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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: Pitti Gallery, the /Christ bearing His Cross/ in the Borghese
collection, and the /Marriage of the Virgin/ in the Brera at Milan.
The /Saint John the Baptist/ of the Tribuna, and /Saint Luke painting
the Virgin's portrait/ in the Accademia at Rome, have not the charm of
the /Portrait of Leo X./, and of the /Virgin/ at Dresden.
And yet they are all of equal merit. Nay, more. The /Stanze/, the
/Transfiguration/, the panels, and the three easel pictures in the
Vatican are in the highest degree perfect and sublime. But they demand
a stress of attention, even from the most accomplished beholder, and
serious study, to be fully understood; while the /Violin-player/, the
/Marriage of the Virgin/, and the /Vision of Ezekiel/ go straight to
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