The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-03-11
Communicated. J
Arts and Artists.

coRRBaIo.
What most distinguishes Corregio's paint
ings from those Of other painters Is a pecu-
llarity In his conceptions, which seems to
stand In connection with the quiet, rctlrcd
life he led. There Ia differences between
the poet who, filled with religious enthu-
siasm, writes hymn upon the Virgin Mary,
and another who, struck by the charming
legends that surround her life, writes sweet
verses in which her beauty Is extolled.
Raphael, and those othcrs with whom We
have compared Corregio, worked as II were
like dramatic or epic poets, In whose soul
the enthusiasm Of the people, to whom they
had regard in their labors, involuntarlly CO.
operated with their own. Corrcglo, con-
trasted with them, seems like q lyric poet,
who writes wonderful verses In solitude, and
only for the sake Of dclighting himself For
this reason II is all one to him what he han
dies, II II Is only beautiful and capable OF
that mysterious lustro which he spreads
over all his figures. He paints scenes OF
heather antiquity and Christian legend In
the same spirit, and endows them with the
same capacity Of having an almost intoxi-
eating effect upon the beholdcr. In his sol
itude he seems to have formed a world for
himself which he places In the magic gar
dens Of Armida. Leonardo was the first to
transport the Virgin into strange, fabulous
regions. Corregio took up this idea, as he
had done Lconardo's smiles, and the tender,
| pale tint Of his colorlng In which none OF
the burning colors Of the Venctians are to be
found. Leonardo was everything to him In
Milan, possibly because his earliest studies
xvare rnaIe uudar htun Rut trhat IpOna rdO
always treated as charming accessory, be-
came with Corregio the chief meaning OF the
painting. lin his "Night," we imagine the
light away, which Is the centre Of the pic
turc, all must have been differently arranged.
II lie not the beauty Of the child which
touches US in Its examination; II is not even
| the smiling face Of the mother bent over
him, but the mystical glow OF light which
affects us, Just as children are affected by
| the sudden brllliaucy Of the lighted Christ
mas tree. II was this he desired to obtain.
Colors and figures aud accidents Of place he
Intervene into an inseparable whole, and
made effect his principal matter. We could
not, as In picture Of Raphael's, separate
this or that from group, and consider II
alone as the single act Of q drama or a So
liloquy In this act. Corrcgio's paintings arc
poems, which VIC must take at once as
whole from the first to the last word.
hEMbhAND1.
Rembrandt, like Michael Angelo, created
a world for himself. Whether he painted or
etched, he transports us with our whole soul
into that which he represents. His por-
traits are like sudden apparitions OF people
whom we watch, Just as, unseen by night,
we might look into a strange room through
a window. He likes to helghten his charm
by q striking light; but he does not need Il.
He paints a smiling child stretching out an
apple TO us I'LL we could grasp 10 take II
from him. He etches Adam and Eve under
the apple tree, he naked, clownlsh peasant,
she cowgirl; but we see them living be-
fore us, and hear In fancy their silly chatter.
The acuteness with which Rembrandt OBJ
serves, the romantic charm which he wraps
round his works, make 1t almost impossible
to regard them otherwise than with delight
and with the desire TO possess them. From
the most Insignificant sketch he elcits some
thing that gives delight. He etchcs a strip
of water, a couple Of trees and q cottage be-
meath them, as though one had i in view as
the object Of walk. All his biblical scenes
| arc adorned often with horrible figures
with Christ of fearful ugliness, but yet
| really SO striking, so truly copy Of that
which came into his mind that VIC never
think Of galnsaying II. There Is no art In
it., In the antique or Italian sense IL Is, we
| might say, thing Of the Imagination; a
permanence given by lines and color &c
things which pass casually before the eye or
wander through the mind; a representation
which one feels constrained to gaze upon
There Is nothing to elevate and mould the
soul, to excite our noblest feelings, to calm
| our passions; but II contains that which ar
must possess for the Germanic mind-no
merely truth, but reality; that which Shaks
pear possesses, and all the poets whom W,
| rank as our best. We demand situations
into which we can enter; and, where paint
| ing represents no ideas, we want imitation
of nature, as Elusive as they can be.
| GRIMM.