MAY 311 



Men of genius often do at twenty what is usually not done 

 at forty ; so every now and then a painter anticipates by 

 centuries the thought or the execution of future ages. 



In accordance with the taste of her day Maria 

 Farquhar gives five double-columned pages of her little 

 book to Eaphael, and half a single column to Botticelli. 

 In this she did not differ from her contemporaries, for, 

 as Mr. Hewlett says in ' Earthwork out of Tuscany ' : 

 ' Seriously, where in criticism do you learn of an earlier 

 painter than Perugino until you come to our day ? And 

 where now do you get the raptures over the Carracci and 

 Domenichino, and Guercino and the rest of them, which 

 the last century expended upon their unthrifty soil? 

 Buskin found Botticelli ; yes, and Giotto. Boscoe never so 

 much as mentions either.' 



I have four little daintily printed volumes published in 

 1834 an early work of the well-known authoress Mrs. 

 Jameson, who has written so much on Italian art. These 

 books are not without interest to the student of life, art, or 

 art criticisms. The two last volumes are a reprint of a still 

 earlier work, which had a success in its day, called ' The 

 Diary of an Ennuye'e.' The book is still interesting to me, 

 not only for its demodee style, but also as being a kind of 

 1 Pot-Pourri ' of the day. This ' Diary of an Ennuy^e ' 

 contains an account of the author's stay at Florence, 

 which is my reason for mentioning the book here. Her 

 reflections are young and genuine, and the courage with 

 which she lays them down gives them a human interest. 

 I feel considerable sympathy with what she says about 

 Michael Angelo. She thus speaks of the Medici statues : 

 * In a little chapel in San Lorenzo are Michael Angelo's 

 famous statues the Morning, the Noon, the Evening, 

 and the Night. I looked at them with admiration rather 

 than with pleasure ; for there is something in the severe 

 and overpowering style of this master which affects me 



