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 406 Painting the peculiarities of Michelangelo and Raphael. Had he lived at any other period he would probably have risen to the highest rank as a painter; for, although inferior to the five great men we have named as the master- spirits of the age, he greatly surpassed most of his other cotemporaries. He excelled in invention and de- sign ; and his later works are characterized by a correct- ness of drawing and grandeur of conception sometimes wanting in those of Correggio. His Vision of 8. Jerome, in the National Gallery, is one of his earlier productions. In 1531 he commenced the frescoes of the choir of S. Maria della Steccata at Parma, in which occurs the world-famous figure of Moses breaking the Tables of the Law, which Sir Joshua Reynolds chose as a typical specimen of the cor- rectness of drawing and grandeur of conception acquired by Mazzuoli through his study of the works of Michel- angelo, contrasting it with his earliest work, 8. Eustachius, in the church of S. Petronio at Bologna, in which the future master aimed "at grace and grandeur before he had learnt to draw correctly." Of his easel pictures, Cupid malting his Bow, in the Belvedere at Vienna, is con- sidered the most remarkable ; and of his altar-pieces, S. Margaret, in the Bologna Academy. (g) The Venetian School. Comparatively free from the constant action of those external influences which were brought to bear on the artists of Upper Italy, the Venetians steadily pursued the course commenced by the Bellini, and finally evinced a consummate mastery of colouring, which, as we have seen, was the predominant characteristic of the Early Venetian