em appearing to have swooped down with the swiftness
of a falling star.

2. _Adoration of the Magi._ The most finished picture in the Scuola,
except the "Crucifixion," and perhaps the most delightful of the
whole. It unites every source of pleasure that a picture can possess:
the highest elevation of principal subject, mixed with the lowest
detail of picturesque incident; the dignity of the highest ranks of
men, opposed to the simplicity of the lowest; the quietness and
serenity of an incident in cottage life, contrasted with the
turbulence of troops of horsemen and the spiritual power of angels.
The placing of the two doves as principal points of light in the front
of the picture, in order to remind the spectator of the poverty of the
mother whose child is receiving the offerings and adoration of three
monarchs, is one of Tintoret's master touches; the whole scene,
indeed, is conceived in his happiest manner. Nothing can be at once
more humble or more dignified than the bearing of the kings; and there
is a sweet reality given to the whole incident by the Madonna's
stooping forward and lifting her hand in admiration of the vase of
gold which has been set before the Christ, though she does so with
such gentleness and quietness that her dignity is not in the least
injured by the simplicity of the action. As if to illustrate the means
by which the Wise men were brought from the East, the whole picture is
nothing but a large star, of which Christ is the centre; all the
figures, even the timbers of the roof, radiate from the small bright
figure on which the countenances of the flying angels are bent, the
star itself, gleaming through the timbers above, being quite
subordinate. The composition would almost be too artificial were it
not broken by the luminous distance where the troop of horsemen are
waiting for the kings. These, with a dog running at full speed, at
once interrupt the symmetry of the lines, and form a point of relief
from the over concentration of all the rest of the action.

3. _Flight into Egypt._ One of the principal figures here is the
donkey. I have never seen any of the nobler animals--lion, or leopard,
or horse, or dragon--made so sublime as this quiet head of the
domestic ass, chiefly owing to the grand motion in the nostril and
writhing in the ears. The space of the picture is chiefly occupied by