ng for disposal, it was offered to Mr. Beresford Hope,
who gladly became the owner, at the price of 300_l_., the modest sum
asked by the artist. The scene is thrown upon canvas with the painter's
habitual simplicity, brevity, and breadth. Christ in commanding, yet
benignant, attitude, with arm uplifted, utters the words: "Reach hither
thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but
believing." The Apostle reverently approaches. Beyond stretches a
distant landscape with a mountain-height that might be mistaken for the
crested summit of Soracte. The lines of composition flow symmetrically,
the sentiment has quiet dignity, with that sense of the divine presence
which seldom fails the painter. The picture hangs in the drawing-room of
Mr. Hope's town-house, and, though painted for a church, conforms to
domestic uses, not being "too bright or good for human nature's daily
food." The personation of the Saviour when once seen will not be
forgotten; the figure, indeed, was cherished by the artist, for the
motive with slight variation is repeated in _The Vocation of the
Apostles James and John_ (_see_ Illustration), and again in _The
Sacrament of Marriage_. Overbeck had none of the modern unrest which
seeks novelty for its own sake; as a Christian artist, his growth was
that of grace; and, if tested here and elsewhere by the worthiness of
his conception of the God-Man, no painter attained a more heavenly
ideal. It is hard to realise on earth a more perfect divinity than seen
in the design _Feed my Sheep_. _The Incredulity of St. Thomas_ has been
exhibited in England twice; first in 1853, in the Royal Academy, where,
I remember, it was honoured with a conspicuous place in the large room;
afterwards, in 1857, it was seen in the Manchester Art Treasures. As far
as I know, it is the only large and important work of the master
submitted to the English public.

Overbeck, thirteen years after the death of his son, was in 1853 bereft
of his wife, who had been his companion and caretaker for more than
thirty years. She died suddenly, yet, as her husband thankfully records,
with all the consolations the soul could desire. She had in the morning
been to church and taken the sacrament; she was then seized with
difficulty of breathing, but, on reaching home, revived, and raised her
voice to the praise and glory of God; after, she grew worse, desired to
see the priest, received extreme unction, and so died.

The good painter, w