Paris as It Was and as It Is Part 15

MIGNARD.

N 57. (Gallery.) _The Virgin_, called _La Vierge a la grappe_, because she is taking from a basket of fruit a bunch of grapes to present to her son.

NICOLAS POUSSIN.

N 70. (Gallery.) _The Fall of the manna in the desert._

75. _Rebecca and Eleazar._

77. _The Judgment of Solomon._

78. _The blind Men of Jericho._

82. _Winter or the Deluge._

In this collection, the above are the finest historical paintings of POUSSIN; and of his landscapes, the following deserve to be admired.

N 76. (Gallery.) _Diogenes throwing away his porringer._

83. _The Death of Eurydice._

POUSSIN is the greatest painter of the French school. His compositions bear much resemblance to those of RAPHAEL, and to the antique: though they have not the same _navete_ and truth. His back-grounds are incomparable; his landscapes, in point of composition, superior even to those of CLAUDE. His large altar-pieces are the least beautiful of his productions. His feeble colouring cannot support proportions of the natural size: in these pictures, the charms of the background are also wanting.

LE SUEUR.

N 98. (Gallery.) _St. Paul preaching at Ephesus._

This is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of LE SUEUR, who is to be admired for the simplicity of his pencil, as well as for the beauty of his compositions.

VALENTINO.

N 111. (Gallery.) _The Martyrdom of St. Processa and St.

Martinian._

112. _Caesar's Tribute._

These are the finest productions of this master, who was a worthy rival of CARAVAGGIO.

VERNET.

N 121. (Gallery.) _A Sea-port at sun-set_.

This painter's style is generally correct and agreeable. In the above picture he rivals CLAUDE.

We now come to the school which, of all others, is best known in England. This exempts me from making any observations on the comparative merits of the masters who compose it. I shall therefore confine myself to a bare mention of the best of their performances, at present exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM.

FLEMISH SCHOOL.

RUBENS.

N 485. (Gallery.) _St. Francis, dying, receives the sacrament._

503. _Christ taken down from the cross_, a celebrated picture from the cathedral of Antwerp.

507. _Nicholas Rochox, a burgomaster of the city of Antwerp, and a friend of_ RUBENS.

509. _The Crucifixion of St. Peter_.

513. _St. Roch interceding for the people attacked by the plague._

526. _The Village-Festival_.

In this repository, the above are the most remarkable productions of RUBENS.

VANDYCK.

N 255. (Gallery.) _The Mother of pity._

264. _The portraits of Charles I, elector palatine, and his brother, prince Robert._

265. _A full-length portrait of a man holding his daughter by the hand._

266. _A full-length portrait of a lady with her son._

These are superior to the other pictures by VANDYCK in this collection.

CHAMPAGNE.

N 216. (Gallery.) _The Nuns._

The history of this piece is interesting. The eldest daughter of CHAMPAGNE was a nun in the convent of _Port-Royal_ at Paris. Being reduced to extremity by a fever of fourteen months' duration, and given over by her physicians, she falls to prayers with another nun, and recovers her health.

CRAYER.

N 227. (Gallery.) _The Triumph of St. Catherine._