Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art | Page 2

St. Margaret, 208
Carreño's Abstraction of Mind, 209 Anecdote of Cespedes' Last Supper,
209 Zuccaro's Compliment to Cespedes, 210 Dona Barbara Maria de
Hueva, 210 The Miraculous Picture of the Virgin, 211 The Chair of St.
Peter, 213 The Sagro Catino, or Emerald Dish, 215 The "Painter of
Florence," 217 Legend of the Painter-Friar, the Devil, and the Virgin,
220 Gerard Douw, 222 Douw's Style, 224 Douw's Method of Painting,
225 Douw's Works, 226 Albert Durer, 228 Durer's Works as a Painter,
229 Durer's Works as an Engraver, 231 Durer's Fame and Death, 233
Durer's Habits and Literary Works, 234 Ludolph Backhuysen, 235 John
Baptist Weenix the Elder, 236 Weenix's Facility of Hand, 236 John
Baptist Weenix the Younger, 237 Jan Steen, 238 Jan Steen's Works,
238 Kugler's Critique on the Works of Jan Steen, 240 Frolics of Mieris
and Jan Steen, 241 Sir Anthony More, 242 Sir Anthony More and
Philip II., 243 More's Success and Works, 243 Perilous Adventure of a
Painter, 245 Anecdote of John de Mabuse, 246 Capugnano and
Lionello Spada, 247 Michael Angelo Caravaggio--His Quarrelsome
Disposition, 248 Jacopo Amiconi, 249 Painting the Dead, 250 Taddeo
Zuccaro, 250 Zuccaro's Resentment, 251 Royal Criticism, 252 Pietro da
Cortona, 253 "Know Thyself," 254 Benvenuto Cellini, 255 Fracanzani
and Salvator Rosa, 256 Pope Urban VIII. and Bernini, 256 Emulation
and Rivalry in the Fine Arts, 257 The Nótte of Correggio, 259 The

Dresden Gallery, 262 Painting among the Egyptians, 263 Painting
among the Greeks, 265 Numismatics, 269 Restoring Ancient Edifices,
274 Napoleon's Love of Art, 274 Napoleon's Works at Paris, 276 The
Napoleon Medals, 281 The Elephant Fountain, 286 Interesting Drawing,
287 Sévre China, 288 Dismantling of the Louvre, 289 Removal of the
Venetian Horses from Paris, 296 Removal of the Statue of Napoleon
from the Place Vendôme, 301 The Musée Français and the Musée
Royal, 302 Boydell's Shakspeare Gallery, 305 Brief Sketch of a Plan
for an American National Gallery of Art, 307

ANECDOTES
OF
PAINTERS, ENGRAVERS, SCULPTORS, AND ARCHITECTS.

EGYPTIAN ART.
Champollion, the famous explorer of Egyptian antiquities, holds the
following language at the end of his fifteenth letter, dated at Thebes. "It
is evident to me, as it must be to all who have thoroughly examined
Egypt or have an accurate knowledge of the Egyptian monuments
existing in Europe, that the arts commenced in Greece by a servile
imitation of the arts in Egypt, much more advanced than is vulgarly
believed, at the period when the Egyptian colonies came in contact with
the savage inhabitants of Attica or the Peloponnesus. Without Egypt,
Greece would probably never have become the classical land of the fine
arts. Such is my entire belief on this great problem. I write these lines
almost in the presence of bas-reliefs which the Egyptians executed,
with the most elegant delicacy of workmanship, seventeen hundred
years before the Christian era. What were the Greeks then doing?"
The sculptures of the monument of El Asaffif are ascertained to be
more than three thousand five hundred years old.

ANCIENT THEBES.
Thebes, an ancient city and capital of Egypt, and the oldest city in the
world, was situated in Upper Egypt, on both sides of the Nile, about
two hundred and sixty miles south of Cairo. Thebes is "the city of a
hundred gates," the theme and admiration of ancient poets and
historians, and the wonder of travelers--"that venerable city," in the
language of Dr. Pocoke, "the date of whose destruction is older than the
foundation of other cities, and the extent of whose ruins, and the
immensity of whose colossal fragments still offer so many astonishing
objects, that one is riveted to the spot, unable to decide whither to
direct the step, or fix the attention." These ruins extend about eight
miles along the Nile, from each bank to the sides of the enclosing
mountains, and describe a circuit of twenty-seven miles. The most
remarkable objects on the eastern side are the temples of Carnac and
Luxor; and on the western side are the Memnonium or palace of
Memnon, two colossal statues, the sepulchres of the kings, and the
temple of Medinet Abu. The glory of Thebes belongs to a period prior
to the commencement of authentic history. It is recorded only in the
dim lights of poetry and tradition, which might be suspected of fable,
did not such mighty witnesses remain to attest their truth. Strabo and
Diodorus Siculus described Thebes under the name of Diospolis (the
city of God), and gave such magnificent descriptions of its monuments
as caused the fidelity of those writers to be called in question, till the
observations of modern travelers proved their accounts to have fallen
short of the reality. At the time of the Persian invasion under Cambyses,
Memphis had supplanted Thebes; and the Ptolemys afterwards
removed the