Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/275

Rh write, and a boy standing behind her is blowing at a brand of wood, with which he is about to light her lamp. The countenance of this figure has an expression of extraordinary beauty, the draperies and head dress are finely arranged, and the arms, which are of equal perfection with the rest of the person, are nude. Next to this Sybil is the Prophet Joel, who is profoundly absorbed in attention to a scroll which he holds in his hand, and is reading, with an expression of countenance which proves him to be perfectly satisfied with what he finds therein, and has all the effect that could be produced by the face of a living man, whose thoughts are firmly riveted on some question of moment.

Over the door of the Chapel is the aged Prophet Zacharias, who, seeking through the written page for something which he cannot find, remains with one foot lifted, and the other dropped down, while the anxiety and eagerness with which he seeks what he requires, and cannot discover, have paused him to forget the inconvenience of the painful attitude which he has taken. The figure has the aspect of a beautiful old age, the form is somewhat full, and the drapery, of few and simple folds, is admirably arranged. The Sybil opposite to Zacharias, and turning towards the Altar, is putting forward certain writings, and with the boys her attendants deserves equal praise with those before described. Put he who examines the Prophet Isaiah shall see features truly borrowed from nature herself, the real mother of art; one of the limbs is crossed over the other, he has laid one hand within a book, at the place where he has been reading, is resting the elbow of the other arm on the volume, and leaning his cheek on his hand, he replies to the call on his attention, made by one of the boys standing behind him, by a mere turn of the head, without disturbing himself further. From this figure, at a word, the observer, who studies it well in every part, may acquire all the rules demanded to constitute the guiding precepts of a good painter. The Sybil next to the Prophet Isaiah is of great age, but also of extraordinary beauty; her attitude, as she zealously studies the book before her, is singularly graceful, as are those of the boys who are ministering around her.

But not imagination herself could add anything to the beauty of a figure representing the Prophet Daniel, and which is that of a youth, who, writing in a great book, is