en miniature du Roi nella contrada di Po-an artist of great intelligence and invention, and a man of real politeness; he treated me with a civility it was impossible for me to expect from a slight introduction like mine), find a little book of sketches, by Giulio Romano, full of fire and spirit. The king's collection contains some good pictures; particularly three children of Charles I. by Vandyke, one of the finest I ever saw; well contrived chiaroscuro, simple and elegant; beauty of the portraits wonderful, equal at least-but I am inclined to think superior-to those pictures of the same children in Buckingham House (the Duke of York is wanting, which not being the pleasing figure in the others, I did not care to miss); a 'St. John,' of Guido, two or three Teniers, several Wouvermans, a Gerard Douw (wonderful, but not pleasing to an artist), a 'Prodigal Son' of Guercino, a Salutation' of Simon Vouet, a Paul Potter, &c. &c. The Four Elements,' of Albani, I think more praised than they deserve; the figures, in general, are very good, but so scattered, that the eye wants a resting-place. The archives of the king kept in admirable order; a fine drawing of Michael Angelo, and a finer of Correggio (or some one else), grace itself.” The only things which he missed, of those he desired to see, were the arsenal and the church of the Superga.

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"24th July. Leave Turin, with an agreeable young Englishman, Mr. Thomas Ackland; dine at Cighane, arrive in the evening at Vercelli, a considerable town, well built, and populous; indifferent inn. 25th. Quits at four o'clock, pass Novare, a small fortified town, and Ruffalora, a considerable village, and frontier of the king's (Sardinia's) dominions; reach Milan in the evening, and put up at the Pozzo, or Well, a good inn, but

extremely dear. 26th. Milan, notwithstanding its reputation for gaiety, and a portion of the French ease and vivacity, appears, in comparison with Turin, heavy and dull; the cathedral is an immense mass of marble unfinished, the height of the steeple is very great, and commands a view of the whole plain of Lombardy, which is fruitful to a surprising degree; its luxuriance is even tiresome, the inclosures on every side blocking up the view entirely, and confining you to a garden."

"The archbishop's palace contains some pictures of first-rate merit, a ‘Madonna and Child' by Leonardo da Vinci, the head of Mary only finished, but is a model of angelic sweetness and composure. I am not clear if it is not finer than that of Correggio, at Parma-more divine. Oh! ye painters of latter days, how have ye fallen off! Some fine pictures by Titian; a beautiful 'Christ in the arms of St. Joseph,' by Guido; and another 'Christ,' by Luca; four charming pictures of Vernet; several very good of Pannini, and some of Bassan. Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, and Museum Settala. Raphael's cartoon for the School of Athens,' most admirable; some figures are wanting, which he afterwards introduced in the picture. A 'St. John,' painted by Bernardo Luino, but I should think from Leonardo; and a 'Madonna,' by Leonardo, which are the ne plus ultra of beautiful expression, and leave the works of almost all other painters very far behind them. Several excellent pictures of Bernardo Luino, his scholar, who seems. to have caught a ray of inspiration from his master; some very fine Titians. Leonardo's famous picture of the 'Last Supper,' in the refectory of the convent of Dominicans, possesses many excellent things; the six

fingers said to be on the hand of one of the apostles is very doubtful. Writers quarrel with regard to the figure; one on the right hand of Jesus Christ is pointed out by the monks, but I could perceive only five fingers; it is true that the hand is wide enough between the fourth and fifth finger to admit of another. The picture I should conceive not to have been entirely repainted, but retouched. It deserves all that has been or may be said of it; the composition is admirable, and impresses the subject at the first glance; the attitude, with the exception of one or two, very fine and expressive, and the characters great. It is the foundation, the groundwork of all the Cœnæ Domini since his time, as the Iliad is the model of all the epic poems which have been written since Homer."

"Two fine statues ('Adam and Eve,' by Artaldo di Lorenzo) ornament the front of a church (Madonna di S. Celso), which is decorated with bronze chapiters to all the columns; an infinite variety of marbles of great beauty are to be found in almost all. The remains of a Roman colonnade (of the Corinthian order), near the church of S. Lorenzo, is worthy of notice for its fine proportion. In the church of La Vittoria, a good picture of Salvator Rosa.

"College di Brera, a fine building; the Abbé Bianconi has a large and excellent collection of prints, and some good pictures; one of Mantegna, in a frame ornamented with the finest carved-work I ever saw. The artist requires for it 1,000 sequins.

"The theatre is large and neat, a tolerable company of Italian comedians, not much attended; unfortunately, arrived on the same night the opera finished.

"Saw a fine church, with a tolerable picture, much

cried up, of Pompeo Battoni; a fine cupola, but disfigured by the quantity of paintings on it.

Roads excellent

Marignano, a near the Po,

Cross in a

"28th. Left Milan at four o'clock. (except about eight miles of deep sand). neat little town. Placentia, situated which is here a wide and beautiful river. commodious bark. Officers of the Dogana troublesome. 29th. The cathedral, a despicable old building, contains some fine pictures, but very dark, of Ludovico Carracci. The cupola, painted by Guercino, did not strike me as very fine. In a chapel, on the right hand, is a good picture of the Father and the Virgin Mary' surrounded by angels, in general well drawn, and contains some good positions of boys. St. Agostino, a very pretty church, in good style of architecture, by Vignola. Madonna di Campagna; some good pictures, one is very like Parmeggiano; the two celebrated bronze statues of Alexander and Ranuce Farnese did not answer the conception I had formed of them; the first, in particular, is excessively fluttering, the mane and tail too much made out. The figures have no dignity; though welldraped, are ill drawn; chief merit appears to me to be the motion of the horses, which is happily caught; they are seen to disadvantage from the lowness of the pedestals. In the evening proceeded to Fiosenzola, where supped, and reposed an hour, and continued our route; arrived at Parma about ten o'clock on the 30th of July.

"Parma is pleasantly situated about two leagues from the Apennines, surrounded with fortifications and a citadel, extensive. On the river Parma, over which are several long bridges, and at present not a drop of water. The picture of Correggio at the Academy, the

it

principal thing worth seeing here. The Madonna has a smile truly divine; the Magdalen exceedingly fine; the composition admirable. The only objections I can make are, that the Christ wants a little more dignity, and the angel attendant still more; this I dislike most in the piece; the countenance is even apish, if I see right, and the right leg of St. Jerome appears to be a little more extended than ease and nature would prompt, though it may make a more graceful line to the eye of a painter: perhaps it may be meant to be foreshortened; if So, is ill done; but, at any rate, the leg of the Madonna appears too short. I see nothing exceptionable in the head of St. Jerome; the Christ has much of Parmeggiano in the head, the arm of St. Jerome meagre and not correctly drawn, the hand of the angel on the book rather too clawy. There is no effect of writing where it points; the little angel in the corner, with a cup, has a good deal of character, but not very angelic. Mary Magdalen is represented of the same age that she generally is when anointing the feet of our Saviour, thirty years after. I do not agree with the Abbé Goujenot (and as he says with all true connoisseurs) that it would be improved if formed into an oval. The posture of the Magdalen would be tiresome were any one to remain in it long, but is natural, and not liable to M. Goujenot's objection; the bank advancing to the right makes her situation with respect to the Christ perfectly possible; the admired smile of the Virgin is made by drawing up one corner of the mouth only, and that a little lengthened; the cheek too is a little raised, which occasions the shadow under the lower eyelid to be rather stronger on that side the face, which he has judiciously chosen to be the dark one; five or six yards or more