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    the famous Venus de Medicis . With the first view I cannot say that I was so much pleased as I might have expected . This is a peculiarity of statuary , that it daes not strike at first . But as I continued to gaze , the beauties grew upon me insensibly , and before I left the room I had no hesitation in deciding that this statue deserves all the encomiums which have been

    lavished upon it . The general attitude of the figure , the bust , and the face , are the points which are the most beautiful . The whole of the right arm and half the left are modem , and the inferiority of the fingers is very evident . They are not well placed on the hands ; for which , also , either they are too small , or the hands too large for them—I will not pretend to decide which . This exquisite statue is the work of Cleomenes , son of Apollodorus , of Athens : it was found in the ruins of Adrian ' s Villa near Tivoli , and was

    brought to Florence in the year 1680 . Many models and engravings of it have been taken , hut none give a correct idea of the original : to be known , it must be seen . If I was delighted with the Venus de Medicis , I was not less so with the treasures of the Salle du Baroccio , a room in the corresponding gallery , containing about seventy of the choicest paintings . One ^ which is much admired , is a Virgin by Sassoferrato . She is painted iri an attitude of grief

    and meditation , with her eyes downcast * and her hands raised up and pressed together . The meekness and the pensiveness which are depicted in this face , proclaim the hand of a master ; and I might , perhaps , have admired it more , had it not been placed so near another in a totally different style , and much more to my taste . This was the Mary Magdalene of Carlo Dolci . She is represented , in a half-length portrait , with her eyes turned up to heaven , and her hands crossed upon her breast , and in one of them is « vase

    containing balm . The expression of penitence and devotion which the artist has communicated to this figure , is truly wonderful . The face is beautiful ; yet it is neither that abstract and ideal sort of beauty which many artists give to their female figures , nor yet that of mere feature and complexion . It is the beauty of this earthy such as we have seen in the intercourses of the world 5 yet so heightened by the expression of religious feeling !—a feeling pure , holy , and fervent—the complete abandonment of all

    inferior interests , and the unreserved aspiration of the soul to that Being from whom alone the penitent can hope for pardon . I came again artd again to gaze updn this lovely picture ; and I am sure that it did me more good than half the sermons that I have heard in my life . It roaseti my devotion , and drew me afway from the corruptions of the world . Yet I rriust confess , that the pleasure I received from it was in some degree diminished by the name which has been given it : in my catalogue it is designated St .

    Marit MagdaUne . The woman whom the artist meant to represent is evidently the one who had been " a sinner , " and who is mentioned in the 7 th chapter of St ; Luke as anointing our Lord ' s feet when he was at supper , in the house of Simon the Phariseee . Eke , why the expression of penitence > Or why the vase df balm in her hand ? Or why , again , has there been affixed to the engraving which has beeil taken from it , the motto Fides sabfmti

    fecit , which is clearly a quotation from Luke vu . 50 ; though , to be sure , it is not fair to make the painter answerable for the sins of the engraver . But that Mary Magdalene was the woman mentioned in this passage is altogether a gratuitous supposition , resting on no better authority than the summary which 13 prefixed to the chapter in our English version , but which forms no part of the original Greek . Yet for ages has it been believed , that Mary Magdalene * was a woman of bad character , and the calumny hag been petf-

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    Journal of a Tour on the Continent . \ f \

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    N 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 171, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/19/