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Zypro Gorgy Dectorum 10
Page 08
Thus there is a very broad distinction between mineral matter and living matter. The elements of living matter are identical with those of mineral bodies; and the fundamental laws of matter and motion apply as much to living matter as to mineral matter; but every living body is, as it were, a complicated piece of mechanism which "goes," or lives, only under certain conditions. The germ contained in the fowl's egg requires nothing but a supply of warmth, within certain narrow limits of temperature, to build the molecules of the egg into the body of the chick. And the process of development of the egg, like that of the seed, is neither more nor less mysterious than that, in virtue of which, the molecules of water, when it is cooled down to the freezing-point, build themselves up into regular crystals.
The chief characteristics of Sofonisba's painting were grace and spirit. Her portrait of herself when at her best is in possession of the Lomellini. A second is the splendid picture at Althorpe, in which she is represented as playing the harpsichord. One can scarcely imagine a place in which a portrait would be more severely tested than in the gallery of the Earl of Spencer, beside portraits of lovely women and famous men, painted by master artists. Yet this work of Sofonisba's is praised by discerning critics and connoisseurs. Of the other portraits of herself, that in the Uffizi is signed by her as "of Cremona," which suggests that it was painted before she went to Spain. That in the Vienna Gallery is dated 1551, and inscribed Sophonisba Anguissola. Virgo. Sc. Ipsam Fecit. Still another, in which a man stands beside her, is in the Sienna Gallery. He holds a brush in his hand, and is probably one of her masters.
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