the fresh and brilliant coloring which three centurie-.
would necessarily have injured. The figures are half
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 225
the size of life, and there is a landscape background ;
tbe subject is that usually known as the Noli me
tangere, and represents the appearance of Jesus after
His resurrection to Mary Magdalen. On her knees,
her bands joined, her bead cast down, tbe Magdalen
drags her rich o-arments in tbe dust. The attitude of
tbe Saviour, in whose hands tbe painter bas placed a
spade, is truly admirable, as also is tbe expression of
His countenance. Nothing in tbe work of the pencil
can surpass tbe execution of that line figure, tbe soft
tints and harmonious colors which stand out against
the deep blue of tbe sky and the dark green of a thick
foliage. This is a true and complete Correggio, a
charming picture, which without possessing through
its proportions and subject the importance of his great
compositions in Parma or Dresden, yet yields in
charm and value to none of the rare works of its
immortal author.
Tbe National Gallery of London claims to pos-
sess six paintings by Correggio. Three of these only
will occupy our attention; first, a Holy Family,
which is not a foot square, but which appears to me
equal to the IJagar of Naples, or the Magdalen of
Dresden, that is to say, to rise to the first rank in
Correggio's miniatures, for it is a charming work in
which nature, grace, and expression, are rendered
with the utmost delicacy of tbe pencil. Then the
Ecce Homo and tbe Education of Cupid* which
• No. 10. Mercury instructing Cupid in the presence of Venus.
15
226 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
both came from the collection of Murat, and which
cost the enormous sum of eleven thousand guineas.
I feel, indeed, much difficulty in speaking of the first
of these two pictures. I am told the price it cost, and
that an act of parliament authorized the purchase ;
I am shown a copy of the picture, made, it is said,
by Ludovico Carracci, and an engraving by Agostino ;
I am informed of the number of amateurs who ad
mire, and of students who copy it. How can I
throw a doubt after this on the excellence or authen-
ticity of the work ? I humbly confess that one opin-
ion is very weak against such authorities ; but as it is
indeed my own that 1 am expressing, I must venture
to say that the Ecce Homo neither appears to me to
be the work of Correggio, nor even to be a very fine
work. In the first place, the copy and engraving of
the Carracci prove absolutely nothing, for the picture
which is called the original may just as well be a
copy ; and, indeed, if I had to choose, I should prefer
that of Carracci, in which the faults I am about to
mention are weakened or corrected. These defects
(still according to my own opinion, which 1 certainly
do not intend to impose on anyone else) are of several
kinds, in composition, coloring, and drawing. First,
that almost inevitable confusion which arises from
half-length figures. I could defy even the most in-
genious artist to finish the scene by giving the persons
contained in it whole bodies. The head of the
Virgin, who falls hack fainting, is of great beauty, in
the expression of deep grief, in the boldness of the
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 227
attitude, and in the delicacy of execution. The only
fault we can find in it is its too great youthfulness;
instead of being a Mary, it is a Magdalen. This part
of the picture is really worthy of Correggio. As for
the figure of Christ, it seems to me rather languishing
than resigned. His chest is too narrow, and the
fettered arm which lie crosses before Ilim, as well aa
the extended hand of Pilate, are mere sketches.
How can we recognize in this the genius and hand
which traced the San Girolamo of Parma, the Anti-
qpe of Paris, and the Notte of Dresden ?
But what increases my surprise on seeing the in-
fatuation which this picture causes, is, that it is not
necessary to seek comparisons for it in Italy, France,
or Germany. Correggio, the true Correggio, noble,
graceful, delicate, and inimitable, is there within a few
steps of this doubtful Ecce Homo. We can find all his
most charming qualities in the Education of Cupid.
It is really impossible for any man of good taste and
impartiality to hesitate between these two pictures,
either on their authenticity or their merit.
There are two pictures by Correggio at Paris.
One of these is called the Marriage of St. Catherine,
and as it is placed in the square room, near a paint-
ing b}' Fra Bartolommeo (il Frate) of an enthroned
Madonna, who under the dais of her throne is also
presiding at the union of the young ascetic of Sienna
with the Divine Child, we may make a useful and in-
teresting comparison. It is easy to recognize, at a
glance what a radical difference may separate two
228 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
pictures both treating the same subject, both celebrat
ed, both excellent, and how the means taken to insure
success may be as opposite as the point of view and
THE MYSTICAL MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE.
By Correggio. In th- Louvre.
thoughts of the artists. To be Christian, the Frate is
austere ; to be graceful, Correggio becomes almost
pagan. In one painting all is grave and solemn ; it
is, indeed, the mystical union. In the other, every-
thing is smiling and charming ; it is really love.
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 220
In the Neapolitan Museum degli Studi, there is
another Marriage of St. Catherine, also by Correggio,
and also celebrated, imitated, copied, and engraved
We will not take upon us the bold task of deciding
between Paris and Naples, which possesses the origi-
nal and which the repetition. We will leave both
towns to boast of the original. But this circumstance
is sufficient to induce us to prefer the other picture
of Correggio in the Louvre, the Sommcil d> Antiope.
It is more important besides in its dimensions and
more appropriate in its subject to the taste and in-
clination of the master, who was the most pagan of
all the pagans of the Renaissance. This wonderful
Sommeil oV Antiope can only be compared in its
style to the Education of Cupid, aud, indeed, if I
were obliged to choose between them, 1 should give
the preference to Antiope. There we see all the
beauties of Correggio, that supreme elegance of which
he was so fond, that it sometimes led him to the
brink of affectation, in which, indeed, his imitators
plunged ; that charming grace which so often ac-
companies power ; that deep knowledge of chiaros-
curo, and that exquisite harmony which the charm of
form and the magic of color combine to produce.
It is fortunate that, having come to France, the
Antiope should have remained in the Louvre, and not
have been placed with the other paintings represent-
ing the adventures of the master of the gods, Jo and
Leda, in the cabinet of Louis of Orleans ; he would
have mutilated this also with the scissors, and the ill
230 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
adjusted remains of this charming mythological piece
would have been now with the others in the gallery
at Berlin. Bought, about the year 1725, of the heirs
of Livio Odescalchi, to whom Christina of Sweden
had given them, these two pictures formed a part of
the famous collection of the dukes of Orleans, sub-
sequently foolishly dispersed by Philippe Egalite,
who sold a number of master pieces out of France.
Louis, the son of the regent and grandfather of the
regicide, had just inherited the great wealth of his
house. He was a fiery Jansenist. One day he cut
off the heads of Io and Leda, threw them into the fire,
and cut the canvas to pieces. The superintendent ol
the gallery, Noel Coypel, succeeded in placing the
scattered shreds on fresh canvas, filled the gaps with
painting, and even painted the two heads which had
been thrown into the flames. After the death of
Coypel the mutilated pictures were bought, in 1755,
for Frederick the Great. They remained at Sans
Souci, until 1806 ; then they were brought to the
Louvre among the other spoils of the imperial victo-
ries, and Denon attempted anew restoration on them.
The painting of Coypel was effaced, and the original
work restored as much as possible; the separate parts
were brought together by simple glazing, and Prud-
hon, the Correggio of our century, repainted the head
of Io. The invasion of 1814 restored to Prussia the
favorite pictures of Frederick ; and the superintend-
ent of the restorations of the gallery of Berlin, M.
Schlessinger, finished the work begun by Denon, hy
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 231
giving a fresh head to the Zeda, less beautiful than
that of Io, but made in accordance with the reraaindei
of the picture by the rather childish precaution of
imitating even to the cracks, which three centuries
and so many vicissitude? had left in the painting of
Correggio. A copy of the Io had been before made
by the French painter Lemoine, and bought by Did-
erot for Catherine the Great. " It is the best I could
do," wrote he to the sculptor Falconet, " the original
having been cut in pieces by that imbecile, barbarous
Goth, Yandal, duke of Orleans."
Dresden, as we have already said, possesses the
finest of Raphael's works to be found in the north of
Europe. In Dresden also we shall find no less than
six original paintings by Correggio, and no other
city, whether Paris, London, Madrid, Naples, Flor-
ence, or Parma, can show a grander or more complete
selection. Dresden has certainly the richest collec-
tion of his works, so rare when we reject the spurious.
These six paintings were placed in the Saxon museum,
when the Elector-King Augustus III., in 1746, bought
the collection of the Dukes of Modena, for the mod-
erate sum of 120,000 thalers (18,000^.)- From Yenice
he had already acquired, for the sum of 28,000 Ven-
etian lire, the Madonna of Holbein, from the Delfino
family ; then in 1755 he paid 40,000 Roman scudi to
the convent of San Sisto at Placentia for the Madon-
na of Raphael. There is no doubt that, embarrassed
in his unfortunate quarrels with Frederick the Great,
who twice seized upon his hereditary estates, this
232 WOJSDEJ&S OF ITALIAN ART.
prince was severely blamed during his lifetime, foi
having taken from his exhausted treasury the three
or four hundred thousand crowns which procured all
the wonders of the Dresden gallery. But in the pres-
ent day, who would dream of urging this as a re-
proach ? who would not rather in the name of art
thank him whose memory is so little honored for his
political acts. A bad sovereign, a bad general, des-
pised equally by both the nations who obeyed him,
the reputation of Augustus is only sustained by the
works of those great artists whom he appreciated
during a time of universal decay. What would an-
other million of francs in his treasury, or another
regiment in his army have done, towards changing
the course of events brought on by war and diplo-
macy? While the having merely bought some of the
works of the greatest artists, gives him a greater glory
than that of a conqueror — the glory of a Founder.
He formed the first museum in Europe, a museum
which is and will ever be the pride and advantage of
his little capital. Ei nunc, reges, intelligite.
Among these six paintings by Correggio there is
the portrait of a man dressed in black, who is be-
lieved to have been the physician of the artist, some
village friend who did not preserve his illustrious
patient from a sudden and miserable death. A por-
trait by Correggio is a very precious thing, even were
it merely on account of its extreme rarity. I can
only remember indeed one other portrait attributed
to Correggio, that of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli,
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 233
which is at Hampton Court, aDd of which the au-
thenticity is very doubtful. The portrait at Dresden
is excellent.
If, in this unique collection, we pass from the
smaller works to those more important, we shall no-
tice after the portrait of the physician the Heading
Magdalen. This is painted on copper and is not
more than a foot square, and yet it is everywhere
known by copies and engravings, and this little Mag-
dalen equals the largest pictures in celebrity. Is there
any occasion to describe it, to say that the penitent,
lying on the thick grass of the desert, with her bosom
half veiled by the long curls of her hair, is supporting
her head with her right hand, in order to read in a
book she holds on the ground with her left hand?
The charm of this graceful attitude, the profound at-
tention of this converted sinner, her grace, her beauty,
the boldness and happy effect of her blue drapery con-
trasted with the dark green of the landscape, the won-
derful delicacy of the execution and of the colors, all
place this Magdalen in the first rank of what are call-
ed the Small Correggios, before the Holt/ Family of
London, the Madonna with live Veil at Florence, and
even before the Hagar of Naples. It was stolen in
1788, but the thief restored it in order to get the re-
ward of a thousand ducats promised to whomever
should bring it back.
The four other works are Great Correggios, and in-
deed the greatest of his to be found after the frescoes
of San Giovanni and of the Duomo of Parma. Three
234 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
of tliem are Madonnas, which only differ in the ai
rangement and surrounding figures, the other is a Na
tivity. In order to distinguish between these Madon-
nas each has been named after the most conspicuous
saint in its little court, as the other Madonna, which
with the Madonna delta Scodella, make the pride of
the small museum of Parma, has been named San
Girolamo (St. Jerome). At Dresden, one is called St.
George, another St. Sebastian, and another St.
Francis. As for the Nativity, which was originallj
destined for the town of Reggio, it is usually called la
JYotte di Cor reggio.
If I dared to place these four celebrated and mag-
nificent compositions in order of merit, merely for the
purpose of following the progressive order already com-
menced, I should mention first the St. George, that is
to say the Madonna enthroned, worshipped by St.
John the Baptist, St. Peter of Yerona, St. Geminianus,
near to whom an angel is holding a model of the
church he had built at Modena and dedicated to the
Virgin, and lastly the martyr prince of Cappadocia,
the slayer of the dragon, the Christian Perseus, whose
arms are borne by four angels. If the composition of
this picture is not inferior to that of the others, if the
painting is no less elaborate, fine, and rich in half
tints, yet it is, if I am not mistaken, almost too bril-
liant ; and the general tints, very striking but rather
crude, give it the appearance of a fresco. From his
having destined this painting to be viewed at a con-
siderable elevation, Oorreggio evidently intended to
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 235
make it a mural picture. It would indeed be much
better placed over the high altar of a cathedral than
in the panel of a gallery. In the St.. Sebastian, the
Virgin is in the midst of what is termed a glory, sur-
rounded by a choir of celestial spirits. Three sainto
worship her on the earth ; in the centre the bishop St.
Gremiirianus, once more with the model of his church ;
to the right St. Roch, dying of the plague, like the
poor wretches he had tended at Placentia ; and to the
left the warrior-saint of Narbonne, fastened to the
trunk of a tree and pierced with arrows. Although
we must regret a little confusion in certain parts, the
whole picture is wonderfully grouped, and the color-
ing, which is \ery delicate, is no less distinguished for
its vigorous effects of chiaroscuro. The largest of the
four pictures is that which is named after St. Francis.
At the foot of the throne on which Mary is seated,
holding the Holy Child on her knees, the devotee of
Assisi has prostrated himself in adoration, whilst the
Virgin appears in the act of blessing him. Behind
him is his disciple St. Antony of Padua, holding a lily
in his hand ; opposite is St. Catherine, bearing a sword
and a palm branch; while John the Baptist, still
naked and wild as in the desert, points with his finger
to Him whom he had announced to the world as the
Saviour come to redeem mankind from the sin of our
first parents, whose history and fall are traced on the
pedestal of the throne. It would be quite superfluous
to say that this powerful composition, as well known
through engravings as the Magdalen, is in the noblest,
236 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
strongest, and grandest style, that in its arrangement it
reminds us of the simple and sublime manner of Fra
Bartolommeo ; but it should be added, for those wht
have not seen the original, that what here raises Cor-
reggio above the illustrious Florentine monk, and even
above himself, is the coloring, the marvellous work of
the pencil. The great artist, at that time unknown,
who had said before Raphael's St. Cecilia, Edio anche
son pittore, was so satisfied with his work, that this
was the only picture under which he inscribed the
name " Anton ius de Allegris" (Antonio Allegri), which
fame has since replaced by that of the town which
boasts the honor of his birth.
And yet the Notte of Correggio surpasses even the
St. Francis in public opinion. Many place this com-
position above all those to be found in Europe, and
proclaim it the artist's masterpiece. We may say, at
all events, that it yields to no other in stylo. Yet
perhaps Correggio might be reproached, in the con-
ception of this picture, with a sort of overcarefulness
which is almost puerile, and which would fitly have
been left to the Flemings, less anxious about moral
beauty than a picturesque effect. We see here the
manger in which the Holy Infant was laid : it is night,
and the scene is only rendered visible by a supernatural
light, which spreads from the body of the Child lying
on the straw. This light illumines the face of the
Virgin Mother, as she bends over her first-born, and
dazzles a shepherdess who has hastened in on hearing
of the "glad tidings." It extends to Joseph, who ia
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 237
seen leading the ass to the back of the stable; it also
lights up the angels hovering in the air, who "seem
rather,'' as Vasari says," to have descended from Leav-
en than to have been created by the hand of man."
But it is not in the style of Honthorst or Schalcken
that Correggio has employed this light. With them
it would have been the principal fact, and all the fig-
ures grouped around the Child, the Virgin Mother,
Joseph, shepherds, angels, ass and ox, would only have
served to throw it into relief. With Corresrsno it is
only an accessory, which while concurring in the pic-
turesque effect, so dear to the Flemings, is in no way
injurious to the superior and moral qualities which the
great Italian style requires. Is Mary lc«3S tender, less
full of love, of faith and adoration, because her face is
lighted up by its rays ? Has the scene less movement,
nobility, greatness, and holy majesty, because instead
of receiving the light of the sun from above it is group-
ed around a radiant centre? It is the example, the
triumph of art, understood and practised, endeavoring
to extend its power beyond the eyes to the soul, and
which makes effect subordinate to the ideal, and mat-
ter to mind.
Correggio left many imitators, beginning with Bar-
occio, who soon fell from grace to affectation ; but few
direct pupils formed by his lessons. We can scarcely
name more than Parmegiano (Francesco Mazzuola,
1503-1540), that brilliant and precocious artist, who,
according to Vasari, " had rather the face of an angel
than that of a man ;" and who, on his return to Parma
238 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
after having studied at Kome, ended by gliding also
into mannerism, then abandoned painting for alchemy,
and died half mad. London has obtained his Vision
of St. Jerome. This picture was painted in 1527 for
the chapel of the Buffalini family, at Citta di Castello,
a chapel which was destroyed by an earthquake in
1790 ; it was rescued from under the ruins, and has
since passed from hand to band until it has come
to the National Gallery. It is said (for pictures
have legends attached to them) that in the taking and
pillage of Kome, the soldiers of Charles V., struck
with admiration at the sight of this painting, respected
both the artist and his dwelling. Without denying in
any way this wonder, or contesting that the work pos-
sesses many admirable qualities, I must say that this
painting is one of those destined to eccupy a particular
place, to have always the same light on it, and to be
seen from one particular point of view, like a fresco,
and it loses much from having been removed. The
Ions: fi cures, according to the usual defect of Parme-
sriano, crowded into a narrow frame, and executed with
hard and dry vigor, which does not remind us in any
way of his master nor of his school, prove sufficiently
that the picture should be seen from below, and from
a distance. By placing it on a level with the eye, and
almost within reach of the hand, the whole effect is
destroyed. Parmegiano has, however, left the greater
number of his works at Naples. There are seven or
eight in the Studi, amongst others one of Lucretia
Stalling herself, which no other of his pictures surpas-
ses, or perhaps even equals. Amongst his portraits
\
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 239
there is one of the Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who
has given his name to the new world, and another is
that of a man who is still young, of a Hue and resolute
countenance, who is believed to be the Geonese sailor
who discovered it, Christopher Columbus. This is at
least the opinion of the Neapolitans, but it seems to
me a manifest error. The portraits of the great nav-
igator in Spain, which are more authentic, are not at
all like that in the museum of Naples, and besides, it
is still more strongly disproved by dates. It is certain
that Parmegiano, born in 1503, could not have known
Christopher Columbus, who, about the year 1480, left
his native country for ever, to otter his services first to
Portugal and then to Spain.
Amongst the artists born in the north of Italy, there
is one who cannot be passed over in silence, but whom
it is difficult to class in any particular school, on ac-
count of his originality. This is Caravaggio (Michael
Angelo Amerighi da Caravaggio, 1569-1600). A
Lombard by birth, not by taste, and having studied
(not under masters, for he would have none) in the
Venetian and Bolognese schools, between which he
stands midway, leading afterwards a wandering and
vagabond life, to which his brutal and fierce character
condemned him, Caravaggio formed a style peculiar
to himself, which was continued by the Spaniard,
Ribera, the Frenchman, Valentin, and the Italian,
Manfredi. The Descent from the Cross, by Caravag-
gio, which is usually considered his masterpiece, and
in which there is seen, if not the absence of his usual
240 WONDERS OF ITALIAN AST.
defects, at least a union of his most eminent qualities,
is in the Vatican at Eome. The heads are all ig-noble ;
never did he carry further the worship of the real and
the repulsive, which he had adopted in opposition to
the false and mannered style of Josepin, a painter
whom he held in especial contempt. As to the men
who are taking the body of our Lord down from the
cross, their vulgar coarseness might have formed a
contrast to the noble beauty of Jesus and Mary. But
the Saviour himself and His Virgin Mother are no bet-
ter treated ; it might almost be said that Caravaggio
was of the school of those Christian painters of the
fourth century already referred to, who followed the
tradition of St. Cyril and some others among the early
fathers, that our blessed Lord was the least beautiful
among the sons of men.
The same may be said of one of his choicest
works, now in the Louvre, the Death of the Virgin,
which he painted for a church in Rome, that called
della Scala in Trastevere. We notice in it, at the
first glance, the absence of all religious feeling, and
even of worldly nobility ; and still more the absence
of traditional characters common to all sacred sub-
jects. Who is it lying on that couch, breathing her
last sigh ? Is it the mother of Christ in the midst of
His Apostles, or is it not rather an old gipsy among
a number of the men of her tribe, dressed in ridicu-
lous finery ? It is the same with the Judith at Naples,
which may yet be considered one of his most vigor-
ous and energetic works. How can we recognize the
LOKBABD SCHOOL. 241
timid and virtuous widow, who to save her people
resolves to commit a double crime, in that infuriated