file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #abfbf-;h4htm or #abfbf-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/#a_/b_/f_/ b_/abfbf_/abfbf-;h_/#abfbf-;h4htm7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/#a_/b_/f_/ b_/abfbf_/abfbf-;h4zip7 ,,the ,,earlier ,,work ,,of ,,titian ,by ,,claude ,,phillips ,keeper of the ,wallace ,collection #ahig ,illustration3 ,flora ,illustration3 ,the ,portfolio ,artistic ,monographs ,with many ,illustrations ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,plates ,,page ,flora4 ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence 44444444444444444444444 ,frontispiece ,sacred and ,profane ,love4 ,borghese ,gallery1 ,rome444444444444444444444 #cf ,virgin and ,child1 with ,saints4 ,louvre4444444444444444444444444444444 #ed ,le ,jeune ,homme au ,gant4 ,louvre444444444444444444444444444444444 44444 #fb ,,illustrations ,,printed ,,in ,,colour ,design for a ,holy ,family4 ,chatsworth44444444444444444444444444444 444 #hf ,sketch for the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro4 ,albertina44444444444444444444 #if ,,illustrations ,,in ,,the ,,text ,the ,man of ,sorrows4 ,in the ,scuola di ,s4 ,rocco1 ,venice444444444444444 #bc ,virgin and ,child1 known as ,la ,zingarella4 ,imperial ,gallery1 ,vienna #be ,the ,baptism of ,christ4 ,gallery of the ,capitol1 ,rome44444444444444444 #bi ,the ,three ,ages4 ,bridgewater ,gallery 44444444444444444444444444444444 #ce ,herodias with the ,head of ,john the ,baptist4 ,doria ,gallery1 ,rome44444 #ci ,vanitas4 ,alte ,pinakothek1 ,munich444444444444444444444444444444444 444 #da ,st4 ,anthony of ,padua causing a new-born ,infant to speak4 ,fresco in the ,scuola del ,santo1 ,padua4444444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444 #dc ,noli me tangere4 ,national ,gallery44444444444444444444444444444444 4 #de ,st4 ,mark enthroned1 with four ,saints4 ,s4 ,maria della ,salute1 ,venice4 #di ,the ,madonna with the ,cherries4 ,imperial ,gallery1 ,vienna4444444444444 #ea ,,page ,madonna and ,child1 with ,st4 ,john and ,st4 ,anthony ,abbot4 ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence4444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444444444444444444 #ec ,st4 ,eustace 7or ,st4 ,hubert7 with the ,miracle of the ,stag4 ,british ,museum 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444444444444 #ee ,the ,cristo della ,moneta4 ,dresden ,gallery4444444444444444444444444 #eg ,madonna and ,child1 with four ,saints4 ,dresden ,gallery444444444444444 #ei ,a ,concert4 ,probably by ,titian4 ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence44444444444444 #fc ,portrait of a ,man4 ,alte ,pinakothek1 ,munich4444444444444444444444444 #fe ,alessandro de' ,medici 7so called74 ,hampton ,court4444444444444444444 #fg ,the ,worship of ,venus4 ,prado ,gallery1 ,madrid444444444444444444444444 #ga ,the ,assunta4 ,accademia delle ,belle ,arti1 ,venice44444444444444444444 #ge ,the ,annunciation4 ,cathedral at ,treviso44444444444444444444444444444 #gi ,bacchus and ,ariadne4 ,national ,gallery444444444444444444444444444444 #ha ,st4 ,sebastian4 ,wing of altar-piece in the ,church of ,,ss4 ,nazzaro e ,celso1 ,brescia44444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444444444444444444444 #he ,la ,vierge au ,lapin4 ,louvre444444444444444444444444444444444 44444444 #hg ,st4 ,christopher with the ,infant ,christ4 ,fresco in the ,doge's ,palace1 ,venice 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 44444444444444444444 #hi ,the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro4 ,church of ,s4 ,maria dei ,frari1 ,venice444 #ic ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter the ,dominican444444444444444444444444444444 4 #ig ,tobias and the ,angel4 ,s4 ,marciliano1 ,venice444444444444444444444444 #ii ,,the ,,earlier ,,work ,,of ,,titian ,,introduction ,there is no greater name in ,italian art--therefore no greater in art--than that of ,titian4 ,if the ,venetian master does not soar as high as ,leonardo da ,vinci or ,michelangelo1 those figures so vast1 so mysterious1 that clouds even now gather round their heads and half-veil them from our view2 if he has not the divine suavity1 the perfect balance1 not less of spirit than of answering hand1 that makes ,raphael an appearance unique in art1 since the palmiest days of ,greece2 he is wider in scope1 more glowing with the life-blood of humanity1 more the poet-painter of the world and the world's fairest creatures1 than any one of these4 ,titian is neither the loftiest1 the most penetrating1 nor the most profoundly moved among the great exponents of sacred art1 even of his time and country4 ,yet is it possible1 remembering the ,entombment of the ,louvre1 the ,assunta1 the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro1 the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 to say that he has1 take him all in all1 been surpassed in this the highest branch of his art8 ,certainly nowhere else have the pomp and splendour of the painter's achievement at its apogee been so consistently allied to a dignity and simplicity hardly ever overstepping the bounds of nature4 ,the sacred art of no other painter of the full sixteenth century--not even that of ,raphael himself--has to an equal degree influenced other painters1 and moulded the style of the world1 in those great ceremonial altar-pieces in which sacred passion must perforce express itself with an exaggeration that is not necessarily a distortion of truth4 ,and then as a portraitist--we are dealing1 be it remembered1 with ,italian art only--there must be conceded to him the first place1 as a limner both of men and women1 though each of us may reserve a corner in his secret heart for some other master4 ,one will remember the disquieting power1 the fascination in the true sense of the word1 of ,leonardo2 the majesty1 the penetration1 the uncompromising realism on occasion1 of ,raphael2 the happy mixture of the ,giorgionesque1 the ,raphaelesque1 and later on the ,michelangelesque1 in ,sebastiano del ,piombo4 ,another will yearn for the poetic glamour1 gilding realistic truth1 of ,giorgione2 for the intensely pathetic interpretation of ,lorenzo ,lotto1 with its unique combination of the strongest subjective and objective elements1 the one serving to poetise and accentuate the other4 ,yet another will cite the lofty melancholy1 the aristocratic charm of the ,brescian ,moretto1 or the marvellous power of the ,bergamasque ,moroni to present in their natural union1 with no indiscretion of over-emphasis1 the spiritual and physical elements which go to make up that mystery of mysteries1 the human individuality4 ,there is1 however1 no advocate of any of these great masters who1 having vaunted the peculiar perfections in portraiture of his own favourite1 will not end--with a sigh perhaps--by according the palm to ,titian4 ,in landscape his pre-eminence is even more absolute and unquestioned4 ,he had great precursors here1 but no equal2 and until ,claude ,lorrain long afterwards arose1 there appeared no successor capable1 like himself1 of expressing the quintessence of ,nature's most significant beauties without a too slavish adherence to any special set of natural facts4 ,giovanni ,bellini from his earliest ,mantegnesque or ,paduan days had1 unlike his great brother-in-law1 unlike the true ,squarcionesques1 and the ,ferrarese who more or less remotely came within the ,squarcionesque influence1 the true gift of the landscape-painter4 ,atmospheric conditions formed invariably an important element of his conceptions2 and to see that this is so we need only remember the chilly solemnity of the landscape in the great ,piet of the ,brera1 the ominous sunset in our own ,agony in the ,garden of the ,national ,gallery1 the cheerful all-pervading glow of the beautiful little ,sacred ,conversation at the ,uffizi1 the mysterious illumination of the late ,baptism of ,christ in the ,church of ,s4 ,corona at ,vicenza4 ,to attempt a discussion of the landscape of ,giorgione would be to enter upon the most perilous1 as well as the most fascinating of subjects--so various is it even in the few well-established examples of his art1 so exquisite an instrument of expression always1 so complete an exterioration of the complex moods of his personages4 ,yet even the landscape of ,giorgione--judging it from such unassailable works of his riper time as the great altar-piece of ,castelfranco1 the so-called ,stormy ,landscape with the ,gipsy and the ,soldier#a in the ,giovanelli ,palace at ,venice1 and the so-called ,three ,philosophers in the ,imperial ,gallery at ,vienna--has in it still a slight flavour of the ripe archaic just merging into full perfection4 ,it was reserved for ,titian to give in his early time the fullest development to the ,giorgionesque landscape1 as in the ,three ,ages and the ,sacred and ,profane ,love4 ,then all himself1 and with hardly a rival in art1 he went on to unfold those radiantly beautiful prospects of earth and sky which enframe the figures in the ,worship of ,venus1 the ,bacchanal1 and1 above all1 the ,bacchus and ,ariadne2 to give back his impressions of ,nature in those rich backgrounds of reposeful beauty which so enhance the finest of the ,holy ,families and ,sacred ,conversations4 ,it was the ominous grandeur of the landscape in the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 even more than the dramatic intensity1 the academic amplitude of the figures1 that won for the picture its universal fame4 ,the same intimate relation between the landscape and the figures may be said to exist in the late ,jupiter and ,antiope 7,venere del ,pardo7 of the ,louvre1 with its marked return to ,giorgionesque repose and ,giorgionesque communion with ,nature2 in the late ,rape of ,europa1 the bold sweep and the rainbow hues of the landscape in which recall the much earlier ,bacchus and ,ariadne4 ,in the exquisite ,shepherd and ,nymph of the ,imperial ,gallery at ,vienna--a masterpiece in monotone of quite the last period--the sensuousness of the early ,giorgionesque time reappears1 even more strongly emphasised2 yet it is kept in balance1 as in the early days1 by the imaginative temperament of the poet1 by that solemn atmosphere of mystery1 above all1 which belongs to the final years of ,titian's old age4 ,thus1 though there cannot be claimed for ,titian that universality in art and science which the lovers of ,leonardo's painting must ever deplore1 since it lured him into a thousand side-paths2 for the vastness of scope of ,michelangelo1 or even the all-embracing curiosity of ,albrecht ,drer2 it must be seen that as a painter he covered more ground than any first-rate master of the sixteenth century4 ,while in more than one branch of the painter's art he stood forth supreme and without a rival1 in most others he remained second to none1 alone in great pictorial decorations of the monumental order yielding the palm to his younger rivals ,tintoretto and ,paolo ,veronese1 who showed themselves more practised and more successfully daring in this particular branch4 ,to find another instance of such supreme mastery of the brush1 such parallel activity in all the chief branches of oil-painting1 one must go to ,antwerp1 the great merchant city of the ,north as ,venice was1 or had been1 the great merchant city of the ,south4 ,rubens1 who might fairly be styled the ,flemish ,titian1 and who indeed owed much to his ,venetian predecessor1 though far less than did his own pupil ,van ,dyck1 was during the first forty years of the seventeenth century on the same pinnacle of supremacy that the ,cadorine master had occupied for a much longer period during the ,renaissance4 ,he1 too1 was without a rival in the creation of those vast altar-pieces which made the fame of the churches that owned them2 he1 too1 was the finest painter of landscape of his time1 as an accessory to the human figure4 ,moreover1 he was a portrait-painter who1 in his greatest efforts--those sumptuous and almost truculent portraits d'apparat of princes1 nobles1 and splendid dames--knew no superior1 though his contemporaries were ,van ,dyck1 ,frans ,hals1 ,rembrandt1 and ,velazquez4 ,rubens folded his ,mother ,earth and his fellow-man in a more demonstrative1 a seemingly closer embrace1 drawing from the contact a more exuberant vigour1 but taking with him from its very closeness some of the stain of earth4 ,titian1 though he was at least as genuine a realist as his successor1 and one less content1 indeed1 with the mere outsides of things1 was penetrated with the spirit of beauty which was everywhere--in the mountain home of his birth as in the radiant home of his adoption1 in himself as in his everyday surroundings4 ,his art had ever1 even in its most human and least aspiring phases1 the divine harmony1 the suavity tempering natural truth and passion1 that distinguishes ,italian art of the great periods from the finest art that is not ,italian4 ,the relation of the two masters--both of them in the first line of the world's painters--was much that of ,venice to ,antwerp4 ,the apogee of each city in its different way represented the highest point that modern ,europe had reached of physical well-being and splendour1 of material as distinguished from mental culture4 ,but then ,venice was wrapped in the transfiguring atmosphere of the ,lagunes1 and could see1 towering above the rich ,venetian plains and the lower slopes of the ,friulan mountains1 the higher1 the more aspiring peaks of the purer region4 ,reality1 with all its warmth and all its truth1 in ,venetian art was still reality4 ,but it was reality made at once truer1 wider1 and more suave by the method of presentment4 ,idealisation1 in the narrower sense of the word1 could add nothing to the loveliness of such a land1 to the stateliness1 the splendid sensuousness devoid of the grosser elements of offence1 to the genuine naturalness of such a mode of life4 ,art itself could only add to it the right accent1 the right emphasis1 the larger scope in truth1 the colouring and illumination best suited to give the fullest expression to the beauties of the land1 to the force1 character1 and warm human charm of the people4 ,this is what ,titian1 supreme among his contemporaries of the greatest ,venetian time1 did with an incomparable mastery to which1 in the vast field which his productions cover1 it would be vain to seek for a parallel4 ,other ,venetians may1 in one or the other way1 more irresistibly enlist our sympathies1 or may shine out for the moment more brilliantly in some special branch of their art2 yet1 after all1 we find ourselves invariably comparing them to ,titian1 not ,titian to them--taking him as the standard for the measurement of even his greatest contemporaries and successors4 ,giorgione was of a finer fibre1 and more happily1 it may be1 combined all the subtlest qualities of the painter and the poet1 in his creation of a phase of art the penetrating exquisiteness of which has never in the succeeding centuries lost its hold on the world4 ,but then ,titian1 saturated with the ,giorgionesque1 and only less truly the poet-painter than his master and companion1 carried the style to a higher pitch of material perfection than its inventor himself had been able to achieve4 ,the gifted but unequal ,pordenone1 who showed himself so incapable of sustained rivalry with our master in ,venice1 had moments of a higher sublimity than ,titian reached until he came to the extreme limits of old age4 ,that this assertion is not a mere paradox1 the great ,madonna del ,carmelo at the ,venice ,academy and the magnificent ,trinity in the sacristy of the ,cathedral of ,san ,daniele near ,udine may be taken to prove4 ,yet who would venture to compare him on equal terms to the painter of the ,assunta1 the ,entombment and the ,christ at ,emmaus8 ,tintoretto1 at his best1 has lightning flashes of illumination1 a ,titanic vastness1 an inexplicable power of perturbing the spirit and placing it in his own atmosphere1 which may cause the imaginative not altogether unreasonably to put him forward as the greater figure in art4 ,all the same1 if it were necessary to make a definite choice between the two1 who would not uphold the saner and greater art of ,titian1 even though it might leave us nearer to reality1 though it might conceive the supreme tragedies1 not less than the happy interludes1 of the sacred drama1 in the purely human spirit and with the pathos of earth8 ,a not dissimilar comparison might be instituted between the portraits of ,lorenzo ,lotto and those of our master4 ,no ,venetian painter of the golden prime had that peculiar imaginativeness of ,lotto1 which caused him1 while seeking to penetrate into the depths of the human individuality submitted to him1 to infuse into it unconsciously much of his own tremulous sensitiveness and charm4 ,in this way no portraits of the sixteenth century provide so fascinating a series of riddles4 ,yet in deciphering them it is very necessary to take into account the peculiar temperament of the painter himself1 as well as the physical and mental characteristics of the sitter and the atmosphere of the time4#b ,yet where is the critic bold enough to place even the finest of these exquisite productions on the same level as ,le ,jeune ,homme au ,gant and ,l',homme en ,noir of the ,louvre1 the ,ippolito de' ,medici1 the ,bella di ,tiziano1 the ,aretino of the ,pitti1 the ,charles ,v4 at the ,battle of ,mhlberg and the full-length ,philip ,,ii4 of the ,prado ,museum at ,madrid8 ,finally1 in the domain of pure colour some will deem that ,titian has serious rivals in those ,veronese developed into ,venetians1 the two elder ,bonifazi and ,paolo ,veronese2 that is1 there will be found lovers of painting who prefer a brilliant mastery over contrasting colours in frank juxtaposition to a palette relatively restricted1 used with an art more subtle1 if less dazzling than theirs1 and resulting in a deeper1 graver richness1 a more significant beauty1 if in a less stimulating gaiety and variety of aspect4 ,no less a critic than ,morelli himself pronounced the elder ,bonifazio ,veronese to be the most brilliant colourist of the ,venetian school2 and the ,dives and ,lazarus of the ,venice ,academy1 the ,finding of ,moses at the ,brera are at hand to give solid support to such an assertion4 ,in some ways ,paolo ,veronese may1 without exaggeration1 be held to be the greatest virtuoso among colourists1 the most marvellous executant to be found in the whole range of ,italian art4 ,starting from the cardinal principles in colour of the true ,veronese1 his precursors--painters such as ,domenico and ,francesco ,morone1 ,liberale1 ,girolamo dai ,libri1 ,cavazzola1 ,antonio ,badile1 and the rather later ,brusasorci--,caliari dared combinations of colour the most trenchant in their brilliancy as well as the subtlest and most unfamiliar4 ,unlike his predecessors1 however1 he preserved the stimulating charm while abolishing the abruptness of sheer contrast4 ,this he did mainly by balancing and tempering his dazzling hues with huge architectural masses of a vibrant grey and large depths of cool dark shadow--brown shot through with silver4 ,no other ,venetian master could have painted the ,mystic ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine in the church of that name at ,venice1 the ,allegory on the ,victory of ,lepanto in the ,palazzo ,ducale1 or the vast ,nozze di ,cana of the ,louvre4 ,all the same1 this virtuosity1 while it is in one sense a step in advance even of ,giorgione1 ,titian1 ,palma1 and ,paris ,bordone--constituting as it does more particularly a further development of painting from the purely decorative standpoint--must appear just a little superficial1 a little self-conscious1 by the side of the nobler1 graver1 and more profound1 if in some ways more limited methods of ,titian4 ,with him1 as with ,giorgione1 and1 indeed1 with ,tintoretto1 colour was above all an instrument of expression4 ,the main effort was to give a realisation1 at once splendid and penetrating in its truth1 of the subject presented2 and colour in accordance with the true ,venetian principle was used not only as the decorative vesture1 but as the very body and soul of painting--as what it is1 indeed1 in ,nature4 ,to put forward ,paolo ,veronese as merely the dazzling virtuoso would all the same be to show a singular ignorance of the true scope of his art4 ,he can rise as high in dramatic passion and pathos as the greatest of them all1 when he is in the vein2 but these are precisely the occasions on which he most resolutely subordinates his colour to his subject and makes the most poetic use of chiaroscuro2 as in the great altar-piece ,the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,sebastian in the church of that name1 the too little known ,st4 ,francis receiving the ,stigmata on a ceiling compartment of the ,academy of ,arts at ,vienna1 and the wonderful ,crucifixion which not many years ago was brought down from the sky-line of the ,long ,gallery in the ,louvre1 and placed1 where it deserves to be1 among the masterpieces4 ,and yet in this last piece the colour is not only in a singular degree interpretative of the subject1 but at the same time technically astonishing--with certain subtleties of unusual juxtaposition and modulation1 delightful to the craftsman1 which are hardly seen again until we come to the latter half of the present century4 ,so that here we have the great ,veneto-,veronese master escaping altogether from our theory1 and showing himself at one and the same time profoundly moving1 intensely significant1 and admirably decorative in colour4 ,still what was with him the splendid exception was with ,titian1 and those who have been grouped with ,titian1 the guiding rule of art4 ,though our master remains1 take him all in all1 the greatest of ,venetian colourists1 he never condescends to vaunt all that he knows1 or to select his subjects as a groundwork for bravura1 even the most legitimate4 ,he is the greatest painter of the sixteenth century1 just because1 being the greatest colourist of the higher order1 and in legitimate mastery of the brush second to none1 he makes the worthiest use of his unrivalled accomplishment1 not merely to call down the applause due to supreme pictorial skill and the victory over self-set difficulties1 but1 above all1 to give the fullest and most legitimate expression to the subjects which he presents1 and through them to himself4 ,,chapter ,i ,cadore and ,venice--,early ,giorgionesque works up to the date of the residence in ,padua--,new interpretations of ,giorgione's and ,titian's pictures4 ,tiziano ,vecelli was born in or about the year #adgg at ,pieve di ,cadore1 a district of the southern ,tyrol then belonging to the ,republic of ,venice1 and still within the ,italian frontier4 ,he was the son of ,gregorio di ,conte ,vecelli by his wife ,lucia1 his father being descended from an ancient family of the name of ,guecello 7or ,vecellio71 established in the valley of ,cadore4 ,an ancestor1 ,ser ,guecello di ,tommasro da ,pozzale1 had been elected ,podesta of ,cadore as far back as #acba4c ,the name ,tiziano would appear to have been a traditional one in the family4 ,among others we find a contemporary ,tiziano ,vecelli1 who is a lawyer of note concerned in the administration of ,cadore1 keeping up a kind of obsequious friendship with his famous cousin at ,venice4 ,the ,tizianello who1 in #afbb1 dedicated to the ,countess of ,arundel an anonymous ,life of ,titian known as ,tizianello's ,anonimo1 and died at ,venice in #afej1 was ,titian's cousin thrice removed4 ,gregorio ,vecelli was a valiant soldier1 distinguished for his bravery in the field and his wisdom in the council of ,cadore1 but not1 it may be assumed1 possessed of wealth or1 in a poor mountain district like ,cadore1 endowed with the means of obtaining it4 ,the other offspring of the marriage with ,lucia were ,francesco1--supposed1 though without substantial proof1 to have been older than his brother1--,caterina1 and ,orsa4 ,at the age of nine1 according to ,dolce in the ,dialogo della ,pittura1 or of ten1 according to ,tizianello's ,anonimo1 ,titian was taken from ,cadore to ,venice1 there to enter upon the serious study of painting4 ,whether he had previously received some slight tuition in the rudiments of the art1 or had only shown a natural inclination to become a painter1 cannot be ascertained with any precision2 nor is the point1 indeed1 one of any real importance4 ,what is much more vital in our study of the master's life-work is to ascertain how far the scenery of his native ,cadore left a permanent impress on his landscape art1 and in what way his descent from a family of mountaineers and soldiers1 hardy1 yet of a certain birth and breeding1 contributed to shape his individuality in its development to maturity4 ,it has been almost universally assumed that ,titian throughout his career made use of the mountain scenery of ,cadore in the backgrounds to his pictures2 and yet1 if we except the great ,battle of ,cadore itself 7now known only in ,fontana's print1 in a reduced version of part of the composition to be found at the ,uffizi1 and in a drawing of ,rubens at the ,albertina71 this is only true in a modified sense4 ,undoubtedly1 both in the backgrounds to altar-pieces1 ,holy ,families1 and ,sacred ,conversations1 and in the landscape drawings of the type so freely copied and adapted by ,domenico ,campagnola1 we find the jagged1 naked peaks of the ,dolomites aspiring to the heavens4 ,in the majority of instances1 however1 the middle distance and foreground to these is not the scenery of the higher ,alps1 with its abrupt contrasts1 its monotonous vesture of fir or pine forests clothing the mountain sides1 and its relatively harsh and cold colouring1 but the richer vegetation of the ,friulan mountains in their lower slopes1 or of the beautiful hills bordering upon the overflowing richness of the ,venetian plain4 ,here the painter found greater variety1 greater softness in the play of light1 and a richness more suitable to the character of ,venetian art4 ,all these tracts of country1 as well as the more grandiose scenery of his native ,cadore itself1 he had the amplest opportunities for studying in the course of his many journeyings from ,venice to ,pieve and back1 as well as in his shorter expeditions on the ,venetian mainland4 ,how far ,titian's ,alpine origin1 and his early bringing-up among needy mountaineers1 may be taken to account for his excessive eagerness to reap all the material advantages of his artistic pre-eminence1 for his unresting energy when any post was to be obtained or any payment to be got in1 must be a matter for individual appreciation4 ,josiah ,gilbert--quoted by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle#d--pertinently asks1 ,might this mountain man have been something of a 'canny ,scot' or a shrewd ,swiss8 ,in the getting1 ,titian was certainly all this1 but in the spending he was large and liberal1 inclined to splendour and voluptuousness1 even more in the second than in the first half of his career4 ,vasari relates that ,titian was lodged at ,venice with his uncle1 an honourable citizen1 who1 seeing his great inclination for painting1 placed him under ,giovanni ,bellini1 in whose style he soon became a proficient4 ,dolce1 apparently better instructed1 gives1 in his ,dialogo della ,pittura1 ,zuccato1 best known as a mosaic worker1 as his first master2 next makes him pass into the studio of ,gentile ,bellini1 and thence into that of the caposcuola ,giovanni ,bellini2 to take1 however1 the last and by far the most important step of his early career when he becomes the pupil and partner1 or assistant1 of ,giorgione4 ,morelli#e would prefer to leave ,giovanni ,bellini altogether out of ,titian's artistic descent4 ,however this may be1 certain traces of ,gentile's influence may be observed in the art of the ,cadorine painter1 especially in the earlier portraiture1 but indeed in the methods of technical execution generally4 ,on the other hand1 no extant work of his beginnings suggests the view that he was one of the inner circle of ,gian ,bellino's pupils--one of the discipuli1 as some of these were fond of describing themselves4 ,no young artist painting in ,venice in the last years of the fifteenth century could1 however1 entirely withdraw himself from the influence of the veteran master1 whether he actually belonged to his following or not4 ,gian ,bellino exercised upon the contemporary art of ,venice and the ,veneto an influence not less strong of its kind than that which radiated from ,leonardo over ,milan and the adjacent regions during his ,milanese period4 ,the latter not only stamped his art on the works of his own special school1 but fascinated in the long run the painters of the specifically ,milanese group which sprang from ,foppa and ,borgognone--such men as ,ambrogio de' ,predis1 ,bernardino de' ,conti1 and1 indeed1 the somewhat later ,bernardino ,luini himself4 ,to the fashion for the ,bellinesque conceptions of a certain class1 even ,alvise ,vivarini1 the vigorous head of the opposite school in its latest ,quattrocento development1 bowed when he painted the ,madonnas of the ,redentore and ,s4 ,giovanni in ,bragora at ,venice1 and that similar one now in the ,vienna ,gallery4 ,lorenzo ,lotto1 whose artistic connection with ,alvise ,mr4 ,bernard ,berenson was the first to trace1 is to a marked extent under the paramount influence of ,giovanni ,bellini in such works as the altar-piece of ,s4 ,cristina near ,treviso1 the ,madonna and ,child with ,saints in the ,ellesmere collection1 and the ,madonna and ,child with ,st4 ,peter ,martyr in the ,naples ,gallery1 while in the ,marriage of ,st4 ,catherine at ,munich1 though it belongs to the early time1 he is1 both as regards exaggerations of movement and delightful peculiarities of colour1 essentially himself4 ,marco ,basaiti1 who1 up to the date of ,alvise's death1 was intimately connected with him1 and1 so far as he could1 faithfully reproduced the characteristics of his incisive style1 in his later years was transformed into something very like a satellite of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,cima1 who in his technical processes belongs rather to the ,vivarini than to the ,bellini group1 is to a great extent overshadowed1 though never1 as some would have it1 absorbed to the point of absolute imitation1 by his greater contemporary4 ,what may legitimately excite surprise in the beginnings both of ,giorgione and ,titian1 so far as they are at present ascertained1 is not so much that in their earliest productions they to a certain extent lean on ,giovanni ,bellini1 as that they are so soon themselves4 ,neither of them is in any extant work seen to stand in the same absolutely dependent relation to the veteran ,quattrocentist which ,raphael for a time held towards ,perugino1 which ,sebastiano ,luciani in his earliest manhood held towards ,giorgione4 ,this holds good to a certain extent also of ,lorenzo ,lotto1 who1 in the earliest known examples--the so-called ,dana of ,sir ,martin ,conway's collection1 and the ,st4 ,jerome of the ,louvre--is already emphatically ,lotto1 though1 as his art passes through successive developments1 he will still show himself open to more or less enduring influences from the one side and the other4 ,sebastiano del ,piombo1 on the other hand1 great master as he must undoubtedly be accounted in every successive phase1 is never throughout his career out of leading-strings4 ,first1 as a boy1 he paints the puzzling ,piet in the ,layard ,collection at ,venice1 which1 notwithstanding the authentic inscription1 ,bastian ,luciani fuit descipulus ,johannes ,bellinus 7sic71 is so astonishingly like a ,cima that1 without this piece of documentary evidence1 it would even now pass as such4 ,next1 he becomes the most accomplished exponent of the ,giorgionesque manner1 save perhaps ,titian himself4 ,then1 migrating to ,rome1 he produces1 in a quasi-,raphaelesque style still strongly tinged with the ,giorgionesque1 that series of superb portraits which1 under the name of ,sanzio1 have acquired a world-wide fame4 ,finally1 surrendering himself body and soul to ,michelangelo1 and only unconsciously1 from the force of early training and association1 allowing his ,venetian origin to reveal itself1 he remains enslaved by the tremendous genius of the ,florentine to the very end of his career4 ,giorgione and ,titian were as nearly as possible of the same age1 being both of them born in or about #adgg4 ,lorenzo ,lotto's birth is to be placed about the year #adgf--or1 as others would have it1 #adhj4 ,palma saw the light about #adhj1 ,pordenone in #adhc1 ,sebastiano ,luciani in #adhe4 ,so that most of the great protagonists of ,venetian art during the earlier half of the ,cinquecento were born within the short period of eight years--between #adgg and #adhe4 ,in ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's ,life and ,times of ,titian a revolutionary theory1 foreshadowed in their ,painting in ,north ,italy1 was for the first time deliberately put forward and elaborately sustained4 ,they sought to convince the student1 as they had convinced themselves1 that ,palma1 issuing from ,gian ,bellino and ,giorgione1 strongly influenced and shaped the art of his contemporary ,titian1 instead of having been influenced by him1 as the relative position and age of the two artists would have induced the student to believe4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's theory rested in the main1 though not so entirely as ,giovanni ,morelli appears to have held1 on the signature and the early date 7#aejj7 to be found on a ,santa ,conversazione1 once in the collection of ,m4 ,reiset1 and now at ,chantilly in that of the late ,due d',aumale4 ,this date now proves with the artist's signature to be a forgery1 and the picture in question1 which1 with strong traces still of the ,bellinesque mode of conception and the ,bellinesque style1 shows a larger and more modern technique1 can no longer be cited as proving the priority of ,palma in the development of the full ,renaissance types and the full ,renaissance methods of execution4 ,there can be small doubt that this particular theory of the indefatigable critics1 to whom the history of ,italian art owes so much1 will little by little be allowed to die a natural death1 if it be not1 indeed1 already defunct4 ,more and more will the view so forcibly stated by ,giovanni ,morelli recommend itself1 that ,palma in many of those elements of his art most distinctively ,palmesque leans upon the master of ,cadore4 ,the ,bergamasque painter was not indeed a personality in art sufficiently strong and individual to dominate a ,titian1 or to leave upon his style and methods profound and enduring traces4 ,as such1 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle themselves hesitate to put him forward1 though they cling with great persistency to their pet theory of his influence4 ,this exquisite artist1 though by no means inventive genius1 did1 on the other hand1 permanently shape the style of ,cariani and the two elder ,bonifazi2 imparting1 it may be1 also some of his voluptuous charm in the rendering of female loveliness to ,paris ,bordone1 though the latter must1 in the main1 be looked upon as the artistic offspring of ,titian4 ,it is by no means certain1 all the same1 that this question of influence imparted and submitted to can with advantage be argued with such absoluteness of statement as has been the rule up to the present time1 both on the one side and the other4 ,it should be remembered that we are dealing with three young painters of about the same age1 working in the same art-centre1 perhaps1 even1 for a time in the same studio--issuing1 at any rate1 all three from the flank of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,in a situation like this1 it is not only the preponderance of age--two or three years at the most1 one way or the other--that is to be taken into account1 but the preponderance of genius and the magic gift of influence4 ,it is easy to understand how the complete renewal1 brought about by ,giorgione on the basis of ,bellini's teaching and example1 operated to revolutionise the art of his own generation4 ,he threw open to art the gates of life in its mysterious complexity1 in its fulness of sensuous yearning commingled with spiritual aspiration4 ,irresistible was the fascination exercised both by his art and his personality over his youthful contemporaries2 more and more did the circle of his influence widen1 until it might almost be said that the veteran ,gian ,bellino himself was brought within it4 ,with ,barbarelli1 at any rate1 there could be no question of light received back from painters of his own generation in exchange for that diffused around him2 but with ,titian and ,palma the case was different4 ,the germs of the ,giorgionesque fell here in each case upon a fruitful soil1 and in each case produced a vigorous plant of the same family1 yet with all its ,giorgionesque colour of a quite distinctive loveliness4 ,titian1 we shall see1 carried the style to its highest point of material development1 and made of it in many ways a new thing4 ,palma1 with all his love of beauty in colour and form1 in nature as in man1 had a less finely attuned artistic temperament than ,giorgione1 ,titian1 or ,lotto4 ,morelli has called attention to that element of downright energy in his mountain nature which in a way counteracts the marked sensuousness of his art1 save when he interprets the charms of the full-blown ,venetian woman4 ,the great ,milanese critic attributes this to the ,bergamasque origin of the artist1 showing itself beneath ,venetian training4 ,is it not possible that a little of this frank unquestioning sensuousness on the one hand1 of this terre terre energy on the other1 may have been reflected in the early work of ,titian1 though it be conceded that he influenced far more than he was influenced8#f ,there is undoubtedly in his personal development of the ,giorgionesque a superadded element of something much nearer to the everyday world than is to be found in the work of his prototype1 and this not easily definable element is peculiar also to ,palma's art1 in which1 indeed1 it endures to the end4 ,thus there is a singular resemblance between the type of his fairly fashioned ,eve in the important ,adam and ,eve of his earlier time in the ,brunswick ,gallery--once1 like so many other things1 attributed to ,giorgione--and the preferred type of youthful female loveliness as it is to be found in ,titian's ,three ,ages at ,bridgewater ,house1 in his so-called ,sacred and ,profane ,love 7,medea and ,venus7 of the ,borghese ,gallery1 in such sacred pieces as the ,madonna and ,child with ,,ss4 ,ulfo and ,brigida at the ,prado ,gallery of ,madrid1 and the large ,madonna and ,child with four ,saints at ,dresden4 ,in both instances we have the ,giorgionesque conception stripped of a little of its poetic glamour1 but retaining unabashed its splendid sensuousness1 which is thus made the more markedly to stand out4 ,we notice1 too1 in ,titian's works belonging to this particular group another characteristic which may be styled ,palmesque1 if only because ,palma indulged in it in a great number of his ,sacred ,conversations and similar pieces4 ,this is the contrasting of the rich brown skin1 the muscular form1 of some male saint1 or it may be some shepherd of the uplands1 with the dazzling fairness1 set off with hair of pale or ruddy gold1 of a female saint1 or a fair ,venetian doing duty as a shepherdess or a heroine of antiquity4 ,are we to look upon such distinguishing characteristics as these--and others that could easily be singled out--as wholly and solely ,titianesque of the early time8 ,if so1 we ought to assume that what is most distinctively ,palmesque in the art of ,palma came from the painter of ,cadore1 who in this case should be taken to have transmitted to his brother in art the ,giorgionesque in the less subtle shape into which he had already transmuted it4 ,but should not such an assumption as this1 well founded as it may appear in the main1 be made with all the allowances which the situation demands8 ,that1 when a group of young and enthusiastic artists1 eager to overturn barriers1 are found painting more or less together1 it is not so easy to unravel the tangle of influences and draw hard-and-fast lines everywhere1 one or two modern examples much nearer to our own time may roughly serve to illustrate4 ,take1 for instance1 the friendship that developed itself between the youthful ,bonington and the youthful ,delacroix while they copied together in the galleries of the ,louvre3 the one communicating to the other something of the stimulating quality1 the frankness1 and variety of colour which at that moment distinguished the ,english from the ,french school2 the other contributing to shape1 with the fire of his romantic temperament1 the art of the young ,englishman who was some three years his junior4 ,and with the famous trio of the ,p4,r4,b4--,millais1 ,rossetti1 and ,mr4 ,holman ,hunt--who is to state ex cathedra where influence was received1 where transmitted2 or whether the first may fairly be held to have been1 during the short time of their complete union1 the master-hand1 the second the poet-soul1 the third the conscience of the group8 ,a similar puzzle would await him who should strive to unravel the delicate thread which winds itself round the artistic relation between ,frederick ,walker and the noted landscapist ,mr4 ,j4,w4 ,north4 ,though we at once recognise ,walker as the dominant spirit1 and see his influence even to-day1 more than twenty years after his death1 affirmed rather than weakened1 there are certain characteristics of the style recognised and imitated as his1 of which it would be unsafe to declare that he and not his companion originated them4 ,in days of artistic upheaval and growth like the last years of the fifteenth century and the first years of the sixteenth1 the milieu must count for a great deal4 ,it must be remembered that the men who most influence a time1 whether in art or letters1 are just those who1 deeply rooted in it1 come forth as its most natural development4 ,let it not be doubted that when in ,giorgione's breast had been lighted the first sparks of the ,promethean fire1 which1 with the soft intensity of its glow1 warmed into full-blown perfection the art of ,venice1 that fire ran like lightning through the veins of all the artistic youth1 his contemporaries and juniors1 just because their blood was of the stuff to ignite and flame like his own4 ,the great ,giorgionesque movement in ,venetian art was not a question merely of school1 of standpoint1 of methods adopted and developed by a brilliant galaxy of young painters4 ,it was not alone that they who were excellent confessed1 that he 7,giorgione7 was born to put the breath of life into painted figures1 and to imitate the elasticity and colour of flesh1 etc4#g ,it was also that the ,giorgionesque in conception and style was the outcome of the moment in art and life1 just as the ,pheidian mode had been the necessary climax of ,attic art and ,attic life aspiring to reach complete perfection in the fifth century ,b4,c42 just as the ,raphaelesque appeared the inevitable outcome of those elements of lofty generalisation1 divine harmony1 grace clothing strength1 which1 in ,florence and ,rome1 as elsewhere in ,italy1 were culminating in the first years of the ,cinquecento4 ,this was the moment1 too1 when--to take one instance only among many--the ,ex-,queen of ,cyprus1 the noble ,venetian ,caterina ,cornaro1 held her little court at ,asolo1 where1 in accordance with the spirit of the moment1 the chief discourse was ever of love4 ,in that reposeful kingdom1 which could in miniature offer to ,caterina's courtiers all the pomp and charm without the drawbacks of sovereignty1 ,pietro ,bembo wrote for ,madonna ,lucretia ,estense ,borgia ,duchessa illustrissima di ,ferrara1 and caused to be printed by ,aldus ,manutius1 the leaflets which1 under the title ,gli ,asolani1 ne' quali si ragiona d' amore1#h soon became a famous book in ,italy4 ,illustration3 ,the ,man of ,sorrows4 ,in the ,scuola di ,s4 ,rocco1 ,venice4 ,from a ,photograph by ,naya4 ,the most ,bellinesque work of ,titian's youth with which we are acquainted is the curious ,man of ,sorrows of the ,scuola di ,s4 ,rocco at ,venice1 a work so faded1 so injured by restoration that to dogmatise as to its technique would be in the highest degree unsafe4 ,the type approaches1 among the numerous versions of the ,piet by and ascribed to ,giovanni ,bellini1 most nearly to that in the ,palazzo del ,commune at ,rimini4 ,seeing that ,titian was in #aejj twenty-three years old1 and a student of painting of some thirteen years' standing1 there may well exist1 or at any rate there may well have existed1 from his hand things in a yet earlier and more distinctively ,quattrocento-style than anything with which we are at present acquainted4 ,this ,man of ,sorrows itself may well be a little earlier than #aejj1 but on this point it is not easy to form a definite conclusion4 ,perhaps it is reserved in the future to some student uniting the qualities of patience and keen insight to do for the youthful ,titian what ,morelli and his school have done for ,correggio--that is1 to restore to him a series of paintings earlier in date than those which criticism has1 up to the present time1 been content to accept as showing his first independent steps in art4 ,everything else that we can at present safely attribute to the youthful ,vecelli is deeply coloured with the style and feeling of ,giorgione1 though never1 as is the case with the inferior ,giorgionesques1 so entirely as to obliterate the strongly marked individuality of the painter himself4 ,the ,virgin and ,child in the ,imperial ,gallery of ,vienna1 popularly known as ,la ,zingarella1 which1 by general consent1 is accepted as the first in order of date among the works of this class1 is still to a certain extent ,bellinesque in the mode of conception and arrangement4 ,yet1 in the depth1 strength1 and richness of the colour-chord1 in the atmospheric spaciousness and charm of the landscape background1 in the breadth of the draperies1 it is already ,giorgionesque4 ,nay1 even here ,titian1 above all1 asserts himself1 and lays the foundation of his own manner4 ,the type of the divine ,bambino differs widely from that adopted by ,giorgione in the altar-pieces of ,castelfranco and the ,prado ,museum at ,madrid4 ,the virgin is a woman beautified only by youth and intensity of maternal love4 ,both ,giorgione and ,titian in their loveliest types of womanhood are sensuous as compared with the ,tuscans and ,umbrians1 or with such painters as ,cavazzola of ,verona and the suave ,milanese1 ,bernardino ,luini4 ,but ,giorgione's sensuousness is that which may fitly characterise the goddess1 while ,titian's is that of the woman1 much nearer to the everyday world in which both artists lived4 ,in the ,imperial ,gallery of the ,hermitage at ,st4 ,petersburg is a beautiful ,madonna and ,child in a niche of coloured marble mosaic1 which is catalogued as an early ,titian under the influence of ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,judging only from the reproduction on a large scale done by ,messrs4 ,braun and ,co41 the writer has ventured to suggest elsewhere#i--prefacing his suggestions with the avowal that he is not acquainted with the picture itself--that we may have here1 not an early ,titian1 but that rarer thing an early ,giorgione4 ,from the list of the former master's works it must at any rate be struck out1 as even the most superficial comparison with1 for instance1 ,la ,zingarella suffices to prove4 ,in the notable display of ,venetian art made at the ,new ,gallery in the winter of #ahie were included two pictures 7,nos4 #a and #g in the catalogue7 ascribed to the early time of ,titian and evidently from the same hand4 ,these were a ,virgin and ,child from the collection1 so rich in ,venetian works1 of ,mr4 ,r4,h4 ,benson 7formerly among the ,burghley ,house pictures71 and a less well-preserved ,virgin and ,child with ,saints from the collection of ,captain ,holford at ,dorchester ,house4 ,the former is ascribed by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle to the early time of the master himself4#aj ,both are1 in their rich harmony of colour and their general conception1 entirely ,giorgionesque4 ,they reveal the hand of some at present anonymous ,venetian of the second order1 standing midway between the young ,giorgione and the young ,titian--one who1 while imitating the types and the landscape of these greater contemporaries of his1 replaced their depth and glow by a weaker1 a more superficial prettiness1 which yet has its own suave charm4 ,illustration3 ,virgin and ,child1 known as ,la ,zingarella4 ,imperial ,gallery1 ,vienna4 ,from a ,photograph by ,lwy4 ,the famous ,christ bearing the ,cross in the ,chiesa di ,s4 ,rocco at ,venice is first1 in his ,life of the ,castelfranco painter1 ascribed by ,vasari to ,giorgione1 and then in the subsequent ,life of ,titian given to that master1 but to a period very much too late in his career4 ,the biographer quaintly adds3 ,this figure1 which many have believed to be from the hand of ,giorgione1 is to-day the most revered object in ,venice1 and has received more charitable offerings in money than ,titian and ,giorgione together ever gained in the whole course of their life4 ,this too great popularity of the work as a wonder-working picture is perhaps the cause that it is to-day in a state as unsatisfactory as is the ,man of ,sorrows in the adjacent ,scuola4 ,the picture which presents ,christ dragged along by the executioner1 with two spectators in the background1 resembles most among ,giorgione's authentic creations the ,christ bearing the ,cross in the ,casa ,loschi at ,vicenza4 ,the resemblance is not1 however1 one of colour and technique1 since this last--one of the earliest of ,giorgiones--still recalls ,giovanni ,bellini1 and perhaps even more strongly ,cima2 it is one of type and conception4 ,in both renderings of the divine countenance there is--or it may be the writer fancies that there is--underlying that expression of serenity and humiliation accepted which is proper to the subject1 a sinister1 disquieting look1 almost a threat4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle have called attention to a certain disproportion in the size of the head1 as compared with that of the surrounding actors in the scene4 ,a similar disproportion is to be observed in another early ,titian1 the ,christ between ,st4 ,andrew and ,st4 ,catherine in the ,church of ,,ss4 ,ermagora and ,fortunato 7commonly called ,s4 ,marcuola7 at ,venice4 ,here the head of the infant ,christ1 who stands on a pedestal holding the ,orb1 between the two saints above mentioned1 is strangely out of proportion to the rest4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle had refused to accept this picture as a genuine ,titian 7vol4 ii4 p4 #dcb71 but ,morelli restored it to its rightful place among the early works4 ,next to these paintings1 and certainly several years before the ,three ,ages and the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 the writer is inclined to place the ,bishop of ,paphos 7,baffo7 recommended by ,alexander ,,vi4 to ,st4 ,peter1 once in the collection of ,charles ,i4#aa and now in the ,antwerp ,gallery4 ,the main elements of ,titian's art may be seen here1 in imperfect fusion1 as in very few even of his early productions4 ,the not very dignified ,st4 ,peter1 enthroned on a kind of pedestal adorned with a high relief of classic design1 of the type which we shall find again in the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 recalls ,giovanni ,bellini1 or rather his immediate followers2 the magnificently robed ,alexander ,,vi4 7,rodrigo ,borgia71 wearing the triple tiara1 gives back the style in portraiture of ,gentile ,bellini and ,carpaccio2 while the kneeling ,jacopo ,pesaro--an ecclesiastic in tonsure and vesture1 but none the less a commander of fleets1 as the background suggests--is one of the most characteristic portraits of the ,giorgionesque school4 ,its pathos1 its intensity1 contrast curiously with the less passionate absorption of the same ,baffo in the renowned ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro1 painted twenty-three years later for the family chapel in the great ,church of the ,frari4 ,it is the first in order of a great series1 including the ,ariosto of ,cobham1 the ,jeune ,homme au ,gant1 the ,portrait of a ,man in the ,alte ,pinakothek of ,munich1 and perhaps the famous ,concert of the ,pitti1 ascribed to ,giorgione4 ,both ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle and ,m4 ,georges ,lafenestre#ab have called attention to the fact that the detested ,borgia ,pope died on the #ahth of ,august #aejc1 and that the work cannot well have been executed after that time4 ,he would have been a bold man who should have attempted to introduce the portrait of ,alexander ,,vi4 into a votive picture painted immediately after his death6 ,how is it possible to assume1 as the eminent critics do nevertheless assume1 that the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 one of the masterpieces of ,venetian art1 was painted one or two years earlier still1 that is1 in #aeja or1 at the latest1 in #aejb8 ,let it be remembered that at that moment ,giorgione himself had not fully developed the ,giorgionesque4 ,he had not painted his ,castelfranco altar-piece1 his ,venus1 or his ,three ,philosophers 7,aeneas1 ,evander1 and ,pallas74 ,old ,gian ,bellino himself had not entered upon that ultimate phase of his art which dates from the great ,s4 ,zaccaria altar-piece finished in #aeje4ac ,it is impossible on the present occasion to give any detailed account of the fresco decorations painted by ,giorgione and ,titian on the facades of the new ,fondaco de' ,tedeschi1 erected to replace that burnt down on the #bhth of ,january #aeje4 ,full particulars will be found in ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's often-quoted work4 ,vasari's many manifest errors and disconcerting transpositions in the biography of ,titian do not predispose us to give unlimited credence to his account of the strained relations between ,giorgione and our painter1 to which this particular business is supposed to have given rise4 ,that they together decorated with a series of frescoes which acquired considerable celebrity the exterior of the ,fondaco is all that is known for certain1 ,titian being apparently employed as the subordinate of his friend and master4 ,of these frescoes only one figure1 doubtfully assigned to ,titian1 and facing the ,grand ,canal1 has been preserved1 in a much-damaged condition--the few fragments that remained of those facing the side canal having been destroyed in #ahhd4ad ,vasari shows us a ,giorgione angry because he has been complimented by friends on the superior beauty of some work on the facciata di verso la ,merceria1 which in reality belongs to ,titian1 and thereupon implacably cutting short their connection and friendship4 ,this version is confirmed by ,dolce1 but refuted by the less contemporary authority of ,tizianello's ,anonimo4 ,of what great painters1 standing in the relation of master and pupil1 have not such stories been told1 and--the worst of it is--told with a certain foundation of truth8 ,apocryphal is1 no doubt1 that which has evolved itself from the internal evidence supplied by the ,baptism of ,christ of ,verrocchio and ,leonardo da ,vinci2 but a stronger substructure of fact supports the unpleasing anecdotes as to ,titian and ,tintoretto1 as to ,watteau and ,pater1 as to our own ,hudson and ,reynolds1 and1 alas6 as to very many others4 ,how touching1 on the other hand1 is that simple entry in ,francesco ,francia's day-book1 made when his chief journeyman1 ,timoteo ,viti1 leaves him3 #adie a di #d aprile partito il mio caro ,timoteo2 chi ,dio li dia ogni bene et fortuna6 7,on the #dth day of ,april #adie my dear ,timoteo left me4 ,may ,god grant him all happiness and good fortune67 ,illustration3 ,the ,baptism of ,christ4 ,gallery of the ,capitol1 ,rome4 ,from a ,photograph by ,anderson4 ,there is one reason that makes it doubly difficult1 relying on developments of style only1 to make1 even tentatively1 a chronological arrangement of ,titian's early works4 ,this is that in those painted poesie of the earlier ,venetian art of which the germs are to be found in ,giovanni ,bellini and ,cima1 but the flower is identified with ,giorgione1 ,titian surrendered himself to the overmastering influence of the latter with less reservation of his own individuality than in his sacred works4 ,in the earlier imaginative subjects the vivifying glow of ,giorgionesque poetry moulds1 colours1 and expands the genius of ,titian1 but so naturally as neither to obliterate nor to constrain it4 ,indeed1 even in the late time of our master--checking an unveiled sensuousness which sometimes approaches dangerously near to a downright sensuality--the influence of the master and companion who vanished half a century before victoriously reasserts itself4 ,it is this renouveau of the ,giorgionesque in the genius of the aged ,titian that gives so exquisite a charm to the ,venere del ,pardo1 so strange a pathos to that still later ,nymph and ,shepherd1 which was a few years ago brought out of its obscurity and added to the treasures of the ,imperial ,gallery at ,vienna4 ,the sacred works of the early time are ,giorgionesque1 too1 but with a difference4 ,here from the very beginning there are to be noted a majestic placidity1 a fulness of life1 a splendour of representation1 very different from the tremulous sweetness1 the spirit of aloofness and reserve which informs such creations as the ,madonna of ,castelfranco and the ,madonna with ,st4 ,francis and ,st4 ,roch of the ,prado ,museum4 ,later on1 we have1 leaving farther and farther behind the ,giorgionesque ideal1 the overpowering force and majesty of the ,assunta1 the true passion going hand-in-hand with beauty of the ,louvre ,entombment1 the rhetorical passion and scenic magnificence of the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr4 ,the ,baptism of ,christ1 with ,zuanne ,ram as donor1 now in the ,gallery of the ,capitol at ,rome1 had been by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle taken away from ,titian and given to ,paris ,bordone1 but the keen insight of ,morelli led him to restore it authoritatively1 and once for all1 to ,titian4 ,internal evidence is indeed conclusive in this case that the picture must be assigned to a date when ,bordone was but a child of tender years4#ae ,here ,titian is found treating this great scene in the life of ,christ more in the style of a ,giorgionesque pastoral than in the solemn hieratic fashion adopted by his great predecessors and contemporaries4 ,the luxuriant landscape is in the main ,giorgionesque1 save that here and there a naked branch among the leafage--and on one of them the woodpecker--strongly recalls ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the same robust1 round-limbed young ,venetian1 with the inexpressive face1 does duty here as ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 who in the ,three ,ages1 presently to be discussed1 appears much more appropriately as the amorous shepherd4 ,the ,christ1 here shown in the flower of youthful manhood1 with luxuriant hair and softly curling beard1 will mature later on into the divine ,cristo della ,moneta4 ,the question at once arises here1 ,did ,titian in the type of this figure derive inspiration from ,giovanni ,bellini's splendid ,baptism of ,christ1 finished in #aeaj for the ,church of ,s4 ,corona at ,vicenza1 but which the younger artist might well have seen a year or two previously1 while it was in the course of execution in the workshop of the venerable master8 ,apart from its fresh navet1 and its rare pictorial charm1 how trivial and merely anecdotic does the conception of ,titian appear by the side of that of ,bellini1 so lofty1 so consoling in its serene beauty1 in the solemnity of its sunset colour6#af ,alone in the profile portrait of the donor1 ,zuanne ,ram1 placed in the picture with an awkwardness attractive in its navete1 but superbly painted1 is ,titian already a full-grown master standing alone4 ,the beautiful ,virgin and ,child with ,,ss4 ,ulfo and ,brigida1 placed in the ,sala de la ,reina ,isabel of the ,prado1 is now at last officially restored to ,titian1 after having been for years innumerable ascribed to ,giorgione1 whose style it not more than generally recalls4 ,here at any rate all the rival wise men are agreed1 and it only remains for the student of the old masters1 working to-day on the solid substructure provided for him by his predecessors1 to wonder how any other attribution could have been accepted4 ,but then the critic of the present day is a little too prone to be wise and scornful ban march1 forgetting that he has been spared three parts of the road1 and that he starts for conquest at the high point1 to reach which the pioneers of scientific criticism in art have devoted a lifetime of noble toil4 ,it is in this piece especially that we meet with that element in the early art of the ,cadorine which ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle have defined as ,palmesque4 ,the ,st4 ,bridget and the ,st4 ,ulphus are both types frequently to be met with in the works of the ,bergamasque painter1 and it has been more than once remarked that the same beautiful model with hair of wavy gold must have sat to ,giorgione1 ,titian1 and ,palma4 ,this can only be true1 however1 in a modified sense1 seeing that ,giorgione did not1 so much as his contemporaries and followers1 affect the type of the beautiful ,venetian blond1 large1 languishing1 and lazy4 ,the hair of his women--both the sacred personages and the divinities nominally classic or wholly ,venetian--is1 as a rule1 of a rich chestnut1 or at the most dusky fair1 and in them the ,giorgionesque oval of the face tempers with its spirituality the strength of physical passion that the general physique denotes4 ,the polished surface of this panel at ,madrid1 the execution1 sound and finished without being finicking1 the high yellowish lights on the crimson draperies1 are all very characteristic of this1 the first manner of ,vecelli4 ,the green hangings at the back of the picture are such as are very generally associated with the colour-schemes of ,palma4 ,an old repetition1 with a slight variation in the ,bambino1 is in the royal collection at ,hampton ,court1 where it long bore--indeed it does so still on the frame--the name of ,palma ,vecchio4 ,it will be remembered that ,vasari assigns to the ,tobias and the ,angel in the ,church of ,s4 ,marciliano at ,venice the exact date #aejg1 describing it1 moreover1 with greater accuracy than he does any other work by ,titian4 ,he mentions even the thicket1 in which is a ,st4 ,john the ,baptist kneeling as he prays to heaven1 whence comes a splendour of light4 ,the ,aretine biographer is followed in this particular by ,morelli1 usually so eagle-eyed1 so little bound by tradition in tracing the beginnings of a great painter4 ,the gifted modern critic places the picture among the quite early works of our master4 ,notwithstanding this weight of authority1 the writer feels bound to dissent from the view just now indicated1 and in this instance to follow ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 who assign to the ,tobias and the ,angel a place much later on in ,titian's long career4 ,the picture1 though it hangs high in the little church for which it was painted1 will speak for itself to those who interrogate it without parti pris4 ,neither in the figures--the magnificently classic yet living archangel ,raphael and the more nave and realistic ,tobias--nor in the rich landscape with ,st4 ,john the ,baptist praying is there anything left of the early ,giorgionesque manner4 ,in the sweeping breadth of the execution1 the summarising power of the brush1 the glow from within of the colour1 we have so many evidences of a style in its fullest maturity4 ,it will be safe1 therefore1 to place the picture well on in ,titian's middle period4#ag ,the ,three ,ages in the ,bridgewater ,gallery and the so-called ,sacred and ,profane ,love in the ,borghese ,gallery represent the apogee of ,titian's ,giorgionesque style4 ,glowing through and through with the spirit of the master-poet among ,venetian painters1 yet falling short a little1 it may be1 of that subtle charm of his1 compounded indefinably of sensuous delight and spiritual yearning1 these two masterpieces carry the ,giorgionesque technically a pretty wide step farther than the inventor of the style took it4 ,barbarelli never absolutely threw off the trammels of the ,quattrocento1 except in his portraits1 but retained to the last--not as a drawback1 but rather as an added charm--the navet1 the hardly perceptible hesitation proper to art not absolutely full-fledged4 ,the ,three ,ages1 from its analogies of type and manner with the ,baptism of the ,capitol1 would appear to be the earlier of the two imaginative works here grouped together1 but to date later than that picture4#ah ,the tonality of the picture is of an exquisite silveriness--that of clear1 moderate daylight1 though this relative paleness may have been somewhat increased by time4 ,it may a little disconcert at first sight those who have known the lovely pastoral only from hot1 brown copies1 such as the one which1 under the name of ,giorgione1 was formerly in the ,dudley ,house ,collection1 and now belongs to ,sir ,william ,farrer4 ,it is still so difficult to battle with the deeply-rooted notion that there can be no ,giorgione1 no painting of his school1 without the accompaniment of a rich brown sauce6 ,the shepherdess has a robe of fairest crimson1 and her flower-crowned locks in tint more nearly approach to the blond cendr which distinguishes so many of ,palma's donne than to the ruddier gold that ,titian himself generally affects4 ,the more passionate of the two1 she gazes straight into the eyes of her strong-limbed rustic lover1 who half-reclining rests his hand upon her shoulder4 ,on the twin reed-pipes1 which she still holds in her hands1 she has just breathed forth a strain of music1 and to it1 as it still lingers in their ears1 they yield themselves entranced4 ,here the youth is naked1 the maid clothed and adorned--a reversal1 this1 of ,giorgione's ,fte ,champtre in the ,salon ,carr of the ,louvre1 where the women are undraped1 and the amorous young cavaliers appear in complete and rich attire4 ,to the right are a group of thoroughly ,titianesque amorini--the winged one1 dominating the others1 being perhaps ,amor himself2 while in the distance an old man contemplates skulls ranged round him on the ground--obvious reminders of the last stage of all1 at which he has so nearly arrived4 ,there is here a wonderful unity between the even1 unaccented harmony of the delicate tonality and the mood of the personages--the one aiding the other to express the moment of pause in nature and in love1 which in itself is a delight more deep than all that the very whirlwind of passion can give4 ,near at hand may be pitfalls1 the smiling love-god may prove less innocent than he looks1 and in the distance ,fate may be foreshadowed by the figure of weary ,age awaiting ,death4 ,yet this one moment is all the lovers' own1 and they profane it not by speech1 but stir their happy languor only with faint notes of music borne on the still1 warm air4 ,illustration3 ,the ,three ,ages4 ,bridgewater ,gallery4 ,from the ,plate in ,lafenestre's ,vie et ,oeuvre du ,titien 7,may1 ,paris47 ,the ,sacred and ,profane ,love of the ,borghese ,gallery is one of the world's pictures1 and beyond doubt the masterpiece of the early or ,giorgionesque period4 ,to-day surely no one will be found to gainsay ,morelli when he places it at the end of that period1 which it so incomparably sums up--not at the beginning1 when its perfection would be as incomprehensible as the less absolute achievement displayed in other early pieces which such a classification as this would place after the ,borghese picture4 ,the accompanying reproduction obviates all necessity for a detailed description4 ,titian painted afterwards perhaps more wonderfully still--with a more sweeping vigour of brush1 with a higher authority1 and a play of light as brilliant and diversified4 ,he never attained to a higher finish and perfection of its kind1 or more admirably suited the technical means to the thing to be achieved4 ,he never so completely gave back1 coloured with the splendour of his own genius1 the rays received from ,giorgione4 ,the delicious sunset landscape has all the ,giorgionesque elements1 with more spaciousness1 and lines of a still more suave harmony4 ,the grand ,venetian donna who sits sumptuously robed1 flower-crowned1 and even gloved1 at the sculptured classic fount is the noblest in her pride of loveliness1 as she is one of the first1 of the long line of voluptuous beauties who will occupy the greatest brushes of the ,cinquecento4 ,the little love-god who1 insidiously intervening1 paddles in the water of the fountain and troubles its surface1 is ,titian's very own1 owing nothing to any forerunner4 ,the divinely beautiful ,profane ,love--or1 as we shall presently see1 ,venus--is the most flawless presentment of female loveliness unveiled that modern art has known up to this date1 save only the ,venus of ,giorgione himself 7in the ,dresden ,gallery71 to which it can be but little posterior4 ,the radiant freshness of the face1 with its glory of half-unbound hair1 does not1 indeed1 equal the sovereign loveliness of the ,dresden ,venus or the disquieting charm of the ,giovanelli ,zingarella 7properly ,hypsipyle74 ,its beauty is all on the surface1 while theirs stimulates the imagination of the beholder4 ,the body with its strong1 supple beauty1 its unforced harmony of line and movement1 with its golden glow of flesh1 set off in the true ,giorgionesque fashion by the warm white of the slender1 diaphanous drapery1 by the splendid crimson mantle with the changing hues and high lights1 is1 however1 the most perfect poem of the human body that ,titian ever achieved4 ,only in the late ,venere del ,pardo1 which so closely follows the chief motive of ,giorgione's ,venus1 does he approach it in frankness and purity4 ,far more genuinely classic is it in spirit1 because more living and more solidly founded on natural truth1 than anything that the ,florentine or ,roman schools1 so much more assiduous in their study of classical antiquity1 have brought forth4#ai ,illustration3 ,sacred and ,profane ,love4 ,it is impossible to discuss here in detail all the conjectural explanations which have been hazarded with regard to this most popular of all ,venetian pictures--least of all that strange one brought forward by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 the ,artless and ,sated ,love1 for which they have found so little acceptance4 ,but we may no longer wrap ourselves in an atmosphere of dreamy conjecture and show but a languid desire to solve the fascinating problem4 ,taking as his starting-point the pictures described by ,marcantonio ,michiel 7the ,anonimo of ,jacopo ,morelli71 in the house of ,messer ,taddeo ,contarini of ,venice1 as the ,inferno with ,aeneas and ,anchises and ,landscape with the ,birth of ,paris1 ,herr ,franz ,wickhoff#bj has proceeded1 we have seen1 to rename1 with a daring crowned by a success nothing short of surprising1 several of ,barbarelli's best known works4 ,the ,three ,philosophers he calls ,aeneas1 ,evander1 and ,pallas1 the ,giovanelli ,tempest with the ,gipsy and the ,soldier he explains anew as ,admetus and ,hypsipyle4#ba ,the subject known to us in an early plate of ,marcantonio ,raimondi1 and popularly called1 or rather miscalled1 the ,dream of ,raphael1 is recognised by ,herr ,wickhoff as having its root in the art of ,giorgione4 ,he identifies the mysterious subject with one cited by ,servius1 the commentator of ,virgil1 who relates how1 when two maidens were sleeping side by side in the ,temple of the ,penates at ,lavinium 7as he puts it71 the unchaste one was killed by lightning1 while the other remained in peaceful sleep4 ,passing over to the ,giorgionesque period of ,titian1 he boldly sets to work on the world-famous ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 and shows us the ,cadorine painter interpreting1 at the suggestion of some learned humanist at his elbow1 an incident in the ,seventh ,book of the ,argonautica of ,valerius ,flaccus--that wearisome imitation of the similarly named epic of ,apollonius ,rhodius4 ,medea--the sumptuously attired dame who does duty as ,sacred ,love767--sits at the fountain in unrestful self-communing1 leaning one arm on a mysterious casket1 and holding in her right hand a bunch of wonder-working herbs4 ,she will not yield to her new-born love for the ,greek enemy ,jason1 because this love is the most shameful treason to father and people4 ,but to her comes ,venus in the form of the sorceress ,circe1 the sister of ,medea's father1 irresistibly pleading that she shall go to the alien lover1 who waits in the wood4 ,it is the vain resistance of ,medea1 hopelessly caught in the toils of love1 powerless for all her enchantments to resist1 it is the subtle persuasion of ,venus1 seemingly invisible--in ,titian's realisation of the legend--to the woman she tempts1 that constitute the main theme upon which ,titian has built his masterpiece4 ,moritz ,thausing#bb had already got half-way towards the unravelling of the true subject when he described the ,borghese picture as ,the ,maiden with ,venus and ,amor at the ,well4 ,the vraisemblance of ,herr ,wickhoff's brilliant interpretation becomes the greater when we reflect that ,titian at least twice afterwards borrowed subjects from classical antiquity1 taking his ,worship of ,venus1 now at ,madrid1 from the ,erotes of ,philostratus1 and our own wonderful ,bacchus and ,ariadne at the ,national ,gallery from the ,epithalamium ,pelei et ,thetidos of ,catullus4 ,in the future it is quite possible that the ,austrian savant may propose new and precise interpretations for the ,three ,ages and for ,giorgione's ,concert ,champtre at the ,louvre4 ,illustration3 ,herodias with the ,head of ,john the ,baptist4 ,doria ,gallery1 ,rome4 ,from the ,replica in the ,collection of ,r4,h4 ,benson1 ,esq4 ,it is no use disguising the fact that1 grateful as the true student of ,italian art must be for such guidance as is here given1 it comes to him at first as a shock that these mysterious creations of the ardent young poet-painters1 in the presence of which we have most of us so willingly allowed reason and argument to stand in abeyance1 should thus have hard1 clear lines drawn1 as it were1 round their deliciously vague contours4 ,it is their very vagueness and strangeness1 the atmosphere of pause and quiet that they bring with them1 the way in which they indefinably take possession of the beholder1 body and soul1 that above and beyond their radiant beauty have made them dear to successive generations4 ,and yet we need not mourn overmuch1 or too painfully set to work to revise our whole conception of ,venetian idyllic art as matured in the first years of the ,cinquecento4 ,true1 some humanist of the type of ,pietro ,bembo1 not less amorous than learned and fastidious1 must have found for ,titian and ,giorgione all these fine stories from ,virgil1 ,catullus1 ,statius1 and the lesser luminaries of antique poetry1 which luckily for the world they have interpreted in their own fashion4 ,the humanists themselves would no doubt have preferred the more laborious and at the same time more fantastic ,florentine fashion of giving plastic form in every particular to their elaborate symbolisms1 their artificial conceits1 their classic legends4 ,but we may unfeignedly rejoice that the ,venetian painters of the golden prime disdained to represent--or it may be unconsciously shrank from representing--the mere dramatic moment1 the mere dramatic and historical character of a subject thus furnished to them4 ,giorgione embodies in such a picture as the ,adrastus and ,hypsipyle1 or the ,aeneas and ,evander1 not so much what has been related to him of those ancient legends as his own mood when he is brought into contact with them2 he transposes his motive from a dramatic into a lyrical atmosphere1 and gives it forth anew1 transformed into something rich and strange1 coloured for ever with his own inspired yet so warmly human fantasy4 ,titian1 in the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 as for identification we must still continue to call it1 strives to keep close to the main lines of his story1 in this differing from ,giorgione4 ,but for all that1 his love for the rich beauty of the ,venetian country1 for the splendour of female loveliness unveiled1 for the piquant contrast of female loveliness clothed and sumptuously adorned1 has conquered4 ,he has presented the ,romanised legend of the fair ,colchian sorceress in such a delightfully misleading fashion that it has taken all these centuries to decipher its true import4 ,what ,giorgione and ,titian in these exquisite idylls--for so we may still dare to call them--have consciously or unconsciously achieved1 is the indissoluble union of humanity outwardly quiescent1 yet pulsating with an inner life and passion1 to the environing nature4 ,it is ,nature herself that in these true painted poems mysteriously responds1 that interprets to the beholder the moods of man1 much as a mighty orchestra--,nature ordered and controlled--may by its undercurrent explain to him who knows how to listen what the very personages of the drama may not proclaim aloud for themselves4 ,and so we may be deeply grateful to ,herr ,wickhoff for his new interpretations1 not less sound and thoroughly worked out than they are on a first acquaintance startling4 ,and yet we need not for all that shatter our old ideals1 or force ourselves too persistently to look at ,venetian art from another and a more prosaic1 because a more precise and literal1 standpoint4 ,illustration3 ,vanitas4 ,alte ,pinakothek1 ,munich4 ,from a ,photograph by ,hanfstngl4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,frescoes of the ,scuola del ,santo--,the ,herodias type of picture--,holy ,families and ,sacred ,conversations--,date of the ,cristo della ,moneta ,is the ,concert of the ,pitti by ,titian8--,the ,bacchanal of ,alnwick ,castle4 ,it has been pointed out by ,titian's biographers that the wars which followed upon the ,league of ,cambrai had the effect of dispersing all over ,north ,italy the chief ,venetian artists of the younger generation4 ,it was not long after this--on the death of his master ,giorgione--that ,sebastiano ,luciani migrated to ,rome and1 so far as he could1 shook off his allegiance to the new ,venetian art2 it was then that ,titian temporarily left the city of his adoption to do work in fresco at ,padua and ,vicenza4 ,if the date #aejh1 given by ,vasari for the great frieze-like wood-engraving1 ,the ,triumph of ,faith1 be accepted1 it must be held that it was executed before the journey to ,padua4 ,ridolfi#bc cites painted compositions of the ,triumph as either the originals or the repetitions of the wood-engravings1 for which ,titian himself drew the blocks4 ,the frescoes themselves1 if indeed ,titian carried them out on the walls of his house at ,padua1 as has been suggested1 have perished2 but that they ever came into existence there would not appear to be any direct evidence4 ,the types1 though broadened and coarsened in the process of translation into wood-engraving1 are not materially at variance with those in the frescoes of the ,scuola del ,santo4 ,but the movement1 the spirit of the whole is essentially different4 ,this mighty1 onward-sweeping procession1 with ,adam and ,eve1 the ,patriarchs1 the ,prophets and ,sibyls1 the martyred ,innocents1 the great chariot with ,christ enthroned1 drawn by the four ,doctors of the ,church and impelled forward by the ,emblems of the four ,evangelists1 with a great company of ,apostles and ,martyrs following1 has all the vigour and elasticity1 all the decorative amplitude that is wanting in the frescoes of the ,santo4 ,it is obvious that inspiration was derived from the ,triumphs of ,mantegna1 then already so widely popularised by numerous engravings4 ,titian and those under whose inspiration he worked here obviously intended an antithesis to the great series of canvases presenting the apotheosis of ,julius ,caesar1 which were then to be seen in the not far distant ,mantua4 ,have we here another pictorial commentary1 like the famous ,cristo detta ,moneta1 with which we shall have to deal presently1 on the ,quod est ,caesaris ,caesari1 quod est ,dei ,deo1 which was the favourite device of ,alfonso of ,ferrara and the legend round his gold coins8 ,the whole question is interesting1 and deserves more careful consideration than can be accorded to it on the present occasion4 ,hardly again1 until he reached extreme old age1 did such an impulse of sacred passion colour the art of the painter of ,cadore as here4 ,in the earlier section of his life-work the ,triumph of ,faith constitutes a striking exception4 ,illustration3 ,st4 ,anthony of ,padua causing a new-born ,infant to speak4 ,fresco in the ,scuola del ,santo1 ,padua4 ,from a ,photograph by ,alinari4 ,passing over1 as relatively unimportant1 ,titian's share in the much-defaced fresco decorations of the ,scuola del ,carmine1 we come now to those more celebrated ones in the ,scuola del ,santo4 ,out of the sixteen frescoes executed in #aeaj-aa by ,titian1 in concert with ,domenico ,campagnola and other assistants of less fame1 the following three are from the brush of the master himself3--,st4 ,anthony causes a new-born ,infant to speak1 testifying to the innocence of its ,mother2 ,st4 ,anthony heals the leg of a ,youth2 ,a jealous ,husband puts to death his ,wife1 whom the ,saint afterwards restores to life4 ,here the figures1 the composition1 the beautiful landscape backgrounds bear unmistakably the trace of ,giorgione's influence4 ,the composition has just the timidity1 the lack of rhythm and variety1 that to the last marks that of ,barbarelli4 ,the figures have his nave truth1 his warmth and splendour of life1 but not his gilding touch of spirituality to lift the uninspiring subjects a little above the actual4 ,the ,nobleman putting to death his ,wife is dramatic1 almost terrible in its fierce1 awkward realism1 yet it does not rise much higher in interpretation than what our neighbours would to-day call the drame passionel4 ,the interest is much the same that is aroused in a student of ,elizabethan literature by that study of murder1 ,arden of ,feversham1 not that higher attraction that he feels--horrors notwithstanding--for ,the ,maid's ,tragedy of ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 or ,the ,duchess of ,malfi of ,webster4#bd ,illustration3 ,noli me tangere4 ,national ,gallery4 ,from a ,photograph published by the ,autotype ,company4 ,a convenient date for the magnificent ,st4 ,mark enthroned1 with ,,ss4 ,sebastian1 ,roch1 ,cosmas1 and ,damianus1 is #aeab1 when ,titian1 having completed his share of the work at the ,scuola del ,santo1 returned to ,venice4 ,true1 it is still thoroughly ,giorgionesque1 except in the truculent ,st4 ,mark2 but1 then1 as essentially so were the frescoes just terminated4 ,the noble altar-piece#be symbolises1 or rather commemorates1 the steadfastness of the ,state face to face with the terrors of the ,league of ,cambrai3--on the one side ,st4 ,sebastian1 standing1 perhaps1 for martyrdom by superior force of arms1 ,st4 ,roch for plague 7the plague of ,venice in #aeaj72 on the other1 ,,ss4 ,cosmas and ,damianus1 suggesting the healing of these evils4 ,the colour is ,giorgionesque in that truer sense in which ,barbarelli's own is so to be described4 ,especially does it show points of contact with that of the so-called ,three ,philosophers1 which1 on the authority of ,marcantonio ,michiel 7the ,anonimo71 is rightly or wrongly held to be one of the last works of the ,castelfranco master4 ,that is to say1 it is both sumptuous and boldly contrasted in the local hues1 the sovereign unity of general tone not being attained by any sacrifice or attenuation1 by any undue fusion of these1 as in some of the second-rate ,giorgionesques4 ,common to both is the use of a brilliant scarlet1 which ,giorgione successfully employs in the robe of the ,trojan ,aeneas1 and ,titian on a more extensive scale in that of one of the healing saints4 ,these last are among the most admirable portrait-figures in the life-work of ,titian4 ,in them a simplicity1 a concentration akin to that of ,giovanni ,bellini and ,bartolommeo ,montagna is combined with the suavity and flexibility of ,barbarelli4 ,the ,st4 ,sebastian is the most beautiful among the youthful male figures1 as the ,venus of ,giorgione and the ,venus of the ,sacred and ,profane ,love are the most beautiful among the female figures to be found in the ,venetian art of a century in which such presentments of youth in its flower abounded4 ,there is something androgynous1 in the true sense of the word1 in the union of the strength and pride of lusty youth with a grace which is almost feminine in its suavity1 yet not offensively effeminate4 ,it should be noted that a delight in portraying the fresh comeliness1 the elastic beauty of form proper to the youth just passing into the man was common to many ,venetian painters at this stage1 and coloured their art as it had coloured the whole art of ,greece4 ,hereabouts the writer would like to place the singularly attractive1 yet a little puzzling1 ,madonna and ,child with ,st4 ,joseph and a ,shepherd1 which is ,no4 #d in the ,national ,gallery4 ,the type of the landscape is early1 and even for that time the execution in this particular is1 for ,titian1 curiously small and wanting in breadth4 ,especially the projecting rock1 with its fringe of half-bare shrubs profiled against the sky1 recalls the backgrounds of the ,scuola del ,santo frescoes4 ,the noble type and the stilted attitude of the ,st4 ,joseph suggest the ,st4 ,mark of the ,salute4 ,the frank note of bright scarlet in the jacket of the thick-set young shepherd1 who calls up rather the downrightness of ,palma than the idyllic charm of ,giorgione1 is to be found again in the ,salute picture4 ,the unusually pensive ,madonna reminds the spectator1 by a certain fleshiness and matronly amplitude of proportion1 though by no means in sentiment1 of the sumptuous dames who look on so unconcernedly in the ,st4 ,anthony causing a new-born ,infant to speak1 of the ,scuola4 ,her draperies show1 too1 the jagged breaks and close parallel folds of the early time before complete freedom of design was attained4 ,illustration3 ,st4 ,mark enthroned1 with four ,saints4 ,s4 ,maria della ,salute1 ,venice4 ,from a ,photograph by ,anderson4 ,illustration3 ,the ,madonna with the ,cherries4 ,imperial ,gallery1 ,vienna4 ,from a ,photograph by ,lwy4 ,the splendidly beautiful ,herodias with the head of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1 in the ,doria ,gallery1 formerly attributed to ,pordenone1 but by ,morelli definitively placed among the ,giorgionesque works of ,titian1 belongs to about the same time as the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 and would therefore come in rather before than after the sojourn at ,padua and ,vicenza4 ,the intention has been not so much to emphasise the tragic character of the motive as to exhibit to the highest advantage the voluptuous charm1 the languid indifference of a ,venetian beauty posing for ,herod's baleful consort4 ,repetitions of this ,herodias exist in the ,northbrook ,collection and in that of ,mr4 ,r4,h4 ,benson4 ,the latter1 which is presumably from the workshop of the master1 and shows variations in one or two unimportant particulars from the ,doria picture1 is here1 failing the original1 reproduced with the kind permission of the owner4 ,a conception traceable back to ,giorgione would appear to underlie1 not only this ,doria picture1 but that ,herodias which at ,dorchester ,house is1 for not obvious reasons1 attributed to ,pordenone1 and another similar one by ,palma ,vecchio1 of which a late copy exists in the collection of the ,earl of ,chichester4 ,especially is this community of origin noticeable in the head of ,st4 ,john on the charger1 as it appears in each of these works4 ,all of them again show a family resemblance in this particular respect to the interesting full-length ,judith at the ,hermitage1 now ascribed to ,giorgione1 to the over-painted half-length ,judith in the ,querini-,stampalia ,collection at ,venice1 and to ,hollar's print after a picture supposed by the engraver to give the portrait of ,giorgione himself in the character of ,david1 the slayer of ,goliath4#bf ,the sumptuous but much-injured ,vanitas1 which is ,no4 #aaaj in the ,alte ,pinakothek of ,munich--a beautiful woman of the same opulent type as the ,herodias1 holding a mirror which reflects jewels and other symbols of earthly vanity--may be classed with the last-named work4 ,again we owe it to ,morelli#bg that this painting1 ascribed by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle--as the ,herodias was ascribed--to ,pordenone1 has been with general acceptance classed among the early works of ,titian4 ,the popular ,flora of the ,uffizi1 a beautiful thing still1 though all the bloom of its beauty has been effaced1 must be placed rather later in this section of ,titian's life-work1 displaying as it does a technique more facile and accomplished1 and a conception of a somewhat higher individuality4 ,the model is surely the same as that which has served for the ,venus of the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 though the picture comes some years after that piece4 ,later still comes the so-called ,alfonso d',este and ,laura ,dianti1 as to which something will be said farther on4 ,another puzzle is provided by the beautiful ,noli me tangere of the ,national ,gallery1 which must necessarily have its place somewhere here among the early works4 ,giorgionesque the picture still is1 and most markedly so in the character of the beautiful landscape2 yet the execution shows an altogether unusual freedom and mastery for that period4 ,the ,magdalen is1 appropriately enough1 of the same type as the exquisite1 golden blond courtezans--or1 if you will1 models--who constantly appear and reappear in this period of ,venetian art4 ,hardly anywhere has the painter exhibited a more wonderful freedom and subtlety of brush than in the figure of the ,christ1 in which glowing flesh is so finely set off by the white of fluttering1 half-transparent draperies4 ,the canvas has exquisite colour1 almost without colours2 the only local tint of any very defined character being the dark red of the ,magdalen's robe4 ,yet a certain affectation1 a certain exaggeration of fluttering movement and strained attitude repel the beholder a little at first1 and neutralise for him the rare beauties of the canvas4 ,it is as if a wave of some strange transient influence had passed over ,titian at this moment1 then again to be dissipated4 ,illustration3 ,madonna and ,child1 with ,st4 ,john and ,st4 ,anthony ,abbot4 ,uffizi ,gallery1 ,florence4 ,from a ,photograph by ,brogi4 ,but to turn now once more to the series of our master's ,holy ,families and ,sacred ,conversations which began with ,la ,zingarella1 and was continued with the ,virgin and ,child with ,,ss4 ,ulfo and ,brigida of ,madrid4 ,the most popular of all those belonging to this still early time is the ,virgin with the ,cherries in the ,vienna ,gallery4 ,here the painter is already completely himself4 ,he will go much farther in breadth if not in polish1 in transparency1 in forcefulness1 if not in attractiveness of colour2 but he is now1 in sacred art at any rate1 practically free from outside influences4 ,for the pensive girl-,madonna of ,giorgione we now have the radiant young matron of ,titian1 joyous yet calm in her play with the infant ,christ1 while the ,madonna of his master and friend was unrestful and full of tender foreboding even in seeming repose4 ,pretty close on this must have followed the ,madonna and ,child with ,st4 ,stephen1 ,st4 ,ambrose and ,st4 ,maurice1 ,no #dci in the ,louvre1 in which the rich colour-harmonies strike a somewhat deeper note4 ,an atelier repetition of this fine original is ,no4 #aff in the ,vienna ,gallery2 the only material variation traceable in this last-named example being that in lieu of ,st4 ,ambrose1 wearing a kind of biretta1 we have ,st4 ,jerome bareheaded4 ,very near in time and style to this particular series1 with which it may safely be grouped1 is the beautiful and finely preserved ,holy ,family in the ,bridgewater ,gallery1 where it is still erroneously attributed to ,palma ,vecchio4 ,it is to be found in the same private apartment on the groundfloor of ,bridgewater ,house1 that contains the ,three ,ages4 ,deep glowing richness of colour and smooth perfection without smallness of finish make this picture remarkable1 notwithstanding its lack of any deeper significance4 ,nor must there be forgotten in an enumeration of the early ,holy ,families1 one of the loveliest of all1 the ,madonna and ,child with the infant ,st4 ,john and ,st4 ,anthony ,abbot1 which adorns the ,venetian section of the ,uffizi ,gallery4 ,here the relationship to ,giorgione is more clearly shown than in any of these ,holy ,families of the first period1 and in so far the painting1 which cannot be placed very early among them1 constitutes a partial exception in the series4 ,the ,virgin is of a more refined and pensive type than in the ,madonna with the ,cherries of ,vienna1 or the ,madonna with ,saints1 ,no4 #dci in the ,louvre1 and the divine ,bambino less robust in build and aspect4 ,the magnificent ,st4 ,anthony is quite ,giorgionesque in the serenity tinged with sadness of his contemplative mood4 ,illustration3 ,from a photograph by ,bran-,clement ,cie4 ,virgin and ,child with ,saints4 ,last of all in this particular group--another work in respect of which ,morelli has played the rescuer--is the ,madonna and ,child with four ,saints1 ,no4 #afh in the ,dresden ,gallery1 a much-injured but eminently ,titianesque work1 which may be said to bring this particular series to within a couple of years or so of the ,assunta--that great landmark of the first period of maturity4 ,the type of the ,madonna here is still very similar to that in the ,madonna with the ,cherries4 ,illustration3 ,st4 ,eustace 7or ,st4 ,hubert7 with the ,miracle of the ,stag4 ,from a ,drawing by ,titian in the ,british ,museum4 ,apart from all these sacred works1 and in every respect an exceptional production1 is the world-famous ,cristo della ,moneta of the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,as to the exact date to be assigned to this panel among the early works of ,titian considerable difficulty exists4 ,for once agreeing with ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,morelli is inclined to disregard the testimony of ,vasari1 from whose text it would result that it was painted in or after the year #aead1 and to place it as far back as #aejh4 ,notwithstanding this weight of authority the writer is strongly inclined1 following ,vasari in this instance1 and trusting to certain indications furnished by the picture itself1 to return to the date #aead or thereabouts4 ,there is no valid reason to doubt that the ,christ of the ,tribute-,money was painted for ,alfonso ,i4 of ,ferrara1 and the less so1 seeing that it so aptly illustrates the already quoted legend on his coins3 ,quod est ,caesaris ,caesari1 quod est ,dei ,deo4 ,according to ,vasari1 it was painted nella porta d'un armario--that is to say1 in the door of a press or wardrobe4 ,but this statement need not be taken in its most literal sense4 ,if it were to be assumed from this passage that the picture was painted on the spot1 its date must be advanced to #aeaf1 since ,titian did not pay his first visit to ,ferrara before that year4 ,there is no sufficient ground1 however1 for assuming that he did not execute his wonderful panel in the usual fashion--that is to say1 at home in ,venice4 ,the last finishing touches might1 perhaps1 have been given to it in situ1 as they were to ,bellini's ,bacchanal1 done also for the ,duke of ,ferrara4 ,the extraordinary finish of the painting1 which is hardly to be paralleled in this respect in the life-work of the artist1 may have been due to his desire to show his hand to his new patron in a subject which touched him so nearly4 ,and then the finish is not of the ,quattrocento type1 not such as we find1 for instance1 in the ,leonardo ,loredano of ,giovanni ,bellini1 the finest panels of ,cima1 or the early ,christ bearing the ,cross of ,giorgione4 ,in it exquisite polish of surface and consummate rendering of detail are combined with the utmost breadth and majesty of composition1 with a now perfect freedom in the casting of the draperies4 ,it is difficult1 indeed1 to imagine that this masterpiece--so eminently a work of the ,cinquecento1 and one1 too1 in which the master of ,cadore rose superior to all influences1 even to that of ,giorgione--could have been painted in #aejh1 that is some two years before ,bellini's ,baptism of ,christ in ,s4 ,corona1 and in all probability before the ,three ,philosophers of ,giorgione himself4 ,the one of ,titian's own early pictures with which it appears to the writer to have most in common--not so much in technique1 indeed1 as in general style--is the ,st4 ,mark of the ,salute1 and than this it is very much less ,giorgionesque4 ,to praise the ,cristo della ,moneta anew after it has been so incomparably well praised seems almost an impertinence4 ,the soft radiance of the colour so well matches the tempered majesty1 the infinite mansuetude of the conception2 the spirituality1 which is of the essence of the august subject1 is so happily expressed1 without any sensible diminution of the splendour of ,renaissance art approaching its highest4 ,and yet nothing could well be simpler than the scheme of colour as compared with the complex harmonies which ,venetian art in a somewhat later phase affected4 ,frank contrasts are established between the tender1 glowing flesh of the ,christ1 seen in all the glory of achieved manhood1 and the coarse1 brown skin of the son of the people who appears as the ,pharisee2 between the bright yet tempered red of ,his robe and the deep blue of ,his mantle4 ,but the golden glow1 which is ,titian's own1 envelops the contrasting figures and the contrasting hues in its harmonising atmosphere1 and gives unity to the whole4#bh ,illustration3 ,the ,cristo della ,moneta4 ,dresden ,gallery4 ,from a ,photograph by ,hanfstngl4 ,a small group of early portraits--all of them somewhat difficult to place--call for attention before we proceed4 ,probably the earliest portrait among those as yet recognised as from the hand of our painter--leaving out of the question the ,baffo and the portrait-figures in the great ,st4 ,mark of the ,salute--is the magnificent ,ariosto in the ,earl of ,darnley's ,collection at ,cobham ,hall4#bi ,there is very considerable doubt1 to say the least1 as to whether this half-length really represents the court poet of ,ferrara1 but the point requires more elaborate discussion than can be here conceded to it4 ,thoroughly ,giorgionesque is the soberly tinted yet sumptuous picture in its general arrangement1 as in its general tone1 and in this respect it is the fitting companion and the descendant of ,giorgione's ,antonio ,broccardo at ,buda-,pesth1 of his ,knight of ,malta at the ,uffizi4 ,its resemblance1 moreover1 is1 as regards the general lines of the composition1 a very striking one to the celebrated ,sciarra ,violin-,player by ,sebastiano del ,piombo1 now in the gallery of ,baron ,alphonse ,rothschild at ,paris1 where it is as heretofore given to ,raphael4#cj ,the handsome1 manly head has lost both subtlety and character through some too severe process of cleaning1 but ,venetian art has hardly anything more magnificent to show than the costume1 with the quilted sleeve of steely1 blue-grey satin which occupies so prominent a place in the picture4 ,illustration3 ,madonna and ,child1 with four ,saints4 ,dresden ,gallery4 ,from a ,photograph by ,hanfstngl4 ,the so-called ,concert of the ,pitti ,palace1 which depicts a young ,augustinian monk as he plays on a keyed instrument1 having on one side of him a youthful cavalier in a plumed hat1 on the other a bareheaded clerk holding a bass-viol1 was1 until ,morelli arose1 almost universally looked upon as one of the most typical ,giorgiones4#ca ,the most gifted of the purely aesthetic critics who have approached the ,italian ,renaissance1 ,walter ,pater1 actually built round this ,concert his exquisite study on the ,school of ,giorgione4 ,there can be little doubt1 notwithstanding1 that ,morelli was right in denying the authorship of ,barbarelli1 and tentatively1 for he does no more1 assigning the so subtly attractive and pathetic ,concert to the early time of ,titian4 ,to express a definitive opinion on the latter point in the present state of the picture would be somewhat hazardous4 ,the portrait of the modish young cavalier and that of the staid elderly clerk1 whose baldness renders tonsure impossible--that is just those portions of the canvas which are least well preserved--are also those that least conclusively suggest our master4 ,the passion-worn1 ultra-sensitive physiognomy of the young ,augustinian is1 undoubtedly1 in its very essence a ,giorgionesque creation1 for the fellows of which we must turn to the ,castelfranco master's just now cited ,antonio ,broccardo1 to his male portraits in ,berlin and at the ,uffizi1 to his figure of the youthful ,pallas1 son of ,evander1 in the ,three ,philosophers4 ,closer to it1 all the same1 are the ,raffo and the two portraits in the ,st4 ,mark of the ,salute1 and closer still is the supremely fine ,jeune ,homme au ,gant of the ,salon ,carr1 that later production of ,vecelli's early time4 ,the ,concert of the ,pitti1 so far as it can be judged through the retouches that cover it1 displays an art certainly not finer or more delicate1 but yet in its technical processes broader1 swifter1 and more synthetic than anything that we can with certainty point to in the life-work of ,barbarelli4 ,the large but handsome and flexible hands of the player are much nearer in type and treatment to ,titian than they are to his master4 ,the beautiful motive--music for one happy moment uniting by invisible bonds of sympathy three human beings--is akin to that in the ,three ,ages1 though there love steps in as the beautifier of rustic harmony4 ,it is to be found also in ,giorgione's ,concert ,champtre1 in the ,louvre1 in which the thrumming of the lute is1 however1 one among many delights appealing to the senses4 ,this smouldering heat1 this tragic passion in which youth revels1 looking back already with discontent1 yet forward also with unquenchable yearning1 is the keynote of the ,giorgionesque and the early ,titianesque male portraiture4 ,it is summed up by the ,antonio ,broccardo of the first1 by the ,jeune ,homme au ,gant of the second4 ,altogether other1 and less due to a reaction from physical ardour1 is the exquisite sensitiveness of ,lorenzo ,lotto1 who sees most willingly in his sitters those qualities that are in the closest sympathy with his own highly-strung nature1 and loves to present them as some secret1 indefinable woe tears at their heart-strings4 ,a strong element of the ,giorgionesque pathos informs still and gives charm to the ,sciarra ,violin-,player of ,sebastiano del ,piombo2 only that there it is already tempered by the haughty self-restraint more proper to ,florentine and ,roman portraiture4 ,there is little or nothing to add after this as to the ,jeune ,homme au ,gant1 except that as a representation of aristocratic youth it has hardly a parallel among the master's works except1 perhaps1 a later and equally admirable1 though less distinguished1 portrait in the ,pitti4 ,illustration3 ,from a ,photograph by ,bran ,clement ,cie4 ,walter ,l4 ,colls4 ph4 sc4 ,jeune ,homme au gant ,illustration3 ,a ,concert4 ,probably by ,titian4 ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence4 ,from a ,photograph by ,alinari4 ,not until ,van ,dyck1 refining upon ,rubens under the example of the ,venetians1 painted in the pensieroso mood his portraits of high-bred ,english cavaliers in all the pride of adolescence or earliest manhood1 was this particular aspect of youth in its flower again depicted with the same felicity4#cb ,to ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's pages the reader must be referred for a detailed and interesting account of ,titian's intrigues against the venerable ,giovanni ,bellini in connection with the ,senseria1 or office of broker1 to the merchants of the ,fondaco de' ,tedeschi4 ,we see there how1 on the death of the martial pontiff1 ,julius the ,second1 ,pietro ,bembo proposed to ,titian to take service with the new ,medici ,pope1 ,leo the ,tenth 7,giovanni de' ,medici71 and how ,navagero dissuaded him from such a step4 ,titian1 making the most of his own magnanimity1 proceeds to petition the ,doge and ,signori for the first vacant broker's patent for life1 on the same conditions and with the same charges and exemptions as are conceded to ,giovanni ,bellini4 ,the petition is presented on the #cast of ,may #aeac1 and the ,council of ,ten on that day moves and carries a resolution accepting ,titian's offer with all the conditions attached4 ,though he has arrived at the extreme limit of his splendid career1 old ,gian ,bellino1 who has just given new proof of his still transcendent power in the great altar-piece of ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo 7#aeac71 which is in some respects the finest of all his works1 declines to sit still under the encroachments of his dangerous competitor1 younger than himself by half a century4 ,on the #bdth of ,march #aead the ,council of ,ten revokes its decree of the previous ,may1 and formally declares that ,titian is not to receive his broker's patent on the first vacancy1 but must wait his turn4 ,seemingly nothing daunted1 ,titian petitions again1 asking for the reversion of the particular broker's patent which will become vacant on the death of ,giovanni ,bellini2 and this new offer1 which stipulates for certain special payments and provisions1 is accepted by the ,council4 ,titian1 like most other holders of the much-coveted office1 shows himself subsequently much more eager to receive its not inconsiderable emoluments than to finish the pictures1 the painting of which is the one essential duty attached to the office4 ,some further bargaining takes place with the ,council on the #ahth of ,january #aeaf1 but1 a few days after the death of ,giovanni ,bellini at the end of ,november in the same year1 fresh resolutions are passed postponing the grant to ,titian of ,bellini's patent2 notwithstanding which1 there is conclusive evidence of a later date to show that he is allowed the full enjoyment of his ,senseria in ,fontego di ,tedeschi 7sic71 with all its privileges and immunities1 before the close of this same year1 #aeaf4 ,illustration3 ,portrait of a ,man4 ,alte ,pinakothek1 ,munich4 ,from a ,photograph by ,hanfstngl4 ,it is in this year that ,titian paid his first visit to ,ferrara1 and entered into relations with ,alfonso ,i41 which were to become more intimate as the position of the master became greater and more universally recognised in ,italy4 ,it was here1 as we may safely assume1 that he completed1 or1 it may be1 repaired1 ,giovanni ,bellini's last picture1 the great ,bacchanal or ,feast of the ,gods on ,earth1 now at ,alnwick ,castle4 ,it is there that he obtained the commission for two famous works1 the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal1 designed1 in continuation of the series commenced with ,bellini's ,feast of the ,gods1 to adorn a favourite apartment in ,alfonso's castle of ,ferrara2 the series being completed a little later on by that crown and climax of the whole set1 the ,bacchus and ,ariadne of the ,national ,gallery4 ,bellini appears in an unfamiliar phase in this final production of his magnificent old age1 on which the signature1 together with the date1 #aead1 so carefully noted by ,vasari1 is still most distinctly to be read4 ,much less ,giorgionesque--if the term be in this case permissible--and more ,quattrocentist in style than in the immediately preceding altar-piece of ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo1 he is here hardly less interesting4 ,all admirers of his art are familiar with the four beautiful ,allegories of the ,accademia delle ,belle ,arti at ,venice1 which constitute1 besides the present picture1 almost his sole excursion into the regions of pagan mythology and symbolism4 ,these belong1 however1 to a considerably earlier period of his maturity1 and show a fire which in the ,bacchanal has died out4#cc ,vasari describes this ,bacchanal as one of the most beautiful works ever executed by ,gian ,bellino1 and goes on to remark that it has in the draperies a certain angular 7or cutting7 quality in accordance with the ,german style4 ,he strangely attributes this to an imitation of ,drer's ,rosenkranzfest1 painted some eight years previously for the ,church of ,san ,bartolommeo1 adjacent to the ,fondaco de' ,tedeschi4 ,this particularity1 noted by the author of the ,vite1 and1 in some passages1 a certain hardness and opacity of colour1 give rise to the surmise that1 even in the parts of the picture which belong to ,bellini1 the co-operation of ,basaiti may be traced4 ,it was he who most probably painted the background and the figure of ,st4 ,jerome in the master's altar-piece finished in the preceding year for ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo2 it was he1 too1 who to a great extent executed1 though he cannot have wholly devised1 the ,bellinesque ,madonna in ,glory with ,eight ,saints in the ,church of ,san ,pietro ,martire at ,murano1 which belongs to this exact period4 ,even in the ,madonna of the ,brera ,gallery 7#aeaj71 which shows ,gian ,bellino's finest landscape of the late time1 certain hardnesses of colour in the main group suggest the possibility of a minor co-operation by ,basaiti4 ,some passages of the ,bacchanal1 however--especially the figures of the two blond1 fair-breasted goddesses or nymphs who1 in a break in the trees1 stand relieved against the yellow bands of a sunset sky--are as beautiful as anything that ,venetian art in its ,bellinesque phase has produced up to the date of the picture's appearance4 ,very suggestive of ,bellini is the way in which the hair of some of the personages is dressed in heavy formal locks1 such as can only be produced by artificial means4 ,these are to be found1 no doubt1 chiefly in his earliest or ,paduan period1 when they are much more defined and rigid4 ,still this coiffure--for as such it must be designated--is to be found more or less throughout the master's career4 ,it is very noticeable in the ,allegories just mentioned4 ,illustration3 ,alessandro de' ,medici 7so called74 ,hampton ,court4 ,from a ,photograph by ,spooner ,co4 ,infinitely pathetic is the old master's vain attempt to infuse into the chosen subject the measure of ,dionysiac vehemence that it requires4 ,an atmosphere of unruffled peace1 a grand serenity1 unconsciously betraying life-weariness1 replaces the amorous unrest that courses like fire through the veins of his artistic offspring1 ,giorgione and ,titian4 ,the audacious gestures and movements naturally belonging to this rustic festival1 in which the gods unbend and1 after the homelier fashion of mortals1 rejoice1 are indicated2 but they are here gone through1 it would seem1 only pour la forme4 ,a careful examination of the picture substantially confirms ,vasari's story that the ,feast of the ,gods was painted upon by ,titian1 or to put it otherwise1 suggests in many passages a ,titianesque hand4 ,it may well be1 at the same time1 that ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle are right in their conjecture that what the younger master did was rather to repair injury to the last work of the elder and supplement it by his own than to complete a picture left unfinished by him4 ,the whole conception1 the charpente1 the contours of even the landscape are attributable to ,bellini4 ,his are the carefully-defined1 naked tree-trunks to the right1 with above in the branches a pheasant1 and on a twig1 in the immediate foreground of the picture1 a woodpecker2 his is the rocky formation of the foreground with its small pebbles4#cd ,even the tall1 beetling crag1 crowned with a castle sunset-lit--so confidently identified with the rock of ,cadore and its castle--is ,bellinesque in conception1 though not in execution4 ,by ,titian1 and brushed in with a loose breadth that might be taken to betray a certain impatience and lack of interest1 are the rocks1 the cloud-flecked blue sky1 the uplands and forest-growth to the left1 the upper part of the foliage that caps the hard1 round tree-trunks to the right4 ,if it is ,titian that we have here1 as certainly appears most probable1 he cannot be deemed to have exerted his full powers in completing or developing the ,bellinesque landscape4 ,the task may well1 indeed1 have presented itself to him as an uninviting one4 ,there is nothing to remind the beholder1 in conception or execution1 of the exquisite ,giorgionesque landscapes in the ,three ,ages and the ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 while the broader handling suggests rather the technical style1 but in no way the beauty of the sublime prospect which opens out in the ,bacchus and ,ariadne4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,the ,worship of ,venus and ,bacchanal ,place in ,art of the ,assunta--,the ,bacchus and ,ariadne--,so-called ,portraits of ,alfonso of ,ferrara and ,laura ,dianti--,the ,st4 ,sebastian of ,brescia--,altar-pieces at ,ancona and in the ,vatican--,the ,entombment of the ,louvre--,the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro--,place among ,titian's works of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr4 ,in the year in which ,titian paid his first visit to ,ferrara1 ,ariosto brought out there his first edition of the ,orlando ,farioso4#ce ,a greater degree of intimacy between poet and painter has in some quarters been presupposed than probably existed at this stage of ,titian's career1 when his relation to ,alfonso and the ,ferrarese ,court was far from being as close as it afterwards became4 ,it has accordingly been surmised that in the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal1 painted for ,alfonso1 we have proof that he yielded to the influence of the romantic poet who infused new life-blood into the imaginative literature of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,in their frank sensuousness1 in their fulness of life1 in their unforced marriage of humanity to its environment1 these very pictures are1 however1 essentially ,pagan and ,greek1 not by any process of cold and deliberate imitation1 but by a similar natural growth from a broad groundwork provided by ,nature herself4 ,it was the passionate and unbridled ,dosso ,dossi who among painters stood in the closest relation to ,ariosto1 both in his true vein of romanticism and his humorous eccentricity4 ,illustration3 ,the ,worship of ,venus4 ,prado ,gallery1 ,madrid4 ,from a ,photograph by ,braun1 ,clment1 ,cie4 ,in the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal we have left behind already the fresh morning of ,titian's genius1 represented by the ,giorgionesque works already enumerated1 and are rapidly approaching its bright noon4 ,another forward step has been taken1 but not without some evaporation of the subtle ,giorgionesque perfume exhaled by the more delicate flowers of genius of the first period4 ,the ,worship of ,venus might be more appropriately named ,games of the ,loves in ,honour of ,venus4 ,the subject is taken from the ,imagines#cf of ,philostratus1 a renowned ,greek sophist1 who1 belonging to a late period of the ,roman ,empire1 yet preserved intact the self-conscious grace and charm of the ,hellenistic mode of conception4 ,the theme is supplied by a series of paintings1 supposed to have been seen by him in a villa near ,naples1 but by one important group of modern scholars held to be creations of the author's fertile brain4 ,before a statue of ,venus more or less of the ,praxitelean type--a more earthly sister of those which have been named the ,townley ,venus and the ,vnus d',arles--myriads of ,loves sport1 kissing1 fondling1 leaping1 flying1 playing rhythmic games1 some of them shooting arrows at the opposing faction1 to which challenge merry answer is made with the flinging of apples4 ,incomparable is the vigour1 the life1 the joyousness of the whole1 and incomparable must have been the splendour of the colour before the outrages of time 7and the cleaner7 dimmed it4 ,these delicious pagan amorini are the successors of the angelic putti of an earlier time1 whom the ,tuscan sculptors of the ,quattrocento had already converted into more joyous and more earthly beings than their predecessors had imagined4 ,such painters of the ,north1 in touch with the ,south1 as ,albrecht ,drer1 ,mabuse1 and ,jacob ,cornelissen van ,oostsanen1 delighted in scattering through their sacred works these lusty1 thick-limbed little urchins1 and made them merrier and more mischievous still1 with their quaint ,northern physiognomy4 ,to say nothing on this occasion of ,albani1 ,poussin1 and the ,flemish sculptors of the seventeenth century1 with ,du ,quesnoy and ,van ,opstal at their head1 ,rubens and ,van ,dyck derived their chief inspiration in similar subjects from these ,loves of ,titian4#cg ,the sumptuous ,bacchanal1 for which1 we are told1 ,alfonso gave the commission and supplied the subject in #aeah1 is a performance of a less delicate charm but a more realistic vigour than its companion4 ,from certain points of analogy with an ,ariadne described by ,philostratus1 it has been very generally assumed that we have here a representation of the daughter of ,minos consoled already for the departure of ,theseus1 whose sail gleams white on the blue sea in the distance4 ,no ,dionysus is1 however1 seen here among the revellers1 who1 in their orgies1 do honour to the god1 ,ariadne's new lover4 ,the revel in a certain audacious abandon denotes rather the festival from which the protagonists have retired1 leaving the scene to the meaner performers4 ,even a certain agreement in pose between the realistic but lovely figure of the ,bacchante1 overcome with the fumes of wine1 and the late classic statues then1 and until lately1 entitled ,the ,sleeping ,ariadne1 does not lead the writer to believe that we have here the new spouse of ,dionysus so lately won back from despair4 ,the undraped figure1#ch both in its attitude and its position in the picture1 recalls the half-draped ,bacchante1 or goddess1 in ,bellini's ,bacchanal at ,alnwick4 ,titian's lovely mortal here may rank as a piece of flesh with ,correggio's dazzling ,antiope in the ,louvre1 but not with ,giorgione's ,venus or ,titian's own ,antiope1 in which a certain feminine dignity spiritualises and shields from scorn beauty unveiled and otherwise defenceless4 ,the climax of the splendid and distinctively ,titianesque colour-harmony is the agitated crimson garment of the brown-limbed dancer who1 facing his white-robed partner1 turns his back to the spectator4 ,this has the strongly marked yellowish lights that we find again in the streaming robe of ,bacchus in the ,national ,gallery picture1 and yet again in the garment of ,nicodemus in the ,entombment4 ,the charming little ,tambourine ,player1 which is ,no4 #aha in the ,vienna ,gallery1 may be placed somewhere near the time of the great works just now described1 but rather before than after them4 ,what that is new remains to be said about the ,assunta1 or ,assumption of the ,virgin1 which was ordered of ,titian as early as #aeaf1 but not shown to the public on the high altar of ,santa ,maria de' ,frari until the #bjth of ,march #aeah8 ,to appreciate the greatest of extant ,venetian altar-pieces at its true worth it is necessary to recall what had and what had not appeared at the time when it shone undimmed upon the world4 ,thus ,raphael had produced the ,stanze1 the ,cartoons1 the ,madonnas of ,foligno and ,san ,sisto1 but not yet the ,transfiguration2 ,michelangelo had six years before uncovered his magnum opus1 the ,ceiling of the ,sixtine ,chapel2 ,andrea del ,sarto had some four years earlier completed his beautiful series of frescoes at the ,annunziata in ,florence4 ,among painters whom1 origin notwithstanding1 we must group as ,venetians1 ,palma had in #aeae painted for the altar of the ,bombardieri at ,s4 ,maria ,formosa his famous ,santa ,barbara2 ,lorenzo ,lotto in the following year had produced his characteristic and1 in its charm of fluttering movement1 strangely unconventional altar-piece for ,s4 ,bartolommeo at ,bergamo1 the ,madonna with ,ten ,saints4 ,in none of these masterpieces of the full ,renaissance1 even if they had all been seen by ,titian1 which was far from being the case1 was there any help to be derived in the elaboration of a work which cannot be said to have had any precursor in the art of ,venice4 ,there was in existence one altar-piece dealing with the same subject from which ,titian might possibly have obtained a hint4 ,this was the ,assumption of the ,virgin painted by ,drer in #aeji for ,jacob ,heller1 and now only known by ,paul ,juvenel's copy in the ,municipal ,gallery at ,frankfort4 ,the group of the ,apostles gazing up at the ,virgin1 as she is crowned by the ,father and the ,son1 was at the time of its appearance1 in its variety as in its fine balance of line1 a magnificent novelty in art4 ,without exercising a too fanciful ingenuity1 it would be possible to find points of contact between this group and the corresponding one in the ,assunta4 ,but ,titian could not at that time have seen the original of the ,heller altar-piece1 which was in the ,dominican ,church at ,frankfort1 where it remained for a century4#ci ,he no doubt did see the ,assumption in the ,marienleben completed in #aeaj2 but then this1 though it stands in a definite relation to the ,heller altar-piece1 is much stiffer and more formal--much less likely to have inspired the master of ,cadore4 ,the ,assunta was already in ,vasari's time much dimmed1 and thus difficult to see in its position on the high altar4 ,joshua ,reynolds1 when he visited the ,frari in #ageb1 says that he saw it near2 it was most terribly dark but nobly painted4 ,now1 in the ,accademia delle ,belle ,arti1 it shines forth again1 not indeed uninjured1 but sufficiently restored to its pristine beauty to vindicate its place as one of the greatest productions of ,italian art at its highest4 ,the sombre1 passionate splendours of the colouring in the lower half1 so well adapted to express the supreme agitation of the moment1 so grandly contrast with the golden glory of the skies through which the ,virgin is triumphantly borne1 surrounded by myriads of angels and cherubim1 and awaited by the ,eternal4 ,this last is a figure the divine serenity of which is the strongest contrast to those terrible representations of the ,deity1 so relentless in their superhuman majesty1 which1 in the ceiling of the ,sixtine1 move through the ,infinite and fill the beholder with awe4 ,the over-substantial1 the merely mortal figure of the ,virgin1 in her voluminous red and blue draperies1 has often been criticised1 and not without some reason4 ,yet how in this tremendous ensemble1 of which her form is1 in the more exact sense1 the centre of attraction and the climax1 to substitute for ,titian's conception anything more diaphanous1 more ethereal8 ,it is only when we strive to replace the colossal figure in the mind's eye1 by a design of another and a more spiritual character1 that the difficulty in all its extent is realised4 ,illustration3 ,the ,assunta4 ,accademia delle ,belle ,arti1 ,venice4 ,placed as the ,assunta now is in the immediate neighbourhood of one of ,tintoretto's best-preserved masterpieces1 the ,miracolo del ,schiavo1 it undergoes an ordeal from which1 in the opinion of many a modern connoisseur and lover of ,venetian art1 it does not issue absolutely triumphant4 ,titian's turbulent rival is more dazzling1 more unusual1 more overpowering in the lurid splendour of his colour2 and he has that unique power of bringing the spectator to a state of mind1 akin in its agitation to his own1 in which he gladly renounces his power and right to exercise a sane judgment4 ,when he is thoroughly penetrated with his subject1 ,tintoretto soars perhaps on a stronger pinion and higher above the earth than the elder master4 ,yet in fulness and variety of life1 in unexaggerated dignity1 in coherence1 in richness and beauty1 if not in poetic significance of colour1 in grasp of humanity and nature1 ,titian stands infinitely above his younger competitor4 ,if1 unhappily1 it were necessary to make a choice between the life-work of the one and the life-work of the other--making the world the poorer by the loss of ,titian or ,tintoretto--can it be doubted for a moment what the choice would be1 even of those who abdicate when they are brought face to face with the mighty genius of the latter8 ,but to return for a moment to the ,assunta4 ,the enlargement of dimensions1 the excessive vehemence of movement in the magnificent group of the ,apostles is an exaggeration1 not a perversion1 of truth4 ,it carries the subject into the domain of the heroic1 the immeasurable1 without depriving it of the great pulsation of life4 ,if in sublime beauty and intellectuality the figures1 taken one by one1 cannot rank with the finest of those in ,raphael's ,cartoons1 yet they preserve in a higher degree1 with dramatic unity and truth1 this precious quality of vitality4 ,the expressiveness1 the interpretative force of the gesture is the first thought1 its rhythmic beauty only the second4 ,this is not always the case with the ,cartoons1 and the reverse process1 everywhere adhered to in the ,transfiguration1 is what gives to that overrated last work of ,sanzio its painfully artificial character4 ,titian himself in the ,st4 ,sebastian of ,brescia1 and above all in the much-vaunted masterpiece1 ,the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter the ,dominican1 sins in the same direction1 but exceptionally only1 and1 as it were1 against his better self4 ,little wonder that the ,franciscan ,fathers were at first uncertain1 and only half inclined to be enthusiastic1 when they entered into possession of a work hitherto without parallel in ,italian or any other art4#dj ,what is great1 and at the same time new1 must inevitably suffer opposition at the outset4 ,in this case the public1 admitted on the high festival of ,st4 ,bernardino's ,day in the year #aeah to see the vast panel1 showed themselves less timorous1 more enthusiastically favourable than the friars had been4 ,fra ,germano1 the guardian of ,santa ,maria de' ,frari1 and the chief mover in the matter1 appears to have offered an apology to the ruffled painter1 and the ,fathers retained the treasure as against the ,imperial ,envoy1 ,adorno1 who had seen and admired ,titian's wonderful achievement on the day of its ceremonial introduction to the ,venetians4 ,to the year #aeai belongs the ,annunciation in the ,cathedral of ,treviso1 the merit of which1 in the opinion of the writer1 has been greatly overstated4 ,true1 the ,virgin1 kneeling in the foreground as she awaits the divine message1 is of unsurpassable suavity and beauty2 but the foolish little archangel tumbling into the picture and the grotesquely ill-placed donor go far to mar it4 ,putting aside for the moment the beautiful and profoundly moving representations of the subject due to the ,florentines and the ,sienese--both sculptors and painters--south of the ,alps1 and to the ,netherlanders north of them1 during the whole of the fifteenth century1 the essential triviality of the conception in the ,treviso picture makes such a work as ,lorenzo ,lotto's pathetic ,annunciation at ,recanati1 for all its excess of agitation1 appear dignified by comparison4 ,titian's own ,annunciation1 bequeathed to the ,scuola di ,s4 ,rocco by ,amelio ,cortona1 and still to be seen hung high up on the staircase there1 has a design of far greater gravity and appropriateness1 and is in many respects the superior of the better known picture4 ,illustration3 ,the ,annunciation4 ,cathedral at ,treviso4 ,from a ,photograph by ,alinari4 ,now again1 a few months after the death of ,alfonso's ,duchess1--the passive1 and in later life estimable ,lucrezia ,borgia1 whose character has been wilfully misconceived by the later historians and poets1--our master proceeds by the route of the ,po to ,ferrara1 taking with him1 we are told1 the finished ,bacchanal1 already described above4 ,he appears to have again visited the ,court in #aebj1 and yet again in the early part of #aebc4 ,on which of these visits he took with him and completed at ,ferrara 787 the last of the ,bacchanalian series1 our ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 is not quite clear4 ,it will not be safe to put the picture too late in the earlier section of ,vecelli's work1 though1 with all its freshness of inspiration and still youthful passion1 it shows a further advance on the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal1 and must be deemed to close the great series inaugurated by the ,feast of the ,gods of ,gian ,bellino4 ,to the two superb fantasies of ,titian already described our ,national ,gallery picture is infinitely superior1 and though time has not spared it1 any more than it has other great ,venetian pictures of the golden time1 it is in far better condition than they are4 ,in the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal the allegiance to ,giorgiono has been partly1 if not wholly1 shaken off2 the navet remains1 but not the infinite charm of the earlier ,giorgionesque pieces4 ,in the ,bacchus and ,ariadne ,titian's genius flames up with an intensity of passion such as will hardly again be seen to illuminate it in an imaginative subject of this class4 ,certainly1 with all the beauties of the ,venuses1 of the ,diana and ,actaeon1 the ,diana and ,calisto1 the ,rape of ,europa1 we descend lower and lower in the quality of the conception as we advance1 though the brush more and more reveals its supreme accomplishment1 its power to summarise and subordinate4 ,only in those later pieces1 the ,venere del ,pardo of the ,louvre and the ,nymph and ,shepherd of ,vienna1 is there a moment of pause1 a return to the painted poem of the earlier times1 with its exquisite navet and mitigated sensuousness4 ,illustration3 ,bacchus and ,ariadne4 ,national ,gallery4 ,from a ,photograph published by the ,autotype ,company4 ,the ,bacchus and ,ariadne is a ,titian which even the ,louvre1 the ,museum of the ,prado1 and the ,vienna ,gallery1 rich as they are in our master's works1 may envy us4 ,the picture is1 as it were1 under the eye of most readers1 and in some shape or form is familiar to all who are interested in ,italian art4 ,this time ,titian had no second-rate ,valerius ,flaccus or subtilising ,philostratus to guide him1 but ,catullus himself1 whose ,epithalamium ,pelei et ,thetidos he followed with a closeness which did not prevent the pictorial interpretation from being a new creation of the subject1 thrilling through with the same noble frenzy that had animated the original4 ,how is it possible to better express the ,at parte ex ali florens volitabat ,iacchus4444 ,te quaerens1 ,ariadna1 tuoque incensus amore of the ,veronese poet than by the youthful1 eager movement of the all-conquering god in the canvas of the ,venetian8 ,or to paraphrase with a more penetrating truth those other lines3 ,horum pars tecta quatiebant cuspide thyrsos2 ,pars e divolso iactabant membra iuvenco2 ,pars sese tortis serpentibus incingebant8 ,ariadne's crown of stars--the ,ex ,ariadneis aurea temporibus ,fixa corona of the poem--shines in ,titian's sky with a sublime radiance which corresponds perfectly to the description1 so august in its very conciseness1 of ,catullus4 ,the splendour of the colour in this piece--hardly equalled in its happy audacity1 save by the ,madonna del ,coniglio or ,vierge au ,lapin of the ,louvre1#da would be a theme delightful to dwell upon1 did the prescribed limits of space admit of such an indulgence4 ,even here1 however1 where in sympathy with his subject1 all aglow with the delights of sense1 he has allowed no conventional limitation to restrain his imagination from expressing itself in appropriately daring chromatic harmonies1 he cannot be said to have evoked difficulties merely for the sake of conquering them4 ,this is not the sparkling brilliancy of those ,veronese transformed into ,venetians--,bonifazio ,primo and ,paolo ,caliari2 or the gay1 stimulating colour-harmony of the ,brescian ,romanino2 or the more violent and self-assertive splendour of ,gaudenzio ,ferrari2 or the mysterious glamour of the poet-painter ,dosso ,dossi4 ,with ,titian the highest degree of poetic fancy1 the highest technical accomplishment1 are not allowed to obscure the true ,venetian dignity and moderation in the use of colour1 of which our master may in the full ,renaissance be considered the supreme exponent4 ,the ever-popular picture in the ,salon ,carr of the ,louvre now known as ,alfonso ,i4 of ,ferrara and ,laura ,dianti1 but in the collection of ,charles ,i4 called1 with no nearer approach to the truth1 ,titian's ,mistress after the ,life1 comes in very well at this stage4 ,the exuberant beauty1 with the skin of dazzling fairness and the unbound hair of rippling gold1 is the last in order of the earthly divinities inspired by ,giorgione--the loveliest of all in some respects1 the most consummately rendered1 but the least significant1 the one nearest still to the realities of life4 ,the chief harmony is here one of dark blue1 myrtle green1 and white1 setting off flesh delicately rosy1 the whole enframed in the luminous half-gloom of a background shot through here and there with gleams of light4 ,vasari described how ,titian painted1 ottimamente con un braccio sopra un gran pezzo d' artiglieria1 the ,duke ,alfonso1 and how he portrayed1 too1 the ,signora ,laura1 who afterwards became the wife of the duke1 che opera stupenda4 ,it is upon this foundation1 and a certain real or fancied resemblance between the cavalier who in the background holds the mirror to his splendid donna and the ,alfonso of ,ferrara of the ,museo del ,prado1 that the popular designation of this lovely picture is founded1 which probably1 like so many of its class1 represents a fair ,venetian courtesan with a lover proud of her fresh1 yet full-blown beauty4 ,now1 however1 the accomplished biographer of ,velazquez1 ,herr ,carl ,justi1#db comes forward with convincing arguments to show that the handsome insouciant personage1 with the crisply curling dark hair and beard1 in ,titian's picture at ,madrid cannot possibly be1 as has hitherto been almost universally assumed1 ,alfonso ,i4 of ,ferrara1 but may very probably be his son1 ,ercole ,,ii4 ,this alone invalidates the favourite designation of the ,louvre picture1 and renders it highly unlikely that we have here the stupendous portrait of the ,signora ,laura mentioned by ,vasari4 ,a comparison of the ,madrid portrait with the so-called ,giorgio ,cornaro of ,castle ,howard--a famous portrait by ,titian of a gentleman holding a hawk1 and having a sporting dog as his companion1 which was seen at the recent ,venetian exhibition of the ,new ,gallery--results in something like certainty that in both is the same personage portrayed4 ,it is not only that the quality and cast of the close curling hair and beard are the same in both portraits1 and that the handsome features agree exceedingly well2 the sympathetic personage gives in either case the same impression of splendid manhood fully and worthily enjoyed1 yet not abused4 ,this means that if the ,madrid portrait be taken to present the gracious ,ercole ,,ii4 of ,ferrara1 then must it be held that also in the ,castle ,howard picture is ,alfonso's son and successor portrayed4 ,in the latter canvas1 which bears1 according to ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 the later signature ,titianus ,f41 the personage is1 it may be1 a year or two older4 ,let it be borne in mind that only on the back of the canvas is1 or rather was1 to be found the inscription3 ,georgius ,cornelius1 frater ,catterinae ,cipri et ,hierusalem ,reginae 7sic71 upon the authority of which it bears its present designation4 ,the altar-piece1 ,the ,virgin and ,child with ,angels1 adored by ,st4 ,francis1 ,st4 ,blaise1 and a ,donor1 now in ,san ,domenico1 but formerly in ,san ,francesco at ,ancona1 bears the date #aebj and the signature ,titianus ,cadorinus pinsit1 this being about the first instance in which the later spelling ,titianus appears4 ,if as a pictorial achievement it cannot rank with the ,san ,niccol and the ,pesaro altar-pieces1 it presents some special points of interest which make it easily distinguishable from these4 ,the conception is marked by a peculiar intensity but rarely to be met with in our master at this stage1 and hardly in any other altar-piece of this particular type4 ,it reveals a passionate unrest1 an element of the uncurbed1 the excessive1 which one expects to find rather in ,lorenzo ,lotto than in ,titian1 whose dramatic force is generally1 even in its most vigorous manifestations1 well under control4 ,the design suggests that in some shape or other the painter was acquainted with ,raphael's ,madonna di ,foligno2 but it is dramatic and real where the ,urbinate's masterpiece was lofty and symbolical4 ,still ,titian's ,st4 ,francis1 rapt in contemplation1 is sublime in steadfastness and intensity of faith2 the kneeling donor is as pathetic in the humility of his adoration as any similar figure in a ,quattrocento altar-piece1 yet his expressive head is touched with the hand of a master of the full ,renaissance4 ,an improved version of the upper portion of the ,ancona picture1 showing the ,madonna and ,child with angels in the clouds1 appears a little later on in the ,s4 ,niccol altar-piece4 ,illustration3 ,st4 ,sebastian4 ,wing of altar-piece in the ,church of ,,ss4 ,nazzaro e ,celso1 ,brescia4 ,from a ,photograph by ,alinari4 ,coming to the important altar-piece completed in #aebb for the ,papal ,legate1 ,averoldo1 and originally placed on the high altar in the ,church of ,,ss4 ,nazzaro e ,celso at ,brescia1 we find a marked change of style and sentiment4 ,the ,st4 ,sebastian presently to be referred to1 constituting the right wing of the altar-piece1 was completed before the rest1#dc and excited so great an interest in ,venice that ,tebaldi1 the agent of ,duke ,alfonso1 made an attempt to defeat the ,legate and secure the much-talked-of piece for his master4 ,titian succumbed to an offer of sixty ducats in ready money1 thus revealing neither for the first nor the last time the least attractive yet not the least significant side of his character4 ,but at the last moment ,alfonso1 fearing to make an enemy of the ,legate1 drew back and left to ,titian the discredit without the profit of the transaction4 ,the central compartment of the ,brescia altar-piece presents ,the ,resurrection1 the upper panels on the left and right show together the ,annunciation1 the lower left panel depicts the patron saints1 ,nazarus and ,celsus1 with the kneeling donor1 ,averoldo2 the lower right panel has the famous ,st4 ,sebastian#dd in the foreground1 and in the landscape the ,angel ministering to ,st4 ,roch4 ,the ,st4 ,sebastian is neither more nor less than the magnificent academic study of a nude athlete bound to a tree in such fashion as to bring into violent play at one and the same moment every muscle in his splendidly developed body4 ,there is neither in the figure nor in the beautiful face framed in long falling hair any pretence at suggesting the agony or the ecstasy of martyrdom4 ,a wide gulf indeed separates the mood and the method of this superb bravura piece from the reposeful charm of the ,giorgionesque saint in the ,st4 ,mark of the ,salute1 or the healthy realism of the unconcerned ,st4 ,sebastian in the ,s4 ,niccol altar-piece4 ,here1 as later on with the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 those who admire in ,venetian art in general1 and in that of ,titian in particular1 its freedom from mere rhetoric and the deep root that it has in ,nature1 must protest that in this case moderation and truth are offended by a conception in its very essence artificial4 ,yet1 brought face to face with the work itself1 they will put aside the role of critic1 and against their better judgment pay homage unreservedly to depth and richness of colour1 to irresistible beauty of modelling and painting4#de ,analogies have been drawn between the ,medicean ,faun and the ,st4 ,sebastian1 chiefly on account of the strained position of the arms1 and the peculiar one of the right leg1 both in the statue and the painting2 but surely the most obvious and natural resemblance1 notwithstanding certain marked variations1 is to the figure of ,laocoon in the world-famous group of the ,vatican4 ,of this a model had been made by ,sansovino for ,cardinal ,domenico ,grimani1 and of that model a cast was kept in ,titian's workshop1 from which he is said to have studied4 ,illustration3 ,,design ,,for ,a ,,holy ,,family4 ,,chatsworth4 ,from a photograph by ,braun1 ,clment ,cie4 ,illustration3 ,la ,vierge au ,lapin4 ,louvre4 ,from a ,photograph by ,neurdein4 ,in the ,madonna di ,s4 ,niccol1 which was painted or rather finished in the succeeding year1 #aebc1 for the little ,church of ,s4 ,niccol de' ,frari1 and is now in the ,pinacoteca of the ,vatican1 the keynote is suavity1 unbroken richness and harmony1 virtuosity1 but not extravagance of technique4 ,the composition must have had much greater unity before the barbarous shaving off1 when the picture went to ,rome1 of the circular top which it had in common with the ,assunta1 the ,ancona1 and the ,pesaro altar-pieces4 ,technically superior to the second of these great works1 it is marked by no such unity of dramatic action and sentiment1 by no such passionate identification of the artist with his subject4 ,it is only in passing from one of its beauties to another that its artistic worth can be fully appreciated4 ,then we admire the rapt expression1 not less than the wonderfully painted vestments of the ,st4 ,nicholas1#df the mansuetude of the ,st4 ,francis1 the ,venetian loveliness of the ,st4 ,catherine1 the palpitating life of the ,st4 ,sebastian4 ,the latter is not much more than a handsome1 over-plump young gondolier stripped and painted as he was--contemplating1 if anything1 himself4 ,the figure is just as ,vasari describes it1 ritratto dal' vivo e senza artificio niuno4 ,the royal saint of ,alexandria is a sister in refined elegance of beauty and costume1 as in cunning elaboration of coiffure1 to the ,st4 ,catherine of the ,madonna del ,coniglio1 and the not dissimilar figure in our own ,holy ,family with ,st4 ,catherine at the ,national ,gallery4 ,the fresco showing ,st4 ,christopher wading through the ,lagunes with the infant ,christ on his shoulder1 painted at the foot of a staircase in the ,palazzo ,ducale leading from the ,doge's private apartments to the ,senate ,hall1 belongs either to this year1 #aebc1 or to #aebd4 ,it is1 so far as we know1 ,titian's first performance as a frescante since the completion1 twelve years previously1 of the series at the ,scuola del ,santo of ,padua4 ,as it at present appears1 it is broad and solid in execution1 rich and brilliant in colour for a fresco1 very fairly preserved--deserving1 in fact1 of a much better reputation as regards technique than ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle have made for it4 ,the movement is broad and true1 the rugged realism of the conception not without its pathos2 yet the subject is not lifted high above the commonplace by that penetrating spirit of personal interpretation which can transfigure truth without unduly transforming it4 ,in grandeur of design and decorative character1 it is greatly exceeded by the magnificent drawing in black chalk1 heightened with white1 of the same subject1 by ,pordenone1 in the ,british ,museum4 ,even the colossal1 half-effaced ,st4 ,christopher with the ,infant ,christ1 painted by the same master on the wall of a house near the ,town ,hall at ,udine1 has a finer swing1 a more resistless energy4 ,illustration3 ,st4 ,christopher with the ,infant ,christ4 ,fresco in the ,doge's ,palace1 ,venice4 ,from a ,photograph by ,alinari4 ,where exactly in the life-work of ,titian are we to place the ,entombment of the ,louvre1 to which among his sacred works1 other than altar-pieces of vast dimensions1 the same supreme rank may be accorded which belongs to the ,bacchus and ,ariadne among purely secular subjects8 ,it was in #aebc that ,titian acquired a new and illustrious patron in the person of ,federigo ,gonzaga ,,ii41 ,marquess of ,mantua1 son of that most indefatigable of collectors1 the ,marchioness ,isabella d',este ,gonzaga1 and nephew of ,alfonso of ,ferrara4 ,the ,entombment being a ,mantua piece1#dg ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle have not unnaturally assumed that it was done expressly for the ,mantuan ruler1 in which case1 as some correspondence published by them goes to show1 it must have been painted at1 or subsequently to1 the latter end of #aebc4 ,judging entirely by the style and technical execution of the canvas itself1 the writer feels strongly inclined to place it earlier by some two years or thereabouts--that is to say1 to put it back to a period pretty closely following upon that in which the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal were painted4 ,mature as ,titian's art here is1 it reveals1 not for the last time1 the influence of ,giorgione with which its beginnings were saturated4 ,the beautiful head of ,st4 ,john shows the ,giorgionesque type and the ,giorgionesque feeling at its highest4 ,the ,joseph of ,arimathea has the robustness and the passion of the ,apostles in the ,assunta1 the crimson coat of ,nicodemus1 with its high yellowish lights1 is such as we meet with in the ,bacchanal4 ,the ,magdalen1 with her features distorted by grief1 resembles--allowing for the necessary differences imposed by the situation--the women making offering to the love-goddess in the ,worship of ,venus4 ,the figure of the ,virgin1 on the other hand1 enveloped from head to foot in her mantle of cold blue1 creates a type which would appear to have much influenced ,paolo ,veronese and his school4 ,to define the beauty1 the supreme concentration of the ,entombment1 without by dissection killing it1 is a task of difficulty4 ,what gives to it that singular power of enchanting the eye and enthralling the spirit1 the one in perfect agreement with the other1 is perhaps above all its unity1 not only of design1 but of tone1 of informing sentiment4 ,perfectly satisfying balance and interconnection of the two main groups just stops short of too obvious academic grace--the well-ordered movement1 the sweeping rhythm so well serving to accentuate the mournful harmony which envelops the sacred personages1 bound together by the bond of the same great sorrow1 and from them communicates itself1 as it were1 to the beholder4 ,in the colouring1 while nothing jars or impairs the concert of the tints taken as a whole1 each one stands out1 affirming1 but not noisily asserting1 its own splendour and its own special significance4 ,and yet the yellow of the ,magdalen's dress1 the deep green of the coat making ruddier the embrowned flesh of sturdy ,joseph of ,arimathea1 the rich shot crimson of ,nicodemus's garment1 relieved with green and brown1 the chilling white of the cloth which supports the wan limbs of ,christ1 the blue of the ,virgin's robe1 combine less to produce the impression of great pictorial magnificence than to heighten that of solemn pathos1 of portentous tragedy4 ,of the frescoes executed by ,titian for ,doge ,andrea ,gritti in the ,doge's chapel in #aebd no trace now remains4 ,they consisted of a lunette about the altar1#dh with the ,virgin and ,child between ,st4 ,nicholas and the kneeling ,doge1 figures of the four ,evangelists on either side of the altar1 and in the lunette above the entrance ,st4 ,mark seated on a lion4 ,illustration3 ,the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro4 ,church of ,s4 ,maria de' ,frari1 ,venice4 ,from a ,photograph by ,naya4 ,the ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro1 which ,titian finished in #aebf1 after having worked upon it for no less than seven years1 is perhaps the masterpiece of the painter of ,cadore among the extant altar-pieces of exceptional dimensions1 if there be excepted its former companion at the ,frari1 the ,assunta4 ,for ceremonial dignity1 for well-ordered pomp and splendour1 for the dexterous combination1 in a composition of quite sufficient vraisemblance1 of divine and sacred with real personages1 it has hardly a rival among the extant pictures of its class4 ,and yet1 apart from amazement at the pictorial skill shown1 at the difficulties overcome1 at the magnificence tempered by due solemnity of the whole1 many of us are more languidly interested by this famous canvas than we should care to confess4 ,it would hardly be possible to achieve a more splendid success with the prescribed subject and the material at hand4 ,it is the subject itself that must be deemed to be of the lower and less interesting order4 ,it necessitates the pompous exhibition of the ,virgin and ,child1 of ,st4 ,peter and other attendant saints1 united by an invisible bond of sympathy and protection1 not to a perpetually renewed crowd of unseen worshippers outside the picture1 as in ,giorgione's ,castelfranco ,madonna1 but merely to the ,pesaro family1 so proud in their humility as they kneel in adoration1 with ,jacopo ,pesaro1 ,bishop of ,paphos 7,baffo71 at their head4 ,the natural tie that should unite the sacred personages to the whole outer world1 and with it their power to impress1 is thus greatly diminished1 and we are dangerously near to a condition in which they become merely grand conventional figures in a decorative ensemble of the higher order4 ,to analyse the general scheme or the details of the glorious colour-harmony1 which has survived so many drastic renovations and cleanings1 is not possible on this occasion1 or indeed necessary4 ,the magic of bold and subtle chiaroscuro is obtained by the cloud gently descending along the two gigantic pillars which fill all the upper part of the arched canvas1 dark in the main1 but illuminated above and below by the light emanating from the divine putti2 the boldest feature in the scheme is the striking cinnamon-yellow mantle of ,st4 ,peter1 worn over a deep blue tunic1 the two boldly contrasting with the magnificent dark-red and gold banner of the ,borgias crowned with the olive branch ,peace4#di ,this is an unexpected note of the most stimulating effect1 which braces the spectator and saves him from a surfeit of richness4 ,thus1 too1 ,titian went to work in the ,bacchus and ,ariadne--giving forth a single clarion note in the scarlet scarf of the fugitive daughter of ,minos4 ,the writer is unable to accept as from the master's own hand the unfinished ,virgin and ,child which1 at the ,uffizi1 generally passes for the preliminary sketch of the central group in the ,pesaro altar-piece4 ,the original sketch in red chalk for the greater part of the composition is in the ,albertina at ,vienna4 ,the collection of drawings in the ,uffizi holds a like original study for the kneeling ,baffo4 ,illustration3 ,,sketch ,,for ,,the ,,madonna ,,di ,,casa ,,pesaro4 ,,albertina1 ,,vienna4 ,from a photograph by ,braun1 ,clment ,cie4 ,illustration3 ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter the ,dominican4 ,from the engraving by ,henri ,laurent4 ,by common consent through the centuries which have succeeded the placing of ,titian's world-renowned ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter the ,dominican on the altar of the ,brotherhood of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 in the vast ,church of ,,ss4 ,giovanni e ,paolo1 it has been put down as his masterpiece1 and as one of the most triumphant achievements of the ,renaissance at its maturity4 ,on the #afth of ,august #ahfg--one of the blackest of days in the calendar for the lover of ,venetian art--the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr was burnt in the ,cappella del ,rosario of ,,ss4 ,giovanni e ,paolo1 together with one of ,giovanni ,bellini's finest altar-pieces1 the ,virgin and ,child with ,saints and ,angels1 painted in #adgb4 ,some malign influence had caused the temporary removal to the chapel of these two priceless works during the repair of the first and second altars to the right of the nave4 ,now the many who never knew the original are compelled to form their estimate of the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr from the numerous existing copies and prints of all kinds that remain to give some sort of hint of what the picture was4 ,any appreciation of the work based on a personal impression may1 under the circumstances1 appear over-bold4 ,nothing could well be more hazardous1 indeed1 than to judge the world's greatest colourist by a translation into black-and-white1 or blackened paint1 of what he has conceived in the myriad hues of nature4 ,the writer1 not having had the good fortune to see the original1 has not fallen under the spell of the marvellously suggestive colour-scheme4 ,this ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle minutely describe1 with its prevailing blacks and whites furnished by the robes of the ,dominicans1 with its sombre1 awe-inspiring landscape1 in which lurid storm-light is held in check by the divine radiance falling almost perpendicularly from the angels above--with its single startling note of red in the hose of the executioner4 ,it is1 therefore1 with a certain amount of reluctance that he ventures to own that the composition1 notwithstanding its largeness and its tremendous swing1 notwithstanding the singular felicity with which it is framed in the overpoweringly grand landscape1 has always seemed to him strained and unnatural in its most essential elements4 ,what has been called its ,michelangelism has very ingeniously been attributed to the passing influence of ,buonarroti1 who1 fleeing from ,florence1 passed some months at ,venice in #ahbi1 and to that of his adherent ,sebastiano ,luciani1 who1 returning to his native city some time after the sack of ,rome1 had remained there until ,march in the same year4 ,all the same1 is not the exaggeration in the direction of academic loftiness and the rhetoric of passion based rather on the ,raphaelism of the later time as it culminated in the ,transfiguration8 ,all through the wonderful career of the ,urbinate1 beginning with the ,borghese ,entombment1 and going on through the ,spasimo di ,sicilia to the end1 there is this tendency to consider the nobility1 the academic perfection of a group1 a figure1 a pose1 a gesture in priority to its natural dramatic significance4 ,much less evident is this tendency in ,raphael's greatest works1 the ,stanze and the ,cartoons1 in which true dramatic significance and the sovereign beauties of exalted style generally go hand in hand4 ,the ,transfiguration itself is1 however1 the most crying example of the reversal of the natural order in the inception of a great work4 ,in it are many sublime beauties1 many figures of unsurpassable majesty if we take them separately4 ,yet the whole is a failure1 or rather two failures1 since there are two pictures instead of one in the same frame4 ,nature1 instead of being broadened and developed by art1 is here stifled4 ,in the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr the tremendous figure of the attendant friar fleeing in frenzied terror1 with vast draperies all fluttering in the storm-wind1 is in attitude and gesture based on nothing in nature4 ,it is a stage-dramatic effect1 a carefully studied attitude that we have here1 though of the most imposing kind4 ,in the same way the relation of the executioner to the martyred saint1 who in the moment of supreme agony appeals to ,heaven1 is an academic and conventional rather than a true one based on natural truth4 ,allowing for the point of view exceptionally adopted here by ,titian1 there is1 all the same1 extraordinary intensity of a kind in the dramatis personae of the gruesome scene--extraordinary facial expressiveness4 ,an immense effect is undoubtedly made1 but not one of the highest sublimity that can come only from truth1 which1 raising its crest to the heavens1 must ever have its feet firmly planted on earth4 ,still1 could one come face to face with this academic marvel as one can still with the ,st4 ,sebastian of ,brescia1 criticism would no doubt be silent1 and the magic of the painter par excellence would assert itself4 ,very curiously it is not any more less contemporary copy--least of all that by ,ludovico ,cardi da ,cigoli now1 as a miserable substitute for the original1 at ,,ss4 ,giovanni e ,paolo--that gives this impression that ,titian in the original would have prevailed over the recalcitrant critic of his great work4 ,the best notion of the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr is1 so far as the writer is aware1 to be derived from an apparently faithful modern copy by ,appert1 which hangs in the great hall of the cole des ,beaux-,arts in ,paris4 ,even through this recent repetition the beholder divines beauties1 especially in the landscape1 which bring him to silence1 and lead him1 without further carping1 to accept ,titian as he is4 ,a little more and1 criticism notwithstanding1 one would find oneself agreeing with ,vasari1 who1 perceiving in the great work a more strict adherence to those narrower rules of art which he had learnt to reverence1 than can1 as a rule1 be discovered in ,venetian painting1 described it as la pi compiuta1 la pi celebrata1 e la maggiore e meglio intesa e condotta che altra1 la quale in tutta la sua vita ,tiziano abbia fatto 7sic7 ancor mai4 ,illustration3 ,tobias and the ,angel4 ,s4 ,marciliano1 ,venice4 ,from a ,photograph by ,anderson4 ,it was after a public competition between ,titian1 ,palma1 and ,pordenone1 instituted by the ,brotherhood of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 that the great commission was given to the first-named master4 ,palma had arrived at the end of his too short career1 since he died in this same year1 #ahbh4 ,of ,pordenone's design we get a very good notion from the highly-finished drawing of the ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,peter in the ,uffizi1 which is either by or1 as the writer believes1 after the ,friulan painter1 but is at any rate in conception wholly his4 ,awkward and abrupt as this may seem in some respects1 as compared with ,titian's astonishing performance1 it represents the subject with a truer1 a more tragic pathos4 ,sublime in its gravity is the group of pitying angels aloft1 and infinitely touching the ,dominican saint who1 in the moment of violent death1 still asserts his faith4 ,among the drawings which have been deemed to be preliminary sketches for the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr are3 a pen-and-ink sketch in the ,louvre showing the assassin chasing the companion of the victim2 another1 also in the ,louvre1 in which the murderer gazes at the saint lying dead2 yet another at ,lille1 containing on one sheet thumb-nail sketches of 7or from7 the attendant friar1 the actual massacre1 and the angels in mid-air4 ,at the ,british ,museum is the drawing of a soldier attacking the prostrate ,dominican1 which gives the impression of being an adaptation or variation of that drawing by ,titian for the fresco of the ,scuola del ,santo1 ,a ,nobleman murdering his ,wife1 which is now1 as has been pointed out above1 at the cole des ,beaux-,arts of ,paris4 ,as to none of the above-mentioned drawings does the writer feel any confidence that they can be ascribed to the hand of ,titian himself4#ej ,,footnotes3 #a ,herr ,franz ,wickhoff in his now famous article ,giorgione's ,bilder zu ,rmischen ,heldengedichten 7,jahrbuch der ,kniglich ,preussischen ,kunstsammlungen3 ,sechzehnter ,band1 ,i4 ,heft7 has most ingeniously1 and upon what may be deemed solid grounds1 renamed this most ,giorgionesque of all ,giorgiones after an incident in the ,thebaid of ,statius1 ,adrastus and ,hypsipyle4 ,he gives reasons which may be accepted as convincing for entitling the ,three ,philosophers1 after a familiar incident in ,book viii4 of the ,aeneid1 ,aeneas1 ,evander1 and ,pallas contemplating the ,rock of the ,capitol4 ,his not less ingenious explanation of ,titian's ,sacred and ,profane ,love will be dealt with a little later on4 ,these identifications are all-important1 not only in connection with the works themselves thus renamed1 and for the first time satisfactorily explained1 but as compelling the students of ,giorgione partly to reconsider their view of his art1 and1 indeed1 of the ,venetian idyll generally4 #b ,for many highly ingenious interpretations of ,lotto's portraits and a sustained analysis of his art generally1 ,mr4 ,bernard ,berenson's ,lorenzo ,lotto should be consulted4 ,see also ,m4 ,emile ,michel's article1 ,les ,portraits de ,lorenzo ,lotto1 in the ,gazette des ,beaux ,arts1 #ahif1 vol4 i4 #c ,for these and other particulars of the childhood of ,titian1 see ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle's elaborate ,life and ,times of ,titian 7second edition1 #ahha71 in which are carefully summarised all the general and local authorities on the subject4 #d ,life and ,times of ,titian1 vol4 i4 p4 #bi4 #e ,die ,galerien zu ,mnchen und ,dresden1 p4 #ge4 #f ,carlo ,ridolfi 7better known as a historian of the ,venetian school of art than as a ,venetian painter of the late time7 expressly states that ,palma came young to ,venice and learnt much from ,titan3 ,c' egli apprese certa dolcezza di colorire che si avvicina alle opere prime dello stesso ,tiziano 7,lermolieff3 ,die ,galerien zu ,mnchen und ,dresden74 #g ,vasari1 ,le ,vite3 ,giorgione da ,castelfranco4 #h ,one of these is a description of wedding festivities presided over by the ,queen at ,asolo1 to which came1 among many other guests from the capital by the ,lagunes1 three ,venetian gentlemen and three ladies4 ,this gentle company1 in a series of conversations1 dwell upon1 and embroider in many variations1 that inexhaustible theme1 the love of man for woman4 ,a subject this which1 transposed into an atmosphere at once more frankly sensuous and of a higher spirituality1 might well have served as the basis for such a picture as ,giorgione's ,fte ,champtre in the ,salon ,carr of the ,louvre6 #i ,magazine of ,art1 ,july #ahie4 #aj ,life and ,times of ,titian1 vol4 i4 p4 #aaa4 #aa ,mentioned in one of the inventories of the king's effects1 taken after his execution1 as ,pope ,alexander and ,seignior ,burgeo 7,borgia7 his son4 #ab ,la ,vie et l',oeuvre du ,titien1 #ahhg4 #ac ,the inscription on a cartellino at the base of the picture1 ,ritratto di uno di ,casa ,pesaro in ,venetia che fu fatto generale di ,sta chiesa4 ,titiano fecit1 is unquestionably of much later date than the work itself4 ,the cartellino is entirely out of perspective with the marble floor to which it is supposed to adhere4 ,the part of the background showing the galleys of ,pesaro's fleet is so coarsely repainted that the original touch cannot be distinguished4 ,the form ,titiano is not to be found in any authentic picture by ,vecelli4 ,ticianus1 and much more rarely ,tician1 are the forms for the earlier time2 ,titianus is1 as a rule1 that of the later time4 ,the two forms overlap in certain instances to be presently mentioned4 #ad ,kugler's ,italian ,schools of ,painting1 re-edited by ,sir ,henry ,layard4 #ae ,marcantonio ,michiel1 who saw this ,baptism in the year #aeca in the house of ,m4 ,zuanne ,ram at ,s4 ,stefano in ,venice1 thus describes it3 ,la tavola del ,s4 ,zuane che battezza ,cristo nel ,giordano1 che nel fiume insino alle ginocchia1 con el bel paese1 ed esso ,m4 ,zuanne ,ram ritratto sino al cinto1 e con la schena contro li spettatori1 fu de man de ,tiziano 7,notizia d' ,opere di ,disegno1 pubblicata da ,j4 ,jacopo ,morelli1 ,ed4 ,frizzoni1 #ahhd74 #af ,this picture having been brought to completion in #aeaj1 and ,cima's great altar-piece with the same subject1 behind the high-altar in the ,church of ,s4 ,giovanni in ,bragora at ,venice1 being dated #adid1 the inference is irresistible that in this case the head of the school borrowed much and without disguise from the painter who has always been looked upon as one of his close followers4 ,in size1 in distribution1 in the arrangement and characterisation of the chief groups1 the two altar-pieces are so nearly related that the idea of a merely accidental and family resemblance must be dismissed4 ,this type of ,christ1 then1 of a perfect1 manly beauty1 of a divine meekness tempering majesty1 dates back1 not to ,gian ,bellino1 but to ,cima4 ,the preferred type of the elder master is more passionate1 more human4 ,our own ,incredulity of ,st4 ,thomas1 by ,cima1 in the ,national ,gallery1 shows1 in a much more perfunctory fashion1 a ,christ similarly conceived2 and the beautiful ,man of ,sorrows in the same collection1 still nominally ascribed to ,giovanni ,bellini1 if not from ,cima's own hand1 is at any rate from that of an artist dominated by his influence4 ,when the life-work of the ,conegliano master has been more closely studied in connection with that of his contemporaries1 it will probably appear that he owes very much less to ,bellini than it has been the fashion to assume4 ,the idea of an actual subordinate co-operation with the caposcuola1 like that of ,bissolo1 ,rondinelli1 ,basaiti1 and so many others1 must be excluded4 ,the earlier and more masculine work of ,cima bears a definite relation to that of ,bartolommeo ,montagna4 #ag ,the ,tobias and the ,angel shows some curious points of contact with the large ,madonna and ,child with ,st4 ,agnes and ,st4 ,john by ,titian1 in the ,louvre--a work which is far from equalling the ,s4 ,marciliano picture throughout in quality4 ,the beautiful head of the ,st4 ,agnes is but that of the majestic archangel in reverse2 the ,st4 ,john1 though much younger than the ,tobias1 has very much the same type and movement of the head4 ,there is in the ,church of ,s4 ,caterina at ,venice a kind of paraphrase with many variations of the ,s4 ,marciliano ,titian1 assigned by ,ridolfi to the great master himself1 but by ,boschini to ,santo ,zago 7,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 vol4 ii4 p4 #dcb74 ,here the adapter has ruined ,titian's great conception by substituting his own trivial archangel for the superb figure of the original 7see also a modern copy of this last piece in the ,schack ,gallery at ,munich74 ,a reproduction of the ,titian has for purposes of comparison been placed at the end of the present monograph 7p4 #ii74 #ah ,vasari places the ,three ,ages after the first visit to ,ferrara1 that is almost as much too late as he places the ,tobias of ,s4 ,marciliano too early4 ,he describes its subject as un pastore ignudo ed una forese chi li porge certi flauti per che suoni4 #ai ,from an often-cited passage in the ,anonimo1 describing ,giorgione's great ,venus now in the ,dresden ,gallery1 in the year #aebe1 when it was in the house of ,jeronimo ,marcello at ,venice1 we learn that it was finished by ,titian4 ,the text says3 ,la tela della ,venere nuda1 che dorme ni uno paese con ,cupidine1 fu de mano de ,zorzo da ,castelfranco2 ma lo paese e ,cupidine furono finiti da ,tiziano4 ,the ,cupid1 irretrievably damaged1 has been altogether removed1 but the landscape remains1 and it certainly shows a strong family resemblance to those which enframe the figures in the ,three ,ages1 ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 and the ,noli me tangere of the ,national ,gallery4 ,the same ,anonimo in #aecj saw in the house of ,gabriel ,vendramin at ,venice a ,dead ,christ supported by an ,angel1 from the hand of ,giorgone1 which1 according to him1 had been retouched by ,titian4 ,it need hardly be pointed out1 at this stage1 that the work thus indicated has nothing in common with the coarse and thoroughly second-rate ,dead ,christ supported by ,child-,angels1 still to be seen at the ,monte di ,piet of ,treviso4 ,the engraving of a ,dead ,christ supported by an ,angel1 reproduced in ,m4 ,lafenestre's ,vie et ,oeuvre du ,titien as having possibly been derived from ,giorgione's original1 is about as unlike his work or that of ,titian as anything in sixteenth-century ,italian art could possibly be4 ,in the extravagance of its mannerism it comes much nearer to the late style of ,pordenone or to that of his imitators4 #bj ,jahrbuch der ,preussischen ,kunstsammlungen1 ,heft ,i4 #ahie4 #ba ,see also as to these paintings by ,giorgione1 the ,notizia d' ,opere di ,disegno1 pubblicata da ,d4 ,jacopo ,morelli1 ,edizione ,frizzoni1 #ahhd4 #bb ,m4 ,thausing1 ,wiener ,kunstbriefe1 #ahhd4 #bc ,le ,meraviglie dell' ,arte4 #bd ,the original drawing by ,titian for the subject of this fresco is to be found among those publicly exhibited at the cole des ,beaux ,arts of ,paris4 ,it is in error given by ,morelli as in the ,malcolm ,collection1 and curiously enough ,m4 ,georges ,lafenestre repeats this error in his ,vie et ,oeuvre du ,titien4 ,the drawing differs so essentially from the fresco that it can only be considered as a discarded design for it4 ,it is in the style which ,domenico ,campagnola1 in his ,giorgionesque-,titianesque phase1 so assiduously imitates4 #be ,one of the many inaccuracies of ,vasari in his biography of ,titian is to speak of the ,st4 ,mark as una piccola tavoletta1 un ,s4 ,marco a sedere in mezzo a certi santi4 #bf ,in connection with this group of works1 all of them belonging to the quite early years of the sixteenth century1 there should also be mentioned an extraordinarily interesting and as yet little known ,herodias with the head of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist by ,sebastiano ,luciani1 bearing the date #aeaj4 ,this has recently passed into the rich collection of ,mr4 ,george ,salting4 ,it shows the painter admirably in his purely ,giorgionesque phase1 the authentic date bearing witness that it was painted during the lifetime of the ,castelfranco master4 ,it groups therefore with the great altar-piece by ,sebastiano at ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo in ,venice1 with ,sir ,francis ,cook's injured but still lovely ,venetian ,lady as the ,magdalen 7the same ruddy blond model71 and with the four ,giorgionesque ,saints in the ,church of ,s4 ,bartolommeo al ,rialto4 #bg ,die ,galerien zu ,mnchen und ,dresden1 p4 #gd4 #bh ,the ,christ of the ,pitti ,gallery--a bust-figure of the ,saviour1 relieved against a level far-stretching landscape of the most solemn beauty--must date a good many years after the ,cristo della ,moneta4 ,in both works the beauty of the hand is especially remarkable4 ,the head of the ,pitti ,christ in its present state might not conclusively proclaim its origin2 but the pathetic and intensely significant landscape is one of ,titian's loveliest4 #bi ,last seen in public at the ,old ,masters' ,exhibition of the ,royal ,academy in #ahie4 #cj ,an ingenious suggestion was made1 when the ,ariosto was last publicly exhibited1 that it might be that ,portrait of a ,gentleman of the ,house of ,barbarigo which1 according to ,vasari1 ,titian painted with wonderful skill at the age of eighteen4 ,the broad1 masterly technique of the ,cobham ,hall picture in no way accords1 however1 with ,vasari's description1 and marks a degree of accomplishment such as no boy of eighteen1 not even ,titian1 could have attained4 ,and then ,vasari's giubbone di raso inargentato is not the superbly luminous steel-grey sleeve of this ,ariosto1 but surely a vest of satin embroidered with silver4 ,the late form of signature1 ,titianus ,f41 on the stone balustrade1 which is one of the most ,giorgionesque elements of the portrait1 is disquieting1 and most probably a later addition4 ,it seems likely that the balustrade bore originally only the ,v repeated1 which curiously enough occurs also on the similar balustrade of the beautiful ,portrait of a young ,venetian1 by ,giorgione1 first cited as such by ,morelli1 and now in the ,berlin ,gallery1 into which it passed from the collection of its discoverer1 ,dr4 ,j4,p4 ,richter4 ,the signature ,ticianus occurs1 as a rule1 on pictures belonging to the latter half of the first period4 ,the works in the earlier half of this first period do not appear to have been signed1 the ,titiano ,f4 of the ,baffo inscription being admittedly of later date4 ,thus that the ,cristo della ,moneta bears the ,ticianus ,f4 on the collar of the ,pharisee's shirt is an additional argument in favour of maintaining its date as originally given by ,vasari 7#aead71 instead of putting it back to #aejh or thereabouts4 ,among a good many other paintings with this last signature may be mentioned the ,jeune ,homme au ,gant and ,vierge au ,lapin of the ,louvre2 the ,madonna with ,st4 ,anthony ,abbot of the ,uffizi2 the ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 the ,assunta1 the ,st4 ,sebastian of ,brescia 7dated #aebb74 ,the ,virgin and ,child with ,st4 ,catherine of the ,national ,gallery1 and the ,christ with the ,pilgrims at ,emmaus of the ,louvre--neither of them early works--are signed ,tician4 ,the usual signature of the later time is ,titianus ,f41 among the first works to show it being the ,ancona altar-piece and the great ,madonna di ,san ,niccol now in the ,pinacoteca of the ,vatican4 ,it has been incorrectly stated that the late ,st4 ,jerome of the ,brera bears the earlier signature1 ,ticianus ,f4 ,this is not the case4 ,the signature is most distinctly ,titianus1 though in a somewhat unusual character4 #ca ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle describe it as a picture which has not its equal in any period of ,giorgione's practice 7,history of ,painting in ,north ,italy1 vol4 ii474 #cb ,among other notable portraits belonging to this early period1 but to which within it the writer hesitates to assign an exact place1 are the so-called ,titian's ,physician ,parma1 ,no4 #afg in the ,vienna ,gallery2 the first-rate ,portrait of a ,young ,man 7once falsely named ,pietro ,aretino71 ,no4 #aaaa in the ,alte ,pinakothek of ,munich2 the so-called ,alessandro de' ,medici in the ,hampton ,court ,gallery4 ,the last-named portrait is a work injured1 no doubt1 but of extraordinary force and conciseness in the painting1 and of no less singular power in the characterisation of a sinister personage whose true name has not yet been discovered4 #cc ,the fifth ,allegory1 representing a sphinx or chimaera--now framed with the rest as the centre of an ensemble--is from another and far inferior hand1 and1 moreover1 of different dimensions4 ,the so-called ,venus of the ,imperial ,gallery at ,vienna is1 notwithstanding the signature of ,bellini and the date 7,,mdxv471 by ,bissolo4 #cd ,in ,bellini's share in the landscape there is not a little to remind the beholder of the ,death of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr to be found in the ,venetian room of the ,national ,gallery1 where it is still assigned to the great master himself1 though it is beyond reasonable doubt by one of his late pupils or followers4 #ce ,the enlarged second edition1 with the profile portrait of ,ariosto by ,titian1 did not appear until #aecb4 ,among the additions then made were the often-quoted lines in which the poet1 enumerating the greatest painters of the time1 couples ,titian with ,leonardo1 ,andrea ,mantegna1 ,gian ,bellino1 the two ,dossi1 ,michelangelo1 ,sebastiano1 and ,raffael 7#ccrd canto1 #bnd ed474 #cf ,greek3 ,philostratou ,eikonon ,erotes4 #cg ,let the reader1 among other things of the kind1 refer to ,rubens's ,jardin ,amour1 made familiar by so many repetitions and reproductions1 and to ,van ,dyck's ,madone aux ,perdrix at the ,hermitage 7see ,portfolio3 ,the ,collections of ,charles ,i474 ,rubens copied1 indeed1 both the ,worship of ,venus and the ,bacchanal1 some time between #afja and #afjh1 when the pictures were at ,rome4 ,these copies are now in the ,museum at ,stockholm4 ,the realistic vigour of the ,bacchanal proved particularly attractive to the ,antwerp master1 and he in more than one instance derived inspiration from it4 ,the ultra-realistic ,bacchus seated on a ,barrel1 in the ,gallery of the ,hermitage at ,st4 ,petersburg1 contains in the chief figure a pronounced reminiscence of ,titian's picture2 while the unconventional attitude of the amorino1 or ,bacchic figure1 in attendance on the god1 is imitated without alteration from that of the little toper whose action ,vasari so explicitly describes4 #ch ,vasari's simple description is best3 ,una donna nuda che dorme1 tanto bella che pare viva1 insieme con altre figure4 #ci ,moritz ,thausing's ,albrecht ,drer1 ,zweiter ,band1 p4 #ad4 #dj ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,life and ,times of ,titian1 vol4 i4 p4 #bab4 #da ,it appears to the writer that this masterpiece of colour and reposeful charm1 with its wonderful gleams of orange1 pale turquoise1 red1 blue1 and golden white1 with its early signature1 ,ticianus ,f41 should be placed not later than this period4 ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle assign it to the year #aecj1 and hold it to be the ,madonna with ,st4 ,catherine1 mentioned in a letter of that year written by ,giacomo ,malatesta to ,federigo ,gonzaga at ,mantua4 ,should not this last picture be more properly identified with our own superb ,madonna and ,child with ,st4 ,john and ,st4 ,catherine1 ,no4 #fce in the ,national ,gallery1 the style of which1 notwithstanding the rather ,giorgionesque type of the girlish ,virgin1 shows further advance in a more sweeping breadth and a larger generalisation8 ,the latter1 as has already been noted1 is signed ,tician4 #db ,tizian und ,alfons von ,este1 ,jahrbuch der ,kniglich ,preussischen ,kunstsammlungen1 ,fnfzehnter ,band1 ,,ii4 ,heft1 #ahid4 #dc ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,life and ,times of ,titian1 vol4 i4 pp4 #bcg-bdj4 #dd ,on the circular base of the column upon which the warrior-saint rests his foot is the signature ,ticianus faciebat ,,mdxxii4 ,this1 taken in conjunction with the signature ,titianus on the ,ancona altar-piece painted in #aebj1 tends to show that the line of demarcation between the two signatures cannot be absolutely fixed4 #de ,lord ,wemyss possesses a repetition1 probably from ,titian's workshop1 of the ,st4 ,sebastian1 slightly smaller than the ,brescia original4 ,this cannot have been the picture catalogued by ,vanderdoort as among ,charles ,i4's treasures1 since the latter1 like the earliest version of the ,st4 ,sebastian1 preceding the definitive work1 showed the saint tied not to a tree1 but to a column1 and in it the group of ,st4 ,roch and the ,angel was replaced by the figures of two archers shooting4 #df ,ridolfi1 followed in this particular by ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 sees in the upturned face of the ,st4 ,nicholas a reflection of that of ,laocoon in the ,vatican group4 #dg ,it passed with the rest of the ,mantua pictures into the collection of ,charles ,i41 and was after his execution sold by the ,commonwealth to the banker and dealer ,jabach for #abj4 ,by the latter it was made over to ,louis ,,xiv41 together with many other masterpieces acquired in the same way4 #dh ,crowe and ,cavalcaselle1 ,life and ,times of ,titian1 vol4 i4 pp4 #bih1 #bii4 #di ,the victory over the ,turks here commemorated was won by ,baffo in the service of the ,borgia ,pope1 ,alexander ,,vi41 some twenty-three years before4 ,this gives a special significance to the position in the picture of ,st4 ,peter1 who1 with the keys at his feet1 stands midway between the ,bishop and the ,virgin4 ,we have seen ,baffo in one of ,titian's earliest works 7circa #aejc7 recommended to ,st4 ,peter by ,alexander ,,vi4 just before his departure for this same expedition4 #ej ,it has been impossible in the first section of these remarks upon the work of the master of ,cadore to go into the very important question of the drawings rightly and wrongly ascribed to him4 ,some attempt will be made in the second section1 to be entitled ,the ,later ,work of ,titian1 to deal summarily with this branch of the subject1 which has been placed on a more solid basis since ,giovanni ,morelli disentangled the genuine landscape drawings of the master from those of ,domenico ,campagnola1 and furnished a firm basis for further study4 ,,index ,alfonso d',este and ,laura ,dianti 7,louvre7 ,altar-piece at ,brescia ,annunciation1 ,the 7,treviso7 ,annunciation1 ,the 7,venice7 ,aretino1 ,portrait of 7,florence7 ,ariosto1 ,portrait of 7,cobham ,hall7 ,assumption of the ,virgin1 ,the1 ,bacchanal1 ,a1 ,bacchus and ,ariadne 7,national ,gallery71 ,baptism of ,christ1 ,the 7,rome71 ,battle of ,cadore1 ,the ,bella1 ,la 7,florence7 ,bishop of ,paphos recommended by ,alexander ,,vi4 to ,st4 ,peter1 ,the 7,antwerp7 ,christ at ,emmaus ,christ bearing the ,cross 7,venice7 ,christ between ,st4 ,andrew and ,st4 ,catherine 7,venice7 ,charles ,v4 at ,mhlberg 7,madrid7 ,concert1 ,a 7,florence7 ,cornaro1 ,portrait of 7,castle ,howard7 ,cristo della ,moneta1 ,il 7,dresden7 ,death of ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 ,the ,diana and ,actaeon ,diana and ,calisto ,entombment1 ,the 7,louvre7 ,feast of the ,gods1 ,the 7,alnwick ,castle7 ,flora 7,florence7 ,fresco of ,st4 ,christopher in the ,doge's ,palace ,frescoes in the ,scuola del ,santo1 ,padua ,frescoes on the ,fondaco de' ,tedeschi1 ,venice ,herodias ,holy ,family 7,bridgewater ,gallery7 ,holy ,family with ,st4 ,catherine 7,national ,gallery7 ,jupiter and ,antiope 7,louvre7 ,madonna di ,casa ,pesaro1 ,the 7,venice7 ,madonna di ,san ,niccol1 ,the 7,rome7 ,man1 ,portrait of a 7,munich7 ,man in ,black1 ,the 7,louvre7 ,man of ,sorrows1 ,the 7,venice7 ,man with the ,glove1 ,the 7,louvre7 ,medici1 ,portrait of ,ippolito de' ,noli me tangere 7,national ,gallery7 ,nymph and ,shepherd 7,vienna7 ,philip ,,ii41 ,portrait of ,piet 7,milan7 ,rape of ,europa1 ,the ,sacred and ,profane ,love 7,rome7 ,sacred ,conversation1 ,a 7,chantilly7 ,sacred ,conversation1 ,a 7,florence7 ,st4 ,mark enthroned1 with four other ,saints 7,venice7 ,st4 ,sebastian3 see ,altar-piece at ,brescia ,tambourine-,player1 ,the 7,vienna7 ,three ,ages1 ,the 7,bridgewater ,gallery7 ,tobias and the ,angel 7,venice7 ,tribute-,money1 ,the3 see ,cristo della ,moneta ,triumph of ,faith1 ,the ,vanitas 7,munich7 ,venere del ,pardo3 see ,jupiter and ,antiope ,virgin and ,child 7,mr4 ,r4,h4 ,benson7 ,virgin and ,child 7,florence7 ,virgin and ,child 7,st4 ,petersburg7 ,virgin and ,child 7,vienna73 see ,zingarella1 ,la ,virgin and ,child with ,saints 7,captain ,holford7 ,virgin and ,child with four ,saints 7,dresden7 ,virgin and ,child with the ,infant ,st4 ,john and ,st4 ,anthony ,abbot 7,florence7 ,virgin and ,child with ,st4 ,joseph and a ,shepherd 7,national ,gallery7 ,virgin and ,child with ,saints1 ,angels1 and a ,donor 7,ancona7 ,virgin and ,child with ,,ss4 ,stephen1 ,ambrose1 and ,maurice 7,louvre7 ,virgin and ,child with ,,ss4 ,ulphus and ,bridget 7,madrid7 ,virgin with the ,cherries1 ,the 7,vienna7 ,virgin with the ,rabbit1 ,the 7,louvre7 ,worship of ,venus1 ,the 7,madrid7 ,zingarella1 ,la 7,vienna7