THE HOLY FAMILY

CALLED LA BELLE JARDINIÈRE.

Among the various compositions for which we are indebted to Raphael, it is remarkable how often he has chosen the holy family for a subject. The disposition of his mind has given him the power of repeating it, of perpetually varying the composition and expression, and of giving it always a perfect character with respect to truth and propriety.

Nothing can be more simple than this picture, in which the Virgin is seated contemplating her divine son with a tenderness mingled with respect. The infant Jesus, with both feet on one of his mother's, is full of that ease which is so natural to childhood; and St. John though displaying the winning graces of the same age, seems conscious of the divine child's superiority.

This holy family was painted for an Italian nobleman, who yielded it to Francis Ist. It has adorned successively the apartments of Fontainebleau and Versailles. It is now in the grand gallery of the French Museum.

It would be difficult to account for it receiving the name of la Belle Jardinière. Perhaps it may with apparent reason be supposed to have been derived from some gardening girl, celebrated for her beauty, who may have served Raphael as a model.

This picture has been engraved by Chereau for the Crozat collection; by Audouin for the French Museum, and by M. Desnoyers.

Height, 3 feet 10 inches; breadth, 2 feet 2 inches.

N. Y. PUBLIO LIBRARY

PRINTS DIVISION

ÉCOLE FLAMANDE. ...... RUBENS. ...... CAB. PARTICULIER.

MARCHE DE SILENE.

Silene, que l'on dit fils de Mercure et d'une nymphe, a été le nourricier de Bacchus; il devint son compagnon lors de son voyage dans l'Inde : à son retour il s'établit dans l'Arcadie, où il fut fort aimé des bergers et des bergères de cette contrée. On le représente ordinairement vieux, ivre et couronné de pampres : il est souvent accompagné de satyres et de nymphes. Cependant Platon et Virgile lui font tenir, au milieu même de son ivresse, des discours dans lesquels on trouve les principes de la philosophie d'Epicure.

Rubens, dans cette composition, nous montre Silène ivre et soutenu par deux satyres. Une des nymphes qui l'accompagnent écrase dans ses mains du raisin dont le jus tombe sur la barbe et la poitrine du vieux Silène.

Ce tableau était en 1780 dans le cabinet de M. du Tartre, à Paris. Il faisait aussi partie du cabinet de M. Bonnemaison, et a été vendu à Paris en 1827. Il a été gravé par Delaunay,

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MARCH OF SILENUS.

Silenus, the supposed son of Mercury and a nymph, was the foster-father of Bacchus, and accompanied him in his Indián expedition. At his return he settled in Arcadia, where hé became a great favourite with the shepherds and shepherdesses of that country. He is generally represented as a jolly old man, intoxicated and crowned with flowers. He is often attended by satyrs and nymphs. Plato and Virgil introduce him, even in his intoxication, making speeches intermixed with precepts out of the philosophy of Epicurus.

Rubens, in this composition, shows us Silenus inebriated and supported by two satyrs. One of the nymphs who attend him is squeezing in her hands a bunch of grapes, the juice of which falls on old Silenus's beard and breast.

This picture was in 1780 in M. du Tartre's gallery, at Paris. It formed part of M. Bonnemaison's collection and was sold at Paris in 1827. It has been engraved by Delaunay.