[Footnote 92: In the _Difesa del Ratti_, accused _de repetundis_, this very obvious contradiction is adduced as a proof that the _Memorie_ were really composed by that author. It is there asserted that he wrote them in a clear and simple style, and then communicated them to Mengs, on whose death they were found among his writings, and published as his. Some other things are indeed said, that do not favour the cause of Ratti; as that when he was in Parma he consulted Mengs on what he should say of the works of Coreggio in that city, and as he could not see those in Dresden, he had from him a minute account of them; and also that Mengs was accustomed to add remarks to the MS. on which his friends consulted him. If, therefore, it be conceded that Mengs had such a share in this MS. (which would appear to have been drawn up by the scholar under the direction of the master, as to opinions on art, and as to a catalogue of the best pictures, accompanied too with remarks,) who does not perceive that the best part of that work, and the great attraction of its matter and style, is due to Mengs?] [Footnote 93: This picture is one of the most finished compositions since the restoration of art. Each muse is there represented with her peculiar attribute, as derived from antiquity; and the artist is deservedly eulogized by the Sig. Ab. Visconti, in the celebrated _Museo Pio Clementino_, tom. i. p. 57.] [Footnote 94: This eminent man was not without his enemies and calumniators, excited by his criticisms on the great masters, and still more by his animadversions on artists of inferior fame, and some recently deceased. Cumberland wrote against him with manifest prejudice; and the anonymous author of the _Difesa del Cav. Ratti_, the work of Ratti himself, or for which at least he furnished the materials, speaks of him in a contemptuous manner. He particularly questions his literary character and his discernment, and ascribes to his confidential friend, Winckelmann, the merit of his remarks. In point of art he estimates Mengs as an excellent, but by no means an unrivalled painter. Descending to particulars, he publishes not a few criticisms, which he received either in MS. or from the mouths of different professors, and adds others of his own. Of these the experienced must form their own judgment. With regard to his colouring, indeed, with which his rival Batoni found great fault, the most inexperienced person may perceive that it is not faultless, as the flesh tints are already altered by time, at least in some of his works. Lastly, in the _Difesa_ are some personal remarks regarding Mengs, which, if Ratti, from respect to his late deceased friend, thought it right to omit them in his life of him, printed in 1779, might with still greater propriety have been spared in this subsequent work.]