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Painting in Italy. 385 small recesses between these compartments and above the windows are groups of the Ancestors of Christ, awaiting in calm expectation the Coming of the Lord ; and in the four corners of the ceiling are scenes from the various deliverances of the people of Israel, — viz., Holof ernes and Judith, David and Goliath, the Brazen Serpent, and Haman's Death. The various portions of the work are united by architectural designs enclosing numerous figures of a grey, bronze, or bright colour, according to the position they occupy, which admirably serve to throw the groups into the necessary relief without in the least obtruding themselves upon the attention. The combined genius of an architect, sculptor and painter was required to produce a result so admirable. The figures of the prophets and sibyls are allowed to be the finest forms ever produced by the painter's brush — they are all alike grand, dignified, and full of individual character ; whilst those in the minor groups display a feeling for beauty and a tenderness of sentiment rarely met with in the works of the stern and rugged author of Moses and the Last Judgment. Between the years 1534 and 1541 Michelangelo executed his Last Judgment as an altar-piece for the same chapel, in obedience to the command of Pope Paul III. In this composition the Judge is represented at the moment of saying, " Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire ! " In the upper part of the picture we see the redeemed in every variety of attitude anxiously awaiting the sentence of mercy ; and in the lower the condemned, writhing in anguish and convulsively struggling with evil demons. The whole scene is pervaded by horror : there is no joy in the coun- tenances even of the blessed ; and the Virgin, standing beside her Son, turns away her head with an expression of eha c c