Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 007.djvu/90

Rh this picture. It is a capital performance, inferior to none of his other works.

Susannah and the Elders, by Ludovico Caracci, is, in point of colouring and design, one of the finest pictures in this Gallery; but, as to its characteristic expression, I cannot help differing in opinion with one whom I willingly allow to be almost always right on these subjects. The Elders are all that they need be; but in the principal figure, the Susannah, I can discover no expression beyond that of the most womanly softness, sweetness, and beauty. The action and attitude indicate a modest and fearful shrinking into herself; but the look conveys nothing of this. The truth is, the painter had an ideal of feminine loveliness in his thoughts, which he determined to realize on this occasion; and he could not bring himself to impair this by any expression whatever of adventitious passion. This is one of the most lovely female forms and faces that ever was painted; but it is nothing more.

The Christ in the Garden, by Coreggio, I shall pass over almost unnoticed. It is a celebrated picture, and I dare not call in question the opinion of the world on a point of this kind. But I cannot express an admiration that I do not feel; and, perhaps, the idea I attach to the power of Coieggio's pencil is such as to prevent me from looking on this picture with the same eyes that I might if it were the work of another, or passed under another name.

Neither do I think very highly of Annibal Caracci's St. John in the Wilderness. The colouring is rich and fine, and there is a grandeur and force of style about the landscape part of it; but I doubt if like drawing of the figure is correct; and the expression is not very intelligible.

The Titians are not the most striking or perfect pictures in this collection. There are three; Venus and Adonis, Ganymede, and a Concert. The Venus and Adonis is one of several repetitions of this subject, and I think the finest of three that I have seen, both as to colouring and character. The flood of voluptuous expression that seems to pour from the back of the Venus, and the essence of it that is concentred in her eager look, are very fine; and the intent and exclusive interest that the youthful hunter takes in his projected sport is no less so; the attitudes of both are admirably illustrative of these feelings respectively. In the Ganymede there is great grandeur of expression in the black outspread wings and eager beak of the eagle that is bearing the boy aloft; and the look of the captive is very intense and fine. But the Concert or Music Piece is perhaps more characteristic of Titian's style and power than either of the other pictures. It is light and sketchy in its execution, but full of life, spirit, and effect. For the ear of the imagination this picture has a voice. It "pipes to the spirit ditties of no tone." It is "most musical." The boy in the right-hand corner is the mouth-piece of the picture; it is he alone that is in the act of singing; the others are playing, or waiting to catch the moment when it shall be their turn to join in. The girl in the left corner, who is looking out of the picture, seems to be a listener only.

There are two very fine Rubens here. One of them. The Rape of the Sabines, is a splendid specimen of this artist's colouring. It is one wide