CARTOONS BY LEONARDO DA VINCI.
Woo has not stopped before the window of a print-shop to look at the famous picture of the Last Supper painted by LEONARDO DA VINCI, as handed down to us in the engraving by RAPHAEL 1V1ORGHEN ? And who can have failed to admire the solemnity arid grandeur of the scene —the orderly arrangement, whose formality only is disturbed by the dignified confusion into which the Apostles are thrown by the pro- phetic words of their Divine Master, " One of you shall betray me !" —the varied passions that agitate the group, and that are so vividly de- picted in their faces; and the benignant yet sorrowful composure of Christ, who alone is calm and serene ? Who has not been touched by the sight, though it were but a passing glance ? If an imperfect and feeble (though elaborate) miniature print of this grand, this majesti- cally beautiful picture, can produce such emotion, what must have been the effect of the original upon the beholder ? The original, alas ! can scarcely be said to exist ; for of the fresco painting by 1)A VINCI on the wall of the Dominican Convent at Milan, so little is visible through the oft-repeated touches of the "restorers," that only the design and the outline of the forms can be truly said to be the work of the great painter. But besides a fine copy in the possession of the Royal Academy, there are in this country, and now visible to the public, some fragments of this great work of art,—namely, eight cartoon drawings— heads of ten of the Apostles—the original studies of the mighty master from which he painted the fresco picture. " What invaluable relics!" will exclaim all who hear this : and these are in this country, where we have the Cartoons of RAFFAELLE and the Elgin Marbles. They are in this country, certainly ; but even while we write, they may have be- come the property of some foreigner. There they are exposed for sale, in the gallery of Messrs. 1Voonetnue in St. Martin's Lane ; where they may be bought (if not already sold) by any one who will give for them, and between sixty and seventy other drawings and sketches by the same master, 1500/.,—a sum that is less than the worth of these cartoons alone. Two of them are hung on the walls with the lesser sketches; the rest are placed on the floor of the lobby, where you must stoop down to look at them. They are worthy to be kneeled to: the mind bows down in worship of their apostolic simplicity and great- ness. Yet here they lie lake lumber in a broker's shop waiting a bidder ! Does the Government know of this ? It will be a disgrace to the taste and spirit of the country—and an irretrievable loss—if they be suffered to go out of it. For the honour of England, they should be secured for the National Gallery. These cartoons form part of an exbillition of one hundred drawings, being the fifth of the series of the LAWRENCE collection. Besides them it contains upwards of twenty original pen and pencil sketches of DA VINCI. Among them are a lovely head of an angel, with an expression of tender sweetness and meekness ; a noble study of a youth of godlike beauty ; some refined caricature sketches ; studies of drapery, that for elegance and beautiful execution are in painting what the group of the Fates from the Parthenon is in sculpture; a design for a tomb, of the most stately magnificence; and another for a fountain, of exquisite beauty,—for this great artist was not only a painter, but a sculptor, architect, engineer, mechanician, musician, poet, and scholar. The other drawings which compose this interesting exhibition, are by JULIO ROMANO and P1ERINO DEL VAGA, scholars of RAFFAELLE, and PRIMATICCIO, the pupil of Jett') : but, beautiful as they are, they become of secondary importance in comparison with the sublime fragments of DA VINCI—they look like the modern Greek sculptures beside the works of PHIDIAS. The designs of JULIO ROMANO are the poetry of art. His sketches for the Frescos in the palace of the Duke of Mantua, and those of PRIMATICCIO for the palace of Fontein- bleau, show what genius was lavished on the decorations of palaces in those days. What a contrast to the upholstery decorations of our Pimlico Palace ! PIUMATICCIO'S sketches display a sculpturesque style and classic elegance of design, in keeping with the mythological sub- jects: some them might be engraved in cameo.
Among the drawings of P. DEL VAGA, are some rich and fanciful designs for goldsmith's work : his forte was in the minute elegance of ornament.
The care, the finish and elaboration of these drawings—the know- ledge of nature, the fecundity of invention, and the power'of art they display—prove of what stuff the old painters were made. " There were giants in those days."
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