But His
Description Of The "Transfiguration" Displays An Amount Of Taste
And Judgement Which Is Far From Being So Widely Distributed.
For
purposes of reproduction at the present day, I may remind the
reader that the picture is ordinarily "cut
In two." and the
nether portion is commonly attributed to Raphael's pupils, while
the "beautiful exhalation," as Smollett so felicitously terms it,
is attributed exclusively to the master when at the zenith of his
powers. His general verdict upon Michael Angelo and Raphael has
much in it that appeals to a modern taste. Of Raphael, as a
whole, he concludes that the master possesses the serenity of
Virgil, but lacks the fire of Homer; and before leaving this same
Letter XXXIII, in which Smollett ventures so many independent
critical judgements, I am tempted to cite yet another example of
his capacity for acute yet sympathetic appreciation.
"In the Palazzo Altieri I admired a picture, by Carlo Maratti,
representing a saint calling down lightning from heaven to
destroy blasphemers. It was the figure of the saint I admired,
merely as a portrait. The execution of the other parts was tame
enough; perhaps they were purposely kept down in order to
preserve the importance of the principal figure. I imagine
Salvator Rosa would have made a different disposition on the same
subject - that amidst the darkness of a tempest he would have
illuminated the blasphemer with the flash of lightning by which
he was destroyed. This would have thrown a dismal gleam upon his
countenance, distorted by the horror of his situation as well as
by the effects of the fire, and rendered the whole scene
dreadfully picturesque."
Smollett confuses historical and aesthetic grandeur.
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