very picturesque. It is the
second epoch of Rome, when laws no longer existed, but when genius still
exercised considerable influence upon circumstances. Then comes that era
when talents and fame were only objects of misfortune and insult. The
third picture which you see here, represents Belisarius, carrying on his
shoulders the body of his young guide, who died while asking alms for
him. Belisarius, blind and mendicant, is thus recompensed by his master;
and in the universe which he has conquered, he is employed in bearing to
the grave the remains of the poor boy who alone had not abandoned him.
This figure of Belisarius is admirable; another so fine is not to be
found in the modern school. The painter, with a truly poetical
imagination, has united here every species of misfortune, and perhaps
the picture is too dreadful even to awaken pity: but who tells us it is
Belisarius? to indicate him it should be faithful to history: but that
fidelity would deprive the subject of all its picturesque beauty.
Following these pictures which represent in Brutus, virtues approaching
to crime; in Marius, glory, the cause of calamity; in Belisarius,
services paid by the blackest persecutions; in short, every misery of
human destiny, which is recorded in the events of history, I have placed
two pictures of the old school, which a little relieve the oppressed
soul by recalling that religion which has consoled the enslaved and
distracted universe, that religion which stirred the depths of the heart
when all without was but oppression and silence. The first is by Albano;
he has painted the infant Jesus sleeping on a cross. Behold the
sweetness and calm of that countenance! What pure ideas it recalls; how
it convinces the soul that celestial love has nothing to fear, either
from affliction or death. The second picture is by Titian; the subject
is Christ sinking beneath the weight of the cross. His mother comes to
meet Him, and throws herself upon her knees on perceiving Him. Admirable
reverence in a mother for the misfortunes and divine virtues of her son!
What a look is that of our Redeemer, what a divine resignation in the
midst of suffering, and in this suffering what sympathy with the heart
of man! That is, doubtless, the finest of my pictures. It is that
towards which I incessantly turn my eyes, without ever being able to
exhaust the emotion which it inspires. Next come the dramatic pieces,"
continued Corinne, "taken from four great po