"Repose in Egypt;" while the list of masterpieces ends with Sebastian del Piombo's large “Group of Saints," in which is evidenced his life-long struggle to combine the design of Michael Angelo with Venetian shade and color.

THE GALLERY OF BERLIN.

THE Berlin Gallery, unfortunate in being one of the last gleaners in the art-harvests of the past, has yet secured for itself an honorable place among European collections. The ambition of Frederick the Great was not limited to political or military triumphs, but extended to the realm of the fine arts: and the Kings of Prussia have done their best to realize his ideal. Few great masterpieces were left to purchase; yet the selections have been so judiciously made that the traveler would not willingly miss his visit to the Gallery of Berlin, which is particularly rich in ancient pictures of Italy and Flanders. The Royal Museum, of which the gallery forms a part, was founded by Frederick William III., about the year 1824. The New Museum, which communicates with the Old, is celebrated for its Egyptian curiosities, its ethnological collection, and its admirable casts of antique, mediæval, and modern sculpture.

Leaving a rotunda adorned with statues and hung with tapestries from the cartoons of Raphael, similar to those at Dresden, we enter the suite of rooms devoted to painting. The pictures, numbering between twelve and thirteen hundred, are badly divided into three sections, in the first of which we find specimens of the Italian, Spanish, and French schools, beginning with the Venetians; in the second, the Dutch and German schools; and in the third, “Byzantine painting and the first period of the Italian, Dutch, and German schools.” It is an arrangement in which the last should be first, and vice versa; but we must not presume to dictate to royal custodians. In the following pages I am much indebted to M. Viardot's classification of the gallery.

Several early works are ascribed to Gian Bellini, Cima da Conegliano, and Vittore Carpaccio, one of the most singular of which is Cima's "Miracle of St. Ananias," who heals the hand of a shoemaker surrounded by a crowd of Turks. Nothing, however, of much importance is discovered till we approach the Tuscans, where a Last Judgment" is catalogued as the joint work of Fra Angelico and

Cosimo Roselli. Roselli doubtless may claim the credit of the whole, for it bears but little trace of the blessed Angelico. A small "St. Dominic" and "St. Francis" are thought more genuine. Filippo Lippi, Ghirlandajo, Botticelli, Signorelli, and Raffaellino del Garbo, are all represented in the traditional subjects perpetually repeated through every Italian gallery. A large "Pietà,” by Andrea del Castagno, is a somewhat rare example of the unamiable artist once known as Andrea the Assassin;" and a "Holy Family," by Andrea Verocchio, instructor of Leonardo da Vinci, explains, in its hard, statuelike outlines, why he preferred sculpture to painting. Andrea Mantegna's "Christ mourned by Angels" is a chef-d'œuvre of that master. Pinturrichio's dramatic "Adoration of the Kings" introduces us to the Umbrian school. The face of Perugino is said to have been given in this "Adoration" to the youngest of the three kings. A Glorified Virgin," by Giovanni Santi, father of Raphael, is interesting, not only as showing the purely Umbrian qualities of his style, but because in the figure of the little boy standing near St. John he has left us a childish likeness of his beautiful son. Some youthful Perugian pictures are also here attributed to Raphael himself, as, for instance, an old altar-piece of "The Worship of the Shepherds," painted in distemper upon silk for a chapel at Ferentillo. It is much injured by time and dampness, but still displays the genius of its author.

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More mature specimens by Raphael are found a little farther onespecially three Madonnas," sweet-faced and innocent in aspect, limpid and delicate in color, and graceful, though not always easy, in attitude. Doubts have occasionally been expressed as to whether one or more of them may not have proceeded from the hand of Perugino, but the balance of probabilities lies in favor of their authenticity. Old copies of "Pope Julius," "Joan of Aragon," and others, likewise perpetuate Raphael's memory. An Ascension of Mary," by Fra Bartolomeo, is a record of his artistic skill in the days when he labored with Mariotto Albertinelli, who assisted in the completion of this present piece. A superb "Virgin and Saints," by Andrea del Sarto, grouping some twelve personages on one canvas, is one of his most splendid pictures outside of Florence. A sketch of his wife may be the original design for her charming portrait in the Museum of Madrid.

Correggio's pictures are few, but fine-an "Io and Jupiter,"

rather sombre, though soft in color; and a “Leda with the Swan,” beautifully executed, with fair, bright landscape, nymphs and Cupids, but not attractive in its mythological subject. A “Head of Christ crowned with Thorns,” painted on white silk, and sometimes called the “ Handkerchief of St. Veronica,” is ascribed to Correggio, and is undoubtedly a work of great and melancholy beauty; but critics are slow to assign it to his brush. Some suppose that they detect in its firm, decided outlines, and deep, sad eyes, the hand of the Florentine Bronzino.

Returning to the Venetians, we perceive a portrait of two men in one frame, bearing the name of Giorgione, but probably not authentic; a couple of serene and amply-proportioned "Madonnas,” by Palma Vecchio; together with the portrait of his daughter; a noble “Glorified Virgin,” “Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples,” and the "Adulteress before Christ," by Pordenone; the same subject, less powerfully treated, by Bonifazio; also, two large “Madonnas with Votaries,” and a colossal “Adoration of the Shepherds," by Moretto. Several others are catalogued as Titian's, among which we may distinguish his own aged but expressive portrait, the likeness of the Venetian Admiral Mauro, and the famous figure known as · Titian's Daughter,” standing with an uplifted basket of fruit above her head, her smiling face thrown back, her brown eyes turned to the spectator, her neck encircled by pearls, and her dress of glistening satin, golden-brown. A group of "Mary with the Child and Worshiping Saints” shows Paris Bordone to admirable advantage; but Paul Veronese is feebly represented by a Dead Christ," and inferior classical pieces. Tintoretto has "St. Mark instructing Three of his Procurators,” and some excellent portraits, which are always a specialty of the Venetian school. Sebastian del Piombo has a dark-toned, solemn “Crucifixion,” and a “Dead Christ supported by Joseph of Arimathea and a Weeping Magdalene." The latter is an effective composition, painted on slate, elevated in sentiment, and doubtless belonging to his early Roman period.

Very few Bolognese pictures of the time of the Carracci exist in Berlin. We need only mention Lodovico Carracci's “Feeding of the Five Thousand," and "Punishment of Amor;" Annibale Carracci's series of “Christ, Mary, St. John Baptist, and Twelve Apostles," in whose completion he was aided by Domenichino and Albani; Guido Reni's “St. Paul and St. Anthony in the Desert," a repetition of “Fortuna,”

and "Mary, Queen of Heaven;" "Madonnas," by Guercino; a Deluge," by Domenichino; an "Entombment," "St. Matthew," "Love triumphant over Arts and Sciences," and a Young Roman Girl," by Caravaggio.

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In the room of Spanish pictures we are particularly attracted by Murillo's "St. Anthony of Padua," recalling the grand composition of Seville. It has the softness, tenderness, and passion of Murillo's most ardent style, with a lovely, graceful Christ-child, and enchanting cherubs. Other smaller works assigned to Murillo cannot be so highly praised; while great doubts may be expressed as to the genuineness of Velasquez's portraits. Zurbaran's "Scourging of Christ" and "Franciscan Monk are fine, characteristic specimens. Cano's "St. Agnes" is a Spanish ideal of womanhood; and Ribera's "Martyrdom of St. Bartolomeo," so favorite a subject with its author, is as strong and repulsive under cold Prussian skies as in the fervid atmosphere of the South. Both the Spanish and French collections seem very mixed. Poussin's classic scenes and Claude's sunny landscapes are of course conspicuous. Le Brun's celebrated picture of the "Jabach Family of Cologne," Le Sueur's "St. Bruno adoring the Cross," and Mignard's expressive portrait of "Maria Mancini,” niece of Cardinal Mazarin, are masterpieces worthy of the Louvre.

Among the relics of Flemish art none can compare with Van Eyck's renowned altar-piece of the "Adoration of the Lamb." This has been fully described in the chapter on early Flemish and German Painting, but every examination of the work wakens new admiration of its minute and perfect detail. The veritable altar-piece, executed for a chapel of St. Bavon, Ghent, is now divided between Ghent and Berlin. The central panel at Berlin is an ancient copy by Michael Cocxie, and represents the Lamb adored by worshiping hosts; while on the original wings are the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, as well as bands of judges, champions, pilgrims, hermits, chanting angels, and singing saints. An ancient Head of Christ," by Jan van Eyck, very Byzantine in type, painted on a green ground, with golden aureole, is another treasure of the gallery. Several altar-pieces of such old Flemings as Roger van der Weyden, are authentic and most curious, particularly the "Middleburg Altar-piece," Van der Weyden's "Adoration of the Kings," and Jerome Bosch's "Day of Judgment" and "Hell." Lucas Cranach is scarcely less singular. Besides his devotional pictures he has the usual Saxon portraits of

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Luther, Melanchthon, and Luther's wife, Catharine von Bora; a few classical subjects, in one of which ("Hercules and Omphales") the hero Hercules is adorned by a grotesque female bonnet; and, more extraordinary than all, quite a large allegorical composition, entitled the "Fountain of Youth," in which decrepit and dismal old women throng in procession to the famous well, pass through its waters, and trip out on the other side as fair and blooming damsels, ready to dance a measure with their gallant cavaliers. Striking portraits by Holbein have likewise their place in the collection; and Quintin Matsys, Mabuse, Sustermann, and Frans Floris, are appropriately represented.

Following this line of art development we notice the genre paintings and landscapes of Breughel, Bril, and Bloemart; together with several examples by Rubens, of which the most charming is a group of the "Infant Jesus, the Little St. John, and a Child Angel.” The much more pretentious "Resurrection of Lazarus " is unfortunate in its figure of the Saviour, but very expressive in its eager Lazarus. "St. Cecilia" is a portly and rubicund Flemish dame, with a heavy organ. Vandyck is more successful than ever with his "Children of Charles I.,” and displays additional portraits of the “Infanta Isabella of Spain" and "Prince Thomas of Carignan." The best of his sacred compositions is "Penitent Sinners coming to Christ," in which the distinctive heads of King David, the Prodigal Son, and Mary Magdalene, are most beautifully and graphically rendered. Teniers's "Temptation of St. Anthony ” and “ Alchymist in his Laboratory" are among his largest and finest works. Rembrandt appears most forcibly in his " Moses breaking the Tables of the Law," and "Duke Adolphus of Guelderland menacing his Captive Father.” The burly duke, shaking his huge fist at the prison-window, is a model of realistic rage. Honthorst gives us " Esau selling his Birthright," and "St. Peter delivered by an Angel," with his usual vivid contrasts of light and shade. Gerard Dow has a “Cook” entering a pantry with light in hand; and "Penitent Magdalene," richly clad in velvet and sables, with table before her covered with gold and jewels. Gerard Terburg's "Paternal Instruction," or "White Satin Gown," which is simply a father scolding a daughter who stands before him in glistening robes, is a widely-celebrated painting. Mieris's own portrait, Metsu's "Dutch Family," and Jan Steen's "Public Garden," are less popular though excellent genre pieces. Van