ay bear the mind to the mount of Olives, as in
the entombment it brings the manger to Jerusalem, that it may take the
heart to Bethlehem; and all this it does in the daring consciousness of
its higher and spiritual verity, and in the entire knowledge of the fact
and substance of all that it touches. The imaginary boat of the demon
angel expands the rush of the visible river into the descent of
irresistible condemnation; but to make that rush and roar felt by the
eye and heard by the ear, the rending of the pine branches above the
cataract is taken directly from nature; it is an abstract of Alpine
storm. Hence while we are always placed face to face with whatever is to
be told, there is in and beyond its reality a voice supernatural; and
that which is doubtful in the vision has strength, sinew, and
assuredness, built up in it by fact.

Sec. 26. The imagination how manifested in sculpture.

Let us, however, still advance one step farther, and observe the
imaginative power deprived of all aid from chiaroscuro, color, or any
other means of concealing the frame-work of its thoughts.

It was said by Michael Angelo that "non ha l'ottimo scultore alcun
concetto, Ch'un marmo solo in se non circoscriva," a sentence which,
though in the immediate sense intended by the writer it may remind us a
little of the indignation of Boileau's Pluto, "Il s'ensuit de la que
tout ce qui se peut dire de beau, est dans les dictionnaires,--il n'y a
que les paroles qui sont transposees," yet is valuable, because it shows
us that Michael Angelo held the imagination to be entirely expressible
in rock, and therefore altogether independent, in its own nature, of
those aids of color and shade by which it is recommended in Tintoret,
though the sphere of its operation is of course by these incalculably
extended. But the presence of the imagination may be rendered in marble
as deep, thrilling, and awful as in painting, so that the sculptor seek
for the soul and govern the body thereby.

Sec. 27. Bandinelli, Canova, Mino da Fiesole.

Sec. 28. Michael Angelo.

Of unimaginative work, Bandinelli and Canova supply us with
characteristic instances of every kind, the Hercules and Cacus of the
former, and its criticism by Cellini, will occur at once to every one;
the disgusting statue now placed so as to conceal Giotto's important
tempera picture in Santa Croce is a better instance, but a still more
impressive lesson might be received by comparing the in