ese,
and his dark eyes were fixed upon the painter and his model with an
expression of intense and wondering solicitude. And truly the
impassioned looks and attitudes of the individuals before him were
well adapted to excite sympathy and astonishment. The young artist sat
erect, his tall figure somewhat thrown back, and his right hand,
holding the pencil, was resting on the elbow of his chair; while from
his glowing and dilated features, intense hatred and mortal defiance
blazed out upon the man whose portrait he had begun to paint. In the
delineation of the broad and knitted brow, the eagle-fierceness of the
full and brilliant eye, and the stern compression of the lips, the
unknown artist had been wonderfully successful, and not less so in the
display of very opposite emotions in the harsh and repulsive
lineaments of the personage sitting for his portrait. The wild
expression of every feature indicated that he had suddenly made some
strange and startling discovery. His face was of a livid and deadly
yellow; his small and deep-set eyes were fixed in the wide stare of
terror upon the artist; and his person was half raised from his seat,
while his hands convulsively clutched the elbows of the chair. In
short, his look and gesture were those of a man who, while unconscious
of danger, had suddenly roused a sleeping lion.

The companion picture, called _La Vendetta_, portrayed a widely
different scene and circumstance. The locality was a deep ravine, the
shelving sides of which were thickly covered with trees; and the
background of this woody hollow was blocked up to a considerable
height by the leafy branches of recently hewn timber. In the right
foreground were two horses, saddled and bridled, and at their feet
the bleeding corpses of two men, clothed in splendid Greek costume. On
the left of the painting appeared the young Venetian nobleman before
described: he was on horseback, and watching, with looks of deep
interest and excitement, the issue of a mortal combat between the two
prominent figures in _La Scoperta_. But here the younger man was no
longer in the plain and unassuming garb of an artist. He was attired
in a richly embroidered vest of scarlet and gold; white pantaloons of
woven silk displayed advantageously the full and perfect contour of
his limbs; while a short mantello of dark-blue velvet fell gracefully
from his shoulders, and a glossy feather in his Spanish hat waved over
his fine features, which told an