1828.) Old Pictures. 35 
141. The Gallery of Teniers. TEnNreRrs.—This is one of those works 
which are worth notice more on account of their curiosity than their 
merit. There is little or no talent displayed in this picture ; but it is 
highly curious and interesting to see the mode in which an artist like 
Teniers (who, with all his wonderful merits, is as much of a mannerist 
as it is possible for a man of genius to be) has mixed up the characteristic 
qualities of his own style with that of the various other artists respec- 
tively whose productions he has here copied on a miniature scale. 
158. Holy Family, in a Landscape. Trr1an.—This is a noble excep- 
tion to what we have said in connexion with No. 120, relative to the 
almost universal practice of artists endeavouring to concentrate the 
spectator’s attention on one department or the other of their works of 
this class, instead of fairly dividing it between both. It was, generally 
speaking, a most judicious fear which made them adopt this course ; 
but it was one which Titian did not entertain, because he did not need 
to do so. He was a rare instance of the attainment of supreme excel- 
lence in these two almost opposite departments of arts: if, indeed, any 
one department of it can be said to oppose itself to any other, and if (as 
we believe) it does not require the very same kind of powers to succeed 
in each and in all ; application and practice alone determining the quantity 
of success as proportioned to the natural endowment. Rubens was the 
only other instance, among the old masters, of an artist, in the highest 
class of historical composition, producing, when he chose to attempt it, 
landscapes of a corresponding character. But even he did not unite the 
highest excellencies of the two classes of composition on one canvass—as 
Titian has done in this and many other of his works. The picture before 
us reaches to the very height of historical grandeur. The Virgin is 
seated in the centre of the fore-ground, with an air of maternal dignity 
that is sweetly tempered by the grave tenderness of her mien; Saint 
John is approaching her playfully, on the right; while Joseph seems to 
fill and inform the whole left department of the front with the fine air of 
contemplative wisdom which his look and attitude indicate. In the 
middle distance are seen shepherds with their flocks, winding away among 
the broken ground, of which all this portion of the scene is composed ; 
and the ‘hale is shut in by a majestic distance of dark rocks, and rising 
points of ground, that reach almost to the very top of the picture, leaving 
searcely any space for sky or clouds. The production is a truly fine one, 
and may vie with almost any of its class for majesty of general effect, 
Hlended with and growing out of individual truth of detail. 
Our limits remind us that we must close this notice without indulging 
ourselves in any farther descriptive detail. We most not conclude, how- 
ever, without running through the catalogue again, with the view of 
merely naming a few more of the works which merit the most particular 
attention in this exquisite collection. No. 14 is a triple portrait, by 
Titian, which is quite extraordinary for the manner in which a sort of 
type is furnished to each head, in the shape of an animal, the physiogno- 
mical features of which correspond with those of the human head above 
it. The three heads are those of Charles the Fifth, the Pope Paul, and 
Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara ; and the types of them respectively are a 
lion, a wolf, and a dog. It is impossible for any portraits to be more 
perfectly individualized than each of these are respectively ; and yet, in 
each case, the resemblance between the human and the animal is wonder- 
ful. No. 16 is a noble piece of chiaro-scuro, by Guercino ; and the design 
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