ITALIAN SCHOOL. oooooooooo RAFFAELLE. oooooo FLORENCE GALLERY. EZEKIEL'S VISION. During the Jews' captivity in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel, being on the banks of the Euphrates, had a vision, in which he saw the spirit of the Lord, having the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. Above, he perceived the firmament bright as the crystal, and crossed with fire and flashes of lightning. Dismayed at what he saw, he fell on his face; then he heard a voice that said to him : « Son of man, stand upon thy feet; I send thee to the children of Israel : they are impudent children and stiff-hearted: thou shalt speak my words unto them; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. » It was difficult to render so vast, so complicated a subject; but Raffaelle's genius triumphed over all the difficulties: the majesty of God is rendered with a suitable grandeur; the other figures lose their strangeness, and become graceful. God's immensity fills the universe; yet the earth is in view; the Euphrates adorns a fine landscape, and the eye is attracted to a part, where the figure of the Prophet is seen, upon whom, God spreads his light. The beauty of the colouring, and the delicacy of the penciling, in this picture, correspond to the grandeur of the composition. It was painted on wood, at Rome, towards 1510, for a prince de Medicis: it is now in the Florence Gallery. It has been engraved by Poilly, by Nicholas de Larmessin, by Joseph Longhi, and by Pigeot. Height, 16 inches; width, 11 inches. ÉCOLE FLAMANDE. cocoooo VAN DYCK. 00.000 GALERIE DE MUNICH. LE CHRIST MORT. Ce sujet entièrement idéal a été traité par un grand nombre de peintres, et il est désigné en Italie sous le nom de Pietà. On suppose que le corps de Jésus-Christ, déposé au pied de la croix, est en partie soutenu par la Vierge, qui offre à Dieu ses douleurs; elle est accompagnée quelquefois par d'autres personnages. Ici des anges en adoration témoignent leurs regrets par les larmes les plus sincères. Van Dyck, en représentant ce sujet, a donné à la tête de la Vierge et à celle de son fils des expressions pleines de noblesse et de sentiment; le corps du Christ est d'une grande beauté. Les figures d'anges ne méritent pas autant d'éloges: elles sont drapées d'une manière un peu lourde, et leur expression a quelque chose de trivial. Le tableau original était autrefois dans la galerie de Dusseldorff, il est maintenant dans celle de Munich. Il en existe au Musée de Paris une esquisse terminée, qui a été gravée de la même grandeur, par Lucas Vorsterman le vieux. Cette estampe est très belle; les épreuves avec remarque se vendent fort cher. Larg., 4 pied 7 pouces; haut., 3 pied 5 pouces. FLEMISH SCHOOL. eccooooseo VAN DYCK. oooocooooo MUNICH GALLERY. This ideal subject has been treated by a great number of artists, and is known in Italy under the name of Pietà. The body of Jesus Christ, lying at the foot of the cross, is supposed to be partly supported by the Virgin who is offering her affliction to God: she is sometimes accompanied by other personages. Here, adoring angels testify their regrets by the sincerest tears. : In representing this subject, Van Dyck has given to the Virgin's head and to her son's, expressions full of grandeur and feeling the body of Christ is very beautiful. The angels' figures do not, however, deserve as much praise: their draperies are thrown in rather a heavy manner, and their expression is somewhat trivial. The original picture was formerly in the Dusseldorf Gallery; now, it is in that of Munich. There is, in the Paris Museum, a finished sketch of it, of which a very fine print, in the same size, has been engraved by Lucas Vorsterman the elder: the proofs with remarks are sold exceedingly high. Width, 10 feet 4 inches; height, 3 feet 7 inches. |