T RAV

APPENDIX. 259the risk of falling from the arm of the chair: to prevent this, his mother, without. int~rruptingthe angel, or taking her eyes off Tobias, leans gently forward, pressing berright hand against her cbild's breast, to retain him during this inclination of her body:the right side of the head of the holy infant nearly touches the left cheek of his affectiQ.J:la,tymQ.ther,. '\!h}ch givesto. her beautifulcountenance a heavenly air of tenderness,which ma.y be imagined, butcanllOt be expressed by words ;causing atthe same.timeagentle tu.rn.inhermost beautiful neck, that in delicacy exceeds, beyond aH compa­!5}sQ.n, anythingJ. have ever seen, and which would be misapplied in any neck what­Socyer save that of the mother. of Jesus.'rhe,angel and Tobias are also per(ect in their respective characters, and form aJUosti;leautiful contrast. .Tbe head. of the angel is noble; his figure full ofgraee, and bis attitudeeasy. The head of Tobias is rustic, his person coarse, his attitude awkwal"d andclumsy. In the .lând countenanc.e of the angel we see.beaming forth innocence, beneyolYIl~e,and co~pa,~~ion; in that of Tobias are respect, fear, and bashfulness. Thea.~gel'L.cOIlsciclUsofhis.'dignity, makes bis resquest with a confidence tbat it will heimmediately granted; whilst Tobias, sensible ofhis own unwortbiness, tremblestboughanangel be his adyocate. But nothing in the wholepiece more completelyshows thejudgelnent of tbe painter in its most consummate degree, than his having omitted thedog of Tobias, which, from his having been mentioned twice in the Scriptures, mightbec considered his attribute, as the keys are to St. Peter, and the book and sword toSt. Paul; for which reason, by the strictrules of the art, heought to have been introduced:but a greatgerius, a,S ourfirst of critics and of poets, Pope, says, occasionallybreaks through rules, gloriously soaring to the commission of errors which critics willBot dare to censure or .amend; and if ever there was a man who might venture tocQ.mmit suell a fauIt, that man was Rafael.Inthefirstptllce, every domestic anima,l, as a household object, belongs to commonol".loWlif~, an~ js,.a,s.su.~~!?Lml1Vort~y of soexalted Il picture as that of Our Lady, LaMaÇ\onna deI Pez. The second thh~g is, that according ta. the position of the figures,theÇ\og must necessarily have been painted in the foreground, the mosteminent andconspicuQus place. Andfinally, the introduction of the dûg would have troubled theaction in suçh a manner" that Rafae1must either have broken the rule, or spoiled hispicture.If w~ were ta cxtend our observations to point out every object of ~race and beautyin t~spictnr§, we shonld never corne to an end; for there is not a tauch in it that ispot .(l..~§IlUty:.theuniformity of the light, the foot of the Vitgin, the obliquity of herveil, the attitude of the angel, the posture of his body, maintained by the extensionof hisWings,tlie attitude of his right foot,as weIl as that of the left arm of Tobias, thegreat taste which isconspicuous in the drapery ;-1 say, that to examine or enter into.2L.2