who bear
the dead form of her Son, as in Raphael's wonderful picture in the
Borghese Palace, and Titian's, hardly less beautiful, in the Louvre,
where the compassionate Magdalene sustains her veiled and weeping
figure;--or she stands by, looking on disconsolate, while the beloved
Son is laid in the tomb.

* * * * *

All these fine and important themes belong properly to a series of
the History of Christ. In a series of the Life of the Virgin, the
incidents of the Passion of our Lord are generally omitted; whereas,
in the cycle of subjects styled the ROSARY, the Bearing of the Cross,
the Crucifixion, and the Deposition, are included in the fourth and
fifth of the "Sorrowful Mysteries." I shall have much more to say on
these subjects when treating of the artistic representations from
the History of Christ. I will only add here, that their frequency as
_separate_ subjects, and the preeminence given to the figure of the
Virgin as the mother of Pity, are very suggestive and affecting when
we come to consider their _intention_ as well as their significance.
For, in the first place, they were in most instances the votive
offerings of those who had lost the being most dear to them, and
thus appealed so the divine compassion of her who had felt that sword
"pierce through her own heart also." In this sense they were often
suspended as memorials in the chapels dedicated to the dead, of which
I will cite one very beautiful and touching example. There is a votive
Deposition by Giottino, in which the general conception is that which
belonged to the school, and very like Giotto's Deposition in the Arena
at Padua. The dead Christ is extended on a white shroud, and embraced
by the Virgin; at his feet kneels the Magdalene, with clasped hands
and flowing hair; Mary Salome kisses one of his hands, and Martha
(as I suppose) the other; the third Mary, with long hair, and
head dropping with grief, is seated in front to the right. In the
background, in the centre, stands St. John, bending over the group in
profound sorrow; on his left hand Joseph of Arimathea stands with the
vase of "spices and ointments," and the nails; near him Nicodemus.
On the right of St. John kneels a beautiful young girl, in the rich
Florentine costume, who, with a sorrowful earnestness and with her
hands crossed over her bosom, contemplates the dead Saviour. St.
Romeo (or San Remigio) patron of the church in which the picture was
dedic