M E A U X. Gao 
ef Champagne, queen-to Philip the Fair, having greatly 
endowed the cathedral, her bull was, in latter times, 
placed in one of the keys of the roof in the choir, and 
out of gratitude received every Sunday at high mafs and 
vefpers the honours of thurification; 
The pidures which adorn the lateral chapels are old, 
and not better for being fo. But a great treat will be 
offered to the lovers of the art of painting in the choir 
and choir-aifies: nothing lefs than very good copies of 
the feven cartoons of Raphael, the pride of this country, 
and now replaced at Hampton-ccurt. As we omitted to 
fpeak of the originals under that article, on account of 
their having been removed, fir ft to the queen’s palace at 
Buckingham-houfe, and thence to the cable at Windfor, 
vve fliall take this opportunity to defcribe them ; for in¬ 
deed wherever they are, or their fac-fimiles, in painting 
or in engraving* or even in letter-prefs defcription, their 
tranfcendent merit always infures attention. Their worth 
is fuch, in the eliimation of every man whofe eye is weil- 
pradifed in obferving works of art, and whofe mind can 
feel what the pen is liardly able to point out, that the 
venerable president of the Royal Academy, Mr. Weft, 
whofe unabated firength of mind and of hand render 
him able equally to execute and to judge, has often told 
the author of tbefe obfervations, “ Give me the cartoons 
of Raphael, and the Elgin marbles ; and I will not envy 
the [late] riches of the Louvre.” With all the weight 
cf this authority, the fide of the balance in which we 
place the Transfiguration, the Holy Family with Angels, 
lent to Francis I. of France by Raphael, th-e St. Peter 
Martyr by Titian, and many others, together with the 
Belvedere Apollo, Medicean Venus, and Laocoon, could 
liardly be made to kick the beam. But this is not per¬ 
haps fair reafoning. The meaning of the great artift and 
judge is, that, for expreflion and delineation of nature, 
nothing can be more pleanngand more true than what we 
fee in the cartoons, and in the works of Phidias, leaving 
beauty of colour, fafcination of chiaro ofcuro, and ele¬ 
gance of fliape, out of the queftion. Several of the heads 
in thefe cartoons have been ieleded and engraved, in order 
to (how that nearly all the pafiionsand affections of the hu¬ 
man mind have been exemplified on the features of fome 
of the characters reprefented ; and it is really aftonithing 
to fee what ttrength of mind and verfatility of power that 
great artift mult have poffefled who could to appropriately 
diverfify the human vitage as to render it on the canvas, 
as it is in nature, the faithful mirror of the foul; Vuitus 
MentisJpcculum. Shakefpeare fays, in Macbet{i, 
“ There is no art 
To find the mind’s conftruction in the face.” 
But the greateft talent is required to paint that conftruc¬ 
tion in its fleeting effeds upon the features. 
Now forgetting for a moment that we are fpeaking of 
copies, and confidering them merely as a vehicle to con¬ 
vey our thoughts upon the originals, we thall prefent 
the reader with a defcription of them, in the order they 
offer themfelves in the cathedral we are defcribing. 
i. On the right hand upon entering the choir, is the St. 
Paul preaching at Athens, (Ads xvii. 22.) generally ad¬ 
mired for the impreflion which the eloquent apoftle makes 
upon his hearers, and which teems to increafe on the fea¬ 
tures of thofe who are placed comparatively nearer to 
him. This picture is divided into three groups; the 
firft of which is compofed of four figures, among whom 
the apoftle is eminently diftinguiflied, as indeed he is 
from every other in the picture. The man who is about 
to afcend the tteps, the woman behind him, and eight 
other figures who are reprefented {landing, compofe the 
fecond group; and the third is formed by fix perfons who 
are fitting: this iaft is placed between the firft and fecond, 
nearly in the centre of the picture. The character of 
Paul is univerfally allowed to be the molt fublime per¬ 
formance that ever was produced by the pencil of Raphael; 
Vol. 3 £IV. No. 999. 
and Mr. Richardfon, 'wlio paflionately admired this figure, 
with q warmth peculiar to himfelf, fays, <e No hiftorian or 
orator can poffibly give me fo great an idea of that elo¬ 
quent and zealous apoftle, as that figure of his does ; all 
the fine things related, as Laid or wrote by him, cannot; 
for there I fee a perfon, face, air, and a ft ion, v, hich no 
words can fufficiently defcribe, but which affure me as 
much as thofe can, that that man mult fpeak good fenfe, 
and to the purpofe.” Thus much is beyond contradic¬ 
tion, that nothing hitherto produced can give fo great 
an idea of the perlon of Paul, or can better help to illuf- 
trate the divine zeal and elocution which that apoftle f® 
eminently poflefied, as the awful, majeftic, and expreflive, 
character which the hand of Raphael has given him. 
Raphael has employed every artifice to make the apoffle 
particularly conipicucus; all the figures in the piClure 
are fubfervient to that purpofe; the man and woman at 
the bottom of the tteps are actually nearer to the eye than 
the apoftle, but their fituation caufes the baf& line of the 
picture to cut off part of their height 5 and, as both are 
{looping, they are effectually prevented from leflening tbs 
importance of the apoftle. He has managed the figures 
that appear behind the apoftle in the fame manner, by- 
placing two of them lower than Paul, and the third fitting 
upon the upper ftep ; by which means they are fufficiently 
degraded. The figures in the fecond group, who are feen 
{landing, are fituated upon the ground, their heads moftly 
inclinecl, and are alfo at a confiderable diftance ; and thole 
who compofe the middle group are at a (till greater dif¬ 
tance, and are reprefented fitting. But the gigantic ftatue 
of Mars, which is introduced with great propriety, is of 
infinite fervice to the picture 5 it is placed beyond the 
outermolt figures of the fecond group ; therefore, the dif¬ 
tance of this ftatue being confidered, and the height and 
bulk of it compared with the figure of the apoftle, it will 
be found to reduce the laft to a moderate fize, and alfo 
ferves admirably, by its magnitude, to balance that fide 
of the picture. Among a great variety of fine characters 
in this picture, before that of the apoftle, is that of a 
man who is afcending the fteps, in whole countenance 
awe and reverence are finely blended ; nor need the molt 
common obferver be told, that this man, and the woman 
behind him, are intended to reprefent Dionyfius and Da- 
maris, who, we are informed (ver. 34.), were converted. 
The expreffion of extreme attention in the three figures 
neareft to Dionyfius, in the fecond group, is admirable; 
nor is that of the man in the fame group, who prefles his 
lips with his finger, lefs to be admired. The three figures 
behind the apoftle, who are apparently difpleafed with his 
difcourfe, are finely invented, particularly that of him 
who is fitting and refts his chin upon liis hand ; in his 
character envy and malignity are fully defcribed. In the 
diftance between the buildings, in the centre of the pic¬ 
ture, are two figures, who appear to be talking together, 
and feem to be of no confequence to the compofition ; 
but their ufe is great; they not only ferve to break the 
ftraight line made by the heads of thofe who are fitting, 
as alfo the parallel lines made by the columns of the 
Temple and the adjacent piazza, but connect the princi¬ 
pal and two fubordinate groups together; and without 
them the picture muft have ■fuffered confiderabJy. The 
attitudes of the figures are extremely fine and expreflive ; 
the draperies noble and well call, particularly that of the 
apoftle, which is admirably defigned. The architecture 
is elegant; not rich, but fuitable to the tafte of the Athe¬ 
nians, and properly adapted to the picture; as is the dif- 
tar.t view of the country ; it being cultomary for them to 
place the ftatue of Mars, as the guardian of the city, at 
the entrance into it. We muft add, however, that hyper¬ 
critics have found fault with the meannels of the look 
charaCterifing the man behind the apoftle; his large paunch 
and curious drefs denote him either a cook or fome low- 
mechanic of Athens; but, when vve recoiled that Raphael 
was always contriving to give a natural appearance to his 
7 Q iubjeds. 
