Turning round, she observed this with displeasure and surprise. Farinacci explained that this seeming writer was the celebrated painter, Guido Reni, who, earnestly desiring her picture, had entreated to be introduced into the prison for the purpose of obtaining so rich an acquisition. At first unwilling, but afterward consenting, she turned and said: 'Signor Guido, your renown might make me desirous of knowing you, but how will you undervalue me in my present situation! From the fatality that surrounds me you will judge me guilty. Perhaps my face will tell you that I am not wicked; it will show you, too, that I now languish in this prison, which I may quit only to ascend a scaffold. Your great name and my sad story may make my portrait interesting; and,' she added, with touching simplicity, 'the picture will awaken compassion if you write on one of its angles the word innocente' The great artist set himself to work, and produced the picture now in the Palazzo Barberini-a picture that rivets the attention of every beholder; which, once seen, ever after hovers over the memory with an interest the most harrowing and mysterious."

The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin is one of the finest of the many pictures on this subject painted by Murillo. It adorns the Salon Carré of the Louvre, and represents the Virgin Mary, pure, young, and lovely, standing in the clouds. and worshiped by little angels, who float in heavenly innocence around. Mrs. Jameson says:

"It is evident that the idea is taken from the woman in the Apocalypse, 'clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.' The

Virgin is portrayed in the first spring and bloom of youth; with grave, sweet eyes; her hair golden brown; her features with all the beauty painting can express; her hands folded on her bosom, or joined in prayer. The sun is expressed by a flood of light around her. Her robe is of spotless white; her mantle or scarf blue. Round her hover cherubim; and all is ethereal delicacy, benignity, refinement, repose-the very apotheosis of womanhood."

An early Spanish authority observes:

Our Lady is painted in the flower of her age, with sweet eyes, a nose and mouth of the most perfect form, and rosy cheeks. The mantling sun is in bright golden light behind the figure; the pedestal moon is a crescent with upwardpointing horns. Her celestial attendants are among the loveliest cherubs that ever bloomed on canvas. Hovering in the sunny air, reposing on clouds, or sporting among their silvery folds, these ministering shapes give life and movement to the picture, and relieve the Virgin's statue-like repose."

Rubens's

The Descent from the Cross, painted by Rubens, in the Antwerp Cathedral, is the chef-d'œuvre of Flemish art. style can nowhere be seen to such advantage as in this wonderful composition. Charles Blanc thus vividly describes it:

"The principal subject is composed of nine figures; two workmen, placed at the top of two ladders, are lowering the body of our Saviour by means of a winding-sheet, which one of them is holding in his teeth, and the other with his left hand. Firmly supported by the arms of the cross, they are leaning over, so that with their other hands they may steady the body, which John, with his foot on the ladder, and his

back bent in, clasps as tightly as possible. One of the feet of Christ rests on the fine shoulder of the Magdalene, and brushes her golden hair. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, placed opposite each other on the middle of the ladders, form, with the two workmen in the upper part of the picture, a square of robust but vulgar figures. The Virgin is standing at the foot of the cross, and is stretching her arms toward her Son, while Salome, crouched down, is raising her dress. On the ground is seen a scroll, a copper vase, the crown of thorns, and the nails used for the crucifixion.

"The populace, always delighted with the sight of an execution, have just departed from Golgotha at the close of day. The sky, which is dull and dark—solemn grief of Nature for the sacrifice on Mount Calvary—is traversed by a light which falls on the shoulder of one of the workmen, whose bold attitude reminds you of the 'Descent' of Volterra."

The remarkable coloring of the picture is commented on by Sir Joshua Reynolds:

"The greatest peculiarity of this composition is the contrivance of the white sheet on which the body of Jesus lies. This circumstance was probably what induced Rubens to adopt the treatment. He well knew what effect white linen, opposed to flesh, must have with his powers of coloring; a circumstance which was not likely to enter into the mind of an Italian painter, who would have been afraid of the linen's hurting the coloring of the flesh, and have kept it down of a low tint. And the truth is, that none but great colorists can venture to paint pure white linen near flesh; but such know the advantage of it. His Christ I consider as one of the finest figures that ever were invented; it is most correctly

drawn, and I apprehend in an attitude of the utmost difficulty to execute. The hanging of the head on his shoulder, and the falling of the body on one side, give such an appearance of the heaviness of death that nothing can exceed it.

"Of the three Maries, two of them have more beauty than he generally bestowed on female figures, but no great elegance of character. The St. Joseph of Arimathea is the same countenance which he so often introduced into his works; a smooth, fat face--a very unhistorical character.

"The principal light is formed by the body of Christ and the white sheet; there is no second light which bears any proportion to the principal. In this respect it has more the manner of Rembrandt's disposition of light than any other of Rubens's works; however, there are many little detached lights, distributed at some distance from the general mass, such as the head and shoulders of the Magdalene, the heads of the two other Maries, the head of St. Joseph, and the back and arm of the figure leaning over the cross; the whole surrounded with a dark sky, except a little light in the horizon and above the cross.

"The historical anecdote relating to this picture says that it was given in exchange for a piece of ground on which Rubens built his house; and that the agreement was only for a picture of the patron saint Christopher with the infant Christ on his shoulders. Rubens, who wished to create surprise by his generosity, sent five pictures instead of one; a piece of gallantry on the part of the painter which was undoubtedly well received by the Arquebusers, since it was so much to their advantage, however expensive to the maker of it."

APPENDIX.

THE GALLERIES OF FLORENCE.

FLORENCE is preeminently the city of painting. Go to Rome for sculpture, to Milan for music, and to Florence for pictures. No gallery on the Continent surpasses the famous Uffizi; few boast of richer treasures than the elegant apartments of the Pitti, and none can be more curious than the quaint and venerable collection of the Academia delle Belle Arti.

This Academy of the Fine Arts-though less interesting to the general public than the larger galleries-is invaluable as a record of the first efforts of Florentine painters. Its rooms are spacious and pleasant, but very still and lonely, and you feel yourself centuries back in the dim past as you walk up and down amid the creations of Cimabue and Giotto. Just at the entrance are two large "Madonnas" by these masters, whose almond-shaped eyes, impassive faces, and heavy draperies, were once thought the ideal of majestic beauty. We cannot understand their popularity till we contemplate a Byzantine “Magdalene” near them, standing like a hideous wooden doll, with vermilion-daubed cheeks, a gown of reddish-brown, and explanatory scroll. A series of small pictures by Giotto, on the legend of St. Francis, and another series, by the same artist, on the life of Christ, hang on their left. Recent critics suppose them to have been executed by his pupils rather than by himself, but they excite our attention from the fact that they represent in miniature, and often with great force of expression, scenes which were afterward given in larger proportions by later artists. Thus Giotto's small "Transfiguration" is very like Raphael's, while he vividly depicts the most ancient types of "The Resurrection" and "The Last Supper." "The Presentation in the Temple" is one of the finest of the set.