V. Poetic functions of the references to painting.
In Pippa Passes, the Bishop compares one artist with another, by expressing the hope that Jules will found a school like that of Correggio. In Three Days includes a comparison of the lights and shades of a woman’s hair to painting, with the line, “As early Art embrowns the gold.” Any Wife to Any Husband compares the husband who greatly admires other beautiful women, with anyone who looks at Titian’s Venus—“Once more what is there to chide?” Passages in Bishop Blougram’s Apology name Correggio’s works and the pictures of Giulio Romano as desirable things to own. The Bishop also states that he keeps his restless unbelief quiet, “like the snake ’neath Michael’s foot,” referring to the well-known painting by Raphael. In James Lee’s Wife, the attitude toward an unbeautiful hand is illustrated by the line—“Would Da Vinci turn from you?”
One of the most striking examples of the comparison of a person with a picture is found in Part VI of The Ring and the Book, where Caponsacchi likens Pompilia to the Madonna of Raphael in innocence. In Part VII, Pompilia compares her deliverer, Caponsacchi, to the picture of St. George. In Part VIII, the speaker who defends Guido reads a description of a man moved by too much grief, and says it fits Guido’s case just as exactly as Maratta’s portraits are like the life. The prosecutor, in Part IX, compares himself in his descriptions of the family of Pompilia, to a painter, carefully planning to paint a ‘Holy Family’. In this connection he names Carlo Maratta, Luca Giordano, Angelo, Raphael, Pietro da Cortona, and Ferri. Four or five other comparisons are found in The Ring and the Book, but in general, they are very similar to the ones given above, and little would be gained by enumerating all of them.
About forty lines of Fifine at the Fair are concerned with an extended comparison of a man’s treatment of his wife with his attitude toward an authentic Raphael which he has bought. In each case he makes much over the new treasure when it has first come into his possession, then seems neglectful, but in case of any danger, thinks first of his real object of affection, forgetting such light fancies as other women and Doré picture books. The comparison is further extended by likening the soul in its choice of another soul to finding satisfaction in art—poetry, music, and painting. The Italian artists, Bazzi, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, are named as examples in this connection.
Red Cotton Night-Cap Country contains a very Browningesque description of a soul, and pleads:
“Aspire, break bounds! I say,
Endeavor to be good and better still,
And best! Success is nought, endeavor’s all.”
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... “there the incomplete,