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to be an original design by Correggio, for the cupola of a cathedral; it bears an inscription at the back, AN. AL. (Antonio Allegri pinxit in Modena, 1522,) which is the very year that the contract was signed with the masters of the Fabric, and in which he concluded the agreement at Reggio for the Nótte. It is painted on thin cotton canvas and is of an octangular form, to correspond with the shape of the dome.

The groupes of figures and the distribution of the light appear in general, similar to the painting of the dome; but in particular parts are important variations, which strongly indicate this sketch to be an original and preparatory design for instance, the representation of the Almighty is introduced in the sketch, but not in the painting; and the Christ, who is represented as an adult on the dome, appears in the sketch, as an infant on the bosom of his mother.

The sketch is stated to have been originally purchased at Modena, where it was executed, and to have remained in the possession of the same family at Naples, upwards of seventy years.

On the return of Salvator Rosa to Rome, and his immediate establishment on the Pincio, such of his old friends as remained rallied round him;

but he soon found, that if time and death had thinned the ranks of his ancient enemies,

"Les envieux meurent, mais non pas l'Envie."

Calumny met him at the gate of Rome, defamation was at its dirty work again," and professional envy, sheltering itself under party feeling, attacked the principles and opinions of a man, whose genius and successes were the true causes of the persecutions he endured. According to Baldinucci and Passeri, it was in vain that "orders poured in upon him from divers parts of the world." He had still to struggle at home against his most implacable enemies, ignorance and envy.

INVENTION OF CHIARO-SCURO ENGRAVING AND ETCHING.

DURING Parmegiano's residence at Rome, he is said to have invented the chiaro-scuro method of engraving on wood; and a print of his own, Diogenes, in that style, is falsely attributed to him, for it was done by Hugo de Carpi, the inventor of that method, whose name appears beneath, the impression. Some ascribe to him the inven tion of etching on copper, and others of mezzotinto, but both without foundation. He seems, however, to have been among the first who introduced etching into Italy, and to have greatly improved the art. During his residence at Bologna, he not only made many etchings of his own works

which were much admired, but employed a skilful artist, named Bernardo da Trento, to engrave others. He was at length diverted from his pursuit by the treachery of Bernardo who decamped, after stealing his tools and designs. In consequence of this loss, he resumed the pencil, and painted many pictures for different individuals and convents. Among these are enumerated a St. Roque, attacked with the Plague; a Conversion of St. Paul, with numerous figures, a Landscape, and a Madonna of great Beauty, for his host the saddler. Indeed several of his most esteemed pieces were executed in that city, and it is singular, that during so short a stay, his pencil should have been so wonderfully productive.

One particularly distinguished for its beauty, was that called the Madonna della Rosa, which represents the Virgin in the act of offering a rose to the infant Jesus, who rests his hand on the globe. Of this picture a curious ancedote is related. It is said to have been executed for the celebrated Aretino, who was on terms of friendship with the painter; and critics who have examined it minutely, have discovered faint traces of wings on the shoulders of the infant, ornaments on the female, and other proofs, that the original design was a Venus and Cupid, which was certainly more consonant to the character of the licentious satirist, than a religious subject. Some suppose, however, that the

painter changed his purpose, and having thus transformed it, presented it to Pope Clement VII.; and others that it was sold to the family of Zani, at Bologna, in whose possession it continued till 1752, when it was purchased by Augustus III. King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, for the price of 1,350 zechines: it now adorns the gallery at Dresden. It is painted on wood, and in dimensions is four French feet, by three feet two inches.

Another was the celebrated picture called the Madonna del Collo Lungo. It represents the Virgin with the infant Jesus, sleeping in her lap, accompanied with a group of angels, one of whom holds a transparent vase, containing the figure of an illuminated cross. It was executed for the Church of St. Maria de' Servi, and afterwards sold by the monks to Cosmo III., great Duke of Florence, who placed it in the Pietri Palace, and substituted a copy in the church. This occasioned a process between the Marchese Cerati, the patron of the Church, and the Monks; but as the original was irrecoverable, he deprived them of

Lastly, the celebrated altar-piece of the Convent of St. Margaret, deserves particular attention. It exhibits the Virgin presenting the infant Jesus to St. Margaret the Martyr, and near are the figures of St. Benedict, and St. Jerome with an Angel. It

was greatly admired, and studied by the Caracci; and Scaramucci relates, that Guido being asked by a friend, which he would prefer, this picture or the St. Cecilia of Raphael, exclaimed after a long pause in a transport of enthusiasm, "Quella, quella di Santa Margaretti del Parmegiano."

VERSATILITY OF SALVATOR ROSA.

*

THE celebrated sorceress of Salvator Rosa had scarcely taken its place in the gallery of Carlo Rossi, when he executed for the same liberal friend his Socrates swallowing poison, and also for the. gallery of Sonnini, his Prodigal Son. He now gave full scope to his versatile genius, and painted with an almost equal success, in the most opposite styles, colossal figures and miniature landscapes,

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capricci" for the cortile of San Bartolomeo, and altar-pieces for the churches of Lombardy, where the court intrigues of the Vatican, and the envy of. the academicians of St. Luc, could throw no obstacles in the way of his rising reputation. The Cardinal Ornodei of Milan, struck by the pictures of Salvator during his visit to Rome, induced the Fathers of the Church and convent of San Giovanni Case-rotte, on his return, to bespeak from that

* David, the chief of the modern French school, has treated the same subject under the title of Les dernieres heures de Socrate.