the 9th of September 1665, and is remarkable from thus tacitly contravening the reputed time of Rembrandt's death, which De Piles and Deschamps state to have taken place in 1668, and Houbraken in 1674. Tho lutest dato found on any of liis etchings (namely, on that called "The Wonian with the Arrow") is 1661, in which year he painted the celebrated piece of “The Five Syndics of Amsterdum," now in the public collection of that city. Flis works are mostly of small dimensions. that city. The picture before us, which represents "The Adoration of the Shepherds at the Nativity of Our Saviour," was painted in 1646. About the year 1799 it was purchased in Paris, for the sum of 10,100 francs, hy the Baron d'Esto, who sold it to the lato Mr Angerstein fur 950 guineas. It is on canvas : height, 2 fect 1 inch ; width, 1 fout 10 inches. * One of them is mputed to be the portrait or Cats , preceptor to the Prince of Orange. --Rembrandt's etchings aro numerous: nearly 400 undisputed pieces are known to be extant; independently of about 240 variations, and Between 50 and 60 which are considered questionable. An exleusivo and very fine colloc- Liou of these works, probably the first in Europe, is in the British Muscum.

·le THE VILLAGE FESTIVAL, (See lirontispiece.) DAVID WILKIE, R.A. Ei AVID WILKIE was born in the year 1785, at ('ults, in Fifeshiro, of which purish his father, the Rev. David Wilkie, was minister. His pursuits, at an carly age, indicated such considerablo taleut and so great an inclination for painting, that his parents were ipduced to send him to Elinburgh for the purpose of continuing his studies at the Academy founded in that city for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts ; and which was then under the direction of Mr. John Graham, an artist possessing every qualification for the situution. •Wilkio's tilleuls for subjects of familiar life, and the recommendations of his friends, determined him to devote his attention to that branch of the art ; and although on his arrival in London, in 1805, he practised portrait-printing for it short period, the success of his first picture exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year--Damciy, “ Tluc Villagc. Politiciens”-lecidled both his own and the public choice and, by a succession of splendid pictures, he ever after sustained that high station in the arts which was then awarded to his great merits. lu November 1809, Mr Wilkio was chosen an Associate of the Royal Acaulemy, and in February 1811 be wus elected a Royal Academician. Ju 1823, ou the decease of Sir Henry Raeburn, he was appointed by George thu Fourth, his Majesty's Limner for Scotland. His health having suffered from intcuse application, Wilkie went abroad about the middle of 1825, and during a three years' continuance on the Continent he travelled into 'Italy and Spain, and whilst in the latter country painted, among other works, a series of pictures commcmorative of the late war in the Peuinsula, now in the Royal Collection. Ju January 18.30, soou after the decorso of Sir Thomas Lawrence (on the 7th of that month), who had previously held the situatiou, George the Fourth appointed Mr Wilkie luis Priucipal Painter in Ordinary, an appwintment which was renewed by William the Fourth. The artist died in 1841. It “ The Village Festirul" was painted in 1811, for Mr Jolu Julius Angerstein. is on canvas : height, 3 feet 1 inch; width, 1 feet 2 inches.

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AN ITALIAN SEAPORT: SUNSET.
Claude Lorraine.

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·BOLSOS ANAK AN ITALIAN SEAPORT: SUNSET. CLAUDE LORRAINE. ŞLAUDE LORRAINE, whose almost lạimitable landscnpes are constantly referred to as a standard of perfection in art, was lwrn at the village of Chamagne,, in Lorruiuc, in the year 1600. His family name was Gellée; but his parentage was obscure, and his own disposition in cnrly life exhibited no traits of those active powers and mental intelligence which have rendered his compositions the admiration of the world. On quitting school, at which his only distinguishing .churacteristic wns it sluggish inaptitude for learning, ho was apprentice to pastry-cook; but after the clenth of his parents, he deserted his trule, and walkedo. to Friburg, the residence of his older brother Jolin, who was an cugrnver on wood, and who gnve bin some slight instructions in drowing. IIe next proceeded to Rome ; und being destituto both of friends and money, clownish in loix manners, and ignorant of the Italian langiinge, was glad to submit to any druilgery for a livelihood. Whilst thus situated, he became known to Agostino Tussi, an artist of murit, who employed him in the lowest otcupations of domestic servitude, as well as to grind his colours and prepare his' pallet: afterwards, lowever, from a desire to 'renilor his aid available in the higher branches of the profession, he taught him the elementary principles of perspective and design. Though slow of apprehension, Claudu was iussiduong; and his awakening tulents acquiring cnergy from observation and diligent prnclice, he wis at length able to assist his master in painting grotesques and arabesques. He then wen to Naples, and pussed two years with Goffrcdi Wals, in the study of architecture and landscape. After returning to Rome, and practising there some time, he made the tour of Italy, and travelle, through Germany, in his way to his native province. At Nancy ho assisted in cxecuting the architecture und perspective of the Carnuolite church, and was also cmployed in similar works at other places; but fecling degruded by this misapplication of his genius, he went back to Rome, and settled, finally, in that city. Although, as we have seen, Claude had not been destitute of professional instruction, yet Naturc herself was his great teacher; and in the open fields, amidst the onchanting scenery, and under the beautiful skics of Italy, he deduced those principles ·16 AN ITALIAN SEAPORT: SUNSET. und formed those rules which governed his practice, and elovated his productions to the highest rank of excellence in the imitative art. From sunrise to “dewy eve" it. was his custom to range through the country, watching the effects of light and shade, and making sketches of whatever objects or phonomena met his view, that he conceived would be useful in his future studies.* Atmospheric changes were cspecially the subjects of his attention; and we arc informed by Sandrart, that Claude used to explain to him, as they walked through the fields, the causes of the diversity in appearunce of the same prospect at different hours of the day, in respect to colours, from the reflections or refractions of liglit, and from the evening or morning dows and vapours, with all the precision of a philosopher. Claude has tho undisputed morit of being the inventor of tho epic style in landscape-painting; but his knowledge of the human figure was extremely deficient. When in the zenith of bis roputation, he had many imitators, to check whose attempted frauds he devised his Libra di Verita, wherein be made druwings of his pictures, as an authentic record from which posterity might verify their genuineness. It has been stated that six volumes of this inestimable collection were in existence at the time of. his deccare: oue of them, containing about 200 subjects, now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, is supposed to have been brought from Italy by the celebrated Lord Burlington : they were engruvod by Earlom, and published in 1774. Vast prices have been given for the productions of Claude ; and in various instances a single picture has produced from one thousand to five and from one thousand to five and even seven thousand guineas : in fact, when in perfect preservation, his paintings ure of almost inestimable value. From his diligeut application through a long life, bis works became very •, numerous; and muny of thom are populurly known from the beautiful engravings of Vivares and Woollct. There are extant also upwards of forty etchings by his own hand, of landscapes, marine subjects, and fireworks. TIe died in 1682, aged cightytwo years, and was buried in the Church of the Triuità del Monte, at Rome. This picture of an “Italian Seaport at Sunset,” together with its companion (“Morning"), was purchased by the late Mr Angerstein, about the year 1800, of Mr Paunuoc, for 5000.guineas. It has the date 1644, and is painted on canvas : height, 3 feet 3 inches; width, 4 feet 3 inches. * In the Collection bequeathed to the British Museum by the late Richard Payne Knight, Esq., in 1814, is a book containing 272 original Sketches and Designs by Claude, many of which are authenticatod hy his own signaturr. Some of them are highly finished, but others are of a slighter description : of the latter class is a small sketch (44 inches hy 7 inches) in black chalk, Hightly shaded, of an entablature on three columns, sceu in porspective, with figures beneath, on which is the date "1682" (the last year of his life), and tho words, “libro che co facto Claudio Cillée," written by the artist himself.

·號
THE REPUTED PORTRAIT OF GEVARTIUS.
Bir Anthony Handyck.

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·انا THE REPUTED PORTRAIT OF GEVARTIUS. SIR ANTHO.VY 1' ANDYCK. HIS illustrious artist was born at Antwerp on the 22d of March 1598-99. According to most of his biographers, his father was a merchant, yet others state that 'he paiutel on glass. His mother, Cornelin Kersboom, who cxcelled in einbroidery and flower-puiuting, sent him to a grummar-school, at which he displayed a strong predilection for the arts, and drew sketehes with pen anel ink. His first instructor was Henry Van Balen; afterwards, he was plured under Rulous, whose assistant he specilily became, and from whose example and precopits he derived that full knowledge of the risentials of puiuting which has rendered his works 80 celebrated. Rubens estimated his .genius very highly; and ulvising him to make portraits his chief study, recommended his procceiling to Ituly for further «xperience: and improvement. He also gavo him it dapple-grey horse, and provided him with money for his journcy. Vandyck, who was then in his twenticth or twenty-lirst your, haul scarcely cowmenced his travels, whon, stopping at Savalthem, i village near Brussels, he became deeply enamoured of a young anul beautiful woman. At her requekt he puinted two pictures for the village umrch ; in the first of which, a “lloly Family," he " repre. sented his mistress in the charucter of the Virgin ; and in the other, “St Martin dividing his Clouk with the Poor," Jelincatol the suint uuder his own likeness, mounted upon the horse which Rubins had given him. When the latter Wils informed of his scholar's infatuation, he hastened to Savalthem, and by his kinel yet cirucst remonstranes prevailed on him to renounce his attachment, and procvel to Italy. Vandyck visited, in succession, Genoa, Venico, Rome, and l'alermo, nakiug some stay at cuch place, and improving his talents both by reflection and practice; the productions of Titian und Paul Veronese being the purticular subjects of his study. At Rome, where froin his spemili wode of living he was called the Pittore Cavierexco, he cxecuted his noble : portrait of Carolinal Bentivoglio: be also printed inany estimable pictures at Genoa. Om returning to Antwerl, he practised both in portrait and history ; but he finally settled in Englanıl, having, after one unsuccessful visit, been invited back by Sir Kenclm Digby, at thu particulur request of Charles the l'irst, ·20 THE REPUTED PORTRAIT OF GEVARTIUS. who on his re-urival presented him with his own portrait set in diamonds, and nasigned him a residence at Black-Friars. On the 5th of July 1632, the King conferred on bim the honour of knighthood, and in the following year granted him a perpetual annuity of £200. Hlo frequently sat to him for his portrait; and towards the close of his life gave him in marriage the beautiful Maria Ruthven, maid of honour to the Queen, and granddaughter of John, first Earl Gowric. By this lady he had one child, a daughter, who was baptized at St Anne's, Black-Friars, on the day of his own death. By great industry, and the extraordinary facility with which he painted, Vandyck obtained a large income; yet his luxurious and expensive style of housekeeping involved him in occasional difficulties ; and further losses were incurred by a vain search for the philosopher's stone ! At tho time of his decease, however, on the 9th of December 1641, he was in uffluent circumstances : tho gout, actiug on a constitution impaired by former excessos, was the immediate cause of his death. He was buried in the old Cathedral of St Paul, near the tomb of John of Gaunt. His productions are extremely numerous : upwards of five hundred of his pictures have been engraved; and many etchings and some finished engravings are also extant, which werc executed by his own haud. . 1 tius" GASPER GEVARTIUS, or GEVAENTS, who was a learned civilian und town-clerk of Antwerp, had the singular fortune of being commemorated by the pencil both of Vandyck and Rubens; but the engraved portraits bearing his name, and executed from known pictures by those artists, are so essentially different from the reputed “ Gevarnow before us, ils at once to prove that the latter has been crroneously denominater. It has been suid that this picture was painted for the tomb of Gevartius," il statement obviously incorrect, Vandyck dying in 1641, and Gevurtius surviving until 1666. Dallaway, in his edition of Walpole's Anecdotes," assumes it to bo the portrait of Vander Geist, "artis pictoriæ amator,"— point, he continues, “which a comparison of the two heals in the Centuni Icones will tend to confirm :" yet that comparison, when closely and attentively made, will show that the portruits are by far too unliku to cstablish such an inference. This picture was sold at Christie's in 1796 for 230 guineas. In 1798 it was purchased at the sale of Mr Bryan's collection for 340 yuineas by Mr Woodhouse, who again sold it to the late Mr Angerstein for 500 guincas. It is painted on wood, and originally included little more than the mero head : its present size is is follows : height, 2 feet 7 inches ; width, 2 feet 2 inches.

·EVENING; A COMPOSITION. Albert Cuyp, or kupp.

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·EVENING; A COMPOSITION. ALBERT CÜVP, OR K'ÜYP. LBERT CÜYP was born at Dort, in North TToHand, in the year 1606. le was the eldest son of Jacques Gerritze Cryp, un artist of considerable mcrit, who had studied under Abrubim Bloenart, and in colebrated for his dscapes and battle-pieces, and also from being one of the founders of the Academy for Painting, at Dort, in 1642. But the pictorial reputation of Old Ciyp (as the father is usually styled) is far exceeded by that of Albert, his son nud pupil, whose landscapes, though frequently composed of the simplest olijects in Nature', embody in their cxecution the highest principles of the art. Nothing remarkable huis keen recorded either of his manner of study or habits of living, nor are we aware that he cver travelled beyond the precincts of his own country. Although in many of his productions there is a general air of locality and suineness, they are always executel with an exquisite toue of colour, a light and discriminative touch, and it breadth and harmony of surpassing surpassing excellence. From bis taste and talents Die Dutch School attained a renown which it had never before reached. His representations of natural Accuery und objects, though identically truc, are so combined in harmonised loy the mellow sweetness of his acrial tints, that all obtrusive individuality merges into the broad and rich effects which characterise his pencil. “His cyc," says Mr Bryan, "attuned to the hurmony of colour, like the car of the musician to sound, appears to have been incapable of a discorılant tone; and every object is enveloped in the air of the moment he wished to deskrile." Cüyp's genius was extremely fertile : his sen-picces and river-vicus are executed with similar excellence to his landscapes and cattle; but among the most surprising of his works are his frost-pieces, with figures amusing themselves ou the ice. These are treated with consummate skill; and the extraordinary effect he has given to that gilded glare which Nature not unfrequently assumes in the winter si'uson, prarticularly in Ilolland, is perhaps indescribabli llis nuvonlights, from. possessing il superior and more delicate gradation of liglit, ille reputed to eclipse the admired works of Vanilerneer ; and his horse-fairs and skirmishes of cavalry are delineated with infinite spirit. According to Pilkington, his most capital performance is a representation of the (ruttle- 1.

·EVENING; A COMPOSITION. inarket at Dort, and the square wherein the troops cxcrciso, in which the horses that appear on the parade are painted with such a perfect accuracy that they might be us distinctly known in the picture is in their evolutions. Like Claudle, this artist was an uute observer of atmospheric changes, and of every vicissitude of light and shadow: in the management and truth of his ucriul tinta he has probably never been surpassed. Morning, with its dowy vapours uslering in the brightness of a summer day, the glittering heat of nvon, and the suffrou-colourcd glow, yet still radiunce of evening, with the pure and silvery light of the pale moon, emerging from the horizon or rising high in the fields of ether, are all delincated in his landscapes with exact fidelity and verisimilitude. Nis studies were entirely after Nature ; and his compositions, though generally based upon the homely scenery about the city of Dort, display a fine choice, ind a power of combination which few possosA. The finest uus well as the greatest number of Cuyp's pictures are in this country; and it is ackuowledged that the correct judgment, and ardour to possess his works, of the English collectors, first brought them into the reputation they now possess evert in his native land. This fact alone is denonstrative of the advancement of public taste among ourselves, although we are us yet far removed from that meridian splendour which must ultimately irradiute every path of British. urt. Albert Cüyp had a younger brother, named Benjamiu, who adopted the sume profession, and though not his equal in abilities, was a very respectable artist : his general style was an imitation of Renubraudt, and particularly in his small historical picccs. This picture of “ Evening” was obtained from the Collection of Sir Lawrenco Duudas. It is painted on canvas: the height is 4 feet 4 inches, and the length 6 fect 6 inches.

·A LANDSCAPE, WITH
WITH FIGURES;
SAID TO REPRESENT THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE VIRGIN, BUT CONSIDERET
TO BE THE APPEARANCE OF THE ANGEL TO HAGAR.
Claude Lorraine.

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·A LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES; SAID TO REPRESENT THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE VIRGIN, BUT SIDERED TO BE TITE APPEARANCE OR TID ANGEL TO IMAGAR CLAUDE LORRIINE. BHAT Nuture, in the prculiar organisation of indiviluals, gives it lendeney lo particular pursuity, is forcibly illustrated by the biography of (“LAUDE LOR- RAINE ; to the account of whom, is narratel in a former article, some additions will now be muce. lliy mental fiuc ulties were altogether umadapter to scholastic studies; and l'ierre Gellóe, his father, is stilted to have frequently complained that Claude was so naturally imbucile that he coull never be taught either to make a fire or heat an oven! Jlis talents, incel, were extremely slow in their lovelopment; and it was not until iftir le had been long in the service of Agostino 'l'rusi, at Rome, and had attuined his thirty-siath year, that he give any successful indications of those extraordinary powers which bave placed bim at the head of his class : yet, within ton years afterwards, he became the admitted friend of the illustrious Cardinal Bentivoglio, thc •distinguished favourite of l'opxUrban VIII., wd the courte guest of mobility, and official rank and afflucuce. Claude, Salvator Ronin, and Caspar Poussin were contemporaries during the prontificute of Urban the Eighth ;* and that specious kind of patronage which, without sufficient judgment, :spires to give a tone to the fine arts, alternately «xalted them above cach other. But posterity, in awariling due justice to the talents of all, las admitted that the compositious of Claude are the richest and the most studied ; whilst, in the boundless expanses of scenery which they exhibit, they are above every comparison. “Itis landscapes," says lanzi, " present such au cnulless variety of interesting objects, so mnuy views of land and water, that the eye is obliged to pause to mensure the extent of the prospect; and bis distances of mountains, or of sea, are so illusory, . * Claude, Salvator, and Nicholas Poussin resitled near each other, on the beautiful Jontr. Pincin, ait Rome: the splendid mansion of Salvator was situated between the liuscs of Claude und Poussin, on the Pizza della Trinità del llonte.

·28 A 1 LANDSCAPE, WITII FIGURES. that the beholder feels, as it were, fatigued by gazing. The cdifices and temples, which so appropriately embellish his compositions ; the lakes, teeming with aquatic birds; the foliages, diversificd in accordance with the various species of trees, are alike true to Nature. Every object arrests the attention of the uinuteur, and furnishes instruction to the professor ; but particularly when he painted with care, us in the pictures of Altieri, Colonna, and other pulacus at Rome. There is not an effect of light, nor a reflection in the water, nor in the sky itself, which he has not imitated; and, in a word, (nucle is truly the artist who, in depicting the three regions of air, carth, and water, has comprehended the whole universe." Claude's marine views and maguificent scaports bear the improns of the same inimitable powers which distinguish his landscapes ; especially “in the purity and freshness of the air, and the rently imulating swell of the water, sparkling with the lucid reflection of a clear and brilliant sunshine. In his pictures of morning, the rising sun Jissipates the dews, and the fields und verdure brighten ut the appronch of clay; his evening skies expand a glowing splendour over the horizon ; vegetation, opprossed by a sultry aridity, sinks under the burning heat of the sun." “It is thus," continues Mr Bryan, "that (Inude, with an unexamplel felicity, represents the vicissitudes of uir and atmosphere, in which he may be said to dispute the veracity with Nature herself.” ; The very beautiful picture now engraved formed one of the valuable Collection presente tu thu Nation by the late Sir George Benumont, Bart., who was himself no highly impressed by a sense of its merits that he scarcely over 'removed from home without making it the companion of liis journey. This attachment was so strong, and he felt so acutely the loss of his little favourite, that even after it had been placed in the Gallery, he wrote to the Lords of his Majesty's Trcusury requesting it us a loan. His application was acceded to, and the picture remained in Sir George's possession until his decvase, after which it was returned to the Gallery by Lady Beaumont. T'his gem of art had been previously in the Collection of Mr Duane. It is cxccuted in the artist's most finished manner, and is in the highest preservation. This picture is painted on cuuvus : its height is 1 foot 8 inches; its width 1.foot 44 inches, ·A VIEW IN VENICE. Antonio Canaletti.

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·GU A VIEW IN VENICE. ANTONIO CIN:ILETTI. ANALETTI, or CANALETTO, for he used both «lesignations, was born at Venice in the year 1697. He was the son of Bernardo Canal, a scenepainter; and by carly 'pructice in the same profession, acquired at facility of design and a promptness of execution which greatly coutributed to liis Success in adult yees. Aspiring, however, to a more lofty range of art than that of mere theatrical decoration, he went to Rome wliilst still young, where he ussiduously engaged in the study and delincation of champaign scenery in connection with the august ruins of the ancient Capitol. On returning to Venice, he employed his matured pencil in representing the peculiar localities of that remarkublo city-sches which nature and urt have combined to render the most novel and the most magnificent in Europe. Many of his paintings exhibit the spots they represent with extremo exactitude, and are therefore highly interesting to all who have not had their curiosity gratified by beholding the metropolis of the Adriatic; but in others, the artist has exercisel his taste and inventive powers in combining the modern with the antique, the real with the imaginary. Of this latter class, ho proluced several cptimalıle pieces' for Algarotti ; the most original mad instructive of which compositions, according to Lauzi, is “View of the Great Canal," wherciu, instead of the present bridye, he has introluced the Rinlto, of Palladio, with the Cathedral of Vicenza rising in the centre, and the Palazzo Chericato (Palladio's own works), and other select edifices, terminating the extremities of the picture. Whilst thus employed, his increasing fame attracted the notice of Mr Joseph Smith, the English Resident, or Cousul, at Venice, who engaged him to paint, ut low prices, for a term of years; but in the meantime selling his procluctions to trnvellers it a considerable profit. Cunaletti at length becoming aware of this injustice, and persuuded by his countryman Jacopo Auiconi, resolved to visit England, which he accordingly did in the year 17.46. During his stay he excenteil a variety of views on the river Thames, and in other parts of London, two of which are at Goodwood, in Sussex, and others are in the Royal Collection at Windsor. The denseness of the English atmosphere, which he imitated, was uot cougenial with the practice of one ·32 A VIEIV IN VENICE. il'customed to the glowing brilliancy of Italian skies, and after a residence in this country of about two years, he returned to his native land. Still pursuing his labours until he attained the advanced nge of seventy, and being assisted by several skilful pupils (of whom Francesco Guardo, and his own nephew, Bornardo Bellotti, are the most eminent), his paintings are exceedingly numerolig. They arc mostly cxecuted with great vigour and boldness of handling, combined with strict lineal precision and a fine touc of colour. To insure fidelity of representation in his architectural perspectives, he employed the Cameru, but carefully corrected its defects, especially in the lincar aberritions and air-tints : in this respect ho is regarded as the first who discovered to artists its effective use and real powers. Like Tiepoli, who occasionally assisted in introducing figures into his picces, he aimed at striking effects; and his productions, generally speaking, pussesa a peculiar breadth and brilliancy, which cssentially distinguish them from the works of others of his grade; for he had numerous imitators, and there are many ricws extunt, bearing his name, which he never executed. His choice wus good, and his kuowledge of the principles of his art cnabled him to take pictorial liberties without impairing his accuracy. He died in the year 1768, aged seventy-one. The picture before us is painted on canvas : its height is 4 feet, and its length 5 feet 4 inches. Many of Canaletti's finest productions are in this country; and among those of the first degree of eminence is a " View in Venice,” in the Collection of Sir John Sonne.

·PORTRAIT OF SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS Sir anthony Handyck.

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·2am PORTRAIT OF SIR PETER OF SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS. . SIR ANTIIONY VANDYCK. UBENS and VANDYCK, like twin stars irradinting the realms of art, arc inseparably associated in our recollections ; although, when their respective talents aro duly estimated, the palm of superior excellence must unquestiouably be awarded to Rubens. Both were animated lwy genius of the first order ; but the pencd of the master took a holder flight, and was more universal in its application and practice, than that of the disciple. If Vandyck cxceeded Rubens in his style of design, as affirmed by Barry, and cqualled him iu richness of colouring, us asserted by Do Piles, he was surpassed by the latter in the qualitics of invention, composition, and execution. These advantages, perhaps, without referring to it more recondite process of inquiry, may be chiefly attributed to the superior intellectual cultivation which it had been the good fortune of Rubens to roccive when young, hin studies having been directed with the most assiduous care. There is an anccdoto related of Vandyck, which strongly marks his curly proficiency as an artist, as well as the high opinion entertained of his abilitjen hy his fellowstudents. It was thc custom of Rubens, is a relaxation from the labours of the day, to ride out on horseback," leuving tho koy of his painting-room with a confidential servant. That person, however, being prevailed on by frequent presents, allowed the pupils of Rubens sccretly to inspect his works, for the purpose of ascertaining his modles of handling and practice. On. one occasion, whilst he was engaged on his celebrated picture of “The Descent from the Cross," the students were thus admitted, and ou pressing cagerly forward, Diepenbeck was pushed against the painting, and in falling, he partly effaced the head of the Virgin, and the arm of the Magilalen, which had just been finished. In the consternation which ensued, and under the drend of their master's displeasure, it was suggested that Vandyck, is the ablest amongst them, and as there were yet three hours of daylight, slvuld encleavour to repair the damage. Though despairing of success, Vandyck undertook the task, and he executed it so happily, that when Rubens entered his puinting-room on the following morning, accompanied by bis scholars, he observed, in pointing to the restored parts, “There is a head and nu arm, which are by no means the worst of what I did yesterday ;” and although, on a ·36 PORTRAIT OF SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS. nearer approach, he discovered the change, and was informed of the accident, he was so satisfied with Vandyck's work that he suffered it to remain unalterod. D'Argeuvillo and others have stated that it was from this circumstance, and from a growing jealousy of his opening talents, that Rubens advised his disciplo to renounce historical painting, and attach himself to portrait: yet there is no valid foundation for the calumny; but, on the contrary, every reason to believe that the advice given proceeded from the most disinterested friendship. In fact, it was not from any particular admonition that Vandyck was evcutually induced to abundon bistory, but it arose from the greater profits and the superior celebrity which he obtained by painting portraits. The historical pictures which ho executed are very numurous ; and Descamps gives a particular account of seventy-seven pieces of this description, in various churches and public edifices, which he painted after quitting the school of Rubens. The Portrait of Rubens, now engraved, was bought by Mr Augerstein, at the sale of the pictures of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1795, for the sum of 140 guincas. At the con clusion of the sale, Mr Burko congratulated the purchaser on his having thus obtained piece which Sir Joshua, when often expatinting on its merits, had termed "his favourite picture." In his Journey to Flanders and Ilulland," Sir Joshua also, speaking of this Portrait (which was then in his own possession), in conjunction with other pictures by Vandyck, says, “They were done whon he was very young : he never afterwards had so brilliant a manner of colouring; it kills' everything near it." This," he continues, " is Vandyck's first manner, when he imitated Rubens and Titian, which supposes the sun in the room ; in his pictures afterwards, ho represented common daylight. Both were equally true to nuturc; but his first munner carries a superiority with it, and scizes our attention, whilst pictures painted in the lutter manner ruu a risk of being overlooked.” This is a square picture on canvas : height and width, 3 feet 9 inches.

·THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO ST PETER. annibale Caracct.

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·yer THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO ST PETER. ANNIBALE CARACCI. NNIBALE CARACCI (one of the most renowned 'painters of the Bolognese school) was born at Bologna in the year 1560. He was younger brothor to Agostino, and cousin to Ludovico Caracci. The son of a poor tailor, and himself a labourer in a trade which is akin to anything but the heroic, it betrayed no indifferent genius to surmount the impcdimcuts of his condition, and render himself conspicuous in a liberal art. Yet he succecded in doing this, spurred on by a tomperament at once persovering and sanguine, and materially influenced (and, it must be confessed, assisted) by the superior and judicious mind of his cousin Ludovico. Whatever eminence the school of Bologna attained, was, beyond a doubt, primarily owing to Ludovico, the eldest and most accomplished of the Caruccis. It was hc who took his cousins from the shops of the tailor and the goldsmith ; educated them in art; and founded and (almost within his own person and family) brought to perfection the last of the great schools of painting in Italy. He was, perhaps, the most philosophical of painters; and, whatever courae he might have pursued, must at all cvents have become eminent.' Annibale and Agostino were his pupils, illustrious oncs it is true, but• deriving all their science, and much of their chaructor, as painters, from his tuition and example. In the boldness and dexterity of his pencil, Annibale Caracci outstripped his master, and rivalled the most powerful draftsmen of the Roman and Florentine schools. Michuel Angelo himself scarcely surpassed him in this particular. But he fuiled in some of the higher qualities of art : in intention, as is supposed by many; and in expression, aus is allowed by all. Yet there are heads extant by his hand--chance portraits of individuals, generally of humble condition—which for truth, vigour, and even expression, may challenge competition with anything in art. It was mainly in the idcul that he failed. His imagination was defective, but his cye was correct. Instead of attempting, therefore, to illustrate the stories of gods and heroes, it would have been well, perhaps, had he contented himself with transcribing nature with vigorous fidelity. There are some noble productions of this artist which stand up in defiance of this scemingly harsh criticism ; but these are cxceptions to the general chaructor of his genius, and are not sufficient in number or merit to falsify it altogether.

·40 THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO ST PETER. The present picture, to a certain extent, confirms the foregoing opinion. It is a masterpiece of acudemic skill. The landscape is agreeable (Annibale was a fine painter of landscape); the figure of Christ is admirably developed and foreshortened ; the light is thrown cffectively upon the figure : but here the encomium ends. The countenance of tho Saviour is deficient in dignity and expression; and the figure of St Peter, singly, might cusily have been ascribed to an artist inferior to the Caraccis, without any impeachment of the critic's judgment. Annibalo Carucci acquired tho rudiments of art, as before mentioned, under his cousin Ludovico. It was at Ludovico's instigation that he afterwards visited Parma ; where he pondered on and mado copics from Correggio, whose grand and imposing effects he caught with marvellous success. Ho then studied the colouring of Titian and other Venetian painters; and finally completed his education at Rome, in the presence of the great works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. He died in the year 1609, when he was forty-nine years old. The largest (if not the best) work of Annibale Caracci was “ The Farnese Gallery,"; where he consumed eight valuable years of his life, and for which he received the wages of a scrvant. His employer was the Cardinal Farnesea prince, with the spirit of a mendicant-a churchman, whoso sole claim to be not forgotten arises from the enduring contempt which is felt towards his memory by all classes of men, and which still continues to immortalise this act of ignoble dishonesty towards a man a hundred times superior to himself. Annibalo wis but slenderly acquuinted with literaturo of any sort; and to this may probably be ascribed his want of invention in painting. Ho dealt with subjects that he did not completely understand. He had scanned the outline, but had not penetrated the spirit of the fictions and histories which he attempted to illustrate with his pencil. This has been the error of artists in all times. They have painted but too often little more than indifferent parodies. They have not individualised the gods, the nymphs, and the heroes of old; because they have never understood them. In this cstimate must be cxcepted, of course, some of the greater names in ancient art; and to the professors of modern painting these strictures have no allusion. • The present picture was brought from the Borghese Palace, at Rome, where it bung formerly in the room of the Prince Aldobrandini. C It is painted on wood. Its height is 2 feet 6 inches, and its width 1 foot 10 inclics.

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THE •PORTRAIT OF A JEW MERCHANT.
Rembrandt.

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·EEN ven. THE PORTRAIT OF A JEW MERCHANT. REMBRANDT. F a doubt had ever existed as to whether Remlrandt was or was not a great artist, the questiou might be said to have been set at rest by the folcsont picture. Without entering into any detailed criticism on its merits (in thing which it is an object in this work to avoid), it may be assorted that there is one quality in the portrait of “The Jew oferchant” which, above all others, is significant of the hand of a master. The picture, indeed, fine iw it is, is not perhaps one of the very finest of Rembrandt's workiss; but, (independently of its chiaroscuro and colour) it exhibits simplicity and nature in the highest degree. It is the perfection of unso There is no studied elegance nor academic display; no forced expression, for ostentatious development of the figuro; but all is simple, tranquil, and unaffected. And there results from this' mere imitation of nature, a peculiar and positive grace. In this respect, indeed, it cannot be too much comincnded. There are few subjects that would repay the careful study of an artist better than this painting. Unlike as it is in many points, it may nevertheless be placed, without presumption, by the side of the portrait of " Julius thc Second," in. this Collection. It is a work of the same order; cxhibiting the same determination to paint the unsophisticated truth ; 'and arriving at the same cminence ly the same simple means. " Most painters," obscrves un acute critic, speaking of Raffaelle, "puzzle themselves to find out what will be picturesque, and what will be fiuc, and never discover it. Raffaello thought only how a person would stand or fall naturally, in such or such circumstances; and the picturesque and the fine followed, as matters of course. Ilence the affected force and dignity of his style, which are only another name for truth and nature under impressive and momentous circumstances." If the same cannot always be said of Rombrandt, it may at all events be said of him in reference to the present picture. Rembrandt and Rubens were the Dii Majores of Flemish art. Each had his school or lino of imitators; the last, indeed, possessed a scholar · (Vandyck) who approached himself in the mechanical excellence of his works. But there the proximity ccasios. There remains always tho distance--the interval that can never be oversteppedbetween the originator and the copyist, between the leader and the follower in art.

·44 THE PORTRAIT OF A JEW MERCHANT. Rembrandt had a host of imitators; but not one of them has attained a great reputation. Ilis stylomdark, dazzling, gorgeous, and awful (as the case seemed to require), und to the last degree ambitious of effect-naturally provoked imitation. But it was found casier to catch his general tones, his light and shade, &c., than to compete with him in his admirablo reflection of nature, in his expression and invention, and in those grand and wonderful effects in which he surpassed all other painters. There are picturcs of great mcrit by this cminent artist, in this country; at Blenheim, at Burleigh, at Lord Grosvenor's; and in the Dulwich and National Collections. In the last there is the “ Woman Bathing" (where the flesh is marvellously colourcd); “Jacob and Esau" at Blenheim; “The Man and Hawk," at Lord Grosvenor's; and finally that strange effort of the imagination, called " Jacob's Dream," in the Dulwich Gallery. As a mere painting, this last-mentioned picture is inferior to many of Rembrandt's works; but in point of absolute invention and originality-in its strange poetical spirit with its subdued light, like tho coming dawn, and its never-to-beforgotten angels, or rather "those winged shapes, not human nor angelical, but birdlike, dreamlike, trcading on clouds, ascending, descending, through the realms of endless light”-it is surely one of the most imposing and extraordinary things within the whole circle of art. It is liko a phantnsma that has had its origin in a poet's drcam. છે. The present picture was presented to the National Gallery by Sir George Beaumont. It is painted on canvas. Its height is 4 feet 6 inches, and its width 3 feet 4 inches.

·THE RAPE OF THE SABINES, Rubens.

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·THE RAPE OF THE SABINES. RUBENS. ETER PAUL RUBENS was lorii on the forest of St. Peter and Št. Paul, 1577, in the city of Cologne, where his father (one of the principal magistrates of Autwerp) and then taken refuge, during the war which rage in the Low Countries. On the return of his family to Intwerp, die wny educatre in it manner becoming his statiou; and he requited the care thus bestowed upon him by exhibiting early manifestations of excellenca", together with more vocility of temper than is ordinarily supposed to accompany geninn. On the death of his father, which happeued about the time when Rubens completed his studies, ho decided on painting as a profession ; and he was accordingly placed under the tuition of Verhaecht. Afterwards, lur became il pupil of Adam Van Oort, an artist. of some credit in historic painting ; and finally of Otho Verius, for whose good qualiticos and talents he appears to hirve entertained the most sincere affertion and respect.. At the age of twenty-three, Rubcus, who had already rivallel his instructor, set out by his advice for Italy ; passing through Venice, in order to examine the works of the great colourists there, but having his ultimate destination it. Mantua ; to which place he carried strong recommendations, addressed to the Duke l'iueenzio Conzagt, from the Archduko Albert, at that time Governor of the Netherlaw. The l'alazzo del T. was tben (as it still is) the principal point of attraction at Mantur. It is the triumph of Giulio Romano's genius. He was architet as well as printer ; although the murity of the building are lost in the superlative excellence of the pictures with which he enriched it. These (consisting of the beautiful Fable of Psyche, anul the Fall of the Giunts -- the latter touched with no powerful a pencil is to cları: comparison with Michael Angelo) became naturally the objects of Rulena's stuly and emulation. It scems, indeod, as though one might refor minuy of the brawny limbs and Merculean piruportions of Rubens to his admiration for the riguntic figures of Giulio. The sympathy of the Fleming, however, was muinly for the great musters of colour; andl lie accordingly obtained perinission from the Duke of Mantua. (under whose patronage he now wrought) to visit Venice agnin. There is little doubt but that it was by it close study of the Venetian masters that ·THE RAPE OF THE SABINES. ; . Rubeus acquired his ideas of colour. In his pictures he approaches nearer to Paolo Veronese than to Titian or Giorgione; and nearer to the last-mentioned artist than to 'Tintoret; but he is essentially different from all. He possessed decided originality, as well us genius. If he imituted (and what artist is there who has not done so, in some degree ?) there is so complete a combination and fusion of other styles into one, as to leave no trace of any individual model. We can no more, generally speaking, mistake the dash and glow of Rubens for the splendour of Paolo Veroncse, than for the serious grandeur of Titian himself. Like the latter, indeed, ho was a fino painter of landscape; and if these two great masters approximated in anything, it was in this particular. But, notwithstanding these things, Rubens was the originator of a school, in the proper sense of the word; and he was the greatest in it, as well as the first. After Rubens's return from Venice, he prococded to Rone, where he made copies of some of the more celebruted works there, for his patron; and he was afterwards, in 1605, selected by the Duke of Mantua as cnvoy to the Court of Madrid, at which place he was received with great respect in his double quality of ambassador, and painter. It appears that he accomplished the olject of his embassy—that he returned to Mantua. travelled once more to Rome---visited Genoa—was employed in -was employed in many considerable works-and so went on, adding gradually to his fame. The illness of his mother, however, recalled him (after an absence of eight years) to his homo. She died before his arrival; and Rubens wus once more about to return to Italy, when the persuasions of the Archduke Albert and his wife induced him to remain and settle at Antworp. Jlcre, surrounded ly every comfort, and in fact not without magnificerice, ho continued to pursue his art; adorning the public. edifices with his genius, and running the course of fame without an equal, Rubens was not indeed without his enomies. His urbanity and gcucrous spirit were not sufficient to rcpress cnvy; and his success unturnlly provoked dislike in micun minds, who assailed him with ineffectual calumnies, which only added to the splendour of his triumph. He appcars to have felt host insiguificant was this contemporary slander; for it is said not to have affected him otherwise than by exciting his benevolence and charity towards his enemies, or by stimulating him to some brilliunt achievement in art. His mind, was never stationary. It is recorded, that during the times when he was employed in painting, he engaged some one to read to him various portions of history or poctry; and that he did not disdain, in mature life, to cultivate the more clegant occupations of his youth. In 1620 he executed his great and well-known work of the Luxembourg Gallery, at the request of Mary de Medicis. In 1628, he went once more on a diplomatic mission to Spain, where (not wholly cngrossed by politics) he ornamented with four magnificent pictures a convent of the Carmelites near Madrid ; and in 1629 he was in England (again as a diplomatist), where he painted the ceiling of the Banqueting-house at Whitehall. For his conduct at London and Madrid, he received successively the distinction of knighthood from the King of Spain and Charles the First of England. When his embassy to the British Court was accomplished, Rubens returned finally to the Netherlands, and died, at Antwerp, full of honours, in the year 1640. The present picture formed one of the Angerstein Collection. It is 7 feet 9 inches long, anil 5 fect 6 inches high.

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THE VILLA OF MÆCENAS AT TIVOLI.
Richard Tailson.

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·You LE NA THE VILLA OF MÆCENAS AT TIVOLI. RICHARD WILSON. . ICHARD WILSON (the son of a clergymun possessing i amall benefice in Monmouthshire) was born some time in the year 1714. Having determined on painting as a profession, he was placed with a portrait-printer of the name of Wright, who resided in London. It is said that he applied himself to this branch of art with cousiderable NCCSH; but the proofs of his advancemicut are wanting. There is no picture by Wilson, either of his curly or later time, which has been brought forward to substantiate this assertiov. It must have been shortly after the year 1750 that he wout to Italy, and finally settled at Rome. Hero he scoms to have continued to paint portraits us il general pursuit. Buš deviating occasionally into landscape, one of his pictures of this kind came under the notice of Zucchurclli, who immcdiately couns:lleel him to budou his former course, and adopt loudscape-painting. Wilson took the fulvice thus offered, w began to paint, landscape accordingly. That he wale in unusually rapiil progress, is cvident; 'for at the very commencement of this part of his career he interobaugend pictures with Mengs, and also with Vornet (then in high reputation at Rume), and hal, moreover, several pupils in his newly ulopted live of art. lu 1758' lie hul returned to London; and in 1760 be added vastly to his already rising reputation, luy sending his picture of Niobe to the first exhibition that took place under the direction of the Society of British Artista. Various stories are told of the quarrels and jealousies which arose from time to time between Wilson and his brother paintcrs. But these may as well be passed over, since the inilividuals to whom they relate are beyond the power both of ulvice and slander; neither is Wilson here to undergo an examination is to how much or how little of the cause of quarrel originated with himself. All that is certain is, thut he lived in discomfort, and died in poverty. IIo wiis neglected, und ill requited; and he seems to have suffered his fair proportion of hostility and chvy. . A temper which appeurs to have been indifferent, embittered much of his life'; and his fanguine tenperament and ardent imugination, encountering disuppointment at every turn, aggruvated beyond a doubt the miscrics of his already forloru condition. Ou the institution ·THE VILLA OF MÆCENAS AT TIVOLI. 52 of the Royal Academy, however, he was elected one of its members; and on the death of Hayman the artist, he obtained the post of librarian, which he hold till sickness drove him to his brother's house in Wales, where he died in May 1782, at the age of sixty-cight years. Comparisons have been instituted between Wilson and Claudo, and between Wilson and Gainsborough. Nothing can be more unprofitable than these idle and always offensive comparisons. They generate envy and pain, without producing 'any equivalent good. And, after all, a man's fame must be determined by his own positive merit; not hy the relation which it bears to the merits or demerits of others, there are no two painters sufficiently alike to enablo a critic to draw a parallel that is in all respects strictly just. It ought surely to be sufficient that an artist has painted well. Wilson has done this. The quality of his picturos, scattered over this country, puts the matter beyond a question. He was clearly a painter of considerable genius und imngination: und he elevatod the character of English art. For this, let honour be awarded to him; for this, let his faults be forgotten. All that he failed in was mutter merely personal, and these errors he paid for with an unhappy life. Moreover, The present picture was paintod at Rome about the year 1753, for the then Earl of Thanet. It is said that he one day went to Tivoli with Lord North and Wilson, and being struck with tho beauty of the scene, commissioned the artist to paint it for him; suggesting, at the same time, the introduction of the fountain in tho foreground. This object is, in fact, the Bandusian fountain of Horace, so well known by the ode, "O fons Bandusiæ, splendidior vitro," &c. of which the reader may accept the following as a puraphrase O thou Bandusian fountain-bright as a star Brighter than glass---worthy our flower-crowned wine ! To-morrow (threatening love, in vain, and war) To-morrow shall a budding kid be thino! Tomorrow, with his young and scarlet blood, We'll warm the coolness of thy sparkling flood. The Dog-star, in his hot and selvage hour, Touches not ther, thou cool Handusian stream ; But wanderiug flocka (cropping nor herb nor flower), And the tired ox, beside thee come to dream. Swort fountain! I will mako theo known through time, Crowning thine oaks and rills with My Eternal Rhyme ! This picture was presented to the National Gallery by Sir George Beaumont. It is painted on canvas. Its length is 5 fect 6 inches, and its hoight 3 feet 10 inchos.

·A SPANISH PEASANT. BOY. Murillo.

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·A SPANISH PEASANT BOY MURILLO ; OME doubt appears to havo hung, until lately, about the birth and birthplace of Murillo. If, however, the certificate which now forms the authority be correct, Bartolomó Estevan (who afterwards assumed the name of Murillo) was baptized in Seville on the 1st of January 1618. As in most other cases where men have made themselves eminente in my particular pursuit, Murillo in suid to have given early proofs of a talent for designing. His parents, wisely attending to these indications, educated him accordingly; and he became a pupil of Juan del Castillo, his relation ; un indifferent colourist, but otherwise a printer of some character at Seville. It was here that, almost destitute of models, and for a long timo occupied in painting inanimate . objects, he conquered the rudiments of art, and attained much of that mechanical skill which is so nccessary to the painter. After a time, but not before Murillo, had made considerable progress, Castillo quitted Seville for Cadiz; and his pupil was thrown upon his own resources. In this predicament, Murillo appears to have been compelled to labour ou uny sulsjoct : sometimes painting for the annual fair of Suville, at othtrs munufacturihg saints and images, at a cheap ratu, for the devout; or assisting to freightships to America and the Indies with the hasty productions of his pencil. Ho resided in a quarter of the city called la Feria, a place distinguished for its second-hand clothes and furniture, but renowned abovo all other things for its cxecrable pictures. A had picture in those days was entitled, by way of cminence, “Pintura de Feria ;” and not even Murillo was able to vanquish the proverb. In the twenty-fourth year of his age he set out for Italy, and in his way stopped at Madrid, where he was introduced to Vclas juez. This great painter, an admirable in his hospitality as in art, took him immediately under his care, instructing him, and assisting him in all ways. Beyond tho necessity or the spirit of rivalry, he cxulted in his pupil's success, and yielded him applausc without envy, and patronage that produced no pain. Murillo was, in fact, domesticated with him for somo time, during which he studied with great care the pictures in the Buen Retiro and the Escurial, and copied the paintings of Spagnoletti and Vandyck, together with some of Velasquez.

·56 A SPANISH PEASANT BOY. His improvement was great and rapid ; so much so as to astonish his friend, who on his return from Sarugossa in 1644, recommended him to complete his studies in Italy, and offered him evory advantage which he or the king's name could command. Murillo, however, neglected this rocommendation, and influencod, as is said, by his sister's entreaties, who depended upon him for support) returned in 1645 to his native city of Sevillc. It was then that he painted the eleven historical pictures for the convent of St Francis of Assise; one of which ("The Death of Santa Clara") appears. to have possessed quulities singularly popular. The holiness of a saint and the beauty of a woman were combined, and attracted, to a more than ordinary degree, both the pious and the profane. Previously to this time, Murillo had won littlo reputation in Seville ; but the caso was now different. The pictures of the convent of St Francis crowned him with auddeu famc; and raising him at once above Herrera, Pacheco, and the other artists his couteniporaries, fixed him the undoubted chief of the school of Seville. It is worthy of remurk, that Murillo appears to have owed his excellence to a porse: vering study of Nature alouc. He was content to transcribe what ho saw with fidelity, and imitated, insteul of inventing the passions. The result of this was then, what it ever must bo. The world sympathised with his pictures, and abandoned the more vanities and dexterities of science for the incomparable beauty of truth. In 1648, Murillo murried a lady of Pilas. She was wealthy and high-born, and by her means he was able to receive, in a suitable manner, most of his distinguished countrymen. It was after his marringe that he painted in his second or more delicate muuner) various religious pulójects for the different convents and diguitaries of Seville ; amongst others, “ The Nutivity of the Virgin Virgin" (oue of the picturcs taken to Paris), “St Anthony of Paduu," portraits of saints and churchmen, wd above all, his great pictures for the hospital of St George, which apread his renown to tho extremities of Spuin. He, morcover, renewed (this was in 1658) the project for establishing a public academy of painting in Seville, after struggling with the hostility und unvy of his brother artists, over which, however, he was finally and descrvedly triumphant. In a word, he adorned Seville by his genius; filling her churches and houses with his pictures, and increasing hor reputation with his own individual fame. tures, indeed, aro for the most purt gone ; scattered over other places qud other lands ; but the renown of Murillo remains. The last work of art on which he was cngnged he left unfinished. Ho was completing it for the great altar of the Capuchins at Cadiz when he foll sick and died. The picturo itself is roferred to in his will, and (to give a notion of the price of works of art at that period) he' was to receive for it, together with four smaller, ones, the sum of 9000 dollars. Murillo dicd on the 3d of April 1682, a widower; leaving a daughter, who had taken the veil; and two sons, to whom he bequeathed the whole of his moderate property. This consisted of a fow bouses, with furniture and jewels, and some olive-plantations at Pilas. The 'pic- The present picture was presented to the National Gallery by M. M. Zachary, Esq. Its height is I foot 10 inches, and its width 1 foot 4 inches. It is painted on canvas.

·THE BANISHED LORD. Sir Joshua Reynolds,

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·THE BANISHED LORD. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. IR JOSHUA REYNOLDS was born at Plympton, in Devonshire, on the 16th of July 1723. It was originally intended that he should be brought up to the practice of physic; but his strong liking for art induced his father to swerve from this intention, and to pernit his son to follow his own inclinutions. The enthusiasm of Reynolds showed itself in extreme youth, and continued throughout a long lifu; but ho appears never to have contented himself with those loose and capricious demonstrations of talent, the indulgence in which las nue so many bad painters. He had none of the indolence of genius. On the coutrary, is carly as in his eighth year, he studied "Tho Jesuit's perspective" with great care i great carei lu Jhaly, when a man, he investigated, resolutely and decply, the principles of urt, as developed in Raffaelle's pictures; and even in the declino of life, the patient attention with which he still continued to seek knowledge. (nmuungat the Dutch musters) cuabled him to enrich and give fresh force to the very latest productions of his pencil. Reynolds was first educated under IIudson, at that timo the most eminent portraitpainter in London, but nevertheless an indifferent artist. With him he remained until he excited his jealousy by surpussing him in his own line of art.• He then returned to Devonshire, and remained there five or six years ; ut the cxpiration of which time, be went, on the thvitation of Captain (afterwards Joril) koppel, to the Mediterranean, and thenco proceeded to Rome. It was at this perioul that ho studied the grout works of art in the Sistino Chapel and the Vatican, and acquired that reverence for Raffaelle and Michael Angelo which pever afterwarıls forsook him. Ou quitting Ronc, be visited in succession Florence, Venico, and many other of the mort remarkable cities of Italy, and finally returned to England, after having been absent threr years from luis native country. Reynolds's talents--- which, under any circumstances, would have been sufficient to have forced him into notica--at this time insured him rapid distinctiou. Art Wels in the lowest possible state ; and there does not appear to have been uny one else capable of redeeming it from the iguorauce and burbarism of thu times. He accordingly soon rose to the summit of his profession, passing Kneller, Lely, and the others, his ·бо THE BANISHED LORD. immediate predecessors, and taking his stand at once by the side of Vandyck himself. He became fashionable as well as celebrated. He was caressed by the great, admired by the skilful, and applauded by all. In this enviable state, increasing, howevor, gradually in reputation and opulence, and associating with the highest literary spirits of the age, he continued to enjoy his profession, and to exercise a' deep and wholesome influence upon art, for the space of thirty years, During this period, he contributed to the Shakespeare Gallery; becamo President of tho Royal Academy; attained tho honour of knighthood; composed the noter to Du Fresnoy's "Art of Painting;" delivered his well-known lectures, which are replete with discrimination and good sense; and produced most, if not all, the pictures upon which his great rcputation is now so securely founded. In 1781, and again in 1783, be visited Holland and the Netherlands. Between these two journeys, however, he suffered a slight paralytic shock; but recovering, he rontinued to paint till 1789, when, having lost the sight of an eye, he was compolled to abandon his profession. He continued, indeed, to receive his friends till the latter part of the year 1791 ; but he then fell into a state of despondency, and at last died on the 23d of February 1792, at the age of sixty-nine years. There can be but one opinion, in the minds of competent judges, as to the position which Sir Joshua Reynolds ought to occupy amongst the portruit-painters of this country. Tlo is, beyond a question--the first, For truth and character for style, broadth, and charın of colour-and, above all, for that greatest virtue in an artist, simplicity, he was and is without a rival. If his imagination was not of the loftiest order, there wus yet a natural grace about his mind which in his particular department of art) compensated for the want of the higher quality. And if his invention was not inexhaustible, yet his admirable good sense and love of nature saved him from those eternal repetitions of himself, which bave marked at ouce thc egotism and poverty of so many artista. It is not easy to assign him any precine station amongst the great painters of portraits ; nor is it material to do 80. Wherever he may stund, it is amongst the most illustrious. In the list of his predecessors there are Titian and Velusqucz, Rubens and Vandyck, Hollicin and Rembrandt; all great names, it is true; but there is not one of them (Titian alone cxceptod) with whom it can be said that Sir Joshua Reynolds may not stund, at least, in comparison. It is no slight proof of his genius, that he was able to triumph over the most detestablo costume that ever disgraced the human figure. He rescued Nature from this absurd thraldom, and (unlike Kncller and Lely, and the rest, who auuk under the difficulties of drcas) he transmitted unimpired to posterity—“in their habit as they lived "--all the spirit, and beauty, and intelligence of his time. Ile was fumiliar 'with all kinds and conditions of men. He painted the warrior, the scholar, the courtier, the wit, the child, of the noble, the poor boy with his fishing-net--and other varieties of the "great animal," Mun; and was cqually successful in all. He was excelled, in some respects, by other painters of portrait; but, in simplicity and positive grace, he was surpassed by none. The present picture was presented to the Gallery by the Reverend William Long. The title of “ The Bunished Lord” is merely fanciful, and one to which it has un claims. It is painted on canvas. Its height is 2 feet 5 inches, and its width 2 feet.

·Arad -
THE MARRIAGE FESTIVAL OF ISAAC AND
REBECCA. .
Claude.

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·作品:

·THE MARRIAGE FESTIVAL OF ISAAC AND REBECCA. CLAUDE OME account has already been given of the celebrated painter Claude Lorraine, in a previous page. Nevertheless, something still remnins to be said conceming the character of his genius. Claude was a painter of greater power than is commonly apprehended. Critics are too apt, in general, to affix complimentary epithets to the lasty and violent efforts of artists, which, in reality, betray little more than the frenzy and weakness of their authors. In painting, we talk of the "gloomy power" of Caravaggio ; the stormy brush" of Tintoret; the “ savage grandeur" of Sulvator Ronu (we are referring only to his historical subjects; his landscapes were eminently fine) :-wc hear of “eccentric sublimity," of " mislirected power," &c. &c., anci are lost in a hubbub of words which have no meaning; or if they have any, nican for the most part that the artist has attempted something--and failed. llow is it that we never hear Titian, orº Raffaelle, or Shakespeare, spoken of after this fashion? Why, it is because their minds were so sccuro and well-balanced, so completo and harmoniously disposed, that no one past was exaggerated, or male prominent, at the expense of the rest. It was with them as with some complete specimen of the human figure, where nothing is so conspicuous or out of place as to call for especial commendation. It is the synimetry and compactness of the whole, which, while it deceives the immuturc critic, affords to the expcrionced observer the best evidence of perfection and strength. Besides, whenever a lasting impression is produced on the world, it must issuredly be produced by power of ono kind or other. As in medicine there is the narcotic as well as the acid, the spirit, and the volutile cascuce; Ho in urt there is the power of shedding tranquillity and reposc, as well as the power of tempestuous light and darkness, of combination, and colour, and expression; which last is the highest of all. It is, in fact, inwoven amongst all the others, and gives value to each ; spreading itself over evon inanimate objects, and giving them character and beauty ; relieving from commonplace and monotony the glades of Caspar and the trees of Claude, as well as the grand and intellectual faces which look upon us from the punels of Titian and Raffaclle.

·64 THE MARRIAGE FESTIVAL OF ISAAC AND REBECCA. This completeness and well-poiacd mind on the one hand, and on the other the power of investing all things with the aspect and spirit of tranquillity, Claude Lorraine possessed. All scems to have proceeded from him without effort-his trees, and lawns, and slopes ; his beautiful hills and far-off continents, and his seas laughing and sparkling in the sun : all seem to have risen up gradually but surely, and taken their station, like things which obey the charming-wand of an enchanter. The truth is, that Claude felt the beauty of what he boheld; and to transfer his impressions to the canvas became, as a consequence, a matter of comparative facility. We have the permission of a friend, who thinks much as we do on matters of urt, to transfer to our pages some of his manuscript referring to the great painter whose merits we have been speaking of :- ON THE PICTURES OF CLAUDE. “Let those whom Fortune hatea, or Love bath painel, Seuk quiet in the scenes of Claudio Lorraine. Harmonious thoughts delighted noonday dreams (Whercin the Soul, passing the lazy sense, Imagines and creatos an earth like Heaven) Filled up the circle of his days. He dwelt In regions of divine tranquillity, Courtiug the sunset and the blooming dawn : And what ho wooed he won! For so it is, That they who are sincere must ever win Something of good-joy, or content, or glory; The orange flower which smiles from bridal heads, The virgin lily, or the conquering bay. Therefore it was, that Claude into his power Received the things he loved (the tender light, The beauty, and the calm), and gave them forth A hundredfold more fair; until his famo Grew brighter than the skies he drew ko well, And hallowed him till death." “And after death? "And after death lcelay embalmed in it, 'The spirit and poct of screnity. Le diod, if those can dio whose deeds remain For over-through all ages yet to come. He died; but through the airy landscapes still His Koman temples shine, his aqueducts, IIis marble arches, his half-shaded streams, Through which the cow-herd drives his weary charge, Loitering at set of sun: Still through his miste Loom the bluo mountains : Still the maiden Dawn Comes burning from the dark, like ono whom love Ilas kissed to beauty and the road's graco ; And still, ah! still “the Enchanted Castle" standa, A lonely thing upon a faery shore Attracting yet repelling-all unkuown- Without tradition, without history, And yet more famous from the want; for Fear, And Dream, and wild Imagination, all Fill it with wonder. So no inortal step Dare trend upon its threshold. If the barque Of wandering strangor should be drawn too near, "T'is told that women, palo and beautiful, Kiso from the waters, at a signal soft (Touched by tho lady of the place), and bind The fainting wretch 'round with their snaky hair, Aud sing him down to donth!" The present picture wus puinted, it is said, for the Duke de Bouillon, in 1648. It illustrates the particular genius of its author. The historical part of the work is sufticiently in kceping with the rest; but it is the landscape, with its balmy summer atmosphere, its rich foreground, and lovely distances (in every part of which the invention and judgment of thu artist are conspicuous), that constitutes its value. It formed, originally, one of the Angerstein Collection. The picture is 6 feet 7 inches long, and 4 fcct 11 inches high.

·A BACCHANALIAN
SCENE
Dicholas Poussin.

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·GO A BACCHANALIAN SCENE. NICHOLAS POUSSIN. ICHOLAS POUSSIN was born in the year 1594, at Andely, in Normandy. He was of a noble, but poor family, his ancestors having been ruined in the wars of the Leaguc. John Poussin, his father, was a soldier uwler Henri Quatre, and was desirous that his son should apply himself to the same pursuit. Nicholas, however, inclining to a more peaceful occupation, gave himself up to literature ; and would, beyond a doubt, have succeeded in acquiring a nano in letters, had not an acquaintance with Varin (theu un artist of some note) turucu his thoughts to painting. Io requested to be allowed to devote himself to art; and consent being, given, he entered with his whole soul into the study of his profession. At the age of cighteçn or nineteen, lie left his master Varin, and went to Paris. That capital, however, afforded him but indifferent objects for imitation. llc proceeded without much assistance either from masters' or molely, until chance throw in his way i some prints after Raffaelle, which iustuntly commanded his attention and delight. There is no doubt but that the example of Raffaelle determined his style. He followed the steps of that greatest of painters; not, however, as a scrvilc imitator, but as a pupuil cager to catch a portion of his master's inspiration, and striving for fame. After some' vicissitudes, in which he had to cncounter poverty and want of patronage, lic obtained (through the good offices of his friend Philip de Champagne) somo employment at the Luxembourg Palace. By painting ocrulsioually in distcmper he acquired a fucility of pencil which enabled him to execute an order given him big thu Jesuits at Paris, to paint, on the instant, the miracles of their leader, Loyola. In less than & Weck he accomplished six pictures on this subject, which were required on the occasion of celebrating Loyolu's canonisation. This seems to have given an impulse to Poussin's reputation, and, as a consequence, to have lal to his acquaintance with the Cavaliere Marino, who became, in the most extensive sense of the word, his patron and friend. Murino is probably known to the English reader 8 the author of a very striking poem, entitled “The Murder of the Innocents," which Crushaw translated. This liberal man gave Poussin an apartment in his house, and guided him (which ho To the latter was well able to do) in his studies in Italian, and classic literature.

·.68 A BACCHANALIAN SCENE. Pousain was eminently attached ; and “no paintcr," to have recourse to the testimony of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was ever better qualificd to paint such subjects, from his knowledge of the ceremonies and habits of the ancients," He had equal industry and taste; studying always the best models, and studying everything with a care and perseverance that cannot be too much admired. “He diligently applied himself to history and biography, transcribing and translating large portions from different authors, and sought the conversation of such learned and ingenious men as were then to be found in the French Court." Fame and employment were coming gradually to him, when he resolved in 1624) to go to Rome, to which place his friend the Cavaliere had retired. He continued with Marino till the death of the latter, when he found himself in embarrassed circumstances, against which he struggled with untiring perseverance until the arrival from France of Cardinal Barberini, This prelate's interference relieved him from absolute want, and finally introduced him effectively (by giving him opportunities of displaying his genius) to the admiration of all patrons of art. Ho painted large pictures for the Cardinal, and for the Pontifical Palace, and in 'the end was invited back to Paris by a minister of state, and appointed principal painter to Louis the Thirteenth, who was then king. Poussin remained at Paris as long as the envy and cabals of his brother artists would permit; and when they disgusted him beyond all endurunce, he returned once more to his beloved Rome. Herc, amidst the beautiful in nature and art, distinguished by the tasteful and the learned, cultivating painting with success, and receding, when he chose, into the tranquillity which had become a passion in his mind, he wore out the remainder of his life, and at last died in the year 1665, full of years and honourable fime. Nicholas Poussin was remarkable cqually for his graco and learning. The beauty and simplicity of his figures will often stand a comparison even with those of Raffuelle himself. His taste was, perhaps, more sevçre than that of his great model (who threw more character und animation into his groups); but he never, like Polidoro and others, “forgot himself to stone." Jlis colour, which is usually disliked, is, nevertheless, frequently admirable, as being adapted to his subject, and full of gusto. The present picture (which was formerly in the Barberini Palace) is one of the best productions of Poussin. Nothing car surpass the Bucchanalian spirit that reigns and revels throughout. It is full of mirth--staggering with riot, and "dance, and tipsy jollity." It is painted on canvas, and is 3 feet 1 inch in length, and 4 feet 8 inches in lieight.

·SA
A LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES,
REPRESENTING' ABRAHAM AND ISAAC JOURNEYING TOWARDS THE MOUNT
FOR THE INTENDED SACRIFICE.
Oasparo Poussin.

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·A LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES, REPRESENTING ABRAHAM AND ISAAC JOURNEYING TOWARDS THE MOUNT FOR THE INTENDED SACRIFICE. GASPARO POUSSIN. ASPAR DUGHET, commonly called Gaspar Poussin, was born at Rome in the year 1613. · He was of French origin, and, liko many other men of genius, of humble parcntage, being the son of Jean Dughet, who wus the cook of a Roman senator. The futher of Gaspar, during an illness of Nicholas Poussin, had shown kindness to that grcut painter, whom he removed to his own house, and, aided by his wifo and daughter, nursed into health. In return for these cares, Poussin rewarded him by marrying his cldest daughter, Marii, anel eventually (ho (he having no children) by adopting Gaspar, who was seventeen years younger than himself, as his son. In testiniony of this adoption, Gaspar assumed, und ever afterwards retained, the surname of Poussin. It was under the instructions, and by the ndvice of Nicholas, that Gaspar begun his career in art. The judicious and experienced cye of the elder' painter soon por, ceived tho bent of his pupil's genius, and he accordingly counselled him to coufine bis endeavours to landscape-painting. Grapur followed this advice, aral becamo, as is well known, eminent. His inmediatc predecessors werc Nicholas Poussin himself (who was no mcan painter in this particular line of art) and the celebrated Claude Lorraino, who had already given cvidence of his great talents by transcribing and rivalling with his poncil the luxurianco of Italy, but moro capecially those meridian splendours and gorgeous sunsets which hung over, and almost hide with their brightness, the steaming wastes of the Roman Campagna. With such a formidable advcrsary, Gaspar did wisely in selecting different objects, or at least in treating them in a different manner. Or it might be thut it was less for the sake of arriving at an original style, than an actual preference in his own mind, that induced him to turn aside from the sunny landscapes of Claude, und wander amongst more secluded places, and in more perfect solitudes. The excellonce of Claude's pictures consists mainly in the beauty of his distauces, ·72 A LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES. in the repose of his scenes, in his harmonious arrangement of parts, and in that bright and balmy atmosphero which ho delighted to throw, like a spell, over his scenery. Hc was the wizurd whom the sun and the air obeyed. No one has done so much with Apuce and light, and the enchantments which distance lends," as he. The scenes of Gaspar are generally more confined than those of Claude, and more literal. He drew less upon his imagination, and resorted less to the temples and buildings and common accessories of the lundscape composer. He lost by this choice much of magnificence, and somewhat of variety and general effect; but he gained in truth and simplicity, and frequently in a condensed interest. Guspar Poussin does not endeavour to surpass the rainbow with his colours, nor lose himself in misty and interminable distances ; but the freshness and youth of April seem to hang upon his trees; and his woods and gludes are such as the traveller still beholds as he pauses in the romantic depths of Tivoli and Terni. In severity of design, and in the savage nature of his subject, Gaspar Poussin not unfrequently assimilates himself to Salvator Rosa. Instead of a choral dance or a Pagan procession, or a herd of cows driven homewards at sunset (which lust Claude has presented almost to satiety), he contents himself with a small group of nymphs or travellers, or perhaps with a single figure; und thus illustratos, in a more complete manner than the other, the spirit of loneliness and uudisturbed tranquillity which characterise the beautiful region which hu delighted to portray. It may be said that Claude Lorraine was the painter of repose, and Gaspar Poussin of solitude. Gaspar Poussin died at Rome in the year 1665, when he was sixty-two years old, having passed through life without encountering any great vicissitudes. In the present picture, he has expatiated more than was usual with him; the distances being as extensive as those of Claude himself. His firm and decisive pencil, however, is conspicuous throughout; and it is not without reason that tho composition and other excellences of this picture have occasioned it to be valued as one of the very finest of his works. It was one of the late Mr Angerstein's Collection, and was previously in the Colonna Palaco at Rome. 0 The picture is Gº feet 6 inches long, and 5 feet 3 inches high. 1 ·PORTRAIT OF LORD HEATHFIELD. Sir Joshua Reynolds.

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·PORTRAIT OF LORD HEATHFIELD. SIR YOSHUA REYNOLDS. EORGE AUGUSTUS: ELIOTT, afterwards Lord IIcathfield, was a native of Roxburghshiro, in Scotland ; and cutcred, when very young, us i volunteer, into the Prussian army. After having run the usual gravlations, and distinguished himself as it tactician, he was intrusted with the command of Gibraltar in the year 1775; and he defended it against the combined fleets of France and Spain with a courage and success that are noted clown in triumphant letters on the page of our English history. The portſait here given was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds after the grent cvent which distinguished Eliott's lifo. It is not easy to concentrate, in a single look, the entire spirit and character of a man who has faced and conquered a hundred thousand enemies, backed by three hun dred cannon. This was the force opposed to the gurrison of Gibraltar; and it was directed with skill and perseverance, anil supported luy floating batteries of u kind, till then, unknown in nuval warfare. "Four hundred pieces of the heaviest artillery," suy! the historian, were playing at the same moment. The wholo Peninsuln scemod overwhelmed by tho'torrents of fire which were inceanuntly poured upon it." And in this terriblo conflict the man whom we are now looking upon was the directing mind. ls it not asking too much of the painter, who, after everything is said, practises but a limitary” art, to condeuse all that the hero thinks and feels..--or even to show distinctly all the traces that thought and feeling have left union the human countenance, after duyn of glory or disaster, in six small inches of an oaken panel? Yet men are sometimes induced to wonder that more is not done with the heads of poets und heroes. They desire to see the particular temperament colouring the visuge.-- the individual genius written on the eye; forgetting that genius itself, although not dead,” often "sleepeth," or becomes inert or languid and inexpressive, in the wearisome atmosphore of the artist's study. We do not suy this in cxtenuation of the present portrait : Sir Joshua Reynolds line donc justice to the warrior of Gibraltar; not simply in respect of his personal likcuess (of which we know vothing), but of his character.

·• 76 PORTRAIT OF LORD HEATHFIELD. There is no mistaking the keen, watchful, intelligent look of the commander, nor the quiet resoluto bearing of the man. Having touched upon the merits of Sir Joshua Reynolds in a previous notice, we shall not trouble the reader with any repetition of our eulogios here. It is sufficient to say that the picture of Lord Heathfield is not unworthy the reputation of the greutest portrait-painter that has yet distinguished the English school. This picture formed part of the Angerstein Collection. It is painted on canvas, and is 3 feet 8 inches wide, and 4 fect 8 inches high.

·ASIA
Vyur.
THE WATERING - PLACE.
Thomas Gainsborough.

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·THE WATERING-PLACE. TIIOMAS GAINSBOROUGU, HE present is one of the most agreeable prouductions of Grinslwrongh. exhibits a rich and varied prospect, in which luxuriance and beauty vie with each other in attracting our adinirntion. In some pictures of this urtist we encounter artificial objects, which divide our curiosity with the natural scenery before us; but in the present landscape, Nature reigns paramount. There is nothing else of sufficient importance to distract our attention, or draw away our homage from her. The painter hus evidently felt, and as it consequence makes the spectator feel, the whole merit of his subject ---- the wiving trees, the fresh and breathing incense of the fields, “Tho glory of the grase, the splendour of the flower." Gainsborough was not a poetical artist., He could not extricate himself from the literal realities before him. He was un admiruble painter after his own fashion ; always true and vigorous, and sometimes eminently graceful; always copying with fidelity, and frequently selecting with taste. But his landscapes are (almost invArinbly, we believe) strict copies or imitations of what he saw. He wanted the gusto grandı. fo hul not the crowning faculty of the Imagination. He had not the power of lignifying the little, or of making greater the great. He could not throw the splendour and halo of poetry over an ordinary thing of this world, and bid it start forth a new creation. Nevertheless, although he did not acquire the fame of a poetical artist, nor ever aim at the charucter of an imaginative painter, he was, in effect, superior lo many who did. For instance, the later painters of the Italian schools for the most purt nflected the “ great style.” They were more ambitious than Gainsborough, and possibly superior to him "in a certain routine of practice, which to the eyes of conimon observers has the air of a loarned composition; but this is of little moment. They were deficient in more weighty things in all those qualities which constituted thc merit of the English painter-in truth, vigour, nud originality ; in all, in short, that constituto the excellenco of art. “For my own part," says Sir Joshua Reynolds (and we concur entirely with him), “I confess I take more interest in, and am more captivated with, ·80 THE WATERING-PLACE. the powerful impression of Nature which Gainsborough exhibited in his portraits and in his landscapes, and the interesting simplicity and elegance of his little ordinary beggar children, than with any of the works of that school” (ho has been referring to “the late artists of the Roman school ") "since the time of Andrca Sacchi, or perhaps we may say Carlo Maratti; two painters, who may truly be said to he Ulimi Romanorum. Compared with Claude and Turner, Gainsborough must be pronounced to be a prosaic artist; but he probably made a stronger and cortainly a more direct impression on ordinary minds than cither of those celebrated painters. He is to them what the poet Thomson, or perhaps Cowper, was to our great Milton ; legs grand, less imaginative, loss of a master in his art, but exceeding them in popularity, and well deserving that his name should be inscribed near theirs on the never-ending roll of Fame. ; Thy present picture was presented to the National Gallery by Lord Farnborough. It is 5 feet 11 inches in length, and 4 fect 10 inches in height.

·THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS REFUSED
ADMITTANCE TO THE CHURCH.
Vandyck.

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·17) G THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS REFUSED ADMITTANCE TO THE CHURCH. VANDYCK. T the conclusion of a florid panegyric on the virtues of Thcodosius, Gibbon informs us that, "except the beretics, whom he permocuteul with implacable hatrud, the diffusive circle of his hencvolcuce wus circumscribed only ly the limits of the human race. This encomium is followed by a schedule of his faults ; amongst which his selfabandonment to the "trifling plcusures of a luxurious court ‘ intemperato sullies of passion” (which, we are told, he “studied" to suppress) — and' vengeance, that slnked itself in an ocean of blood, are the most conspicuous. It is curious to observe how casily l'rinces curn the good word of listorical writers. The inhabitants of Antioch, grouning under edicts of taxation, which were then ' an extraordinary and oppressive burlen," und finding that their compluints, mado in "pathetic and respectful language," were treated by their "haughty rulers as a criminal resistance,"•procceded to manifest their discontent by bronking in pieces the statuos of Theodosius and his fumily. This tumult, which, it is snid, sufficiently, declared the impious and treasonable wishes of the people," was immediately suppressed, and the city for many days held in suspenso as to whether or not itu inhabitants were to be put to the sword, and its buildings levelled with the ground. The “clemency" of the Emperor, liowever, prevailed; he was content with causing suspected persons to be tortured, and the criminals, with their wives and children, to be reduced to utter poverty. The good city of Thessalonica, however, did not fure so well. It is true that some of its citizens had earned condigu punishment. The imprisonment of a brutal charioteer having deprived them of the pleasures of the Circus, they rose upon the govoror (with whom they had had previous disputer), and slew him, together with several of his principal officers. The natural course, under such circumstances, would have been to have inquired into the case, and to have inflirted due punishment on the offenders. But, as his historian saya," the fiery and choleric temper of 'Theodosius was impatient of the dilatory forms of a julicial inquiry; and he resolved, hastily, that ·84 THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS. the blood of his lieutenant should be expiated by the blood of the guilty people.” And in pursuance of this atrocious resolution, the people of Thessalonica were treacherously invited, "in the name of their Sovereign," to the games of the Circus, and there, to the amount of fifteen thousand victims, murdered without distinction / Neither sex nor age- nuither nobility of character nor stainless innocence were spared. Men, women, and children, “old age and infancy many whose faces were familiar to their tyrant from his long and frequent residence at the place, were massacred without distinction, by orders of Theodosius "the Grout." It was for this diabolical act that "Suint Ambrose" (who, however, had proviously commended to the Emperor the tumultuous burning of somo places of worship belonging to Jews and Valontinians) prohibited him from re-appearing in the church. The Emperor, we arv told, after be had “lamonted his rask fury, proceeded in the accustomed manner to perform his devotions in the great church of Milan. He was stopped in the porch by the Archbishop, who, in tho tone and language of an ambassador of Heaven, declared to his Sovereign that private contrition was not sufficient to atone for a public fault, or to appease the justice of the offended Deity."-GIBBON, xxvii. This act of Suint Ambrose, who was then Archbishop of Milan, constitutes the subject of Vandyck's work. We do not, we confess, think highly of Vandyck as au historical painter. His excellence lay in Portraits. And he was chiefly a graceful and skilful delineator of rink and elegance. The beauty and chivalry of the Court camo duly adorned from his pencil. Although far from wanting when he condescended to humbler subjects (indood he could bring out with infinite truth, and sometimes with great simplicity, any mutter of fact before him), yet the Court, or rather the circle wherein the high-boru ladies and gallant cavaliers of his time moved, was his proper domain. Here it was that he caught the " distinguished air," tho look of gentility, that characterisos, almost to a fault, his pictures. Flow delicate are the features which his women (or rather his ladies) wear How white and transparent is their skin; how unruffled their aspect; how beautiful, notwithstunding the mannerism, their hands! His cavaliers appear to want the sinews and vigour (both of body and look) which we are apt to ascribe to heroes ; but his fadios, had they but a little more animation, would be delightful. The women of his master, Rubens, were course, buxom, and frequently inelegant; but they had a spirit,' which those of the pupil wanted. There was in the mind of Vandyck (possibly in a slight degree) a certain compromise between nature and art, which he caught doubtless from the atmosphere of rank in which he practised, and transferred gradually and insensibly to his canvis. He formed, in truth, the natural link between the bold and intrepid heads of Rubens, and the sleeping and inanimate beauties of Sir Petor Lely. This picture (which is copied, for the most part, from a design of Rubens, and indeed.contains a portrait of that master) formerly constituted part of the Angerstoin' Collection. It is painted ou canvas, and is 3 feet 9 inches wide, and 4 feet 10 inches high.

·17
THE MARKET CART.
Gainsborough.

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·THE MARKET CART. GAINSBOROUGH. HOMAS GAINSBOROUGH was born at Sudbury, in the county of Suffolk, in the year 1737. His father being in indifferent circumstances (he was U poor clothicr), was unable to afford his son much education, and this drove the boy, who had consequently many hours of leisure, into the fields and woods. He was evidently of an active disposition; for, instead of becoming merely a nut or blackberry picker, or contenting himself with wiring hares, or invading orchards in the apple season, or going to sleep in the sun (rustic resources), he took note of tho colour and shapes of things, and became at once an imitator and an ally of Nature. FC was not persuaded into art, nor induced to follow it is a means of obtaining bread, but was, altogether u spontancous urtist. Ile did not commence his career by copying the designs of other men, but went at once to the original source, and set down the living trees and waters,' the evergreen menulows and the changing skies, just as he found them. This is not the place to consider how far this is or is not a good education for an artist; but it is clear that a person, adopting and persevering in art under such circumstances, must at least poshlogy one, of the luments which go to the constitution of a great man. After following this course of life for some time, his sketches uttracted the notice of competent judges, und he was sent to London, in order that he might receive regular instructions in his profession. Here he supported himself by making orunmental drawings for books, and painting small landscapes, at the same time that he pursued his studies. And he did not limit himself to the department of art in which he had set out, for ho studied portrait-painting as well as landscape; reporting to the first in & mcans of living, and whering to the last from curly and still undiminished love. His portraits, inferior in style and grace to those of Sir Josliua Reynolds, had nevertheless great simplicity and general excellence; whilst his landscapes were altogether unrivalled. He was the first mal English landscape-painter ; and to him may 1» traced that brilliant line of artists-all essentially English-- who have done more than any other class of men to estublish the reputation of our native school. Wilson (a contemporary of Gainsborougb) wus undoubtedly a fine paiuter; but he ·88 THE MARKET CART. caught his inspiration from foreign genius rather thun from Nature herself. Gainsborough, self-educated and without models, was obliged to go to that grand gallery from which all models are tuken. This gave him advantages over his brother artist. It gave him supcrior vigour, greater truth, and a more determined style; but it also induced a mannerism, from which he never entirely extricated himself. One benefit that ariscs from looking upon a variety of styles is, that it saves us from pursuing any one style in au iuveteratc degree. It rescues the painter from mannerism. Gainsborough, still painting portraits and landscapes us before, removed from London (where he married) to Ipswich, and from Ipswich to Bath. Iv this last-mentioned place he acquired great fame as un artist, together with some reputution for eccentricity us a man. His madness for music, and his celebrated purchase of Abel's violdi-gamba, arc facts known to every onc. llo died of u painful complaint in 1788, when little more than fifty years of age; and Sir Joshua Roynolds pronounced a great, although. qualificd culogium upon him, in the Royal Academy. It does great credit to both parties. The present picture is a gay and highly coloured picce of art. It has long been familiar to the public, and was presented to the National Gallery by thu Governors of the British Institution. It is painted on canvas, and is 6 feet 1} inches in height, and 5 feet in width.

·R
PEN
SAINT NICHOLAS CONSECRATED BISHOP OF
MYRA.
Paul Veronese,
CE

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iliim

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·ALIUL LALI ST NICHOLAS CONSECRATED BISHOP OF MYRA. PAUI. VERONESE.' P AOLO CAGLIARI, called Veronese, from the place of his birth, was boru at Verona in the year 1523, und dierl at Venice in 1588. The son of a Aculptor, he, nevertheless, nbaudoucil sculpture for painting, and, obtaining the patronuge of the Procurator.Grimani, went in his company to Rome. Here, in the midst of the masterpieces of Michael Augelo and Raftuelle, he sought inspiration, and studied the higher niysteries of art. But his genius was of another order. The austere and simple graces which he beheld in these high muills, must, sloubtless, have loft a lasting impression on his minil; but his passion was for colour, rather than for form. The proud splendour of Titian possessed more attraction for linn than the "ferribil via" of Michael Angelo, or the almost unadorned beauty of the incomparablo Raffwelle. Accordingly, he followed 'wirely the inclinatiou of his genius, aud icquired u renown its a colourist accond only to Titian himself. Hix style differs materially from that of the grcat Venetian, exhibiting less depth and less intellect, and approaching, in fact, the sensual and voluptucụş. After his fashiou, however, he is without a competitor. Iris Marriage of Cana" is, perhaps, the most magnificent picture in the world. There is a gorgeousness—prodigality about it, that not only eclipses the richness of ordinary paintings, but acoms to cast buck an air of poverty and gloom on works which atra really full of splendour. The superiority of Paolo Veronese (in his particular way) to all other quinture, in touched upon by a writer in all respects competent to speak on the subject. He is adverting in terms of culogy to Rubens, whose forte, he ways, was the processional, the showy, and tho imposing." He then contrasts him with l’aolo : "Rubens Wils, undoubtedly, the greatest scene-painter in the world, if we uscept. Paul Veronese; and the Fleming to him was flat and insipid. 'It is place which lessons and sets off.' We once saw two pictures of Rubens hung by the side of the Murriage of Cana,' in the Louvre ; und they looked nothing. The Paul Veronese nearly occupied the side of a large room (the modem Frenuli exhibition-roum), and it will like looking through the side of a wall, or at a splendid banquet and gallery, full of people, and full of interest. The texturc of the two Rubenses was woolly, or flowery, or sutiny; it was all alike: but ·92 SAINT NICHOLAS CONSECRATED BISHOP OF MYRA. in the Venetian's great work, the pillars were of stone, the floor was marble, the tables were wood, the drusscs were various stuffs, the sky was air, the flesh was flosh, the groups were living men and women. Turks, emperors, ladics, painters, musicians, all were real, dazzliny, profuse, astonishing. It seemed as if the very dogs under the table might get up and bark, or that, at the sound of a trumpet, the whole assembly might rise and disperse in different directions in an instant."--The Picture Galleries of England. This painting differs somewhat from the usual style of its author, huving a rich and solemn magnificence about it, instead of the gorgeousness which is invariably the property of his festivo subjects. It is, neverthtless, an eminently fine work, excellent in design, and grand in cffect, and adds prodigiously to the valuc of the National Collection. It belonged, formcrly, to the Church of St Niccolo de Frati, at Venice; was purchased by the Governors of the British Institution, and by them prenonted to the National Gallery This picture is painted on canvas, and is 9. feet and 5 inches high, and 5 feet and 9 inches wide, ·SILENUS.. Annibale Caracct.

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·les SILENUS. INNIBALE CHR4CCI. FPE do not, in this picture, perceive the defect attributed to it by the late Mr. Ottley. He complains that the Fauns, who are lifting : Silonus in order that he may gather grapes, are inadequate to their unwieldy task. This amounts, . we think, almost to hypercriticism. The Fawns are two young and active men, not drawn particularly slight, although they offer, is might buve been expected, an effective contrast to the half-clunkou an bloutel Silenus. This vilkt body-necessary, of course, to the subject, and, in fact, very characteristico--presents the only unplcasunt object in the picture. But, passing by this part of the subject, all clse: teems with beauty. The Fauns, the climbing leys, the snatches of light, and, finally, the purple fruit, and the green vines which enclose, mel wandler, like a leautiful arabesque, round the entire picture,, constitute one of the most igreeable designs of the Bolognese paiuter. Annibulo Caracci was fully competent to deal with a subject of this nature. There: wus in it no need .of "dignified form or lofty expression, such as is indispeusable to religious history, and such as Raffaelle mingled with feminine softness and inimitable grace, and scattered over his cartoons and frescoes. Neither was there any sulle mystery or profound meaning (such as sometimes lurks in l'aynn fables) zcquiring development. The physical, more than the intellectual --formu, more than expression seom necessary to the constitution of the present work. Not but that expression must elovuto anything, and might (ils may be seen in, il Satyr of Poussin) bestow an intellectual character even on a subject like the oue before us. But, although desirable, it is not absolutely cascntial to its success. Annibale Carucci was a masterly draftsman; and this quality, together with something more than his usual gruce, is conspicuous in the figures of the present work. The objection made to the design, that it was u "silly conceit" of the painter to cause the Fuuns to ruise Silcnus to the grapes, which they themselves were tull enough to gather, strikes us as singularly unhapi's. If one Faun haul lifted the other to the clusters, which were in the reach of either, there would huve been some foundation for the remark. But the object is to raise Silenus—who is manifestly unable otherwise to gather the PE ·96 SILENUS. fruit, and who has desired, in frolic humour (or, possibly, as a piece of epicurism), to pluck the hanging clusters himsolf. To a gourmand, like the foster-father of Bacchus, it must have been no mean satisfaction to have had his grapos untouched, and with all their bloom The present picture, which originally, as it is said, formod "purt of the ornaments of a harpsichord," came from the Lancellotti Palace, and was afterwards the property of the Rev. William Holwell Carr, who bequeathed it to the National Gallery. upon them. It is painted on board, and is 2 feet and 114 inches long, and i font and 9 inches high.

·A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES. Claude.

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·A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES. CLAUDE. HE genius of Claude was sufficient to extenunte (almost, indeed, to hallow) the sameness of conception, which, either from indolence or other causes, is so remarkable in his pictures. Were it not for this, the spectator would become speedily tired with his almost endless reiteration of a favourito ideu. We have, rupeated a hundred times, the samo uiry distances--the same rich and broken foreground--the same deep rivulet or shadowy pool—the name here wending their way homewards at set of sun. And yet, auch is the talent of the paiuter, that his pictures never fatiguo us. Either he has originnlly chosen his subject. so well, or has brought out the same objects in such different relief, or has wovon his tissues of light and shule 80 dexterously and harmoniously, thut, in spite of ull obstacles, he holds lois way with us to the last. This is onę of the many triumphs of genius. Whether it le Giotto and his circle- Guido and his colous-grinder or Claude Lorrnine himself, elevating a commonplace', from insignificance to beauty, by the spirit of his art, the sam, mens divinior in apparent in ull. Nothing but this could huve rescued the rich sonunces of Milton from monotony, and carried us onwards, in the full tide of admiru'tion, to the close of his immortal story. Should the poet or the painter cvor forget himself so far as to repine because he has not all that the rich man bonsts of, in adılition to his own more valuable store, let him but reflect that he has this, bigh quality that we have silverteel to-the one great, and perhaps. only material distinction between man und nun, anul rest content. “He who descends To covet the conhe dust the miser hoards, Will straight grow blind, and, in biso darkness lost, Forget his first love, Nature." . Among other things, it is no trifling autisfaction for a painter or writer, enthusiastic: in his art, to reflect, that many of his predecessors have quitted low employments and lucrative situations, to give themselves up to their high and ambitious calling. If this ·100 A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE, WITH FIGURES. determination has sometimes worn the look of imprudence, it has, at the same time, generally argued a spirit utterly opposed to the sordid and the mean. The story of Claude, abandoning his humble trade for the uncertuin profits of a painter's life, is universally known. There was, surely, a natural love of elegance in his mind, as well as a sense of power, which induced him to turn his thoughts to painting. Indeed, were there any doubt upon this point, we have only to look upon the landscapes which his pencil hus mudo so famous--his vordant glades and jetting fountnins—his balmy skies and azure wators--his trees and slopes, all redolent of spring--his quiet herds his shepherds ever musical-bis Roman tumples, and enchanted castles, Opening on the foam Of perilous scas in fairy lands forlorn,"- in order to convince ouroclves of these things, and to show us that he obeyed a higher impulse than mere caprice. Nature intended him for a great painter, and ho had wisdom enough not to disregard her intimations. The present picture, which is a charming composition, although replete with the mannerism which we have hinted at, appears to have been painted in the year 1645, and formed part of the Angerstein Collection: It is painted on canvas, and is 6 fuct 5 inches long, and 3 feet 4 inches high.

·CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS, Rembrandt.

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·YA
74
1
wy

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·Vina CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS. REMBRANDT. PE have already borno testimony to the merits of this great painter, in our notice of his portrait of “The Jew Merchant." We shall not, therefore, trouble the reader with a rtpetition of our culogy. To an artist, indeed, praise of Rembrandt appears to be a thing purely superfluous. He is like the ancient who retorted the eulogy ou Hercules with, “Who thinks of blaming Ilercules ?” But, in ordinary eyes, the great Fleming docs not always fid fnvour; nor, to confess the truth, does he always deserve it. That he possessCb most high qualities, and was one of the great masters of art, is beyond a question. His genjus wild daring; and his effects were at all times grand and powerful. Ho shrank from no subject. Не touched all things--the holy and the profane, the king and the clown, the warrior and the money-changer, the jewelled turban , and the beggar's rag—aul lifted them all into importance into grandeur, by dint of his "go potent art.” Nevertheless, in somo things he was still found wanting ; for dignity and grace were not within the compass of his pencil. Tis strength lay in terror. He was unacquainted with the quiet power of beauty, or else it was beyond his control. It is this defect thut narrows the circle of his admirers, and detracts from his popularity, if not from his fame. His imagination, in our opinion, was grand, but vague : prolucing tremendous effects ; scattering portents and dismay; suggesting, rather than defining, sublime idcus. In the truth and procision of his portraits, indeed, he was unsurpassed; but, in his historical (or poctical) subjects, where he had to draw on his invention, he wanted, is it appears to us, one of the high requisites in art, which are to be met with only umongst Italian painters. The present work is merely a sketch ; but it possesses the elements of a great picturo, and (the definite hero not belag so cssential as in most instances) it is not open to the samo objections which may, perhaps, be urged against somc others of the painter's works. It is, indeed, full of that wild and soaring character which belongs to those awful times when there was darkness over all the carth until the ninth hour”—when “the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.” The following verses, which are sufficiently illustrative of the qualitics of Rembrandt, deserve to be better known. They aro the production of an American painter, 22 ·104 CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS. Mr Allston, who during his residenco in this country exhibited grcat promise of excellence in his art. SONNET ON REMBRANDT, OCCASIONED BY HIS PICTURE OF “JACOB'S DREAM." "As in that twilight, superstitious age, When all beyond the narrow grasp of mind Socmed fraught with moanings of supornal kind- When s'en the learned philosophic sage, Wont with the stars through boundless space to range, Listened with rov'rence to the changeling's tale ; E'en so, thou strangest of all beings strange E'on so thy visionary scenes I hail; That like the ramblings of an idiot's speech, No image giving of a thing on earth, Nor thought significant in rosson's reach Yet in their random shadowings give birth To thoughts and things from other worlds that come, And fill the soul, and strike the reason dumb." George The present work was given to the National Gallery by the late Sir Beaumont. It is painted on wood, and is 1 foot and 1 inch high, and 11 inches wide.

·THE EMBARKATION OF SAINT URSULA. Claude.

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·5 Audio

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·THE EMBARKATION OF SAINT URSULA. CLAUDE HIS pictụro (one of those which occur in the Liber Veritatis) came from the Barberini Palaco, and was brought into England by tho late Mr Locke of Norbury. Afterwards, it became successively the property of Mr Dosenfona and Mr Angerstein, and formed part of the well-known collection of the latter gentleman, which was purchased by the English Government. The subject of the present painting is supposed to be “The Emubarkation of Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins "mono of those legends which sprang from the fertility of monkish ages; without probability or proportion; not sufficicnt, wo suppose, to shock the huge credulity of the times, but which, like many others, would long since havd sunk into irrecoverable oblivion, had it not been for the capricious genius of poets and painters. It is not ensy to guess at Claude's motive for adopting a theme secmingly so impracticable, unless it .wore to find favour in the night of the Roman cardinal for whom the work was originally undertaken. Yet ever he, one would suppose, might have solected a subject which our reason would more readily have accepted, and which would have taxed less heavily the ingenuity of the artist. With, all these draw,bucks, however, Claude has managed to produce an admirable work. The tumult and brilliancy of the scenc--the skilful distances--the broad shadows--the bright atmosphero -the trees the rippling waters and the vessels shining in the sun,—all conspiro to produce a fine and extraordinary effect. The eſtire picture (full of life, and light, and sound, and motion) is like 'u beautiful hymn to Morning. Claudo has been praisod somowhere for his '“ tempcrato splendour"-u happy eulogy ; for it is one of the great mcrits of this artist that he kuew how to rein in his fancy, and to "temper” the fire of his genius. Ile bal great power, but he had u cautious judgment also. He adopted legitimate means to attain his ends. He did not attempt to dazzle the spectator, or to subdue his admiration, by a coup de soleil. If we might “ hint & fault," it would be that he is sometimes almost too minute and literalpermitting trivial realities to fetter his imagination, and to interfore with tho unity and general effects of his works. But we may be in crror in this respect; or if right, ·108 THE EMBARKATION OF SAINT URSULA. how much, on the other hand, of the good and graceful, does he not offer as a counterpoise Lhow much which no other painter has exhibited, or exhibited only in imitation of him! The freshness (almost the fragrance) of dawn--the luxurious stillness of noon -the tranquil glory of the summer sunset-all haunt about the landscapes of Claude Lorraine, and invest them with an indefinablo charm. His pictures, although for the most part pictures only of still life, appear to have remained beyond others, in the memories of men-divine and ineffaceable by Timotalismans, capable of conjuring up bright associations at distant periods of life, like the recollection of a scene of boyhood, or a voice of tenderness never to be forgot. Almost two centuries have elapsed since the present picture was painted. It has Claude's namo inscribed upon it, and bears date the year in which it was executed. Two centuries! And yet the artist has not yet been eclipsed. “Sir Joshua Reynolds " (we quote from Hazlitt's “Essay on the Fino Arts”)—"Sir Joshua Roynolds used to say that there would be anothor Raffaello before there would be another Claude. His landscapes have all that is exquisite in art and nature. Everything is moulded into grace and harmony; and at the touch of his pencil, shepherds with their flocks, temples and groves, and winding glades, and scattered hamlets, rise up in never-ending succession, under the azure sky and the resplendent oun; while Universal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Leads on the eternal Spring." This picture is painted on canvas, and is 4 feet and 11 inches long, and 3 feet and 8 inches high.

·21
ALLY
SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS.
Ludovico Caracci.

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·SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS. LUDOVICO CARACCI. UDOVICO was the eldest of the Carnccis. More learned, moru inventive, more graceful, und altogether more accomplished than his cousins, hu led the way up the ascent of Art, where they were able ,only partially to follow. He was the founder of a school--had his prosclytes and imitators, and well descrves the high roputation which 'Time has awarded him. It was ho who gave the impulse to Art in its decline. It was ho who stayed the Muse of Painting in her flight, and forced her to hover for half a century more over the beautiful regions where she had onco resided. If he was not so carentinlly original ns two or three of his great predecessors, it must be rememberel that in his time, there was less scope for original genius to show itself. The grand departments in Art were cach filled. There was a multitude of models before him.. The temptation was to copy, rather than to invent. Nevertheless, in this (lilemma, ho did almost all that a great painter might be expected to achieve.. He studied Naturu; he selected gracefully; and produced new combinations, in shape and colour, sufficient to induce his contomporaries to huil him As a master, and postority to, confirm the title. Ho was the croator of the Bolognese School. Ludovico Carucci was born in the your 1555, at Bologna. During his apprenticeship in painting, he exhibited, according to bis biographers, but slender indications of genius. He was, in other words, not one of those shifting and brilliant meteors which durt, in eccentric curves and rapid trunsits, over the heavch of Art, aud dio at lust mere exhalations. He studied long and patiently. He considered the penns as well as tho und, working out carefully, and after minute study, all the wonderful niceties and varieties of Nature ; and the result was in proportion to the care bestowed. Whilst others were content to earn a brief reputation by sturtling thoughts and dazzling sketches, he pursued his sure and quict way to enduring renown. In the character of his genius and perhaps even in the very height that ho attained-be may be likened to thut chaste and delightful painter Nicholas Poussin. Tho samo chustity, the samc carcful study, the same undeviating perseverance, the same love of all that is beautiful in nature and art, marked and animated each. Poussin, perhaps, had a more learned grace; but ·II2 SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS. envy, hatred, . Ludovico Caracci was the more accomplished painter. After establishing a school, and sustaining it through the opposition of his brother painters-through " envy, and all uncharitableness ; " after surviving his cousins, Agostino and Annibale, and living to see their fame allowed, and the name of "The .Caracci" & word of honour amongst men, hu closed a usoful and brilliant life, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He is known und admired in all countries where the influence of Art has extended ; but his full merit may be said to be felt only in Italy. It is there that the greatest of his works still remain. Tho present painting is highly effective in point of execution, and is conceived with infinite delicacy. Susannah herself, far from being " deficient in expression," exhibits, to our thinking, the perfection of an innocent and timid girl, shrinking from advancos of which she is scarcely able to apprehend the naturc. The picture is painted on canvas, and formed at one time part of the Orleans Collection, and afterwards became the property of the late Mr Angerstein. It is 4 feet 8 inches high, and 3 feet 7 inches wide.

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PEACE AND WAR.
Rubens.

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·. RE PEACE AND WAR. RUBENS. 1 F the character of Rubens rested solely on his works, we should be inclined to pronounce it, to the last degree, sanguine, ostentatious, and adventurous. The Alush and animal spirit; the licence and extravagance of his pictures, would often justify such an opinion. And yet, if nothing more were said, the decision would remain imperfect and unjust. For hiş animal spirits wero guided by great power and a thorough knowledge of his art; and if his pencil occasionally wautoned into cxtravagance, his judgment provented it from yiolently outraging discre - tion. One of tho merits of Rubens lay in this union of spirit and good acaso. He was powerful, occasionally grand, free, dazzling, airy, fantastic, voluptuous, now and then gross, but never weak or ridiculous. He trod happily the midway between tamcnens and absurdity. His heads—those of his mon especially-have frequently vast gravity and character, whilst over all his subjects men and women, battles and processions, the crowded hall and the pastoral landscape-he flung that glow and sunshine of colour which, in fact, lifted him into fame, and has made him the model of 'so many succeeding painters. The ordinary defects of Rubens are, want of grace (where grace is most nccded), want of sympathy with his subject, and, as a nçcessary conscquence, a want of truth and propriety. His actors are too conscious, too obtrusive, too fond of exhibiting whatever their master could best paint. Rubens vas famous for his flesh-tints, and for giving a yielding pulpy character to the human body, which no one, perhaps, bas ever equalled. Accordingly, his men have naked lega, naked arms, and sinews swelling like those of giants; and his women are fut, fair, and forid, beyond the limits of English admiration. They want sensibility and eleganco; and their expression (when they huvo any) affords little explanation to the story in which they are supposed to take part. In a word, Rubens wanted the dramatic faculty which was so conspicuous in Raffaelle, as well as the grace and tenderness for which that first of all painters is so descrvedly celebrated. The present picture will in a great degree bear out the foregoing strictures. It exhibits the fine glowing colouring of this great Flemish painter--considerable power ·116 PEACE AND WAR. much of his lawlessness, in the mixture of the allegorical with the real and more grace than was usual with him It is altogether a brilliant performance, and deserves its place in the National Gallery of England. As we have spoken of Rubens in a precoding article, we will not repeat our eulogy upon him here. We prefer extracting, for the benefit of the reader, the opinion of an cminent writer, who had a great sense of all that was grand and beautiful in the world of art. He is speaking of the pictures at Blenheim. Rubens was the only artist that could have embodied some of our countryman Spenser's splendid and voluptuous allegorice. If a painter among ourselves were to attempt a Spenser Gallery (perhaps the finest subject for the pencil in the world, after Heathen Mythology and Scripture History), he ought to go and study the principles of his design at Blenheim. The Silenur' and the Rape of Proserpine' contain more of the Bacchanalian and lawless spirit of ancient fable, than, perhaps, any two pictures extant. Let any, one look at the figure of the Silenus in the first-mentioned of these compositions—its unwieldy size, its reeling drunken attitudo, its capacity for revelling in gross sensual cnjoyment and contrast it with the figure of the Nymph, so light, so wanton, 80 fair, that her clcar crystal skin and laughing grace spread a ruddy 'glow, and account for the giddy tumult all around her; and say if anything finer in this kind was ever executed or imagined 1 In that sort of licentious fancy, in which a certain grossness of cxpression bordering on caricature, and where grotesque or enticing form was to be combined with free and rapid movoments, or different tones and colours were to be flung over the picture as in sport or in a dance, no one ever surpassed the Flemish painter." The present picture belonged at one time to King Charles the First of England; it was afterwards in the Balbi Palace at Ccnoa. Somo years ago it was brought bither by Mr Buchanan und Mr Irwine, sold by them to the Duke of Sutherland, and by him presented to the National Gallery • It is puinted on canvas, ayd is 9 fect 8 inches in length, and 6 feet 5 inches in height.

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THE HOLY FAMILY.
Correggio.

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·T.HE HOLY FAMILY. CORREGGIO. HE prosent picture was brought into England from Madrid, or the Escurial, by Mr Wallis, an English artist; and it has been conjectured to have been one of those paintings which (according to Lanzi) the Duke of Mantua presented to the Emperor Charles tho Fifth of Spain. This must, perhaps, remain problematical; but no question can exist, wo think, as to the intrinsic merit of the work itself. It is of undoubted excellence, Considered merely as an exhibition of the grace and tandgruess of the maternal character, and as not having any divino rofcronco, it would be difficult to procluce another pictufe which surpasses it. Indeed, supposing it to aim at representing the "Holy Family" itself, it would not be easy to show to what fortunate work of art the palm of superiority is to be awarded. It is not unusual to hear a painter complimented on having achieved that wonderful union of the terrestrial and heavenly natures which distinguished the Son of God. Every. urtist of cmincuce has imposed upon himself this arduous task.. Every event in the life of Christ has been repeatedly sought, and has been dwelt upon with an almost painful care, in order to illustrate at onco tho homage and genius of painters. Nothing has been left unattempted from the cradlo to the cross; and yet (not to speak irreverently) the paradox remains to be accomplished. In the present case, Correggio has striven to embellish the subject with all his delightful power. It is a courbination of tenderness, graco, blandness, suavity. The artist who touched groups of this kind with so charming an effect, and who recurred to thom so often, must have assuredly possessed in his own nature something akin to the grace and gentlencss which he was so eager to portray. He cast out, with it prodigality that has scarcely a parallel in art, images of lovo and beauty, for the admiration of times to come. And it may do doubted whother a man was ever capable of imagining anything, so as to attract the sympathy of others, the germ of which was not within himself. Tho distinctivo mark or sign of Correggio's genius was not grandcur, nor dramatic skill, nor intonse cxpression, nor cvon clegance or tenderness, although in the last-mor Q ·120 THE HOLY FAMILY. rather in an interweaving of the two last- he was superior to most others. But it lay rather in a certain blandness or amonity of manner which no other painter has ever equalled. To attain this, he abandoned higher claims, and preferred being first in a humbler style, to being second in the greatest. No one who has seen his great work at Parma, will hesitate in admitting that he was capable of reaching a sublimer eminence than the one which he has chosen to surmount. The heads of Correggio may be said to lie midway between the divine beauty of Ruffaelle-or rather between the seraphic airs of Guido, and the domestic tenderness of the Spanish painter Murillo. But his combinations were moro beautiful than either. Notwithstanding the occasional voluptuousness of his style, he was in roality more simple than the one, and far moro elevated than the other. And his manner was essentially his own. It may be said that ho was the originator of chiaroscuro in painting No one before him had ever boheld the true wonders of light and shade. These he. subdued to the purposes of art; and, adding their magic to the general charm of his style, he produced marvellous effects, and attracted a train of admirers and imitators, which will scarcoly torminate so long as Art itself has an existence. So little is known, with oertainty, of the life of Correggio, that we forbear to venture into his doubtful biography. This picture is painted on panel. wide. It is 18 inches high, and 9 inches and a half ---- ra PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY EDINBUROH AND LONDON.

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