Excerpt from The British Gallery of Pictures: Selected From the Most Admired Productions of the Old Masters, in Great Britain; Accompanied With Descriptions, Historical and Critical The holy group is suitably employed in meditation upon the volume of prophecy held by the Infant Saviour, to whom the young St. John is addressing himself, on bended knee, pointing to a passage which we may suppose to bear reference to his future sufferings and glorification. Joseph listens with grave attention, and Mary, pondering over the say ings which she hears, treasures them in her heart. The figures are disposed with consummate skill; each individually maintaining its allotted part, each contributing its share to the perfection of the whole compo sition. The naked figures of the Infant Saviour and St. John, as well as the extremities of the other figures, are drawn in a style uniting simplicity with intelligence and boldness of outline. The draperies are in that pure and chastened taste, which teaches the due medium between too little and too much. Those of the young female with the basket, and those clothing the figure of Joseph, may be studied as models in their kind: without encumbering the figures, they add to their beauty. The tints of Giulio Romano were not those of Titian; and in his fresco-paintings especially, he often indulges in a harsh brick-dust sort of colouring, which is thoroughly disagreeable. In this respect, the picture before us is free from imputation: and although it possesses neither the transparency of the Venetian School, nor the admired hues of that of Parma, it is painted throughout in a rich and powerful tone, well according with the dignified character of the design. Easel pictures, by the hand of this eminent artist, are of rare occur rence. Those who are informed of the number and extent of his works of fresco in the Vatican at Rome, and the Palace called del F, at Mantua, will require no other evidence as to the cause. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.