downe, and presented to the nation by M. M. Zachary, Esq. C. 1 ft. 10 in. by 1 ft. 4 in. Engraved by W. Humphries. DOMENICHINO. 75. A Landscape, with the story of St. George and the Dragon. A PICTURE which pleases, from the beautiful management of the light and shade, the clearness and brightness of the tone of colour, and the finished execution. The distance is charming. The horse on which St. George is mounted is however poorly conceived, and the dragon too small to represent the monster who alarmed a whole district, and devoured two victims a day. The story, however, is here merely accessory to the landscape. Bequeathed by Mr. Holwell Carr. C. 1 ft. 8 in. by 2 ft. 1 in. CORREGGIO. 76. Christ on the Mount of Olives. CORREGGIO has chosen for the scene of his representation a sequestered spot much overshadowed by trees; and it appears by the faint cool light of the sky behind the distant hills that he desired to describe a point of time not long preceding the first dawn of morning. On an elevated part of the foreground, on the left of the spectator, the kneeling figure of Christ appears, attended by a ministering angel. Both are illumined by a supernatural splendor, which seems as if reflected reciprocally, from one figure upon the other; for the painter designed to represent Christ as glorified in his sufferings. The figure of the Saviour is in the highest degree elevated and pathetic in its attitude and expression, full of resignation and sorrow-"Not my will, but thine be F done"-whilst that of the comforting spirit is beautifully expressive of compassion and veneration. In the middle distance the three attendant apostles are indistinctly seen, overcome by sleep; and still further off may be perceived the Jewish mob, approaching to seize Jesus.-Ottley. This picture is an instance of the mistakes sometimes made by the best judges in pronouncing on the authenticity of a picture: both West and Sir Thomas Lawrence pronounced it the original, and relying on their judgment Mr. Angerstein gave 20001. for it. The original picture by Correggio, of which this is a fine and ancient copy (or perhaps duplicate), is in the possession of the Duke of Wellington. P. 1 ft. 2 in. by 1 ft. 4 in. Engraved by Volpato; by Antonelli; by Moitte. DOMENICHINO. 77. The Stoning of St. Stephen. A SMALL composition of nine figures. Probably a finished study for an altar-piece. This picture has been criticised for the defective composition, which is meagre and scattered, without any point of concentration; but the head of St. Stephen is noble, the colouring fine, and the general effect harmonious. It came from the collection of Lucien Bonaparte (sold in 1815), and was bequeathed by Mr. Holwell Carr. P. 2 ft. 1 in. by 1 ft. 7 in. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 78. The Holy Family. THIS picture is pleasing as a scene of domestic life, but utterly deficient in the elevated historic feeling which ought to belong to the sacredness of the subject; call it an aged peasant and his family, and it may pass. The execution is loose and careless; the colouring, though warm and rich, has become much impaired in parts, and the harmony quite spoiled. It is in a bad condition: nor could it ever rank, in any respect, as one of Sir Joshua's best pictures. The attitude and figure of the little St. John have been borrowed from the Cupid in Correggio's picture (No. 10), but the exquisite significance and grace of that delicious conception are here misplaced. Charles Lamb is exceedingly severe upon this picture, and not unjustly so. "Here," he says, This picture was originally painted for the Illustrated Edition of Macklin's Bible. It was purchased at the sale of the collection of Lord Gwydir by the Governors of the British Institution, who presented it to the nation. Macklin, it appears, paid Sir Joshua 500l. for it, and sold it to Lord Gwydir for 7001. C. 6 ft. 5 in. by 5 ft. 9 in. SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 79. The Graces sacrificing to Hymen. THE three beautiful daughters of Sir William Montgomery are preparing to decorate a terminus of Hymen with wreaths of flowers. The standing figure near the altar represents the youngest daughter, afterwards Marchioness Townshend (second wife of George Marquess Townshend, who was viceroy of Ireland, and about fifty when he married her). The Honourable Mrs. Gardner, the mother of the late Earl of Blessington, occupies the centre of the picture. She was the eldest sister, and died before her husband became Lord Mountjoy. The kneeling figure on the left is the portrait of the second sister, Mrs. Beresford, married to a brother of the late Marquess of Waterford. The composition of this picture is rather fantastic than poetical. It is difficult to know what to say of three young ladies, who personate the Graces in silk gowns and high head-dresses, and are sacrificing to Hymen in a wood. The picture is, however, beautifully painted, and full of that ladylike grace and sentiment which Sir Joshua gave to his female portraits.* It was executed about the year 1773, and remained in the Blessington family till the death of the late Earl of Blessington, who bequeathed it to the nation. There is a duplicate somewhere, for it appears Sir Joshua painted two. See his Life by Northcote. C. 7 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft. 6 in. GAINSBOROUGH. 80. The Market Cart. GAINSBOROUGH's treatment of landscape is altogether original. He was the first English painter who was a painter of English landscape, with all its peculiar characteristics: he was also the first great name in a style of art in which the English school now takes the lead. Sir Joshua Reynolds, in a lecture delivered immediately after his death, declared that "if ever this nation should produce genius sufficient to acquire to us the honourable distinction of an English school, the name of Gainsborough will be transmitted to posterity in the history of the art among the very first of that rising name." If with the name of Gainsborough we join those of Hogarth, Wilson, and Reynolds, all as yet unrivalled in their particular departments, we had surely a very fair foundation for the "English School," of which Sir Joshua speaks with such modest and even doubtful anticipation. This landscape is not a first-rate picture of the master: but it is very pleasing in itself, and a fair specimen of his "The Miss Montgomerys, to whose rare beauty the pencil of Sir Joshua has given immortality, were among those whom my worthy preceptor most boasted of as pupils; and I remember his description of them long haunted my boyish imagination as though they were not earthly-born women, but some spiritual 'creatures of the element.""Moore's Memoirs of Himself, recently published.) The lessons of the worthy preceptor, thus illustrated, were certainly not likely to be thrown away. Pope complains to Jervas that poetry and painting could preserve so little : Alas, how little from the grave we claim ! Yet to be thus embalmed to future times is something, surely. By the way, this manner, which is spirited and effective, but in that loose, slight, sketchy, and sometimes spotty style of touch and execution with which later painters have made us familiar in a far greater degree, but which was then a novelty, which Reynolds in his panegyric on Gainsborough thinks it necessary to explain and account for. (See his 14th Discourse.) Gainsborough loved his art for its own high sake with fervent enthusiasm. His last words, when a rival painter stood by his bedside, were very characteristic of the painter and the man :-" We are all going to heaven, and Vandyck is of the company!" He died in 1788. This picture was purchased by the Governors of the British Institution, and presented by them to the nation. C. 6 ft. by 5 ft. BENVENUTO GAROFALO. 81. The Vision of St. Augustin. ST. AUGUSTIN was born at Tagaste, a little town on the coast of Africa, in 354, and died in 430. He tells us that when employed in writing his treatise on the Trinity he was visited by a dream or vision. He fancied himself seated on the margin of the sea, and observed a little child to bring water with a ladle from the sea, which he emptied into a hole in the sand. The saint, surprised by this singular action, demanded the reason of it, to which the boy replied that he was emptying the ocean into that hole. 'Impossible!" exclaimed Augustin. "If you think this impossible," rejoined the child, “how much more so is it for you to explain that which God has chosen to wrap in mystery ?" The child then disappeared in a glory, and the saint recognised in him the infant Saviour. Such is the subject of this picture, which is rendered still more poetical by the introduction of the Virgin and Child, with a choir of angels in the clouds above, and the noble figure of St. Catherine, who is seen behind the saint, earnestly gazing at the miraculous child. Benvenuto Tisio (styled Garofalo, from his choosing the flower so called, the clove-pink, as his sign or device) studied under Raphael, and |