days even in Boston. No wonder that darkness covered the land to the
believing disciples even until the ninth hour.

His "St. Monica," which appeared in 1846, met with great success. "Ruth
and Naomi" is yet unknown to us, but it seems to be a subject specially
adapted to his powers. Of those works which he produced within the last
twelve years, very few are yet engraved. When thus placed before the
public, we believe the popular estimate of Scheffer will be raised even
higher than at present.

His pictures of Christ are of very superior merit. His representation of
the person of Jesus was not formal and conventional, but fresh in
expression and feeling, and full of touching pathos and sentiment. He
has neither the youthful beauty with which the Italians represent him,
nor the worn and wasted features which the early Germans often gave him,
but a thoughtful, earnest, tender beauty. The predominant expression is
the love and tenderness born of suffering. Three of his finest
representations of the life of Jesus of Nazareth are, "The Christ
weeping over Jerusalem," the "Ecce Homo," and "The Temptation." The last
is as original in design and composition; it is noble in expression. The
two figures stand on the summit of a mountain, and the calm, still air
around them gives a wonderful sense of height and solitude. You almost
feel the frost of the high, rare atmosphere. Satan is a very powerful
figure,--not the vulgar devil, but the determined will, the unsanctified
power. The figure of Christ is simple and expressive,--even the flow of
the drapery being full of significance and beauty. Another composition
of great beauty represents a group of souls rising from earth, and
soaring upwards to heaven. The highest ones are already rejoicing in the
heavenly light, while those below seem scarcely awakened from the sleep
of death. The whole picture is full of aspiration; everything seems