Paris as It Was and as It Is Part 12

N ( ) _The Holy Family_.

This valuable picture of RAPHAEL'S third manner is one of the most perfect that ever came from his pencil. It belonged to the old collection of the crown, and is engraved by EDELINCK. Although superior to the _Madonna di Foligno_ as to style and composition, it is inferior in the representation of the child, and in vigour of colouring.

N ( ) _The Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor._

This is the last production of RAPHAEL, and his most admirable _chef d'oeuvre_ as to composition and grace of the contours in all its figures. It is not yet exhibited, but will be shortly. This picture is in perfect preservation, and requires only to be cleaned from a coat of dust and smoke which has been acc.u.mulating on it for three centuries, during which it graced the great altar of St. Peter's church at Rome.

Among the portraits by RAPHAEL, the most surprising are:

N 58. (Saloon.) _Baltazzare Castiglione_, a celebrated writer in Italian and Latin.

N ( ) _Leo X._

Every thing that RAPHAEL'S pencil has produced is in the first order.

That master has something greatly superior in his manner: he really appears as a G.o.d among painters. Addison seems to have been impressed with the truth of this sentiment, when he thus expresses himself:

"Fain would I RAPHAEL'S G.o.dlike art rehea.r.s.e, And shew th' immortal labours in my verse, When from the mingled strength of shade and light, A new creation rises, to my sight: Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow, So warm with life his blended colours glow, From theme to theme with secret pleasure lost, Amidst the soft variety I'm lost."

LEONARDO DA VINCI.

There are several pictures by this master in the present exhibition; but you may look here in vain for the portrait of _La Gioconda_, which he employed four years in painting, and in which he has imitated nature so closely, that, as a well-known author has observed, "the eyes have all the l.u.s.tre of life, the hairs of the eye brows and lids seem real, and even the pores of the skin are perceptible."

This celebrated picture is now removed to the palace of the _Tuileries_; but the following one, which remains, is an admirable performance.

N ( ) _Portrait of Charles VIII._

FRA BARTOLOMEO.

N 28. (Saloon.) _St. Mark the Evangelist_.

N 29. (Saloon.) _The Saviour of the world_.

These two pictures, which were in the _Pitti_ palace at Florence, give the idea of the most n.o.ble simplicity, and of no common taste in the distribution of the lights and shades.

GIULIO ROMANO.

N 35. (Saloon.) _The Circ.u.mcision_.

This picture belonged to the old collection of the crown. The figures in it are about a foot and a half in height. It is a real _chef d'oeuvre_, and has all the grace of the antique bas-reliefs.

TIZIANO.

N 69. (Saloon.) _The Martyrdom of St. Peter_.

This large picture, which presents a grand composition in colossal figures, with a country of extraordinary beauty in the back-ground, is considered as the _chef d'oeuvre_ of t.i.tIAN. It was painted on pannel; but, having undergone the same operation as the _Madonna di Foligno_, is now placed on canva.s.s, and is in such a state as to claim the admiration of succeeding ages.

N 74. (Saloon.) _The Portraits of t.i.tian and his mistress._

70. (Saloon.) _Portrait of the Marquis del Guasto with some ladies_.

Both these pictures belonged to the old collection of the crown, and are to be admired for grace and beauty.

N 940. (Gallery.) _Christ crowned with thorns_.

941. (Gallery.) _Christ carried to the grave_.

There is a wonderful vigour of colouring in these two capital pictures.

The preceding are the most admirable of the productions which are at present exhibited of this inimitable master, the first of painters for truth of colouring.

CORREGGIO.

N 753. (Gallery.) _The Virgin, the infant Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and St. Jerome._

This picture, commonly distinguished by the appellation of the _St.

Jerome_ of CORREGGIO, is undoubtedly his _chef d'oeuvre_. In the year 1749, the king of Portugal is said to have offered for it a sum equal in value to 18,000 sterling.

N 756. (Gallery.) _The Marriage of St. Catherine_.

757. (Gallery.) _Christ taken down from the cross_.

This last-mentioned picture has just been engraved in an excellent manner by an Italian artist, M. ROSA-SPINA.

The grace of his pencil and his _chiaro oscuro_ place CORREGGIO in the first cla.s.s of painters, where he ranks the third after RAPHAEL and t.i.tIAN. He is inferior to them in design and composition; however the scarceness of his pictures frequently gives them a superior value. Poor CORREGGIO! It grieves one to recollect that he lost his life, in consequence of the fatigue of staggering home under a load of _copper_ coin, which avaricious monks had given him for pictures now become so valuable that they are not to be purchased for their weight, even in _gold_.

No collection is so rich in pictures of CORREGGIO as that of the CENTRAL MUSEUM.

PAOLO VERONESE.

N 44. (Saloon.) _The Wedding at Cana_.

45. (Saloon.) _The Repast at the house of Levi_.

51. (Saloon.) _The Pilgrims of Emmaus_.

These are astonis.h.i.+ng compositions for their vast extent, the number and beauty of the figures and portraits, and the variety and truth of the colouring. Nothing in painting can be richer.

ANDREA DEL SARTO.

N 4. (Saloon.) _Christ taken down from the cross_.