and a certain Germanic savagery of fine flavor. You would be struck with
this free handling of great subjects, this vast conceptive power, this
carrying out of an idea, which French painters so often lack; and you
would think of Cornelius almost as highly as the Germans do. But in the
presence of the work itself, the impression is completely different.

I am well aware that fresco-painting, even in the hands of the Italian
masters, skilful as they were in the technical details of their art, has
not the charm of oil. The eye must become habituated to this rude,
lustreless coloring, before we can discern its beauties. Many people who
never say so--for nothing is more rare than the courage to avow a
feeling or an opinion--find the frescoes of the Vatican and the Sistine
frightful; but the great names of Michel Angelo and Raphael impose
silence upon them; they murmur vague formulas of enthusiasm, and go off
to rhapsodize--this time with sincerity--over some Magdalen of Guido, or
some Madonna of Carlo Dolce. I make large allowance, therefore, for this
unattractive aspect which belongs to fresco-painting; but in this case,
the execution is by far too repulsive. The mind may be content, but the
eye suffers. Painting, which is altogether a plastic art, can express
its ideal only through forms and colors. To think is not enough;
something must be done....

[Illustration: BERLIN: UNTER DEN LINDEN]

[Illustration: BERLIN: THE BRANDENBURG GATE]

[Illustration: BERLIN: THE ROYAL CASTLE AND EMPEROR WILLIAM BRIDGE]

[Illustration: BERLIN: THE WHITE HALL IN THE ROYAL CASTLE]