THE STORIES OF NOTED PAINTINGS. 265 



RUTH GLEANING. 



Supposed to be by TITIAN. The original is in the Palazzo 

 Commnnale, Bologna. In the middle of the Old Testament^ in 

 the very midst of the wars, and the laws, and the genealogies of 

 that stern old race of Israelites, comes the little book of Ruth, 

 telling one of the most delightful episodes of family life and 

 love that ever was written. The story is too long and too well 

 known to be related here. It is only necessary to say that Ruth, 

 being a fair young widow, but a stranger in the land, being of 

 the race of the Moabites, and being restricted by the severe 

 customs of the Jews to marrying only the nearest of kin to her 

 husband who would or could take her to wife, found herself 

 obliged to resort to certain ruses in order to excite the attention 

 of her relatives. This gleaning in the barley fields, then, was 

 only one of the innocent devices that she practiced to bring her- 

 self to the notice of the rich uncle Boaz, who was gathering in 

 his harvests there, and who was seemingly a very good party for 

 the beautiful widow if he only could be awakened to a sense of 

 his duty in the matter. It is hardly needful to add that Ruth, 

 assisted by her mother-in-law, Naomi, succeeded in every point. 



BEATRICE CENCI IN PRISON. 



The portrait of Beatrice Cenci (Bd-a-tre-cha Ch&n-che) is from 

 the original of Guroo RENI (born 1575, died 1642), in the Bar- 

 berini Palace in Rome ; bat the combination is the original of a 

 young and promising artist now living, ACHILLE LEONARDI 52 

 Via Babuino, Rome. The beautiful girl having been imprisoned 

 in the Castle of St. Angelo and forbidden all intercourse, the 

 young Guido has been obliged to steal into the cell, concealed by 

 the Judge's robe, and to take his sketch from this almost back 

 view. Beatrice Cenci was beheaded in Rome September llth, 

 1599. Her father, Count Cenci, was notorious for his crimes, 

 his violence and cruelty. He had purchased pardons of the 

 Papal priesthood so often and by such enormous sums that he 

 was called " a certain and copious source of revenue." He had a 

 walled and moated castle called " Petrella," in a most desolate 

 region on the Neapolitan frontier, to which he retired during the 



