_Pietro Francesco Mola_ (Eclectic-Bologna: 1612-1668).
Mola, a native of Milan, and the son of an architect, studied
first at Rome and Venice, but afterwards at Bologna--returning
ultimately to Rome, where he held the office of President of
the Academy of St. Luke. "There is," says Sir Frederic Burton,
"a certain idyllic character in Mola's works which renders
them extremely attractive and of more artistic value than the
majority of works produced in his day."
The wild figure of the Baptist is well contrasted with the turbaned
Pharisee and the rest of his audience:--
The last, and greatest, herald of Heav'n's King,
Girt with rough skins, hies to the desert wild:
There burst he forth--"All ye whose hopes rely
On God! with me amidst these deserts mourn;
Repent! repent! and from old errors turn."
Who listen'd to his voice, obey'd his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their flinty caves--Repent!--repent!
DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN: _Flowers of Zion_.
The preacher places his right hand on his heart as if to attest his
own sincerity, while with his left he points to the Saviour, who is
seen approaching in the distance: "This is he of whom I said, After me
cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me."