Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/417

Rh much truth that nothing better could be either imagined or expressed; on a plain at the foot of the mountain are seen the three Apostles lying asleep: the shadow of the eminence on which the Saviour is in prayer falls over these figures, imparting to them a degree of force which it would not be possible adequately to describe in words. In the farther distance is a tract of country over which the day is just breaking, and from one side approaches Judas with soldiers. Notwithstanding its minute size, this work is admirably conceived, and so finely executed that no work of the kind can bear comparison with it, whether as to the beauty and depth of thought apparent in the picture, or the patience with which it has been treated.

Of the works of this artist much more might be said, but since every thing he has done is held to be as something divine among the most eminent masters of our calling, I will not expatiate further. I have made many efforts to obtain his portrait, but he never took it himself, nor ever had it taken by others, seeing that he lived much in retirement; I have therefore not been able to procure it. Correggio was indeed a person who held himself in but very slight esteem, nor could he even persuade himself that he knew any thing satisfactorily respecting his art; perceiving its difficulties, he could not give himself credit for approaching the perfec-