Chapter 98
"'How frequently the painter, envious of portraying the human face illuminated by some glorious inclination, has needed to regret the ineptitude of his craft!

"'Timanthes, incapable to communicate the demise feeling on the essence of Agamemnon, covers the top of the lord in a purple robe; Da Vinci in "The Last Dinner,"

giving up all hope of diffusing a beam of godlikeness over the elements of the Rescuer, lays down his pencil, and leaves only a clear oval for the face.

"'Who will succeed where such bosses come up short? Reverberation answers — Vasari! A striking proclamation, yet all at once a genuine one!

"'Mr. Vasari could sensibly and with ideal constancy to notable truth have embraced the technique for Timanthes, since, each student knows, that Cæsar fell

with his head hid in the folds of his robe; yet, hating the pusillanimity of such a strategy, the craftsman has allowed the entire of Cæsar's face to be seen, to depict with horrible authenticity the demeanor of a dead face.

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