DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0163
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
119
91 A grand Landscape.—The mountainous tract in the
environs of Tivoli. Two figures in front, one lying down.
It has unfortunately become very dark, probably from
being painted on the dark red ground which has been the
perdition of so many of his pictures.
3 ft. 4-j in. by 4 ft. 5 in.
RAPHAEL (Rafaele Sanzio, or Santi),b. 1483; d. 1520. Roman school.
[It is as difficult to characterize this wonderfully endowed painter
as it is to characterize Shakspeare; he takes the same rank in art
that Shakspeare takes in literature. Standing quite alone in the
versatility as well as the greatness of his powers—unequalled in poe-
tical dignity, grace, and expression, as in fertility of invention—one
is as tired of tacking epithets to his name as to that of Shakspeare;
and the “ divine” and the “immortal” are words which rather ex-
press our own adoration than his desert;—add the personal qualities
of the man—his bright, gentle, generous spirit—his modesty, his
beauty of person, his young life crowned with glory, and his early
death in the blaze of his fame, which still shines on without dimness
or eclipse, and shall do so while the universe endures. Be it re-
membered, that to judge of Raphael’s genius by one of his lovely
Virgins, would be as if we measured the powers of Shakspeare—of
him who gave us Lear, Othello, Hamlet—by the garden scene in
Romeo and Juliet.]
92 Tpe Holy Family—-(La Vierge au Palmier.) In a
circle. The Virgin Mary is seated under a palm-tree, the
head gracefully turned, so as to be seen nearly in profile.
She holds on her knee the infant Redeemer, part of her
veil being wound round his body so as to sustain him, while
he takes, with the most naive expression of pleasure, some
flowers which Joseph, kneeling, presents to him. The form
of the child is exceedingly beautiful, both in the contour
and the delicate modelling of the surfaces; and the figures
are very distinctly relieved against a landscape background
and a bright horizon. The whole design is remarkable for
its pure and graceful sentiment; the adoration of the aged
foster-father, the offering of the fresh flowers, the delighted
expression of the child as it looks up in his face and grasps
the flowers with both his little hands, and the maternal
tenderness of the Virgin, all blend into that combination of
119
91 A grand Landscape.—The mountainous tract in the
environs of Tivoli. Two figures in front, one lying down.
It has unfortunately become very dark, probably from
being painted on the dark red ground which has been the
perdition of so many of his pictures.
3 ft. 4-j in. by 4 ft. 5 in.
RAPHAEL (Rafaele Sanzio, or Santi),b. 1483; d. 1520. Roman school.
[It is as difficult to characterize this wonderfully endowed painter
as it is to characterize Shakspeare; he takes the same rank in art
that Shakspeare takes in literature. Standing quite alone in the
versatility as well as the greatness of his powers—unequalled in poe-
tical dignity, grace, and expression, as in fertility of invention—one
is as tired of tacking epithets to his name as to that of Shakspeare;
and the “ divine” and the “immortal” are words which rather ex-
press our own adoration than his desert;—add the personal qualities
of the man—his bright, gentle, generous spirit—his modesty, his
beauty of person, his young life crowned with glory, and his early
death in the blaze of his fame, which still shines on without dimness
or eclipse, and shall do so while the universe endures. Be it re-
membered, that to judge of Raphael’s genius by one of his lovely
Virgins, would be as if we measured the powers of Shakspeare—of
him who gave us Lear, Othello, Hamlet—by the garden scene in
Romeo and Juliet.]
92 Tpe Holy Family—-(La Vierge au Palmier.) In a
circle. The Virgin Mary is seated under a palm-tree, the
head gracefully turned, so as to be seen nearly in profile.
She holds on her knee the infant Redeemer, part of her
veil being wound round his body so as to sustain him, while
he takes, with the most naive expression of pleasure, some
flowers which Joseph, kneeling, presents to him. The form
of the child is exceedingly beautiful, both in the contour
and the delicate modelling of the surfaces; and the figures
are very distinctly relieved against a landscape background
and a bright horizon. The whole design is remarkable for
its pure and graceful sentiment; the adoration of the aged
foster-father, the offering of the fresh flowers, the delighted
expression of the child as it looks up in his face and grasps
the flowers with both his little hands, and the maternal
tenderness of the Virgin, all blend into that combination of