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SAINTE CATHERINE,

SAINT HUBERT ET SAINT HIPPOLYTE.

Cette composition est encore une de celles où le peintre a réuni plusieurs personnages qui ne paraissent avoir entre eux aucun rapport, et qui probablement étaient les patrons de celui qui a commandé le tableau, ou bien les saints sous l'invocation desquels était la chapelle ou l'abbaye dont ce tableau décorait un autel. Nous n'avons pas besoin de revenir sur l'histoire de sainte Catherine, dont il a été parlé au no 25.

Saint Hubert était né, à ce qu'on croit, en Aquitaine, de parens nobles; on suppose qu'à la chasse un cerf lui apparut avec un bois en forme de croix, ce qui le détermina à se vouer au service divin. Il devint évêque de Maëstricht en 708, puis transféra cet évêché à Liége, où il mourut en 721.

Hippolyte est un nom qui appartient à plusieurs saints, dont l'un fut évêque, un autre prêtre, un troisième était diacre, un quatrième était cénobite, enfin un dernier fut militaire, et sa conversion eut lieu lorsque, après la mort de saint Laurent, il fut chargé de garder son corps. La lance et la cotte de mailles dont il est revêtu font voir que c'est ce dernier que le peintre Wilhelm a voulu représenter. D'ailleurs la ville de Cologne, prétendant posséder le chef du martyr militaire, il est naturel de penser que le tableau représente de préférence un saint ho

• noré dans ce pays.

Ce tableau, précieux pour la couleur et les détails qui s'y trouvent, faisait partie de la collection formée par M. Boisserée, Il est maintenant dans la galerie du roi de Bavière.

GERMAN SCHOOL. os ocoocooo WILHELM. oooooooooo MUNICH GALLERY.

ST. CATHARINE,

ST. HUBERT AND ST. HIPPOLYTUS.

This is another of those compositions where the painter has brought together several personages who do not seem to have any connexion with each other, but who probably were the patrons of the person who ordered the picture'; or rather, the particular saints of the chapel, or abbey, of which this painting ornamented one of the altars. It is unnecessary to repeat here the history of St. Catharine, which has been related in No 25.

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St. Hubert is believed, to have been born of noble parents in Aquitaine; while hunting, it is said, a stag, with antlers in the form of a cross, appeared to him he thence determined to devote himself to the service of heaven. He became bishop of Maestricht in 708, the see of which, he transferred to Liege, where he died in 721.

Hippolytus is a name common to several saints; one of whom was a bishop, another a priest, a third a deacon, a fourth a cenobite, and another a soldier, whose conversion took place after the death of St. Lawrence, while placed to guard the body. The lance and coat of mail shews that it is this last saint, the painter, Wilhelm, has portrayed. Besides the city of Cologne pretending to have the head of this military martyr, it is natural to suppose, that the picture should, in preference, represent a saint, honoured in that country.

This picture, precious for its colouring and details, belonged to the collection formed by M. Boisserée; but now, it is in the king of Bavaria's gallery.

TIME

CARRYING OFF TRUTH.

Allegories have this inconvenience, that they often present some obscurity, which all explain according to their respective fancies. Some imagine they perceive something hitherto undis. covered; others brightening the torch of criticism, find, as they believe, the painter's primitive idea.

It is thus that, abandoning the explanations given by other authors, we venture to say, that in this picture, Poussin, no doubt, wished to show, that truth, often misrepresented by envy and calumny, always becomes triumphant with time. As to the genius, holding in one hand the emblem of time, and in the other, that of eternity; we think the painter meant to express, that truth will be really known to us, only when we have quitted this earthly abode.

If a reproach were allowable, against a painter like Poussin, it might be said, that, in neglecting to give to his principal figure an hour-glass or some such attribute, he has cast a sort of uncertainly upon the character of his chief personage; the figure of Truth, however, is sufficiently indicated by its nudity.

This picture was executed in 1641, for the cardinal de Richelieu; it afterwards decorated the ceiling of one of the halls of the Academy of painting, on the spot where now is the grand staircase of the Museum. Some alterations becoming necessary, the picture was withdrawn towards the end of the last century, and is now in the gallery of the Louvre.

It has been engraved by Gérard Audran.

Diameter, 9 feet 3 inches.