Rubens's Conception Of John Is That Of A Vigorous And Plenary Manhood,
Whose Rush Is Like That Of A Torrent, In The Very Moment When His
Great Heart Is Breaking.
He had loved his Master with a love like an
eternity; he had believed him; heart and soul, mind and strength - all
had he given to that kingdom which he was to set up; and he had seen
him die - die by lingering torture.
And at this moment he feels it all.
There is no Christ, no kingdom - nothing! All is over. "We
_trusted_ it had been he who should have redeemed Israel." With
that miraculous, lifelike power that only Rubens has, he shows him to
us in this moment of suppressed agony; the blood choking his heart,
the veins swollen, and every muscle quivering with the grief to which
he will not give way. O, for this wonderful and deep conception, this
almost divine insight into the mysteries of that hour, one might love
Rubens. This picture cannot be engraved. No engraving is more than a
diagram, to show the places of the figures. For, besides its mesmeric
life, which no artist can reproduce, there is a balancing of colors, a
gorgeousness about it, as if he had learned coloring from the great
Master himself. Even in the overpowering human effect of this piece,
it is impossible not to perceive that every difficulty which artists
vaunt themselves on vanquishing has in this piece been conquered with
apparently instinctive ease, simply because it was habitual to do so,
and without in the least distracting the attention from the great
moral.
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