DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19574#0344
EXP 317
the raifmg of Lazarus, fome may be allowed to be made to hold
fomething before their nofes, and this would be very juft, to
denote that circumftance in the ftory, the time he had been
dead ; but this is exceedingly improper in the laying our Lord
in the fepulchre, although he had been dead much longer than,
he was; however, Pardenone has done it.
When Apollo fleas Marfyas, he may exprefs all the anguifh
and impatience the painter can give him, but not fo in the cafe
of St. Bartholomew.
That the Bleffed Mary mould fwoon away through the ex-
cefs of her grief, is very proper to fuppofe ; but to throw her iri
fuch a pofture, as Daniel da Volterra has done, in that famous
picture of the defcent from the crofs, is by no means juftifiable.
Polydore, in a drawing of the fame fubjedt, has finely exprefled
the exceffive grief of the Virgin, by intimating it was otherwifc
inexpreffible : Her attendants difcover abundance of pafiion and
forrow in their faces ; but her's is hid by drapery held up by both
her hands: The whole figure is very compofed and quift; no
noife, no outrage, but great dignity appears in her, fuitable to her
character.
In that admirable cartoon of St. Paul preaching, the Expref-
lions are very juft and delicate throughout; even the back
ground is not without its meaning; it is expreffive of the fuper-
itition St. Paul was preaching againfr. But no hiftorian, or
orator, can poflibly give fo great an idea of that eloquent and
zealous apoftle, as that figure of his does ; all the fine things re-
lated as faid or wrote by him cannot; for there I fee a perfon,
face, air, and action, which no words can fufficiently defcribe,
but which allure me as much as thofe can, that that man muft
fpeak good fenfe, and to the purpofe. And the different fenti-
ments of his auditors are as finely exprefled ; fome appear to be
angry and malicious, others to be attentive, and reafoning upon
the matter within themfelves, or with one another ; and one
efpecially is apparently convinced. Some before the apoftle ; the
others are behind him, not only as caring lefs for the preacher,
or the doctrine, but to raife the apoftolic character, which would
lofe fomething of its dignity, if his maligners were fuppofed to
be able to look him in the face.
Elymas the forcerer is blind from head to foot; but how ad-
mirably is terror and aftonifhmer.t exprefTed in the people prefent,
and how varioufly, according to the feveral characters ! The
proconful has theie fentiments, but as a Roman and a gentleman ;
the reft in feveral degrees and manners.
The fame fentiments appear alfo in the cartoon of the death
©f Ananias, together with thofe of joy and triumph, which na-
turally
the raifmg of Lazarus, fome may be allowed to be made to hold
fomething before their nofes, and this would be very juft, to
denote that circumftance in the ftory, the time he had been
dead ; but this is exceedingly improper in the laying our Lord
in the fepulchre, although he had been dead much longer than,
he was; however, Pardenone has done it.
When Apollo fleas Marfyas, he may exprefs all the anguifh
and impatience the painter can give him, but not fo in the cafe
of St. Bartholomew.
That the Bleffed Mary mould fwoon away through the ex-
cefs of her grief, is very proper to fuppofe ; but to throw her iri
fuch a pofture, as Daniel da Volterra has done, in that famous
picture of the defcent from the crofs, is by no means juftifiable.
Polydore, in a drawing of the fame fubjedt, has finely exprefled
the exceffive grief of the Virgin, by intimating it was otherwifc
inexpreffible : Her attendants difcover abundance of pafiion and
forrow in their faces ; but her's is hid by drapery held up by both
her hands: The whole figure is very compofed and quift; no
noife, no outrage, but great dignity appears in her, fuitable to her
character.
In that admirable cartoon of St. Paul preaching, the Expref-
lions are very juft and delicate throughout; even the back
ground is not without its meaning; it is expreffive of the fuper-
itition St. Paul was preaching againfr. But no hiftorian, or
orator, can poflibly give fo great an idea of that eloquent and
zealous apoftle, as that figure of his does ; all the fine things re-
lated as faid or wrote by him cannot; for there I fee a perfon,
face, air, and action, which no words can fufficiently defcribe,
but which allure me as much as thofe can, that that man muft
fpeak good fenfe, and to the purpofe. And the different fenti-
ments of his auditors are as finely exprefled ; fome appear to be
angry and malicious, others to be attentive, and reafoning upon
the matter within themfelves, or with one another ; and one
efpecially is apparently convinced. Some before the apoftle ; the
others are behind him, not only as caring lefs for the preacher,
or the doctrine, but to raife the apoftolic character, which would
lofe fomething of its dignity, if his maligners were fuppofed to
be able to look him in the face.
Elymas the forcerer is blind from head to foot; but how ad-
mirably is terror and aftonifhmer.t exprefTed in the people prefent,
and how varioufly, according to the feveral characters ! The
proconful has theie fentiments, but as a Roman and a gentleman ;
the reft in feveral degrees and manners.
The fame fentiments appear alfo in the cartoon of the death
©f Ananias, together with thofe of joy and triumph, which na-
turally