The portrait of the Virgin, which the vulgar in Italy believe, and the priests do not hesitate to assert, to be the production of St. Luke, is of the same school, or even later, if we are to judge from the mode of painting. However, as might be readily supposed, it surpasses in the power of working miracles all the multifarious editions of the Madonna. It is maintained by many authors, that this picture, attributed to the Evangelist, was the production of a Florentine painter of the name of Luke, who lived in the eleventh century, and whose works were deposited in the church of St. Maria dell' Imprimeta. Tiraboschi, however, in his Storia della Literatura Italiana, proves that this could not have been the case, as he finds the pic ture of St. Luke alluded to in authors whose works are considerably anterior to the eleventh century. This accu rate historian finds that he can go no farther, and leaves the authenticity of the Evangelist's accomplishments as a painter, as open to conjecture as ever. There is less known of the private circumstances of St. Luke than of the other evangelists. St. Paul calls him, " Luke, the be loved physician ;" the scope of which appellation was pro bably more analogous to that of philosopher than we un derstand by the term physician. At all events, he appears to have been a learned man, and might have been an artist, although the picture attributed to his pencil leaves little doubt of a much more scent origin. The style of St. St. Luke's gospel is considered to demonstrate greater purity and superior learning than that of the other three, which may be attributed to his longer residence in Greece, and more intimate acquaintance with the learned Gentiles. And we have already shown, that learning was considered in Greece as the indispensable qualification of an artist, so as to render them generally concomitants. The tradi tion of his having been a painter is of very early existence in the writings of the Fathers ; and that he had frequent opportunities of seeing and being acquainted with the blessed Virgin, the many particulars he narrates leave little reason to doubt ; which, joined to the opportunities he had of seeing works of art in Greece, removes at least any ex travagance from the supposition that he might have paint ed a portrait of her.
After the train of evils which had for so long a period deluged Italy began to subside, when the natives of that country, worn out by oppression, felt the independence of nature stirring under the yoke, they soon discovered the possibility of shaking it off. The impulse became epi demic and simultaneous. In various quarters tyranny be gan to shrink into its shell, and free republican states were formed. The citizen could regard his property its his own, and exerted himself to increase it ; wealth flowed in, and brought along with it its usual concomitant, a desire for luxuries. Fortunately for the arts, munificence took the turn of embellishing the churches, as a means of ex tending fame, and at the same time of doing an acceptable service to the priesthood ; the priests in their turn lavished the easy requital of indulgences, and expiation of those crimes and violences which the turbulent manners of the times exposed the higher classes to fall into. This dawn ing of encouragement was not without its effect in prepar ing the way for the revival of a better taste. The emula tion of the wealthy excited the invention of artists to gain favour; and they obtained a fo: tunate opportunity of extend ing their knowledge from the increasing intercourse with foreign nations to which the crusades gave rise. They were led to borrow refinement from the elegancies and luxuries of eastern manners. to extend their observation, and gradually to improve their taste ; and, above all, they had the stimulus of an entirely new subject, to exercise their genius upon ; namely, the triumphs of Christianity.
44 Their religious persuasion, in favour of statues and pic tures, afforded a new mine of art in the subjects of Chris tian story : they were desirous of ornamenting their churches with pictures and statues upon the plan of Chris tianity, and there were no works of this kind in a better state in other countries than in their own. They could not now, as they had clone before, in the time of the old Romans, bury and suffocate the eflbrts of their own peo ple, under the more perfect arts and artists imported from Greece. The Greeks were now no better than themselves; so that, at this time, the arts set out upon the true footing in Italy, and in all their long series of artists, from the old est and worst to the latest and best of them, we see that every man was in his time taken for a prodigy, and his works considered as the utmost stretch of the human ca pacity. The artist, and the age for which he painted, were so fitted to the weakness of each other, that admiration was kept constantly alive during the whole successive progress, from barbarism to perfection. The public grew up in judg ment and taste in the same progressive manner that the artist did in his practice. Another particular of the great est consequence to them was, that there was no vicious de caying art at that time in any nation, which might be im ported into Italy, to mislead and corrupt the people into _ the search of ornaments and fripperies before they had re gularly and solidly employed themselves upon the founda tion and substance of art. This people had therefore every thing to favour them in their growth; and they accordingly did arrive, step after step, to that degree of strength and maturity, which justly entitled them to have been the ad miration of Europe." Barry's inquiry.
Revival of Painting.
We have now traced the ancient history of painting from its earliest dawn, through all the migrations and vi cissitudes of its progress towards perfection, and its sub sequent decay. We have seen it set in the troubled ocean which overwhelmed the Roman empire, and, after lan guishing in the ages of barbarism and ignorance, now again indicating the twilight of its renewed existence. An important change had taken place in the moral world, un der the influence of which we are now to see the arts Lulled into view; hitherto they had been subservient to the pur poses of heathen worship, and employed, almost exclu sively, in ministering to the absurdities of pagan mytho logy ; while they rise again under the auspices of the Christian religion. Instead of imaginary deities and im probable legends, the subjects of the pencil are now to be drawn from the remarkable history of the chosen race, or the incidents of our Saviour's life, and the lives of the first ministers of our faith. The wild fables of the heathen creed did not hesitate to represent the objects of their wor ship under circumstances that would have been degrading even to human nature, and giving way to sensuality and vices that would have disgraced the creatures of this infe rior world ; these, and the fictions of romance, were the subjects which occupied the genius of the ancient artists. But in those of Christianity, even man is always represent ed in an interesting situation ; he is placed where the soul is raised, and moral nature subjected to trials. We see the triumphs of mind over body, and the display of that humble fortitude and resignation which it is the peculiar excellence of our blessed faith to inspire; instead of the unmeaning dreams of mythology, or the vapouring feats of romance.