prevailing feeling of the picture. In this aspect we look upon the cold
color of the "Dead Christ" as hardly a defect; it is in keeping with the
sad solemnity of the scene. But if color should not be so brilliant as
to overpower the expression of form and sentiment, still less should it
be so inharmonious as to distract the mind from it, as is sometimes the
case with Scheffer. The "Dante and Beatrice" is a familiar instance. We
can see no reason why Beatrice should be dressed in disagreeable pink,
and Dante in brick-red. Surely, such color is neither agreeable to the
eye nor harmonious with the expression of the scene. This defect in
color has led many to prefer the engravings to Scheffer's original
pictures; but no copy can quite reproduce the nice touches of thought
and feeling given by the master's hand. Color is supposed by many to
belong mainly to the representation of physical beauty; but has not
Allston proved to us that the most subtile and delicate harmonies of
color may be united with ethereal grace and spiritual beauty? Compare
his "Beatrice" with that of Scheffer. But, in truth, the whole spiritual
relation of color is yet but dimly understood; and there are, perhaps,
influences in the climate and organization of the French nation which
have rendered them inferior in this department of Art. Allowing this
deduction--a great one, certainly,--still, if the expression of the
highest thoughts in the most beautiful forms be the true aim of Art,
Scheffer must rank among the very first painters of his age. Delaroche
may surpass him in strength and vigor of conception, and in thorough
modelling and execution; but Scheffer has taken a deeper hold of the
feelings, and has risen into a higher spiritual region.

It has been reproachfully said that Scheffer is the painter for pretty
women, for poets, and for lovers. The reproach is also a eulogium, since
he must thus meet the demand of the human soul in its highest and finest
development. Others have accused him of morbid sensibility. There is