ure that a
deformity in one ear has been conscientiously registered. The handling
here is masterly, the touch firm and strong; the play of lines in the
hatchings proves a free hand and a facile turn of the wrist. Also may be
mentioned, for incidents taken from the life, a remarkable composition
at Stift Neuburg, _The Feeding of the Hungry_. Close to nature are these
transcripts of the poor, the needy, and aged, one advancing on crutches
to receive bounty; and over all presides the spirit of beauty and
charity. Also in the same collection is a triptych, wherein angels and
cherubs appear: this is among the earliest examples of the intervention
of the supernatural. Overbeck was not the man to rush in where angels
fear to tread. Likewise among Biblical subjects, I find in the National
Gallery, Berlin, _The Creation of Adam and Eve_, and _The Expulsion from
Paradise_. Here the delineation of the undraped figure proves absolute
knowledge, and shows, as before said, that the usual course of drawing
from the nude had been gone through. The point indeed need not be
discussed further, as Schadow expressly states that Overbeck's drawings
from the nude as well as from the draped figure were, for subtlety and
truth to nature, the admiration of every one. The _Creation_ and
_Expulsion_ are of exceptional value, because the artist for once
borrows from Michelangelo: also it will be seen that Overbeck gave
himself from the outset to the illustration of the Biblical narrative,
and thus fondly trod in the footsteps of Giotto and Fra Angelico.

An Exhibition of the works of the German painters in Rome was held in
1819, in a room of the Palazzo Caffarelli, which, as the official
residence of Niebuhr and Bunsen, had often been a spot of kindly meeting
and hospitality. The collection Frederick Schlegel pronounced
unsurpassed in richness, variety, and intrinsic value. Public interest
was awakened, and attention centred round the contributions of Overbeck,
Schadow, Veit and Cornelius. Overbeck sent a _Madonna_ and a _Flight
into Egypt_; and Schlegel specially names the cartoon of _Jerusalem
Delivered_, for the frescoes then in progress at the Villa Massimo, as
proof of the artist's power of expression and faculty of invention. He
adds: "The struggle of the German artists in Rome daily excites more and
more observation, and their progress is watched with cordial sympathy by
men of all nations."

A very serious topic must now be considered. Ove