once has breathed its air!"

[Signature of the author.]

RUBENS

By Mrs. LEE

(1577-1640)

[Illustration: Rubens.]

"It is just one hundred and twenty years to-day," said a young artist
to his friend, as he stood in the hall of St. Mark, at Venice,
contemplating the noble works of Titian. "Time, the destroyer, has
here stayed his hand; the colors are as vivid and as fresh as if they
were laid on but yesterday. Would that my old friend and master, Otho
Venius, was here! At least I will carry back to Antwerp that in my
coloring which shall prove to him that I have not played truant to the
art."

"Just one hundred and twenty years," repeated he, "since Titian was
born. Venice was then in its glory, but now it is all falling; its
churches and palaces are crumbling to dust, its commerce interrupted.
The republic continually harassed by the Porte, and obliged to call on
foreign aid; depressed by her internal despotism, her council of ten,
and state inquisitors; her decline, though gradual, is sure; yet the
splendor of her arts remains, and the genius of Titian, her favorite
son, is yet in the bloom and brilliancy of youth!"

Such was the enthusiastic exclamation of Rubens, as he contemplated
those paintings which had brought him from Antwerp. How many gifted
minds spoke to him from the noble works which were before him! The
three Bellinis, the founders of the Venetian school; Giorgione,
Titian, and Tintoretto. Then Paolo Veronese, who, though born at
Verona, in 1537, adopted Venice as his home, and became the
fellow-artist of Tintoretto, and the disciple of Titian. Pordenone,
too, who viewed Titian as a rival and an enemy. Palma the young, and
Palma the old, born in 1548, and the Bassanos, who died near 1627.

All these were present to the eye of Rubens, their genius embodied on
the canvas in the halls of St. Mark. "These," he exclaimed, "have
formed the Venetian school, and these shall be my study!"

From this time, the young artist might daily be seen with his sheets
of white paper, and his pencil in his hand. A few strokes preserved
the outline which his memory filled up; and by an intuitive glance,
his genius understood and appropriated every signal beauty.

In Venice he became acquainted with the Archduke Albert, who
introduced him to the Duke of Mantua, whither he went for the purpose
of studying the works of Julio Romano. From thence he proceeded to
Rome; here Raphael was his model, and Michael A