ing Ludwig could
not assuredly be quite the patron for a spiritual and esoteric artist,
and, moreover, there was something too wholesale in the Munich way of
going on for a man of limited strength. Overbeck, as I can testify, was
about the last person to climb a giddy ladder or to endure a long day's
drudgery before an acreage of wall fifty feet above the ground. He
wisely did not overstep his bounds; he had not the wing of an eagle, and
preferred to keep as a dove, near to the nest.

Nevertheless, Munich is not without witness to the spirit of the mystic
and poetic painter. King Ludwig, himself at least a poetaster, hit upon
a felicitous comparison, oft since reiterated, when he designated
Overbeck the St. John and Cornelius the St. Paul in pictorial art. The
two artists, like the two apostles, had a common faith, though a diverse
calling, and their several works testify how greatly the one was
indebted to the other. Overbeck brought with him to Bavaria a drawing of
exceptional power, _Elias in the Chariot of Fire_ (1827), a composition
which reflects as indubitably the greatness of Cornelius as Raphael's
_Isaiah_ responds to the grandeur of Michelangelo. But this lofty strain
of inspiration proved transient, and Overbeck, as seen in Munich, truly
personates the apostle who leant on the Saviour's breast. The New
Pinakothek is fortunate in the possession of three pictures.[3] One is
the _Portrait of Vittoria Caldoni_, already enumerated among earliest
efforts; another is the _Holy Family_, illustrating these pages; the
composition recalls Raphael's Florentine manner. The third, _Italy and
Germany_, must be accounted exceptional because secular; the motive,
however, rises above common life into symbolism. Two maidens in tender
embrace are depicted seated in a landscape, the one blonde and homely,
personifying Germania; the other dark and ideal, as if Tasso inspired,
typical of Italia. The intention has given rise to interesting
speculation. The German girl leans forward in earnest entreaty, while
her Italian sister remains immobile and impenetrable. And herein some
have seen shadowed forth a divided mind between two nationalities.
Solicitations had come from Germany, yet, after moments of hesitation,
Overbeck held fast to the land of his adoption, and his resolve may not
inaptly find expression in "Italia," a figure which seems to say, "Vex
not my spirit; leave me to rest in this land of peace and of beauty."
But this co