er of these subjects; but they may have been misplaced. This, of
all the San Rocco pictures, is the most hastily painted, but it is
not, like those we have been passing, _clodly_ painted; it seems to
have been executed altogether with a hearth-broom, and in a few hours.
It is another of the "effects," and a very curious one; the Angel who
bears the cup to Christ is surrounded by a red halo; yet the light
which falls upon the shoulders of the sleeping disciples, and upon the
leaves of the olive-trees, is cool and silvery, while the troop coming
up to seize Christ are seen by torch-light. Judas, who is the second
figure, points to Christ, but turns his head away as he does so, as
unable to look at him. This is a noble touch; the foliage is also
exceedingly fine, though what kind of olive-tree bears such leaves I
know not, each of them being about the size of a man's hand. If there
be any which bear such foliage, their olives must be the size of
cocoa-nuts. This, however, is true only of the underwood, which is,
perhaps, not meant for olive. There are some taller trees at the top
of the picture, whose leaves are of a more natural size. On closely
examining the figures of the troops on the left, I find that the
distant ones are concealed, all but the limbs, by a sort of arch of
dark color, which is now so injured, that I cannot tell whether it was
foliage or ground: I suppose it to have been a mass of close foliage,
through which the troop is breaking its way; Judas rather showing them
the path, than actually pointing to Christ, as it is written, "Judas,
who betrayed him, knew the place." St. Peter, as the most zealous of
the three disciples, the only one who was to endeavor to defend his
Master, is represented as awakening and turning his head toward the
troop, while James and John are buried in profound slumber, laid in
magnificent languor among the leaves. The picture is singularly
impressive, when seen far enough off, as an image of thick forest
gloom amidst the rich and tender foliage of the South; the leaves,
however, tossing as in disturbed night air, and the flickering of the
torches, and of the branches, contrasted with the steady flame which
from the Angel's presence is spread over the robes of the disciples.
The strangest feature in the whole is that the Christ also is
represented as sleeping. The angel seems to app