Page:Anecdotes of painters, engravers, sculptors and architects, and curiosities of art (IA anecdotesofpaint01spoo).pdf/277

 of immortality, here to die unhappily. He and Titian will always be my delight: and if I do not see the works of the latter at Venice, I shall not die content.—April 28, 1580."

CORREGGIO'S ENTHUSIASM.

Among the many legends respecting Correggio, it is related that when he first contemplated one of the masterpieces of Raffaelle, his brow colored, his eye brightened, and he exclaimed, "I also am a painter!" When Titian first saw the great works of Correggio at Parma, he said, "Were I not Titian, I would wish to be Correggio."

CORREGGIO'S GRACE.

No one can contemplate the works of Correggio, without being captivated by that peculiar beauty which the Italians have very appropriately distinguished by the epithet Correggiesque, for it was the complexion of the individual mind and temperament of the artist, stamped upon the work of his hand. No one approached him in this respect, if perhaps we except Lionardo da Vinci. Though so often imitated, it remains in fact inimitable; an attempt degenerating into affectation of the most intolerable kind. It consists in the blending of sentiment in expression, with flowing, graceful forms, an exquisite fullness and softness in the tone of color, and an almost illusive chiaro-scuro, all together con