Excerpt from The Midsummer of Italian Art IN the first edition of Midsummer I stated that my Object was to provide a comprehensive account of the greatest Italian painters, which might serve both as a book Of reference for American travellers in Europe, and to revive the recollections Of what they had seen after their return. In revising my book I have consid ered the request Of my friends and critics for a more thorough and complete analysis of the works of Raphael and Michel Angelo, as the two artists in whom the pub lic takes the liveliest interest. I have also amended the account Of Leonardo da Vinci so as to introduce a state ment of every picture which can be ascribed to him on reasonable grounds. Certain additions have also been made to the account of Correggio, but the similarity of his designs makes a complete list of his paintings of less importance than the others. In order to make the book as perfect as possible, I have compared my previous statements with those of the most distinguished writers on the subject, and where I became satisfied that I was formerly in error I have made such changes as were necessary, giving credit to the proper authority in a foot-note. This applies, how ever, chiefly to the account of Raphael, and in a less degree to Leonardo and Correggio. There is no thor ough-going criticism of Michel Angelo's works that I can hear of, in any language, and my own statement would seem to be the first attempt in that direction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.