*M *tw- 







NOTES OF AN ARTIST. 



No. I. 

 HAZLITT'S CONVERSATIONAL CRITIQUES ON MICHAEL ANGELO. 



I REMEMBER hearing Hazlitt give an opinion on Michael Angelo's 

 Last Judgment. The first sight of it, he said, disappointed him 

 the whole picture appeared flat ; but the greatest defect, he thought, 

 was a defect in character. Michael Angelo's figures always convey 

 the idea of power contained in themselves. His Prophets are tre- 

 mendous-looking beings. On the day of Judgment the human race 

 should be depicted as in a state of subjection, of fear, " and looking 

 for judgment ;" but the figures in Michael Angelo's picture impress 

 one with the same idea of power as his Prophets they are a crowd 

 of immense creatures that look as if they could knock you down if 

 they swung against you every muscle is forced equally into action, 

 whatever may be the position of the figure, and they all appear 

 moving about by their own weight and strength totally incapable of 

 fear. John Scott, who had also seen the original, agreed with Hazlitt 

 in this criticism. 



On another occasion I was present when Hazlitt was looking over 

 some very fine copies of the Prophets and Sybils, made at Rome by 

 Mr. Bewick for Sir Thomas Lawrence. They had been drawn within 

 a few feet of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and were of colossal 

 proportions, being nearly the size of the originals. Hazlitt was evi- 

 dently much impressed with these copies; they brought to his recol- 

 lection his former emotions respecting Michael Angelo ; he looked at 

 them in silence for a considerable time till his eyes began to stare, 

 and he thought of what he had said about the Jeremiah, and felt that 

 he was justified so he expressed himself. In his " Journey to 

 France and Italy/' are some short remarks on the ceiling of Sistine 

 Chapel, and, among other good things, I recollect a fine simile applied 

 to the Jeremiah, which, however, I will not run the risk of spoiling 

 by quoting from memory. 



I have no doubt that Hazlitt would have entered more fully into 

 the subject of this " awful synod" of Prophets and Sybils, could he 

 have seen the originals to the same advantage with which he saw 

 these copies. He confessed, indeed, that even the view from the 

 gallery did not enable him to enter into the details of form or expres- 

 sion he had no idea they were so fine until now, when he could con- 

 front their majestic lineaments at a satisfactory distance. Every hand 

 and foot seemed to sympathise with the profound meaning conveyed 

 by the expression of the countenances. There was nothing of that 

 squareness and manner of which this mighty master has been accused, 

 and of which he cannot be altogether acquitted in some of his 

 statues. The alternate action and repose of the muscles according to 

 the action of the limb, exhibited a rare union of knowledge and 

 taste. " Each figure," said Hazlitt, " seems to unite in itself the 

 leading principles of three arts, viz. Architecture, Sculpture, and 



