lived? That is the characteristic of the second-rate, self-conscious poets or painters, whom we read or study because they reflect to us a particular meaning—a particular period,—but not of the Homers and Shakspeares, the Raphaels and Albert Dürers; _they_ speak to all times, to _all_ men, with a suggestive significance, widening, deepening with every successive generation; and to measure their depth of meaning by their own _intention_, or by the comprehension of their own or any one generation, what is it but to measure the star of heaven by its apparent magnitude?—an inch rule will do that! But to return from this digression. In devotional pictures we often see St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist standing together; or on each side of Christ, or of the Madonna and Child. There is a peculiar propriety and significance in this companionship: both are, then, to be considered as prophets; they were, besides, kinsmen, and bore the same name; and St. John the Evangelist was the disciple of John the Baptist before he was called by Christ. Here, again, the contrast between the dark, emaciated, hairy prophet of the wilderness, and the graceful dignity of the youthful apostle, has a striking effect. An example at hand is the bronze bas-relief on the tomb of Henry VII.[134] Madonna pictures, in which the two St. Johns stand before her throne, occur frequently. I remember, also, a marble group of the Virgin and Child, in which the two St. Johns, as infants, are playing at her feet, one with his eagle, the other with his reed cross.[135] As one who bore the most direct testimony to the Incarnation, St. John is often introduced into Madonna pictures, and pictures of the Nativity; but in the later schools only. In these instances he points significantly to the Child, and the sacramental cup and wafer is either in his hand or at his feet, or borne by an angel. * * * * * The historical and dramatic subjects in which St. John figures as a principal personage are very numerous. As the scriptural scenes belong properly to the life of Christ, I shall confine myself here to some observations on the manner in which St. John is introduced and treated in such pictures. In general he is to be distinguished from the other apostles by his youth and beauty, and flowing hair; and by being placed nearest to Christ as the most beloved of his disciples. ‘The mother of James and John imploring from our Saviour the highest place in heaven for her two sons.’ (Matt. xx. 21): a picture by Bonifazio, in the Borghese Gallery, beautiful both in sentiment and colour. There is another example by Paul Veronese; and another, by Tintoretto, was in the Coesvelt Gallery. I must observe that, except in Venetian pictures, I have not met with this incident as a separate subject.