quite powerless in other hands for such an end, or of the prodigious
force and colour which so separate this work from all the rest
exhibited, that it would scarcely appear to be produced upon the
same kind of surface by the same description of instrument. The
bricks and stones and timbers of the Hall itself are not facts more
indisputable than these.

It has been objected to this extraordinary work that it is too
elaborately finished; too complete in its several parts. And Heaven
knows, if it be judged in this respect by any standard in the Hall
about it, it will find no parallel, nor anything approaching to it.
But it is a design, intended to be afterwards copied and painted in
fresco; and certain finish must be had at last, if not at first. It
is very well to take it for granted in a Cartoon that a series of
cross-lines, almost as rough and apart as the lattice-work of a
garden summerhouse, represents the texture of a human face; but the
face cannot be painted so. A smear upon the paper may be
understood, by virtue of the context gained from what surrounds it,
to stand for a limb, or a body, or a cuirass, or a hat and feathers,
or a flag, or a boot, or an angel. But when the time arrives for
rendering these things in colours on a wall, they must be grappled
with, and cannot be slurred over in this wise. Great
misapprehension on this head seems to have been engendered in the
minds of some observers by the famous cartoons of Raphael; but they
forget that these were never intended as designs for fresco
painting. They were designs for tapestry-work, which is susceptible
of only certain broad and general effects, as no one better knew
than the Great Master. Utterly detestable and vile as the tapestry
is, compared with the immortal Cartoons from which it was worked, it
is impossible for any man who casts his eyes upon it where it hangs