DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0148
] 04
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
seated in an attitude of dignified tranquillity, with an ex-
pression in the face of deep but calm suffering. Some
half intoxicated troopers are around him, one of whom is
puffing the tobacco smoke in his face; another is raising a
glass, as if drinking “Destruction to the monarchy, success
to the parliament I” The King’s faithful attendant, Herbert,*
is seen to the right, leaning against the chimney, his hands
folded and pressed together, as if restraining with difficulty
the grief and indignation swelling at his heart. This
last figure appears to me the finest, in point of expression
and sentiment, in the picture, though that of King Charles
is very fine. I have never been able to reconcile myself
to the incident of the soldier puffing the smoke in the face
of the royal sufferer; and how far the vulgarity of the in-
cident befits the style of high historic art, is a question of
grave import, into which I will not enter here. The pic-
ture, in all other respects, is admirable; conceived with
great dramatic power, and painted with consummate skill.
The scene represented took place on the 27th of January,
1649, on the last day of the king’s trial, and two days
before his execution.
Signed and dated 1838. Purchased by Lord Francis Egerton,
C. 10 ft. by 12 ft. 6 in.t
DOMENICHINO (Zampieri), b. 1581; d. 1641. Bologna S.
[One of the most celebrated painters and the best colorist of the
Carracci school. In his feeling for nature, true and earnest, but apt
to be heavy: in point of sentiment and character, noble and pure,
* William Herbert, who attended his last remains to the grave, and to whom he
gave his copy of Shakspeare, still preserved in the Queen’s Library at Windsor.
+ The source whence the painter derived his first inspiration may be found, I
presume, in the following passages of Guizot’s “ Histoire de la Revolution
d’Angleterre—“Ace moment des soldats 1’entourerent et 1’enlevant de la
barre, I’emmerferent avec violence jusqu’au lieu ou 1’attendait sa chaise : il eut
h subir, en descendant 1’escalier, les plus grossiercs insuites; les uns j etaient
sur ses pas leur pipe allumee; les autres soufflaient la fumee de leur tabac an
visage ; tons criaient a ses oreilles—‘ Justice ! execution! ’ ”—Vol. ii. p. 409.
“ Les cheveux de Charles avaient blanchi; 1’expression d’une tristesse ha-
bituelie s’etait unie & la fierete de ses regards; son maintien, sa voix—tons ces
traits revelaient une ame toujours hautaine et pourtant vaincue; ^galement
incapable de lutter contre sa destinee, et de s’en laisser abattre, touchant et
singulier melange de grandeur sans force, et de preemption sans espoir I”—
Vol. ii. p. 349.
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
seated in an attitude of dignified tranquillity, with an ex-
pression in the face of deep but calm suffering. Some
half intoxicated troopers are around him, one of whom is
puffing the tobacco smoke in his face; another is raising a
glass, as if drinking “Destruction to the monarchy, success
to the parliament I” The King’s faithful attendant, Herbert,*
is seen to the right, leaning against the chimney, his hands
folded and pressed together, as if restraining with difficulty
the grief and indignation swelling at his heart. This
last figure appears to me the finest, in point of expression
and sentiment, in the picture, though that of King Charles
is very fine. I have never been able to reconcile myself
to the incident of the soldier puffing the smoke in the face
of the royal sufferer; and how far the vulgarity of the in-
cident befits the style of high historic art, is a question of
grave import, into which I will not enter here. The pic-
ture, in all other respects, is admirable; conceived with
great dramatic power, and painted with consummate skill.
The scene represented took place on the 27th of January,
1649, on the last day of the king’s trial, and two days
before his execution.
Signed and dated 1838. Purchased by Lord Francis Egerton,
C. 10 ft. by 12 ft. 6 in.t
DOMENICHINO (Zampieri), b. 1581; d. 1641. Bologna S.
[One of the most celebrated painters and the best colorist of the
Carracci school. In his feeling for nature, true and earnest, but apt
to be heavy: in point of sentiment and character, noble and pure,
* William Herbert, who attended his last remains to the grave, and to whom he
gave his copy of Shakspeare, still preserved in the Queen’s Library at Windsor.
+ The source whence the painter derived his first inspiration may be found, I
presume, in the following passages of Guizot’s “ Histoire de la Revolution
d’Angleterre—“Ace moment des soldats 1’entourerent et 1’enlevant de la
barre, I’emmerferent avec violence jusqu’au lieu ou 1’attendait sa chaise : il eut
h subir, en descendant 1’escalier, les plus grossiercs insuites; les uns j etaient
sur ses pas leur pipe allumee; les autres soufflaient la fumee de leur tabac an
visage ; tons criaient a ses oreilles—‘ Justice ! execution! ’ ”—Vol. ii. p. 409.
“ Les cheveux de Charles avaient blanchi; 1’expression d’une tristesse ha-
bituelie s’etait unie & la fierete de ses regards; son maintien, sa voix—tons ces
traits revelaient une ame toujours hautaine et pourtant vaincue; ^galement
incapable de lutter contre sa destinee, et de s’en laisser abattre, touchant et
singulier melange de grandeur sans force, et de preemption sans espoir I”—
Vol. ii. p. 349.