with his left as if not to see the approach of
destruction. The older pair, a man and woman, have thrown themselves to
the earth; the woman hides her face in her hands, the man, leaning on
his elbows, tears his hair with his hands; his face expresses the
consciousness of a sin which can find no forgiveness. The artist has
aimed throughout to convey the idea that salvation and damnation are not
_inflicted_ or _conferred_ upon the persons, but are the result of the
inward state of each soul and conscience. The angel with the book of
life and death can announce no sentence which has not already been
pronounced by the very being to which it refers. The execution of the
whole is spoken of as sublime and grandiose.

* * * * *

The well-known German painter, Hiltensperger, has received the
commission to design and partly to execute for the new imperial palace
at St. Petersburg (an edifice destined to serve as a museum of antique
art) a series of paintings, representing the history of art among the
Greeks and Romans. A part of the designs are already completed, and
receive the warm praise of those to whom they have been exhibited. In
order to avoid the monotony which seems inherent in the subject, he
represents the peculiarities of each artist introduced by a symbolic
picture; for instance, the inventor of battle pictures is designated by
a picture of that sort; the discoverer of an effect of light, by a boy
blowing a fire, &c. Historical epochs and their transitions are denoted
by allegorical figures, like day and night.

* * * * *

An old picture has been discovered in the city of Hanover which seems to
be proved a genuine LEONARDO DA VINCI. It is known that Leonardo, as
well as Zenale and the French artist Bourgogne, was commissioned by
Ludovico Sforza, on occasion of the birth of his twin sons, to paint a
picture glorifying the mother (Beatrice D'Este) and the event. Zenale
and Bourgogne resorted to the Christian narrative, and represented the
Duchess as the Virgin, and her two sons as the Saviour and John the
Baptist; Leonardo, on the other hand, took his frame-work from the Greek
mythology, and painted Leda and the Dioscures. The picture was greatly
admired at the time, though that the figure of the Duchess of Milan
should be represented nude was thought rather bad even then. The picture
soon disappeared, and Vasari says that in his time it was no longer in