sublimest abstraction from every artificial and frivolous accompaniment--in the treatment of this subject--which you can possibly conceive. The background of the picture is worthy of its nobler parts. There is a sobriety of colouring about it which Annibal Caracci would not have disdained to own. I should add, that there is a folding compartment on each side of the principal subject, which, moving upon hinges, may be turned inwards, and shut the whole from view. Each of these compartments contains one of the two thieves who were crucified with Our Saviour. There is a figure of S. Lazarus below one of them, which is very fine for colour and drawing.
The last, in the series of old pictures by German masters, which I have time to notice, is an exceedingly curious and valuable one by CHRISTOPHER AMBERGER. It represents the Adoration of the Magi. There are throughout very successful attempts at reflected light; but what should set this picture above all price, in my humble estimation, is a portrait--and the finest which I remember to have seen--of MELANCTHON:--executed when he was in the vigour of life, and in the full possession of physiognomical expression. He is introduced in the stable just over those near the Virgin, who are coming to pay their homage to the infant Christ: and is habited in black, with a black cap on. Mr. Lewis made the following rough copy of the head in pencil. To the best of my recollection, there is no engraving of it--so that you will preserve the enclosed for me, for the purpose of having it executed upon copper, when I reach England. It is a countenance full of intellectual expression.
Of the supposed Titians, Caraccis, Guidos, Cignanis, and Paolo Veroneses, I will not presume to say one word; because I have great doubts about their genuineness, or, at any rate, integrity of condition. I looked about for Albert Durer, and Lucas Cranach, and saw with pleasure the portraits of my old friends Maximilian I. and Charles V. by the former--and a Samson and Dalila by the latter: but neither, I think, in the very first rate style of the artist.
There was a frightful, but expressive and well coloured, head of a Dwarf, or Fool, of which Mr. Lewis took a pencil-copy; but it is not of sufficient importance to enclose in this despatch. It is the EARLY GERMAN SCHOOL of Art which is here the grand and almost exclusive feature of attraction-- speaking in an antiquarian point of view. ReÏchard estimates the number of these pictures at twelve hundred, but I should rather say seven hundred.
I find, however, that it will be impossible to compress all my Augsbourg intelligence in one epistle; and so I reserve the remainder for another opportunity.
LETTER IV.
AUGSBOURG. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. POPULATION. TRADE. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
In ancient times--that is to say, upwards of three centuries ago--the CITY OF AUGSBOURG was probably the most populous and consequential in the kingdom of Bavaria. It was the principal residence of the noblesse, and the great mart of commerce. Dukes, barons, nobles of every rank and degree, became domiciled here. A thousand blue and white flags streamed from the tops of castellated mansions, and fluttered along the then almost impregnable ramparts. It was also not less remarkable for the number and splendour of its religious establishments. Here was a cathedral, containing twenty-four chapels; and an abbey or monastery (of Saints Vlric and Afra) which had no rival in Bavaria for the size of its structure and the wealth of its possessions. This latter contained a LIBRARY, both of MSS. and printed books, of which the recent work of Braun has luckily preserved a record;31 and which, but for such record, would have been unknown to after ages. The treasures of this Library are now entirely dispersed; and Munich, the capital of Bavaria, is the grand repository of them. Augsbourg, in the first instance, was enriched by the dilapidations of numerous monasteries; especially upon the suppression of the order of the Jesuits. The paintings, books, and relics, of every description, of such monasteries as were in the immediate vicinity of this city, were taken away to adorn the town hall, churches, capitals and libraries. Of this collection, (of which no inconsiderable portion, both for number and intrinsic value, came from the neighbouring monastery of Eichstadt,32) there has of course been a pruning; and many flowers have been transplanted to Munich. Yet there are graphic treasures in Augsbourg well deserving the diligent search and critical examination of the English Antiquary. The church of the Recollets has an organ which is considered among the noblest in Europe: nor must I forget to notice the pulpit, by Eichlen, and some old pictures in the church of St. Anne.
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