. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. ull of charm ; but it is asuperficial charm. The faces are slightly insipid in their beauty ; there is somethingheavy and woolly in their contours ; they lack the intensity of expression so characteristicof Leonardo. The angel is not wanting in grace, but the grace has little elevation. Thisfigure differs to some extent from that in the Louvre picture. Supporting the InfantJesus with both hands, he looks at the little S. John, unheeding of the spectator. TheVirgin and the two bambini are distinctly feebler. In short, it is a pretty, rath
. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. ull of charm ; but it is asuperficial charm. The faces are slightly insipid in their beauty ; there is somethingheavy and woolly in their contours ; they lack the intensity of expression so characteristicof Leonardo. The angel is not wanting in grace, but the grace has little elevation. Thisfigure differs to some extent from that in the Louvre picture. Supporting the InfantJesus with both hands, he looks at the little S. John, unheeding of the spectator. TheVirgin and the two bambini are distinctly feebler. In short, it is a pretty, ratherthan a beautiful work, and one in which we do not feel the real presence of the master.{Voyage autoiir dii Salon carre, p. 31.) 2 Testimony of Cassiano del Pozzo, published in the Memoires de la Societe derHistoire de Paris, 1886. — Pere Dan, in his Tresor des Merveilles de la Maison royalede Fotitainebleau, p. 135, mentions Our Lady, with an Infant Jesus supported by anangel, in a very graceful landscape. \II The Vugin of the Rocks^ (THK ). THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS IN THE LOUVRE 171 the entrance of a cavern. These figures are arranged in the pyramidalform afterwards so much in favour with Raphael. The Virgin, in thecentre, biit in the middle distance, dominates the other actors. A bluemantle fastened at the breast by a brooch, hangs from her hand on the shoulder of the little S. John, at whom she is looking,the other extended over her Son, she invites the precursor to approachhim. The Infant, seated on the ground, and steadying himself withhis left hand, blesses his young companion with the right ; the angel,one knee on the ground beside the Child, supports him with one hand,and with the other shows him the little Here we havealready the germs of the consummate art of gesture, of which Leonardoafterwards made so brilliant an application in the Last Supper atMilan. It is this which gives such extraordinary animation to thecomposition. The master
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