The midsummer of Italian art . a most unhealthy condition of nervous excitabil-ity. The head of St. Peter Martyr is bent over incertainly an extravagant, if not an affected, position ;St. George, otherwise a fine figure, is looking outwith a self-conscious air; the youthful Baptist ispointing towards the infant Saviour with gleefulexultation ; and the whole group seem to be danger-ously near a spasmodic ebullition. The effect is sodisagreeable that no skill of the brush can compen-sate for it. There can be no doubt that Correggio died of a 298 The Midsummer of Italian Art. fever; but the story
The midsummer of Italian art . a most unhealthy condition of nervous excitabil-ity. The head of St. Peter Martyr is bent over incertainly an extravagant, if not an affected, position ;St. George, otherwise a fine figure, is looking outwith a self-conscious air; the youthful Baptist ispointing towards the infant Saviour with gleefulexultation ; and the whole group seem to be danger-ously near a spasmodic ebullition. The effect is sodisagreeable that no skill of the brush can compen-sate for it. There can be no doubt that Correggio died of a 298 The Midsummer of Italian Art. fever; but the story that it resulted from his carry-ing home a heavy payment in copper is not gener-ally believed. If he suffered from poverty it was hisown fault,—if weakness in such a man is to be con-sidered a fault. None of these celestial artists however were paidone hundredth part of the value of their work. FromApelles to Leonardo was two thousand years; andthe earth may go round the sun as many timesbefore it will see their like TWO CUPIDS (DETAIL FROM CORREGGIOS DANAE)Borghese Gallery APPENDIX. MORELLI J^ESAKTUS. Italian Masters in German Galleries. GIOVANNI MORELLI first appeared under theRussian name of Ivan Sermoleff, and proved hisRussian proclivity in a fair degree by the real-istic manner in which he criticised notable paintings of theideal period of Italian art. He still remains sufficientlyItalian, however, to appreciate their beauty, although hemay have been unaware whence that beauty was admires the Sistine Madonna calmly and consider-ately, which is good evidence that its superiority hasmade a just impression on him. He is also susceptibleto the internal light of Giorgione, without, however,recognizing the spiritual element which it represents. He is rather a brilliant writer, and the conversationswhich he reports as taking place in the picture-galleries(worked up no doubt from actual occurrences), indicatea dramatic talent little inferior to that of Count
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstearnsf, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1911
