ON account of an accident which occurred in the printing of two of the Cartoons, viz. the "Charge to Peter," and the "Sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas," we are prevented from including them in the Supplement, according to our promise.—Our Subscribers, however, may rest assured, that they will be presented gratis in the next Number of the Magazine; which will likewise contain an outline of the "Death of Generat Walfe;" all being in addition to the usual decorations. ALL THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL, NOW IN HAMPTON COURT. THE moment of time which Raphael has chosen in this Composition, is that in which the apostle Peter, by the divine inspiration of the holy ghost, detects the fraud of Ananias, and upbraids him in the above language of scripture.-Struck || with the consciousness of his guilt, he replies not.-Smitten by the immediate hand of death, his fall is sudden and terrible. The figures, on each side of him, are evidently impressed with a consciousness that the judgment of heaven has overtaken him. The characters which form the other groups, as yet ignorant of this awful event, are employed in presenting their first alms and offerings, their goods and their money, to the fathers of the primitive church.-On one side, the apostles are receiving the contributions of the pious; on the other, they are distributing them amongst the poor; whilst Peter, and his brethren in the centre, appear from their thought and action, more immediately connected with the awful scene before them. figure is Peter.-He stands erect and firm, with a full confidence in his divine office, and the power to punish guilt in HIM who sent him-His mantle is thrown around him with surprising simplicity and dignity. -He stretches forth his hand, and points with his finger towards the falling Ananias, denouncing the terrible judgment of God, and the awful example which was required in this early state of the church, to repel every approach of corruption and fraud.A kind of divine austerity pervades the group around him; and, in the whole works of Raphael, there is nothing, perhaps, which more evidently marks the sublimity of his genius than the composition of this single group. The accuracy with which he has conceived the several characters; the propriety with which he has brought them forward in their due stations and respective dignities; the expression which he has given them, at once so majestically severe, so serenely firm; and, above all, the noble simplicity with which the whole is crowned, are points of excellence which the pencil of Raphael has never carried farther. In the disposition of this group, we see the unaspiring, the incorrupt, the simple, and unpatronized state of the early church; a few rails, and a common scaffold newly put together, separate the Christian fathers from the surrounding groups. From this simple platform they are delivering the word of truth, and dispensing the punishment of heaven upon the guilty-So correct, so simple, so deeply founded in nature and truth were the taste and judgment of Raphael.` In this composition Raphael has employed no more figures than were necessary The composition of this group, together to bring home the subject with its due cha-with the falling Ananias, who is so finely racter and force, and to shew the state of the church at the first dawn of christianity. -The composition is divided into three leading groups-The centre is composed of the apostles, amongst whom the principal connected with the figures in the centre by the action of Peter, forms what Raphael intended should be the climax of this subject, and that which should distinguish it from all others. |