ude of a shepherdess, bringing an offering of
doves, who shades her eyes with her hand, as if unable to sustain the
brightness of incarnate divinity. The glimmering of the rising dawn,
which shews the figures in the background, contributes to augment the
splendor of the principal glory. "The beauty, grace, and finish of the
piece," says Mengs, "are admirable, and every part is executed in a
peculiar and appropriate style."

Opie, in his lectures, speaking of this work, justly observes, "In the
Notte, where the light diffused over the piece emanates from the child,
he has embodied a thought at once beautiful, picturesque, and sublime;
an idea which has been seized upon with such avidity, and produced so
many imitations that no one is accused of plagiarism. The real author is
forgotten, and the public accustomed to consider this incident as
naturally a part of the subject, have long ceased to inquire, when, or
by whom, it was invented."

The history of this picture is curious, though involved in much
obscurity. It is generally stated that while Correggio was engaged upon
the grand cupola at Parma, he generally passed the colder season, when
he could not work in fresco, in his native place. Passing through Reggio
in one of his journeys, he received a commission from Alberto Pratonero
for an altar-piece of the Nativity, which produced one of his finest
pictures, now called La Notte. The indefatigable Tiraboschi discovered
the original contract for the work, which is dated October 14th, 1522,
and fixes the price at two hundred and eight _livre di moneta Vecchia_,
or forty-seven and a half gold ducats (about $104). It was painted for
the Pratoneri chapel in the church of S. Prospero at Reggio, but it was
not fixed in its destined place till 1530. It is said that it was
removed surreptitiously by order of Francesco I., the reigning Duke of
Modena, who substituted a copy. The same story, however, is related of
Correggio's Ancona, painted for the church of the Conventuals at
Correggio. (See vol. ii., page 257, of this work.) At all events,
the elector of Saxony subsequently purchased this gem, with
other valuable pictures, from the Ducal Gallery at Mantua, and it now
forms one of the principal ornaments of the Dresden Gallery.

THE DRESDEN GALLERY.

The Gallery of Dresden is well known to most amateurs from the
engravings which have been made of many of its most capital pictures. In
the works of Correggio it stands p