therefore, though the education of an artist's mind is in many things similar to the education of that of others, yet, in addition, he requires a knowledge of the various methods the great painters have employed to explain and exemplify their ideas; "for it is only by knowing the inventions of others we learn to invent, as it is by knowing the thoughts of others we learn to think." Mengs observes that it is invention which makes noble the art of painting, and discovers the force of the artist's understanding, and that Raffaelle obtained a rank with great poets and orators from this source. Invention being the work of the mind addressed to the mind, composition that of the eye addressed to the sight, yet, though in many things the mind of the poet or historian is similar to the painter's, the power of the latter is much more limited. The historian may have a hundred pages to convey his story; the painter has but one. This circumstance has led mankind in all ages to allow him a greater latitude and license in embodying any representation. His invention, therefore, takes a wide range through the whole features of the event, whatever it may be, and enables him to combine in one focus every means of rendering the story attractive, clear and effective. He invents, therefore, those arrangements which awaken the mind, from their giving rise to an association of ideas. He selects also those points which bear the strongest upon the character of the subject to be represented, and which, from their nature, are most palpable to the eye, to heighten their effect by the judicious introduction of images operating by means of contrast, and endeavors to combine the whole by the most natural and unaffected method. The power of invention, therefore, in a painter, must depend upon his extent of information, his command of the materials applicable to his art, and a felicitous choice of the particular incidents most striking to the eye. If he invents from history, it will be necessary to take the most current version of the story for his guide, and engraft upon it those embellishments derived from costume, manners of the people and local scenery, painting everything from Nature, which gives a wonderful appearance of truth and force to the representation. From poetry or allegory a greater liberty of enriching the design will be allowed, as the whole range of ancient and modern fable lies open for his

while the trumpets of the angels resound through all hearts, I see Life and Death overwhelmed with extraordinary confusion, the one is wearied with lifting up the dead, while the other strikes down the living; behind, I see Hope and Despair conducting troops of the good and the bad. The sky is suffused with the brightest rays. Christ, seated on clouds, is environed with splendor, and with the terrors inspired by the heavenly hosts, his face is resplendent with light, and his eyes, shining with a soft yet terrible fire, fill the virtuous with lively joy, and the wicked with mortal fear. I see the ministers of hell, with horrible countenances, who, surrounded by the glory of saints and martyrs, mock the Cæsars and Alexanders of the world, and yet not knowing how to get the better of themselves. I see Renown, with her crowns and palms trodden under foot, thrown down under the wheels of her own triumphant chariots. I hear the Son of God pronouncing the last judgment; at his voice the good and the bad are separated; the world crumbles to pieces at the peals of thunder. Darkness divides Paradise from the furnaces of hell. In retracing these terrible images, I said to myself, one would tremble as much at seeing the work of Buonarotti as at the day of judgment itself."-Peter Aretin's Letters from

Venice.

purpose of illustration. At the head of this department of the art, by universal consent, and especially by those who have most carefully examined his works, stands Raffaelle. Not only do his inventions embrace the most leading and most striking parts of the story, but he carries the spectator back to its commencement by a chain of the most natural circumstances, and shows also, by the same felicitous extension of his design, those results which followed its taking place; thus exhibiting in one page the contents of a volume, such as we see in his "Death of Ananias," his "Transfiguration," the "School of Athens," the "Sacrifice at Lystra" and many others. Lanzi, speaking of this quality of Raffaelle, says: "Various writers have mentioned the 'St. Paul at Lystra,' one of the cartoons, as an example (Plate II). The artist has there represented the sacrifice prepared for him and St. Barnabas as to two gods, for having restored a lame man to the use of his limbs. The altar, the attendants, the victims, the musicians and the axe sufficiently indicate the intentions of the Lystrians. St. Paul, who is in the act of tearing his robe, shows that he rejects and abhors the sacrilegious honors, and is endeavoring to dissuade the populace from persisting in them; but all this were in vain, if it had not indicated the miracle which had just happened, and which had given rise to the event. Raffaelle, therefore, added to the group the lame man restored to the use of his limbs, now easily recognized by the spectators. He stands before the apostles, rejoicing in his restoration, and raises his hands in transport toward his benefactors, while at his feet lie the crutches, now cast away as useless. This had been sufficient for any other artist, but Raffaelle, who wished to give a greater appearance of reality, has added several people, who, in their eager curiosity, remove the garment of the man to behold his limbs restored to their natural state." As the people called St. Paul Mercury, from his being chief speaker, Raffaelle has alluded to this by a statue of Mercury in the distance, and a figure in the foreground with a chaplet of ivy, bringing in a ram, both indicative of the sacrifices to that god. By the uplifted hands of the restored cripple, and the youth who stretches out his hands to arrest the arm of the sacrificers, we perceive the effect of St. Paul's persuasions, in the same way as he indicates the conversion to Christianity of the woman of Damaris and Dionysius in the cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens. In the inventions of Raffaelle we find the representation of any event, extending its effects on the several spectators in a variety of ways, producing the most natural action and expression, and all conducive to the illustration of the subject. His rich store of materials from the Greek and Roman antique, with the inventions of those artists who preceded him in the restoration of painting in Italy, enabled him to embellish his design with an endless accumulation of incident, giving chasteness, simplicity and the power of carrying the mind back to times long gone by. No one has possessed so great a command over his materials, or greater address in adapting them to his own purpose. The Greek gems and statues, the Roman basso relievos, the primitive character of

the works of Giotto and Masaccio, the grand outline and foreshortening of the figures of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci, may be all traced through his works, but the inventive genius which has called them into new existence, with a more natural and a more powerful effect on the spectator, is peculiarly his own.

Invention being more properly a combination of those qualities which affect the mind and awaken sensations in the imagination of the spectator, the inventions of Raffaelle affect different spectators according to their different degrees of taste or cultivation; whereas the inventions of Paul Veronese, Tintoret and others of the Venetian school, being more addressed to the eye, please and captivate all beholders, from their harmony of light and shade, and their beautiful and gorgeous arrangement of splendid color. With Raffaelle the leading point of the story is boldly and nobly expressed, while its effects are diffused and spread over the countenances and actions of the adjoining figures, and revived and embellished by episodes and representations of the preceding and following events, acting upon the more subordinate or more extended portions of the composition, such as we see in the “Ananias," the "Heliodorus," the "Sacrifice at Lystra," the "Attila” and the "Transfiguration." Thus, what is effected in the one case by the diffusion of light and color is produced by Raffaelle through the medium of the expression and action of his figures. This it is that has gained for him the appellation of the painter of mind, and his making use of those materials from which the taste and cultivation of the mind is derived gives to his works that charm which increases by contemplation, since they revive within us ideas of all the great and beautiful works we have ever beheld. Invention being more properly the province of the mind than the eye, perhaps it is unnecessary to dwell longer upon it in this place; but we must always bear in recollection that the mind of an artist is formed from a contemplation of those circumstances which it will be in his power to make use of, and that is one reason, among others, why I dwell more particularly upon the inventions of Raffaele than upon those of Michael Angelo.18 They are more practical, and can be adopted by those whose works are addressed to the feelings of all classes, or, as Lord Bacon says, "come home to the business and bosoms of most men." The inventions of

18

Reynolds, drawing a comparison between Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, says, "Raffaelle had more taste and fancy, Michael Angelo more genius and imagination. The one excelled in beauty, the other in energy. Michael Angelo has more of the poetical inspiration; his ideas are vast and sublime; his people are a superior order of beings, there is nothing about them, nothing in the air of their actions or their attitudes, or the style and cast of their limbs or features, that reminds us of their belonging to our own species. Raffaelle's imagination is not so elevated; his figures are not so much disjoined from our own diminutive race of beings, though his ideas are chaste, noble, and of great conformity to their subjects. Michael Angelo's works have a strong, peculiar and marked character; they seem to proceed from his own mind entirely, and that mind so rich and abundant, that he never needed, or seemed to disdain to look about for foreign help. Raffaelle's materials are generally borrowed, though the noble structure is his own. The excellency of this extraordinary man lay in the propriety, beauty and majesty of his characters, the judicious contrivance of his composition, his correstness of drawing, purity of taste and skillful accommodation of other men's conceptions to his own purpose.