We are told in the Gospel of St. John (chap. xvii), that Christ took a solemn farewell of his disciples:  it is therefore supposed that he did not go up to his death without taking leave of his Mother,—­without preparing her for that grievous agony by all the comfort that his tender and celestial pity and superior nature could bestow.  This parting of Christ and his Mother before the Crucifixion is a modern subject.  I am not acquainted with any example previous to the beginning of the sixteenth century.  The earliest I have met with is by Albert Durer, in the series of the life of the Virgin, but there are probably examples more ancient, or at least contemporary.  In Albert Durer’s composition, Mary is sinking to the earth, as if overcome with affliction, and is sustained in the arms of two women; she looks up with folded hands and streaming eyes to her Son who stands before her; he, with one hand extended, looks down upon her compassionately, and seems to give her his last benediction.  I remember another instance, by Paul Veronese, full of that natural affectionate sentiment which belonged to the Venetian school. (Florence Gal.) In a very beautiful picture by Carotto of Verona, Jesus kneels before his Mother, and receives her benediction before he departs:  this must be regarded as an impropriety, a mistake in point of sentiment, considering the peculiar relation between the two personages; but it is a striking instance of the popular notions of the time respecting the high dignity of the Virgin Mother.  I have not seen it repeated.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Verona, San Bernardino.  It is worth remarking, with regard to this picture, that the Intendant of the Convent rebuked the artist, declaring that he had made the Saviour show too little reverence for his Mother, seeing that he knelt to her on one knee only.—­See the anecdote in Vasari, vol. i. p. 651.  Fl.  Edit. 1838.]

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It appears from the Gospel histories, that the women who had attended upon Christ during his ministry failed not in their truth and their love to the last.  In the various circumstances of the Passion of our Lord, where the Virgin Mother figures as an important personage, certain of these women are represented as always near her, and sustaining her with a tender and respectful sympathy.  Three are mentioned by name,—­Mary Magdalene; Mary the wife of Cleophas; and Mary, the mother of James and John.  Martha, the sister of Mary Magdalene, is also included, as I infer from her name, which in several instances is inscribed in the nimbus encircling her head.  I have in another place given the story of Martha, and the legends which in the fourteenth century converted her into a very important character in sacred art, (First Series of Sacred and Legendary Art.) These women, therefore, form, with the Virgin, the group of five female figures which are generally included in the scriptural scenes from the Life of Christ.