bright sunshine of an Italian sky, it is so dazzling as to be oppressive. From the roof we can enjoy one of the finest views in all Lombardy.

Among the numerous chapels that of Giovanni Giacomo Medici deserves particular mention; it was built from a plan by Michael Angelo, and contains statues by Aretino. The font is of porphyry; the two columns of red granite, at the interior entrance, are reckoned among the finest ever employed in architecture. The most celebrated specimens of sculpture are the St. Helena, St. Peter, Magdalen, by Fr. Fusina, David, by Vairone. In the vestry to the south are, a picture by Baroccio, two Gospels which were in the possession of Heribert, 1018, and two statues, as large as life, of St. Ambrose and Charles Borromeo, of silver.

THE picture before us is no unfavourable specimen of this eminent painter of domestic life, although the actors belong to a less elevated class than those which usually employed his pencil. The attitudes are easy and graceful; the costume characteristic and natural; the faces pleasing, with a quiet mixture of the frank boldness that so well becomes the soldier. The position of the hand and the expression of the features convey simply, and without exaggeration, some slight degree of doubt as to the next phrase which our friend the trumpeter shall dictate to his faithful scribe. The various gradations of light and shade indicate the harmony which generally pervades the pictures of Gerhard Terburgh.

'This artist was born at Zwoll, near Overyssel, in 1608. His father, who was likewise a painter, and appears to have lived some time in Italy, was his first master. After continuing his studies at Haarlem, he devoted himself to portrait-painting. His early works were of a smaller size than those which he undertook at a later period. He soon became known in his native country, but resolved to study the works of the great masters of the Italian school. After spending some time in Italy, he visited Paris, where he was much esteemed as a portrait-painter. His fame preceded him on his return to Holland. His most celebrated work is the great picture containing the portraits of the sixty-nine plenipotentiaries who were assembled at Münster, in the congress that put an end to the Thirty Years' War. He accepted an invitation from the Spanish plenipotentiary at this famous congress to visit Spain,