The Hawaiian gazette., 1872-01-17

tured the suggestion that the first picture
having been painted for church, a replica
was required by Bugomaster Meyer for
his own house. alt is easy to under
stand" writes this well-balanced critic,
"that the patron, desiring to possess such
excellent portraits of his own family thus
devoutly engaged, as an ornament of one
of his own rooms, was induced to give
Holbein the commission to paint repeti-
ton of the subject, which, in the needy
circumstances of the painter, could only
have been acceptable" 81 am therefore
convinced" 4" continued DR.. Waagen, "thst
the Dresden picture owes its creation to
some such circumstance. The alterations
also, which a comparison with the first
picture exhibits, are such as to render it
more suitable for that closer inspection
which the walls of room would admit"
The conclusion to which we incline is
that each picture is, in some sense, an
original; the Darmstadt example because
it was first painted, the Dresden because
it is something more than replica, OF
copy. A copyist would scarcely improve:
the Dresden picture is not copy because
of the alterations introduced. The second
picture is more imposing in proportions,
and not only has the panel the advantage
of more height, but the Madonna's head
has greater loveliness and serenity. Other
notifications, which may scarcely be i'm
provements, are yet not accidental but
intentional. Thus the change of color in
the Madonna's robe from green-blue to
green-black, is an altered key which runs
through the whole composition; even the
colors in the carpet are made to respond
to the modified scheme. We recognize,
then, the masters mind in the changed
composition; Holbein, when he received
the second commission, bethought himself
what notifications the new conditions
called for. In the words of Herr Grimm,
the author of the Life Of Michael Aagelo,
Z" the artist prepared new cartoon, then
left the carrying out in part to his
scholars, and painted, himself, upon the
picture as much as he deemed necessary
The last extract goes far to explain the
anomalies which the Dresden picture pre-
sents - the apparent contradiction be
tween design which is superior and 9
manipulation which is inferior. The reno
waited design is in fact by the master
while the execution, in part at least, il
that of his school. We need not point
to the multitude of analogous cases which
the history of art affords. Raffaelle':
earliest frescoes in the Vatican were car
ried out in great measure by his owl
hands; whereas his later works were del
egated to his scholars. 1t is equally
notorious how much was consigned tc
pupils in the studio of Rubens. In pic
lures thus in part painted by deputy, il
becomes nice point to determine where
the masters hand ends, and where the
pupils begins In the case of the Dres
den Madonna the perplexity is so great
that probably no two persons come to the
same concluson. Yet as to certain
passages there can be little doubt; fol
instance, the Madonna's red girdle is OBJ
viously too poorly painted for the master,
while on the contrary the Madonna's
head, the child in her arms, and the child
standing on the ground, could only have
come from the master himself Here the
modelling and handling are so exquisite
that German critic has fallen into the
paradox of declaring that if Holbein did
not paint these portions, a superior to
Holbein must have been at work.-Sat
,rday ReUie'o.