ts brightness and remodelled by its
power. This indwelling light of the soul should be recognised in every
creation of his pencil, expressive as a spoken word; and in this lies
the peculiar vitality of Christian beauty, and the cause of the
remarkable difference between Classic and Christian art." "Physical
beauty is employed by the Christian painter but as a material veil, from
beneath which the hidden divinity of the soul shines forth, illuminating
all mortal life with the higher spirituality of love."

A kindly and timely commission came to the masters of the German
Brotherhood--Overbeck, Cornelius, Veit, and Schadow--from the Prussian
Consul, Bartholdi. Personal relations, with the desire of giving the
untried painters an opportunity of proving what good was in them,
prompted the charge to decorate with frescoes a room in the Casa
Bartholdi, situated on the brow of the Pincian Hill.[6] The Prussian
Consul was in a roundabout way connected with Philip Veit and Frederick
Schlegel, whose mutual relationship has been already recounted; his wife
was sister of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and aunt of the
illustrious musician, and sundry intermarriages had made, as it were, a
compact in literature and art between the families of Bartholdi,
Mendelssohn, Veit, and Schlegel.[7] The chosen sphere of operations was
comparatively narrow; the small room in an upper story, now of historic
interest, is not more than twenty-four feet square. The situation is
inviting; the beauties of nature are usually found proximate with the
beauties of art, and here the windows command a panorama sweeping from
the Pincian to the Tiber, and embracing St. Peter's, the Vatican, St.
Angelo, and the Capitol. The topic chosen for these wall pictures was
the _Story of Joseph and his Brethren_--a theme conveniently
accommodating to any existing diversities in creeds or styles. The
technical process adopted was fresco, a monumental art, the revival of
which formed part of the mission of the German fraternity. The arduous
undertaking was commenced and carried out in strict accordance with
historic precedents. Preliminary studies were made, and well-matured
cartoons on the scale of the ultimate pictures were perfected. To the
lot of Overbeck fell _Joseph sold by his Brethren_,[8] and _The Seven
Years of Famine_.

It has been my pleasure to visit and revisit these wall-paintings over a
period of a quarter of a century, and growing experience does but