"The work of a really great and intellectual mind, one of the finest landscapes that ancient art has produced"[75] (_Modern Painters_, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. ii. ch. i. § 8),--its excellence consisting in the perfect harmony of the landscape with the subject represented, and thus marking the painter's sense of the dependence of landscape for its greatest impressiveness on human interest. In the foreground to the left is Phocion "the good"--the incorruptible Athenian general and statesman, contemporary with Philip and Alexander the Great, of whom it is recorded that he was "never elated in prosperity nor dejected in adversity," and "never betrayed pusillanimity by a tear nor joy by a smile." He wears an undyed robe, and is washing his feet at a public fountain, the dress and action being thus alike emblematic of the purity and simplicity of his life. In entire keeping with this figure of noble simplicity is the feeling of the landscape in which "all the air a solemn stillness holds." In detail, however, Ruskin finds the picture deficient in truth--false, indeed, both in tone and colour (see _ibid._, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. ii. ch. ii. § 5). 41. THE DEATH OF PETER MARTYR. _Ascribed to Cariani. See under_ 1203. For the legend, see under 812--a more pleasing version of the same subject. The man was afterwards regarded as a martyr and canonised; and here, too, notice that he is made to see the angels as he dies. 42. A BACCHANALIAN FESTIVAL. _Nicolas Poussin_ (French: 1593-1665). _See_ 39. A realisation of the classic legends of mirth and jollity, precisely in the spirit of Keats's ode _On a Grecian Urn_-- What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loath? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? "This masterpiece, conceived in the manner of Titian and imbued with the spirit of the antique, full of life, and incomparable for its qualities of drawing and painting, is perhaps the most beautiful work which Nicolas Poussin ever painted, and, with the 'Bacchanalian Dance' (No. 62), is among the most valued possessions of the National Gallery" (Poynter: _The National Gallery_, ii. 104). 43. CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS. _Rembrandt_ (Dutch: 1606-1669). _See_ 45. A sketch for a composition which Rembrandt etched and also drew. The drawing is in the British Museum. This sketch was formerly in the possession of Sir Joshua Reynolds, at whose sale it was bought by Sir George Beaumont. 44. A BLEACHING GROUND. _J. van Ruysdael_ (Dutch: 1628-1682). _See_ 627.