ing as possible; but one does not
see why their very clothes should be ill painted, and their
disposition unpicturesque. I believe, however, though it never struck
me until I had examined this picture, that this is one of the
painter's fixed principles: he does not, with German sentimentality,
make shepherds and peasants graceful or sublime, but he purposely
vulgarizes them, not by making their actions or their faces boorish or
disagreeable, but rather by painting them ill, and composing their
draperies tamely. As far as I recollect at present, the principle is
universal with him; exactly in proportion to the dignity of character
is the beauty of the painting. He will not put out his strength upon
any man belonging to the lower classes; and, in order to know what the
painter is, one must see him at work on a king, a senator, or a
saint. The curious connexion of this with the aristocratic tendencies
of the Venetian nation, when we remember that Tintoret was the
greatest man whom that nation produced, may become very interesting,
if followed out. I forgot to note that, though the peacock is painted
with great regardlessness of color, there is a feature in it which no
common painter would have observed,--the peculiar flatness of the
back, and undulation of the shoulders: the bird's body is all there,
though its feathers are a good deal neglected; and the same thing is
noticeable in a cock who is pecking among the straw near the
spectator, though in other respects a shabby cock enough. The fact is,
I believe, he had made his shepherds so commonplace that he dare not
paint his animals well, otherwise one would have looked at nothing in
the picture but the peacock, cock, and cow. I cannot tell what the
shepherds are offering; they look like milk bowls, but they are
awkwardly held up, with such twistings of body as would have certainly
spilt the milk. A woman in front has a basket of eggs; but this I
imagine to be merely to keep up the rustic character of the scene, and
not part of the shepherd's offerings.

11. _Baptism._ There is more of the true picture quality in this work
than in the former one, but still very little appearance of enjoyment
or care. The color is for the most part grey and uninteresting, and
the figures are thin and meagre in form, and slightly painted; so much
so, that of the nineteen figures in the dis