re a religious and mysterious
significance, prefiguring the Baptism.

9. N. Poussin. Mary, assisted by angels, washes and dresses her Child.
(Gal. of Mr. Hope.)

10. V. Salimbeni.--An Interior. Mary and Joseph are occupied by the
Child. Elizabeth is spinning. More in front St. John is carrying two
puppies in the lappet of his coat, and the dog is leaping up to him.
(Florence, Pitti Pal.) This is one out of many instances in which
the painter, anxious to vary the oft-repeated subject, and no longer
restrained by refined taste or religious veneration, has fallen into
a most offensive impropriety.

11. Ippolito Andreasi. Mary, seated, holds the Infant Christ between
her knees; Elizabeth leans over the back of her chair; Joseph leans on
his staff behind the Virgin; the little St. John and an angel present
grapes, while four other angels are gathering and bringing them.
A branch of vine, loaded with grapes, is lying in the foreground.
Christ looks like a young Bacchus; and there is something mannered and
fantastic in the execution. (Louvre, 38.) With this domestic scene is
blended a strictly religious symbol, "_I am the vine_."

12. Murilio. Mary is in the act of swaddling her Child (Luke ii, 7),
while two angels, standing near him, solace the divine Infant with
heavenly music. (Madrid Gal.)

13. Rubens. Mary, seated on the ground, holds the Child with a
charming maternal expression, a little from her, gazing on him with
rapturous earnestness, while he looks up with responsive tenderness in
her face. His right hand rests on a cross presented by St. John, who
is presented by St. Elizabeth. Wonderful for the intensely natural and
domestic expression, and the beauty of the execution. (Florence, Pitti
Pal.)

14. D. Hopfer. Within the porch of a building, Mary is seated on one
side, reading intently. St. Anna, on the other side, holds out her
arms to the Child, who is sitting on the ground between them; an angel
looks in at the open door behind. (Bartsch., viii. 483.)

15. Rembrandt. (_Le Menage du Menuisier_.) A rustic interior. Mary,
seated in the centre, is suckling her Child. St. Anna, a fat Flemish
grandame, has been reading the volume of the Scriptures, and bends
forward in order to remove the covering and look in the Infant's face.
A cradle is near. Joseph is seen at work in the background. (Louvre.)

16. Le Brun. (_The Benedicite_.) Mary, the Child, and Joseph, are
seated at a frugal repast. Joseph is in the act