In another Assumption by Rubens, one of the women exhibits the miraculous flowers in her apron, or in a cloth, I forget which; but the whole conception, like too many of his religious subjects, borders on the vulgar and familiar.

14.  Guido, as it is well known, excelled in this fine subject,—­I mean, according to the taste and manner of his time and school.  His ascending Madonnas have a sort of aerial elegance, which is very attractive; but they are too nymph-like.  We must be careful to distinguish in his pictures (and all similar pictures painted after 1615) between the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception; it is a difference in sentiment which I have already pointed out.  The small finished sketch by Guido in our National Gallery is an Assumption and Coronation together:  the Madonna is received into heaven as Regina Angelorum.  The fine large Assumption in the Munich Gallery may be regarded as the best example of Guido’s manner of treating this theme.  His picture in the Bridgewater Gallery, often styled an Assumption, is an Immaculate Conception.

The same observations would apply to Poussin, with, however, more of majesty.  His Virgins are usually seated or reclining, and in general we have a fine landscape beneath.

* * * * *

The Assumption, like the Annunciation, the Nativity, and other historical themes, may, through ideal accessories, assume a purely devotional form.  It ceases then to be a fact or an event, and becomes a vision or a mystery, adored by votaries, to which attendant saints bear witness.  Of this style of treatment there are many beautiful examples.

1.  Early Florentine, about 1450. (Coll. of Fuller Maitland, Esq.) The Virgin, seated, elegantly draped in white, and with pale-blue ornaments in her hair, rises within a glory sustained by six angels; below is the tomb full of flowers and in front, kneeling, St. Francis and St. Jerome.

2.  Ambrogio Borgognone—­1506. (Milan, Brera.) She stands, floating upwards In a fine attitude:  two angels crown her; others sustain her; others sound their trumpets.  Below are the apostles and empty tomb; at each side, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine; behind them, St. Cosimo and St. Damian; the introduction of these saintly apothecaries stamps the picture as an ex-voto—­perhaps against the plague.  It is very fine, expressive, and curious.

3.  F. Granacci. 1530.[1] The Virgin, ascending in glory, presents her girdle to St. Thomas, who kneels:  on each, side, standing as witnesses.  St. John the Baptist, as patron of Florence, St. Laurence, as patron of Lorenzo de’ Medici, and the two apostles, St. Bartholomew and St. James.

[Footnote 1:  In the Casa Ruccellai (?) Engraved in the Etruria Pittrice.]

4.  Andrea del Sarto, 1520. (Florence, Pitti Pal.) She is seated amid vapoury clouds, arrayed in white:  on each side adoring angels:  below, the tomb with the apostles, a fine solemn group:  and hi front, St. Nicholas, and that interesting penitent saint, St. Margaret of Cortona. (Legends of the Monastic Orders.) The head of the Virgin is the likeness of Andrea’s infamous wife; otherwise this is a magnificent picture.