Mark’s, Venice, on which he is said to have laboured from twenty to thirty years. The projecting heads are supposed to be portraits; amongst them are those of Titian, Aretino, and of the sculptor himself. Proceeding onwards, the beautiful composition of Jonah and the Whale, by Raffaelle, is from the Chigi Chapel at Rome. Passing into the gallery on the Garden side, we remark in the four angles portions of the pedestals of the Venetian standards, from the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice. The painted ceilings of this gallery deserve special attention. The first on entering the gallery is from an existing example at the “Old Library,” Venice; the last is from the “Camera della Segnatura,” by Raffaelle, at the Vatican; beneath which is the wonderful statue of Moses, by Michael Angelo,--a production the grandeur of which amounts to sublimity, expressing in every line, with, the noblest conception, the inspired lawgiver and appointed leader of a nation. VESTIBULE TO THE ITALIAN COURT.[18] The decoration of the vestibule is founded on the very elegant Casa Taverna at Milan, by Bernardino Luini, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, and affords an excellent idea of the peculiar painted mural ornament prevailing in Italy at the commencement of the 16th century. The doors are from the Palace of the Cancellaria at Rome, by Bramante, the famous designer of St. Peter’s in that city, and the immediate predecessor of the great architects of the 16th century. The vestibule itself is rich in very beautiful water-colour drawings after the old masters, by Mr. West. These drawings are well worthy of study, since they afford admirable specimens of the manner of many old masters, who are but poorly represented in the National Gallery. [18] See “Handbook to the Italian Court,” by M. Digby Wyatt and J. B. Waring. [Illustration: Monument of Lancino Curzio. Madonna della Scarpa. Sacrarium of the Maddelena from Certosa. Ground Plan of Italian Vestibule.] We now pass out of the gallery into the Vestibule, by turning through the pillars to the right. The monuments on the external wall of the vestibule afford excellent examples of the later Renaissance style. Amongst them may be particularly noted the monument of Lancino Curzio (nearest the gallery), from Milan, by Agostino Busti, evincing that delicate execution for which the sculptor was famous; underneath is the tomb of St. Pelagius Martyr, from Genoa; and, in the centre of the wall, the central altar of La Madonna della Scarpa, from the Leno Chapel in the Cathedral of St. Mark, Venice--an elaborate specimen of bronze casting, completed early in the 16th century by Pietro Lombardo and others. The upper part of the monument nearest the Nave is an excellent example of the Renaissance style, being the Sacrarium of the Chapel of the Maddelena at the Certosa, Pavia; the bas-relief in the centre is by Donatello, and the remaining portions of the composition are from Sansovino. [Illustration: Façade of Italian Vestibule.]