did m e a irx. 
^ubjefts, we cannof wonder at his felefting fome odd fi¬ 
gures to make up his group, and give th? whole the ap¬ 
pearance of what we commonly fee. 
s. On the fame fide, nearell to the altar, is Chrift’s 
Charge to Peter, commonly called the Delivery of the Keys. 
It has been long believed, and we fje no objection to the 
belief, that the head of Chrift in this picture was painted 
by the divine Raphael from the moft ancient head of our 
Saviour that he could find, and indeed from one afcribed 
by miftake to St. Luke himfelf. We fay by miflake, be- 
caufe it is now well known, that the honours bellowed 
upon St. Luke in all countries by the worfhipful companies 
of painters, had no other foundation than a little in- 
•ver'fion of words. An art!ft named Luke, who, before 
Cimabue praftifed or taught the art, had adorned churches 
with religious enluminures, was called, on account of 
the purity of his morals and the propriety of his conduct, 
Luc le Saint, “ Luke the good, the fainted man.” In 
lapfe of time, and owing to that pruriency, the ever-tor¬ 
menting fiend of antiquaries, who want to find myfteries 
in the room of plain faffs, it was furmifed, and then 
aflerted, that St. Luke had been a painter, and that he had 
given the vera effigies of Chrift; and thus, eager to believe, 
the Chriftian world transformed into a painter, Luke the 
belovedphyjician, (Col. iv. 14..) The circumftance we have 
mentioned of this head of Chrift being a copy may ferve to 
anfvver fome objections that have been made to it. 
Many have pretended that it mu ft have received fome in¬ 
jury, and that it is not at prefent what Raphael made it. 
Some even pretend, and we do not abfolutely contradift 
them, that the taile of defign in this figure falls many de¬ 
grees fliort of that of our Saviour in the Miraculous 
Draught of Fifhes. But, if we keep in mind that it is a 
copy, (though certainly not from St. Luke,) and the re¬ 
ligious ftriftnefs with which Raphael may have followed 
the outline of the original, whatever it might have been, 
and which, perhaps, he thought a traditionary likenefs, 
the faff explains itfelf, and the fault, if there is any, is 
owing, not to Raphael, but to the venerable or rather 
venerated old painting he fcrupuloufiy adopted, or was 
entreated to adopt. After this explanation, no good 
Chriftian, we hope, will fuppofe this head to be copied from 
St. Luke. Mr. Richardfon was not correft in.Hating the 
“ time chofen” in this pifture to be the moment when 
our Lord had juft faid, Peter, iovejl thou me tnare than thefe ? 
Peter holds the keys; they have been delivered to him ; 
and therefore the moment of time mud be immediately 
after the words Feed my fheep ■, John xxi. 17. The next 
figure to Chrift is that of Peter, who according to the 
history, is reprefented upon his knees, with the utmoft 
humility:attending to the charge given him by histdivine 
Mailer. The head is drawn in profile, and the face is en¬ 
tirely in fhadow. It may be here obferved, that the (ha- 
dow calt by Peter’s body ferves admirably to bring the fi¬ 
gure of our Saviour forward, and alfo to keep the principal 
group together. The third principal figure is St. John, 
whole expreffion and attitude Mr. Richardfon mentions 
as an improvement upon the (lory : he fays, Our Saviour, 
by commanding Peter to feed his fheep, feemed to indicate 
a preference in favour of that apoftle ; and that St. John, 
who was the beloved difciple, may therefore befuppofed 
to have been under a particular concern on that account: 
accordingly he appears to. addrefs himfelf to our Lord 
With extreme ardour, as if earneltly endeavouring to con¬ 
vince him of the fincerity of his love. The attention of 
all the apoftles is directed to our Saviour except one, 
who feems to prefs forward ; and, by turning his head, 
which is feen between two profiles, hinders the repetition 
which would have unavoidably happened if he had been 
looking the fame way. The heads of the apoftles are 
finely defigned, and full of expreffion 5. and their attitudes 
are well varied and contralled. The draperies are noble and 
well calt 5 that of our Saviour’s only appears to be rather 
heavy, and unfuitable to him at this time, as being after 
Lis rd’urveftion, But this may be ftill owing to Raphael’s 
having copied afterthe painffng mentioned above. Richard* 
fpn, who had ftudiedthe cartoons, obferves, that the fmall 
piece of drapery in a part of the garment of the outermoft 
apoftle, is of great confequence to this pifture; which, 
being folded as under his arm, breaks the ftraight line of 
qn unpleafing mafs of light, and gives a more graceful 
form to the whole; which artifice is alfo affifted by the 
boat. Of the fame confequence to the principal figure is, 
the flock of fheep placed behind ; which helps to break the 
lines of the drapery, detach the figure from its ground, and 
illuftrate the hiftory. The houfe on fire, painted in the 
back ground of this pifture, has puzzled all commen¬ 
tators; nor are we able to affift the enquiring mind with 
even a probable conjefture. The abbe du^Bos, in hi* 
treatife on poetry and painting, has committed a very 
grofs error in his development of one. of the characters in 
this pifture. He points out with propriety the expreffion 
of St. Peter, St. John, and other difciples ; and then pro¬ 
ceeds to illuftrate a lingular charafter, which he feems 
particularly to admire tor the ftrength and juftnefs of 
the expreffion; that figure, according to his opinion, 
being reprefented with a confufed countenance and me¬ 
lancholy complexion, and feeming to be devoured by 
black jealotify, in which perfon (he fays) it is eafy to dif- 
tinguifli Judas. Whereas, if this ingenious writer had 
maturely confidered the time which Raphael chofe for his 
fubjeft, and which was, as the evangelift informs us, the 
third time of our Lord’s appearing to his difciples after 
his refurreftion, and confequently fome weeks after the 
death of Judas, who hanged himfelf when Chrift was con¬ 
demned; or if. he had counted the number of figures iiv 
the compofition, which is only eleven befides our Lord 
himfelf; he could never have committed fo unaccountable 
an error, as to imagine that Raphael deferved commenda¬ 
tion for being fo abfurd as to introduce fo infamous a 
wretch, at filch a point of time, when Chrift was direfting 
his difciples to take care of his flock ; or for grouping 
fuch a perfon among theapoftles, who, as he wasdead before* 
could not afibciate with them, and whom they would 
have avoided, if he had been alive, with abhorrence and 
deteftation. The difeernment and judgment of Raphael 
could not have allowed him to be guilty of fo grofs ar». 
anachronifm. “ Perhaps the beft apology and the truefb 
((ays Pilkington), that can be made for this miftake of 
Du Bos, is, that he was much more converfant and bette? 
acquainted w ith the works of Raphael than the works of. 
the Evangelifts.” 
3. On the other fide we find the Miraculous. Draught of 
Fillies; (Luke v. 10.) in which the hiltorical expreffion 
is confined to three figures only; namely, thofe of our 
Saviour, Peter, and James. The principal figure in this 
pifture is Chrift, who is pronouncing the words Fear not, 
from henceforth thou.Jhalt catch men, in order to remove the 
apprehenlion of Peter, who, in a fine pofture of (Application,, 
has juft uttered thefe words, Depart from me, for lam a finfitl 
man, 0 Lord. Our Saviour’s figure and aftion are per¬ 
fectly great and graceful; and, in his charafter, divinity, 
benignity, and tendernefs, are exprefled in the highelt de¬ 
gree. In Peter’s countenance, fear, wonder, and folicitude, 
are blended in a molt extraordinary manner, and com- 
pofe a charafter of expreffion worthy of Raphael; the 
figure in the fame bo3t, fuppofed to he that of James, is 
alio finely imagined and drawn ; awe and attention are 
(trongly marked in liis face; and he feems, by his aftion,. 
to have acquiefced in the fupplication of Peter, as ac¬ 
knowledging himfelf unworthy of being the companion 
of divinity. The reft of the figures, are chiefly concerned 
in attending to their employment, which, as they were in 
another veflel, naturally engrolfed their attention ; only 
the neareftof them feems to have caught fome part of th* 
converfation, and appears to liften. This laft figure and 
another, who are pulling up the net, are finely drawn, 
contralled, and forefliortened ; and the figure of the old 
man.in the ftern of the boat, who is very attentive to his 
buiinels, is extremely fine. The perfipeftive in this car¬ 
toon 
