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Untitled Article
V . The " Captives and the Condottieri , " is a beautiful and expressive picture in aU , regpfcct ^ * There is , nevertheless , one great and inexcusable fault in the design . It contain * five circles , tbat strike upon the ey 6 , and in a horizontal line . Wemeaja five heads and faces . It is something in the style of Lewis , who is so justly celebrated for his Spanish pictures . The girl \ yho hangs upon the neck of her elder and stronger-minded
Bister , is well conceived , although in the execution we think that her head seems rather to cut in , than be embosomed , as the painter intended . The jocund fellow on horseback , tossing off nis goblet , is admirable for design and character ; equally bo are the tall figures on the left of the spectator ; and the carousing group on the right . The forlorn vet self-sustained
expression of the woman seated in the centre , who has rather a Hindoo cast of features , is very touching . We do not listen for a moment , to the public notion that she is regretting the loss of her jewels . Her face tells of deeper losses . The indignant look of the little boy on the occasion , is true to nature and perfect in execution . But the wounded youth is perhaps the finest in nobility of character and expression , though it is not much more than a sketch . His physical weakness , though
extreme , is forgotten in his moral sensibilities and saddened thoughts . VI . The " Death Warrant " by C . W . Cope , No . 371 , is very powerfully conceived and designed , and the colouring and general execution are almost of equal merit . The colouring
is effective , particularly in the thick dungeon-light struggling through the iron bars . On the wall , by trris dull and cheerless glimmer , we can just trace imperfect words and characters , scratched with some rusty nail , as a relief to the agonized feelings of the immured victim— " Puvera Beatrice / " a small
crucifix ; something like " " encobineti , 1540 , " " and " " non tijidar crucifix ; something like encobineti , 1540 , and non tijidar
ad alguno pensa etaci" This is merel y ofle of the fine details , and not foisted in to aid the telling of a tragic story , which is but too clearly intelligible without any such assistance . The dark figures , bringing in the sacrament or the poison , — we know not which — is an awful conception , though not well
executed . The expression of the noble victim is a true version of the moment of receiving his death warrant ; but the figure of the monk who brings it , is in all respects a masterpiece . If every part of him , except the head ; nay , if every part but his right hand were blotted out , the " passion of the piece " would still be apparent in all its deadly <* altn , mute agony , and
remorseless certitude . His victim looks up at him with a Wretched , final , yet suspended interrogation : —his basilisk eye looks just over his victim ' s head , darting an electric beam , almost traceable into the wall , while his demoniac mind revolves exultant at the completion of ito long-chefished and malignant purpose . R . II . H .
Untitled Article
? 4 ft CtiH $ & otf Ms Wclure * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1836, page 442, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2659/page/50/
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