Examine successively in this respect only the heads of Adam,
Abel, Methuselah, and Abraham, in the Limbo, and you will not confuse
the two designers any more. I have not had time to make out more than
the principal figures in the Limbo, of which indeed the entire dramatic
power is centred in the Adam and Eve. The latter dressed as a nun, in her
fixed gaze on Christ, with her hands clasped, is of extreme beauty: and
however feeble the work of any early painter may be, in its decent and
grave inoffensiveness it guides the imagination unerringly to a certain
point. How far you are yourself capable of filling up what is left untold
and conceiving, as a reality, Eve's first look on this her child, depends
on no painter's skill, but on your own understanding. Just above Eve is
Abel, bearing the lamb: and behind him, Noah, between his wife and Shem:
behind them, Abraham, between Isaac and Ishmael; (turning from Ishmael to
Isaac), behind these, Moses, between Aaron and David. I have not identified
the others, though I find the white-bearded figure behind Eve called
Methuselah in my notes: I know not on what authority. Looking up from these
groups, however, to the roof painting, you will at once feel the imperfect
grouping and ruder features of all the figures; and the greater depth of
colour. We will dismiss these comparatively inferior paintings at once.
The roof and walls must be read together, each segment of the roof
forming an introduction to, or portion of, the subject on the wall
below.
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