Legends of the Madonna | Page 3

AND ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN. The old Greek
Legend.
The Angel announces to Mary her approaching Death.
The Death of the Virgin, an ancient and important Subject. As treated
in the Greek School; in early German Art; in Italian Art. Various
Examples.
The Apostles carry the Body of the Virgin to the Tomb.
The Entombment.
THE ASSUMPTION. Distinction between the Assumption of the Body
and the Assumption of the Soul of the Virgin. The Assumption as a
Mystery; as an Event.
LA MADONNA BELLA CINTOLA. The Legend of the Girdle; as
painted in the Cathedral at Prato.

Examples of the Assumption as represented by various Artists.
THE CORONATION as distinguished from the _Incoronata_; how
treated as an historical Subject. Conclusion.

NOTE.
The decease of Mrs. Jameson, the accomplished woman and popular
writer, at an advanced period of life, took place in March, 1860, after a
brief illness. But the frame had long been worn out by past years of
anxiety, and the fatigues of laborious literary occupation
conscientiously undertaken and carried out. Having entered certain
fields of research and enterprise, perhaps at first accidentally, Mrs.
Jameson could not satisfy herself by anything less than the utmost that
minute collection and progressive study could do to sustain her
popularity. Distant and exhausting journeys, diligent examination of
far-scattered examples of Art, voluminous and various reading, became
seemingly more and more necessary to her; and at the very time of life
when rest and slackened effort would have been natural,--not merely
because her labours were in aid of others, but to satisfy her own high
sense of what is demanded by Art and Literature,--did her hand and
brain work more and more perseveringly and thoughtfully, till at last
she sank under her weariness; and passed away.
The father of Miss Murphy was a miniature-painter of repute, attached,
we believe, to the household of the Princess Charlotte. His daughter
Anna was naturally taught by him the principles of his own art; but she
had instincts for all,--taste for music,--a feeling for poetry,--and a
delicate appreciation of the drama. These gifts--in her youth rarer in
combination than they are now (when the connection of the arts is
becoming understood, and the love of all increasingly diffused)--were,
during part of Mrs. Jameson's life, turned to the service of
education.--It was not till after her marriage, that a foreign tour led her
into authorship, by the publication of "The Diary of an Ennuyée,"
somewhere about the year 1826.--It was impossible to avoid detecting
in that record the presence of taste, thought, and feeling, brought in an
original fashion to bear on Art, Society, Morals.--The reception of the
book was decisive.--It was followed, at intervals, by "The Loves of the

Poets," "Memoirs of Italian Painters," "The Lives of Female
Sovereigns," "Characteristics of Women" (a series of Shakspeare
studies; possibly its writer's most popular book). After this, the
Germanism so prevalent five-and-twenty years ago, and now somewhat
gone by, possessed itself of the authoress, and she published her
reminiscences of Munich, the imitative art of which was new, and
esteemed as almost a revelation. To the list of Mrs. Jameson's books
may be added her translation of the easy, if not vigorous Dramas by the
Princess Amelia of Saxony, and her "Winter Studies and Summer
Rambles"--recollections of a visit to Canada. This included the account
of her strange and solitary canoe voyage, and her residence among a
tribe of Indians. From this time forward, social questions--especially
those concerning the position of women in life and action--engrossed a
large share of Mrs. Jameson's attention; and she wrote on them
occasionally, always in a large and enlightened spirit, rarely without
touches of delicacy and sentiment.--Even when we are unable to accept
all Mrs. Jameson's conclusions, or to join her in the hero or heroine
worship of this or the other favourite example, we have seldom a
complaint to make of the manner of the authoress. It was always
earnest, eloquent, and poetical.
Besides a volume or two of collected essays, thoughts, notes on books,
and on subjects of Art, we have left to mention the elaborate volumes
on "Sacred and Legendary Art," as the greatest literary labour of a busy
life. Mrs. Jameson was putting the last finish to the concluding portion
of her work, when she was bidden to cease forever.
There is little more to be told,--save that, in the course of her
indefatigable literary career, Mrs. Jameson drew round herself a large
circle of steady friends--these among the highest illustrators of
Literature and Art in France, Germany, and Italy; and that, latterly, a
pension from Government was added to her slender earnings. These, it
may be said without indelicacy, were liberally apportioned to the aid of
others,--Mrs. Jameson being, for herself, simple, self-relying, and
self-denying;--holding that high view of