down whose bosom a boy of a most arch and mifchievous countenance is conducting a moufe; the little animal hangs fufpended by a string tied to its leg; whilft another boy is boring a hole through the cover of a pot of sweet-meats, and appears under great apprehenfions, left the beldame should wake. This picture has all the merit of the Flemish paintings; the most minute articles of the cottage-utenfils have not been forgot.

In my next letter you shall have the remainder of the palaces, and, I hope, all the churches ; for we mean to vifit only those the Bolognefe themselves esteem most for their paintings, &c. therefore adieu; it is not without industry that we can see two palaces a-day. I fhall not write till fome days hence. This I mention, left you should be uneafy at not hearing from me as foon again as ufual.

LETTER XXVI.

Pallazzo

cari.

Bologna, Dec. 11th, 1770.

ERE is a great packet for you. A cold

HER

and a flight fore throat attacked me yesterday, and obliges me to keep houfe to-day. I have dedicated the whole of it to your service, and to the arrangement of my notes. notes. I fincerely regret my not being able to write fhort-hand; it would fave me a great deal of time, So much still remains to be faid of Bologna, that I believe you will be heartily glad when we quit this place; but as you affure me fo conftantly, in all your kind letters, that you do not yet find me tedious nor tirefome, I fhall continue to defcribe what I have feen to the best of my judgment; though I fear I am too circumftantial, and that your friendship prejudices you in my favour.

Your approbation is an encouragement that furmounts any fatigue, fo make yourself perfectly eafy on that account.

We have vifited what remains of the palaces best worth feeing, most of the churches, and the inftituto, &c.

The Pallazzo Zambecari, is esteemed the largest Zambe- in Bologna, and is one of the most remarkable for its fine gallery of pictures, amongst which the following appear to us to be the best.

A St.

Guido.

Pefaro.

A St. John, full of zeal and fire; he feems to be faying, Avaunt, "Ye generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come," &c. This is by a scholar of Guido's, one Flami- Flaminianiatore. A fine Cleopatra, by Guido. Two of tore. the most beautiful Cupids I have yet feen, by Simon di Pefaro. The whole history of Efther Simon di and Ahasuerus, on wood, in three pieces, by Luc, Lucco D'Olanda. Although the rules of perfpective Olanda. were quite unknown to this old painter, yet he has given fo much expreffion to his perfonages, that one may overlook, in a great measure, the want of keeping. In the third pannel, which reprefents the difgrace of Haman, the King and the favourite are incomparably well done; particularly their faces. A Holy Family; a fine picture, by Guastello. A Head of St. Francis, by Guastello. Dominichino. Herodias's Daughter, by Lionel DominiSpada. A Virgin and Infant Jefus, who is ftroak- Lionel ing a lion; the Virgin feems greatly apprehen- Spada. five of the wild beaft: it is an interefting picture, by Palma Vecchio. A laughing Cupid, by Fran- Palma cefchini. A Hercules fpinning, Iole wondering at Francefhis awkward manner: the Hercules is too delicate, chini. and there are great faults in the anatomy of both their figures; by Geffi. Two charming pictures Geffi. in a cafe, placed back to back, with a flidingboard over them: one is a Cleopatra, the other a Lucretia. They are perfectly beautiful in every respect, yet quite different in character and features; by Ludovico Carguarfi. Two herd-dri- Ludovico

chino.

Vecchio.

Carguarfi.

amini.

vers; the woman's figure is perfectly graceful and natural, but not out of character; my opinion is, that grace is not confined to rank, any more than tafte; the grace of a shepherdess should not be that of a princess, yet may they both be graceful, but in different ways. I muft quit the subject instantly, for I have not time to fay all I think upon grace and taste.

Carlo A Sampfon and Dalilah, by Carlo Cigniani. A Cigniani. Aleffan- picture, by Aleffandro Chiarini; the subject is the dro Chi- denial of our Saviour by St. Peter. The picture is divided fo as to represent on the fore-ground a kind of anti-chamber, through which you see the judgment-hall of Pilate, and our Saviour before him; the moment taken by the painter is from this text; "And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord," &c. All the figures are full of expreffion; St. Peter is admirable, and the personages as different, each from the other, as if done by different painters. How often do we see a picture confifting of from ten to thirty figures, with a strong family-likeness throughout, so that you may trace all the ties of confanguinity, from the grandfather and grandmother, down to their grandchildren's fecond-cousins, &c.?

A Judith in the act of cutting off Holofernes's head. This picture is too well done; it ftruck me I know not wherefore, that it must have been taken from the life. The idea threw me into a trembling, and made me very fick; producing

the

the fame effects upon me, that I might perhaps have experienced from the fight of a real execution: the feparation of the neck, the force fhe uses, the spouting of the blood from the divided arteries, and her countenance, whilft fhe turns away her face from the dreadful work fhe is about, and which, nevertheless, expreffes a fiercenefs and a fort of courage little befitting a woman, joined with the writhing convulfions of the body of Holofernes, make it a picture quite improper for the inspection of those who have any degree of feeling it is by Michael Angelo de Caravagio. M. Angelo da There were several other capital pictures in this Caravapalace when Cochin faw it; which have been fince gio. fold to Mr. Strange, an English artist, whom I mentioned before, and are supposed to have been purchased for his Britannic Majefty.

Tanaro.

Pallazzo Tanaro: Guercino has painted upon Pallazzo the walls Hercules in combat with the Hydra, which forms a fine point of view to one of the porticoes it is done in fhades of grey, what the French call grifaille. An Affumption of the Vir- Guercino. gin, by the fame, large as the life, consisting of fifteen figures; and faid to be in the stile of the Saint Petronella of Rome: the compofition is fine, the grouping ingenious, the head and hands correct, the manner large, and the colouring strong; but the dark fhadows are rather too black. Martyrdom of St. Lorenzo by night; the only light is that which proceeds from flambeaux: this is not a very fine picture, though it is ftriking; it

The

is