Smith, John: A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters: in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures : a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference the the galleries and private collections in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools (Part 2) (London: Smith and Son, 1830)

RUBENS.

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appearance indicate her to be of superior rank, and, with the
assistance of a young man, is endeavouring to raise her on his
horse; nearer the spectator, a stout Roman, clad in armour,
his helmet surmounted with a plume of feathers, is clasping a
struggling female round the waist, while an elderly woman, who
has fallen in the tumult, has seized the leg; of the man with her
teeth. On the left, and close to the front, is a young female,
who has thrown hersels into the arms of her mother for pro-
tection against the violence of a youth, on whose face the mother
is imprinting her nails; a little removed from these is another
discordant pair, struggling together at the side of a covered
platform, on which is a company of elegant young females,
several of whom are seized by soldiers; among them is one in
a light blue dress, with her back to the spectator, apparently
greatly agitated by the threatening attitudes of several men
before her. On the opposite side is a pretty female, whom a
young warrior is pulling by the clothes towards him, and whose
resistance is aided by an elderly man; beyond these is seen a
display of the military games near the gate of the city. A
building, resembling the Pantheon, terminates the view.
613. The Reconciliation of the Romans and Sabines. The
treachery and violation of confidence, represented in the pre-
ceding picture, naturally excited the most indignant feelings in
the breasts of the Sabines; and the following year brought an
army, composed of the fathers, brothers, and other relations of
the violated females, breathing slaughter and revenge against
the Romans. In the arrangement of the composition, the
artist has supposed the two armies prepared for instant battle;
this is indicated by a few soldiers of each nation being placed
on opposite sides of the picture; those of the Romans, on the
right, consist of five soldiers, the head of a cohort, whose
banners and arms appear approaching; the nearest of these to
the spectator is a foot soldier clad in armour, whose eagerness
to advance to the combat is restrained by a female holding him
by the sword-arm ; beyond him is a cavalry soldier riding a fine