While Painting The Study From Which The Following Sketch Is Taken, I Was Struck With The Wonderfully Vivid Green Which The Whitewashed Vault Of The Chancel And The Arch Dividing The Chancel From The Body Of The Church Took By Way Of Reflection From The Grass And Trees Outside.

It is not easy at first to see how the green manages to find its way inside the church, but the grass seems to get in everywhere.

I had already often seen green reflected from brilliant pasturage on to the shadow under the eaves of whitewashed houses, but I never saw it suffuse a whole interior as it does on a fine summer's day at Giornico. I do not remember to have seen this effect in England.

Looking up again against the mountain through the open door of the church when the sun was in a certain position, I could see an infinity of insect life swarming throughout the air. No one could have suspected its existence, till the sun's rays fell on the wings of these small creatures at a proper angle; on this they became revealed against the darkness of the mountain behind them. The swallows that were flying among them cannot have to hunt them, they need only fly with their mouths wide open and they must run against as many as will be good for them. I saw this incredibly multitudinous swarm extending to a great height, and am satisfied that it was no more than what is always present during the summer months, though it is only visible in certain lights.

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