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him high praise, saying 'that he was a painter from his mother's womb.'"

If GUIDO had listened to the insincere advice of ANNIBALE CARACCI, art would have lost some of her proudest triumphs; for the latter, jealous of the rising merit of young Reni, counselled him to abandon painting, and could not dissemble the ill-will which he bore towards Albano for having been the means of inducing Guido to visit Rome. CARAVAGGIO's jealousy was also aroused by the advent of a painter gifted with such rare powers, as those with which Nature had endowed the handsome and accomplished Bolognese. Not content with offering verbal insults to Guido, an Italian writer mentions that Caravaggio proceeded to personal violence, and struck his young rival a brutal blow upon the face. Prior to this incident, and while Guido was finishing his studies at Bologna, LODOVICO CARACCI, cordial and friendly as he was in his demeanour towards the other pupils in that celebrated school, could not refrain from manifesting the chagrin with which he regarded the rapid and brilliant progress of Reni; and as this feeling found vent in various splenetic annoyances, which ultimately became intolerable, it led to the withdrawal of their most illustrious scholar. But the Caracci, thus jealous of others, were also at variance among themselves. While Agostino and Annibale were engaged in the decoration of the Farnese Gallery at Rome, the envy with

which the former regarded the more practised pencil of the latter, led to such bickerings and strife between the brothers as to call for the intervention of the Cardinal Farnese, who was obliged to separate the angry disputants. Agostino retired to Parma, where he appears to have been surrounded by enemies, and to have worked in daily fear of his life, fortifying himself in the chamber where he painted, which he was often obliged to enter or quit surreptitiously by the window.

The jealousy which FRANCISCO DE HERRERA the younger entertained of his brother artists encouraged the morbid belief, in his own mind, that they were all equally jealous of him. "On the dome of Our Lady of Atocha," writes Mr. Stirling, "he thought fit to symbolise their reciprocal ill-will, by modelling a lizard gnawing the stucco-scroll upon which his name was inscribed. In a picture of San Vicente Ferrer, likewise, there was a dog mouthing the jawbone of an ass, which was supposed to convey some covert satire; and in other works he frequently wrote his name on a piece of paper, which rats— meaning rivals—were tearing to pieces."

VAN HUYSUM, guarded the secrets of his art with such jealous care that he would not permit even his own brothers to see him at work, and for the same reason he was averse to receive pupils. The selflove of JOSEPH VAN CLEEF was so inordinate as to be easily wounded, and the praises bestowed on the

works of other artists were intolerable to his ill-regulated mind. During his residence in Spain, he was kindly taken by the hand by Sir Anthony More, who obtained for him an introduction to the king; but as the knightly painter and his royal patron did not study to conceal from Van Cleef that his works occupied a lower place in their estimation than those of Titian, the wrath of the jealous artist was aroused, and he conducted himself so intemperately towards Sir Anthony, that the latter was compelled to discard and shun him. Van Cleef's actions were subsequently so eccentric, and the garb in which he exhibited himself in public places was so singular, that the most charitable plea which can be offered in his behalf is, that his morbid self-love and jealousy of others amounted to a monomania.

We have met with more than one instance in which the lives of artists have been seriously imperilled by the frantic jealousy of rival painters. JOSEPH PARROCEL, after spending eight years in Italy, in the indefatigable pursuit of his art, not unnaturally conceived a strong affection for a country so full of attractions to a painter, and in which he had met with abundant patronage and favour. He had therefore determined on establishing himself there for life, when his resolution was shaken by an attempt which was made to assassinate him. One evening, while crossing the bridge adjoining the Rialto, he was waylaid by bravoes, suborned by a

fellow artist, and was indebted for the preservation of his life, from this dastardly and unexpected attack, solely to the courageous and vigorous resistance which he opposed to their united efforts. Not to expose himself to a repetition of an incident of this kind, Parrocel departed from Venice, and also bade adieu to Italy.

Another artist-JEAN DE BAAN-encountered similar perils in a region not so proverbial for bravoes as the city of St. Mark. He was sent for, according to Houbraken, to the Court of Friesland, that he might paint the portraits of the prince and princess. Some nameless artist was already in the enjoyment of the post of premier painter to their royal highnesses, and the jealous irritability of this gentleman mounted to fever heat when he learned the circumstance of a commission having been offered to De Baan. But the envious courtier was as subtle as Iago, and the intensity of his hatred was fully as virulent as that of "mine ancient." professed to entertain the highest admiration of the ability of the new comer, and affected to honour him with his warmest friendship. Ingenuous and unsuspecting, De Baan fell into the snare which was laid for him, and cordially reciprocated the kindnesses which the court-painter feigned. But scarcely had the former returned to the Hague, when his false friend ventured thither in disguise, dogged his steps, waylaid him one evening, and had lifted up his arm

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to stab his unsuspecting rival, when De Baan's dog, which happened to be following his master, uttered a yell of terror and saved his owner's life. The Friesland painter escaped undetected, but not to be baulked in the execution of his malignant purpose, he called next morning upon De Baan, who received him with his wonted welcome and showed him the various works completed, or in progress, in his studio. The intended victim happening to turn his back for a moment, to restore some paintings to the position from which they had been displaced, the assassin drew a poignard from beneath his cloak and was again about to aim it at De Baan, when M. Bruninks, his intimate friend, entered the studio and raised a cry of horror. Thus for a second time was the hand of this nameless villain stayed, and for the second time also did he succeed in effecting his escape. One can hardly credit the fact, but the authority we have quoted asserts that a third attack was made upon De Baan by the Friesland artist, and that in this instance the former-who appears to have borne a charmed life-sustained no further injury than the loss of the middle finger of the right hand.

ABRAHAM BLOEMART had the misfortune to excite the jealousy-in the days of his pupilage at Rotterdam-both of HENRY WYTOECK, his instructor, and, in a still greater degree, of that artist's wife. The good lady was shrewd enough to perceive that the rapid progress made by the scholar would