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VE
ENET
TIAN
SCH
HOOL
L OF PAIN
NTING
G
Giorgione.
MADONN
NA WITH S. LIBERA
ALE AND S.
S FRANCIS.
Castelfran
nco.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
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The Venetian
Schoool of Painting
P
g
BY
EVE
ELYN MARCH
M
H PHIL
LLIPPS
S
WIT
TH ILLUSTR
RATIONS
B
BOOKS
FO
OR LIBR
RARIES PRESS
FREE
EPORT, NE
EW YORK
INTERN
NATIONAL STANDA
ARD BOOK
K NUMBER
R:
0-8369-6745-3
LIBRARY
Y OF CONG
GRESS CAT
TALOG CA
ARD NUMB
BER:
70-3790
07
PRINTE
ED IN THE
E UNITED STATES
S
OF
F AMERIC
CA
BY
NEW WO
ORLD BOO
OK MANU
UFACTURIN
NG CO., IN
NC.
HALLAN
NDALE, FL
LORIDA 33009
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P
PREFA
ACE
Many visits
v
to Vennice have brought
b
hom
me the fact that there exists,
e
in Ennglish at leeast, no worrk
which deals
d
as a whole
w
with the Venetiaan School and
a its masters. Biograaphical cataalogues therre
are in plenty,
p
but these, thouugh useful for referen
nce, say litttle to readeers who aree not alreaddy
acquainnted with thhe painters whose
w
careeer and worrks are brieffly recordedd. Lives of
o individuaal
masterss abound, but
b howeverr excellent and essentiial these maay be to ann advanced study of thhe
school, the volumees containinng them maake too larg
ge a libraryy to be easiily carried about, and a
great deeal of readinng and assim
milation is required to set each paainter in hiss place in th
he long storyy.
Crowe and Cavalccaselles Hisstory of Paiinting in No
orth Italy sttill remains our sheet anchor;
a
but it
is lengtthy, over fuull of detail of minor painters,
p
and
d lacks the interestingg criticism which
w
of latte
years has
h collecteed round eaach master. There seeems room for
f a portabble volumee, making an
a
attemptt to consideer the Venetian painterrs, in relatio
on to one another,
a
andd to help th
he visitor noot
only too trace the evolution of
o the schoool from itss dawn, thrrough its fuull splendou
ur and to its
declininng rays, butt to realise what
w
the Venetian Sch
hool was, annd what waas the philosophy of liffe
which it representeed.
Such a book does not pretendd to vie with, much leess to superrsede, the m
masterly treatises on thhe
subject which havee from timee to time apppeared, or to take the place of exxhaustive hiistories, succh
as that of
o Professorr Leonello Venturi
V
on the Italian primitives.
p
It should buut serve to pave
p
the waay
to deeper and moree detailed reading. It does
d
not asp
pire to give a completee and comprrehensive list
of the painters;
p
som
me of the minor
m
ones may
m not even be mentiooned. The m
mere inclusion of namees,
dates, and
a facts woould add unnduly to thee size of thee book, andd, when withhout real beearing on thhe
course of Venetiann art, would have littlle significan
nce. What the book ddoes aim at is to enablle
those who
w care forr art, but may
m not havve mastered
d its history, to rear a framework on which to
t
found their
t
own observation
o
ns and apprreciations; to
t supply that
t
coherennt knowled
dge which is
beneficial even too a passing acquaintannce with beeautiful thinngs, and too place thee unscientifi
fic
observeer in a position to takke greater advantage
a
of
o opportunnities, and to achieve a wide annd
interesting outlookk on that cyycle of artisstic appreheension whicch the Veneetian Schoo
ol comprisees,
and whiich marks itt as the outccome and thhe symbol of
o a great hisstoric age.
The woorks cited haave been priincipally thoose with wh
hich the orddinary travelller is likely
y to come
into conntact in the chief Europpean galleriees, and, abo
ove all, in Venice
V
itselff. The lists do
d not
proposee to be exhaaustive, but merely indiicate the priincipal workks of the arttists. Those in private
galleriees, unless eaasy of access or of first--rate importtance, are usually
u
elimiinated. It haas not been
thoughtt necessary to use profuuse illustratiions, as the book is inteended primarily for usee when
visitingg the originaal works.
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C
CONTE
NTS
PART I
CHAPTE
ER I
VENICE AND HER ART
CHAPTER
R II
PRIMITIVE ART IN VENIC
CE
CHAPTER
R III
INFLUENCES OF UMBRIA AND VERON
NA
CHAPTER
R IV
THE SCHOOL
L OF MURANO
O
CHAPTER V
THE PADUAN
N INFLUENCE
E
CHAPTER
R VI
JACOPO BELL
LINI
CHAPTER
R VII
CARLO CRIV
VELLI
CHAPTER
R VIII
GENTILE BEL
LLINI AND ANTONELLO
N
DA
D MESSINA
CHAPTER
R IX
ALVISE VIVA
ARINI
CHAPTER X
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CARPACCIO
CHAPTER
R XI
GIOVANNI BELLINI
E
CHAPTER
R XII
GIOVANNI BELLINI
E
(conttinued)
R XIII
CHAPTER
CIMA DA CON
NEGLIANO AND
A
OTHER FOLLOWERS OF
O BELLINI
PART II
I
CHAPTER
R XIV
GIORGIONE
CHAPTER
R XV
GIORGIONE (continued)
(
CHAPTER
R XVI
THE GIORGIO
ONESQUE
CHAPTER XVII
TITIAN
XVIII
C
CHAPTER
TITIAN (conttinued)
CHAPTER
R XIX
TITIAN (conttinued)
CHAPTER
R XX
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PALMA VECC
CHIO AND LORENZO
O
LOT
TTO
CHAPTER
R XXI
SEBASTIAN DEL
D PIOMBO
CHAPTER XXII
BONIFAZIO AND
A
PARIS BORDONE
XXIII
C
CHAPTER
PAINTERS OFF THE VENET
TIAN PROVINCES
C
CHAPTER
XXIV
PAOLO VERO
ONESE
CHAPTER XXV
TINTORETTO
O
XXVI
C
CHAPTER
TINTORETTO
O (continued))
C
CHAPTER
XXVII
X
BASSANO
PART III
I
C
CHAPTER
XXVIII
X
THE INTERIM
M
XXIX
C
CHAPTER
TIEPOLO
CHAPTER XXX
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PIETRO LONG
GHI
C
CHAPTER
XXXI
CANALE
C
CHAPTER
XXXII
X
FRANCESCO GUARDI
B
BIBLIOGRA
APHY
ILLU
USTRA
ATIONS
S
BY
1. Madonnna with S.
Liberalle and S. Fraancis Giorgione
Anton
nio da
Muran
no
Berlin
3. Agony in Garden
Jacopo
o Bellini
British Musseum
Gentille Bellini
Venice
Alvisee Vivarini
Venice
Carpaaccio
Venice
H
Processsion of the Holy
Cross
5. Altarpiiece of 1480
6.
Castelfrancco
4.
AT
Arrivall of the
Ambasssadors
7. Piet
8. An Allegory
9. Fte Chhamptre
Giorgione
Louvre
Titian
n
National Gaallery
Titian
n
Earl Brownnlow
Palmaa Vecchio
Colonna
Gallery, Roome
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13.
nzo Lotto
Loren
Brera
Paolo Veronese
Louvre
Tintorretto
Scuola di S
San
Rocco
Tintorretto
Ducal Palacce
17. Baptism
m of S. Lucillla
Jacopo
o da Ponte
Bassano
Tiepolo
Palazzo Labbia,
Venice
o Longhi
Pietro
National Gaallery
Franceesco
Guard
di
National Gaallery
19.
LIST OF PA
AINTER
RS
Paolo da
d Venezia, fl.
f 1333-1358.
Niccoloo di Pietro, fl.
f 1394-14004.
Niccoloo Semitocollo, fl. 1364.
Stefanoo di Veneziaa, fl. 1353.
Lorenzoo Venezianoo, fl. 1357-11379.
Chatarinus, fl. 13722.
Jacobelllo del Fioree, fl. 1415-1439.
Gentile da Fabrianno, 1360-14228.
Vittore Pisano (Pissanello), cirrca 1385-14455.
Michelee Giambonoo, fl. 1470.
Giovannni Alemanuus, fl. 1440-1447.
Antonioo da Muranoo, circa 14330-1470.
Bartoloommeo Vivaarini, fl. 14220-1499.
Alvise Vivarini,
V
fl. 1461-15033.
Antonello da Messsina, circa 1444-1493.
1
Jacopo Bellini, fl. 1430-1466.
1
Jacopo dei Barbarii, circa 14500-1516.
Andrea Mantegna, 1431-15066.
Carlo Crivelli,
C
14330-1493.
Bartoloommeo Monntagna, 14500-1523.
Francessco Buonsiggnori, 1453--1519.
Gentile Bellini, cirrca 1427-15507.
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PART
TI
C
CHAPTE
ER I
VENIICE AND HER
H
ART
Venetiaan painting in its primee differs altoogether in character
c
froom that of eevery other part of Italyy.
The Veenetian is thhe most marrked and reccognisable of
o all the scchools; its ssingularity is
i such that a
novice in art can easily, in a miscellaneeous collecction, sort out
o the worrks belongin
ng to it, annd
added to
t this uniqque characteer is the poosition it occcupies in thhe domain of art. Ven
nice alone of
o
Italian States
S
can boast
b
an epooch of art coomparable in
i originalitty and splenndour to thatt of her greaat
Florentiine rival; ann epoch whhich is to bee classed am
mong the greeat art manifestations of
o the worldd,
which has
h exertedd, and contiinues to exxert, incalcu
ulable poweer over painnting, and which is thhe
inspirattion as well as the desppair of thosee who try to master its secret.
s
The othher schools of Italy, with
w all theirr superficiall varieties of
o treatmennt and feelin
ng, dependeed
for theiir very life upon the extent
e
to which
w
they were
w
able too imbibe thhe Florentin
ne influence.
Siena rejected
r
thaat strength and perisheed; Venice bided her time and ssuddenly sttruck out on
o
indepenndent lines, achieving a magnificennt victory.
Art in Florence
F
m
made
a stricttly logical progress.
p
As
A civilisation awoke iin the old Latin
L
race, it
went baack in every domain of
o learning to the rich subsoil whhich still unnderlay the ruin and thhe
alien sttructures lefft by the long barbaricc dominion,, for the Itaalian in his darkest hou
ur had neveer
been a barbarian; and as thee mind wass once morre roused too consciouss life, Floreence entereed
readily upon that great
g
intellectual movem
ment which
h she was deestined to leead. Her caast of thoughht
was, froom the firstt, realistic and
a scientiffic. Its wholle endeavouur was to kn
know the tru
uth, to weiggh
evidencces, to elaboorate experiiments, to see
s things as
a they reallly were; annd when shee reached thhe
point att which art was
w ready to
t speak, wee find that the
t governinng motive oof her langu
uage was this
same prredilection for reality, and it was with this meaning
m
thaat her typical artists fo
ound a voice.
No artisst ever sougght for truthh, both physsical and sp
piritual, morre resolutely than Giottto, and nonne
ever spooke more diistinctly thee mind of hiis age and country; andd as one genneration folllows anotheer,
art in Tuscany
T
beccomes more and more closely
c
allieed to the inttellectual m
movement. The
T scientifi
fic
predilecction for foorm, for thee of things as they reaally are, chharacterises not Florenttine paintinng
alone, but
b the whoole of Floreentine art. Itt is an art of
o contributtions and diiscoveries, marked, it is
needlesss to say, att every stepp by dominaating person
nalities, positively as well as relaatively greaat,
but witth each meember consciously abssorbed in going
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The diffference whhich separattes Venetiann from the rest of Italian paintingg is a fundaamental one.
Venice attains to an equallyy distinguisshed place, but the way
w in whicch she doees it and thhe
characteer of her coontribution are
a both so absolutely
a
distinct
d
thatt her art seem
ms to be thee outcome of
o
anotherr race, with alien tempeerament andd standards. Venice hadd, indeed, a history and
d a life of heer
own. Her
H entire isoolation, from
m her founddation, gavee her an inddependent ggovernment and custom
ms
peculiarr to herselff, but at thee same timee her peoplle, even in their earlieest and mosst precariouus
strugglees, were noo barbarianss who had slowly to acquire thee arts of civvilised life.. Among thhe
refugeees were perssons of highh birth and great traditions, and they
t
broughht with them
m to the firrst
crazy seettlement onn the lagoons some poolitical train
ning and som
me idea of hhow to reco
onstruct theeir
shattereed social fabbric. The Venetian
V
Reepublic rosee rapidly to a position of influencce in Europe.
Small and
a circum
mscribed as its area was,
w
every feature
f
andd sentimentt was concentrated annd
intensiffied. But onne element above
a
all permeates it and sets it apart from
m other Euro
opean Statees.
The Orriental elem
ment in Veenice must never be lost sight of if we w
wish to und
derstand heer
philosopphy of art.
There are
a some grrounds, seriiously acceppted by thee most recennt historianns, for believ
ving that thhe
first Venetian colonists werre the descendants of
o emigrantts who in prehistoricc times haad
urned from thence to Northern Italy.
I
Thesse
establisshed themseelves in Assia and whho had retu
colonistts, says Haazlitt, weree called Tyrrrhenians, and
a from thheir settlemeents round the
t mouth of
o
the Po the
t Venetiaan stock waas ultimatelyy derived. If the tradition has any truth, we think with a
deeper interest of that instincct for comm
merce which
h seems to have
h
been iin the very blood of thhe
early Venetians.
V
D it, indeeed, come doown to them
Did
m from the merchants of Tyre an
nd Carthagee?
From thhat wonderfful trading race
r
which stretched
s
ou
ut its arms all
a over Euroope and pen
netrated eveen
to our own
o
island?? From the first, Venicce cut hersellf adrift, as far as posssible, from Western
W
tiees,
but shee turned to Eastern peoople and too intercourse with the East with a natural afffinity whicch
savourss of racial innstinct. Alll her greatness was derrived from her Asiaticc trade, and her bazaarrs,
heaped with Easteern riches, must havee assumed a deeply Oriental
O
asppect. Her customs
c
lonng
retainedd many dettails peculiiar to the East.
E
The people
p
obseerved a cuustom for choosing
c
annd
dowerinng brides, which
w
was of Asia. The nationall treatment of women was akin to
t that of an
a
Orientaal State; Venetian wom
men lived inn a retiremeent which recalled
r
the life of the harem, onlly
appearinng on greatt occasions to display their
t
brocad
des and jeweels. Girls w
were closely veiled wheen
they paassed throuugh the streeets. The attachment
a
of men to women haad no intelllectual biaas,
scarcelyy any sentim
ment, but went
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CHAPTE
ER II
PRIMIT
TIVE ART
T IN VENIC
CE
The schhool of Byzantium, so widespread
w
d in its influeence, was particularly
p
strong in Venice,
V
wherre
mosaicss adorned the
t cathedrral of Torccello from the ninth century
c
andd St. Marks became a
splendidd storehousse of Byzaantine art. The earliesst mosaic on
o the faaade of St. Marks waas
executeed about thee year 12500, those in the
t Baptisteery date duuring the reiign of Andrrea Dandoloo,
who waas Doge from
m 1342 to 1354.
1
Yet thhough the liife of Giotto lies betweeen these tw
wo dates, annd
his frescoes at Paddua were witthin a few hours
h
journ
ney, there iss no sign thaat the great revolution in
i
paintingg, which waas making itself felt inn every prin
ncipal centrre of Italy, had toucheed the richest
and most peaceful of all her States.
n outcome of Byzantin
nism. It rosse as that off the mosaiccists fell, buut
Yet local art in Veenice was no
its rise differs
d
from
m that of Floorence and Siena
S
in beiing for longg almost impperceptible. Artists werre
looked upon merelly as artisanns in all thee cities of Italy,
I
but inn Venice before any otther city theey
mong the craftsmen.
c
T statute of the Guilld of Siena was not fo
The
ormulated tiill
had beeen placed am
1355; thhat of Venicce is the earrliest of whiich we havee any recordd, and bearss the date off 1272. Therre
is scarccely a word to indicate that picturees in the mo
odern sensee of the term
m existed. Painters
P
werre
employyed on the adornment of
o arms and of househo
old furnituree. Leather hhelmets and shields werre
painted, and such banners as we see in Paolo Ucceellos battleepieces. Painnted chests and cassonni
t surface of the tablle itself werre
were allready in deemand, dishhes and plaates for the table and the
treated in a similarr way. Special regulatioons dealt wiith all thesee, and it is oonly at the end
e of the list
that anncon are mentioned.. The ancoona was a gilded fraamework, hhaving a compartmen
c
nt
containing a picturre of the Madonna
M
andd Child, and others wiith single fiigures of th
he saints, annd
these were
w
the onlyy pictures proper
p
produuced at thiss date. The demand forr ancon was,
w howeveer,
large, and
a they weere very earrly placed, not only in
n the churchhes, but in tthe houses of patricianns
and buurghers. Coonstant dispputes arose between the painterrs and the gilders. Pictures werre
habitually painted upon a golld ground, but the pain
nters were forbidden tto gild the backgroundds
themsellves. Gildding is thee business of the gillder, paintiing that off the paintter, says a
contempporary recoord. Now the
t gilder contends
c
th
hat if a fram
me has to bbe gilt and then
t
toucheed
with coolour, he iss entitled too perform both
b
operattions, but thhe painter disputes th
his right, annd
maintaiins that the gilder shouuld return it to him wheen the addittion of painnting is desiired. It waas,
howeveer, finally deecided by laaw that eachh should ex
xercise both professionss, when onee or the otheer
played a subordinaate part in thhe finished work. Thou
ugh the art of
o mosaic w
was falling into
i
decay as
a
mercial man
nufactory off Byzantinee Madonnass, which haad
paintingg began to emerge, yeet the comm
been esstablished as
a early as 600,
6
went on,
o on the Rialto,
R
without any varriation of th
he traditional
forms.
Florencce very earlyy discarded the temptattion to cling
g to materiaal splendourr, but as we pass into thhe
Hall off the Primitiives in the Venetian Academy,
A
we
w see at onnce that Veenetian art, in its earlieer
stages, has more to do withh the gildeer than thee painter. The
T Holy Personagess are merelly
accessoories to the gorgeous framework,
fr
the embosssed ornamennts, the reaal jewels, which
w
were in
i
favour with the riich and maagnificent patrons.
p
Theere is no siign of any feeling forr painting as
a
paintingg, no cravinng after thee study of form as thee outcome of intellecttual activity
y, no zest of
o
discoveery, such ass made the painters
p
liffe in Floren
nce an excittement in w
which the pu
ublic sharedd.
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What liittle Venicee imbibes of these thinngs is from outside inffluence, after due lapsse of time. A
prosperrous, luxuriious city of merchantts and stateesmen, she was too m
much boun
nd up in thhe
transacttions and seensations off actual life to
t develop any
a abstract and thoughtful ideals.
Perhapss the first paainting we can
c discoveer which sho
ows any signn of independent effortt is the seriees
which Paolo
P
da Veenezia painnted on the back
b
of thee Pala d Orro, over thee high altar of St. Markk,
when itt was restorred in the foourteenth ceentury. Thiss reveals ann artist withh some picto
orial aptitudde
and onee alive to thhe subjects that
t
surrounnd him. It tells the storry of St. Maarks corpsee transporteed
to Veniice. The firrst panel coontains a group
g
of caardinals of varying typpes and exp
pressions; in
i
anotherr the disciplle listening to St. Markks teaching
g, and croucching with hhis elbows on
o his kneees,
has a trrue, naturall touch. Thee dramatic feeling here and theree is consideerable. The scene of thhe
guards watching
w
thhe imprisoned Saint thrrough the window
w
and seeing the sshadow of two
t heads, as
a
the Savviour visits him, impaarts a distinnct emotion
n; and therre is force as well ass feeling foor
decorative compossition in thee panel in which
w
the Saaints body lies at the ffeet of the sailors,
s
whille
his visioon appears shining upoon the sails.
Except for the exaaggerated innsistence onn the gilded
d elaborationns of the eaarly ancona, there is noot
much to differentiiate the earrly art of Venice
V
from
m that of otther centress; but we notice
n
that it
m
art
a of the craftsman.
c
T
Tuscan taste made littlle
perseveered longer in the material and mechanical
impresssion, and many years elapsed
e
befoore work ak
kin to that off Giotto attrracted atten
ntion and waas
admiredd and imitaated. A maan like Anttonio Veneziano met with the fa
fate of the innovator in
i
Venice.. He had tooo much of the
t simpliciity of the Tu
uscan and was
w compellled to carry
y his work to
t
Pisa, where
w
his naaf and humorous narraatives still delight
d
us inn the Camppo Santo. It was in 13884
that he was emplloyed to finnish the frrescoes of the life off S. Ranierii, which had been leeft
uncomppleted at Anndrea da Firrenzes deaath, and the fondness foor architectuure and surrroundings in
i
the Florrentine tastee, which seccured him a welcome, may, as Vaasari says, bbe derived from
f
Agnollo
Gaddi, who
w had alrready visiteed Padua andd Venice.
In the last years off the fourteeenth centuryy tributary streams beggin to feed tthe feeble main
m
currennt.
In 13655 Guariento, a Paduan, was emplooyed by the State to paint a huge ffresco of Paaradise in thhe
Hall off the Gran Consiglio of the Duccal Palace. This, whicch lay hid for centuriees under thhe
paintingg by Tintoreetto, was unncovered inn 1909 and found to bee in fairly ggood preserv
vation. It caan
now bee seen in a side room.. It tells uss that Guariiento had too some exttent been in
nfluenced by
b
Giotto. The thronees have lonng Gothic pendatives,
p
the faces have
h
more tthe Giottesque than thhe
Byzantiine cast andd show that the old tradditions were crumbling..
When painting
p
in Venice
V
firstt begins to live
l
a life off its own, Jaacobello deel Fiore stan
nds out as thhe
most coonspicuous of the inddigenous Veenetians. His father haad been preesident of the
t Painters
Guild. Jacopo
J
himsself was preesident from
m 1415 to 14
436. He waas a rich andd popular member
m
of thhe
State annd a man off high charaacter. His works,
w
to ju
udge by the specimens left, hardly
y attained thhe
dignity of art, thoough in the banner of
o Justice, in the Academy,
A
thhe space iss filled in a
monum
mental fashioon and the figure
f
of Stt. Gabriel with
w the lily has somethhing grand and
a gracefuul.
We tracce the samee treatment of flying baanners and draperies annd rippling hair in the fantastic buut
picturessque S. Grissogono in thhe left transsept of San Trovaso. Jaacobellos w
will, executeed in 1439 in
i
favour of
o his wife Lucia and his
h son, Erccole, with prrovision forr a possible posthumou
us son, show
ws
him to have
h
been a man of coonsiderable possessions. He owneed a slave annd had otheer servants, a
house, money,
m
andd books. Am
mong his feellow-workeers who are representedd in Venicee are Niccollo
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Paolo da Veneziia.
Venicee.
Vicenzza.
D
Death
of the Virgin.
V
Lorennzo da Veneezia.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Alttarpiece.
C
Correr
Museuum: Saviour giving
g
Keys to St. Peter.
S. Giovanni inn Bragora: Ancona.
A
Berlin..
T Saints.
Two
Nicoletto Semitoocolo.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Alttarpiece.
Padua.
B
Biblioteca
Archivescovo: Altarpiece.
Stefaano da Veneezia.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Jusstice.
S. Trovaso: S. Grisogono.
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Niccoolo di Pietrro.
Venicee.
Michhele Giamboono.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
St. James the Great
G
and othher Saints.
Londonn.
M
Mond
Collecttion: A Thro
one.
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CH
HAPTE
ER III
INFL
LUENCES OF UMBR
RIA AND VERONA
V
Gentile da Fabrianno, the Um
mbrian mastter, when he
h reached Venice in the early years of thhe
fifteenthh century, was
w already a man of note.
n
He had
d received his
h art educaation in Florrence, and he
h
broughtt with him fresh and delicate deevices for th
he enrichm
ment of painnting with gold, whichh,
derivedd as it was from
f
the Sieenese assim
milation of Byzantine
B
m
methods,
waas very supeerior in fanccy
and reffinement too anything that Venicce had to show. He was a maan of a geentle, mystiic
temperaament, but he
h was accuustomed to courts,
c
and a finished master
m
whose techniqu
ue and artistiic
value was
w far beyond anythinng that the local paintters were caapable of. H
He spent so
ome years in
i
Venice,, adorning the
t great haall with epissodes from the legend of Barbarosssa; one of these, whicch
is speciially cited, was
w of the battle
b
betweeen the Emp
peror and thhe Venetianns. Gentile was
w workinng
till abouut 1414, annd the walls, finished by Pisanello, were coovered by 11416. After this Gentille
remaineed some tim
me in Bergaamo and Brrescia, and settled
s
in Florence aboout 1422. The year afteer
reaching Florencee, he painteed the fam
mous Adorration of thhe Magi, now in th
he Florentinne
Academ
my. Even affter leaving Venice hiss fame surv
vived; picturres went froom his worrkshop in thhe
Popolo S. Trinit, and
a he sent back two portraits
p
afteer he had retturned to hiis native Fab
briano.
We havve no positivve record off Gentile annd Vittore Pisano,
P
comm
monly calleed Pisanello
o, having meet
in Veniice, but therre is every evidence
e
inn their work
k that they did
d so, and that one ov
verlapped thhe
other inn the paintinngs for the Ducal
D
Palace.
The School of Veerona alreaddy had an honourable
h
record, annd its Guildd dates from
m 1303. Thhe
r
the doocument off which is still
s preservved, while tthat of Ven
nice has beeen
followinng are its rules,
lost:
RULES OF
O THE VER
RONESE GUIL
LD (abridge
ed)
1. No one to becom
me a membeer who had not practiseed art for tw
welve years.
2. Twellve artists too be electedd members.
3. The reception
r
off a new mem
mber depends on his beeing a senioor.
4. The members
m
arre obliged inn the winterr season to take
t
upon thhemselves thhe instruction of all thee
pupils in turn.
5. A meember is liabble to be exxpelled for theft.
t
6. Eachh member is bound to extend to anoother fratern
nal assistannce in necessity.
7. To maintain
m
genneral agreem
ment in any controversiies.
8. To exxtend hospitality to straange artists..
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him as a master of
o the mostt finished tyype. A mucch destroyeed fresco inn S. Anastaasia, Verona,
portrayss the historyy of St. George and thhe Dragon. In
I the St. George
G
we pprobably seee the portraait
of the great
g
personnage in whoose honour the fresco was
w paintedd. He is mouunting his horse,
h
whichh,
seen from behind, reminds us
u of the fore-shorten
f
ned chargerrs of Paoloo Uccello. The rescueed
princesss, also a porrtrait, wearss a magnificcent dress and
a an elaboorate headggear in the fashion
fa
of thhe
day. Otther horses, fiery and spirited, are grouped arround, and in
i the band of cavalierss, beyond St.
S
George, every headd is individuualised; onee is beautifu
ul, another brutal,
b
and sso on throug
gh the sevenn.
A greyhhound and spaniel
s
in thhe foregrouund are supeerbly painteed, the background is excellent, annd
a realisttic touch is given by thhe corpses which
w
dang
gle unheedeed from the trees outsid
de the castleegate. A ruined, buut fortunatelly not restoored, Annu
unciation in
i S. Fermoo, has a sim
mple, slendeer
figure of
o the Virgiin sitting byy her whitee bed, and the angel, with
w great sw
weeping, ru
ushing winggs
and boowed, childd-like head with fair hair, is a most sweeet and keeen figure, thrilling
t
annd
convinccing, in conntrast to all the
t dead, ovver-worked frescoes roound the chuurch. All theese paintinggs
are too small to bee the least effective at the
t height at
a which theey are placeed, and can only be seeen
with a good
g
glass. Pisanellos art is not well
w adapted
d to wide, frrescoed wallls, and he seeems to havve
enjoyedd painting miniature
m
paanels, such as the two we possess. In these he is full of
o originalityy,
and shoows his love for the knnightly life,, the life off courts, in the armed cap--pied figure of St.
S
George, whose pooint-device armour is crowned
c
by
y a wide Tuuscan hat aand feather.. The artists
knowledge and lovve of animaals and wildd nature com
mes out in thhem, and his interest in
n beauty annd
chivalryy as opposed to the outtworn conveentionalitiess of ecclesiaastic demannds.
We shaall be able too trace the influence
i
off both the Umbrian
U
andd the Veronnese painterr on men likke
Antonioo di Muranoo and Jacoppo Bellini, and
a it is im
mportant to note
n
the likkeness of th
he two to onne
anotherr. In Gentilees Adoratiion we havve on the one hand thee Holy Fam
mily and the gay pageannt
of the kings,
k
of whhich we coulld find the prototype
p
in
n many an Umbrian
U
pannel. On the other we seee
those coontrasting elements
e
whhich were sttruggling in
n Pisanello; the delight in flowers and animalls,
in gailyy apparelledd figures, inn dogs and horses. Thee two have no lasting effect, but though theey
created no actual school, theey gave a stimulus
s
to Venetian art, and staarted it on a new tackk,
enabling it to openn its channels to fresh ideas.
i
Durin
ng the time they were iin Venice, Jacobello
J
deel
S
Fiore shows somee signs of adapting thhe new fashion to hiss early stylle, and the horse of S.
Adoration, or like Pisanos horsses. Michelle
Grisogoono is veryy like that of Gentilee in the A
Giamboono is actually found in collaborration, in th
he chapel of
o the Madonna da Mascoli
M
in St.
S
Marks,, with suchh a virile painter
p
as the
t Florentine, Andrea del Castaagno, who is evidentlly
responssible for Good the Fatheer and two of
o the Aposstles; but Caastagno musst have been
n thoroughlly
antipathhetic to the Venetians, and thoughh he may have
h
taught them the w
way to draw
w, he has noot
left anyy traces of a following.
Facio, writing
w
in 1455,
1
speakks of Gentiles work in
n the Ducal Palace as aalready deccaying, whille
Pisanelllos was paiinted out byy Alvise Vivvarini and Bellini.
B
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Genttile da Fabrriano.
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Florencce.
A
Academy:
Addoration of th
he Magi.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Altarpiiece.
Altichiero.
Padua.
C
Capella
S. Fellice, S. Antonio: Frescoees.
C
Capella
S. Gioorgio, S. Anaastasia: The Cavalli Fam
mily.
Pisannello.
Padua.
Veronaa.
S. Fermo: Annnunciation.
Londonn.
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CH
HAPTE
ER IV
THE SC
CHOOL OF
F MURAN
NO
The impportant little town of Murano,
M
a satellite of Venice,
V
lies upon an islland, some ten minutes
row froom the mothher State, diistinct from
m which it prreserved separate interrests and reg
gulations. Its
glass manufacture
m
was safeguuarded by thhe most striingent decreees, which fforbade meembers of thhe
Guild too leave the islet under pain of deaath. Its mossaics, stone work, and architecturee speak of an
a
early arrtistic existeence, and we
w recognise the justice of the claaim of Muranese paintters to be thhe
first to strike
s
out innto a more emancipated
e
d type than that of the primitives.
p
The painterr Giovanni of
o
Muranoo, called Gioovanni Alem
manus or d Alemagnaa, names beetween whicch Venetian
n jealousy foor
a time drew
d
an imaginary disttinction, haad certainly received hiis early eduucation in Germany,
G
annd
betrays it by his heavier
h
ornaamentation and
a more Gothic
G
stylee; but he waas a fellow--worker witth
Antonioo of Muranno, the founnder of the great
g
Vivarrini family, and the Accademy con
ntains severaal
large alltarpieces inn which theey collaboraated. Chrisst and the Virgin
V
in G
Glory was painted
p
for a
church in Venice in 1440, and
a has an inscription
n with bothh names onn a bandero
ol across thhe
foregrouund. The Eternal Fatheer, with Hiss hands on the
t shouldeers of the M
Mother and Son,
S
makes a
group of
o which we
w find the origin in Gentile
G
da Fabrianos altarpiece in the Breera, and it is
probablle that one if not bothh masters had
h been sttudying witth the Umbbrian and absorbing
a
thhe
principlles he had brought
b
to Venice. It is easy to trace
t
the influence of Giovanni d
d Alemagna,
though not always easy to picck out whicch part of a picture bellongs to him
m and which
h to Antoniio
workingg under hiss influencee. In S. Panntaleone is a Coronaation of thee Virgin, with Gothiic
ornameents such as are not fouund in purelly Italian artt at this perriod, but thee example in
n which botth
masterss can be most
m
closelyy followedd is the greeat picture in the Accademy, thee Madonnna
enthronned, where she sits unnder a baldaaquin surrou
unded by saaints. Here tthe Gothic surrounding
s
gs
becomee very floridd, and havee a gingerbbread-cake effect,
e
whicch Italian taste would hardly havve
tolerateed. Many feaatures are characteristicc of the Gerrman; the huuge crown w
worn by thee Mother, thhe
floriatedd ornament of the quaddrangle, thee almost barroque appeaarance of thhe throne. Th
hrough it alll,
heavily repainted as
a it is, shinnes the daw
wn of the ten
nder expresssion whichh came into Venetian art
a
with Geentile.
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An
ntonio da Murano.
M
A
ADORATIO
ON OF THE
E MAGI.
(P
Photo, Hanffstngl.)
Berlin.
Giovannni d Alem
magna and Antonio
A
da Murano weere no doubbt widely em
mployed, and
a when thhe
former died Antonnio founded and carriedd on a real school
s
in Venice.
V
In 14446 he was living in thhe
parish of
o S. Maria Formosa with
w his wifee, who was the daughteer of a fruit merchant, and the wills
of bothh are still preserved inn the parishh archives. Gentile da Fabriano hhad set the example foor
gorgeouus processioons with gaay dresses annd strange animals;
a
wiinding pathss in the bacckground annd
foreshoortened limbbs prove thaat attention had
h been drrawn to Paoolo Uccellos studies in
n perspective,
while many
m
figurees and horsses recall Piisanello. A striking prroof of the sojourn off Gentile annd
Pisanelllo in Venicce is found in
i an Adoration of Magi,
M
now ascribed to Antonio daa Murano, in
i
which the
t central group, the oldest kingg kissing th
he Childs foot, is verry like that in Gentiles
Adorattion, but the
t foreshortened horsses and the attendants argue the painters knowledge
k
o
of
Pisanelllos work. A comparrison of thee architectu
ure in the backgroundd with thatt in the S
St.
George in S. Anaastasia show
ws the same derivation,, and the daainty cavalieer, who holds a flag annd
is in atttendance onn the younggest king, is reminiscen
nt of St. George and Stt. Eustace in
n Pisanellos
paintinggs in the National Gallery, so thaat in this on
ne picture thhe influencees of the tw
wo artists arre
combinned.
Antonioo took his younger
y
broother, Bartollommeo, in
nto partnershhip, and thee title of da Murano waas
presentlly droppedd for the more
m
moderrn designatiion of Vivvarini. Bothh brothers are
a fine annd
delicatee in work, but
b from thee outset of thheir collabo
oration the younger
y
maan is more advanced
a
annd
more fuull of the spirit
s
of thee innovatorr. In his alttarpiece in the first haall of the Academy
A
thhe
Nativityy has alreaddy a new reealism; Joseeph leans hiis head upoon his hand,, crushing up
u his cheekk.
The saiints are partticularly vivvid in expreession, espeecially the old
o hermit holding thee bell, whosse
face is brimming
b
w ardent feeling.
with
f
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
C
Christ
and thee Virgin in Glory;
G
Virgin enthroned, w
with Saints.
Antonnio da Murrano.
Berlin..
A
Adoration
of Magi.
M
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CHAPTE
ER V
THE PA
ADUAN IN
NFLUENC
CE
And noow into thiis dawning school, em
mployed ch
hiefly in the service oof the Churrch, with its
tentativve and languuid essays to understaand Florentiine composition, resultting in whaat is scarcelly
more thhan a mindlless imitatioon, and witth its ratherr more intellligent percception of th
he Humanist
qualitiees of Pisaneellos work, there enterrs a new factor; or rathher a new aagency mak
kes a slightlly
more suuccessful atttempt than Gentile andd Castagno had done to
t help the Venetians to
t realise thhe
supreme importancce of the huuman figure, its power in relation to
t other objects to deteermine space,
its moddelling and the
t significaance of its attitude
a
in conveying
c
m
movement.
Giotto had been able to
t
present all these quualities in the
t human form,
f
but he
h had done so by the llight of gen
nius, and haad
never formulated
f
any sufficient rules for
fo his follo
owers guiddance. In G
Ghibertis scchool, at thhe
beginniing of the fiifteenth cenntury, the faascination of
o the antiquue in art waas making ittself felt, buut
Donatelllo had escaaped from the
t artificiaal trammels it threateneed to exerccise, and had carried thhe
Florentiine school with
w him inn his profouund research
hes into thee human forrm itself. Donatello
D
haad
been woorking in Paadua for tenn years befoore Pisanello
os death, annd in an inddirect way th
he Venetianns
were exxperiencingg some after-results off the system
matising andd formulating of the new
n
pictoriaal
elementts. Though the intelleectual life had
h met wiith little enncouragemeent among the positive,
practicaal inhabitannts of Venicce, in Paduaa, which haad been subbject to her since 1405
5, speculativve
thoughtt and ideal studies
s
weree in full swiing. There was
w no re-bbirth in Veniice, whose tradition
t
waas
unbrokeen and wheere men weere too genuuinely pagaan to care abbout the echo of a pag
ganism in thhe
remote past. St. Mark was the deity of
o Venice, and the other
o
twelvve Apostless were onlly
obscureely connecteed with herr religious life, which was strongg and orthoodox, but un
ntroubled by
b
metaphyysical enthuusiasms andd inconveniient heresiees. Padua, on
o the otherr hand, wass absorbed in
i
questionns of learniing and reliigion. A uniiversity had
d been estabblished heree for two ceenturies. Thhe
abstractt study of thhe antique was
w carriedd on with feervour, and the memoryy of Livy th
hrew a lustrre
over thhe city whicch had never quite dieed out. It seemed
s
perffectly rightt and respecctable to thhe
Venetiaans that the savants, lying safely removed
r
fro
om the busyy stream of commerciaal life, shoulld
cultivatte inquiries into theologgy and the classics,
c
wh
hich would only
o
have bbeen a hindrrance to theeir
own praactical busiiness; but suuch, as it was
w well known, were of absorbinng interest in
i the circlees
which gathered
g
rouund the Medici in Florrence. The school
s
of arrt, which waas now arisiing in Padua,
was fedd from such sources as these. The love
l
of the antique wass becomingg a fashion and
a a guidinng
principlle, and influuenced the art of paintting more fo
ormally thaan it could ssucceed in doing
d
amonng
the indeependent annd original Florentines.
F
Francessco Squarcione, thoughh, as Vasarii says, he may
m not havee been the bbest of pain
nters, has leeft
work (nnow at Berllin) which is
i accepted as genuinee and whichh shows thaat he was more
m
than thhe
mere orrganiser he is sometim
mes called. He
H had trav
velled in Grreece, and w
was apparen
ntly a dealeer,
supplying the dem
mand for classic fragmeents, which was becom
ming widesppread. When
n he foundeed
l
spirrit and a pow
werful artisttic influencee. His pupills,
his schoool in Paduaa he evidenttly was its leading
even thhe greatest, were
w
long in
i breaking away from
m his convenntion, and ffew of them
m threw it off
entirelyy, even in affter life. Thhat conventiion was carrried with unndeviating tthoroughness into everry
detail. Draperies
D
a arranged in statuesque folds, designed to
are
t display every turn of the form
m
beneathh; the figurres are mouulded with all the preecision and limitationss of statuarry. The verry
landscaape becomees sculptureesque, and rocks of a volcanic character
c
arre constructed with thhe
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
A
Altarpiece.
Bartoolommeo Vivarini.
Vi
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Alttarpiece, 146
64; Two Sainnts.
Frari: Madonnna and four Saints.
S
M
andd two Saints.
S. Giovanni inn Bragora: Madonna
S. Maria Form
mosa: Triptycch.
Londonn.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Viennaa.
Antonnio da Negrroponte.
Venicee.
S. Francesco della
d
Vigna: Altarpiece.
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CH
HAPTE
ER VI
JA
ACOPO BE
ELLINI
While Venice
V
was assimilatinng the spirit of the scho
ool of Squarrcione, whicch in the neext few yearrs
was to be rendereed famous by Manteggna, anotheer influencee was asserting itself,
f, which waas
sufficieent to counteeract the harrd formalism
m of Paduan
n methods.
When Gentile
G
da Fabriano
F
lefft Venice, he
h carried with
w him, and presently established
d with him in
i
Florencce, a young man, Jacoppo Bellini, who had already
a
beenn working w
with him an
nd Pisanelloo,
and who was an arrdent disciple of the neew naturalistic and hum
manist moveement. Both
h Gentile annd
his appprentice werre subjectedd to annoyaance from the time thhey arrived in Florence, where thhe
strict reegulations which
w
goverrned the Guuilds made it very diffficult for anny newcomeer to practisse
his art. The records of a police case reporrt that on th
he 11th of June 1423 soome young men, amonng
them, one,
o
Bernabbo di San Siilvestri, the son of a no
otary, were observed tthrowing sto
ones into thhe
painters room. His assistant, Jacopo Belllini, came out
o and droove the assaailants away
y with blow
ws,
but Berrnabo, accussing Jacopoo of assault, the latter was
w committted to prisonn in defaultt of paymennt.
After siix months imprisonme
i
ent, a compromise of th
he fine and a penitential declaratio
on set him at
a
liberty. The accounnts declare that
t Gentilee took no steeps to be off service to hhis followerr; but Jacoppo
soon affter married a girl from
m Pesaro, annd his first son
s was chrristened afteer his old master,
m
whicch
does noot look as thhough they were
w on unffriendly term
ms. Jacopo travelled inn the Romag
gna, and waas
much esteemed
e
byy the Estes of Ferrara, but he wass back in Venice
V
in 14430. He hass left us onlly
three siigned workss, and one or two morre have lateely been atttributed to hhim, but th
hey give verry
little ideea of what an
a importannt master hee was.
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Jacopo Bellini.
B
A
AGONY
IN
N GARDEN
NDRAWIING.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Brittish Museum
m.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Jacoppo Bellini.
Bresciaa.
A
Annunciation
and Predellee.
Veronaa.
C
Christ
on Cross.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Maadonna.
M
Museo
Correrr: Crucifixion
n.
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Londonn.
B
British
Museuum: Sketch-b
book.
Paris.
M
Madonna
andd Leonello d Este: Sketchh-book.
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CH
HAPTE
ER VII
CA
ARLO CRIIVELLI
We muust turn asiide from thhe main strream when we come to speak oof Carlo Crivelli,
C
whoo,
importaant master as
a he was, occupies
o
a place
p
by him
mself. A puupil of the V
Vivarini and
d perhaps, as
a
we havee noted, of Antonio Neegroponte, Crivelli waas profoundlly influenceed by the Paaduans, from
m
whom he
h learned that metalliic, finished quality of paint whichh he carriedd to perfecttion. Crivellli
shows intellect,
i
inddividuality, even geniuus, in the way
w in whichh he grapplees with his medium annd
producees his own reading, annd the circuumstances of
o his life were
w
such aas to throw him in upoon
himselff and to preeserve his originality. His
H little eaarly Madonnna and Child at Vero
ona is linkeed
with thaat of Negrooponte by thhe elaboratee festoons, strings
s
of beads,
b
and large-pattern
ned brocadees
used in the surrounndings, andd has those ugly,
u
foresh
hortened litttle putti, holding the in
nstruments of
o
the Passsion, of the type elaborrated by Sqquarcione an
nd Marco Zooppo, and w
which, in th
heir improveed
state, we
w are accustomed to thhink of as Mantegnesqu
M
ue.
When Crivelli
C
wass thirty-eighht years old, he was con
ndemned to six monthss imprisonm
ment and to a
fine of two hundreed lire for an
a outrage on
o a neighb
bours wife.. Perhaps itt was to esccape from an
a
unenviaable reputattion that he left Venicee soon after and set up painting inn the March
hes, where he
h
lived frrom 1468 too 1473. He then went on
o to Cameerino in Um
mbria, wheree his great triptych,
t
now
w
in the Brera,
B
was painted, annd a few years
y
later he
h was in Ascoli,
A
witth a commiission for an
a
Annuncciation in thhe Cathedrral. This is the picturee now in thhe Nationall Gallery, in
i which thhe
Bishop holds a moodel of the Duomo.
D
Affter 1490 hee worked inn little towns in the Maarches, and is
not menntioned afteer 1493. He does not seeem ever to have come back to Vennice.
Shut upp in the Marrches, where there wass little strong local talennt, and wheere he could
d not keep up
u
with thee progress that was taaking place in Venice, he was oblliged himseelf to supply the artistiic
movem
ment. He keppt the Squarrcionesque traditions to the end, but
b mouldedd them by his
h own lovve
of rich and exuberaant decoratiion. Moreovver, he was of a very inntense religgious bias, and
a this findds
ve of gildeed
a deeplly touchingg and mystiical expresssion, more especially in his Pietts. The lov
patternss and fanciiful detail was
w deep-seeated in alll the Umbrrian countryy. His altarrpieces werre
intended as sumpttuous additiions to richh churches, and were consequentl
c
ly arranged
d, with manny
divisionns, in the olld Muranesse manner. His
H great an
ncona, in thhe Nationall Gallery, iss a marvel of
o
elaboratte ornamennt and enam
mel-like paiinting. The Madonna is delicate, almost afffected in heer
refinem
ment. Her loong fingers hold the Childs garm
ment with thhe extreme of dainty precision,
p
thhe
crozierss and rings of the saintts and bishoops are emb
bossed withh gold and rreal jewels. The flowerrs
in the panel
p
of T
The Immacuulate Conceeption, whiich hangs beside
b
it, arre twisted into
i
heads of
o
mytholoogical beastts and groteesques or cherubs;
c
butt Crivelli haas plenty off strength, and
a his malle
saints have
h
vigoroous, bony liimbs and fiierce fanaticcal eyes. It is, howeveer, in his co
olour that he
h
charms us most, and
a though he does noot touch thee real fount,, he is of aall the earlieer school thhe
fo subtle tender tones and lovely harmonies of olive-greeens and faded rose annd
most reemarkable for
cream embossed
e
w gold.
with
Crivellii continued executing one
o great anncona after another, lim
miting his prrogress to perfecting
p
h
his
techniquue, and hiss influence was most deeply
d
felt by such Um
mbrian painnters as Lorrenzo di Saan
Severinno and Niccola Alunno. The honouurs paid him
m testify to the reputatiion he acqu
uired. He waas
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created a knight annd presentedd with a gollden laurel wreath. Butt though he never, thatt we can heaar
of, reviisited his native
n
State,, he alwayss adds Veneetus to the signature oon his pain
ntings, a facct
which tells
t
us thatt far from Venice
V
and in provincial districts, her prestigge was felt and gave his
h
work ann enhanced commerciaal value. Hee had no after-influencee upon the V
Venetian Scchool, and in
i
this resppect is interresting as ann example of
o the tenaccity exerciseed by the Sqquarcionesq
que methodds,
when, unchecked
u
b any counnter-attractiion, they caame to act upon
by
u
a veryy different teemperamennt;
for in his
h love of grace and beauty
b
and of rich effe
fects, and esspecially inn his intensiity of mystiic
feeling,, Crivelli is a true Veneetian and haas no naturaal affinity wiith the classsic spirit of the Paduanns.
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Venicee.
Ascoli.
D
Duomo:
Altarrpiece and Piiet.
Berlin..
M
Madonna
andd six Saints.
Londonn.
Milan.
Rome.
V
Vatican:
Piet.
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CH
HAPTER
R VIII
GENTILE
E BELLINII AND ANT
TONELLO
O DA MESS
SINA
What, then,
t
is thee position which
w
art haas achieved
d in Venicee a decade after the middle
m
of thhe
fourteennth centuryy, and how does
d
she coompare with
h the Florenntine Schoool? The Flo
orentines, Frra
Angelicco, Andrea del Castaggno, and Peesellino werre lately deead. Antonioo Pollaiuolo was in his
h
prime, Fra Lippo was fifty-foour, Paolo Uccello waas sixty-threee. But though the pro
ogress in thhe
north haad been slower, art botth in Padua and Venicee was now in
i vigorous progress. Bartolomme
B
eo
Vivarinni was still painting
p
andd gathering round him a numerouss band of foollowers; Mantegna
M
waas
thirty, had
h just com
mpleted thee frescoes in
i the Erem
mitani Chappel and the famous altaarpiece in S.
S
Zeno; and
a Gentile and Giovannni Bellini were
w two an
nd four yearrs his seniorrs.
Francessco Negro, writing
w
in thhe early yeaars of the siixteenth cenntury, speakks of Gentilee as the eldeer
son of Jacopo
J
Bellini. Giovannni is thougght to havee been an illegitimate sson, as Jaco
opos widow
w
only meentions Genntile and another son, Niccolo,
N
in her will. Thhere is everyy reason to believe thaat,
as was natural,
n
the two brotheers were thee pupils and
d assistants of
o their fathher. A Mad
donna in thhe
Mond Collection,
C
the earliestt known of Gentiles works,
w
show
ws him imittating his fathers
fa
stylee;
but whhen his sister, Niccoloosia, marrieed Mantegn
na in 1453, it is not surprising to find him
m
followinng Mantegnnas methodds for a timee, and a fressco of St. Mark
M
in the S
Scuola di Saan Marco, an
a
importaant commisssion whichh he receivved in 1466
6, is taken direct from
m Mantegnaas fresco at
Padua.
As the Bellini mattured, they abandoned
a
the Squarciionesque traadition and evolved a style of theeir
own; Gentile
G
as much
m
as his even
e
more famous bro
other. Gentille is the firsst chronicleer of the meen
and mannners of hiss time. In 14460 he settlled in Venicce, and was appointed to paint thee organ doorrs
in St. Marks.
M
Thesse large sainnts, especiaally the St. Mark,
M
still recall
r
the Paaduan period
d. They havve
festoons of grapess and applees hung from the arch
hitectural orrnaments, aand the castt of draperyy,
showingg the form
m beneath, reminds
r
us of Manteg
gnas figurees. But Geentile soon becomes an
a
illustrattor and porttrait painterr. Much of his work was
w done in the Scuolaa of St. Marrk, where his
h
father had
h painted,, and this was destroyed by fire in 1485. Earlyy, too, is the fine austeere portrait of
o
Lorenzoo Giustinianni, in the Academy.
A
Inn 1479 an emissary
e
froom the Sulttan Mehem
met arrived in
i
Venice and requessted the Siggnoria to reecommend a good painnter and a man cleverr at portraitts.
Gentile was chosenn, and depaarted in Sepptember for Constantinoople. He paainted many
y subjects foor
w as the famous
f
porttrait now inn the possesssion of Laddy
the privvate apartmeents of the Sultan, as well
Layard.. It would be
b difficult for
f a historic portrait to
o show morre insight innto characterr. The face is
cold, weary,
w
and seensual, withh all the oveer-refined look of an old
o race andd a long civiilisation, annd
has a melancholy
m
n
note
in its distant
d
and satiated gaze. The Sulltan showedd Gentile ev
very mark of
o
favour, loaded him
m with pressents, and bestowed
b
on him the title of Beyy. He return
ned home in
i
1493, bringing
b
witth him manyy sketches of
o Eastern personages
p
a the pictture, now in
and
n the Louvre,
represennting the reeception of a Venetiann Embassy by the Graand Vizier. Some five years beforre
Gentiles commisssion to Connstantinoplee Antonello
o da Messinna had arrivved in Ven
nice, and thhe
spread and populaarisation of oil-paintingg had hasteened the caasting off off outworn ecclesiastica
e
al
methodds and brougght the painnters nearerr to the truth
h of life. Antonello
A
didd not actually introducce
oils to the
t notice of
o Venetian painters, foor Bartolomm
meo Vivariini was alreaady using th
hem in 14733,
but he was
w well knnown by reeputation beefore he arrrived, and having
h
probbably come into contacct
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Venice.
These great
g
compoositions of crowds brinng back forr us the Veenice of Genntiles day as no verbaal
descripttion can doo. There is no
n especiall richness of
o colour; thhe light is tthat of broaad day in thhe
Piazza and among the luminoous waterwaays of the city.
c
We cann see the sccene any daay now in thhe
wide sqquare, makiing allowannce for the difference of costumee. The grouups are set about in thhe
ample space,
s
with the wonderrful cathedraal as a back
kground. St. Marks hass been pain
nted hundredds
of timess, but no onne has ever given
g
such a good ideaa of it as Geentileof itts statelinesss and beautyy,
of its wealth
w
of deetail; and hee does so without
w
detraacting from
m the generaal effect, forr St. Marks,
though the keynotte of the whole
w
composition, is kept
k
subserrvient, and is part of the stage on
o
t scene is
i enacted. The processsion passees along, caarrying the relics, atteended by thhe
which the
waxlighhts and the banners.
b
Beehind the reeliquary kneeels the merrchant, Jacoopo Sal, peetitioning foor
the recoovery of hiis woundedd son. Thenn come the musicians; the spectaators crowd
d round, theey
strain forward
fo
to see
s the chieef part of thhe cortge, as a crowdd naturally does. Somee watch witth
reverennce, others smile
s
or havve a negligeent air. The faces of thee candle-bearers are veery like thosse
we mayy see to-dayy in a great Church proocession: some absorbeed in their taask, or uplifted by inneer
thoughtts; others loooking curiiously and sceptically at the crow
wd. Gentilee tries in his crowds to
t
bring toogether all the types of
o life in Venice,
V
all the
t officials and the eecclesiasticaal world, thhe
young and
a old. Wiith a few strrokes he creeates the ind
dividual andd also the tyype;the caareless roveer;
the respponsible maagistrate; thee shrewd, prractical man
n of businesss; the younng men, full of their ow
wn
plans, but
b pausing to look on at
a one of thee great relig
gious sights of their cityy. In the F
Finding of thhe
Cross he producees the effectt of the whole city en fte.
f
It wass a sight whhich often met
m his eyees.
The Dooge made noo fewer thann thirty-six processions annually to
t various cchurches of the city, annd
on fourrteen of these occasionns he was accompanie
a
d by the whole of the nobles dreessed in theeir
State roobes. Every event of im
mportance was
w seized on
o by the Veenetian ladiies as an op
pportunity foor
arrayingg themselvees in the ricchest attire, cloth of go
old and velvvet, plumes and jewels. Gentile haas
massed the ladies of Queen Catherine
C
C
Cornaros
Court aroundd their Queen upon thee left side of
o
the canaal. The lighht from abovve streams upon
u
the keeeper of the School, whho holds thee sacred reliic
on highh. All round are the oldd, irregular Venetian
V
ho
ouses, and inn the crowdd he paints the
t variety of
o
men hee saw arounnd him everry day in Veenice. Yet even
e
in thiss animated scene he reetains his olld
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quattroccento calm.. The groupps are decoorously assisting: only here and thhere he is drawn
d
off to
t
some sm
mall detail of reality, such
s
as an oarsman
o
deexterously tuurning his bboat, or the maid lettinng
the neggro servant pass out too take a heaader into thee canal. Thhe spectatorrs look on coolly
c
at onne
more of
o the oft-sseen, miracculous evennts. The co
ommittee, kneeling
k
at the side, is a row of
o
unforgeettable portrraits, grave, benign, soour, and au
ustere, with bald head or flowing hair. In thhis
compossition he triiumphs over all difficuulties of perrspective; our
o eye follows the can
nals, and thhe
boats paass away unnder the briddge in atmoospheric ligh
ht. All the joy of Venicce is in that play of lighht
on broaad brick surrfaces, lightt which is cast
c up from
m the waterr and dancees and shim
mmers on thhe
marble faades.
w in 15022, as well ass others in 1505
1
and 15506. He leftt word that he was to be
b
Gentile made his will
buried in
i SS. Giovvanni e Paollo, and beggged his brotther Giovannni to finishh the work in
n the Scuola,
in returrn for whichh he is to receive
r
theiir fathers sketch-book
s
k. The unfinnished piecce is the S
St.
Mark prreaching at Alexandriaa, and it shows Gentilee still developing his caapacity as a painter. It is
pale in colour but brilliant
b
in sunlight.
s
Thhe mass of white
w
givenn by the headd-dresses of the Turkissh
women is cleverly subdued soo as not to detract
d
from
m the effect of
o the sunligght. The thrronged effecct
of the great squarre is studieed with moore than hiss usual carre, and the faces havee all the olld
individuuality. The foremost figures in the crowd have a colour and riichness wh
hich we maay
attributee to Giovannnis hand.
Gentile was alwayys fully empployed, and the detailed
d paintings of functionns became very
v
populaar;
but he was a far less
l
modernn painter thhan his brotther, and, in
i fact, theyy represent two distincct
artistic generationns, though Gentiles work was so much the most elaborate and, as thhe
us.
quattroccento wouldd have thouught, the moost ambitiou
Gentile is essentiaally the histtoric painterr, yet his iss a grave, sincere
s
art, and he hass an unerrinng
instinct for the righht incidentss to include.. He cuts ou
ut all unseem
mly trivialitties, his actors are sternn,
powerfuul men, the treatment is
i historic and
a contemp
porary, but not
n gossipyy. We realise the look of
o
the Vennice of his day,
d in all itts tide of huuman naturee, but we allso feel thatt he never forgot
f
that he
h
was chrronicling thhe doings of
o a city of strong men
n, and that he must paaint them, even
e
in theeir
hours of relaxationn and emotioon, so as to convey thee real dignityy and poweer which und
derlay all thhe
events of
o the Repuublic.
We gathher from hiis will and that
t
of his wife
w that th
hey had no children, w
which perhap
ps makes thhe
more naatural the affectionate terms uponn which he remained all through hhis life with
h his brotheer.
Their artistic
a
symppathies muust have difffered widely. Gentiles love for historical research, foor
costumee and for paageants, fouund no echoo in the deep
per idealism
m of Giovannniindeed
d, his offer of
o
the fam
mous sketch--book, as ann inducemeent to the lattter to finishh his last grreat work, seems
s
to hinnt
that it was
w an exerccise out of his
h brothers line; but he
h knew thaat Giovanni was a greatt painter, annd
did not trust it, as we might have
h
expecteed, to his asssistants, Giovanni Maansueti and Girolamo da
d
Santacrroce.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Genttile Bellini.
Londonn.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Preachhing of St. Mark.
Venicee.
Antonnello da Meessina.
Antwerp.
C
Crucifixion,
1
1475.
Berlin..
T
Three
Portraitts.
Londonn.
Messinna.
M
Madonna
andd Saints, 1473
3.
Paris.
C
Condottiere.
Milan.
Portrait of a Humanist.
H
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Ecce Homo.
Vicenzza.
C
Christ
at the Column.
C
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CH
HAPTE
ER IX
AL
LVISE VIV
VARINI
Contem
mporary with Giovannii Bellini weere artists still
s firmly attached
a
to the past, who
w were far
fa
from suuspecting thhat he was too outstrip thhem.
One off Antonio de
d Muranos sons, Luuigi or Alv
vise Vivarinni, grew upp to follow his fathers
professiion, and was
w enrolledd in the scchool of hiis uncle, Bartolomme
B
eo. The lattter being an
a
enthusiaastic follow
wer of Squuarcione, Allvise was at
a first traiined in Padduan princiiples. Jacoppo
Bellinis efforts haad done som
mething to counteract the hard, sttatuesque P
Paduan man
nner, and haad
rendereed Mantegnnas art more
m
humaan and leess stony, but Jacoppo could not prevennt
Squarciionesque paainters from
m importinng into Venice the sttyle which he dislikeed so muchh.
Bartoloommeo threw in his loot with the Paduans, and his schoool, especiaally when reinforced
r
b
by
Alvise, maintainedd its reputatiion as long as it only had
h to comppete with loccal talent. The
T Vivarinnis
had now
w been firm
mly establisshed in Vennice for tw
wo generatioons, and weere the bestt-known annd
most poopular of heer painters. Albert Drrer, on his first
f
visit, addmired them
m more than
n the Bellinni.
When, however, Gentile
G
and his brotherr set up in Venice,
V
a hot
h rivalry aarose betweeen them annd
the old Muranese School.
S
Thee Bellini hadd come with
h their fatheer from Paddua, with all its new annd
scientiffic fashions.. They had all the presstige of relaationship with
w Manteggna, and theey shared thhe
patronaage of his poowerful empployers. Thhe striking historical
h
coompositions of Gentile were at oncce
in dem
mand by thee great connfraternities. Bartolom
mmeo had never
n
been very succeessful in his
h
dealing with oil-paainting, thouugh he had dabbled in it for some years beforre Antonello
o da Messinna
came hiis way, but the perception with which
w
the Bellini at oncce grasped the new tecchnique gavve
them thhe victory. We have only
o
to com
mpare the formless coontours of much of Bartolomme
B
eo
Vivarinnis work, thhe bladder-llike flesh-paainting of th
he Holy Chhild, with thhe clear lum
minous colouur
and firm
m delicate toouch of Genntile, to see that the onee man is leaagues aheadd of the otheer.
Alvise Vivarini
V
had more natuural affinityy with his faather than with
w his unclle. He neverr becomes so
s
exaggerrated in his forms as Bartolomme
B
eo. The exp
pression of his
h faces is much deep
per and morre
inward,, and he hass somethingg of the devotional sweeetness of eaarly art. Hiss first know
wn work is an
a
ancona of 1475 at
a Montefioorentino, inn a lonely Franciscann monasterry on the spurs
s
of thhe
Apenninnes. In the centre
c
of thhe five panels the Mado
onna sits wiith her handds pressed palm
p
to palm
m,
in adoration of thee Child asleeep across her knees. The painteer here folloows the traadition of his
father and
a uncle, especially
e
inn the Bologgna altarpieece, in whicch they colllaborated in
n 1450. Fouur
saints stand
s
on eitther side, framed
fr
in Gothic
G
paneels; it is all in the old way, and it
i is only by
b
degreess that we seee there is more
m
sweetnness in the expression,
e
b
better
modeelling in thee figures, annd
a slenderer, more graceful ouutline than the earlier ancon caan show. Onnly five yeaars after thhis
ancona at Montefiiorentino, with
w its stifff rows of isolated
i
saiints, we havve the altarrpiece in thhe
Academ
my of 14880, which was painteed for a ch
hurch in Treeviso, and here a greeat change is
immediiately apparrent. The anntiquated diivision into panels has disappeareed, nothing is left of thhe
artificiaal, Squarcioonesque deccorations, thhe attitudes are simple, and the sceene is a uniited one. Thhe
Madonnnas outstreetched hand, the suggesstion of Eccce Agnus Dei,
D
makess an appeal which draw
ws
the attenntion of all the saints to one pointt, and it is made
m
plain thhat the one idea pervad
des the entirre
assembly. The curttain, which symbolisess the sanctuary, still haangs behind the throne,, but the golld
backgroound is abanndoned. Alvvise has nott indeed, as yet, imaginned any landdscape or co
onstructed an
a
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Alvise Vivarini.
V
ALTARPIE
A
ECE OF 14480.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Venicce.
B
had for
f some tim
me been em
mployed in the
t Sala dell Gran Con
nsiglio by thhe
In 14888 the two Bellini
Councill of Ten. Allvise, with his
h busy schhool, had ho
oped, but hittherto in vaain, to be inv
vited to enteer
into com
mpetition with
w them. At
A length he wrote the following
f
leetter:
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Venice is rich in works whicch show uss what sort of painter was at thee head of th
he Muranesse
School at the time when it rivvalled that of
o the Bellin
ni. Alvise haas two readding saints on
o either sidde
of the altarpiece
a
off 1480, and of these thee Baptist is one of his best
b figuress, admirablly expressivve
of tensiion and of brooding
b
thoought. It iss large and free
f in strokke, and partticularly adv
vanced in thhe
treatmeent of the foliage.
f
Cloose by hanggs a characcter-study of
o St. Clare; type of a strenuouus,
fanaticaal old womaan, one which belongss not only to
t the period, but will be recognissed by everry
student of human nature.
n
Form
midable andd even crueel is her unfflinching gaaze; she is such
s
a figurre
ks as little likely
l
to shhow mercy to an errinng
as mighht have stood for Scottts Prioress, and look
memberr of her ordder. In conttrast, there is
i the exquiisite little Madonna
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Resurrrection is not
n to be ovverlooked. Itt was execu
uted in 14988, and some of the gracce and beautty
of the sixteenth cenntury has crrept into it. Against thee pink flushh of dawn sttands the sw
waying figurre
of the risen
r
Christ, and beloow appear the
t heads of
o the two guards, loooking up, surprised annd
joyful. It is perhapps the very earliest exaample of that soft and sensuous ffeeling, thatt rhapsody of
o
sensatioon which was presentlyy to sweep like
l a flood over the arrt of Venicee. What a tiime must thhe
dawn of
o the sixteeenth centuryy have beenn when a man
m of sevennty, and nott the most vigorous
v
annd
advanceed of his agge, had the freshness
f
annd youthfull courage too greet it; naay, actually
y to depict its
magic and
a glamouur as Alvise does in the
t Resurrrection! Giiorgione is here anticiipated in thhe
roundneess and softtness of thee figures, annd in the efffect of lightt. Titians A
Assunta is fo
oreshadoweed
in the fervour
fe
of thhe guards expressions.
e
. Alvise, iff he never thhoroughly m
mastered thee structure of
o
the nudde, and if hiis forms keeep throughoout some to
ouch of the archaic, soome awkwarrdness in thhe
thickness of the figures,
fi
withh their rounnd heads, long thighs,, and uncerrtain proporrtions, is yeet
extraorddinarily reffined and teender in senntiment, hiss line has a natural floow and beaauty, and thhe
heads of
o his Madonnnas and saaints cannot be surpasseed in lovelinness.
His deaath came whhen the nobble altarpiecce to St. Am
mbrogio in thhe Frari waas still unfin
nished, and it
was com
mpleted by his assistaant, Marco Basaiti.
B
Thee executionn is heavy aand probablly of Basaitti,
but the venerable doctor
d
is a grand figurre, and the two young soldier sainnts on his right
r
and leeft
hand arre striking examples of the beaauty we claaim for him
m. The arcchitectural plan
p
is verry
elaboratte, but altoogether succcessful. Thhe group iss set beneaath an archhed vault supported
s
b
by
columnns and corniices. Overhhead, behindd a balustraade, is placeed a coronaation of thee Virgin. Thhe
many figures
fi
are grouped
g
so as not to innterfere with
h each otherr, and the ssword of St.. George, thhe
crozier of St. Greggory, and thhe crook off St. Ambro
ose break up
u the compposition and
d give lengtth
and linee. The facess of the sainnts are extreemely beau
utiful, and thhe two angeels making music below
w
comparre well withh those of the Bellinesquue School.
The poortraits Alviise has left
ft add to hiis reputatio
on, and rem
mind us of those of Antonello
A
d
da
Messinaa, particulaarly in the vital expression of th
he eyes, thoough they aare withoutt Antonellos
intense force. The Bernardo di Salla and
a the Maan feeding a Hawk, tthough som
me critics stiill
ke their attrribution to Alvise alm
most certainlly
ascribe them to Saavoldo, havve features which mak
correct.. Indeed, thee resemblannce of Bernaardo to the Madonna inn the 1480 aaltarpiece cannot escappe
the mosst unscientiffic observerr. There is thhe same infflated nostriil, the peculliarly curved
d mouth, annd
vivaciouus eyes.
Amongg the follow
wers of Alviise, Marco Basaiti, Bartolommeo Montagna,, and Loren
nzo Lotto arre
the mosst distinguisshed. Otherrs less direcct are Giovaanni Buoncoonsiglio andd Francesco
o Bonsignorri,
while Cima
C
da Connegliano waas for a shorrt time his greatest
g
puppil. We shalll return to th
hese later.
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
42
Berlin..
M
Madonna
enthhroned, with six Saints.
Londonn.
Portrait of Yoouth.
Milan.
da Collection
B
Bonomi-Cere
n: Portrait off a Man.
Napless.
M
Madonna
withh SS. Franciss and Bernarrdino.
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Venicee.
Viennaa.
M
Madonna.
Windsoor.
M feeding a Hawk.
Man
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CHAPTE
ER X
CARPACCIO
Vittore Carpaccio was Gentiile Belliniss most faith
hful pupil. He and hiss master sttand apart in
i
having, before the arrival of the Venetiann School prroper, captuured an aspeect and a ch
harm inspireed
by the natural beauty of thee City of the
t Sea. Gentile,
G
as we
w have seeen, paints her historiic
appearaance, and Carpaccio
C
g
gives
us som
mething of the delightt we feel too-day in heer translucennt
waters and her am
mple, sea-waashed spacees flooded with
w limpid light. Whille others were absorbeed
in assim
milating exttraneous inffluences, hee goes on his
h own wayy, painting, indeed, thee scenes thaat
were assked for, butt painting thhem in his own
o mannerr and with his
h own enjooyment.
Pageantt-pictures had been thee demand off the Venetiian State froom very earrly days. Th
he first use of
o
paintingg had beenn that madee by the Church to glorify religgion, and veery soon th
he State haad
followeed, using it to enhancee the love which
w
Veneetians bore to
t their cityy, and to brring home to
t
them thhe conscioussness of its greatness and
a glory. Pageants
P
and processioons were an integral paart
of Veneetian life. The
T people looked on att them, ofteen as they occurred, wiith more priide and sensse
of proprietorship thhan a Londdoner does at
a a coronation processsion or at thhe King goin
ng in state to
t
open Parliament. The Venetiian loved splendour
s
and
a beauty and the sttory of the citys greaat
achieveements, andd nothing prrovided so welcome
w
a subject forr the decoraation of the great publiic
halls ass portrayals of the eveents which had
h made Venice
V
famous. Artistss had been employed to
t
producee these as early
e
as thee end of thee fourteenth
h century, and
a those off the Bellin
ni and Alvisse
Vivarinni (which peerished in thhe great firee) were a reendering on modern linnes of the saame subjectts,
satisfyinng the moree advanced feeling for truth
t
and beeauty.
Besidess the Churchh and the puublic Goverrnment, we have alreaddy seen the Schools, as they werre
called, becoming important
i
em
mployers. These
T
schoo
ols were thee great orgaanised conffraternities in
i
the cause of charitty and mutuual help, whhich sprang up in Veniice in the fiifteenth cen
ntury. That of
o
St. Marrk was natuurally the fooremost, butt others were banded each
e
under their patron
n saint. Eacch
attracted numbers of rich patrons, for it was the faashion to beelong to thee confratern
nities. Richees
m
and
d for transaccting busineess were bu
uilt, and werre
and enddowments roolled in, and halls for meeting
adornedd with picttures settingg forth the legends of their patrron saints. We have already seeen
Gentile Bellini em
mployed in thhe schools of San Marrco and Sann Giovanni, and now th
he schools of
o
St. Ursuula and St. George gavve commissiions to Carp
paccio, or perhaps
p
it w
would be mo
ore correct to
t
say thatt Gentile, having
h
becoome pre-em
minent in thiis art, proviided employyment for his
h pupil annd
assistannt, and that by
b degrees Carpaccio became
b
a maestro on his
h own accoount.
A host of second-rrate painterss were plyinng side by side, discipples first of one masterr, then draw
wn
off to become
b
folloowers of a second; asssimilating th
he influencee first of onne workshop
p and then of
o
anotherr. Carpaccioo has been lately
l
identiified as a pu
upil of Lazzaro Bastiaani, who had
d a school in
i
Venice,, and the recent
r
attribbution to thhis painter of the Doge before the Mado
onna, in thhe
Nationaal Gallery, gives some countenaance to the contentionn that he w
was held to be of greaat
excellennce in his tiime.
Thoughh some histoorians advannce the sugggestion thatt Carpaccio was a nativve of Capo dIstria,
d
therre
is little proof that he
h was not, like his fatther Pietro, born a Vennetian. He seems to hav
ve worked in
i
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No. 10 is a small canvas, succh as mightt naturally have been chosen for a first expeeriment. Thhe
heads are
a large wiith coarse feeatures, andd the proporrtions of thhe figures arre poor. Th
he face of thhe
saint inn glory (No. 13), plumpp and withoout much ex
xpression, iss of the type of Bastian
nis saints. It
may be assumed thhat such a great
g
schemee of decorattion would not have beeen entrusteed to any onne
who waas not alreaady well knnown as an independen
nt master, but
b perhapss Carpaccio, who woulld
have beeen about thirty whenn the workk was begu
un, was stiill principaally engrosssed with thhe
conventtional, eccleesiastical suubject. The heads of the virgins prressing rounnd the saint appear to be
b
portraits, and weere very poossibly thoose of the wives andd daughterrs of mem
mbers of thhe
confrateernity.
The impprovement that takes place
p
is so rapid
r
that we
w can guesss how conggenial the painter
p
founnd
the taskk and how quickly he adapted his already trrained talennt. In No. 5 he takes delight
d
in thhe
opportuunity for paiinting a littlle domestic scene,thee bedroom of a young Venetian giirl, perhaps a
sister of
o his own.. The comffortable bedd, the dain
nty furniture, are careefully drawn
n. The cleaar
morningg light streaams into thee room. Thee saint lies peacefully
p
a
asleep,
her hhand under her
h head, heer
long eyyelashes resting upon her
h cheek: the
t whole is an idyll, full
f of insigght into girllish life. Thhe
tiny slipppers made, no doubt, one of the details that caught his eye. The crrown lying on the ledgge
of the bed
b is an arbbitrary introoduction, ass naf as thee angel. In thhe funeral sscene the lu
uminous lighht
is diffused over all, the youngg saint lies upon her bier
b and is followed
f
byy priest and
d deacon, thhe
crowd is
i composedd with truth to nature, the
t draperiees and garm
ments are broought into harmony
h
witth
the sky and background, and in all thosee that follow
w we find this
t quality of light. Th
he landscappe
behind the massaccre has gainned in natuural charactter, the cityy is at som
me distance,, houses annd
churchees are half buried
b
in wooods; the setting is mucch more nattural than arre the quain
nt and elegannt
pages who
w occupyy it, and who
w are drrawing theirr crossbow
ws and attaccking the martyrs
m
witth
leisurely nonchalannce. The paanel in whicch the betro
othed couple meet show
ws a great advance,
a
annd
this andd the succeeeding ones of the ambbassadors, which
w
weree painted between 149
95 and 14988,
must haave crowneed Carpaccios reputatiion. He paiints Venice in its mostt fascinating
g aspect; thhe
enamellled beauty of its marbbles, its skyy and sea, itts palaces and
a ships, tthe rich and
d picturesquue
dresses men wore in the streets, the bargge glowing with
w rich veelvets. He eevinces a faiiry-tale spirrit
w may com
mpare with the work of
o Pintoriccchio. His Prrince, kneelling in a wh
hite and golld
which we
dress, with
w long faair curls, is a real fairyy prince; Urrsula, in herr red dress and puffed
d sleeves, heer
ripplingg, flaxen haair and strinngs of pearrls, is a prin
ncess of stoory. Carpacccios art iss simple annd
garrulouus in feelinng, his conception is ass unpassionate as the fancies
f
of a child, but he
h has a truue
love forr these gay crowds; Veenice going upon her gaallant way
her solid, worthy citiizens, men of
o
substannce, shrewdd and valuaable, taking their pleassure serioussly with a sense of reesponsibilityy.
They thhrong the strreets and crross over thee bridges, every
e
figure is full of frreedom and vitality. Thhe
arrival and dismisssal of the am
mbassadorss are the best of all thee scenes. Inn the middlee of the greaat
stage King
K
Mauruss of Brittanyy sits upon a Venetian terrace. In the
t colonnade to the lefft is gathereed
a groupp of Venetiaan personagges, memberrs of the Lo
oredano fam
mily, which was a speccial patron of
o
St. Ursuulas Guildd, and gave this panel. The types are all viviidly realisedd and differrentiated: thhe
courtierr looking critically
c
at the arrivalls; the fran
nkly curiouss bourgeoissie; the man
n of fashioon
passingg with his nose
n
in the air, disdainning to staree too closelly; the fop with his do
ogs and theeir
dwarf keeper.
k
Far beyond streetch the laggoons; the sea
s and air of Venice cclear and frresh. What is
noticeabble even noow in an Itaalian crowdd, the absen
nce of wom
men, was theen most tru
ue to life, foor
except on special occasions they
t
were not
n seen in the streets, but were kept in alm
most Orientaal
seclusioon. The dism
missal of thhe ambassaddors affordss the opporrtunity for ddrawing an interior witth
the street visible thhrough a dooorway. A group
g
at the side, of a man
m dictatinng a letter and
a the scribbe
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taking down
d
his words,
w
writinng laborioussly, with hiss shoulders hunched annd his head on one side,
is excelllent in its quiet realityy. The sam
me life-like vivacity is displayed iin Ursulas consultatioon
with heer father. Thhe old nursee crouched upon
u
the steeps is introdduced to breeak the line and to throw
w
back thhe main grooup. Carpacccio has alreeady used such
s
a figuure in the fuuneral scenee, and Titiaan
himselff adopts his suggestion..
Caarpaccio. ARRIVAL
L OF THE AMBASSA
ADORS.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Venice.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Berlin..
M
Madonna
andd Saints; Con
nsecration of Stephen.
Ferraraa.
D
Death
of Virggin.
Milan.
Presentation of
o Virgin; Marriage of Viirgin; St. Steephen
disputing.
Paris.
Stuttgaart.
M
Martyrdom
off St. Stephen
n.
Venicee.
Academy: Thhe History off St. Ursula annd the 11,0000 Virgins;
A
Presentatioon in the Tem
mple.
M
Museo
Correrr: Visitation; Two Courteesans.
S. Giorgio deggli Schiavon
ne: History off SS. Georgee and
Tryphoniuss; Agony in the
t Garden; Christ
C
in the House of th
he
Pharisee; History
H
of St.. Jerome.
S. Vitale: Altaarpiece to S. Vitale.
Lady Layard. Death of thee Virgin; St. Ursula takinng leave of heer
L
Father.
Viennaa.
C
Christ
adored by Angels.
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CH
HAPTE
ER XI
GIO
OVANNI BELLINI
B
The diffference beetween Giann. Bellini and
a his acccomplished brother, thhat which makes
m
us so
s
conscioous that the first was thhe greater of the two an
nd which seets him in a later artistiic generatioon
than Geentile, is a difference
d
off mind. Succh pageant-p
pictures as we
w hear thatt Giovanni was engageed
upon have
h
all been destroyeed. We maay suspect that their compositioon was nott particularlly
congeniial to him, and
a that the strictly reliigious pictu
ures and the small alleggorical studiies, by whicch
we musst judge him
m, were moore after hiis heart. It is
i his poetiic and ideall feeling wh
hich adds so
s
stronglyy to his claiim to be a great
g
artist; it
i was this which
w
drew all men to him and en
nabled him so
s
powerfuully to influuence the artt of his day in Venice.
Jacopos wife, Anna, in a will of 1429, leaves everrything to her
h two sonns, Gentile and
a Niccoloo.
Giovannni was eviddently not her
h son, but Vasari speaaks of him as the elderr of the two
o, so that it is
very poossible that he
h was an illlegitimate child, broug
ght up, afterr the fashionn that so oft
ften obtainedd,
in the full
f privilegges of his fathers
f
houuse. Docum
ments show that Jacoppo Bellini was
w living in
i
Venice in 1437, firrst near the Piazza, andd afterwardss in the parissh of San L
Lio. He was a member of
o
S. Giovvanni Evanggelista, and probably one
o of the leeading artissts of the city. His two
o sons helpeed
him in his great decorative works, andd also wen
nt with him
m to Padua,, where he painted thhe
Gattamalata Chapeel. Their reelative posittion is sugg
gested by a document of 1457, which
w
recordds
d
on clotth, put in th
he Great Haall
that thee father receeived twentyy-one ducatts for threee figures, done
of the Patriarch,
P
o
only
two off which werre to go to the
t son. In 1459 Gian. Bellinis signature firrst
appearss on a document, and at
a about thiis time we may
m supposse that he aand his brotther began to
t
executee small com
mmissions onn their own account. On
O these visiits to Paduaa the intimaccy must havve
sprung up, which led to Manntegnas marriage in 1453 with Jacopos daaughter. Att Padua, tooo,
nspiration leeft there byy Donatello,, the greatest
Bellini, in companny with Manntegna, drannk in the in
master that either of them enncountered. It was the humanisticc and naturaalistic side of Donatelllo
t
Gioovanni Belliini, more thhan all his classic
c
lore. It chimed iin, too, with
h his fathers
which touched
gracefuul and fanciiful quality,, and there is no doub
bt that the Venetian
V
paainters soon
n exercised a
markedd influence on Manteegna. They fought for
fo him witth Squarcioone, and even in thhe
Eremitaani frescoees he beginns to losee his purelly statuesquue type annd to beco
ome franklly
Renaisssance. In thhe later scennes of the series a perrgola with grapes, a V
Venetian caampanile annd
doorwaay replace his
h classic towers and arches of trriumph. In the Martyyrdom of Stt. James thhe
couple walking byy and payingg no attentiion whateveer to the traagic event, aare very lik
ke the peoplle
whom Gentile
G
introoduces in his backgrouunds.
There are
a few docuuments morre interestinng in the histtory of art than
t
the twoo pictures off the Agonny
in the Garden,
G
exxecuted by the brotheers-in-law, about
a
14555, from a ddesign by Jaacopo in thhe
British Museum skketch-book. Jacopo draaws the mou
und-like hilll, Christ knneeling befo
ore the visioon
C
the figures wraapt in slumbber, and the distant tow
wn. In few pictures up to
t this time is
of the Chalice,
the landdscape concceived in suuch sympathhy with the figures.
f
As we look at this sketch and examinne
the twoo finished composition
c
ns, which itt is so fortu
unate to finnd in juxtapposition in the Nationaal
Galleryy, we surmise that the two artists agreed to carry out thhe same ideea and each
h to give his
h
version of Jacopos suggestionn, and very curious it iss to see the rendering eeach has pro
oduced.
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T. Breraa, Milan.
Gioovanni Belllini. PIET
(Photo, Brrogi.)
Close by,
b at Paduaa, Giotto hadd left a renddering of the last subject, so full oof passionatee sorrow that
it is haardly possibble that it should nott, if only half
h
conscioously, havee stimulated
d the artistiic
sensibillities of the most sensiitive of painnters; but Bellinis
B
patthos shrinkss from all exaggeration
e
n.
He connceives grief with the tenderest
t
innsight. His interest in the subjectt was so inttense that he
h
never leeft the execcution to otthers, and though
t
not a single onne bears hiis signature, yet each is
entirelyy by his ownn hand. Besides the Pieet at Milan, which is perhaps
p
the bbest known
n, there is onne
in the Correr
C
Museeum, anotheer in the Dooges Palace, and yet others
o
at Riimini and att Berlin. Thhe
version he adopts,, which plaaces the Body of Chrisst within thhe sarcophaagus, was a favourite in
i
I
Donaatello uses it in a bass-relief (now
w in the Victoria
V
andd Albert Museum),
M
buut
North Italy.
whetherr he broughht or foundd the suggeestion in Paadua nothinng exists too show. Jaccopo has leeft
sketchees in whichh the wholle group iss within th
he tomb, annd this renndering is followed by
b
Carpacccio, Crivelli, Marco Zoppo, and others.
o
It iss never founnd in trecennto art, and
d is probablly
traceablle to the Padduan impulse to make use of classsic remains.
Giovannni Bellinis Piets fall into two grroups. In on
ne, the Chrisst is placed between th
he Virgin annd
St. Johnn, who are embodimennts of the aggony of berreavement. In the otherr, the dead Redeemer is
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In the Rimini
R
versiion the tendder concernn and questio
oning surprrise of the aattendant an
ngels contraast
with thee inert weigght of the beautiful
b
deead body they support. Their childdish limbs and
a butterfl
fly
wings make
m
a sinuuous patternn against thee lacquered black of thhe ground-w
work, and Mr.
M Roger Frry
makes the interestting suggesstion that the
t effect, reminiscent
r
t of Greek vase-paintting, and thhe
likenesss of the Heead of Chrisst to an oldd bronze, may,
m
in a coomposition painted forr Sigismonddo
Malatessta, be no mere
m accidennt, but a conncession to the
t patronss enthusiasm
m for classicc art.
In 14700 Bellini reeceived his first comm
mission in the Scuola di San M
Marco. Gentiile had beeen
employyed there sinnce 1466 on
o the history of the Issraelites in the desert. Bellini agrreed to painnt
The Deluge
D
and the
t Ark of Noah
N
with all its atten
ndant circum
mstances, but of these, except from
m
Vasaris descriptioons, we cann form no iddea. These great pageaant-picturess had becom
me identifieed
a
their following,
f
w
while
the production
p
of altarpieeces was peeculiarly thhe
with thhe Bellini and
provincce of the Vivarini.
V
Heere Bellini effected a change, foor sacred ssubjects besst suited thhe
restrainned and sim
mple perfectiion of his style,
s
and afforded
a
thee most symppathetic opeening for his
h
idealistiic spirit. Foor the next twenty years or moree, however, he was unnavoidably absorbed in
i
public work,
w
for we
w hear of his
h being givven the direection of thhat which G
Gentile left unfinished
u
i
in
the Duucal Palace when he went to thhe East in 1479. In 1492,
1
Giovvanni being
g ill, Gentille
superinttended the work for him,
h
and inn that year he was apppointed to ppaint in thee Hall of thhe
Grand Council,
C
at an annual salary of sixty
s
ducatss. Other commissions were turneed out of thhe
bottegaa he had set up with hiss brother in 1471, and between thaat year and 1480 he weent to Pesarro
to paintt the importtant altarpieece that stilll holds its place
p
there. It is in som
me ways the greatest annd
most poowerful thinng that Bellini ever acccomplished
d. The centrral figures and the atteendant sainnts
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CH
HAPTE
ER XII
GIOVAN
NNI BELLIINI (continuued)
In 14977 the Maggiior Consiglio of the Venetian
V
Rep
public appoointed Bellinni superinteendent of thhe
Great Hall,
H
and conferred on him the honnourable tittle of State Painter.
P
In tthis capacitty he was thhe
overseeer of all pubblic works of paintingg, and was expected to devote a part of hiss time to thhe
decoration of the Hall. Sansoovino enum
merates ninee of his hisstorical painntings, whiich had beeen
painted before thee State appoointment, all
a having reference
r
too the visit oof Pope Alexander; buut
though he must haave been much
m
engrossed, he seeems to havee suspendedd the work from time to
t
time, foor between 1485 and 1488 he painnted the large altarpiecce in the Fraari, that at San
S Pietro in
i
Muranoo, and the one
o in the Academy,
A
w
which
was paainted for San
S Giobbe.. Of these th
hree, the laast
shows the
t greatestt advance and
a is fullesst of experiiment. The Madonna iis a grand ecclesiastica
e
al
figure. It has been said with truth
t
that it is a picturee which muust have affforded greatt support annd
dignity to the Churrch. The Innfant has ann expression
n of omnisciience, and tthe Mother gazes out of
o
the pictture, extendding invitatiion and enccouragemen
nt to the advvancing worshippers. The
T religiouus
feeling is less proffound; the artist
a
has beeen more ab
bsorbed in the contrast between the
t beautifuul,
youthfuul body of St. Sebastian and thaat of St. Giobbe, olderr but not eemaciated, and
a with thhe
exquisitte surface that
t
his now
w completee mastery of
o oil-paintting enabledd him to prroduce. Thhis
techniquue has eviddently beenn a great deelight, and is here carrried to perrfection; thee skin of St.
S
Sebastiaan gleams with a glooss like thhe coat of a horse inn high conndition. Eveerything thaat
architeccture, sculpture, and riich materiall can supply
y is borrow
wed to enhaance the graandeur of thhe
group; but the linee of sight is still closee to the botttom of the picture, annd if it weree not for thhe
exquisitte grace witth which thee angels aree placed, thee Madonna would havee a broad, cllumsy effecct.
The Maadonna of the
t Frari is the most spplendid in colour
c
of all
a his workks. As he paaints the ricch
light off a golden innterior and the
t fused annd splendid
d colours, hee seems to ppass out of his
h own tim
me
i to follow
w. The Murrano altarpiiece is quitte a differennt
and givves a foretaaste of the glory that is
concepttion; insteadd of the secclusion of thhe sanctuarry, it is a sm
miling, pleinn air scenee: the Motheer
benign, the Child soft
s and plaayful, the olld Doge Baarbarigo andd the patronn saints kneeeling amonng
bright birds,
b
and a garden andd medival townlet filling up the background
b
d, for which, by the wayy,
he usess the same sketch as in the Pesarro picture. It says mucch for his vversatility that
t
he coulld
within a short timee produce thhree such different verssions.
Amongg Bellinis most
m
fascinaating achievvements in the last years of the ffifteenth cen
ntury are his
h
allegoriical paintinggs, known to
t us by thee Plerinag
ge de lmee in the Ufffizi and the little seriees
in the Academy.
A
T meaninng of the firrst has been
The
n unravelledd by Dr. Luudwig from
m a medivaal
poem by
b Guillaum
me de Guilleeville, a Cisstercian mon
nk who wroote about 13335, and it is interestinng
to see thhe hold it has
h taken onn Bellinis mystic
m
spiriit. The paveed space, seet within thee marble raiil,
signifiees, as in the Salvator Mundi,
M
thee Paradise where
w
soulss await the Resurrectio
on. The new
wborn souls cluster round
r
the Tree
T of Life and shake its
i boughs. The
T poem ssays:
Thhere is no piilgrim who is not someetimes sad
Whho has not those
t
who wound
w
his heart,
h
Annd to whom
m it is not oft
ften necessarry
Too play and be
b solaced
Annd be sootheed like a child
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Giovan
nni Bellini. AN ALL
LEGORY.
Photo, Andeerson.)
(P
Florencee.
s
l comfort. St.
S Peter annd St. Paul guard the door, besidde
This may be an allusion to sacramental
which the
t Madonnna and a saint
s
sit in holy conveersation. A very beautiful figure on the lefft,
wrapped in a blackk shawl, requires explanation, and it has beeen suggesteed that it is the donor, a
woman who may have
h
lost huusband and children,
c
an
nd who, stilll in life, is inntroduced, watching thhe
happineess of the soouls in Paraadise. SS. Giobbe
G
and Sebastian, who
w might have stepped out of thhe
San Gioobbe altarppiece, are obviously thhe patron saaints of thee family, annd St. Cath
herine, at thhe
Virgins side, mayy be the donnors own saint.
s
This picture,
p
witth its delicioous landscaape bathed in
i
atmosphheric lightt, is a foorerunner of
o those Giorgionesq
G
que compoositions off pure annd
unquesttioning deliight in the sensuous charm
c
of raare and beauutiful thinggs in which
h the artistiic
nature is
i even more engrosseed than withh the intellectual concception, andd within its small spacce
Bellini seems to haave enshrinned all his artistic
a
creed
d. The alleggories in thee Academy are also fuull
of meanning. They are decorattive works, and were probably
p
paiinted for soome small cabinet.
c
Theey
seem tooo small forr a cassone.. They are ruined
r
by over-paintin
o
ng, but still full of gracce and fancyy.
The figgure in the classic
c
charriot, bearingg fruit, in th
he encounteer between Luxury and
d Industry, is
drawn from
f
Jacopoos triumphant Bacchus. Fortune floats
f
in herr barque, hoolding the globe, and thhe
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souls who
w gather roound her arre some full of triumphant success, others clinnging to herr for comforrt,
while several
s
are sinking, ovverwhelmedd in the darrk waters. Prudence,
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
Madoonna (E.).
M
Morelli:
Two Madonnas.
Berlin..
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
Allegoory; The Sou
uls in Paradise (L.).
Londonn.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Piet (E
E.); Madonn
na; Madonna,, 1510.
Mond
Collecttion.
D
Dead
Christ; Madonna
M
(E.).
Muranno.
Napless.
Pesaro.
S. Francesco: Altarpiece.
Riminii.
D
Dead
Christ (E
E.).
Venicee.
Vicenzza.
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CH
HAPTER
R XIII
CIMA DA
D CONE
EGLIANO AND
A
OTH
HER FOLLO
OWERS O
OF BELLIN
NI
The risiing tide of feeling,
f
the growing sennse of the jo
oy of life annd the appreehension off pure beautyy,
which was
w strengthhening in thhe people annd leading up
u to the grreat period oof Venetian
n art, floodeed
round Bellini
B
andd recognisedd its expreession in hiim. He waas more poppular and had
h a largeer
followinng among thhe artists off his day thaan either Geentile or Carrpaccio withh their frank
kly mundanne
talent. Whatever
W
G
Giovannis
State workks may hav
ve been, hiis religious paintings are the onees
which are
a copied and
a adaptedd and studiedd by the younger bandd of artists, aand this beccause of theeir
beauty and notwithstanding their convventional su
ubjects. Gentiles paggeant-picturees have stiill
a
whhile Giovannnis religiou
us altarpiecees
somethiing cold and colourless, with a touuch of the archaic,
evince a new freeddom of handdling, a modern concep
ption of beaautiful wom
men, a use of
o that colouur
which was
w soon too reign trium
mphant. As far as it weent indeed, its
i triumph was already
y assured; as
a
Giovannni advancedd towards old
o age, it was
w no longeer of any usse for the yooung masteers of the daay
to paintt in any wayy save the one
o he had made
m
popullar, and onee artist after another wh
ho had beguun
in the scchool of Alvise Vivarinni ended as the disciplee of Giovannni Bellini.
It was the
t habit off Bellini to trust muchh to his assiistants, and as everythiing that weent out of his
h
workshop was signned by his name,
n
evenn if it only represented
r
the use of one of his designs, or a
few woords of adviice, and was passed by the masster, it is noo wonder thhat European collectionns
were flooded withh works, am
mong whichh only latelly the namees of Catenna, Previtalii, Pennacchhi,
Marco Belli,
B
Bissoolo, Basaiti, Rondinelli,, and otherss begin to bee disentanglled.
Only onne of his folllowers stannds out as a strong and original maaster, not quuite of the first
fi class, buut
developping his ow
wn individuaality while he
h draws in
n much of what
w
both A
Alvise and Bellini
B
had to
t
give. Cima
C
da Conegliano,
C
whose reaal name was
w Giovannni Battista,, always siigns himseelf
Conegliianensis: thhe title of Cima, the Rock,
R
by which
w
he is now
n
so widdely known, having firrst
been mentioned
m
inn the sevennteenth centtury by Bosschini, and perhaps giiven him by
y that writeer
himselff. He was a son of thee mountainss, who, thou
ugh he cam
me early to Venice, and
d lived therre
most off his life, neever loses soomething of
o their wild
d freshness, and to the end delightts in bringinng
them innto his backkgrounds. He
H lived with his motther at Connegliano, the beautiful town of thhe
Trevisaan marches, until 1484, when he was
w twenty--five, and thhen came ddown to Viccenza, wherre
he fell under
u
the tuuition of Baartolommeoo Montagnaa, a Vicentine painter, who had been studyinng
both with
w
Alvise and Bellinni. Cimas Madonna
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dell Orrto. The woork of this iss rather angular and ten
ntative, but true and freesh, and he comes to his
best sooon after, in the
t Baptism
m in S. Giovanni in Bragora,
B
which Bellini, sixteen yeaars later, paiid
him thee complimennt of copyinng. It was quite
q
unusuaal to choosee such a subbject for thee High Altaar,
and couuld only be justified
j
byy devotion too the Baptisst, who wass Cimas ow
wn name-saiint as well as
a
that of the
t Church. Cima is here at his very highest; the compoosition is noot derived from
f
any onne
else, buut is all thee conceptionn of an inggenuous sou
ul, full of inntuition andd insight. The
T Christ is
particullarly fine annd simple, unexaggera
u
ated in posee and type; the arm off the Baptistt is too longg,
but the very fault serves
s
to give him a reefined, tentaative look, which
w
makees a sympatthetic appeaal.
The atteendant angeels look on with an airr of sweet in
nterest. Thee distant moountains, th
he undulatinng
countryy, the little town of Conegliano, identified by
b the casttle on its grreat rock, or
o Cima, arre
Arcadiaan in their sunny
s
beautty. The clouuds, as a crittic has poinnted out, aree full of sun
n, not of rainn.
The lanndscape hass not the sombre mysteery of Titiaans, but is bright
b
withh the joyouss delight of a
lover off outdoor liife. As Cim
ma masters the
t new meedium he beecomes largger and sim
mpler, and his
h
forms lose much of
o their earlly angularitty. A confraternity of his native town ordered the grannd
altarpieece which iss still in thee Cathedral there, and in this he shows
s
his cconnection with
w Venice;
the archhitecture is partly takeen from St. Marks, th
he lovely Madonna
M
heaad recalls Bellini,
B
and a
group of
o Bellinesqque angels play
p
instrum
ments at thee foot of thhe throne. C
Cima is, how
wever, neveer
mergedd in Bellini. He keeps his
h own cleearly defined
d, angular type;
t
his peeculiar, twissted curls arre
not the curls of Beellinis saintts, his treatm
ment of surfface is refinned, enamel-like, perfecctly finishedd,
but it has
h nothing of the richh, broken treatment
t
which
w
Bellinnis natural feeling forr colour waas
beginniing to dictatte. Cimas pale
p goldenn figures hav
ve an almosst metallic ssharpness an
nd precisionn,
and thoough they arre full of chharm and reffinement, th
hey may be thought laccking in spo
ontaneity annd
passionn. To 1501 belongs
b
thee Incredulity of St. Th
homas, now
w in the Accademy, bu
ut painted foor
the Guild of Masonns. It is a piicture full of expression
n and dignitty, broad in treatment if
i a little colld
in its seelf-restraintt. Cima seem
ms to havee not quite enough
e
inteellect, and nnot quite en
nough stronng
feeling.. However, the little alttarpiece of the
t Nativity
y, in the Church of the Carmine in
n Venice, haas
a richerr, fuller touuch, and thiis foreshadoows the wo
ork he did when
w
he weent to Parm
ma, where his
transparrent shadow
ws grow brroader and stronger, an
nd his figuures gain inn ease and freedom. He
H
never looses the deelicate radiaance of his lights, and
d his types and his arrchitecture alike
a
conveey
somethiing of a pecculiarly refinned, brilliannt elegance.
Like alll these menn of great ennergy and prolific
p
genius, Cima produced
p
ann astonishin
ng number of
o
panels and altarpieeces, and no
n doubt haad pupils on
n his own account,
a
forr a goodly list could be
b
made of pictures inn his style, but not by his
h own han
nd, which have
h
been carried by co
ollectors intto
e
suurface and finish
f
and his
h marked originality make him a
widely--scattered places. His exquisite
difficultt master to imitate wiith any succcess. His laatest work is
i dated 15508, but Rid
dolfi says he
h
lived tilll 1517, andd it seems probable
p
thaat he returneed to his beeloved Coneegliano and there passeed
his last years.
If Cimaa possessed originality,, Vincenzo of Treviso,, called Catena, gainedd an immense reputatioon
by his industry
i
andd his powerr of imitatinng and adop
pting the manner
m
of Beellinis Sch
hool. In thosse
days meen did not trouble
t
them
mselves muuch as to wh
hether they were originnal or not. They
T
workeed
away on
o traditionnal compossitions, frannkly introd
ducing figurres from thheir masterrs cartoonns,
modifyiing a type here,
h
makingg some littlee experimen
nt or arranggement theree, and, as a French critiic
puts it, leaving theeir own perrsonality too hatch outt in due tiime, if it exxisted, and when it waas
sufficieently ripeneed by real mastery off their art. It is here that Catena fails; beg
ginning as a
journeyyman in the Sala del Gran Consigllio, at a salaary of threee ducats a m
month, he fo
or long faileed
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tones, imitating
i
Basaiti and Lotto,
L
and brings
b
in th
he partridgee of which he made a sort of siggn
manual.
Cardinaal Bembo writes
w
in 15225 to Pietro Lippomano
o, to announnce that, at hhis request, he is
continuuing his patrronage of Catena:
Thoughh I had doone all thatt lay in myy power fo
or Vincenzzo Catena bbefore I reeceived youur
Lordshiips warm recommenda
r
ation in his favour, I diid not hesitaate, on receeipt of your letter, to addd
somethiing to the first
f
piece I had from him, and I did so becaause of myy love and reverence
r
foor
you, annd I trust thhat he will return apprropriate thaanks to youu for havingg remembeered that yoou
could coommand me.
m
Marco Basaiti was alternatelly a journeyyman in diifferent worrkshops andd a master on his ow
wn
accountt. For long the
t assistannt and follow
wer of Alvisse Vivarini,, we may juudge that he was also his
h
most truusted confiidant, for too him was left the task of complleting the splendid altaarpiece to S.
S
Ambroggio, in the Frari.
F
His heeavy hand is
i apparent in the execuution, and tthe two sain
nts, Sebastiaan
and Jerrome, in thhe foregrouund, have probably
p
beeen added by him, foor they hav
ve the air of
o
interloppers, and doo not come up
u to the resst of the com
mpany in foorm and connception. Th
he Sebastiann,
with hiss hands behhind his bacck and his looin cloth sm
martly tied, is quite suffficiently reeminiscent of
o
Bellinis figure of 1473 to maake us belieeve that Bassaiti was att once transferring his allegiance to
t
that reiggning masteer. In his eaarlier phase he has the round
r
headss and the drry precise manner
m
of thhe
Muraneese. In his laarge picturee in the Acaademy, the Calling
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Cimaa.
Berlin..
M
Madonna
withh four Saintss; Two Madoonnas.
Coneglliano.
D
Duomo:
Madoonna and Saiints, 1493.
Dresdeen.
T Saviour; Presentation
The
n of Virgin.
Londonn.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Six picctures of Sain
nts; Madonnaa.
Parma..
M
Madonna
withh Saints; Ano
other; Endym
mion; Apolloo and Marsyaas.
Paris.
M
Madonna
withh Saints.
Venicee.
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M
Madonna
withh SS. Jeromee and John, 1489.
1
Vinceenzo Catenaa.
Bergam
mo.
C
Carrara:
Chrisst at Emmaus.
Berlin..
Dresdeen.
H
Holy
Family (L.).
(
Londonn.
Paris.
V
Venetian
Ambbassadors at Cairo.
Venicee.
D
Ducal
Palace: Madonna, Saints,
S
and Doge
D
Loredann (E.).
G
Giovanelli
Paalace: Madon
nna and Saintts.
S. Maria Mateer Domini: S.
S Cristina.
S. Trovaso: Madonna.
M
Viennaa.
Portrait of a Canon.
C
Marcco Basaiti.
Bergam
mo.
Berlin..
Londonn.
S. Jerome; Maadonna.
Milan.
A
Ambrosiana:
R
Risen
Christt.
Munichh.
M
Madonna,
Saiints, and Don
nor (E.).
Muranno.
S. Pietro: Assumption.
Padua.
Venicee.
Viennaa.
65
C
Calling
of Children of Zeb
bedee, 1515.
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Andrrea Previtalli.
Bergam
mo.
Berlin..
M
Madonna
andd Saints; Marrriage of S. Catherine.
C
Dresdeen.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Londonn.
M
Madonna
andd Donor (E.).
Milan.
B
Brera:
Christ in Garden, 1512.
Oxfordd.
C
Christchurch
L
Library:
Mad
donna.
Venicee.
D
Ducal
Palace: Christ in Liimbo; Crossing of the Reed Sea.
R
Redentore:
Naativity; Cruccifixion.
Veronaa.
N. Roondinelli.
Berlin..
M
Madonna.
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
Madonnna and Sain
nts.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Madonnna with fourr Saints and three
t
Angelss.
Paris.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Ravennna.
Venicee.
M
Museo
Correrr: Madonna; Madonna wiith Saints and Donors.
G
Giovanelli
Paalace: Two Madonnas.
M
Bissoolo.
Londonn.
M Benson: Madonna
Mr.
M
and
d Saints.
M
Mond
Collecttion: Madonn
na and Saintss.
Venicee.
66
A
Academy:
Deead Christ; Madonna
M
and Saints; Presentation in
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Temple.
S. Giovanni inn Bragora: Triptych.
T
R
Redentore:
M
Madonna
and Saints.
S. Maria Mateer Domini: Transfiguratio
T
on.
L
Lady
Layard: Madonna an
nd Saints.
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PART
T II
CH
HAPTER
R XIV
GIORGIO
ONE
When we
w enter a gallery
g
of Florentine paaintings, wee find our admiration
a
aand criticism
m expressinng
themsellves naturallly in certain terms; wee are struck
k by grace of
o line, by sstrenuous sttudy of form
m,
by the evidence
e
off knowledge, by the diisplay of th
hought and intellectual feeling. Th
he Florentinne
gesturess and attituddes are exprressive, nervous, ferven
nt, or, as in Michelanggelo and Sig
gnorelli, alivve
with suuperhuman energy.
e
Butt when lookking at pictu
ures of the Venetian
V
Scchool we un
nconsciouslly
use quitte another sort
s of languuage; epitheets like daark and ricch come m
most freely to
t our lips; a
golden glow, a sluumberous velvety
v
deptth, seem to engulf andd absorb all details. We
W are carrieed
into thee land of rom
mance, and are fascinaated and soo
othed, ratherr than stimuulated and aroused.
a
So it
is with portraits; before the M
Mona Lisa our intellig
gence is all awake, butt the men an
nd women of
o
Venetiaan canvasess have a grave,
g
indollent serenitty, which accords
a
well with thee slumber of
o
thoughtt.
Up to the beginnning of the sixteenth century the painters of Venice had not differed
d
verry
materiaally from thoose of otherr schools; thhey had grad
dually workked out or leearned the technicalitie
t
es
of draw
wing, perspeective and anatomy.
a
T
They
had beeen paintingg in oils forr twenty-fiv
ve years, annd
they beetrayed a greater
g
fonddness for pageant-pict
p
tures than was felt inn other Staates of Italyy.
Florencce appoints Michelangeelo and Leoonardo to deecorate her public palaace, but no great
g
store is
set by their
t
splenddid achievem
ments; theirr work is no
ot even com
mpleted. Thhe students fall
f upon thhe
cartoonns, which aree allowed too perish, insstead of beiing treasured by the nattion. Gentille Bellini annd
Carpacccio and thee band of State
S
painteers are apprreciated andd well rewaarded. Thesse men havve
reproduuced somethhing of thee lucent traansparency, the naturall colour off Venice, bu
ut it is as if
unconscciously; theey are not fully aiminng at any special effe
fect. Year aafter year the
t Venetiaan
masterss assimilate more or leess languiddly the influ
uences whicch reach thhem from th
he mainlandd.
They welcome
w
Guuariento andd Gentile daa Fabriano, they
t
set theemselves to learn from Veronese or
o
Florentiine, the Paaduans conntribute theeir chiselleed drawing, their learrned persp
pective, theeir
archeological curioosity. Yet evven early inn the day the Venetianss escape froom that hard
d and learneed
e
volupptuous temp
perament. Jaacopo Bellinni cannot conform to it,
i
art whicch is so alieen to their easy,
and his greatest son is ready to
t follow feeling and em
motion, andd in his old age is quick
k to discoveer
the firstt flavour off the new wiine. If Veneetian art had
d gone on upon
u
the lines we have been tracinng
up to now, there would
w
have been nothinng very disstinctive aboout it, for, hhowever intteresting annd
ni may be, it is not of tthem we think when we
w
charminng Alvise annd Carpaccio, Cima annd the Bellin
speak of
o the Venettian School and when we
w rank it beside
b
that of
o Florence,, while Giov
vanni Bellinni
alone, in his later works,
w
is noot strong enoough to beaar the burdenn.
The chaange which now comess over paintting is not so much a teechnical onee as a chang
ge of tempeer,
a new tendency
t
inn human thhought, and we link it with Giorggione becauuse he was the channeel
throughh which the deep impullse first burrst into the light.
l
We have
h
tried too trace the growth
g
of thhe
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early Venetian
V
Schhool, but it does
d
not develop logically like thaat of Florennce; it is nott the result of
o
long enndeavour, addding one acquisition
a
a discoveery to anothher. Venetiaan art was peculiarly
and
p
thhe
outcom
me of personnalities, and it did not know
k
its ow
wn mind tilll the sixteennth century. Then, like a
hidden spring, it bubbles irressistibly to thhe surface, and the spoot where it does so is called
c
by thhe
name off a man.
There are
a beings in
i most great creative epochs who, with pecculiar facilitty, seem to embody thhe
purposee of their agge and to yiield themsellves as read
dy instrumennts to its deesign. When
n time is rippe
they apppear, and are able, with
w
perfectt ease, to carry
c
out and
a give vooice to the desires annd
tendenccies which have been straining for expresssion. Thesee desires m
may owe their origin to
t
national life and teemperamennt; it may haave taken generations
g
to bring thhem to fruitiion, but theey
becomee audible thrrough the aggency of ann individual genius. A genius
g
is inevitably mo
oulded by his
h
age. Roome, in the seventeenthh century, drew
d
to herr in Bernini a man whoo could witth real poweer
e,
illustratte her determ
mination to be grandiose and osten
ntatious, annd, at the heeight of the Renaissanc
R
Venice draws intoo her servicce a man whose
w
senssuous feelinng was instilled, acceentuated, annd
welcom
med by everyy element around
a
him.
More conclusively
c
y than ever,, at this tim
me, Venice, the worlds great seaa-power, waas in her fuull
glory as
a the centrre of the worlds
w
com
mmerce an
nd its art and
a
culture. Vasco daa Gama haad
discoveered the sea route to India in 1498, but the stu
upendous efffect which this was to
o exert on thhe
whole current
c
of power
p
did noot become apparent
a
alll at once. Venice
V
was sstill the greeat emporium
m
of the East,
E
linked to it by a thhousand tiess, Oriental in
n her love of
o Eastern riichness.
It woulld be exagggerating to say
s that thee Venetianss of the sixtteenth centuury could not
n draw. As
A
there were
w
Tuscanns who undeerstood beauutiful harm
monies of coolour, so theere were Veenetians whho
knew a good deal about form
m; but the other
o
Italian
ns looked upon
u
colour as a charm
ming adjuncct,
almost, one mightt say, as ann amiable weakness:
w
they
t
never would have allowed that
t
it mighht
legitimaately becom
me the end and
a aim in painting,
p
an
nd in the sam
me way form
m, though respected
r
annd
consideered, was neever the priincipal objeect of the Venetians.
V
U to this tiime Venicee had fed heer
Up
emotionnal instinctts by pageaants and goold and veelvets and brocades,
b
bbut with Giorgione shhe
discoveered that thhere was a deeper emootional veh
hicle than thhese superfficial gloriees,glowinng
depths of
o colour ennveloped inn the mysterrious richneess of chiarooscuro whicch obliterated form, annd
hid andd suggested more
m
than it
i revealed.
Giorgioone no longer describedd in drawings learned tongue; he carried aall before him by givinng
his direect impression in colouur. He conceeives in collour. The Fllorentines ccared little if
i their finelly
drawn draperies
d
w
were
blue orr red, but Giorgione im
mages purplee clouds, thheir dark veelvet glowinng
towardss a rose andd orange hoorizon. He hardly
h
know
ws what attiitudes his ccharacters taake, but theeir
chestnuut hair, theirr deep-huedd draperies, their amberr flesh, makke a movingg harmony in which thhe
importaance of exaact modellinng is lost sight of. His scenes arre not compposed meth
hodically annd
accordinng to the olld rules, buut are the dirrect impress of the paiinters joy in life. It waas a new annd
audacioous style inn painting, and its keeynote, and
d absolutelyy inevitablee consequeence, was to
t
substituute for form
m and for gaay, simple tiints laid upon it, the quuality of chhiaroscuro. We
W all know
w
how the shades of evening are
a able to transform the most commonpla
c
ce scene; the
t dull roaad
becomees a mysteriious avenuee, the colouurless foliag
ge develops luscious deepths, the drab
d
and ariid
plain gllows with mellow
m
lighht, purple shhadows clotthe and softten every haarsh and ug
gly object, all
a
detail dies,
d
and ouur apprehennsion of it dies also. Our
O mood changes;
c
innstead of ob
bserving annd
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criticisiing, we becoome sootheed, contempplative, dreaamy. It is thhe carrying of this proffound feelinng
into a colour-schem
c
me by meanns of chiarooscuro, so th
hat it is no longer
l
learnned and exp
planatory, buut
deeply sensuous annd emotionnal, that is thhe gift to arrt which fouund full voice with Giiorgione, annd
which in one mom
ment was recognised and welco
omed to thhe exclusionn of the ollder manneer,
becausee it touched the chord which
w
vibrated through
h the whole Venetian teemperamentt.
And thee immediatee result wass the picturee of no subjject. Giorgiione createss for us idle figures witth
radiant flesh, or roobed in rich costumes, surrounded
d by lovely country, annd we do no
ot ask or carre
why theey are gathered togethher. We havve all had dreams
d
of Elysian
E
fieldds, where falls not anny
rain, noor ever winnd blows louudly, where all is resst and freeddom, wheree music bleends with thhe
plash of fountains,, and fruits ripen, and lovers dreaam away thee days, andd no one ask
ks what wennt
before or
o what folllows after. The Goldeen Age, thee haunt of fauns
f
and nnymphs: theere never haas
been suuch a day, orr such a lannd: it is a moood, a visio
on: it has dannced beforee the eyes of poets, from
m
David to
t Keats annd Tennysonn: it has roocked the tirred hearts of
o men in aall ages: thee vision of a
resting--place whicch makes noo demands and wheree the dwelleers are exem
mpt from th
he cares annd
weakneess of mortaality. Needlless to say, it is an ideal born of the
t East; it is the Easteern dream of
o
Paradise, and it sppeaks to thaat strain in the
t temperaament whichh recognisees that life cannot
c
be all
a
n
feelinng and emottion. And fo
or the first time in all the world th
he painter of
o
thoughtt, but also needs
Castelfrranco sets that
t
vague dream
d
beforre mens ey
yes. The woorld, with itts wistful yearnings annd
questionnings, suchh as Leonarddo or Botticcelli embod
died, said litttle to his aaudience. Heere was theeir
natural atmospheree, though thhey had neveer known it before. Theese deep, soolemn toness, these fuseed
and gollden lights are
a what Giiorgione graasps from th
he material world, andd as he steep
ps his sensees
in them
m the subjectt counts butt little in thee deep enjo
oyment theyy communiccate. We, wh
ho have seeen
his mannner repeateed and deveeloped through thousan
nds of pictuures, find itt difficult to
o realise that
there haad been notthing like itt before, thaat it was a unique
u
depaarture, that when Bellin
ni and Titiaan
looked at his first creations they
t
must have
h
experieenced a shoock of reveelation. Thee old definitte
style must
m
have seeemed sudddenly hard and
a meagree, and everyy time they looked on the gloriouus
world, the
t deep gllow of sunsset, the myssterious shaades of falliing night, thhey must have
h
felt theey
were enndowed witth a sense too which theey had hitherto been sttrangers, buut which, itt was at oncce
apparennt, was theirr true heritaage. They had
h found th
hemselves, and in them
m Venice fo
ound her reaal
expresssion, and wiith Giorgionne and thosee who felt his
h impetus began
b
the trrue Venetiaan School, seet
apart froom all otherr forms of art
a by its waay of using and
a diffusinng and intennsifying colour.
When Giorgione,
G
t son of a member of
the
o the housee of Barbareelli and a peeasant girl of
o Vedelagoo,
came down
d
to Vennice, we gaather that he had nothiing of the provincial.
p
V
Vasari, who
o must ofteen
have heard
h
of him from Titian,
T
describes him
m as handssome, engaaging, of distinguishe
d
ed
appearaance, beloveed by his friends,
f
a faavourite with women, fond of drress and am
musement, an
a
admirabble musiciann, and a weelcome guesst in the hou
uses of the great.
g
He was evidently
y no peasanntbred laad, but proobably, thouugh there is no recorrd of the fact, was bbrought up
p, like manny
illegitim
mate childreen, in the paternal mannsion. His home
h
was not
n far from
m the lagoon
ns, in one of
o
the mosst beautiful places it iss possible too imagine, on
o a lovely and fertile plain runniing up to thhe
Asoleann hills and with the Juulian Alps lyying behind
d. We guess that he reeceived his education in
i
the schoool of Belliini, for wheen that mastter sold his allegory off the Souls in Paradisse to one of
o
the Meedici, to adoorn the sum
mmer villa of Poggio Imperiale, there wentt with it th
he two smaall
canvasees now in the
t Uffizi, the
t Ordeall of Moses and the Judgment
oof Solomon
n, delightfu
ful
little paaintings in Giorgiones rich andd distinctivee style, butt less accom
mplished th
han Bellinis
picture,, and with im
mperfectionns in the drawing of drrapery and figures whiich suggest that they arre
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CH
HAPTE
ER XV
GIOR
RGIONE (continued)
When Giorgione
G
w twenty--six he wennt back to Castelfranco
was
C
o, and paintted an altarp
piece for thhe
Church of San Libberale. In thhe sixteenthh century Tuzio
T
Costannza, a welll-known cap
ptain of Freee
h had beenn attached to Catherinne
Compannions, who had made his fortunee in the waars, where he
Cornaroo, followed the dethronned queen from
f
Cypru
us, and wheen she retireed to Asolo, settled neaar
her at Castelfranco
C
o. His son, Matteo,
M
enttered the serrvice of thee Venetian R
Republic, and
a became a
leader of
o fifty lances; but Mattteo was killled at the baattle of Ravenna in 15004, and Costtanza had his
h
sons boody embalm
med and burried in the family
fa
chapeel.
Nothingg is knownn of the deetails of thiis commission, but wee are not sstraining th
he bounds of
o
probabiility by assuuming that in
i a little toown like Castelfranco, hardly
h
moree than a village, the tw
wo
youths must
m have been
b
well known
k
to eaach other, an
nd that this acquaintancce and the familiarity
f
o
of
the onee with the appearance
a
of the other may hav
ve been thee determininng cause which
w
led thhe
bereaveed father to give the coommission to
t the young painter, while
w
the traagic circum
mstances werre
such ass would apppeal to an ardent,
a
enthhusiastic naature. A treasure of ouur National Gallery is a
study made
m
by Gioorgione for the figure of
o San Libeerale, who is
i representeed as a you
ung man witth
bare head and crispp, golden loocks, dresseed in silver armour, coppied from tthe suit in which
w
Matteeo
Costanzza is dressedd in the stonne effigy which
w
is stilll preserved in the cemeetery at Casstelfranco. At
A
the sidee of the stonne figure lies a helmet, resembling that on the head of thee saint in thee altarpiece.
In Giorrgiones grooup the Mother
M
and Child are enthroned
e
o high, w
on
with St. Fraancis and St.
S
Liberalee on either hand. The Childs glannce is turneed upon thee soldier-saiint, a gallan
nt figure witth
his lancce at rest, his
h dagger on
o his hip, his
h gloves in
n his hand, young, higgh-bred, witth features of
o
almost feminine beauty.
b
Thee picture is conceived in a new spirit of sim
mplicity off design, annd
shows a new feelinng for restrraint in mattters of detaail. It is thee work of a man who has
h observeed
that earrly morningg, like latee evening, has a marv
vellous pow
wer of elim
minating alll unessential
accessoories and off envelopinng every obj
bject in a deelicious schheme of ligght. Repaintted, cleanedd,
restoredd as the cannvas is, it is still full of
o an atmossphere of calm serenitty. It is not the ecstatic,
devotioonal reverie of Peruginoos saints. The
T painter of Castelfraanco has not steeped hiis whole souul
in religgious imaginnation, likee the painterr of Umbriia; he is an exemplar of the lyricc feeling; his
h
work is a poem in praise of yoouth and beaauty, and drreams in airr and sunshiine. He usess atmospherre
to enhaance the moood, but Giiorgione caarries his un
nison of lanndscape witth human feeling
f
mucch
further than Peruggino; he obsserves the delicate
d
efffects of lighht, and limppid air circculates in his
distancee. The sun rising over the sea throws a glam
mour and puurity of earlly morning over a scenne
meant to
t glorify thhe memory of
o a young life. The paainter showss his connecction with his
h master by
b
using thhe figure of
o the St. Francis
F
in Bellinis
B
Saan Giobbe altarpiece. What Belllini owed to
t
Giorgioone is still a matter foor speculation. The Saan Zaccariaa altarpiece was, as we have seenn,
painted in the yearr following that of Casstelfranco. Something
S
has incited the old paiinter to fressh
efforts; out of his own evoluttion, or stim
mulated by his pupils splendid exxperiments, he is draw
wn
into thee golden atm
mosphere off the Venetiaan cinque-ccento.
The Veenetian painnters were distinguishe
d
ed by their love for thhe kindred aart of musiic. Giorgionne
himselff was an addmirable muusician, andd linked witth all that is akin to m
music in his work, is his
h
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Cham
mptre of thhe Louvre he
h acquires a frankly sensuous
s
chharm. He beecomes ripeer,
richer in
i feeling, and
a displayys great exuuberance off style. Thee woman fiilling her pitcher
p
at thhe
fountainn is exquisiite in line and
a curve annd amber colour.
c
She seems to liisten lazily to the liquiid
fall of the water mingling with
w
the haalf-heard mu
usic of thee pipes. Thee beautiful idyll in thhe
w uprightts; pillars arre formed by
b
Giovanelli Palace is full of arrt of compoosition. It iss built up with
the groups of treees and figurres, cut bolldly across by the horrizontal linee of the briidge, but thhe
figures themselvess are put in without
w
anyy attention to
o subject, thhough an unnconscious humorist haas
discoveered in them
m the domesstic circle of the painteer. The mann in Venetiaan dress is th
here to assist
the left--hand colum
mnar group,, placed at the
t edge of the picture after the m
manner of Leeonardo. Thhe
woman and child lighten
l
the mass
m
of foliage on the right and make
m
a beauutiful patterrn. The whitte
t
sky, the wiinds blusterr through th
he space, thhe
town off Castelfrannco sings aggainst the threatening
trees shhiver with thhe coming storm. Heree and there leafy boughhs are strucck in with a slight, crissp
touch, in
i which wee can follow
w readily thee painters quick
q
impreession.
The K
Knight of Malta
M
is a grand magiisterial figu
ure, majestic, yet full of ardent warmth
w
lyinng
behind the grave, indifferentt nobility. The face is
i bisected with shaddow, in thee way whicch
Michelaangelo and Andrea dell Sarto affeccted, and th
he cone-shaaped head w
with parted hair
h is of thhe
type whhich seems particularlyy to have plleased the painter.
p
To Giorgione,
G
too, belong
gs the honouur
of havinng created a Venus as pure as thee Aphroditee of Cnidoss and as beaautiful as a courtesan of
o
Titian.
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Giorrgione. F
TE CHAM
MPTRE. Louvre.
(
(Photo,
Alin
nari.)
The deaath of Giorggione from plague in 1511 is reg
gistered by all
a the oldeest authorities. His boddy
was connveyed to Castelfranco
C
o by membbers of the Barbarelli
B
f
family
and bburied in th
he Church of
o
San Libberale. In 16638 an epitaaph was placced over hiss tomb by Matteo
M
and E
Ercole Barb
barelli.
Allowinng that he was
w hardly more than twenty
t
wheen his new manner beggan to gain a followingg,
he had only
o
some twelve
t
yearrs in which to
t establish his deep annd lasting innfluence. We
W divine thaat
he was a man of sttrong personnality, suchh a one as warms
w
and sttimulates hiis companio
ons. Even his
h
nicknam
me tells us something,Great George,
G
the Chief, the George off Georges,
it seems to
t
expresss him as a leeader. And we have noo lack of pro
oof that he was admireed and lookeed up to. His
style beecame the only one that found favoour in Venice, and the painters off the day did
d their best to
t
conform
m to it. Few
w authentic examples are
a left from
m his own hand,
h
but oout of his co
onscious annd
devotedd and more or less succcessful imitaators, there grew up a school,
s
outt of all thosse fascinatinng
works, rightly or wrongly
w
atttributed to him;
h
out off many coppies from, oor variationss on him, by
b
unknow
wn or uncerttain workm
men, whose drawings
d
an
nd designs were,
w
for vaarious reaso
ons, prized as
a
his; out of the im
mmediate im
mpression he made upon
u
his coontemporariies and with which he
h
continuued in mens minds; ouut of many traditions of
o subject and
a treatmennt which reeally descennd
from him to our ow
wn time, andd by retracinng which we
w fill out thhe original im
mage.
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Summinng up all thhese influennces, he has left us the Giorgionessque; the artt of choosin
ng a momennt
in whicch the subjecct and the elements
e
of colour and design are so perfectlyy fused and blended that
we havee no need too ask for anny more articculate story
y; a momentt into whichh all the sign
nificance, thhe
fulness of existencce has conddensed itsellf, so that we
w are conscious of thhe very esssence of liffe.
Those idylls
i
of beiings wrappeed into an ideal
i
dream
mland by muusic and thee sound of water
w
and thhe
beauty of wood annd mountainn and velvett sward, neeed all our coonscious appprehension
n of life if we
w
are to drink
d
in theeir full fasciination. Thee dream of the Lotos-eeaters can oonly come with
w force to
t
those who
w can coontrast it addequately with
w the exp
perience, thhe complicaation, and the
t thousannd
distractions of an over-civiliised world.. Rest and relaxationn, the poweer of the deeply
d
tinteed
eventide, or of the fresh mornning light, and
a the calm
m that drinkks in the sennsations theey are able to
t
afford, are among the preciouus things off life. The instinct
i
upoon which Giorgiones work
w
rests is
the satissfying of thhe feeling ass well as thee thinking faculty,
fa
the life
l of the hheart, as com
mpared to thhe
life of the intellecct, the soluution of lifees problem
ms by love instead of by thoughtt. It was thhe
Easternn ideal, and its positive expression is conveyed by meanss of colour, deep, restfu
ul, satisfyingg,
fused annd controlleed by chiarooscuro ratheer than by fo
orm.
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Berlin..
Portrait of a Man.
M
Buda-P
Pesth.
Portrait of a Man.
M
Castelffranco.
D
Duomo:
Madoonna with SS
S. Francis annd Liberale.
Dresdeen.
Sleeping Venuus.
Florencce.
Uffizi: Trial of
U
o Moses (E.)); Judgment of Solomon (E.); Knightt of
Malta.
M
Madonna
withh SS. Roch and
a Anthony of Padua.
Paris.
Fte Champttre.
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Portrait of a Lady.
Venicee.
Bostonn.
Londonn.
Sketch of a Knight;
K
Adoraation of Sheppherds.
V
Viscount
Alleendale: Adoration of Sheppherds.
Viennaa.
75
E
Evander
show
wing neas the
t Future Siite of Rome.
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CH
HAPTER
R XVI
THE GIORGIO
ONESQUE
Giorgioone had givven the imppulse, and all
a the pain
nters round him felt hiis power. The
T Venetiaan
painterss that is, forr it is remarrkable, at a time when the men off one city obbserved and
d studied annd
took hinnts from thoose of everry other, how
w faint are the signs thhat this parrticular man
nner attracteed
any greeat attentionn in other art
a centres. Leonardo da
d Vinci was a masterr of chiarosscuro, but he
h
used it only to exppress his form
ms, and nevver sacrificees to it the delicacy
d
andd fineness of
o his designn.
It is the one quallity Raphaeel never asssimilates, except for a brief instaant at the period
p
wheen
Sebastiaan del Piom
mbo had arriived in Rom
me from Veenice. It takees hold mosst strongly upon
u
Andreea
del Sartto, who seem
ms, significcantly enouggh, to have had no verry pronouncced intellecttual capacityy,
but in Venice
V
itsellf it now beecame the only way. The
T old Beellini finds in it his lasst and fullest
ideal; Catena,
C
Basaiti, Carianni do their best
b to acqu
uire it, and so successffully was it acquired, so
s
congeniial was it too Venetian art, that evven second- and third-rrate Venetiaan painters have usuallly
somethiing attractivve which trriumphs ovver superficcial and douubtful draw
wing and grrouping. It is
easy to see how much
m
to theiir taste wass this fused and goldenn manner, thhis disregarrd of defineed
form, annd this new
w play of chhiaroscuro. The
T Venetiaan room in the Nationaal Gallery iss full of succh
examples: the Nym
mphs and Amoretti
A
off No. 1695,, charming figures agaainst meltin
ng vines annd
olives; Venus annd Adonis, in whichh a bewitch
hing Cupidd chases a butterfly; Lovers in a
mmer twilighht; scenes in
n which neiither personn nor scenerry is a pretexxt
landscaape, roamingg in the sum
for the other,
o
but each has its full
f share inn arousing the desired emotion.
e
Suuch picturess are ascribeed
to, or taaken from Giorgione
G
b succeediing critics, but have alll laid hold of his charrm, and havve
by
some shhare in his inspiration.
One off the ablest of his folloowers, a maan whose work
w
is stilll confoundeed with thee masters, is
masque, whho at differeent times in
n his life alsso successfu
fully imitateed Palma annd
Cariani, the Bergam
I his Giorggionesque manner
m
Carriani often creates
c
charming figurres and stro
ong portraitts,
Lotto. In
though he pushess his colourr to a coaarse, excesssive tone. His
H family group in the Roncallli
Collectiion at Bergamo is veryy close to Giorgione.
G
Seven
S
persons, three woomen and four
f
men, arre
groupedd together upon
u
a terraace, and behhind them sttretches a calm landscaape, half co
oncealed by a
brocadeed hanging. The effect of the whoole is restfull, though it lacks Giorggiones con
ncentration of
o
sensatioon. Then, aggain, Carianni flies off too the gayer,, more anim
mated style oof Lotto. Laater on, wheen
he triess to reprodduce Giorgiiones pastooral reveriees, his sheppherds and nymphs become
b
merre
peasantts, herdsmeen, and couuntry wenchhes, who have
h
nothinng of the iddyllic distin
nction whicch
Giorgioone never faailed to infuuse. The Adulteress beefore Christt at Glasgoow still bearrs the greateer
name, but
b its short, vulgar figuures and fauulty compossition disclaaim his authhorship, wh
hile Cariani is
fully caapable of such failings, and the exaaggerated, red-brown
r
toone is quitee characterisstic of him.
These painters
p
are more than merely
m
imittative; they are also typpical. Giorgiiones new manner hadd
appealeed to some quality
q
inheerent and herreditary in their
t
nature, and the essential traits they singlle
out andd dwell uponn are the traaits which apppeal equally to the insstincts of booth. It is thiss which
makes their
t
effortss more symppathetic thann those of other
o
secondd-rate painteers. Colour,, or rather
the pecuuliar way inn which Gioorgione usedd colour, maade a naturaal appeal to them, and it
i is a
medium
m which doees make an immediate appeal and covers a muultitude of sshortcoming
gs.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Cariaani.
Bergam
mo.
C
Carrara:
Madoonna and Saiints.
L
Lochis:
Wom
man and Shepherd; Portraiits; Saints.
M
Morelli:
Madoonna (L.).
R
Roncalli
Colleection: Famiily Group.
D
Death
of S. Peeter Martyr (L.);
(
Madonnna and Saintss (L.).
Milan.
B
Brera:
Madonnna and Saintts (L.); Madoonna (L.).
A
Ambrosiana:
W to Golg
Way
gotha.
Paris.
M
Madonna,
Saiints, and Don
nor (E.); Holly Family andd Saints.
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Sleeping Venus;
V
Madonna and S. Peter.
Venicee.
H
Holy
Family; Portraits.
Viennaa.
C
Christ
bearingg Cross; The Bravo.
School of Giorggione.
Londonn.
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CH
HAPTER
R XVII
TITIAN
N
The moountains of Cadore are not always visible from
m Venice, but
b there thhey lie, behind the mistts,
and in the
t clear shiining after rain,
r
in the golden even
ntide of auttumn, and oon steel-cold
d winter dayys
they staand out, lappis-lazuli bllue or deep purple, or, like Shelleeys enchannted peaks, in sharp-cuut,
beautifuul shapes rising above billowy sloopes. Cadorre is a land of rich cheestnut wood
ds, of leapinng
streamss, of gleamss and gloom
ms, sudden storms and
d bursts of sunshine. Itt is an ordeer of scenerry
which enters
e
deepp into the affections
a
o its sons, and we caan form som
of
me idea off the hold its
minglinng of wild poetry
p
and sensuous
s
softness obtaiined over thhe mind of T
Titian from
m the fact thaat
in after years, whille he never exerts himsself to paint the city in which he liived and in which all his
greatestt triumphs were
w gainedd, he is unifo
formly consttant to his mountain
m
hoome, enters into its spirrit
and inteerprets its chharm with warm
w
and penetrating insight.
i
The disstrict formedd part of thhe dependenncies of the great repubblic, and rellied upon Venice
V
for its
safety, its distinctiion, and in great meassure for its employmennt. The smaall craftsmeen and artists
from all the countrry round loooked forwarrd to going down to seeek their forrtune at her hands. Theey
tacked the
t name off their nativve town to their
t
own naame, and were
w
drawn iinto the magnificent liffe
of the city
c of the sea, and caame back frrom time to
o time withh stories of her art, herr power, annd
beauty.
The Veecelli had foor generatioons held hoonourable po
osts in Caddore. The faather and grrandfather of
o
the youung Tizianoo were influential menn, and with
h his brothher and sisters he musst have beeen
broughtt up in com
mfort. Theree are even trraditions off noble birthh, and it is evident thaat Titian waas
always a gentlemaan, though this
t did not prevent hiss being eduucated as a ccraftsman, and when he
h
was onlly ten years old he was sent down to Venice to
t be apprennticed to a m
mosaicist.
It was a changingg Venice too which Tittian came as
a a boy; changing
c
inn its life, itts social annd
a was faithhfully registtering its asspirations aand tastes. More
M
than at
politicaal conditions, and its art
any preevious timee, it was caalculated too impress a youth to whom
w
it haad been held up as thhe
embodiiment of spplendid soveereignty, annd the diffeerence betw
ween the litttle hill-tow
wn set in thhe
midst of
o its wildd solitudes and the brilliant city
y of the seea must haave been dazzling
d
annd
bewildeering. A new
w sense of intellectual
i
luxury had awakened in
i the great commerciaal centre. Thhe
Venetiaan love of splendour
s
w displayiing itself by
was
y the encouuragement aand collectio
on of objects
of art, and
a both anncient and modern
m
works were in
n increasingg request. O
On Gentile Bellinis
B
annd
Carpacccios canvaases we seee the sort of
o people th
he Venetianns were, shhrewd, quiett, splendouurloving, but busineess-like, thee young meen fashionab
bly dressedd, fastidiouss connoisseu
urs, splendiid
patrons of art and of religion. Buyers weere beginnin
ng to find out
o what a ddelightful deecoration thhe
small picture
p
madde, and that it was as much in pllace in theiir own halls as over th
he altar of a
chapel. The portraait, too, wass gaining inn importancee, and the idea
i
of makking it a pleeasure-givinng
Procession of the Relicc
picture,, even moree than a faithhful transcrript, was gaathering grouund. The P
was stilll in Gentilles studio, but the Fraari Madon
nna and Chiild was just installed in its place.
Carpacccio was begginning his long series of St. Ursu
ula, and thee Bellini andd Vivarini were
w
in keeen
rivalshiip.
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it waas
Germannia, but Zaanetti, who had the bennefit of Seb
bastiano Ricccis taste, declares thaat from whaat
he saw,, both Giorgione and Titian
T
gave proofs of remarkable
r
skill. Whhile Giorgione showed a
fervid and
a originall spirit and opened up a new path, over whicch he shed a light that was to guidde
posteritty, Titian was
w of a grander
g
andd more equ
uable geniuus, leaning at first, in
ndeed, upoon
Giorgioones exampple, but expanding withh such forcee and rapiditty as to placce him in ad
dvance of his
h
compannion, on an eminence to
t which noo later craft
ftsman was able to clim
mb.... He moderated
m
thhe
fire of Giorgione,
G
w
whose
strenngth lay in fanciful mo
ovement andd a mysterioous artifice in disposinng
shadow
ws, contrasteed darkly with
w warm lights, blendeed, strengthhened, blurrred, so as to
o produce thhe
semblannce of exubberant life. Certain woorks remain
n to link thee two painteers; even no
ow critics arre
dividedd as to whhich of thee two to attribute th
he Concerrt in the Pitti. The figures arre
Giorgioonesque, buut the technnique establishes it ass an early Titian,
T
and it is doub
btful whetheer
Giorgioone would be capable of the intellectual efffort which produced the dreamy
y, passionatte
expresssion of the young
y
monk, borne farr out of him
mself by hiss own meloody, and hallf recalled to
t
life by the touch on
o his shouulder. Titiann, like Giorg
gione, was a musiciann, and the fascination
fa
o
of
music is felt by many masterss of the Itallian schoolss. In one piccture the pllayer feels vaguely
v
afteer
the mellody, in anoother we aree asked to anticipate
a
th
he song thaat is just about to begin
n, or the laast
chords of that just finished vibrate upon the ear, butt nowhere else
e in all arrt has any one
o so seizeed
the mellody of an instant and kept
k
its fulnness and its passion souunding in oour ears as this
t musiciaan
does.
Thoughh we cannott say that Tiitian was thhe pupil of any
a one masster, the fiftteen years, more
m
or lesss,
that he spent with Giorgione
G
left an indellible impression upon him.
h
We havve only to lo
ook at such a
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picture as the Maadonna andd Child withh SS. John Baptist andd Antony A
Abate, in th
he Uffizi, an
a
early work,
w
to recoollect that in
i 1503 Gioorgione at Castelfranco
C
o had takenn the Madon
nna from heer
niche inn the sanctuuary and haad enthroneed her on high
h
in a brright and suunny landscape with S.
S
Liberalee standing sentinel
s
at her
h feet, likee a knight gu
uarding his liege lady.
Titian in this earlyy group casts every connvention asiide; a beautiiful womann and lovely
y children arre
placed in surrounddings whosee charm is devoid of hieratic andd religious significancce. The sam
me
easy unnfettered trreatment apppears in the
t
Madon
nna with the
t
Cherriees at Vien
nna, and thhe
Madonnna with Stt. Bridget and
a S. Ulfuus at Mad
drid, and whhile it has been surmised that thhe
example of the preecise Albert Drer, whoo paid his fiirst visit to Venice
V
in 1506, was no
ot without its
effect inn preservingg Titian from falling innto laxity off treatment and in incitting him to fine finish, it
is interresting to find
f
that Tiitian was, in fact, disscarding thee use of thhe carefully
y traced annd
transferrred cartoonn, and was sketching
s
hiis design freeely on pannel or canvas with a bru
ush dipped in
i
brown pigment,
p
annd altering and
a modifyiing it as he went
w on.
The lasst years of Titians firrst period in
i Venice must
m
have been anxioous ones. The
T Emperoor
Maximiilian was atttacking thee Venetian possessions
p
on the mainnland, in annger at a reffusal to grannt
his trooops a free paassage on thheir way too uphold Geerman supreemacy in Ceentral Italy.. Cadore waas
the firstt point of his invasion,, and from 1507 Titian
ns uncle annd great-unccle were in the Councils
of the State,
S
his faather held an
a importannt command
d, and his brrother Franncesco, who
o had alreaddy
made soome progreess as an arttist, threw down
d
his brrush and beecame a solddier. Titian was not onne
of thosee who took up arms, but
b his thougghts must have
h
been full
fu of the atttack and defence in his
mountaain fastnessees, and he must
m
have anxiously
a
awaited
a
new
ws of his faathers troop
ps and of thhe
squadroons of Masso of Ferrarra, under whose
w
colou
urs Francessco was ridding. Franceesco made a
reputatiion as a distinguishedd soldier, annd was sev
verely wounnded, and w
when peacee was made,
Titian, who
lovedd him tenderrly, persuaaded him to return to thhe pursuit off art.
The rattification off the Leaguue of Cambbray, in wh
hich Julius II., Maxim
milian, and Ferdinand
F
o
of
Naples combined against the power of Venice,
V
waas disastrouus for a time to the citty and to thhe
w dependded upon heer prosperityy. Craftsmen of all kinds first fledd to her for shelter, thenn,
artists who
as profiits and ordeers fell off, they
t
left to look elsew
where for com
mmissions. An outbreaak of plague,
in whicch Giorgionne perished, went further to make Venice an undesirablee home, and
d at this tim
me
Sebastiaan del Piom
mbo left for Rome, Lottto for the Ro
omagna, annd Titian forr Padua.
We mayy believe thhat Titian never
n
felt peerfectly satisfied with fresco-paint
f
ting as a craaft, for wheen
he was given a coommission to fresco thhe halls off the Santo, the confraaternity of St.
S Anthonyy,
patron-ssaint of Paddua, he threew off beauutifully com
mposed andd spirited drrawings, bu
ut he left thhe
executioon of them chiefly to assistants,
a
a
among
whom
m the feeblee Domenicoo Campagno
ola, a painteer
whom he
h probablyy picked up at Padua, iss conspicuous. Even whhere the lanndscape is best,
b
as in S
S.
Anthonny restoring a Youth, the
t drawingg and comp
position onlyy make us ffeel how en
nchanting thhe
scene would
w
have been in oils on one of
o Titians melting
m
cannvases. In tthose fresco
oes which he
h
executeed himself while
w
his intterest was still
s fresh, th
he Miraclee which grannts Speech to an Infantt
is the most
m Giorgioonesque. Upp to this tim
me he had prreserved thee straight-cuut corsage and
a the actuaal
dress off his contem
mporaries, after
a
the pracctice of Gio
orgione; he keeps,
k
too, to his comp
panions plaan
of desiggn, placing the most im
mportant figgures upon one
o plane, close
c
to the frame and behind
b
a low
w
wall or ledge whicch forms a sort
s of innerr frame and with a distaant horizonn. In the Pad
duan frescoees
he makes use of thhis plan, andd the straighht clouds, th
he spindly trrees, and thee youths in gay doublets
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hangs, and
a bring out
o each touuch of its gllowing radiiance, it seeems to palpiitate with th
he joy of liffe
and to thrill
t
with thhe magic off summer inn the days when
w
the worrld was youung.
With thhe influencee still lingerring of Giorrgiones K
Knight of Malta,
M
Titiaan produced
d some of his
h
finest portraits
p
in the decade that led to the middlee of his lifee. The Dr.. Parma att Vienna, thhe
noble Man
in Blaack and M
Man with a Glove off the Louvre, the Youung English
hman of thhe
Pitti, with
w his keeen blue eyees, the portrrait at Tem
mple Newsaam, which, with somee critics, stiill
passes as
a a Giorgioone, are all examples inn which he keeps the half-length,
h
invented by
y Bellini annd
followeed by Giorgiione.
After thhe visit to Padua he shows less preferencee for costum
me, and his women are
a generallly
clothed in a loose white
w
chemise, rather thhan the squ
uare-cut boddice.
We do not wonderr that all thee leading peersonages of
o Italy wishhed to be paainted by Tiitian. His arre
the porttraits of a man
m of intelllect. They show the su
ubject at hiss best; gravve, cultivateed, stately, as
a
he appeeared and wished to appear; noot taken offf his guardd in any way. What can
c be morre
sympathhetic as a personality than
t
the Ariiosto of the National Gallery?
G
Wee can enter into
i
his minnd
and maake a friend of him, annd yet all thhe time he has
h himselff in hand; hee allows uss to divine as
a
much as
a he chooses, and draaws a thin veil
v over alll that he dooes not inteend us to discover.
d
Thhe
painter himself is impersonal
i
and not oveer-sensitive;; he does noot paint in hhis own fanccies about his
h
sitter
probably he had none; he saw what
w
he was meant to see.
s There w
was what Mr.
M Berensoon
calls aa certain happpy insensibbility abouut him, whicch prevented him from
m taking fanttastic flightts,
or from
m looking tooo deep beloow the surfaace.
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Titian. ARIOSTO
O. Londoon.
(Phooto, Manselll and Co.)
CHA
APTER
R XVIIII
TIITIAN (con
ntinued)
With thhe Assumpption, finished in 1518 for the Church of the Frari, Titian rosee to the verry
highest among Rennaissance painters. Thee Glorious S. Mary was
w his them
me, and he concentrateed
all his efforts
e
on thhe realisation of that onne idea. Thee central figuure is, as it were, a colllective ratheer
than an individual type. Well proportione
p
ed and elastic as it is, itt has the abuundance of motherhoodd.
Harmonnious and serene, it coombines draamatic forcee and profouund feelingg. Exultant Humanity,
H
i
in
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people that goldenn country-siide with fitt inhabitantts. The careeless satyrss and little merry, goaatlegged fauns shockk us no morre than a herrd of forest ponies, tossing their m
manes and dashing
d
alonng
for lovee of life annd movemeent.[3] Yet almost beffore this seeries was pput in placee Titian waas
showingg the diverssity of his genius
g
by thhe Depositiion, now inn the Louvrre, which was
w painted at
a
the insttance of the Gonzaga, Marquis
M
of Mantua and
d nephew of
o Alfonso ddEste. Heree he makes a
great step in the usse of chiaroscuro. Whille it is satisfying in ballance and sw
weeping rhy
ythm, and by
b
the wayy in which every
e
line foollows and intensifies the
t helplesss, slackenedd lines of thee dead Bodyy,
it escappes Raphaells academiic treatmentt of the sam
me subject. Its splendidd colours arre not noisyy;
they meerge into a scene
s
of solemn pathos and traged
dy. The sceene has a sim
mplicity an
nd unity in its
passionn, and what above all gives
g
it its intense pow
wer is the way
w in whicch the flam
ming hues arre
absorbeed into the twilight
t
shaadows. The dark headss stand out against
a
the dying sunset, the palloor
of the dead
d
is halff veiled by the
t falling night.
n
It is a picture which
w
has the emotional beauty off a
scene inn nature, annd makes a profound im
mpression by
b its depth and mysterry. This sam
me solemnitty
and graavity temperr the brilliaant colourinng of the greeat altarpiecce painted ffor the Pesaaro family in
i
the Frarri. Columnss rise like great
g
tree-truunks, light and air playy through tthe clouds seen
s
betweeen
them. The
T groupinng is a new
w experimennt, but the way in whhich the Moother and Child,
C
thouggh
placed quite at one side of thhe picture, are
a focussed as the ceentre of inteerest, by thee converginng
lines, diagonal
d
on the one hannd and straiight on the other, crow
wns it with success. Th
he scheme of
o
colour brings
b
the two
t
figuress into high relief, while St. Franccis and the family of th
he donor arre
subordiinated to ricch, deep tinnts. Titian has abando
oned, more completelyy than everr before, anny
attemptt to invest thhe Child wiith supernatuural majesty
y. He is a delightful,
d
sppoiled baby
y, fully awarre
of his sovereignty
s
over his mother,
m
prettending to take
t
no nottice of the kkneeling su
uppliants, buut
occupyiing himselff in making a tent over his head ou
ut of her veiil. The Maadonna in Glory
G
with siix
Saints of the Vattican is another exampple of the riich and sm
mouldering colour in which
w
Titiaan
was now creating his great altarpieces,
a
kneading his
h pigmentts into a quuality, a sollidity, whicch
gives reeality withoout heavinesss, and finisshing with th
hat fine-graained texture which maakes his flessh
look likke marble enndowed witth life.
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Titian.
DIANA AND
A
ACTA
AEON. Eaarl Brownloow.
(The Medici Socciety, Ltd.)
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o
of
S. Cathherine, the first of whiich certainlly, and the second
s
probbably, was painted abo
out this time,
we cannnot doubt that
t
the chaarm of the idea
i
of mottherhood haad particulaarly arrested
d the painteer.
About 1525
1
his firrst son, Pom
mponio, wass born, and was follow
wed by anotther son and
d a daughteer.
In the S.
S Catherinee he paints thhat passion of mother-love with ann intensity aand reality that
t can onlly
be draw
wn from lifee, and on thee wheel at her
h feet he has
h inscribedd his name, Ticianus, F.
F His feelinng
for landdscape is inncreasing, and
a the landdscape in th
hese picturees equals thhe figures in
n importancce
and hass engrossed the painterr quite as much.
m
Every
y year Titiann paid a vissit to Cadorre, and in thhe
rich wooodlands, the distant villlages, the great
g
white villa on the hill-side, aand, above all,
a in the faaroff bluee mountains and the glooms
g
andd gleams off storm and sunshine, the sudden dart of rayys
throughh the summeer clouds, which
w
he haas painted here,
h
we seee how consttant was hiss study of his
native country,
c
andd how profo
foundly he felt
f its poettry and its charm.
c
He hhad married
d Cecilia, thhe
daughteer of a barbber belonginng to Perarolo, a little town near Cadore. Inn 1530 she died, and he
h
mourneed her deepply. He wennt on workiing and planning for his
h childrenns future, and
a his sisteer
came frrom Cadoree to take chaarge of the motherless
m
household; but his frieends letterss speak of his
h
being illl from melaancholy, annd he could not go on living
l
in thee old housee at San Sam
muele, whicch
had beeen his homee for sixteeen years. Hee took a neew house onn the northh side of thee city, in thhe
parish of
o San Cancciano. The Casa Grandde, as it waas called, waas a buildinng of imporrtance, whicch
the painnter first hirred and finaally bought,, letting offf such apartm
ments as hee did not neeed. The firrst
floor haad a terracee, and was entered by a flight of steps from the gardenn, which ov
verlooked thhe
lagoonss, and had a view of thhe Cadore mountains.
m
It
I has been swept awayy by the bu
uilding of thhe
Fondam
menta Nuovve, but the documents of the leaases are preeserved, andd the exactt site is weell
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CH
HAPTER
R XIX
TIITIAN (con
ntinued)
While Titian
T
was executing
e
p
portraits
of the
t Doges, of Aretino and of Isabbella of Porrtugal, and of
o
himselff and his dauughter Laviinia, he wass also strikin
ng out a new
w line in thee ceiling picctures for thhe
Church of San Spirito, which have since been transfferred to thee Salute. Thhough painteed before his
h
journeyy to Rome, it may be suspected
s
thhat he had Michelange
M
elos work iin the Sixtin
ne Chapel in
i
mind, and
a that he was
w setting himself thee task of bold foreshorttening and ttechnical prroblems. Thhe
daring of
o the concception is grreat, yet wee feel sure that
t
this is not
n Titianss element; his
h figures in
i
violent movement give a vivvid idea of strength an
nd muscularr force, butt fail both in grace annd
drawingg, and thouggh the colouur and lightt and shade distract ourr attention ffrom defects of form, he
h
does noot possess thhat mastery over the floowing silhou
uette whichh Tintoretto attained.
It was in
i 1543 thaat his relations with thhe Farnese, whose youung cardinaal he had beeen paintingg,
drew hiim at last too Rome. Leoo X. had triied to attracct him theree without suuccess, but now
n
at sixtyyeight hee found him
mself as farr on the rooad as Urbin
no. His sonn Orazio w
was with him
m, and Dukke
Guidobbaldo was hiimself his escort,
e
and sent
s
him on
n with a bannd of men-aat-arms from
m Pesaro. He
H
was recceived in Roome by Carrdinal Bembbo; Paul IIII. gave him a cordial w
welcome and
d Vasari waas
appointted his ciceerone. It is interesting to inquire what impreession Rom
me, with its treasures of
o
antique statuary annd contempoorary paintiing, made upon
u
Titian. He is filleed with won
nder and glaad
that he came, wriites Bemboo. In a letterr to Aretino
o he regretss that he haad not com
me before. He
H
stayed eight
e
monthhs in Rome,, and was made
m
a Rom
man citizen. He visits thhe Stanze of
o Raphael in
i
companny with Sebbastian del Piombo,
P
andd Michelan
ngelo comess to see him
m at his lodg
gings, and he
h
receivess a long leetter from Aretino
A
advvising him to comparee Michelanggelo with Raphael,
R
annd
Sansoviino and Braamante withh the sculptoors and arch
hitects of anntiquity. Titiian was welll establisheed
in his own
o
style, and
a was received as the
t creator of acknowlledged massterpieces, and
a he neveer
painted a more maagnificent portrait-piec
p
ce than that of Paul IIII., the peeviish old Pop
pe, ailing annd
humoroous, suspicioous of the two
t
nephew
ws who are painted wiith him, andd who he guessed
g
to be
b
conspiring againstt him. The characteristic attitude of the oldd man of eiighty, bent down in his
h
chair, his
h quick, irritable
i
glaance, the stteady, deterrmined gazze of the cardinal, thee obsequiouus
attitudee and weak, wily face of Ottavio Farnese aree all immorrtalised in a broader, more
m
carelesss
techniquue than Titiian has hithherto used. Though
T
he does
d
not seeem to have bbeen directlly influenceed
by all he
h saw in Rome,
R
we undoubtedly
u
y find a chaange comingg over his w
work betweeen 1540 annd
1550, which
w
may be
b in part ascribed
a
to a widening of his artisstic horizon and a conssciousness of
o
what otthers were doing,
d
both around him
m and abroaad. In its whhole handlinng and charracter his latte
st
is differrent from his
h early maanner. It begins at this time to takke on a bluurred, soft, impressioni
i
characteer. His deliight in rich colouring seems
s
to wane, and hee aims at inntensifying the
t power of
o
light. He
H reaches thhat point inn the Venetiaan School of
o painting which
w
we m
may regard as
a its climaxx,
when thhere is littlee strong local colour, but
b the canv
vas seems illlumined froom within. There are no
n
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Crow
wned with Thorns, att Vienna, a tragic figurre
stupefieed with sufffering. Hiss last great work was the Piet in the Accademy, wh
hich, thouggh
unfinishhed, is noblly designed and very im
mpressive. He
H places thhe Virgin suupporting th
he Body in a
great doome-shapedd niche, whiich gives ellevation. It is
i flanked by
b two calm
m, antique, stone
s
figurees,
whose impassive
i
a contrasts with the wild pain and
air
d grief below
w. The Maggdalen stepss out towardds
the speectator withh the wailinng cry of a Greek trragedy. It perhaps
p
harrdly movess us like thhe
concenttrated feeliing of Belllinis Maddonna, or the
t
hurriedd, tremblingg grief of Tintorettos
Magdallen, but it iss monumenttal in the sw
weeping graace of its linne, and full of nobility of feeling. It
is sadlyy rubbed andd darkened and has losst much of Titians
T
colour, but is sstill beautifu
ful in its deeep
greys mingled
m
withh a sombre golden gloow, as of haalf-extinguisshed fires. T
These late paintings
p
arre
of the true
t
impresssionist order; looked at closely they
t
presennt a mass oof scumbled
d touches, of
o
incoherrent dashes, but if we
w step fartther away, to the rigght focus, llight and dark
d
arrangge
themsellves, order shines throough the whhole, and we
w see whatt the great m
master meaant us to see.
Titians later creaations, sayys Vasari, aare struck off
o rapidly, so that wheen close yo
ou cannot seee
them, but
b afar theyy look perfeect, and thiss is the stylee which so many tried to imitate, to show thaat
they weere practisedd hands, butt only produuced absurd
dities. Titiaan was prepparing the picture for thhe
Frari, inn payment for
f the grantt of a tomb for himselff, when in August
A
15766 the plaguee broke out in
i
Venice,, and on thee 27th the great painteer died of it
i in his ow
wn house. T
The stringen
nt regulationns
concernning infectioon were relaaxed to do honour to one
o of the greatest
g
sonss of Venicee, and he waas
laid to rest in the Frari, bornne there in solemn
s
proccession, thrrough a cityy stricken by
b terror annd
panic, and
a buried in
i the Chapeel of the Cruucified Sav
viour, for whhich his lastt work was ordered. Thhe
Assum
mption of his
h prime loooked downn upon him, and close at
a hand wass the Mado
onna of Cassa
Pesaro. His son Orazio
O
caughht the plaguue and died immediately
i
y after, andd the painterrs house waas
sacked by thieves and
a many precious
p
thinngs stolen.
hich of all others
o
estabblished and consolidateed
The greeat personallity of Titiaan stands ouut as that wh
the school of Vennice. He is its central figure. Thee century of life, of w
which eighty
y years werre
passed in ceaseless industry of
o productioon, left its deep impreession on thhe art of ev
very civiliseed
countryy of Europee. Every great man off the day who
w was a lover
l
of artt and culturre fell undeer
Titianss spell. His influence on
o his conteemporaries was
w enormoous, and he had everyth
hing: geniuus,
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Anconna.
C
Crucifixion
(L
L.).
S. Domenico: Madonna with
w Saints annd Donor, 15520.
Antwerp.
Berlin..
Bresciaa.
Dresdeen.
Florencce.
Londonn.
Madridd.
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Munichh.
Napless.
Padua.
Paris.
Rome.
Trevisoo.
D
Duomo:
Annuunciation.
Urbinoo.
R
Resurrection
(
(L.);
Last Su
upper (L.).
Venicee.
94
Veronaa.
D
Duomo:
Assuumption.
Viennaa.
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Callisto; Madonna
M
and Saints.
Wallacce
Collecttion.
Louvree.
M
Madonna
andd Saints. (Thee same by Frrancesco alonne.)
Glasgoow.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
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CH
HAPTE
ER XX
PALM
MA VECCHIO AND LORENZO
O LOTTO
Amongg the many who
w clusterred round Titians
T
long
g career, Paalma attaineed to a place beside him
m
and Gioorgione which his taleent, which was
w not of the highestt order, scarrcely warraanted. But he
h
was claassed with the
t greatestt, and influuenced conttemporary art
a because his work chimed
c
in so
s
well wiith the Veneetian spirit. A Bergamaasque by birrth, he came of Venetian parentag
ge, and learnnt
the firstt elements of
o his art in Venice. Hee never reallly masteredd the inner nniceties of an
natomy in its
finest seense, and thhe broad genneralisationn of his form
ms may be meant
m
to connceal uncerttain drawingg,
but his large-bosom
med, matroonly womenn and plump
p children, his round, soft contou
urs, his cleaan
brillianccy, and the clear goldeen polish in which his pictures
p
are steeped, maade a great appeal to thhe
public. His inventiion is the laarge Santa Conversazio
C
one, as com
mpared withh those in half-length
h
o
of
the earllier masterss. The Virggin and sainnts and kneeeling or bennding donoors are placed under thhe
spreadinng trees off a rich andd picturesquue landscapee. It is Palm
mas versioon of the Giorgionesquue
ideal, which
w
he had
h his sharre in establlishing and
d developing. The heaavy tree-tru
unk and darrk
foliage,, silhouettedd almost bllack againstt the backg
ground, are characteristtic of his compositionns.
As his life
l goes onn, though hee still clings to his full, ripe figuress and to the same smoo
oth fleshinesss
in his women,
w
the features beecome deliccate and chiiselled, andd the more rrefined typee and subtleer
feeling of his midddle stage may
m be due to his com
mpanionship with Lottoo, with who
om he was in
i
mo when theey were both about tw
wenty-five. He touchess his highesst, and at th
he same tim
me
Bergam
keeps very
v
near Giorgione, in the spplendid St. Barbara, painted forr the comp
pany of thhe
Bombaddieri or artillerists. Theeir cannon guard
g
the peedestal on which
w
she sttands; it waas at her altaar
that theey came to commend themselvess on going forth to war,
w and whhere they knelt
k
to offe
fer
thanksggiving for a safe returnn; and she is a truly noble
n
figuree, regal in cconception and fine annd
firm in execution, attired in suumptuous robes
r
of gollden brown and green, with splendid saints on
o
h
Palmaa was often approachedd by his paatrons who wanted
w
mytthological scenes,
s
godds,
either hand.
and godddesses; butt though hee produced a Venus, a handsome, full-blown model, he never excels
in the nude,
n
and his
h tendencyy is to seizee upon the homely.
h
Hiis scenes haave a domestic, familiaar
flavour. With all his
h golden and
a ivory beauty
b
he laacks fire, annd his persoonages have a sluggishh,
plethoriic note. In his latest sttage he hiddes all sharp
pness in a sort
s of scum
mble or hazze. It wouldd,
howeveer, be unfaiir to say hee is not finne, and his portraits esspecially coome very near
n
the besst.
Vienna is rich in examples in
i half-lenggths of one beautiful woman
w
afteer another robed in thhe
ample and
a gorgeoous garmentts in whichh he is alwaays interestted. Amongg them is his
h handsom
me
daughteer, Violantee, with a viiolet in her bosom, an
nd wearing the large ssleeves he admires.
a
Thhe
Tasso of the Nattional Galleery has beenn taken from
m him and given
g
first tto Giorgionee and then to
t
Titian, but
b there noow seems some
s
inclinaation to retu
urn it to its first authorr. It has a more
m
dreamyy,
intellecttual countenance than we are acccustomed to
o associate with
w Palmaa; but he uses elsewherre
the decoorative backkground of olive brancches, and thee waxen com
mplexion, tawny colou
uring, and thhe
pronounnced goldenn haze are Palmesque
P
in the higheest degree. The colourring is in strrong contraast
to the pale
p ivory gllow of the Ariosto
A
of Titian,
T
which
h hangs neaar it.
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Paalma Vecch
hio. HOL
LY FAMILY
Y. Colonn
na Gallery, Rome.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
No one could be more
m
unlike Palma thann his contem
mporary, Lorrenzo Lottoo, who has for
f long beeen
classed with the Beergamasquees, but who is proved by
b recently discovered
d
documents to have beeen
born in Venice. It was for lonng an acceppted fact thaat Lotto wass a pupil off Bellini, and his earliest
C
at Treviso,
T
beaars traces of
o Bellinis manner. A Piet abo
ove has chilld
altarpieece, to S. Cristina
angels examining the wounds with the grief and concern
c
which Bellini made so peculiarly
p
h
his
t branch of
o fig-leaves silhouetteed against thhe light rem
mind us of thhe
own, annd the St. Jeerome and the
altarpieece in S. Crisostomo. Lotto
L
seemss to have clung to quatttrocento faashions. Thee ancona haad
long beeen rejectedd by most of
o his contem
mporaries, but he painnted one of the last forr a church in
i
Recanatti, in carvedd and gilt compartmen
c
nts, and he painted preedellas longg after they had becom
me
generally obsolete. We ask ourselves
o
hoow it was that
t
Lotto, who
w had soo susceptiblle and easilly
swayedd a nature, escaped
e
the influence of
o Giorgion
ne, the mostt powerful of any in th
he Venice of
o
his youuthan infl
fluence which acted onn Bellini in
n his old agge, which T
Titian practically neveer
shook off,
o and whiich dominatted Palma too the exclussion of any earlier
e
mastter.
It woulld take too long to surrvey the traain of argum
ment by whhich Mr. Berenson hass establisheed
Alvise Vivarini as the master of Lottoo. Notwithsstanding thhat Belliniss great sup
periority waas
becominng clear too the more cultured Veenetians, Alvise,
A
whenn Lotto was a youth, was still thhe
painter par excelleence for thee mass of thhe public. In
n the S. Criistina altarppiece the Ch
hild standinng
on its Mothers
M
knnee is in thee same attittude as the Child in Alvises
A
altaarpiece of 1480, and thhe
Mothers hand holds it in thhe same waay. Other deetails whichh supply innternal evid
dence are thhe
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shape of
o hands andd feet, the round
r
headss and the way
w the Chilld is often rrepresented lying acrosss
the Motthers kneess. Lotto carrries into oldd age the usse of fruit annd flowers aand beads as
a decorationn,
a Squarrcionesque feature
f
belooved of the Vivarini,
V
bu
ut which waas never adoopted by Beellini.
About 1512 Lottoo comes intto contact with
w Palma,, and for a short timee the two were
w
in closse
touch. A Santa Conversazion
C
ne, of which a good copy
c
exists in Villa Boorghese, Ro
ome, and onne
at Dresdden, with thhe Holy Fam
mily groupeed under sp
preading treees, is saturaated with Paalmas spiriit,
but it soon
s
passess away, andd except foor an occasiional touchh, disappearrs entirely from
f
Lottos
work.
Lotto may
m have haad relations in Bergamoo, for when
n in 1515 a competition
c
n between artists was seet
on foot by Alessanndro Martinoo, a descenddant of Gen
neral Colleoone, for an aaltarpiece fo
or S. Stefanoo,
he com
mpeted and carried offf the prize. This was the
t first off the series of the great works foor
Bergam
mo, which enrich
e
the little
l
city, where
w
at th
his period he
h can bestt be studied. The greaat
altarpieece (now rem
moved to Saan Bartolom
mmeo) is a most
m interessting humann document, a revelatioon
of the painters
p
peersonality. He does noot break aw
way from hieratic
h
connventions, like the rivaal
school; his Madonnna is still pllaced in thee apse of thee church witth saints groouped round
d her, a form
m
from which
w
the Vivarini
V
nevver departedd, but the whole
w
is fulll of intense movemen
nt, of a lyriic
grace and
a
ecstasyy, a desiree to expreess fervent and raptuurous devottion. The architecturaal
backgroound is not in happy prroportion inn relation to the figures, but the efffect of vistaa and space is
more reemarkable thhan in any North
N
Italiaan master. The
T vivid treatment of light and sh
hade, and thhe
gaiety and
a delicacy of the flyying angels, who hold the canopyy, and of thhe putti, wh
ho spread thhe
carpet below,
b
the shapes
s
of thhrone and canopy and the
t decoratiions have leed to the id
dea that Lottto
drew hiis inspiratioon from Corrreggio, whom he certaainly resemb
mbles in som
me ways; bu
ut at this tim
me
Corregggio was onlly twenty, and
a had nott given any
y examples of the stylee we are acccustomed to
t
call Corrreggiesquee. We must look back too a common
n origin forr those decoorative detaiils, which arre
so consspicuous in Crivelli and Bartolom
mmeo Vivariini, which came
c
to Lottto through the Vivarinni
and to Correggio through Feerrarese painnters, and of
o which thhe fountainn-head for both
b
was thhe
school of Squarcioone. For thhe much moore striking
g resemblannces of com
mposition an
nd spirit, thhe
explanaation seems to be that Lotto on one
o side of his nature was
w akin too Correggio
o; he had thhe
same lyyrical feelinng, the same inclinatioon to exuberrance and buoyancy.
b
T
To both, paainting was a
vehicle for the exppression of feeling,
f
but Lotto had also commoon sense annd a goodly share of thaat
humourr that is allieed to pathoss.
Till thee year 1526 Lotto was much in Bergamo,
B
wh
here the first altarpiecee gained hiim orders foor
others. The reputattion of a member
m
of thhe school of
o Venice was
w a sure ppassport to employmen
e
nt.
We tracce Alvises tradition veery plainly in the altarp
piece in Sann Bernardinno, where th
he gesture of
o
the Madonnas hand as she expounds
e
too the listening saints recalls
r
Alviises of 148
80. The littlle
m
use of
o to the en
nd of his liffe, lie scatteered on the step; angells,
gathered roses, whhich Lotto makes
daringlyy foreshorteened, sweepp aside the curtain of the
t sanctuarry. The coloour is in Lo
ottos scarleet,
light bluues, and vioolet. He sooon shows him
mself fond of genre incidents, andd in Christt taking leavve
of His Mother
M
givves a view into
i
a bedrooom and a cat
c running across the floor. The donor kneels
with heer hair fashioonably dresssed and weearing a peaarl necklacee. In the M
Marriage of S.
S Catherinee
at Bergamo the saiint is evidenntly a portraait, with hair pearl-wreeathed. She kneels very
y simply annd
naturallly before thhe Child, annd the exquiisitely lovelly and elaboorately gow
wned young woman whho
represennts the Maddonna, lookks out towaards the speectator with a mundanee and curio
ously moderrn
air. It was
w probablyy the recognnition of Loottos successs with porttraits that leed to their being so ofteen
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nothingg in common with Titiaans choruus; they haave the charracterisationn of distinctt individualls,
and whhen he is conncerned witth actual poortraits he iss intensely receptive
r
annd sensitivee to the spirrit
of his sitters. He may
m be said to give thhem away, and to takee an almostt unfair advaantage of his
h
perception. The sicck man in the
t Doria Gallery
G
look
ks like one stricken wiith a death sentence. He
H
a the painter has syymbolised thhe situation
n in the littlle
knows at least thaat it is touchh and go, and
winged genius ballancing him
mself in a paair of scaless. In the Boorghese Gallery is the portrait of a
young, magnificenntly dressedd man, with a countenaance markedd by mentaal agitation, who pressees
one hannd to his heeart, while the
t other reests on a pille of rose-ppetals in whhich a tiny skull is halfhidden. The Old Man in thhe Brera haas the hard, narrow, buut intenselyy sad face of
o one whosse
natural dispositionn has been embitteredd by the ciircumstancees of his liife, just as that of ouur
Prothonnotary speaaks of a larrge and genntle nature, mellowedd by naturaal affectionss and happpy
pursuitss. We smilee, as Lotto does, with kindly misschief at M
Marsilio andd his Bride; the broadd,
placid countenance
c
e of the mann is so signiificantly contrasted witth the cleveer mouth an
nd eyes of thhe
bride thhat it does not
n need the malicious glance
g
of th
he cupid, whho is fitting on the yoke, to dot thhe
is and cross the ts of their future. Agaain, the porttrait of Lauura di Pola, in the Brera, introducees
us to onne of those women whho are charm
ming in everry age, not actually beaautiful, but harmoniouus,
thoughttful, perfecttly dressed,, sensible, and
a self-possessed, and the Fam
mily Group in our ow
wn
gallery holds a histtory of a coouple of antaagonistic teemperamentts united byy life in com
mmon and thhe
claspingg hands of children.
c
Lootto does noot keep the personal exxpression ouut of even such a canvaas
as his Triumph
off Chastity in the Rosppigliosi Galllery. His deelightful Venus, one off the loveliest
nudes inn painting, flies from thhe attackingg termagantt, whose virrtue is procllaimed by th
he ermine on
o
her breaast, and sw
weeps her litttle cupid with
w her witth a well-brred, surpriseed air, sugg
gestive of thhe
mannerrs of mundaane society.
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Loorenzo Lottto.
PORT
TRAIT OF LAURA DI
D POLA.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Brera.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Palm
ma Vecchio.
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
Madoonna and Sain
nts (L.).
Cambrridge.
Fitzwilliam Museum:
M
Ven
nus (L.).
Dresdeen.
Londonn.
H
Hampton
Couurt: Santa Co
onversazione; Portrait of a Poet.
Milan.
Napless.
Paris.
A
Adoration
of Shepherds.
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Lucrece (L.); Madonnna with Saintts and Donorr.
C
Capitol:
Chrisst and Womaan taken in Adultery.
A
Palazzo Colonnna: Madonn
na, S. Peter, and
a Donor.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
St. Peter enthro
oned and six Saints; Assuumption.
G
Giovanelli:
Spposalizio (L.).
S. Maria Form
mosa: Altarpiiece.
Viennaa.
Lorennzo Lotto.
Anconna.
A
Assumption,
1550; Madon
nna with Sainnts (L.).
Asolo.
M
Madonna
in Glory,
G
1506.
Bergam
mo.
C
Carrara:
Marrriage of S. Caatherine; Preedelle.
L
Lochis:
Holy Family and S. Catherine; Predelle; Portrait.
S. Bartolomm
meo: Altarpiece, 1516.
S. Alessandroo in Colonna:: Piet.
S. Bernardinoo: Altarpiece..
S. Spirito: Alttarpiece.
102
Berlin..
C
Christ
taking leave of His Mother; Porrtraits.
Bresciaa.
N
Nativity.
Cingolli.
S. Domenico: Madonna an
nd Saints andd fifteen Smaall Scenes.
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
Holy Family.
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Londonn.
Loreto.
Recanaati.
M
Municipio:
Alltarpiece, 1508; Transfigguration (E.).
S. Maria Soprra Mercanti: Annunciatioon.
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Madonna with S. Onoofrio and a Bishop, 1508.
R
Rospigliosi:
L
Love
and Chaastity.
Venicee.
C
Carmine:
S. Nicholas
N
in Glory,
G
1529.
S. Giacomo dall
d
Orio: Madonna with Saints, 15466.
SS. Giovanni e Paolo: S. Antonino
A
besstowing Alm
ms, 1542.
Viennaa.
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CH
HAPTER
R XXI
SEBAS
STIAN DEL
L PIOMBO
O
It was very
v
naturall that Romee should wiish for work
ks of the maasters of the new Veneetian Schoool,
but the first-rate men
m were fullly employeed at home. All the effoorts made too secure Tittian failed tiill
t end of his
h career. On
O the otherr hand, Ven
nice was fulll of less fam
mous masteers followinng
nearly the
in Giorggiones stepps. When Sebastian Luuciani was a young maan, Giorgionne was paraamount there,
and no one could have
h
foretolld that his liife would bee of such shhort durationn. It was to be expectedd,
thereforre, that a painter
p
whoo consulted his own in
nterests shoould leave the city where
w
he waas
overshaadowed by a great geniius and go farther
f
afielld. The influuence of thee Guilds waas withdraw
wn
in the sixteenth
s
ceentury, so thhat it was a simpler matter
m
for paainters to trransfer theirr talents, annd
paintingg was beginning to apppeal stronngly to the dilettanti, who rivalleed one ano
other in theeir
offers.
Only onne work off Sebastians is knownn belonging
g to this eaarlier time iin Venice. It is the S
S.
Chrysosstom enthrooned, in S. Giovanni Crisostomo
C
, and its maajesty and rich colourin
ng, and morre
especially the spleendid groupp of womenn on the left
ft, so proud and soft inn their Veneetian beautyy,
make us
u wonder if
i Sebastiann might not have risen
n to greater heights if he had rem
mained in his
h
natural environmennt. He respponded to thhe call to Rome
R
of Aggostino Chiggi, the greaat painter, art
a
collectoor, and patrron, the friend of Leoo X. Chigi had just coompleted thhe Farnesin
na Villa, annd
Sebastiaan was em
mployed till 1512 on itts decoratio
on, and at once
o
came under the influence of
o
Michelaangelo. Thee Piet at Viterbo shoows that inffluence veryy strongly; in fact, Vassari says that
Michelaangelo him
mself drew the
t cartoonn for the figure of Chhrist, whichh would acccount for its
extraorddinary beauuty. Sebastiian embarkeed on a clo
ose intimacyy with the Florentine painter, andd,
accordinng to Vasaari, the greaat canvas off the Raisiing of Lazaarus, in thee National Gallery, waas
executeed under thee orders andd in part froom the desiigns of Micchelangelo. This colosssal work waas
looked on as one of the mosst importantt creations of the sixteeenth centuury, but therre is little to
t
u wish to change
c
it foor the altarppiece of S. Crisostomo
C
o. The desirre for scienttific drawinng
make us
and the search afteer composition have prroduced a laaboured effe
fect; the fem
male figures are cast in a
masculiine mould, and it lackks both the severe beaauty of the Tuscan School and th
he emotionaal
charm of
o Sebastiaans native style. We cannot, how
wever, avoiid conjectuuring if in the
t figure of
o
Lazaruss himself we have not a conceptionn of the greeat Florentinne. It is so eeasy in posee, so splendiid
in its, perhaps
p
excessive, lenggth of limb,, that our th
houghts turnn involuntaarily to the Ignudi
I
in thhe
Sixtine Chapel. Thhe picture haas been dullled and inju
ured by repaainting, but the distancee still has thhe
h seeks forr form and compositionn,
sombre depth of thhe Venetians. All throuugh Sebastiaans career he
but, greeat painter as he undoubtedly is, he is greatt because hee possessess that inborn
n feeling foor
harmonny of colouur. This is what
w
we vaalue in him
m, and he excels
e
in soo far as hee follows his
h
Venetiaan instincts.
The deaath of Raphhael improvved Sebastiaans position in Rome,, and thoughh Leo X. never liked or
o
employyed him, hee did not laack commiissions. Thee Fornarinna in the Uffizi, with
h the laureelwreatheed head andd leopard-skkin mantle, still
s reveals him as the Venetian, aand it is currious that anny
critic shhould ever have
h
assigned its rich, voluptuous
v
tone and its coarse typpe to Raphaael. Sebastiaan
obtained commissiions for deecorating S. Maria del Popolo in oils and S
S. Pietro in Montorio in
i
fresco, but
b in the laatter medium
m, though he
h is ambitious of acquuiring the foorce of Mich
helangelo, he
h
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lacks thhe Tuscan ease of handd. Colour, foor which hee possessed so true an aaptitude, thee deep, fuseed
colour of
o Giorgionne, is set aside by him; his tints beccome strongg and crudee, his surfaces grow harrd
and pollished, and he thinks, above all, of
o bold actiion, of draw
wing and m
modelling. The
T Venetiaan
genius for portraituure remainss, and he has
h left such
h fine exam
mples as thee Andrea Doria
D
of thhe
Vaticann, or the Poortrait of a Man in the Pitti, a maasterly pictuure both in drawing an
nd executionn,
with grrand draperries, a fur pelisse,
p
andd damask doublet withh crimson ssleeves. In the Nationaal
Galleryy we possess his own portrait
p
by himself,
h
in company with
w Cardinaal de Medicci. The facees
are well contrastedd, and we juudge from Sebastians
S
that
t his bioggrapher describes him justly,
j
as faat,
indolennt, and givenn to self-inddulgence, buut genial and
d fond of goood companny.
After ann absence of
o twenty yeears he returrned to Ven
nice. There he came inn contact witth Titian annd
Pordenoone, and strruck up a frriendship with
w Aretino
o, who became his greaat ally and admirer.
a
Thhe
sack off Rome had driven him
m forth, but in
i 1529, wh
hen the cityy was beginnning partiallly to recoveer
from thhat time of horror,
h
he reeturned, andd was cordiially welcom
med by Clem
ment VII., and
a admitteed
into thee innermostt ecclesiastiical circles.. The Piom
mbo, a well--paid, sineccure office of the Papaal
court, was
w bestoweed on him, and
a his rem
maining yearrs were spennt in Rome. He was verry anxious to
t
collaborrate with Michelangel
M
lo, and the great paintter seems to
t have beeen quite incclined to thhe
arrangeement. The Last Judgm
ment, in thhe Sixtine Chapel,
C
wass suggestedd, and Sebasstian had thhe
melanchholy task off taking dow
wn Peruginoos masterp
pieces; but he
h wished too reset the walls
w
for oills,
and Miichelangelo stipulated for fresco,, saying thaat oils werre only fit for women
n, so that no
n
agreement was arriived at.
Sebastiaans mode of work was
w slow, and
a he emp
ployed no assistants.
a
H
He seems to
t have beeen
inordinaately lazy, fond of leisure and goood living, and his chharacter shoows in his work,
w
whichh,
with a few
f exceptions, has som
mething heaavy and com
mmon abouut it, a want of keenness and fire, an
a
absencee of refinem
ment and selection.
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
Fornarrina, 1512; Death
D
of Adoonis.
Pitti: Martyrddom of S. Agatha, 1520; Portrait
P
(L.).
Londonn.
R
Resurrection
o Lazarus, 1519;
of
1
Portraiits.
Napless.
H
Holy
Family; Portraits.
Paris.
V
Visitation,
1521.
Rome.
Trevisoo.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Vissitation (E.).
S. Giovanni Chrisostomo:
C
S. Chrysosttom enthroneed (E.).
Viterboo.
105
Piet (L.).
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CH
HAPTER
R XXII
B
BONIFAZIO
O AND PA
ARIS BORD
DONE
Some uncertainty
u
has existeed as to thhe identity of the diff
fferent mem
mbers of th
he family of
o
Bonifazzio. All thee early historians agrree in givin
ng the nam
me to one master onlly. Boschinni,
howeveer, in 1777 discovered the register of the deaath of a seccond, and a third beariing the nam
me
was woorking twennty years laater. Upon this Dr. Morelli
M
cam
me to the coonclusion th
hat we muust
recogniise three, iff not four, masters beearing the name of Bonifazio,
B
bbut documeents recentlly
discoveered by Proofessor Luddwig have in
i great meeasure destrroyed Moreellis conjecctures. Therre
may havve been obsscure painteers bearing the
t name, but
b they werre mere imiitators, and it is doubtfuul
if any were
w relatedd to the famiily of de Pittatis.
Bonifazzio Veronesse is really the
t only onne who coun
nts. As Ridoolfi says, hee was born in Verona in
i
the mosst beautiful moment off painting. He
H came to
o Venice at the age of eighteen, and
a became a
pupil off Palma Vecchio, withh whom his work has sometimes been
b
confussed. After Palmas deatth
Bonifazzio continued in friendly relationns with hiss old masteers family, and his niece marrieed
Palmass nephew. Bonifazio
B
h
himself
marrried the dau
ughter of a basket-makker, and app
pears to havve
had no children, foor he and hiis wife by thheir wills beestowed theeir whole foortune on th
heir nephew
ws.
Antonioo Palma, who
w marriedd Bonifazioos niece, was
w a painteer whose pictures hav
ve sometimees
been atttributed to the
t legendarry third Bonnifazio. Bon
nifazios liffe was passeed peacefully in Venice.
He receeived manyy important commissioons from th
he Republicc, and decoorated the Palace
P
of thhe
Treasurrers. His character andd standing were
w
high, and
a he was appointed, in company
y with Titiaan
and Lottto, to admiinister a leggacy which Vincenzo Catena
C
hadd left to provvide a yearrly dower foor
five maaidens. Afteer a long liffe spent in steady worrk, Bonifaziio withdrew
w to a little farm amiddst
orcharddsfifteen acres
a
of lannd in allaat San Zeno
one, near Asolo;
A
but he still kept his house in
i
San Maarcuola, wheere he died. He was buuried in S. Alvise
A
in Venice.
A son of the plainns and of Venetian
V
stock, his wo
ork is alwaays gracefull and attracctive, thouggh
inclinedd to be hot in colour. It has a veryy pronounceed aristocraatic characteer, and bearrs no trace of
o
the rouggh, provinccial strain of such menn as Carianii or Pordenoone. It is veery fine and
d glowing in
i
colour, but lacks vigour
v
and energy
e
in deesign. Nowhere do we get more w
worldly mag
gnificence or
o
such fraank worshipp of wealthh as on Bonnifazios joy
yous canvaases. He reppresents Ch
hristian sainnts
and Easstern kings alike, as geentlemen off princely raank. There is
i a note of purely secu
ular art abouut
his Adoorations andd Holy Fam
milies. In thee Adoration
n of the Maagi, in the A
Academy, the
t Madonnna
is a hanndsome, proosperous laady of Bonifazios acqu
uaintance. The
T Child, so far from
m raising His
hand inn benedictionn, holds it out
o for the proffered
p
cu
up. He does not, as usuaal, distinguiish the eldest
king, buut singles out
o the cupp held by thhe second, who, in a puffed velvvet dress, is
i an evidennt
portrait, probably that of thhe donor off the picture, who is in this w
way paid a courtier-likke
complim
ment. The thhird king iss such a Mooor as Boniffazio must often
o
have sseen embark
king from his
Easternn galley on the
t Riva deei Schiavoni. A servant in a peakeed hood peeers round th
he column to
t
catch siight of whatt is going onn. The grouups of animaals in the baackground aare well ren
ndered. In thhe
Rich Mans
M
Feasst, where Lazarus
L
liess upon the step, we have
h
anotheer scene of wealthy annd
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Dresdeen.
Finding of Mooses.
Florencce.
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Milan.
B
Brera:
Findingg of Moses.
Paris.
Santa Conversazione.
Rome.
Venicee.
Viennaa.
Pariss Bordone.
Bergam
mo.
Berlin..
Portrait of Man
M in Black
k; Chess Playyers; Madonnna and four
Saints.
Dresdeen.
Florencce.
Genoa.
Hamptton Court.
Londonn.
Milan.
Munichh.
Paris.
Portraits.
Rome.
Trevisoo.
Venicee.
Academy: Fisherman
F
an
nd Doge; Paradise; Storm
m calmed by S.
S
Mark.
Palazzo Duccale Chapel: Dead Christt.
Giovanelli: Madonna
M
an
nd Saints.
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A
Allegorical
Piictures; Lady
y at Toilet; Young
Y
Womaan.
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CHA
APTER
R XXIIII
PAINT
TERS OF THE
T
VENE
ETIAN PR
ROVINCES
S
It has become
b
usuaal to includde in the Veenetian Scho
ool those arrtists from tthe subject provinces
p
o
on
the maiinland, who came downn to try theiir luck at th
he fountain-hhead and too receive itss hallmark on
o
their tallent. The Friulan
F
citiees, Udine, Serravalle,
S
and
a small neighbourin
n
ng towns, haad their ow
wn
primitivve schools and their sccores of huumble craftssmen. Theirr art waverred for som
me time in its
expresssion between the Germ
man taste, which
w
came so close too their gatess, and the Ittalian, whicch
was moore truly theeir element.
Up to 1499
1
Friuli was invadded seven tiimes in thirrty years byy the Turkss. They pou
ured in largge
numberrs over the Bosnian boorders, crossed the Iso
onzo and thee Tagliameenta, and massacred annd
carried off the inhhabitants. These
T
terribble periods are markedd by the ceessation of work in thhe
provincces, but hoppe always reevived againn. The break caused byy such a vissitation can be distinctlly
traced in
i the Churcch of S. Anntonino, at thhe little tow
wn of San Daniele.
D
Maartino da Ud
dine obtaineed
the epitthet of Pelleegrino da San Daniele in 1494 wh
hen he returrned from aan early vissit to Venice,
where he
h had beenn apprenticced to Cimaa. He was appointed
a
t decorate S. Antonin
to
no. His earlly
work thhere is hard and coarse,, ill-drawn, the figures unwieldy and
a shapelesss, and the colour
c
duskky
and uniiform; but owing
o
to the Turkish raid,
r
he had
d to take fligght, and it w
was many a year beforre
the monnks gained sufficient courage
c
andd saved eno
ough moneyy to continuue the embeellishment of
o
their chhurch. In thhe meantim
me, Pellegrinnos years had been spent
s
partlyy in Venicee and partlyy,
perhapss, in Ferraraa, for the reeason Raphael gave fo
or refusing to
t paint a Bacchus for
f the Duke,
was thaat the subjeect had alreeady been painted
p
by Pellegrino da San Daaniele. Wheen Pellegrinno
resumedd his work, it demonsttrated that he
h had studiied the moddern Venetiaans and had
d come undeer
a finerr, deeper influence.
i
A St. Geoorge in arrmour sugggests Giorggiones S. Liberale at
a
Castelfrranco; he sppecially shoows an affinnity with Pordenone, who
w was hiis pupil and
d who was to
t
becomee a better paainter than his
h old masster. As Pelllegrino goees on he impproves conssistently, annd
adopts the methodd, so peculiiarly Venetiian, of sacrrificing form
m to a scheeme of chiaaroscuro. He
H
even, too some exteent, succeedds in his diffficult task of
o applyingg to wall paiinting the system whicch
the Vennetians usedd almost excclusively foor easel pictu
ures. He waas an ambitiious, daring
g painter, annd
some of his churchh standards were for loong attributed to Giorggione. The cchurch of San
S Antoninno
remainss his chief monumentt; but for all
a his traveels Pellegriino remainss provinciaal in type, is
unluckyy in his seleection, caress little for prrecision of form,
f
and trrusts to coloour for effecct.
The sam
me transitioon in art waas taking pllace in otheer provincess. Morto daa Feltre, Pennacchi, annd
Girolam
mo da Treviiso have all left work of
o a Giorgio
onesque typpe, and som
me painters who
w went faar
onwardd, began theeir career unnder such minor
m
masteers. Giovannni Antonioo Licinio, who
w takes his
h
name frrom his natiive town off Pordenonee, in Friuli, was one off these. All the early paart of his liffe
was speent in paintiing frescoess in the smaall towns off the Friulann provinces.. At first theey bear signns
of the tuition
t
of Pellegrino,
P
b it soon becomes evident
but
e
thatt Pordenonee has learneed to imitatte
Giorgioone and Palm
ma. Quite early,
e
howevver, one of his
h chief faiilings appeaars, and onee which is all
a
his ownn, the disparrity in size between his various figures. The secondary ppersonages,, the Magi in
i
a Nativity, the Sainnts standingg round an altar,
a
are larrger and moore athletic in build and often morre
animateed in action than the princippal actors in the sccene. Whatt pleased Pordenones
contempporaries waas his darinng perspectiive and his instinctive feeling forr movementt. He carrieed
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out greaat schemes in the hill--towns, till at length hiis reputationn, which haad long beeen ripe in his
h
native province,
p
reeached Veniice. In 15199 he was inv
vited to Trevviso to frescco the faad
de of a housse
for one of the Raviguino famiily. The paiinter, as pay
yment, askeed fifty scuddi, and Titiaan was calleed
in to addjudicate, buut he admirred the worrk so much that he hinnted to Raviiguino that he would be
b
wise noot to press him
h for a valluation. As a direct con
nsequence of
o this piecee of business, Pordenonne
was em
mployed on the chapel at Treviso, in conjuncction with Titian.
T
At thhis time the Assumptioon
and the Madonna of
o Casa Pesaaro were just finished, and it is proobable that Pordenone paid his firrst
visit to Venice, haard by, and saw his greeat contemp
porarys woork. With his characterristic distastte
for fresco, Titian undertook
u
thhe altarpiecee and painteed the beauttiful Annunnciation whiich still holdds
its placce, and Pordenone covvered the dome
d
with a foreshorteened figuree of the Eteernal Fatheer,
surrounnded by anggels. Amongg the remainning frescoees in the Chhapel, an Addoration of the
t Magi annd
a S. Libberale are frrom his brussh. Fired byy his success at Trevisoo, Pordenonne offered hiis services to
t
Mantuaa and Crem
mona, but thhe Mantovans, accusttomed to thhe stately aand restrain
ned grace of
o
Manteggna, would have
h
nothinng to say to what Crow
we and Cavaalcaselle call his large and colossaal
fable-paainting. He
H pursued his way too Cremona, and that he
h studied M
Mantegna as
a he passeed
throughh Mantua is evident froom the first figures he painted
p
in thhe cathedrall. In Cremona every onne
admiredd him, and all the arttists set to work to im
mitate his energetic
e
fooreshortenin
ng, vehemennt
movem
ment and hugge proportioons.
Pordenoone, with his
h love for fresco, wass all his lifee an itinerant painter. In 1521 he was back at
Udine and
a wandereed from plaace to place,, painting a vast distem
mper for the organ doorrs at S. Mariia
at Spiliimbergo, thhe faade off the Churcch of Valerriano, an im
mposing serries at Trav
vesio, and in
i
1525, the
t Story of
o the Truee Cross att Casara. At
A the last place
p
he thhrew aside much of his
h
exaggerration, and, ruined andd restored as the fresco
oes are, theyy remain am
mong his most
m dignifieed
achieveements. He may be sttudied best of all at Piacenza,
P
in the Churrch of the Madonna di
d
Campaggna, where he dividess his subjeccts between
n sacred annd pagan, sso that we turn from a
Flight into Egyptt or a Marriage of S. Catherin
ne, to the Rape of E
Europa or Venus annd
Adonis. At Piacennza he show
ws himself the
t great paiinter he unddoubtedly iss, having acchieved som
me
masteryy over form
m, while hiss colour hass the true Venetian
V
quuality and aalmost equaals oils in its
lusciouss tones and vivid hues, which he lowers and enriches byy such enveeloping shad
dows as onlly
one whose spirit was
w in touchh with the art
a of Giorgiione would have underrstood how to use. Verry
complette records remain of Pordenonees life, full details off a quarrell with his brother
b
oveer
propertyy left by his
h father in 1533, and
a
accountts of the painters
p
neegotiations to obtain a
knighthhood, whichh he fanciedd would placce him morre on a par with
w Titian when he went
w
to live in
i
Venice.. The coveted honour was
w securedd, but from this time he
h seems to have been very jealouus
of Titiaan and to have
h
aimed continuallyy at rivallin
ng him. Porrdenone waas a punctu
ual and rapiid
decorator, and on being givenn the ceilinng of the Saala di San Finio
F
to deccorate in the summer of
o
1536, he
h finished the
t whole by
b March 1538.
1
We have seen hoow Titian aannoyed thee Signoria by
b
his delaays, how annxious they were to traansfer his commission
c
n to Pordenoone, and wh
hat a narrow
w
escape the Venetiaan had of losing
l
his Brokers
B
paatent. Pordenone was eengaged by
y the nuns of
o
Muranoo to paint ann Annunciattion, after thhey had rejeected one byy Titian on account of its price, annd
though it seems haardly possibble that any one could have compaared the twoo men, yet no doubt thhe
pleasuree of gettingg an altarpiece quickly and
a punctuaally and forr a moderatee sum, often
n outweigheed
the honnour of the possible
p
painnting by thee great Titiaan.
No onee has left soo few easel-paintings as Pordeno
one; fresco was so muuch better suited to his
h
particullar style. Thhe canvas of
o the Maadonna of Mercy
M
in the
t Venice Academy, was painteed
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partial success,
s
to contrast in the same way
w the indifference off death withh the contem
mplation annd
anguishh of the bereaved. Hardd and angullar as Monttagnas sainnts often aree, they show
w power annd
austerity. His colouur is brilliannt and enam
mel-like; hee does not arrive
a
at the Venetian depth,
d
yet his
h
altarpieeces are verry grand, annd once moore we are struck
s
by thhe greatnesss of even th
he secondarry
painterss who drew their inspirration from Padua and Venice.
V
Giovanni Speranza
Amongg the other Vicentines,
V
S
an
nd Giovanni Buonconssiglio were imbued witth
characteeristics of Mantegna.
M
S
Speranza,
inn one of hiss few remaiining workss, almost reproduces thhe
beautifuul Assumpption by Pizzolo,
P
M
Mantegnas
young felloow-student,, in the Ch
hapel of thhe
Eremitaani. He em
mploys Buonnconsiglio as an assisstant, and they
t
imitatee Montagnaa to such an
a
extent that it is difficult
d
to distinguishh between their workks. Buonconnsiglios P
Piet in thhe
Vicenzaa gallery, iss reminiscennt of Montaagnas at Monte
M
Bericoo. The typess are lean and
a bony, thhe
featuress are almostt as rugged as Drers, the flesh eaarthy and grreenish. About 1497 Bu
uonconsigliio
was stuudying oils with
w Antonnello da Messsina; he beegins to resiide in Venice, and a ch
hange comees
over hiss manner. His
H colours show a briilliancy and
d depth acquuired by stuudying Titiaan; and thenn,
again, his
h bright tiints remind us of Lottoo. His namee was on the register oof the Venettian Guild as
a
late as 1530.
1
After Pisanellos achievement
a
t and his marked effect on early Venetian
V
artt, Veronese painting feell
for a tim
me to a verry low ebb; but Manteggnas influeence was sttrongly felt here, and art
a revived in
i
Liberalee da Veronaa, Falconettto, Casoto, the
t Moronee and Girolaamo dai Libbri, painters delightful in
i
themsellves, but having
h
littlee connectioon with th
he school of
o Venice. Francesco Bonsignorri,
howeveer, shook hiimself free from the narrow
n
circcle of Veronnese art, w
where he haad for a tim
me
followeed Liberale,, and grow
ws more likke the Viceentines, Moontagna andd Buonconssiglio. He is
careful about his drawing,
d
buut his figurres, like tho
ose of manny of these provincial painters, arre
short, bony
b
and vuulgar, very unlike
u
the slender, disttinguished tyype of the ggreat Paduaan. Under thhe
name of Francescoo da Veronaa, Bonsignoori works in
n the new palace of thee Gonzagas, and several
a now scaattered in different collections. At Verona he has left fouur
picturess painted foor Mantua are
fine altaarpieces. He
H went earlly to Venicce, where hee became thhe pupil off the Vivarin
ni. His facees
grow sooft and ovall, and the veery careful outlines
o
sug
ggest the inffluence of B
Bellini.
Girolam
mo Mocettoo was journeeyman to Giovanni
G
Beellini; in facct, Vasari saays that a D
Dead Christt
in S. Frrancesco della Vigna, signed
s
with Bellinis naame, is from
m Mocettos hand. Hiss short, broaad
figures have sometthing of Barrtolommeo Vivarinis character.
c
Francessco Torbidoo went to Veenice to stuudy with Gio
orgione, andd we can traace his massters manneer
of turniing half toones into deeep shades;; but he do
oes not reaally understtand the Giorgionesquue
treatmeent, in whichh shade wass always ricch and deep,, but never dark,
d
dirty aand impenetrable, nor in
i
the lighhts can he produce
p
thee clear glow
w of Giorgio
one. Anothher Veronese, Cavazzola, has left a
masterppiece upon which
w
any painter
p
migght be happy
y to rest hiss reputationn; the Gattemalata witth
an Esquuire in the Uffizi, a piicture noblee in feeling and in execcution, and one which owes a greaat
deal to Venetian poortrait-paintters.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Porddenone.
Casaraa.
O Church: Frescoes,
Old
F
152
25.
Colattoo.
S. Salvatore: Frescoes
F
(E.)).
Cremoona.
Muranno.
Piacenza.
M
Madonna
in Campagna:
C
Frescoes
F
and Altarpiece, 11529-31.
Pordennone.
Spilim
mbergo.
D
Duomo:
Assuumption; Con
nversion of S.
S Paul.
Sensigana.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Torre.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Trevisoo.
D
Duomo:
Adorration of Mag
gi; Frescoes,, 1520.
Venicee.
Pelleegrino.
San Daaniele.
Cividaale.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Annnunciation.
Romaanino.
116
Bergam
mo.
Berlin..
M
Madonna
andd Saints; Piet.
Bresciaa.
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D
Duomo:
Sacriisty: Birth off Virgin; Visiitation.
S. Francesco: Madonna an
nd Saints; Spposalizio.
Cremoona.
D
Duomo:
Fresccoes.
Londonn.
Polyptych; Poortrait.
Padua.
L Supper; Madonna
Last
M
and Saints.
L
di
Sato, Lago
Garda.
D
Duomo:
Sainnts and Dono
or.
Trent.
C
Castello:
Fresscoes.
Veronaa.
Moreetto.
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
Holy Family; Chrrist bearing Cross;
C
Donorr.
Bresciaa.
Londonn.
Milan.
B
Brera:
Madonnna and Saintts; Assumptiion.
C
Castello:
Tripptych; Saints..
Rome.
V
Vatican:
Maddonna enthron
ned with Sainnts.
Venicee.
Veronaa.
Bartoolommeo Montagna.
M
117
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
Madoonna and Sain
nt, 1487.
Berlin..
M
Madonna,
Saiints, and Don
nors, 1500.
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Milan.
B
Brera:
Madonnna, Saints, and
a Angels.
Padua.
Pavia.
C
Certosa:
Madonna, Saints, and Angelss.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Maadonna and Saints;
S
Christt with Saintss.
Veronaa.
Vicenzza.
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CHA
APTER
R XXIV
V
PA
AOLO VER
RONESE
Paolo Veronese,
V
t
though
perhhaps he is not to be placed on the very hhighest pin
nnacle of thhe
Venetiaan School, must
m be classsed amongg those few great paintters who rosse far abovee the level of
o
most off his contem
mporaries annd who brouught in a special note and
a flavour of his own. His art is an
a
indepenndent art, annd he borroows little frrom predeceessors or coontemporariies. His freee and joyouus
temperaament gave relief at a moment whhen the Ven
netian schem
me of colouur threateneed to becom
me
too som
mbre, and when
w
Sebastiian del Piom
mbo, Porden
none, Titiann himself, aand above all
a Tintorettoo,
were puushing chiarroscuro to extremes.
e
V
Veronese
disscards the deepest
d
bronnzes and mu
ulberries annd
crimsonns and oranges, and finds his range
r
amon
ng cream and rose aand grey-grreens. Titiaan
concenttrated his colours
c
and intensifiedd his lights,, Tintoretto sacrifices colour to vivid
v
play of
o
light annd dark, butt Veronese avoids the dark; the generous light plays alll through hiis scenes. He
H
has no wish
w to secuure strong effects
e
but delights
d
in soft,
s
faded tints;
t
old roose and turq
quoise mortte.
In his colour
c
and his
h subjects he is a perrsonification
n of the robbust, proud, joy-loving Republic, in
i
which, as M. Yriarrte says, a man
m produceed his work
ks as a tree produces
p
itss fruit. We get
g very neaar
him in those
t
vast palaces
p
and churches annd villas, where
w
his herroic figures expand in the
t azure aiir,
against the white clouds,
c
and yet he is onne of the arttists of the Renaissance
R
e about who
om we know
w
least. Here
H and theere, in conteemporary biography, we
w come acrooss a mention of him and
a learn that
he was sociable annd lively, quuick at takinng offence, fond of hiss family andd anxious to do his best
by them
m. He was, too,
t
very geenerous withh his work
a great conntrast in thiis respect to
o Titianannd
contractts with convvents and coonfraternitiees show thaat he often only
o
stipulatted for paym
ment for barre
time. Yet
Y he was fond
f
of perssonal luxuryy, loved rich
h stuffs, horses and hoounds, and, says Ridolffi,
alwayss wore velvvet breeches.
His firsst masters, according
a
too Mr. Berennson, were Badile
B
and Brusasorci,, masters off Verona, buut
before he
h was tweenty, he waas away worrking on hiis own accoount. His first patron was
w Cardinaal
Gonzagga, who brouught severaal painters frrom Veronaa to Mantuaa; but Mantuua was no lo
onger what it
had beeen in the dayys of Isabela dEste, annd Paolo Caaliari soon returned
r
to hhis own tow
wn. Before he
h
was tw
wenty-three he had deccorated Villla Porti, neear Vicenzaa, in collabboration wiith Zelotti, a
Veronese, portrayying feastinng gods annd goddessees, framed in light aarchitecturall designs in
i
monochhrome. The two painteers went onn to other viillas, mixinng mortal annd mythicall figures in a
happy, light-hearteed medley.
Zelotti having
h
receeived a com
mmission at Vicenza,
V
Paaolo decidedd to seek hiss fortune in
n Venice. Thhe
Prior off the Conveent of San Sebastiano,
S
on the Zattere, was a Veronese,
V
aand Caliari wrote
w
to him
m
before arriving
a
in Venice
V
in 1555. Thankks to the goo
od Prior, whho played a considerab
ble part in his
h
destiny,, he obtaineed a commisssion for a Coronation
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Veronese must havve delightedd in paintingg this work. Needless too say, it is nnot in the leeast religiouus.
He has united in it all the mosst varied perrsonages wh
ho struck hiis imagination. So we see
s a Spanissh
grandeee, Francis I.., Suleiman the Sultan, Charles V.., Vittoria Colonna,
C
annd Eleanor of
o Austria. In
I
the forreground, grouped
g
rouund a table, are Verronese him
mself, playinng the vio
ol, Tintorettto
accomppanying him
m, Jacopo da Ponte seaated by them
m, and Paollos brotherr, the archittect, with his
h
hand onn his hip, toossing off a full glass; and in the governor of the feast, opulent and
d gorgeouslly
attired, we recogniise Aretino. Under the marble colu
umns of a Grimani
G
or a Pesaro, hee brings in all
a
the illusstrious actoors of his ow
wn time andd leaves us an odd andd informingg document.. We can buut
accept the scene and
a admire the originaality of its design andd the freedoom of its execution,
e
its
boldnesss and fancyy, the way inn which thee varied inciidents are brought into harmony, and
a the gracce
of the colonnade,
c
p
peopled
withh spectatorss, standing out
o against the depth off distant sky
y.
The cellebrated supppers, of whhich this is the first ex
xample, are dispersed inn different galleries annd
some haave disappeeared, but frrom this tim
me Veronesee loved to paint
p
these ggreat displaays, repeatinng
some off them, but always introducing varriety.
Paolo Veronese.
Ve
M
MARRIAG
GE IN CAN
NA.
(Phooto, Manselll and Co.)
Louvrre.
In 15644 he accom
mpanied Girolamo
G
Grrimani, pro
ocurator off St. Marks, who waas appointeed
ambassador to the Holy See, and for thee first time saw the woorks of Rapphael and Michelangel
M
lo
and the treasures of
o antiquity.. For a timee, the sight of
o the antiqque had som
me effect up
pon his workk;
in his faamous ceiling in the Loouvre, Juppiter destroy
ying the Vicces, the inffluence of Michelangel
M
lo
is apparrent and itss large gesttures are innspired by sculpture.
s
R
Ridolfi
sayss that Veron
nese broughht
home casts
c
from Rome, andd statues off Amazons and the Laaocoon seem
m to have inspired thhe
Jupiter. He did nott go on longg in this paath; he doess not really care for thee nudeit is
i too simplle
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for him
m. He preferrs that his saints
s
and divinities
d
sh
hould appeaar in the goorgeous costumes of thhe
day, annd that his Venus andd Diana annd the nym
mphs shouldd trail in rrich brocad
des. But few
w
documeents are left concerningg his work for
f the Ducaal Palace upp to 1576; m
much of it was
w destroyeed
in the great fire, but the Siggnoria thenn gave him
m a number of fresh ccommission
ns. The most
importaant was the immense oval
o
of the Triumph of Venice, or, as it is sometimees called, thhe
Thankksgiving forr Lepanto;; the Repubblic crowneed by victoory and surrrounded by
y allegoricaal
figures,, Glory, Peace, Happinness, Ceress, Juno and the rest. The
T compossition show
ws the utmost
freedom
m: the fair Queen
Q
leanns back, surrrounded by
y laughing patricians,
p
w
who look up
u from theeir
balconies, as if thhey were attending
a
a regatta on
n the Grannd Canal. T
The horses of the Freee
Compannions, the soldiers
s
whoo go afar too carry out the
t will of the
t Republiic, prance in
n a crowd of
o
personaages, each of whom represents
r
a town or colony of her domaiin. Like alll Veroneses
creationns, this will always be pre-eminen
p
ntly a picturee of the sixtteenth centuury, dated by
b a thousannd
details of costumee, architectuure, and arm
mour. Venicce, the Vennice of Lepanto and th
he Venier, of
o
Titian, Aretino,
A
and Veronese himself, makes
m
a deep
p impressionn upon us, aand the artisst reflects his
h
age withh sympatheetic spontaneeity.
Hardly a hall of thee Ducal Pallace but cann show a can
nvas of Verronese or thee assistants by whom he
h
t
to tim
me he resum
med the deccorations off S. Sebastiiano, and his
h
was now surroundded. From time
o fatigue or
o languor. The martyyrdom of th
he saint is a
incessannt production betrays no trace of
triumphh of the beaauty of the silhouette against
a
a rad
diant sky. He
H goes bacck to Veron
na and painnts
the Maartyrdom off St. Georgee. He pourss light into it.
i The saintts open a shhining path, down whicch
a floweer-crowned Love fluttters with the
t
diadem
m and palm
m of victorry. The wh
hole air annd
expresssion of St. George
G
is full
fu of strenngth and thaat look of goodness
g
annd serenity which is thhe
painters nearest approach
a
too religious feeling.
f
Veronese wass created a Chevalier of St. Markk;
every one was askiing for his services,
s
buut he was a stay-at-hom
s
me by naturee and fond of
o living witth
his fam
mily. Philip II.
I longed too get him too cover his great walls in the Escuurial, but hee very civillly
declinedd all his invvitations andd sent Federrigo Zuccheero in his steead.
It was on accountt of the Feeast in the House of Levi
L
that in
i 1573 hee was hauleed before thhe
ment concern
ning this waas only disccovered a feew years agoo.
tribunall of the Inquuisition, andd the docum
The Siggnoria had never allow
wed any trribunal to chastise
c
woorks of literrature; on the
t contraryy,
Venice,, though com
mparativelyy poor herseelf in geniu
uses of the mind,
m
was thhe refuge of
o freedom of
o
thoughtt, and, in facct, had madde a sort of compact
c
wiith Niccolass V., which allowed heer to set asidde
or suspend the deccisions of thhe Holy Offfice, from which
w
she could
c
not quuite emanciipate hersellf.
grieved persson, to whhom his way of treatinng
Veronese, howeveer, was denoounced by some agg
sacred subjects
s
seeemed an ouutrage on reeligion. The members of
o the tribunnal demand
ded who thhe
boy waas with the bleeding noose? and why
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of Europa,
E
he recurred aggain to onee of those leegends of ffabled being
gs who havve
outlasteed dynastiess and are sttill fresh annd living. Veronese
V
waas surroundded by men like Aretinno
and Bem
mbo, well versed
v
in mythology,
m
and with his
h usual zesst he makess the tale an
a excuse foor
paintingg lovely, blooming
b
w
women,
richh toilets, an
nd a delighhtful landsccape. The wild
w
flowerrs
spring, and the litttle Loves fly to and froo against a cloud-fleckked sky of tthe wonderfful Veronesse
turquoisse. It is the work of a man
m who iss a true poett of colour and for whoom colour represents
r
a
all
the emootions of joyy and pleasuure.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Dresdeen.
Florencce.
Londonn.
Maser..
V
Villa
Barbaro: Frescoes.
Padua.
S. Giustina: Martyrdom
M
off S. Giustinaa.
Paris.
C
Christ
at Emm
maus; Marriaage of Cana.
Venicee.
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Veronaa.
Vicenzza.
M
Monte
Bericoo: Feast of St. Gregory, 15572.
Viennaa.
C
Christ
at the House
H
of Jairrus.
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CH
HAPTER
R XXV
TINTORE
ETTO
It does not seem liikely that many
m
new discoveries
d
will
w be madde about Tinntorettos liife. It was an
a
open annd above-booard one, annd there is practically
p
no
n time durring its spann that we arre not able to
t
accountt for, and to
t say wherre he was living
l
and how he waas occupiedd. The son of a dyer, a
memberr of one off the powerrful guilds of Venice, the little dyer, il teentoretto, ap
ppears as an
a
enthusiaastic boy, keen
k
to learnn his chosenn art. He waas apprenticed to Titiann and, immeediately afteer,
summarrily ejectedd from thaat masterss workshop
p, on accoount, it seeems probaable, of thhe
indepenndence and innovationn of his stylle, which was
w of the very
v
kind m
most likely to
t shock annd
puzzle Titians couurtly, settleed genius. After
A
this hee painted when
w
and whhere he cou
uld, pursuinng
his artisstic studies with the heeadlong arddour which through lifee characteriised his attittude towardds
art. Mr.. Berenson thinks
t
he may
m have woorked in Bo
onifazios sttudio. He foormed a close friendshiip
with Anndrea Schiaavone,[4] hee imported casts of Miichelangelos statues, hhe studied the
t works of
o
Titian and
a Palma. Over his dooor was written the co
olour of Titiian and the form of Miichelangelo.
All his energies were
w
for lonng devoted to the effo
ort to masteer that form
m. Colour came
c
to him
m
naturallly, but good drawing meant morre to him th
han it had ever done to any Ven
netian. Lonng
afterwaards, to repeeated inquirries as to how
h
excellen
nce could be
b best ensuured, he wo
ould give no
n
other advice
a
than the reiteraated, studyy drawing. He practised till thee human fo
orm in everry
attitudee held no diifficulties foor him. He suspended little modeels by stringgs, and drew
w every lim
mb
and torsso he couldd get hold of
o over and over again.. He was foound in every place wh
here paintinng
was waanted, gettinng the buildeers to let hiim experimeent upon the house-froonts. To masster light annd
shade he
h constructed little carrdboard houuses, in whicch, by meanns of slidingg shutters, laamplight annd
skylight effects couuld be arrannged. It is particularly interesting
i
t hear of thhis part of his
to
h educationn,
w was the most
m victorioous of all hiis inspiratio
ons.
as in thee end the loove of shine and shadow
The chiief events in
i Tintoretttos life aree art-eventss. For somee years he frescoed th
he outside of
o
houses at a nominnal price, or
o merely for
f his expeenses. He decorated
d
hhousehold furniture
f
annd
everythhing he coulld lay handss on. Then came
c
a few small comm
missions, ann altarpiecee here, organndoors thhere, for unimportant churches.
c
No one in Veenice talkedd of any onee save Palm
ma, Bonifazioo,
and, aboove all, Titiian, and it was
w difficultt enough fo
or an outsideer, who wass not one off their clique,
to get employmentt. But by thee time Tintooretto was tw
wenty-six his
h talent waas becoming
g recognisedd;
ora and Foortunato, annd the offerr he made to
t
he had painted thee two altarppieces for SS. Ermago
decorate the vast church
c
of his parish broought him conspicuous
c
sly into notiice. In the fiirst ardour of
o
h completeed the Lastt Judgment for the ch
hoir. From tiime to timee, during fou
urteen yearrs,
youth he
he redeeemed his early
e
promiises and exxecuted the Golden Calf
C
and thhe Presenttation of thhe
Virgin. Within tw
wo years off his offer too the Prior, came his first
f
great oopportunity of achievinng
distinction. This was
w a comm
mission from
m the Confraaternity of St.
S Mark, aand with thee Miracle of
o
the Slavve he spranng at once to the highesst place.
The piccture was universally
u
admired, annd was folllowed by thhree more ddealing witth the patroon
saint. At
A forty he married
m
happpily a beauttiful young girl, Faustinna dei Vesccovi, or Episcopi, as it is
indifferrently givenn, the daughhter of a nobble family of
o the mainnland. Tradiition has alw
ways pointeed
to the girl
g in blue in the Goolden Calf as her porrtrait, whilee it is easy to recognise Tintorettto
himselff in the blaack-beardedd giant, whho helps to carry the idol. His hhouse at th
his time waas
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somewhhere in the Parrocchia dell Orto, and there, during the next fourteeen years, eight childreen
were boorn, of whoom the two eldest, Dom
menico and Marietta, attained
a
disttinction in their
t
fathers
professiion. Anotheer great eveent, which profoundly
p
influencedd his life, w
was the begiinning of his
h
connecttion in 15600 with the Scuola di San
S Rocco, the great confraternity
c
y which waas devoted to
t
combating the ravages of thee plague andd to succou
uring the fam
milies of itts victims. His
H work foor
this lastted to the ennd of his life
fe and is his most distin
nguished meemorial.
The paalace to whhich the Robusti
R
fam
mily moved in 1574, and whichh was inhab
bited by his
h
descenddants so latee as 1830, can
c still be identified in
n the Calle della
d
Sensa. It is broken
n up into tw
wo
parts, but
b it is eviddent that it was a dweelling of som
me importaance, a goodd specimen
n of Venetiaan
Gothic. It still beaars marks off considerabble decoratiion; the wallls are sheaathed in marrble plaquees,
and the first floor has rows off Gothic wiindows in delicately
d
caarved framees and little balconies of
o
fretted marble. Zaanetti, in 17771, gives an
a etching of a magniificent bronnze frieze cast
c
from thhe
masters design, which
w
ran rouund the Graand Sala. Th
he family must
m have occcupied the piano nobille
and let off the floors they did not require..
Descripptions of thhe life led by
b the painnter and his family aree given by Vasari, wh
ho knew him
m
personaally, and byy Ridolfi, whose
w
book was publisshed in 16446, and whoo must hav
ve known his
h
childrenn, several of
o whom weere still alivve and prou
ud of their fathers
f
fam
me. We heaar of pleasannt
eveninggs spent in the little paalace, of thhe enthusiasstic love off music, Tinntoretto him
mself and his
h
daughteer being higghly gifted. Among thhe habituss were Zarllino, for tw
wenty-five years
y
chapeelmaster of St. Markks, one of thhe fathers of
o modern music;
m
Bassaano; and Veeronese, wh
ho, in spite of
o
his lovee for magnifficent enterttainments, was
w often to
o be found in
i Tintorettos pleasant home. Pooor
Andrea Schiavone was alwayys welcome, and as tim
me went on the house bbecame thee haunt of all
a
the culttured gentlemen and littterati of Veenice.
It is noot difficult from
f
the maaterials avaailable to fo
orm a sufficciently livelly idea of this
t
Venetiaan
citizen of the sixteeenth centuury, as fatheer and husb
band, host and
a painter. Ridolfi haas collected a
numberr of anecdootes, which space forbiids me to use,
u but whhich are all very characteristic. We
W
gather that
t
he was a man of strong
s
charaacter, generrous, sincerre and simple, decided in his wayys,
caring little
l
for thee great worlld, but openn-handed an
nd hospitablle under hiss own roof, observant of
o
men and manners, and sometiimes rather brusque in dealing witth bores andd offensive persons.
p
Fuull
of dry quiet
q
humoour and of good-nature
g
ed banter off his wifess little weakknesses. A man, too, of
o
upright conduct annd free, as faar as it can be ascertain
ned, from anny of those laxities and
d infidelitiees,
so freelly quoted off celebratedd men and so
s easily co
ondoned by his age. Arrt was Tinto
orettos maiin
preoccuupation; butt he seems to
t have been a man off strong religgious bias, m
making a cllose study of
o
the Bibble, and turnning naturallly in his laast days to those
t
truthss with whicch his art haad made him
m
familiarr, truths whhich he had representedd with that touch
t
of myystic feelingg which was the deepest
part of his
h nature.
His relaations with the
t State coommenced in
i 1574, wh
hen his offerr to present a superb paainting of thhe
Victoryy of Lepantoo was madee to and acccepted by th
he Council of
o Ten. Tinttoretto was rewarded by
b
a Brokeers patent, and between this andd the Parad
diso, the work
w
of his old age, he executed a
numberr of picturess for the Siggnoria. Thee only recorrd of any trravels are coonfined to two
t
journeyys
paid to Mantua, whhere he wennt in the sixxties and ag
gain in 15799 to see to tthe hanging
g of paintinggs
done foor the Gonzzaga, and of
o which thhe documen
nts have beeen kept, thhough the pictures
p
havve
vanisheed. Tintoretttos last yeears were saaddened by
y the death of his belooved daughtter, who haad
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Royal Academy,
A
b they aree absent froom the scheeme of sombbre splendoour which has
but
h given thhe
Venetiaans their titlle to fame. This is esppecially truee of Tintoreetto, and it becomes more
m
so as he
h
advancees. His gam
mut becomess more goldden-brown and
a mellow
w; the greys and brown
ns and ivoriees
combinne in a lustroous symphoony more im
mpressive th
han gay tintts, flooded w
with envelo
oping shadow
w
and illuumined by flashes
fl
of iriidescent lighht. Anotherr noticeable feature is thhe way in which
w
he puuts
on his oil-colour,
o
s that it beears the direect impressiion of the painters
so
p
hannd. The Flo
orentines haad
used flaat tints, opaque and with
w every brush-mark
k smoothedd away; butt as the lateer Venetianns
coveredd large spacces with oil--colour, theey no longerr sought to dissimulatee the traces of the brushh,
and lighht, distancee, movemennt, were all conveyed by
b the turnss and twistss and swirlss with whicch
the thinn oil-colourr was laid on.
o Look att the powerr of touch in
i such a ppicture as th
he Death of
o
Abel; we see thiss spontaneitty of executtion actually
y forming part
p of the eemotion wiith which thhe
picture is charged. The conceentrated hatee of the onee figure, thee desperate appeal of the
t other, thhe
lurid noote of the laandscape, gain
g
their em
motion as much
m
from the impetuoous brush-w
work as from
m
the morre studied design.
d
We come closeest to the paainters minnd in the Sccuola di Saan Rocco. He
H
had alreeady been employed
e
inn the churcch, and therre remains, darkened aand ruined by
b damp, thhe
series illustrative of
o the careeer of S. Rooch, patron saint of suffferers from
m the plagu
ue. When thhe
H
of Asssembly werre to be deecorated in 1560, the confraterniity asked a conclave of
o
great Halls
painterss, among whom weere Veroneese and Andrea Schiiavone, to prepare sketches
s
foor
competition. Whenn they assem
mbled to dissplay their designs,
d
Tinntoretto sweept aside a cartoon
c
from
m
the ceilling of the refectory
r
annd discovereed a finisheed picture, the
t S. Rocch in Glory,, which stiill
holds itts place theere. Neitherr the other artists nor the brethreen seem too have apprroved of thhis
unconventional prooceeding, but
b he hopped they wo
ould not be offended; it was the only way he
h
knew. Partly from
m the disppleased withhdrawal off some of the
t rest, buut partly allso from thhe
excellennce of the work, the commissionn fell to Tintoretto,
T
a after tw
and
wo years work
w
he waas
receivedd into the order,
o
and was
w assignedd an annuall provision of 100 ducaats (50) a year for liffe,
being bound everyy year to furnnish three pictures.
p
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CHA
APTER
R XXVII
TINTORETTO (continued))
The firsst portion of
o the vast building
b
thaat was finisshed was thhe Refectoryy, but in ex
xamining thhe
schemee, it is perhaaps more coonvenient too leave it to
o its proper place, whicch is the cliimax. Beforre
beginniing, Tintoreetto must haave had thee whole thin
ng planned,, and we caannot doubtt that he waas
influencced by the Sixtine Chhapel and recalled
r
itss plan and significance; the old dispensatioon
typifyinng the new, the Old Teestament hiistory vivifiied by the acts
a of Chriist. The maain feature of
o
the harm
mony whichh it is only reasonable
r
t suppose governs
to
g
thee whole buillding, is its dedication to
t
S. Rochh, the special patron of
o mercy. The
T princip
pal paintinggs of the U
Upper Hall are
a thereforre
concernned with acts of divinee mercy andd deliverancce, and eveen the monoochromes bear
b
upon thhe
central idea. On thhe roof are the three most
m importaant miracless of mercy performed on behalf of
o
the Choosen Peoplee. The paintiings on roof and walls are linked together. The Fall of Man at onne
end of the
t Hall, thee disobediennt eating, coorresponds with the obbedient eatinng of the Paassover at thhe
other, and
a is interddependent with
w the Maanna in the Wildernesss, the Last S
Supper, and
d the Miraclle
of the Loaves.
L
Thhe Miracless of satisfieed thirst aree representeed by Mooses striking
g the Rock,
Samsonn drinking from
fr
the jaw
wbone and thhe waters of
o Meribah. The Baptism
m and otherr signs of thhe
Advent of Christ and the Divvine preparration, balance events in the earlly life of Moses.
M
In thhe
Refectoory which opens
o
from the Great Hall,
H
we co
ome to the Crucifixio
striiking the R
Rock is a fiigure instincct
with puurpose and energy. Thee water bouunds forth, living, life--giving, thee people straain wildly to
t
reach itt. His figurees are someetimes founnd fault witth, as extravvagant in ggesture, but the attitudees
were inntended to be
b seen andd to arrest attention
a
fro
om far below
w, and we m
must not fo
orget that thhe
painters models were
w
drawnn from a Southern
S
raace, to whoom emphassis of action is naturaal.
Tintorettto, it may be concedeed, is on ceertain occassions, generrally when dealing wiith accessorry
figures,, inclined too excess off gesture; it
i is the defect of his temperameent, but wh
hen he has a
subject that carriess him away he is sinceere and neveer violent inn spirit. Tittian is cold compared to
t
fective, is caalculated, whereas
w
Tinntorettos seeems to perrmeate everry
him; his colour, however effe
object and
a to soak the whole composition
c
n. To quote a recent criitic: He choose to begin
n, if possible,
with a subject
s
charrged with emotion.
e
Hee then proceeeded to treeat it accordding to its nature,
n
that is
to say, he toned down and obbscured thee outlines of form and mapped ouut the subjeect instead in
i
pale orr sombre masses
m
of light
l
and shade.
s
Und
der the conntrol of thiis powerfull scheme of
o
chiarosccuro, the colouring off the compoosition wass placed, buut its own character, its
i degree of
o
richnesss and sobriiety, was deetermined by
b the kind of emotionn belongingg to the sub
bject. To usse
colour in
i this way,, not only with
w emotionnal force, but with emootional truthh, is to use it to perform
m
one of the
t greatest functions of
o art.[5]
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So in thhe Crucifixion it is not so much the aspect of the groups, the pathos of the facess or gesturees,
that tellls, but it is the
t mystery and gloom in which th
he whole scene is mufffled, the atm
mosphere intto
which we
w are absoorbed, the seense of lividd terror con
nveyed by the broodingg light and shadow, that
makes us
u feel how
w different thhe renderingg is from an
ny other. In the Christt before Pilaate the heaad
and figuure of Chrisst are not paarticularly impressive
i
in themselvves, but the brilliant lig
ght falling on
o
the whiite robes annd coursing down the steps suppliees dignity and
a poetry; the slender white figurre
stands out
o like a shaft of lighht against thhe lurid and
d troubled background.
b
. Again, in the Way to
t
Golgothha the falliing evening gleam, the wild sky, th
he deep shaadow of the ravine, thro
ow into relieef
the quieet form, dettached in loook and feeeling, as of one upbornne by the sppirit far above the brutaal
throng. Nowhere does
d
that sppiritual emootion find deeeper expreession than in the Visitation. Thhe
passionn of thanksggiving, the poignancy
p
o mother-lo
of
ove, throb through
t
thee two womeen, who havve
been traavelling tow
wards one another,
a
witth a great secret
s
betweeen them, aand who at length reacch
the havven of each others lovve and knowledge. Heere, too, thee dying lighht, the wav
ving tree, thhe
obliteraation of form
m, and the feeling
f
of mystery
m
mak
ke a deep apppeal to the sensuous apprehension
a
n.
We findd it again and
a again; the great trrees sway and
a whispeer in the gaathering darrkness as thhe
Virgin rides
r
througgh the fallinng evening shadows, clasping
c
herr Babe, and in that most moving of
o
all Tinttorettos creeations, the S. Mary of
o Egypt, th
he emotionaal mood of Natures seelf is broughht
home too us. The treees that dom
minate the landscape arre painted with
w a few strokes likee sabre cuts;
the landdscape, givven with appparent careelessness, yeet conveyinng an indesscribable sense of spacce
and sollemnity, unnfolds itselff under thee dying daay; and in solitary meeditation, th
hrilling witth
ecstasy,, sits that little
l
figure,, whose heeart has trav
velled far away
a
to com
mmune witth the Spiriit,
whosee dwelling iss the light of
o setting sunns.
It is nott possible inn a short sppace to toucch, even in passing,
p
on all the manny scenes in
n these halls:
the Annnunciation, with its marvellous
m
flight of cherubs, remiinding us off the flight of
o pigeons in
i
the Piazzza, and how
w often thee old painterr must havee watched thhem; the T
Temptation, contrastinng
the throobbing evil,, the flesh that
t
must bee fed, with the calm off absolute ppurity; the Massacre
o
of
the Innoocents, forr which the horrors of sacked tow
wns could have supplieed many a parallel,w
p
we
have noot time to dwell
d
on theese, but we may noticee how the arrtist has overcome the difficulty of
o
seeing clearly in the dark halls, by chhoosing stro
ong and vaaried effectss of light for
f the most
wed spaces, and we cann picture whhat the halls must havee been like when they first gloweed
shadow
from hiis hand, adoorned with gilded
g
fretw
work and mo
oulding, andd hung withh opulent drraperies, witth
the rosee-red and puurple of bishhops and caardinals ro
obes reflecteed in the gleeaming paveement.
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Tintorettto. Scuola di
d San Roccco.
S. MARY
M
OF EGYPT.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Leonarddo, by one supreme
s
exaample, Tinttoretto, by many
m
renderrings, have made the L
Last Supperr
peculiarrly their ow
wn in the doomain of artt. It shows how
h
stronglly the mystiic strain enttered into thhe
mans character,
c
thhat often ass Tintoretto treated thee subject, it never lost its interest for him, annd
he neveer failed to find
f
a fresh point of vieew. In that in
i S. Polo, Christ
C
offerrs the sacred
d food with a
gesture of vehemeent generosiity. Placed as the pictu
ure is, to apppeal to all comers to the Mass, to
t
t
a welcome as they pass to the High Altar,
A
it tellss of the Breead of Lifee given to all
a
afford them
mankinnd. Tintorettto himself, painted in the charactter of S. Paaul, stands aat one side,, absorbed in
i
meditattion. We neeed not insisst again on the emotion
nal value of the deep ccolours, thee rich cream
ms
and crim
msons and the chiarosccuro. In hiss latest rend
dering, in S.. Giorgio M
Maggiore, hee touches his
h
highest point in sym
mbolical treeatment. Soome people are only ablle to see a ttheatrical, arrtificial spirrit
in this picture,
p
butt at least, when
w
we connsider whatt deep meditation Tinttoretto had bestowed on
o
his subjjects, we may
m believee that he him
mself was sincere andd that he leet himself go
g over whaat
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Tinttoretto. BA
ACCHUS AND
A
ARIA
ADNE. Du
ucal Palacee, Venice.
(P
Photo, Andeerson.)
Thoughh several off the large compositioons ascribed
d to Tintorretto in the Ducal Palace are onlly
partly by
b him, or entirely
e
by followers and
a imitatorrs, its halls are
a still a sttorehouse of
o his geniuus.
There is
i much thaat is fine abbout the greeat state pieces. In thee Marriagee of St. Caatherine, thhe
saint, inn silken goown and lonng transpareent veil, is an exquisiite figure. T
Tintoretto bathes
b
all his
h
pageanttry in goldeen light and air, and yett we feel thaat these hugge official suubjects, witth the prosaiic
old Dogges introducced in inconngruous com
mpany, neith
her stimulatted his imaggination norr satisfied his
h
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taste. Itt is on the smaller caanvases thatt he finds inspiration. He never painted an
nything morre
lovely, more perfecct in designn, or more gay and tend
der in idea, than
t
the cyccle in the An
nte-Collegioo.
The gloowing light and exquissitely gradeed shadows upon ivoryy limbs havve a sensuou
us perfectioon
and a refined, unselfconsciouus joy such as is felt in
n hardly anny other woork, except the painters
own M
Milky Way in the Naational Galllery. In all these four pictures thhe feeling for
f design, a
branch of art in whhich Tintoreetto was paast master, is fully dispplayed. In thhe Bacchus and Ariadnne
all the principal
p
linnes, the eyees and gestuures, converrge upon thhe tiny ring which is th
he symbol of
o
union between
b
the goddess annd her loverr, between the queenlyy city and thhe Adriatic sea. Or takke
Pallas driving away Mars: see
s how thee mass into which
w
the figures
f
are ggathered on the left addds
strengthh to the thrrust of the goddesss arm,
a
and what
w
steadinness is giveen by that short
s
straighht
lance of
o hers, com
ming in amoong all the yielding cu
urves. The whole fourr are linked
d together in
i
meaning: the call to Venice too reign over the seas, heer triumphaant peace, w
with Wisdom
m guiding heer
council, and her warriors
w
forgging arms inn case of neeed. In conjuunction witth these picttures are tw
wo
small ones
o
in the chapel, harrdly less beeautifulStt. George with
w St. Marrgaret, and SS. Andrew
w
and Jerome. It is difficult
d
to say
s whetherr the exultaant St. Georrge, the diggnified youn
ng bishop, or
o
the twoo older saintts are the more
m
sympaathetic creattions, or thee more adm
mirable, both
h in drawinng
and collour. The seense of spacce in both settings
s
is an
a added chharm, and evvery scrap of detail, thhe
leafy booughs, the cross
c
and crozier, is impportant to th
he composittion.
There are
a many other
o
strikinng examplees, ranging all throughh Tintorettoos life, off his untirinng
imaginaation. In thee Salute is that Marrriage of Can
na, in whiich all the aactors seem
m to swim in
i
golden light. The sharp
s
silhouuettes bringg out an efffect of radiaant sunshinee with whicch the hall is
floodedd, and all the
t architecctural lines lead our eyes
e
towardds the centtral figure, placed at a
distancee. On that long
l
canvass in the Acaademy, kneeel the threee treasurers, pouring out
o their golld
and bennding in hoomage beforre the Madoonna and Child,
C
who sit
s enthroneed upon a broad
b
piazza,
throughh the marblle pillars of
o which a blue and distant lanndscape shiines. Gravee senators in
i
mulberrry velvet annd ermine kneel
k
beforee the Child, or hold coounsel on P
Paduan affairs under thhe
patronaage of S. Giiustina. Thee Crucifixiion (in S. Cassiano) is
i another ttriumph of the painters
imaginaative concepption. The bold
b
lines of
o the crossees, the ladder, and the figures detaach against a
gloriouss sky, and the
t presencee of the mooving, murm
muring thronng, of whicch, by the placing
p
of thhe
line of sight,
s
the sppectator is made
m
to forrm a part, iss conveyed by the swayying and crossing of thhe
lances borne
b
by thhe armed meen who keep the groun
nd. There iss a series, tooo, which deals
d
with thhe
Magdallen. She moourns her dead
d
in that solemn, reestrained E
Entombmennt, where the
t enfoldinng
shadow
ws frame thee cross agaiinst the sadd dawn, which adorns the mortuaary chapel of
o S. Giorgiio
Maggioore; and thee Piet in thhe Brera, the
t long lin
nes of which add to thhe impression of tendeer
repose, has its peaace broken by the passsionate cry of the wom
man who looved much. Tintorettos
p
the sam
me scene in
n a dozen diifferent wayys, and, in fact,
f
the boook
ideas arre exhaustleess; he can paint
of sketcches lately acquired byy the British Museum shows as many
m
as thiirty trials daashed off foor
one subbject, and after
a
all he uses
u
one coomposed fo
or somethingg quite diffferent. It is this habit of
o
throwinng off red-hhot essays, fresh from
m his brain,, that has led to the ccommon bu
ut superficiaal
judgmeent that Tinttoretto was merely
m
a grreat improviisatore, whoose successes came mo
ore or less by
b
good luuck. He couuld, indeed, paint picttures at a pace
p
at whicch many grreat masters could onlly
sketch, but he hadd already deesigned andd considered
d and rejectted, doing w
with oil, in
nk, and papeer
what many
m
of his contemporar
c
ries did menntally. Such
h achievemeents as the A
Ante-Colleg
gio cycle, thhe
Housee of Martha and Mary, the Marrriage of Can
na, the Teemptation oof S. Anthon
ny, to nam
me
only a few,
f
show a finish andd perfection and a balan
nce of desiggn which prreclude the idea of theeir
being lightly painnted pictures. When hee was actu
ually engageed, Tintoretto let him
mself go witth
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Augsbuurg.
Berlin..
Dresdeen.
Florencce.
Hamptton Court.
Londonn.
Madridd.
Milan.
Paris.
Rome.
Turin.
The Trinity.
Venicee.
Academy: S.
S Giustina an
nd Three Sennators; Madoonna with
Saints andd Treasurers, 1566; Portrraits of Senattors;
Depositioon; Jacopo So
oranzo, 15644 (still attribuuted to Titian
n);
Andrea Capello
C
(E.); Death of Abbel; Miracle oof S. Mark,
1548; Addam and Eve;; Resurrectedd Christ blesssing Three
Senators; Madonna an
nd Portraits; Crucifixion;; Resurrectio
on;
Presentatiion in Templle.
Palazzo Duccale: Doge Mocenigo
M
com
mmended to Christ by S.
Mark; Dooge da Ponte before the Virgin;
V
Marriiage of S.
Catherinee; Doge Grittti before the Virgin.
Ante-Colleggio: Mercury and Three Graces;
G
Vulcans Forge;
Bacchus and
a Ariadne; Pallas resissting Mars, abbt. 1578.
Ante-room of
o Chapel: SS. George, Margaret,
M
andd Louis; SS.
Andrew and
a Jerome.
Senato: S. Mark
M
presentiing Doge Looredano to the Virgin.
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V
Portraaits of
Susanna andd the Elders; Sebastian Venier;
Procuratoors, Senators, and Men (ffifteen in all); Old Man an
nd
Boy; Porttrait of Lady.
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CHA
APTER
R XXVIII
BASSAN
NO
We woonder how many of thhose sightseeers who pass
p
through the Antee-Collegio in
i the Ducaal
Palace, and stare for
f a few moments
m
at Tintorettos famous quartet
q
and at Veronesees Rape of
o
g
even suuch fleetingg attention to the longg, dark canvvas which hangs
h
besidde
Europa,, turn to give
them, Jacobs Jouurney into Canaan,
C
by Jacopo da Ponte,
P
calleed Bassano.
m the positiion in whichh it is placed the visitorr might gueess that it is considered
d to be a gem
m,
Yet from
and it gains
g
someething in innterest whenn we learn from Zaneetti that it w
was ordered by Jacoppo
Contariini at the same time as the R
Rape of Eu
uropa, as if the greaat connoissseur enjoyeed
contrastting Veroneeses light, gay
g style wiith the vigorous brush of
o da Pontee.
If attenttion is arressted by the beauty of thhe painting,, and the visitor shouldd be inspired to seek thhe
painter in his nativve city, he will
w be welll repaid. Baassano oncee held an im
mportant po
osition on thhe
main rooad betweenn Italy and Germany, but
b since th
he railroad was
w made aacross the Brenner
B
Passs,
few peoople ever seee the little town which lies cradlled on the spurs
s
of the Italian Alp
ps, where thhe
gorge of
o Valsuganna opens. It
I is surrouunded by ch
hestnut wooods, whichh sweep up
p to the bluue
mountaains, the widde Brenta floows throughh the town, and the houuses clusterr high on eitther side, annd
have gaardens and balconies
b
ovverhanging the water. The
T faadess of many of the housess are covereed
with fading frescooes, relics of
o da Pontes school of fresco-paiinters, whicch, though they are faast
perishinng, still givee a wonderfful effect off warmth and colour.
Jacopo da Ponte was
w the son and
a pupil off his father, Francesco, who in his day had beeen a pupil of
o
the Vicentine, Barttolommeo Montagna.
M
F
Francesco
da
d Pontes best
b work is to be found
d at Bassanoo,
in the cathedral
c
annd the churcch of San Giovanni,
G
an
nd has manyy of the chaaracteristicss, such as thhe
raised pedestal
p
andd vaulted cuupola, whicch we have noticed thaat Montagnna owed to the Vivarinni.
Francesscos son went when veery young to
t Venice, and
a was therre thrown aat once among the artists
of the lagoons, andd attached himself
h
in particular
p
to
o Bonifazio. In Jacopos earliest work,
w
now in
i
the Museum at Baassano, a F
Flight into Egypt,
E
Bon
nifazios tuiition is marrkedly disceernible in thhe
build off the figures and, abovve all, in thee form of th
he heads. A comparisoon of the very peculiarlly
shaped head of thhe Virgin inn this pictuure with thaat of the Venetian
V
laddy in Boniffazios Ricch
Mans Feast,
F
in thhe Venetiann Academy, leaves us in
n no doubt on this scorre. Jacoposs Adulteresss
before Christ
C
andd the Threee in the Fieery Furnace have Bonnifazios maanner in thee architecturre
and the staging of the
t figures. Only five examples
e
arre known off this early w
work of da Ponte, and it
is all in Bonifazios lighter styyle, not unliike his Holly Family in
i the Natioonal Gallery
y.
ned to his native
n
townn, still stand
ds in the littlle
The houuse in whicch the painteer lived whhen he return
Piazza Monte Veccchio, and its whole faade
f
retaiins the fresscoes, moulldy and deecaying, witth
which he
h decorated it. The deesign is in four
f
horizon
ntal bands. First comees a frieze of
o children in
i
every attitude
a
of fun
f and frollic. Then foollows a lon
ng range off animals
horses, oxeen, and deeer.
Musical instrumennts and flow
wers make a border, with
w allegoriical represeentations off the arts annd
crafts filling
f
the spaces
s
betw
ween the wiindows. The principal band is deecorated wiith Scripturaal
subjectss, most of which are now hardlyy discerniblle, but whiich represennt Samson
n slaying thhe
Philistinnes, The Drunkenness of Noah,, Cain and
d Abel, L
Lot and his D
Daughters, and Juditth
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the lighht falling onn her silveryy satin dresss, as she kneels before the young bbishop, St. Valentine, is
one of the
t most graaceful thinggs in art, and Titian him
mself need not
n have dissowned the little angells,
bearingg palm brancches and froolicking in the
t stream of
o radiance overhead.
o
Bassanoo has a Concert, whhich is inteeresting as a family piiece. It wass painted in
n the year in
i
which his
h son Leaandros marrriage took place, and is probablyy a bridal ppainting to celebrate thhe
(Vicenza) again
event. The
T Magisstrates in Adoration
A
a
givess a brilliantt effect of light,
l
and its
stately ceremonial
c
is founded on Tintoretttos numero
ous picturess of kneelinng doges and
d procuratorrs
in fur-trrimmed velvvet robes.
J
Jacopo
da Ponte.
P
BA
APTISM OF
F S. LUCIL
LLA.
(
(Photo,
Alin
nari.)
Basssano.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Augsbuurg.
M
Madonna
andd Saints.
Bassanno.
Bergam
mo.
C
Carrara:
Portrrait.
L
Lochis:
Portraaits.
Cittadeella.
D
Duomo:
Chrisst at Emmaus.
Dresdeen.
Issraelites in Desert;
D
Mosess striking Roock; Converssion of S. Pau
ul.
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Milan.
Ambrosiana: Adoration
A
A
off Shepherds (E.); Annuncciation to
Shepherds (L.).
Munichh.
Padua.
Paris.
C
Christ
bearingg Cross; Vinttage (L.).
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Last Supp
per; The Trinnity.
Venicee.
Vicenzza.
M
Madonna
andd Saints; Mad
donna; St. Mark and Senaators.
Viennaa.
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PART III
CHA
APTER XXVIIII
T
THE
INTE
ERIM
Many of
o the churches and pallaces of Vennice and thee adjoining mainland, aand almost every publiic
and priivate gallerry throughoout Europe, contain pictures
p
purrporting to be painted
d by Titiann,
Tintorettto, Veronese, and otheers of that famous
f
com
mpany. Harddly a great E
English hou
use but boasts
of a rouund dozen at
a least of suuch specimeens, acquireed in the dayys when ricch Englishm
men made thhe
grand tour and substantiated
s
d a reputation for tastee and culturre by collectting works of art. Thesse
picturess resemble the
t genuinee article in a specious yet
y half-heaarted way. T
Their ownerrs themselvees
are not very tenaciious as to thheir authentticity, and the
t visit of an expert, oor the ordeaal of a publiic
exhibitiion tears thheir pretensiions to tatteers. In the Academia itself the B
Bonifazio an
nd Tintorettto
rooms are crowdeed with imiitations. Thhe Ducal Palace
P
has ceilings annd panels on
o which arre
reproduuced the kinnd of compoositions initiated by thee great artists, which m
make an effo
ort to capturre
their gaamut of coolour and too master thheir schemee of chiarooscuro, copyying them, in short, in
i
everythhing except in their inim
mitable touuch and fire and spirit. It would haave been im
mpossible foor
any meen, howeverr industriouus and prolific, to havee carried ouut all the work which passes
p
undeer
their naames, to sayy nothing of
o that whicch has perished; but our
o surprisee and curiossity diminissh
when we
w come to inquire syystematicallyy into the methods
m
off that host oof copyists which, eveen
before the
t masters death, hadd begun to ply
p its lucrattive trade.
We muust bear in mind that every greaat man was surroundedd by busy and attentiive satellitees,
helpingg him to finiish and, inddeed, often painting
p
a laarge part off important commission
ns, witnessees
of the high
h
prices received, annd alive to all the gosssip as to thee relative poopularity off the painterrs
and the requests annd orders which
w
reacheed them from
m all quarteers. The paiinters own sons were in
i
many innstances thoose who firsst traded uppon their fathers fame. From Ridoolfi, Zanetti, or Boschinni
we learrn of the many
m
paintinngs executeed by Carlo
otto Caliari and the vaast numberrs painted by
b
Domenico Robustii in the style of their respective
r
fathers.
f
Domenico seeems to havee particularlly
G
and the Dragon
n, and thee picture at Dresden, which
w
passees
affectedd the subjecct of St. George
under Tintorettos
T
name, is peerhaps by his
h hand. Off Bassanos four sons, Francesco imitated his
h
father perfectly,
p
conserving his warmtth of tint, his relief and
a breadthh. Zanetti enumerates
e
a
surprisiing numberr of Franceescos workks, seven of
o them beiing paintedd for the Ducal
D
Palace.
Leandroo followed more partiicularly his fathers fiirst mannerr, was a goood portrait--painter, annd
possesssed lightnesss and fanccy. Girolam
mo copied and recopiied the oldd Bassano till he eveen
deceiveed connoisseurs, how
w much morre, says Zaanetti, writiing in 17711, those off the presennt
day, whho behold thhem harmonnised and accredited
a
by time. Noo school in Venice wass so belovedd,
or lent itself
i
so well to the effo
forts of the imitators,
i
ass that of Paoolo Veronesse. Even at an early datte
it was impossible
i
n to confo
not
found the master
m
with the
t disciples; the weakker of the orriginals werre
held to be of imitaators, the beest imitationns were asssigned to thhe master hiimself. Oh
h how easy it
is, excclaims Zaneetti again, to
make mistakes
m
ab
bout Veroneeses picturres, but I can point ouut
sundry infallible characteristiccs to those who wish for light uppon this douubtful path; the finenesss
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and lighhtness of the brushworrk, the sublime intelligeence and grrace, shown particularly
y in the form
m
of the heads,
h
whichh is never foound in anyy of his imitaators.
Few Veenetians, hoowever, folloowed the sttyle of only one man; thhe output w
was probably
y determineed
and varried by the demand. Tooo many atttractive maanners existted to dazzlle them, and
d when oncce
they beegan to imittate, they were
w
tempteed on all haands. It muust also be remembereed that everry
master left behindd him stackss of cartoonns, sketches and suggestions, andd half-finish
hed picturees,
which were eageerly seized upon, bouught or sto
olen, and utilised to produce masterpiecees
masqueerading undeer his namee.
As the seventeenthh century addvanced thee character of art and manners
m
unnderwent a change.
c
Meen
sought the beautifful in the novel
n
and bizarre, and the compplex was ppreferred to
o the simple.
Venetiaan art, in alll its branchhes, had passsed from the
t stately and
a restrainned to the pompous
p
annd
artificiaal. Yet the barocco
b
stylle was used by Venice in a way off its own; whimsical, co
ontorted, annd
overloaaded with orrnament as it is, it yett compels admiration by
b its vigorrous life and
d movemennt.
The art of the sei-ccento in Venice was exxtravagant, but it was alive.
a
It escaaped the mo
ost deadly of
o
all faultts, a cold and
a academ
mic mannerissmand th
his at a timee when the rest of Itally was giveen
over to the inflatedd followers of
o Michelanngelo and th
he calculateed elaboratioons of the eclectics.
Many of
o the thingss we most loove in Veniice, such ass the Salute,, the Clock--Tower, the Dogana, thhe
Bridge of Sighs, thhe Rezzonicco and Pesaaro Palaces, are additioons of the seeventeenth century. Thhe
baroccoo intemperaance in scullpture was carried
c
on by
b discipless of Bernini; and as th
he immediatte
influencce of the great masters declineed, painting
g acquired the same sort of ch
haracter. Thhe
carelesssness and raapidity of Tintoretto,
T
w
which,
in hiis case, procceeded from
m the lightn
ning speed of
o
his imagination annd the unerriing sureness of his bru
ush, becamee a mechaniical trick in the hands of
o
superficcial studentts. True art had migratted elsewheereto the homes of V
Velasquez, Rubens, annd
Rembraandt. As artt grew morre pompouss it becamee less emotiional. Paintters like Paalma Giovinne
spoilt thheir ready, lively
l
fancyy by the vicee of hurry. The
T nicknam
me of Fa P
Presto wass deserved by
b
others besides
b
Lucca Giordanno, and Vennice was ov
verrun by a swarm off painters whose
w
prim
me
standardd of excellence was thhe ability to
t make hasste. Grandeeur of conception was forgotten; a
grave, ample
a
mannner was no longer understood; sup
perficial senntiment andd bombasticc size carrieed
the dayy. Yet a few
w painters, though
t
theirr forms had
d become reedundant annd exaggeraated, retaineed
somethiing of whatt had been the
t Venetiann gloryth
he deep and moist colouur of old. Itt still gloweed
with traaces of its old
o lustre on
o the canvvases of Gio
ovanni Conntarini, or T
Tiberio Tineelli, or Pietrro
Liberi; and thoughh there was a perfect fury
f
of prod
duction, witthout orderr and withou
ut law, therre
can stilll be perceivved the survvival of thatt sense of th
he decorativve which keept the threaad of art. We
W
discoveer it in the ceiling
c
of thhe Church of
o San Pantaleone, wheere Gianbatttista Fumiaani paints thhe
glorification of thhe martyredd patron, and
a
which, fantastic and
a
extravaagant as it is, with its
hrong, is noot
stupenddous, archittectural settting, and itts acutely, almost absuurdly foreshortened th
withoutt a certain grandiose
g
g
geniality,
am
mple and picturesque,
p
like the buuildings of that date. In
I
Alessanndro Varotaari (il Padovvanino), whhose Nozzee di Cana in the Acaddemia is a finely
f
spaceed
scene, in
i which a charming use
u is madee of cypresses, we seeem to recoggnise the laast ray of thhe
Titianessque. The painting
p
of the
t seventeeenth century
y passed onn towards thhe eighteentth, and, from
m
ceilingss and panelss, rosy nym
mphs and Veenuses smilee at us, attittudinising aand contorteed upon theeir
cloudy backgrounnds. Lackaddaisical Maagdalens drrop sentimeental tears, and the Angel
A
of thhe
Annuncciation capeers above the
t head of an affectted Virgin, while viollent colourss, intensifieed
chiarosccuro, and black greasyy impasto beetray the neeighbourhoood of the tenebrosi. When,
W
towardds
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Leanndro da Ponnte.
Venicee.
Palm
ma Giovine.
Dresdeen.
Presentation of
o the Virgin
n.
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
S. Marrgaret.
Munichh.
D
Deposition;
N
Nativity;
Eccee Homo; Flagellation.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
Sceenes from th
he Apocalypsse; S. Franciss.
D
Ducal
Palace: The Last Ju
udgment.
Viennaa.
Il Paadovanino.
148
Florencce.
U
Uffizi:
Lucrettia.
Londonn.
C
Cornelia
and her
h Children
n.
Paris.
V
Venus
and Cuupid.
Rome.
V
Villa
Borghesse: Toilet of Minerva.
M
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Venicee.
Veronaa.
M and Wom
Man
man playing Chess; Trium
mph of Baccchus.
Viennaa.
W
Woman
takenn in Adultery
y; Holy Family.
Pietrro Liberi.
Venicee.
D
Ducal
Palace: Battle of thee Dardanellees.
Andrrea Vicentinno.
Venicee.
M
Museo
Civicoo: The Marriaage of a Doggaressa.
G. A.. Fumiani.
Venicee.
A. Baalestra.
Veronaa.
S. Tomaso: Annunciation.
A
.
G. Laazzarini.
Venicee.
S. Pietro in Caastello.
T Charity of
The
o S. Lorenzo
o Giustiniani.
Sebastiano Riccci.
Venicee.
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Londonn.
R
Royal
Hospitaal, Chelsea: Half-dome.
H
G. B.. Pittoni.
Vicenzza.
T Bath of Diana.
The
D
G. B.. Piazetta.
Venicee.
C
Chiesa
della Fava:
F
Madon
nna and S. Phhilip Neri.
A
Academy:
Cruucifixion; Th
he Fortune-T
Teller.
Rosaalba Carrierra.
Venicee.
A
Academy:
passtels.
Dresdeen.
Pastels.
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CHA
APTER
R XXIX
X
TIEPOL
LO
We havve already noted
n
that to establish the significcance of anny period inn art, it is neecessary thaat
the tenddencies shoould unite and
a combinne in some culminatingg spirits whho rise triumphant oveer
their coontemporariies and soarr above thee age in whiich they livve. Such a ggenius stand
ds out abovve
the eighhteenth centtury crowd,, and is nott only of hiss century, but
b of everyy time. For two hundreed
years Tiepolo
T
has been stigm
matised as extravagant
e
t, manneredd, as just eqqual to pain
nting cupidds,
nymphss, and parrooquets. In the
t last cenntury he exp
perienced thhe effect off the profou
und discreddit
into whhich the whole
w
of eigghteenth-cenntury art had
h fallen. In France, David had
d obliterateed
Watteauu; and the reputation
r
o Pompeo Battoni, a sort of Italiian David, eeffaced Tieepolo and his
of
h
contempporaries. When
W
the delegates
d
of the Fren
nch Republiic inspectedd Italian churches
c
annd
palaces, and decidded what works
w
of art
a should be
b sent to the Louvree, they sing
gled out thhe
Bolognese, the Guercinos
G
a
and
Guidos, the Carraacci, even Pompeo B
Battoni and
d other succh
forgotteen masters,, a Gatti, a Nevelonne, a Badaalocchio; buut to the lasting reg
gret of theeir
descenddants, they disdained to annex a single one
o of the great painntings of th
he Venetiann,
Gianbatttista Tiepolo.
Eastlakke only vouuchsafes hiim one linee as an artist
a
of fanntastic imagination. Most of thhe
nineteennth-centuryy critics do not even mention
m
him
m. Burckharrdt dismissees him with
h a grudginng
line of praise,
p
Blannc is equallyy disparaginng, and for Taine
T
he is a mere mannnerist, yet his influencce
has beeen felt far beeyond his lifetime; onlyy now is hee coming intto his own, and it is reccognised thaat
the pleiin-air artist,, the luminaarist, the im
mpressionist,, owe no sm
mall share of their know
wledge to his
h
inspirattion.
The naame of Tieppolo bringss before uss a whole string of illustrious
i
ppersonages
doges annd
senatorss, magnificeent procuraators and greeat captainssbut we have
h
nothingg to prove that
t
the artist
belongeed to a decaayed branch of the famoous patriciaan house. Boorn in Casteello, the peo
oples quarteer
of Veniice, he studdied in earlyy youth witth that good
d draughtsm
man, Lazzarrini. At tweenty-three he
h
marriedd the sister of
o Francescco Guardi; Guardi,
G
who
o comes bettween Longghi and Can
nale and whho
is a bettter painter than either.. Tiepolo apppeared at a fortunate moment. T
The demand
d for a facile,
joyous genius was at its heighht. The life of the aristo
ocracy on thhe lagoons w
was every year
y growinng
more gaay, more abbandoned too capriciouss inclination
n, to light loves and abbsurd amusements. Annd
the art which
w
reflected this liffe was calleed upon to give
g
gaiety rather
r
than thought, co
ostume ratheer
than chharacter. Yett if the Vennetian art haad lost all connection
c
w the graave magnifi
with
ficence of thhe
past, it had kept alloof from thhe academiic coldness which was in fashion beyond thee lagoons, so
s
that thoough theatriical, it was with a certain natural absurdity. The
T age haad become romantic;
r
thhe
Arcadiaan conventiion was inn full forcee, Nature herself
h
was pressed innto the serv
vice of idle,
sentimeental men and
a womenn. The counntry was piictured as a place of delight, wh
here the suun
always shone andd the peasaants passedd their time singing madrigals and indulg
ging in ruraal
pleasurees. The pubblic, howevver, had beggun to look
k for beautyy; the tradittions which
h had formeed
round the
t decorative schoolss were giviing way to
o the apprecciation of ooriginal wo
ork. Tiepoloo,
sincere and spontaaneous eveen when hee is sacrificcing truth to
t caprice, struck the taste of thhe
Venetiaans, and without
w
emaancipating himself
h
fro
om the tenddencies of the time, contrives to
t
introducce a fresh accent.
a
All round
r
him was a weak
k and self-inndulgent world, but within himseelf
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Tiepolo.
ANT
TONY AND
D CLEOPA
ATRA.
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PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
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Aranjuuez.
R
Royal
Palace: Frescoes; Altarpiece.
A
O
Orangery:
Freescoes.
Bergam
mo.
C
Cappella
Collleoni: Sceness from the Liife of the Bapptist.
Berlin..
M
Martyrdom
off S. Agatha; S. Dominia and
a the Rosaary.
Londonn.
Sketches; Depposition.
Madridd.
E
Escurial;
Ceilings.
Milan.
Paris.
C
Christ
at Emm
maus.
Str.
V
Villa
Pisani: Ceiling.
C
Venicee.
Academy: S. Joseph,
A
J
the Child,
C
and Saaints; S. Heleena finding the
t
Cross.
Palazzo Ducaale: Sala di Quattro
Q
Porte:: Neptune annd Venice.
Palazzo Labiaa: Frescoes; Antony
A
and Cleopatra.
C
Palazzo Rezzoonico: Two Ceilings.
C
S. Alvise: Flaagellation; Way
W to Golgottha.
SS. Apostoli: Communion
n of S. Lucy.
S. Fava: The Virgin
V
and her
h Parents.
G
Gesuati:
Ceiliing; Altarpiece.
S. Maria dellaa Piet: Trium
mph of Faithh.
S. Paolo: Statiions of the Cross.
C
Scalzi: Transpportation of the
t Holy Houuse of Lorettto.
Scuola del Caarmine: Ceiling.
Veronaa.
Vicenzza.
M
Museo
Entrannce Hall: Imm
maculate Connception.
Villa Valmaraana: Frescoess; Subjects from
V
fr
Homer, Virgil,
Ariosto, annd Tasso; Maasks and Orieental Scenes..
Wrzbburg.
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CH
HAPTER
R XXX
PIIETRO LO
ONGHI
We havve here a master
m
who is
i peculiarlyy the Venettian of the eighteenth
e
ccentury, a genre-painte
g
er
whose charm
c
it is not easy too surpass, yet
y one who
o did not at
a the outsett find his trrue vocationn.
Longhis first undeertakings, sppecimens of which exiist in certainn palaces inn Venice, were elaboratte
frescoess, showing the banefull influence of the Bolo
ognese Schoool, in whicch he studieed for a tim
me
under Giuseppe
G
Crrispi. He atttempts to place the deitties of Olym
mpus on his ceilings in emulation of
o
Tiepoloo, but his Juno is heavvy and com
mmon, and the Titans at her feett appear as a swarm of
o
sprawling, ill-draw
wn nudities.. He shows no faculty
y for this kiind of workk, but he was thirty-tw
wo
before he
h began too paint those small eaasel-picturess which in his own daainty style illustrate thhe
Vanityy Fair of hiis period, annd in whichh the eighteeenth centuryy lives for uus again.
His earlliest traininng was in thhe goldsmithhs art, and
d he has leftt many draw
wings of plaate, exquisitte
in their sense of grraceful curvve and theirr unerring precision
p
off line. It waas a momen
nt when succh
a
a flawless purity
p
of ouutline, and Longhi reccognised thheir beauty with all thhe
things acquired
sensitivve perceptioon of the artiist and the practised
p
wo
orkman. His studies off draperies, gestures,
g
annd
hands are
a also extrraordinarily careful, and he seems besides to have
h
an intiimate acquaaintance witth
all the elegant
e
disssipation andd languid exxcesses of a dying ordeer. We feel tthat he has himself beeen
at homee in the masquerade, has
h accompaanied the laady to the fortune-telle
fo
er, and, lean
ning over heer
gracefuul shoulder, has listeneed to the soothsayers
s
s murmurs. He has atttended ballls and routts,
danced minuets, annd gossipedd over tiny cups
c
of Chin
na tea. He iss the last chhronicler of the Venetiaan
feasts, and with him
h
ends that
t
long series
s
that began withh Giorgionnes concertt and whicch
developped and paassed througgh suppers at Cana and
a banqueets at the hhouses of Levi
L
and thhe
Pharisee. We are no longer confrontedd with the sumptuosity
s
y of Bonifaazio and Veronese;
V
thhe
d in splendiid
immensse tables coovered withh gold and silver platee, the long lines of guuests robed
brocadees, the streaam of servannts bearing huge salverrs, or the baands of musicians, nor are there anny
more allfresco concerts, with nymphs annd bacchanttes. Instead there are m
masques, th
he life of thhe
Ridottoo or gaming-house, rouuts and intriggues in dain
nty boudoirrs, and surreeptitious lov
ve-making in
i
that cityy of eternal carnival whhere the bauuta was alm
most a nationnal costumee. Longhi ho
olds that post
which in
i French art
a is filled by Watteauu, Fragonard
d, and Lanccret, the paainters of ftes galantees,
and thoough he cannnot be placced on an equal footing
g with thosse masters, hhe is repressentative annd
significcant enoughh. On his caanvases are preserved for us the mysteries
m
oof the toilet, over whicch
ladies and
a young men of fasshion dawddled throug
gh the mornning, the drrinking of chocolate in
i
nglig, the momeentous instannts spent inn choosing headgear
h
annd fixing pattches, the to
owers of haair
built byy the modish coiffeur
children trrooping in, in hoops annd uniform
ms, to kiss th
heir mothers
hand, thhe fine genttleman chooosing a waistcoat and ogling
o
the pretty
p
embrooideress, th
he pert younng
maidserrvant slippiing a billet--doux into a beautys hand underr her husbannds nose, the old beaau
toying with
w a fan, or the discrreet abb taaking snuff over the moorning gazeette. The graand ladies of
o
Longhis day pay visits in hooop and fartthingale, the beaux maake a leg, and the laacqueys hannd
chocolaate. The beaautiful Veneetians and their
t
gallan
nts swim thrrough the ggavotte or gamble
g
in thhe
Ridottoo, or they haasten to asssignations, disguised
d
in
n wide bautti and carryying prepostterous mufffs.
The Coorrer Museuum containss a number of his pain
ntings and also
a
his boook of origin
nal sketchees.
One of the most enntertaining of
o his canvaases represeents a visit of
o patricianss to a nuns parlour. Thhe
nuns annd their puppils lend an attentive eaar to the wh
hispers of thhe world. Thheir dresses are trimmeed
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with pooint de Vennise, and a little theatrre is visible in the baackground. This and th
he Sala deel
Ridottoo which hanngs near, arre marked by
b a free, bo
old handlingg, a richnesss of colourin
ng, and morre
animatiion than is usual in his
h genre-piictures. He has not prreserved thhe lovely, in
ndeterminatte
colour or the imprressionist toouch whichh was the naatural inherritance of W
Watteau or Tiepolo. His
backgroounds are dark
d
and heaavy, and hee makes too
o free a use of body coolour; but his
h attitude is
one of close
c
observvationhe enjoys deppicting the liife around him,
h
and wee suspect th
hat he sees in
i
it the most
m perfect form of social intercourse imagin
nable. Longghi is somettimes called
d the Goldonni
of paintting, and hee certainly more
m
nearlyy resembles the genial, humorous pplaywright than he doees
Hogarthh, to whom
m he has alsso been com
mpared. Yet his execuution and technique aree a little likke
Hogarthhs, and it iss possible thhat he was influenced by the eldeer and strongger master, who entereed
on his triumphant
t
career as a satirical paainter of socciety about 1734. This was just th
he time wheen
Longhi abandonedd his unluckky decorativve style, and
d it is quite possible
p
thaat he may haave met witth
engraviings of the Marriage la mode, and was stimulated
s
b them to tthe study of eighteenthhby
centuryy manners, though
t
his own tempeerament is far removedd from Hoggarths morral force annd
grim saatire. His serrene, painsttaking obserrvation is neever distraccted by grosssness and violence.
v
Thhe
Venetiaans of his day
d may haave beenuundoubtedly
y wereefffeminate, liicentious, and decadennt,
but theyy were kinnd and gracious, of reffined mann
ners, well-bred, genial and intelliigent, and so
s
Longhi has transccribed them
m. In the tim
me which followed,
f
ceilings werre covered by Boucheer,
pastels by Latour were in deemand, the scholars of
o David paainted classsical sceness, and Pietrro
Longhi was forgottten. Antonnio Francescco Correr bought
b
five hundred off his drawin
ngs from his
h
son, Allessandro, but
b his worrks were ignored and dispersed. The classicc and roman
ntic fashionns
passed, but it was only
o
in 1850 that the brrothers de Goncourt,
G
w
writing
on arrt, revived consideratio
c
on
for the painter of a bygone geeneration. Many
M
of his works are in private ccollections, especially in
i
Englandd, but few are
a in publiic galleries.. The Natio
onal Galleryy is fortunate in possesssing severaal
excellennt exampless.
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Pietrro Longhi.
VISIT TO THE FO
ORTUNE-T
TELLER.
(P
Photo, Hanffstngl.)
London.
PR
RINCIPAL WORKS
W
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
At thee Gaming Taable; Taking Coffee.
B
Baglioni:
Thee Festival of the
t Padrona.
Dresdeen.
Portrait of a Lady.
L
Venicee.
159
A
Academy:
Sixx genre-painttings.
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CHA
APTER
R XXXII
CANAL
LE
While Piazetta annd Tiepolo were provving themsselves the inheritors oof the greaat school of
o
decorators, Venicee herself waas finding her
h chronicleers, and a school of lanndscape aro
ose, of whicch
mber. Giovannni Antonio
o Canale waas born in V
Venice in 16
697, the sam
me
Canale was the forremost mem
year as Tiepolo. Hiis father earrned his liviing at the prrofession, luucrative enoough just th
hen, of sceneeh brush, working
w
at his
h side. In 11719 he wen
nt off to seeek
paintingg, and Antoonio learnedd to handle his
his forttune in Rom
me, and though he wass obliged to
o help out his
h resourcees by his eaarly trade, he
h
was moost concerneed in the stuudy of archiitecture, anccient and modern.
m
Rom
me spoke to him througgh
the eye, by the piccturesque masses
m
of stonework, th
he warm haarmonious ttones of claassic remainns
and thee effects of light uponn them. He painted alm
most entirelly out-of-dooors, and has left manny
examples drawn frrom the ruinns. His succcess in Rom
me was not remarkable
r
, and he waas still a verry
young man
m when he
h retraced his steps. On
O regaining
g his nativee town, he reealised for the
t first tim
me
the beauuty of its caanals and paalaces, and he
h never again waveredd in his allegiance.
Two rivvals were allready in thee field, Lucca Carlevaris, whose woorks were ffreely bough
ht by the ricch
Venetiaans, and Maarco Ricci, the figures in whose views
v
of Veenice were often touch
hed in by his
h
uncle, Sebastiano;
S
but Canalees growingg fame soon
n dethronedd them, i ccacciati del nido, as he
h
said, using
u
Dantees expresssion. In a generation
n full of caprice,
c
deelighting in
n sensational
developpments, Cannale was methodical
m
t a fault, and
to
a workedd steadily, ccalmly prod
ducing everry
detail of
o Venetiann landscape with untiriing applicaation and allmost monootonous tran
nquillity. He
H
lived inn the midst of a band of painters who adoreed travel. Seebastiano R
Ricci was allways on thhe
move; Tiepolo
T
spent much of his time in other citiess and countrries, and passsed the last years of his
h
life in Spain;
S
Pietro Rotari waas attached to the Courrt of St. Peteersburg; Beelotto, Canaales nephew
w,
settled in
i Bohemiaa; but Canale remained at home, an
nd, except for
f two shorrt visits paid
d to Englandd,
contented himself with
w trips too Padua andd Verona.
Early inn life Canaale entered into relatioons with Jo
oseph Smithh, the Britissh Consul in Venice, a
connoissseur who had
h not onlyy formed a fine collecttion of pictuures, but haad a gallery
y from whicch
he was very ready to sell to trravellers. He
H bought of
o the youngg Venetian at a very lo
ow price, annd
contriveed, unfairlyy enough, to acquire thee right to alll his work for
fo a certain period of tiime, with thhe
object of
o sending it,
i at a goodd profit, to London.
L
Forr a time Cannales luminnous views were boughht
by the English
E
undder these auspices, but the artist, presently disscovering thhat he was making
m
a baad
bargainn, came oveer to England, wheree he met with
w
an enccouraging rreception, especially
e
a
at
Windsoor Castle annd from the Duke of Riichmond. Canale
C
spentt two years in England
d and painteed
on the Thames andd at Cambrridge, but he
h could not stand the English cliimate and fled
f
from thhe
damp annd fogs to his
h own lagooons.
To desccribe his paiintings is too describe Venice
V
at eveery hour of the day andd nightVeenice with its
long arrray of noble palaces, with its Grand
G
Canall and its naarrow, pictuuresque waaterways. He
H
reproduuces the Vennice we knoow, and we see how litttle it has chhanged. Thee gondolas cluster
c
rounnd
the landding-stages of the Piazzzetta, the crrowds hurry
y in and out of the arcaddes of the Ducal
D
Palace,
or he paints the feestivals that still retaineed their splendour: thee Great Buccentaur leav
ving the Rivva
dei Schhiavoni on the
t Feast off the Ascenssion, or San
n Geremia and
a the entrrance to thee Cannaregiio
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all overr Italy looking for patrronage, andd was very eager to finnd the road to success and fortune.
About the same time as his uncle, he paid a visiit to Londoon and wass patronised
d by Horacce
Walpole, but in the
t full tidde of succeess he was summonedd to Dresdden, where the Electoor,
disappoointed at noot having seecured the services off the uncle, was fain tto console himself
h
witth
those of the nepheew. The extrravagant annd profligate Augustus II., whose one idea was
w to extracct
money by every poossible meaans from hiss subjects, in
i order to adorn
a
his palaces, wass consistentlly
devotedd to Belottoo, who was in his elem
ment as a Co
ourt painter.. He paints all his unclles subjectts,
and it is
i not alwayys easy to distinguish between th
he two; butt his paintinngs are dulll and stiff as
a
comparred with thoose of Canalle, though he
h is sometiimes fine inn colour, andd many of his
h views arre
admirabbly drawn.
SOME WORKS OF
O CANALE
It is imposssible to draw
w up any exxhaustive lisst, so many being in priivate collections.
Dresdeen.
Florencce.
T Piazzetta.
The
Paris.
L
Louvre:
Church of S. Marria della Saluute.
Venicee.
H
Heading;
Couurtyard of a Palace.
P
Viennaa.
Windsoor.
A
About
fifty paaintings.
Wallacce
Collecttion.
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CHA
APTER
R XXXIII
FRA
ANCESCO GUARDI
An entrry in Gradeenigos diarry of 1764, preserved
d in the Muuseo Correrr, speaks off Francescco
Guardi,, painter of the quarterr of SS. Apoostoli, along
g the Fondaamenta Nuoove, a good
d pupil of thhe
famous Canaletto, having by the
t aid of thhe camera ottica,
o
mostt successfully painted two
t
canvasees
(not sm
mall) by thee order of a stranger (an
( English
hman), withh views of the Piazza San Marcoo,
towardss the Churcch and the Clock
C
Toweer, and of th
he Bridge of
o the Rialtoo and build
dings towardds
the Cannnaregio, annd have to-dday examinned them un
nder the colonnades off the Procurazie and meet
with unniversal appllause.
Francessco Guardi was a son of
o the Austrrian Tyrol, and his moountain anceestry may account,
a
as in
i
the casee of Titian, for the fresshness and vigour of his
h art. Bothh his father,, who settleed in Venice,
and his brother weere painters. His son beecame one in
i due time,, and the profession beeing followeed
by four members of
o the familyy accounts for
f the indiffferent workks often attrributed to Guardi.
G
wledged, andd perhaps iit is true th
hat he neveer
His inddebtedness to Canale is universally acknow
attains to the monnumental quality,
q
the traditional dignity whhich marks Canale ou
ut as a great
master, but he difffers from Canale
C
in tem
mperament,, style, and technique. Canale is a much morre
exact annd serious student of architecturaal detail; Guardi,
G
withh greater visible vigou
ur, obliteratees
detail, and has noo hesitationn in drawing in buildings which do not reaally appear.. In his ovaal
paintingg of the Duucal Palace (Wallace Collection)
C
he makes it much lofftier and more
m
spaciouus
than it really
r
is. In his Piazzeetta he putss in a corneer of the Logggia where it would no
ot actually be
b
seen. Inn the Fair in
i Piazza S.. Marco the arch from
m under whiich the Fair appears is gigantic,
g
annd
he foresshortens thee wing of thhe royal paalace. He cu
urtails the leength of thee columns in
i the piazzza
and so avoids
a
monnotony of efffect, and hee often alters the heightt of the cam
mpaniles he uses,
u
makinng
them taall and slendder or shortt and broadd, as his piccture requires. At one time he pro
oduced som
me
colossal pictures, in several of
o which Mr.
M Simonso
on, who haas written aan admirablle life of thhe
ot his natural
painter,, believes thhat the handd of Canale is perceptible in collaaboration; but it was no
elementt, and he offten becamee heavy in colour
c
and handling.
h
Inn 1782 he uundertook a commissioon
from Piietro Edwarrds, who waas a noted connoisseur
c
r and inspecctor of Statee pictures, and
a had beeen
appointted superintendent in 17778 of an official studiio for the restoration off old masterrs.
Edwardds had impoortant dealinngs with Guuardi, who was
w directeed to paint ffour leading
g incidents in
i
the rejooicings in hoonour of thee visit of Piius IV. to Venice.
V
The Venetians themselves had becom
me
indifferrent patronss of art, butt Venice atttracted greaat numbers of foreign visitors, an
nd before thhe
second half of the eighteenth century the export of old
o masters had alreadyy become an
n establisheed
trade. There
T
is noo sign, how
wever, that Joseph Sm
mith, who retained hiis consulsh
hip till 17600,
extendeed any patroonage to Guuardi, thouggh he enrich
hed Georgee III.s colleection with works of thhe
chief coontemporaryy artists of Venice. It is probablee that Guarddi had been warned ag
gainst him by
b
Canale and profitedd by the lattters experience.
We cann divide hiis work into three cattegories. 1. Views of Venice. 2.. Public ceeremonies. 3.
3
Landscaapes. Gradeenigo menttions casuallly that he used the camera
c
otticca, but thou
ugh we maay
consideer it probabble, we cannnot trace the
t use of it in his works.
w
He iss not only a painter of
o
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Fr
Francesco
G
Guardi.
S. MARIA DELLA
D
SAL
LUTE. London.
(Phooto, Manselll and Co.)
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SOME WORKS OF
O GUARD
DI
166
Bergam
mo.
L
Lochis:
Landsscapes.
Berlin..
G
Grand
Canal; Lagoon; Cem
metery Islannd.
Londonn.
V
Views
in Vennice.
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Milan.
M
Museo
Civicoo: Landscapees.
Poldi-Pezzoli: Piazzetta; Dogana;
D
Lanndscapes.
Oxfordd.
T
Taylorian
Muuseum: Views in Venice.
Padua.
V
Views
in Vennice.
Paris.
Turin.
C
Cottage;
Stairrcase; Bridgee over Canal..
Venicee.
M
Museo
Correrr: The Ridottto; Parlour off Convent.
Veronaa.
L
Landscapes.
Wallacce
Collecttion.
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BIBLIOGR
RAPHY
Y
It is an advantage to the studeent of Italiaan art to be able to reaad French, G
German, an
nd Italian, foor
though translationss appear off the most important
i
works,
w
theree are many interesting
g articles annd
monogrraphs of minnor artists which
w
are ottherwise inaaccessible.
Vasari, not alwayss trustworthhy, either inn dates, faccts, or opiniions, yet deelightfully human
h
in his
historiees, is indisppensable, annd new edditions and translationss are consttantly issueed. Sansonis
edition (Florence),, with Milannesis notess, is the mo
ost authoritaative; and ffor translatio
ons, those of
o
Mrs. Fooster (Messrs. Blashfieeld and Hoppkins), and a new editiion in the T
Temple classics (Dent, 8
vols., 2s. each vol.).
Ridolfi,, the princippal contempporary authhority on Venetian
V
artiists, who puublished his Maraviglie
dell arrte nine yeaars after Doomenico Tinntorettos death,
d
is onlly to be reaad in Italian
n, though thhe
anecdottes with whhich his workk abounds are
a made usse of by eveery writer.
Crowe and Cavalcaselles Paiinting in Noorth Italy (M
Murray) is a storehousee of painstak
king, minute,
n and soundd opinion. IIt supplies a foundationn,
and, onn the whole,, marvellouusly correct information
fills gapps, and suppplements inndividual biiographies as
a no otherr book does. For the eaarly painterrs,
down too the time of the Belllini, I Origiini dei pitto
ori venezianni, by Profe
fessor Leonello Venturri,
Venice,, 1907, is a large bookk, written with
w masterry and insigght, and weell illustrateed; La Storiia
della piittura venezziana is anoother carefuul work, wh
hich deals very
v
minutelly with the early schoool
of mosaaics.
In studyying the Beellini, the latte Mr. S. A.
A Strong haas The Brothhers Bellinii (Bells Greeat Masterss),
and thee reader should not faail to read Mr. Rogerr Frys Belllini (Artists Library),, a scholarlly
monogrraph, short but reliablee, and full of
o suggestio
on and apprreciation, thhough writtten in a coool,
critical spirit. Dr. Hills
H has deaalt ably withh Pisanello (Duckwortth).
Vi
Carpaaccio, transslated by Mr. R. H. Cuust
Molmennti and Luddwig in their monumenntal work Vittore
translated by
(Murrayy, 1907), annd Paul Kriisteller in thhe equally important Mantegna,
M
b Mr. S. A.
A
Strong (Longmanss, 1901), seeem to have exhausted
d all that thhere is to bbe said for the momennt
concernning these tw
wo painters.
It is allmost superrfluous to mention
m
M Berenson
Mr.
ns two weell-known vvolumes, The
T Venetiaan
Painterrs of the Rennaissance, and
a the North Italian Painters
P
of thhe Renaissaance (Putnaam). They arre
brilliantt essays whhich suppleement everyy other wo
ork, overfloowing with suggestivee and criticaal
matter, supplying original thooughts, and summing up
u in a few
w pregnant w
words the main
m
featurees
and the tendencies of the succceeding stagges.
In studyying Giorgiione, we cannnot dispennse with Patters essay, included inn The Rena
aissance. Thhe
author is
i not alwayys well infoormed as to factshe wrote
w
in thee early dayss of criticism
mbut he is
rich in idea and feeeling. Mr. Herbert
H
Coooks Life off Giorgionee (Bells Grreat Masters) is full annd
interesting. Some authorities question his
h attributions as beinng too num
merous, but whether we
w
regard them
t
as auuthentic worrks of the master
m
or ass belongingg to his schhool, the illu
ustrations he
h
gives addd materiallly to our knnowledge off the Giorgio
onesque.
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When we
w come to Titian we are
a well offf. Crowe and
d Cavalcaseelles Life of Titian (M
Murray, out of
o
print), in
i two largge volumes, is well wrritten and full
f of goodd material, from which
h subsequennt
criticism, bby Mr. C. Ricketts,
writers have borroowed. An exxcellent Liffe, full of penetrating
p
R
waas
lately brought
b
outt by Methuuen (Classiccs of Art), complete with
w
illustrations, and
d including a
minute analysis off Titians teechnique. Sir Claude Phillipss
P
M
Monograph
oon Titian will
w appeal to
t
every thhoughtful loover of the painters genius,
g
and Dr. Gronauu has writteen a good and
a scholarlly
Life (Duckworth).
Mr. Beerensons Lorenzo
L
Lottto must bee read for its interestt and learniing, given with all thhe
authorss charm andd lucidity. Itt includes an
a essay on Alvise
A
Vivaarini.
My ownn Tintorettoo (Methuenn, Classics of
o Art) givees a full acccount of the man and his
h work, annd
especially deals exxhaustively with the sccheme and details of thhe Scuola ddi San Roccco. Professoor
Thode has
h written a detailed and profuseely illustrated Life of Tintoretto
T
iin the Knacckfuss Seriees,
and the Paradiso haas been treaated at lengtth and illusttrated in greeat detail in a very scho
olarly ditioon
de luxe by Mr. F. O.
O Osmastoon. It is the fashion to discard
d
Russkin, but thoough we maay allow thaat
his judggments are exaggeratedd, that he reeads more into
i
a picturre than the artist intend
ded, and thaat
he is tooo fond of preaching
p
seermons, theere are few critics whoo have so m
many ideas to
t give us, or
o
who aree so inform
med with a deep
d
love off art, and bo
oth Modernn Painters aand the Ston
nes of Venicce
should be
b read.
It
M. Chaarles Yriartee has writtenn a Life of Paolo
P
Veron
nese, whichh is full of ccharm and knowledge.
k
is interresting to take a copyy of Boschhinis Della
a pittura veeneziana, 1797, when visiting thhe
galleriees, the palacces, and the churches of
o Venice. His
H lists of the
t pictures, as they weere known in
i
his dayy, often opeen our eyess to doubtfu
ful attributio
ons. Secondd-hand copiies of Boscchini are noot
difficultt to pick upp. When the later-centurry artists are reached, a good sketcch of the Veenice of theeir
period is
i supplied by Philippee Monnierss delightful Venice in the
t Eighteennth Centuryy (Chatto annd
Winduss), which allso has a goood chapter on the lesser Venetiann masters. T
The best Liffe of Tiepollo
is in Itaalian, by Proofessor Pom
mpeo Molm
menti. The smaller masters have too be hunted
d for in manny
scattereed essays; a knowledgge of Goldoni adds point to Lonnghis pictuures. Canalletto and his
h
nephew
w, Belotto, have
h
been treated
t
by M.
M Uzanne,, Les Deux Canaletto; and Mr. Simonson haas
written an importaant and charrming volum
me on Fran
ncesco Guarrdi (Methueen, 1904), with
w beautifu
ful
reproduuctions of hiis works. Among
A
otherr books which give speecial inform
mation are Morellis
M
tw
wo
volumees, Italian Painters inn Borghesee and Dorria Pamphiili, and In Dresden and Municch
Galleriees, translated by Misss Jocelyn ffoulkes
f
(M
Murray); annd Dr. J. P. Richters magnificennt
cataloguue of the Mond
M
Collecctionwhicch, though published
p
att fifteen guiineas, can be
b seen in thhe
great arrt libraries
has some valuable
v
chaapters on th
he Venetian masters.
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F
FOOTNO
TES:
[1] Thesse interestinng particularss are given by Mr. G. MN. Rushfforth in the Burlington Magazine for
fo
Octoberr 1911.
i by Miss Caameron Tayllor.
[2] This translation is
[3] It is this qualityy of unarrested movemennt, so conspicuous above all in the figure of Baacchus, whicch
attracts us
u irresistiblly in the Hunntress, in Loord Brownlow
ws Diana and
a Actaeonn. The consttruction of thhe
form of the goddess in this beauttiful but littlee-known pictture is admirrable. Worn as the colourr is, appearinng
almost as
a a monochhrome, the laandscape is full
f of atmosspheric sugggestion. It is in Titians latest
l
manneer,
and its ample
a
lines and
a free unim
mpeded motioon can be du
ue to no inferrior brush.
[4] Anddrea Meldolaa, the Sclavoonian, a natiive of Dalm
matia, landingg in Venice,, had a greaat struggle for
fo
existencce. He drew from
f
Parmeggianino, and studied Giorrgione and Titian.
T
He waas probably an
a assistant of
o
Titian, and
a helped him,
h
as in thhe Venus annd Adonis of the Natioonal Gallery, which owes much to his
h
hand. He fails consppicuously in form, his shaadows are bllack, and his figures often vulgar, butt he has a finne
sense off colour, andd a free, crispp touch. He was
w one of the
t young masters
m
who fflooded Venice with lighht,
sketchy wares.
[5] Vennice and the Renaissancee, Edinburghh Review, 19
909.
[6] Philiippe Monnier, Venice in the
t Eighteennth Century.
[7] It is thought
t
that it may have been paintedd from his stu
udio.
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