262 
pofition, are truly great, and befpeak the 
‘band of a matter. 
In the houfe of a private slteiaual: 
was 2 large picture by David—Belilarivs 
“atking alms—which he had painted. pre 
wious to his fecond journey 5 Rome. tt 
was expoled for fale, and the price demand- 
ed was eight thouiand livres* in {pecie. 
Fis compoiition equais that of his other 
pieces in point of noble fim iplicity. Be- 
ifarius, blind, and in a fittting pofture, 
has before him a child, who holds the 
‘sero’s “helmet turned upwards to receive 
the alms. There is confiderable expref- 
fon in the head ef the aged chief, and 
the figure of the. child befpeaks innocence 
and ingenuous cordiality. A Roman 
dady 1s feen approachi img with mingle 
tencration and lympathy yin her counie- 
mance, te throw a pisce of gol ld into the 
and behix nd her frands a hoary 
warricr, whofe face betrays (in fomewhat 
mon-p place ft ne p ainnul atto- 
nits Cale Sia ae 
43 z 
Belmet; a 
Re com 

em ably in tne tennis-court 
ef ¥ oniyv called the oath 
et the ae , which David had 
_%een comm ena io paint for the na- 
tien, YTemains unfinifhed. I have deen 
the delign of it in that artift’s apar ment. 
“Phe ordsnnanre is chate; and the whole 
‘oxi C above iOur 
Ss i spily di fi poled. 

“Ehe mok e& 
drawn fi trem nz 

action. is lire and 
des and in the ba ae erot 
piéttre, - the heads -‘are 
together in great mafles : 
: proof of the fuperior talents of t ; 
ucture is' void of motion ; 
~expreffion. 
on which I have 
is the war between 
He ues chofen 
28 
Loe 
i 
hae 
hn 
= 
i 
emen, now ee wives and nee: 
star the warring hof&ts. The coun- 
fenances of the Sabine warriors breathe 
Beeance of “their WYONSS 5- Vv while un- 
ted courage animates the Romans 
dart forward on their enemies, ap .d 
fend their wives and children in the 
the pi A woman of 
if naked, fepa- 
cher extended 
ate againtt 
—_—_—_—___—___. 
Cape ‘ivatin 
rates aie 
arms, two troops that are r 

* Three hundred and thirty-three pounds, 
fx thilliags and-eight pence, ferling. 
Priracs oF the-§ 
[Sept 
each other: before her, lies on the earth 
her new-born babe. This fpectacle feems 
to dilarm the rage of the combatants. 
‘¢ In this picture,” faid David to me, 
*¢ }with to make hiftory fpeak to my 
country, that fhe may ceafe to facrifice 
her fons to the | horrors of war.” 
I yinfortunately loi the opportunity of 
feeins his Death of Socrates, which is 
talked of at Paris with z waiverjal admira~ 
tion: for certain perfons of delicate mold 
think his Brutus and his Horatii tos 
ulpter Eloudon. 
‘mach in the revolutionary ftyle. 
All the pee etl pieces which 
David compoied i in the ebullition of his 
) aor zeal for liberty (of which 
us Death of Marat, and that of Pelletier, 
were long expofed. tc view in the hall of 
the convention) have tince vanifhed; nor 
ean the inquirer learn how or Wiese 
He has himéelf refuted to give me any 
information that could lead to the dif. 
covery of them. On my requetting him 
to do me that favour in order that I might 
gratify my curiolity refpeCting the polis 
tical epi ifodes of his art—** Go,”?. {aid he 
to me in the tone of franknefs and refigna- 
ticn—‘‘ rather go and fee my Horatii, 
and my Brutus, which I compofed more 
at my pee and in more tranquil times. 
hen I am no longer able te paint,” 
he, “* I will have thofe. two 
pieces ciigraved under my own eye, toge- 
ther with the beft among my other pro 
ductions.” 
For the advantage of the art, it is te 
be wifhed that the peried may be yet far 
diflant when David fhall be obliged to 
lay ery his pencil: but he already fuf- 
fers feverely trom the difordered ftate of 
his eyes. In talking of Vien, who fill 
practifes his art at the age of eighty, and 
whom the Parifian painters ityle their fa- 
th ers he faid to me'with an air and tone 
of the moft profound veneration, ‘* To 
kim we are indebted for the glory of the 
revival of the art in France.” He fpoke 
with the higheft refpect of feyeral Ger- 
man artifts whom he had known at Rome, 
eipecially of Fuger at Vienna, and Rifch- 
bien at Naples. He fhewed himfelf af- 
feted with aati the tenderneis ef paternal 
fy mpathy tor the premature death of his 
pupil Dr ‘ovais, or whom he kept a minia- 
me likenefs in his pocket-book, Inthat 
beautirul portrait the genius of the artift 
is fully pana 
The Sculptor Houpon, 
In ne heads of his ftatues, Howvpon 
does not foar to ideal beauty, but repre- 
34 
aaGed 
ients nature as he finds her, with won- 
dérful precifion and energy, and always 
feizutg 
