of aerial perspective. The folds too numerous and broken, the faults against costume, and the dryness of outline, which are observed in the most of his works, are not found at all in some of them. One ought not to be astonished at the exorbitant price which is paid in England, and even in Italy, for the well ascertained and well preserved pictures of this master; for to their great merit must be added their extreme rarity, the galleries and other public establishments having withdrawn them all from circulation. Sandrart and many other authors have said that the most ancient picture of Albert Durer known is of the year 1504. But the charming portrait of "the Beauty of Nuremberg" in my possession, and which is proved by the signature on it, as well as by a print, to have been painted by him in 1497, attests, by its astonishing perfection, that at that time this great artist, who was only in his twenty-sixth year, had carried his art to a very high degree of excellence; for it excites the admiration of all connoisseurs, although in my collection it is surrounded by very striking works of the best Dutch and Flemish masters.

At the same time with Albert Durer many other German painters did honour to their country. Amongst these Hans Holbein, the younger, was particularly distinguished. His works are truly admirable, and sell at a very high price, although they are only portraits. Another was Luca Kranach, whose pictures I have seen of the most attractive colouring, and who had a son worthy of

such a father. The most distinguished among the disciples of Durer were, as I think, George Pens, whose pictures I have seen truly enchanting, and with nothing of the Gothic; and Matthew Gruenewald, whose works are often confounded with those of his master.

The German School was extinguished with these masters; nor has it been formed anew, notwithstanding the very generous encouragements which painters have never ceased to receive from the different sovereigns among whom Germany is divided, many of whom have given distinguished proofs of their love for the art by the magnificent galleries which they have formed, or by collections of less importance which they have made for their own private enjoyment. But Germany, nevertheless, has never been without artists capable of doing her honour. Such, among others, were Adam Elsheimer, Rotenhamer, Charles Screta, surnamed L'Espadron, Christopher Pauditz, John Lys, surnamed Pan, John Henry Roos, Denner, Dietrici, and Mengs; but each of these excellent painters has shone out singly, and they have all departed without having revived the German School.

There yet remains, however, to this vast empire, a well-founded hope that a very different result may be produced by its academies, especially those of Vienna, Dresden, and Munich, all of which are magnificently endowed, and enjoy the incalculable advantage of presenting to aspirants a rich collection of the chief works of the art, as examples.

CHAPTER VIII.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CAUSES OF THE CHARACTERISTICS WHICH DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS FROM EACH OTHER.

A great many causes-moral, political, and phy

sical have concurred to form the characteristics which distinguish among themselves the eight general schools of painting mentioned in the preceding chapter. These causes may be reduced to the following: the nature of the soil and climate of the different countries to which the schools belong; the manners, the knowledge, the genius, the taste, the temperament, the wealth, and the religion of their inhabitants; the circumstance of their being at peace or war; the nature of their political constitution; and the character of their governments.

That all these are causes will become sufficiently manifest in the application of them which I shall make to each particular school when I come to speak of it. One only, namely, the temperament, seems to require that I explain it here, in order that it may be made clear.

Nobody is ignorant how powerfully the physical constitution of our body, be it good or bad, affects the feelings, the disposition, the imagination, the quality of the ideas, and the nature of the move

ments; and consequently how much it must influence also our tastes and conceptions, and our aptitude for executing them. How much do the numerous optical deceptions to which men are more or less subject metamorphose objects in their eyes! How much are those exposed to be deceived in regard to measurements, whose eye is not mathematical? How much may they mistake colours, whose eyes are occupied by vicious humours? Every thing is yellow or greenish to the eyes of the bilious; every thing black, bricky, or livid, to the atrabilious. The languid dyspeptic sees every thing pale and chalky. Let him be ever so little sanguineous, and every thing is embellished to his eyes, and animated with additional brilliancy and vivacity. That man alone who enjoys perfect health, sees nature just as she is. Yet he who from any of the above causes sees amiss, does not usually suspect it himself, and supposes himself to see like the rest of the world.

Without farther observation on the physical causes which may affect our organs of sight, I have next to remark that religion, manners, the prevailing taste for show, a state of peace, the political constitution, and the nature of the government, have all equally favoured painting, especially of the historical class, at Rome, at Bologna, at Florence, as well as at Modena. It is owing to the fervid climate of Lower Italy, and the lively and electrical genius of its inhabitants, that the Romans, Florentines, and Bolognese, have a turn for the grand, the

extraordinary, and the heroica taste which the numerous statues at Rome have carried towards the supernatural there, especially with the help of those reminiscences of their ancient history that remain to them. At the same time their soil, alaways parched, often ill-cultivated, and covered in some parts with the terrible traces of volcanic remains, joined to the adust temperament, more or less atrabilious, of the inhabitants, has led to carnations dry and embrowned, shadows too dark and cutting; in a word, to bad colouring; while many reasons have combined to fix all the attention of artists upon invention, composition, expression, and design in general.

Corregio, in the more fertile and cooler climate of Lombardy, and the Venetians in their well cultivated environs, saw nature in all the brilliancy and variety of her colouring, and their efforts were directed to the imitation of her. The wealth of individuals at Venice, and the prodigious concourse of strangers of every country which commerce attracted to her, are the cause of that astonishing variety of modern costumes, and of that extraordinary gorgeousness in the dresses, which one remarks in the pictures of that school; while the self-respect of numerous aristocratic Venetians and of the great merchants, have produced among them that multitude of portraits which do honour to the Venetian School. This is the source of their excellent carnations, and probably one of the principal causes which led the painters of that school to make use