of Apelles, the Venus of Titian, and the Leda of
Correggio?

THE OLDEST OIL PAINTING EXTANT.

"The oldest oil painting now in existence, is believed to be one of the
Madonna and infant Jesus in her arms, with an Eastern style of
countenance. It is marked DCCCLXXXVI. (886). This singular and
valuable painting formed part of the treasures of art in the old palace
of the Florentine Republic, and was purchased by the Director Bencivenni
from a broker in the street, for a few livres."

The above is found quoted in many books, in proof that oil painting was
known long before the time of the Van Eycks; but all these old
_supposed_ oil paintings have been proved by chemical analysis to have
been painted in distemper. See vol. ii., p. 141, of this work.

CURIOUS REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HARPIES.

Homer represents the Harpies as the rapacious goddesses of the storms,
residing near the Erinnyes, or the Ocean, before the jaws of hell. If
any person was so long absent from home that it was not known what had
become of him, and he was supposed to be dead, it was commonly said,
"The Harpies have carried him off." Hesiod represents them as young
virgins of great beauty. The later poets and artists vied with each
other in depicting them under the most hideous forms; they commonly
represented them as winged monsters, having the face of a woman and the
body of a vulture, with their feet and fingers armed with sharp claws.
Spanheim, in his work, gives three representations of the harpies, taken
from ancient coins and works of art; they have female heads, with the
bodies and claws of birds of prey; the first has a coarse female face,
the second a beautiful feminine head, and two breasts, and the third a
visage ornamented with wreaths and a head-dress. There are various other
representations of them, one of the most remarkable of which is a
monster with a human head and the body of a vampire bat.

ADRIAN BROWER.

This extraordinary painter was born at Haerlem, in 1608. His parents
were extremely poor, and his mother sold to the peasants bonnets and
handkerchiefs, which the young Adrian painted with flowers and birds.
These attempts were noticed by Francis Hals, a distinguished painter of
Haerlem, who offered to take the young artist into his school--which
proposal was gladly accepted. Hals, on discovering his superior genius,
separated him from all his companions, and locked him up in a garret,
that he might pr