nd kneeling
before the coach or bier, appear the three great Dominican saints
as witnesses of the religious mystery; in the centre, St. Dominick;
on the left, St. Catherine of Siena; and on the right, St. Thomas
Aquinas. In a compartment above is the Assumption. (Rome, Capitol.)

* * * * *

Among the later Italian examples, where the old legendary accessories
are generally omitted, there are some of peculiar elegance. One
by Ludovico Caracci, another by Domenichino, and a third by Carlo
Maratti, are treated, if not with much of poetry or religious
sentiment, yet with great dignity and pathos.

I must mention one more, because of its history and celebrity:
Caravaggio, of whom it was said that he always painted like a ruffian,
because he _was_ a ruffian, was also a genius in his way, and for a
few months he became the fashion at Rome, and was even patronized by
some of the higher ecclesiastics. He painted for the church of _la
Scala in Trastevere_ a picture of the Death of the Virgin, wonderful
for the intense natural expression, and in the same degree grotesque
from its impropriety. Mary, instead of being decently veiled, lies
extended with long scattered hair; the strongly marked features
and large proportions of the figure are those of a woman of the
Trastevere.[1] The apostles stand around; one or two of them--I must
use the word--blubber aloud: Peter thrusts his fists into his eyes to
keep back the tears; a woman seated in front cries and sobs; nothing
can be more real, nor more utterly vulgar. The ecclesiastics for whom
the picture was executed were so scandalized, that they refused to
hang it up in their church. It was purchased by the Duke of Mantua,
and, with the rest of the Mantuan Gallery, came afterwards into the
possession of our unfortunate Charles I. On the dispersion of his
pictures, it found its way into the Louvre, where it now is. It has
been often engraved.

[Footnote 1: The face has a swollen look, and it was said that
his model had been a common woman whose features were swelled by
intoxication. (Louvre, 32.)]

* * * * *

THE APOSTLES CARRY THE BODY OF THE VIRGIN TO THE TOMB. This is a very
uncommon subject. There is a most beautiful example by Taddeo Bartoli
(Siena, Pal. Publico), full of profound religious feeling. There is
a small engraving by Bonasoni, in a series of the Life of the Virgin,
apparently after Parmigiano, in which