support; and which, after the establishment of universities throughout Europe, mingled with and overwhelmed the simpler character of the earlier literature, which, in its first dawn, had been more varied and impassioned. In strong contrast, however, to the sophisticated polemics of these periods was their military spirit ; and, between the cross and the sword, there was small vantage ground for the growth of what was not more or less connected with either. The mass of the lay population, divided betwixt agricultural labour and war, wholly under the control of their ecclesiastical and feudal superiors, and at the command of both, handling either the spear or the oxgoad, as their schemes or their necessities directed, were in the condition and ignorance of slaves. Nor were their baronial lords much in advance in knowledge and intelligence; to whom Plutarch's character of the Boeotians that they were of gross wit and coarse, quite the constitution of heroes would well apply. Might was the law of right. The discriminations of reason were left to questions wherein the immediate and personal feelings and interests of men were not involved; and force was the arbiter of every difficulty that assumed the nature of a dispute, unless overawed by the mysteries of religion, which hung over this perturbed spirit with a commanding power; and its dogmas, wielded amid the subtleties with which they were surrounded by the schoolmen, probably became the more impressive the less that they were really understood.

The contrast of the ecclesiastical and the military spirit of these times presents reason united to forms of the utmost tenuity of thought, opposed to the gross animal nature that found its most refined pursuits in the attack of the pel, or the wolf, or boar hunt. "The humanities" were left to the cultivation of those belonging to the religious orders; and the method of explaining and illustrating the doctrines of the Church-subtle, allegorical, and figurative—became almost entirely the only form in which thought was expressed. Even the most material of the sciences-chemistry, in the hands of the alchymists became transmuted into allegories of the Holy Virgin and her Son. It may be said that a beaten road of expression, be

came formed over the surface of thought. An abstract, typical, and allegoric peculiarity of style was generally diffused; which, addressing itself to the limited understanding and narrow comprehension of the partially civilized and untutored portion of the population, necessarily became not unfrequently allied to a very contradictory want of refinement, or of delicacy, and not seldom to igno

rance.

Of this mixture, which predominated for centuries,-art strongly partook and thus there is much in the productions of these times (independently of those peculiarities of mode and of intention which will afterwards come to be noticed) that now appears, on a partial consideration, to be anomalous. And what, in the instance of painting, caused this in a very marked degree, was its having been made a medium through which the people might be addressed by the Church; of which, in its rebirth, it was strictly the servant. It was immediately brought into connection with the most mystical and abstract subjects; and its embodiments in the greater number of instances, were little else than pictured repetitions of ceremonies, and representations of characters, which bore an ulterior, or typical signification. Its efforts were devoted to the illustration and enforcement of the doetrines, history, and services of the Church: the latter of which, at an early period, had gradually become expressive of the two former, and had assumed an absorbing importance, in the form of a vast congregation of dramatic ceremonies, of which Rome was the grand theatre, and which, in their consecutive round of observance, may be said still annually to present a mighty drama, of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. A variation of the same form--the dramatic-which had been employed in Greece to vindicate the rule of Jove or Fate (in relation with which purpose, it had held a somewhat similar connexion with ancient art), had become subservient to the exposition of Christian faith and doctrine. may probably have arisen from observations having been originally grafted, as it has been supposed many were, on the ancient festivals, during the early stages of Christianity. But,

This

in both instances, the desire itself of actual repetition; and impersonation, being felt to be an obvious and effective means of elucidating sentiment and opinion, readily accounts for the extensive adoption of the dramatic form, which was invariably regulated by a mode of expression afterwards to be noticed, as having all along obtained, both in the art of the ancients and in that of more modern times-in poetry and in religious ceremony."

But more than a century before the time of Michael Angelo, art and literature, from being bound in the Egyptian-like swaddlings, which had restrained the one under the ferula of the schools, and the other to an almost purely symbolic form, had arisen into vigorous life and freedom. Dante, Petrarcha, and Boccaccio, with others in literature, and, somewhat later, numerous eminent names in painting and sculpture, had appeared: in their works evolving a mixture of power, beauty, and imperfection, mingled with classical forms and Gothic irregularity. Of these works the greatest-the Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri-exhibits a confusion of religious opinion and political rancour with immense poetic genius, displayed in the creation of a heaven and of a hell, partaking of the spirit and materials of ancient mythology, Gothic superstition, and Christian belief; imagined for the reward or the punishment of kings, popes, petty princes, and their partisans, to whom bliss or misery are distributed with the violence of passion rather than the solemn might of justice. But, contrasted with the severity and strength of Dante, were the beauty and tender delicacy of Petrarcha, and the mixed pathos and facetiousness of Boccaccio; while, in the arts of painting and sculpture, a corresponding, though, from the slow growth of facility and correctness in the exercise of their medium, not an equally well expressed variety of sentiment, had been attempted. Andrea Orcagna and Luca Signorelli, had made the final reward and punishment of man the subject of various works that reiterate the sentiments of the Divina

Commedia. Masaccio had improved dramatic expression and style, which Ghiberti and Donatello in sculpture, and in painting_Ghirlandajo and the greater Frate Bartolomeo had immensely advanced. Andrea Mantegna had exhibited an irritable vitality of genius, and had profited by the study of the antique, and attempted subjects of a classical character; while Pietro Perugino, the Bellini, and others, without much seeming connexion, had, each in his own sphere, prepared the way for those who were to consummate the particular departments to which they devoted their labours. The materials of the fabric of art were accumulated and partially upreared; but, like the completion of the mighty dome of St Peters (one of the greatest of his works), yet remained to be raised to the highest elevation, in this period of its history, by the powerful genius of Michael Angelo.

The relative connexion of painting with those causes which operated towards the general state of society and of mental culture, which have been thus rapidly glanced at the only mode of bringing works in art under consideration, that can lead to their being satisfactorily understood, must, in some measure, have anticipated the character, and peculiar features of the picture of Michael Angelo, which they have been brought forward to illustrate. The Last Judgment is in many respects, in painting, the most eminent exemplification of the operation of various of these causes, and also of various of the most important principles of art. In it, an abstract greatness, conventional modes of expression, a typical style, and the influence of classical example, are brought together and united to the intense passion, elevated sentiment, and power over the materials of art, with rigid harmony in their connexion, which constitute the individual genius of its author; and it is before this combination, some of the component parts of which, if not regarded in connexion with the purposes of the work, the audience to whom it was addressed, and the period in which it was produced, appear so inexplicable, that

those who have not thus considered the work (or works of art in general), feel mistaken and bewildered. And, not being able to perceive wherein the true strength of this mighty produc. tion lies, but fully sensible of the total discrepancy betwixt their notions and the mode of treatment which the picture exhibits; and, at the same time, not allowing themselves to be guided by its impression, but endeavouring to oppose preconceived and partial rules of judgment to its influence, remain unable to unravel the confusion in which they find they are involved. Hence they probably come to the conclusion, that the work is altogether a failure; because it is not in accordance with associations and modes of thought, which are shortly to become more obsolete (inasmuch as they are not in their nature capable of being united with, or are supported by, the like great works) than those, the effects and nature of which they are unable to understand. Or, they probably arrive at a still more unsatisfactory conclusion, that opinion in regard to the productions of art is altogether arbitrary and unfounded; and they are swept into a whirl of scepticism, that doubts the foundation of all critical preference. But they were almost as absurd as the mathematician who expected a poem to be the proof of a theorem. They had not recognised the fact, that the signification or display of sentiment, most particularly in its impassioned expression, renders literal truth in what does not tend towards that purpose subservient. The mixture of that which is essential or generic in its nature, with the very opposite characteristic-conventional modes, had been totally unapprehended. Even the recollection that art had ever been employed as the means of effecting any great moral aim, was to them become faint and indistinct. Art had been partially, not wholly looked upon. The surrounding influences of the present time had been

made the ultimate standard of judgment; which failing to coincide with those which operated towards the production of the picture, and from their being totally unfit to be brought to coalesce with or embrace its extensive and general purposes and signification, the result is misunderstanding and false criticism.

The picture of Michael Angelo is not a representation produced with the intention to exhibit the Last Judge ment with scenic effect, and embracing those accessaries which such a purpose would have demanded; but consists in the expression of that tremendous subject, by exemplified instances of those sentiments usually associated with it-which display man in suffering and in beatitude-in the anticipation of bliss or the dread of misery-in fruition or in endurance. Its different groups must be regarded to be, to a certain extent, symbolic, not representative, of the innumerable multitudes assembled to "the Judgment of the Great Day." Each part must be considered to have, by means of its particular impression, an extended signification. In the plan of the picture (in accordance with principles which will afterwards be noticed), a severe parallelism is adopted. The whole is divided into equally balanced parts. In the lunettes, at the highest angles, are introduced, by one of those peculiarities of treatment which will also come to be observed, figures bearing aloft the Cross, the pillar of the flagellation, the crown of thorns, and the sponge. Below these, in the centre, is the judge, surrounded by saints and martyrs, and those meeting for judgment; behind whom, are brought together those groups which express the multitudes of the blessed, and which recede to the distance of the upper part of the picture. Underneath this line, of the most important agents in the picture, and which is its foreground, are at the right side, groups of the worthy borne upwards; and at

the left are the seven deadly sins driven downwards and seized by demons; while betwixt these, in the centre, are the seven angels of the Revelations sounding their trumpets; and those with the book of life in their hands. Towards the under line of the picture, the resurrection of the dead, who are breaking from their graves, occupies the right angle; and the left is filled by the boat of Charon and the damned. In this arrangement, the relative positions of the Heavens, the Earth, the Sea, and Hell receiving its tenants, are only partially indicated; being subjected to the balanced composition of the whole: and every part of the picture is brought as near to the eye as possible. This is in obedience to the dependence that is placed upon expression, which is the predominating feature of its plan; and also in compliance with those principles of imitation which may be said to have dictated this mode of treatment: some of which are essentially inherent in the nature of pictorial art, while others arose from the state of society and the purposes of works connected with religion.

Of these modes of representation, the most remarkable and extensive in its influence, and which has often stood a stumbling-block in the way of criticism on art, but which arms art with its greatest power, and is connected with its very existence as a means of affecting the mind, is universally exhibited, either directly or in its various modifications, throughout ancient poe. try, painting, and sculpture-Indian and Egyptian as well as Greek and in more modern times alike subjected the ceremonies of the church, the literature, the painting, the sculpture,

and the music of Europe, to its laws. It must be considered to be the original and primitive form of all com bination in art. Its origin may be found to exist in the simplest act of transition or change of attention, from which it became the source of the most powerful and elevated combina. tions. It has frequently been confounded with the poetic element, and in a vague sense has been denominated poetical treatment. It may be designated the lyrical form of imitation. It is sustained by enthusiasm and emotion; and from its exhibition in an ode or hymn to Jove or the universal Pan, the glance of whose eye it might be said in such an instance to attempt to follow, passing without restraint, and with a power of the most rapid combination over the face of visible existence, to its remote modification in a bouquet of flowers, may be recognised throughout whatever is connected with the expression of sentiment, in any degree impassioned. It modifies the epic and dramatic forms of composition, and, although totally distinct from what their essential character consists in, in some degree frequently even affects that.f The chorus of the Greek drama was a direct derivation from the ode, which was founded in this mode of representation, and from which the whole dramatic form of the ancients may be said to have been gradually evolved.

This manner of imitation may be considered to be the attempt of man, in his productions, to pursue the laws of thought. It brings time and space under its control: they are travelled over, hinted at, or omitted, as suits the train of ideas to be pursued, or the general sentiment which is to be en