stead. He immediately sketched the outlines
of his composition, and setting his disciples to prepare his palettes,
he painted all that day and night with so much diligence that by the
following afternoon, he was able to announce to the impatient Fathers
the completion of the picture. The subject was the patron of the church,
St. Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary, baptizing the people of
Japan. He is represented standing on a lofty flight of steps; behind
him, in the distance, is a party of zealous converts pulling down the
images of their gods, and beneath in the foreground, kneels St. Francis
Borgia in the attitude of prayer. The picture was executed with such
boldness and freedom, and excellence of coloring, that at the proper
distance it produced a grand and magnificent effect. It was immediately
carried to the church, and placed over the destined altar, the day
before the appointed festival, and the Viceroy whose anger had hardly
cooled, invited to inspect it. Charmed with the beauty of the work, and
amazed by the celerity of its execution, he exclaimed, "the painter of
this picture must be either an angel or a demon." Giordano received his
compliments, and made his own excuses with so much address, that the
Marquess, forgetting all past offences engaged him to paint in the
palace, and passed much of his time by his side, observing his progress,
and enjoying his lively conversation.

REVIVAL OF PAINTING IN ITALY.

"Poetry, Painting, and Sculpture," says Cunningham, "are of the same
high order of genius; but, as words provide at once shape and color to
our thoughts, Poetry has ever led the way in the march of intellect: as
material forms are ready made, and require but to be skillfully copied,
Sculpture succeeded; and as lights and shadows demand science and
experience to work them into shape, and endow them with sentiment,
Painting was the last to rise into elegance and sublimity. In this order
these high Arts rose in ancient Greece; and in the like order they rose
in modern Italy; but none of them reached true excellence, till the
light of knowledge dawned on the human mind, nor before civilization,
following in the steps of barbarism, prepared the world for the
reception of works of polished grace and tranquil grandeur.

"From the swoon into which the Fine Arts were cast by the overthrow of
the Roman Empire, they were long in waking: all that was learned or
lofty was extinguished: of Painting, there