$35 Account of the Marquis of Stafford’s Gallery of Pictures. [Jan 1, 
ra a Paris 2 heurs 23 min.” and without 
adverting to the great difference of time 
between Paris and Feawa, he declares 
accordingly that he would return in some- 
what more than two hours (necessarily 
before el’asser), when the sign should ap- 
pear, and he proceeds to describe, with 
the most circumstantial minuteness, the 
beginning aud progress of the eclipse, as 
observed by himself; its gradual advance 
upon the moon’s disc; his own predic- 
tion.upon the subject; and the terrors 
excited a little before the beginning of 
total darkness, and long before the eclipse 
was visible. 
Notwithstanding these detections, the 
Travels are not to be rejected as entirely 
fabulous. The episodes and other em- 
bellishments may be purely imaginary; 
but the substratum and outlines of the 
work are certain. That the author pene- 
trated into Abyssinia, was appointed Go- 
vernor of Ras el Feel, visited the Abys- 
sinian source of the Nile, and returned 
through the desert with much difficulty 
and danger to Syene, cannot now be 
disputed. We may justly doubt whether 
his Travels in Spain and Barbary and 
Syria are altogether real, and whether he 
was held in such high estimation as he 
pretends at the Abyssinian court; but 
the vain-glorious ostentation which has 
produced such frequent deviations from 
the truth, is perhaps essential to the spirit 
of adventure, without which he would not 
have undertaken his Travels; and to 
those who read for amusement merely, it 
is perhaps of little moment whether the 
interesting account of his return through 
the desert, and the pathetic incident of 
the Arab attempting to steal the camels, 
be fictitious or not. 
Ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
account of the ricTuREsS in the MARQUIS 
of STAFFORD’S GALLERY, ST, JAMES’S. 
By MR, GEORGE PERRY. 
' (Continued from p. 128.) 
THE NEW GALLERY, 
Containing the miscellaneous Works of 
the Etalan School. 
REVIOUSLY to our entering upon 
the description of the historical 
works of the Italian painters, a concise 
and general history of the progress of the 
art in that country will be highly useftl in 
a description of their works. Before the 
time of Leo the Tenth, the art of paint- 
ing was in a very imperfect. state in all 
parts of Europe, the rude efforts of Ci- 
mabue and his followersin Italy were co- 
pied in an uncouth manner from nature, 
as it presented itself to the eye of the 
painter without the smallest improves 
ment from the fancy of the artist, or the 
incorporation of different forms into one 
(hitherto unseen), called the ideal beauty. 
Albert Durer and his disciples in Ger- 
many had introduced a careful manner of 
finishing the draperies and the extremi- 
ties of the figures, which extended itself 
to Italy, and is still very obvious: in the 
works of the artists of that period. At 
this time the encouragement given by the 
Medici family (amongst whom we may 
reckon Leo the Tenth) to the discovery 
of ancient statues, bas-reliefs, and me- 
dals, inspired the painters with a diffe- 
rent style of drawing and outline for their 
subjects; and instead of tame and mea~ 
gre outlines, to which they had hitherto 
been confined, they began to invest their 
figures with the Toga, and a more digni- 
fied costume was gradually introduced ; 
the anatomy and expression of the pas- 
sions were carefully studied, and the 
beauty of the female form was more ge= 
neralized, by instances taken from the 
antique and different modern nations. 
Amongst the most zealous reformers of 
the art was Leonardo da Vinci, a man of 
a very extensive genius, and of a class® 
cal and polished mind: he traced anato- 
mically the motion of the passions, as 
they appear in the human face, and by 
this means may be said to have founded 
the art upon the basis of philosophy. 
His improvements were observed by those 
around him; Michael Angelo, Raphael, 
Corregio, and the whole succession of 
Italian masters, were indebted to his 
analytical mode of treating the art, for- 
their eminent superiority. In point of | 
excellence of drawing and expression, 
this period of the art has never been © 
equalled, although it must be allowed 
that the Venetian school under Titian 
did refine in a great degree the style. of 
colouring; and that in respect to partial 
lights, and the effect of small pictures, 
the Flemish school under Rembrandt and 
his pupils did attain to a high degree of 
perfection. The discovery of the ideal 
beauty, or uniting into one female the 
different excellencies of many individu- 
als, is to be attributed solely to Raphael, 
which he is supposed to have derived — 
from a contemplation of the antique, 
joined with the beauty of living examples. 
The period of portrait painting followed 
$00K% 
