Chapter V: Introduction (3)

The fresco painting of _The Eternal Father_ (No. 1512), which is now inserted over the door of the Salle des Primitifs (Room VII.), was certainly executed during the lifetime of Raphael, and probably under his supervision. It was painted for the chapel attached to the Villa Magliana, a favourite hunting-box of Pope Leo X., who commissioned it. It was purchased in 1873 for the large sum of £8280.

From the hand of Giannicola Manni (fl. 1493-1544) come the _Baptism of Christ_ (No. 1369), the _Assumption_ (No. 1370), the _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1371), and a _Holy Family_ (No. 1372), while a fully signed _Dead Christ supported by Two Angels_ (No. 1400) is by the mediocre Umbrian artist Marco Palmezzano (fl. 1456-1538). The latter’s pupil, Zaganelli da Cottignola (1460?-1531), may have painted the _Christ bearing His Cross_ (No. 1641) which is catalogued as an unattributable Italian work.

(1483-1520)

UMBRIAN SCHOOL

No. 1505.-PORTRAIT OF BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE

(Portrait de Balthazar Castiglione, ambassadeur et littérateur)

He is seen nearly in full face. He wears a white linen
under-garment, an over-dress of black velvet with grey sleeves, and
a cap.

Painted in oil on canvas.

2 ft. 0½ in. × 2 ft. 2½ in. (0·62 × 0·67.)]

THE VENETIAN SCHOOL

The conquest of Byzantium during the Fourth Crusade by Doge Enrico Dandolo in 1204, an epoch-making event in the history of Venice and Venetian art, strengthened the intercourse between the East and the City of the Lagoons. At the same time it riveted the fetters of Byzantinism on to the nascent art of Venice, to which it also imparted a sense of intense Oriental colour.

The frescoes painted in Tuscany on the lines of Giottesque tradition and the environment under which its painters worked, in time gave to the Florentines a sense of line and form which produced a school of idealists: on the other hand, the colour-impressions created on the mind of the Venetian painter by the relics from the East and the brilliant mosaics which he saw around him resulted eventually in the formation of a school of colourists with a realistic tendency.

It will cause little surprise that the Louvre contains no polyptych by the very early Venetians, Niccolò Semitecolo (fl. 1351-1400), Jacobello del Fiore (died 1439), and Michele Giambono (fl. 1420-1462). The Gallery possesses, however, a fourteenth-century Venetian arched panel of the _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1541) which is attributed to Stefano Veneziano.

In the early fifteenth century the dominating influence exerted on the painters of Venice was that of Jacopo Bellini (1400?-1470), whose sons, Gentile and Giovanni, and son-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, were to shape the destinies of the school throughout the Renaissance. Jacopo’s drawing is seen in its full maturity in the Sketch-book of about 1450 which belongs to the Louvre but is not publicly exhibited. Another Sketch-book by him of about 1430 is one of the treasured possessions of the British Museum. Jacopo had in early life been the pupil of Gentile da Fabriano, who, together with Alegretto Nuzi, stands at the head of the Umbrian school, and of Antonio Pisanello (1397-1455), the medallist-painter who played such an important part in the art of Verona. Both Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello worked for a time at Venice. Under the circumstances, therefore, it is not surprising to find that a _Madonna and Child with a Donor_ (No. 1159A, formerly No. 1279 and No. 171), which is now justly ascribed in the Catalogue to Jacopo Bellini, was long assigned officially to Gentile Bellini, although held by some critics to have been painted in the school of Pisanello. The name of the Donor in this picture is given in the Catalogue as Leonello d’Este and on the frame as Pandolfo Malatesta; it would, however, seem to be the portrait of Sigismondo Malatesta.

Four small triptychs (Nos. 1280-83) from the Campana collection still pass officially under the ambiguous designation of “School of Gentile da Fabriano”; they may, however, without much doubt be ascribed to Antonio Vivarini, who remained outside the Bellini sphere of influence, and died about 1470.

THE BELLINI

The sunny splendour of Venetian painting reached its zenith in the _bottega_ of the Bellini. Gentile, who was sent to Constantinople with the authority of the Republic in 1479, painted portraits, ceremonial, religious, and historical pictures, many of which are on a large scale, while Giovanni was for many years the greatest teacher and the most influential painter in Venetian territory. Giovanni executed a large number of panels and canvases which in the period of his maturity exhibit a profound sense of dignity, beauty, religious feeling, and rich deep colour. Most of those which are signed in a _cartellino_ “IOANNES BELLINUS” (in capitals and, of course, in pigment of the period) are authentic works from his own hand. The majority of those which bear what to the unpractised eye might be taken for his personal signature, but are only signed in uncials (“_Ioannes Bellinus_”), must be regarded as mere studio productions. In the sixteenth century no one was misled by these alternative methods of personal signature and studio-mark. Although the Louvre authorities catalogue two pictures under the name of Gentile and three under that of Giovanni, none of them is from the hand of either of these brothers.

Bartolommeo Vivarini of Murano (fl. 1450-1499) was the pupil of Giovanni d’Allemagna, who worked in Venice, and Antonio Vivarini. He painted a large panel of _St. John of Capistrano_ (No. 1607), which is signed and dated

OPVS BARTHOLOMEI VI[V]ARINI DE MURAHO—1459.

Alvise or Luigi Vivarini (fl. 1461-1503), the nephew of Bartolommeo, was the last and most distinguished painter in the Murano school. He carried on the old traditions of Early Venetian art until the day when the rival school of the Bellini had become supreme in Venice, and so had begun to prepare the way for the triumphs of the Giorgionesque period—the golden age of Venetian painting. The _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 1519), catalogued under the name of Savoldo (1480?-1548?) is by Alvise. This magnificent bust-length picture represents Bernardo di Salla, who holds in his gloved right hand a paper inscribed “_Dono Bnardo di Salla_.” It vividly recalls the _Portrait of a Man with a Hawk_ at Windsor, which, although it traditionally but erroneously bears the name of Leonardo da Vinci and has been ascribed to Savoldo, is in all probability another of the rare portraits by Alvise.

From the Vivarini group issues Carlo Crivelli (1430?-1493?). His morosely ascetic compositions, with their elaborate draperies, jewelled ornamentation, and at times grotesque anatomy, distinguish his polyptychs, all of which are painted in tempera, from those of any other painter in the whole range of art. His large panel picture of _St. Bernardino of Siena_ (No. 1268) is inscribed

OPUS CAROLI CRIVELLI VENETI, 1477.

It belongs to his middle period, and was painted nine years earlier than his magnificent _Annunciation_, now one of the gems of the National Gallery (No. 739); both these pictures came from the Church of the Annunziata at Ascoli.

Another painter who carried on the Vivarini tradition but was influenced by Giovanni Bellini, was Giovanni Battista Cima (1460?-1517?), whose art is adequately shown in the _Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene_ (No. 1259). The signature

IOANIS BAPT.
CONEGLANES.
OPVS.

as well as the internal evidence of the picture show it to be an authentic work.

One of the best, but until recent years one of the least known, members of that brilliant group of painters who flourished at Venice in the early half of the sixteenth century was Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556). He practised his art in many parts of Italy, and for that reason has been less generally known than many of his contemporaries. He was a pupil of Alvise Vivarini, but benefited largely by the example of Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. His art is not well seen in the small _St. Jerome_ (No. 1350), which is signed and dated “LOTVS 1500” and must therefore be one of his earliest and least ambitious works, nor in his _Holy Family_ (No. 1351) which was formerly attributed to Dosso Dossi. Replicas have been found of his _Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery_ (No. 1349).

(1430-1479)

VENETIAN SCHOOL

No. 1134.—PORTRAIT OF A CONDOTTIERE

(Portrait d’homme dit le Condottiere)

Bust portrait, turned three-quarters to the left. He wears a
black doublet, above the collar of which is visible the edge of a
white linen under-garment. Under his cap is seen his _zazzara_ of
red-brown hair.

Painted in oil on panel.

Signed:
“_1474
Antonellus Messaneus me
pinxit._”

1 ft. 1 in. × 11 in. (0·33 × 0·28.)]

Although we possess very detailed records of Antonello da Messina (1430-1479), his movements and his life’s work, it is only in recent years that they have been studied with any care. This Sicilian-born artist obviously cannot have set out for Flanders and there have learnt from Jan van Eyck (who died in 1441) the “discovery” of oil as a medium in painting, as Vasari tells us. But he may have seen in Italy a picture by the great Northern artist and from it have acquired some facility in the use of oil and in finishing with glazes of oil panels which had been begun in tempera. He was certainly in Venice in 1475-76, if not earlier, and his _Portrait of a Condottiere_ (No. 1134, Plate IX.), which is characteristically signed and dated

_1474
Antonellus Messaneus me
pinxit_

belongs to that period of his full maturity. It was purchased at the Pourtalès-Gorgier sale in 1865 for £4767. In any case, the discoveries with which Antonello is credited within a few years completely revolutionised the methods of painting throughout Italy, and prepare us for the wonderful achievements of the later Venetians, who followed and improved upon the Bellini tradition.

Vittore Carpaccio (1455?-1526) was, like Gentile Bellini, a painter of Venetian fêtes, pageantry, and religious pictures on an imposing scale. Nothing is known of Carpaccio’s artistic descent, but his work shows traces of the influence of Jacopo Bellini and of Lazzaro Bastiani, who was the head of a group of artists whose art was based on the tradition of such early painters as Jacobello del Fiore. Carpaccio’s _Preaching of St. Stephen at Jerusalem_ (No. 1211) is one of the series of five incidents from the _Life of St. Stephen_ which were painted by this artist between 1511 and 1520 for the Scuola di S. Stefano at Milan. The others of the series are now in the Milan Gallery (No. 170—signed and dated 1513), at Berlin (No. 23), and at Stuttgart. The Louvre obtained this canvas, which varies from the others in size, from the Milan Gallery in 1813, when together with Boltraffio’s _Madonna of the Casio Family_ (No. 1169) and other pictures it was exchanged for works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens.

To Vincenzo Catena (14..?-1531?) may be assigned, on stylistic grounds, the _Reception of a Venetian Ambassador at Cairo in 1512_ (No. 1157). In any case, it cannot have been executed by Gentile Bellini, as alleged in the Catalogue, as the audience here depicted did not take place until five years after that master’s death!

Another Bellinesque painter was Bartolommeo Veneto (fl. 1505-1555). We shall, following the suggestion of Venturi, assign to him the excellent but officially unattributed _Portrait of a Lady_ (No. 1673) which hangs to the right of Raphael’s _La Belle Jardinière_.

GIORGIONE

Although a large number of really representative examples of the great lyricist Giorgione (1477-1510) have not come down to us, he is to be regarded as the greatest of the Venetian artists, and perhaps the most romantic painter that Europe has ever known. He was, together with his illustrious contemporary Titian, a pupil of Giovanni Bellini. His _Pastoral Symphony_ (No. 1136, Plate X.) is one of the most beautiful idyllic groups in the whole range of painting, and shows that Giorgione could naively reveal the inner depths of thought and feeling and depict “passionate souls in passionate bodies.” Early in the sixteenth century the austere traditions of the Bellinesque era were passing away. Giorgione now began to unseal the eyes of his contemporaries, among whom Titian occupied an important place, to the “life-giving and death-dealing waters of love,” making the landscape background of his lyrical compositions respond to the mood of the incident illustrated. The _Pastoral Symphony_ was acquired by Charles I. from the collection of the Duke of Mantua; it then passed to Jabach, and subsequently to Louis XIV. Although it has been slightly restored and has from time to time been without any reason ascribed to Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo and a large number of Venetian artists, it is to-day recognised on all sides as an excellent example of Giorgione.

(1477?-1510)

VENETIAN SCHOOL

No. 1136.—PASTORAL SYMPHONY

(Concert Champêtre)

Two young men are seated on the grass; the one, wearing a green
tunic with red sleeves, a red cap and parti-coloured hose, is
playing on the lute; his companion bends over to listen to him.
Before them a nude woman, her back turned to the spectator, is
seated holding a flute. To the left another nude woman, with a
drapery across her left hip, is drawing water at a fountain. In the
background to the right is seen a shepherd with his flock. In the
centre background are some houses.

Painted in oil on canvas.

3 ft. 7½ in. × 4 ft. 6½ in. (1·10 × 1·38.)]

The same influences which formed the art of Giorgione inspired the pictures of Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), whose _Adoration of the Shepherds with a Female Donor_ (No. 1399, Plate XI.) is brilliant in colour. The signature in the right foreground of this canvas, TICIAN, is false. Palma left a large number of pictures unfinished at his death.

The _Visitation_ (No. 1352) is an admirable example of the art of Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547), and is signed

SEBASTIANVS VENETVS FACIEBAT
ROMAE MDXXI.

It was purchased in the year indicated in the inscription by François I., who added it to his collection at Fontainebleau, whence it was removed by Louis XIV. to Versailles. The canvas, which has been a good deal injured, has at some time been cut into three pieces. The name by which this artist is generally known was derived from the office which he held late in life at the Papal Court. There he forsook the traditions of his native school and gradually came under the influence of Michelangelo. In Rome he also met Raphael, who was much impressed by his colour schemes: the _St. John the Baptist in the Desert_ (No. 1500), here catalogued under the name of Raphael, and a few pictures similarly attributed in other galleries, were painted by Sebastiano in his Roman manner.

A prominent place among the less important artists generally included in this school must be accorded to Cariani (1480?-1547?). A large proportion of the pictures of this Bergamask painter usually pass under more imposing names, and it is a remarkable fact that we do not find any work attributed to him in the official Catalogue. He, however, painted a _Holy Family_ (No. 1135), here assigned to Giorgione, as well as the _Madonna and Child and St. Sebastian_ (No. 1159) given to Giovanni Bellini. The _Portrait of Two Men_ (No. 1156), which for no very apparent reason was once regarded as the portraits of Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, must be by Cariani, although still placed to the credit of Gentile.

Another of the less efficient pupils of Giovanni Bellini was Niccolò Rondinelli (fl. 1480-1500), whose _Madonna and Child, St. Peter, and St. Sebastian_ (No. 1158) masquerades as a work by Giovanni Bellini, whose full name, IOANNES BELLINVS, is inscribed in capitals (not, however, placed in a _cartellino_) on the parapet which runs across the front of the panel.

TITIAN

Although we have only limited space to deal with the differences of the critics as to the probable date of Titian’s birth, we may point out that it was, until recent times, placed in the year 1477. Mr. Herbert Cook has, however, put forward a very strong case in favour of the year 1489, pointing out the remarkable fact that there is no record of Titian earlier than Dec. 2, 1511, or, according to the usual chronology, until he was thirty-five years of age! Again, L. Dolce, in 1557, wrote that Titian was “scarcely twenty years old when Giorgione was painting the façade of the Fondaco de’ Tedeschi”; and we know that Titian was his assistant on that work in 1507-8. Vasari also asserts, as Mr. Cook reminds us, that the famous Venetian was “about seventy-six years old in 1566-67,” when he visited him in Venice. No reliance is to be placed on the date contained in the well-known letter which Titian addressed to Philip II. in 1571, as he evidently had a motive in referring to himself as “an old servant of ninety-five.” There is, however, no doubt that Titian died in 1576.

(1480-1528)

VENETIAN SCHOOL

No. 1399.—THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS, WITH A FEMALE DONOR

(L’Annonce aux Bergers)

The Virgin is seated and holds the Infant Jesus on a cradle formed
of basket-work; she wears a red robe with blue and green draperies
and a white veil, under which her brown hair is seen. To her right
St. Joseph is seated leaning on his staff; before him a shepherd
boy kneels in adoration to the Infant Christ. To the left kneels
the _donatrice_, her hands folded. In the ruined shed behind the
Holy Family are the ox and ass. To the right of the composition is
a landscape background in which several figures appear. A small
group of angels in the sky.

Painted in oil on canvas.

4 ft. 7 in. × 6 ft. 11 in. (1·40 × 2·10.)]

Titian, who was a native of Cadore, left his home at an early age for Venice. He was first placed as a pupil of Sebastian Zuccato, a mosaicist and perhaps a painter; he then seems to have worked in the studio of Gentile Bellini before passing into that of Giovanni, where he met Giorgione. Titian, like Giotto, has been called “the Father of modern painting.” The early Florentine had provided his countrymen with a set of fundamental principles of art, but it remained for the illustrious Venetian to endow his contemporaries and artistic descendants with a more complete equipment and a new sense of pictorial effect. The profound impression exerted by Giorgione on the youthful Titian inspired him to achieve those idyllic compositions and “poesies” which stand out so prominently among the world’s pictures.

Titian’s earliest picture in the Louvre is the _Virgin and Child, with St. Stephen, St. Ambrose, and St. Maurice_ (No. 1577), of about 1508-1510. It is very reminiscent of a picture by Titian in the Vienna Gallery (No. 166), in which he has substituted St. Jerome for St. Ambrose.

No doubt can exist as to the authenticity of the so-called _Portrait of Alfonso da Ferrara and Laura de’ Dianti_ (No. 1590), but the title under which it has passed for many years is probably incorrect. It was in the collection of Charles I., and was then described as “Tytsian’s Mrs., after the life by Tytsian.” In the collection of Jabach it was called _La Maîtresse du Titien_, and as such was sold to Louis XIV. for £100. This picture would correctly be described under the less ambitious title of _A Woman at her Toilet and a Man holding Two Mirrors_. Laura was the daughter of a hatter of Ferrara. She was _persona grata_ at the court of Alfonso I., Duke of Ferrara (reigned 1505-1534), and there held the title of _Illustrissima Donna Laura Eustochia d’Este_. The Duke’s first wife, Anna Sforza, died in 1497, when he was twenty-one years old. In 1501 he married, as his second wife, Lucrezia Borgia (died 1519), the natural daughter of Pope Alexander VI. It seems probable that shortly afterwards the Duke took Laura as his third wife, and that she was painted by Titian a little later. The Louvre picture (No. 1590) appears on stylistic grounds to be a work of about 1515-1517. A portrait which can be more certainly identified as that of Laura is the single figure picture, painted by Titian about 1523, in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook at Richmond.

The influence of Giorgione is still clearly seen in Titian’s _Man with a Glove_ (No. 1592, Plate XII.). It is a noble portrait of an unknown man; the colour is rich, and the light and shade are contrasted with great mastery; the bare right hand and the gloved left holding the second glove are admirably modelled. The canvas, which seems to have been painted about 1518, is signed “TICIANVS F.” Soon afterwards Titian must have painted the _Portrait of a Man in Black with the Thumb of his Left Hand in the Belt of his Doublet_ (No. 1591), the _Madonna with the Rabbit_ (No. 1578), which is inscribed _Ticianus F._, and the magnificent _Entombment_ (No. 1584, Plate XIII.). This priceless picture, which was painted not later, than 1523 for Federigo Gonzaga, passed from Mantua into the collection of Charles I. It was sold off by Cromwell for £128 and, after being one of the masterpieces for a few years in the collection of Jabach, was acquired by Louis XIV. The deep religious feeling and the rich, sonorous harmony of colour make this one of the world’s most precious pictures. Notice the sunburnt arm of Joseph of Arimathæa; it is significant of the art of Venice.

(1489?-1576)

VENETIAN SCHOOL

No. 1592.—THE MAN WITH A GLOVE

(L’homme au Gant)

He is standing and seen nearly in full face, the head turned
three-quarters to the right, the eyes directed to the right. He
wears a black costume with a white pleated under-garment, a gold
chain round his neck, and white frills in his sleeves. His right
hand, with a ring on the forefinger, holds his girdle. His left
hand, gloved and holding the second glove, rests on a stone plinth.

Painted in oil on canvas.

Signed on the plinth:—“TICIANVS. F.”

3 ft. 3½ in. × 2 ft. 11 in. (1·00 × 0·89.)]

At an interval of about eight years we come to the _St. Jerome_ (No. 1585), a religious scene set, curiously enough, in a moonlight landscape, which has darkened. The exact interpretation to be placed upon the _Allegory in honour of Alfonso d’Avalos_ (No. 1589), of about 1533, has been much discussed; it is supposed to represent Alfonso bidding farewell to his wife on his departure for the wars, and entrusting her to the safe keeping of Chastity, Cupid, who bears a sheaf of arrows, and a third figure. The _Portrait of Francis I._ (No. 1588), whom Titian never saw, appears to have been painted about 1536 from a medal, and represents the King in profile. François I. died in 1547. It belongs to the same period as the _Portrait of a Man in Damascened Armour with a Page holding his Helmet_ in the collection of Count Potocki. Another portrait, painted about 1543, represents a _Man with a Black Beard resting his Hand on the Ledge of a Pilaster_ (No. 1593). By this time Titian’s art was rapidly maturing, as we see from his magnificent and imposing _Supper at Emmaus_ (No. 1581) of the same year. It had passed from Mantua to England before being acquired by that excellent connoisseur, Jabach. It is said to be signed _Ticianus F._, while the _Christ Crowned with Thorns_ (No. 1583), which was painted for a church in Milan about 1550, is inscribed TITIANVS _F._ When Charles I., as Prince of Wales, visited Madrid in 1623, he was presented with the _Jupiter and Antiope_ (No. 1587), which has the alternative title of the _Venus del Pardo_. It had been painted for Philip II., and had already escaped the fire which broke out in the Prado. Jabach acquired it for 600 guineas, and passed it on to Cardinal Mazarin, from whom it was acquired for 10,000 _livres tournois_ by Louis XIV. It escaped destruction by fire in the Old Louvre in 1661. It has been very much repainted from time to time.

TITIAN’S FOLLOWERS

The _Madonna and Child, with St. Catherine (? St. Agnes), and St. John the Baptist as a Child_ (No. 1579), which has been enlarged by the addition of a strip of canvas down the left side, contains a glimpse of the country near Pieve di Cadore, the native place of Titian. Fourteen of the twenty pictures here officially credited to him are to be regarded as authentic. Polidoro Lanzani (1515?-1565), an imitator of Titian, however, painted the _Holy Family with St. John the Baptist_ (No. 1580), and the _Holy Family and Saints_ (No. 1596) in the La Caze Room; while Andrea Meldolla (Schiavone), who was a pupil of Titian, no doubt executed the _Ecce Homo_ (No. 1582) credited to the great Venetian artist, as well as the _St. John the Baptist_ (No. 1524) which is rightly assigned to him.

The German painter Johan Stephan von Calcar, who to Italian biographers is known as Giovanni Calcar (1499-1546), was a pupil of Titian. He painted the imposing _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 1185). He is seen at half length standing, and holding a letter in his right hand; his left hand to his waist. On a column in the background is painted the coat of arms, reputed to be that of the Buono family of Venice, which is repeated on the bezel of the ring on the forefinger of his left hand. Below his right hand is the inscription:

ANNO 1540
ÆTATIS 26.

Paris Bordone (1500-1570), who “painted women with more of an eye on the fashion-plate than on the expression of their features,” is not the author of a _Portrait of a Lady_ (No. 1180A), nor of the _Portrait of a Man and a Child_ (No. 1180), which seems to be a Flemish rather than a Venetian picture. His _Vertumnus and Pomona_ (No. 1178) is less representative than his _Portrait_ (so called) _of Jeronimo Croft_ (No. 1179). It takes its title from the inscription, “_Spss. Domino Jeronimo Crofft ... Magior suo semper obsero ... Augusta_,” which is written on the letter held in the right hand.

The last dying echo of the “fire” and poetry of Giorgione is seen in some of the works of Bonifazio Veronese (1487-1553), who was also a pupil of Palma. Bonifazio is now regarded as a single individual, although formerly the varying differences in his style of painting led certain critics to regard him as three different members of the same family. The varied grouping seen in the large canvas entitled _Holy Family, with St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Elizabeth, and St. John the Baptist_ (No. 1171), and the colouring of this canvas, seem to prove its authenticity. The smaller picture of a _Holy Family_ (No. 1172), with a similar pedigree and a Greek inscription, which includes the same saints, is a mediocre work. The _Madonna and Child, with St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, St. Paul, and St. Ursula_ (No. 1674D) is a poor picture.

From the studio of Bonifazio issued Jacopo Bassano (1510?-1592), whose _Vintage_ (No. 1428) shows his predilection for introducing animals and kneeling peasants into genre pictures, the treatment of which is apt to be rugged. This did not prevent his at times painting striking and vigorous portraits. The Louvre contains a good example of this branch of his art in the _Portrait of Giovanni da Bologna_ (No. 1429), which is at present not exhibited. _The Animals entering the Ark_ (No. 1423), _Moses striking the Rock_ (No. 1424), _Cana of Galilee_ (No. 1425), _Christ bearing His Cross_ (No. 1426), and the _Descent from the Cross_ (No. 1427) are also credited to him in the Catalogue.

Leandro Bassano (1558-1623), his son, is represented in the La Caze collection by an _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1430) and a _Rustic Labour_ (No. 1431).

The vigorous, ambitious and late Venetian painter Tintoretto (1518-1594), who painted portrait-groups, religious subjects, and mythological compositions on a large scale, and brought his achievements to completion with extraordinary rapidity, is not adequately represented in this Gallery, in which, however, no fewer than eleven works pass under his name. His _Susanna and the Elders_ (No. 1464) testifies to the increasing frequency with which painters or their patrons at that period preferred the representation of sensational incidents from the Apocrypha. The subject is unattractive, but the picture, which is in a very dirty state, is wonderfully painted.

The _Paradise_ (No. 1465) is but a preliminary sketch for the colossal painting, measuring 84 ft. × 34 ft.,—the largest oil-painting by an old master in existence,—which Tintoretto painted for the end wall of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge’s Palace at Venice. The _Portrait of a Man holding a Handkerchief in his Hand_ (No. 1467) reveals his great power as a portrait painter.

The _Portrait of Pietro Mocenigo_ (No. 1470), signed PETRUS MOCENIO SENATOR, and the _Portrait of a Venetian Senator_ (No. 1471), inscribed ANNO ÆTATIS LVII MVII IACOMO TENTORETO . F, are among the pictures of the La Caze collection.

In Room XV., which is given up to self-portraits by artists, hangs a picture which passes as an authentic _Portrait of Tintoretto_ (No. 1466) by himself. It is inscribed JACOBVS TENTORETVS PICT^{OR} VENET^{IVS} and IPSIVS. F.

PAOLO VERONESE

The harmonious colour, the sense of material magnificence, and the masterly draughtsmanship of Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) are seen to the greatest advantage in his _Marriage at Cana_ (No. 1192). He signed a contract in June 1562, to paint this large picture, which measures 21 ft. × 32 ft., for the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, and completed it by September 8, 1563. According to the agreement, Paolo was to receive 324 ducats, a sum equal to-day to about £200; to be fed during the time he was engaged on the work; to be repaid the cost of the materials; and to receive a pipe of wine. The picture was seized by Napoleon during his victorious campaign of 1797, and brought by road to Paris. In accordance with the terms of the Peace of Campo Formio of 1814, it should have been returned. As it had proved a very difficult matter to take it to Paris, where it had to go into the restorer’s hands, the French urged that it was too vast and too dilapidated to bear a second journey. Astonishing as it may seem to us to-day, the Italians accepted the suggestion and in exchange took Charles Le Brun’s large but mediocre _Magdalene at the Feet of Jesus_, perhaps because it measured 12 ft. 6 in. × 10 ft. 4 in. Le Brun’s picture now hangs in the Venice Gallery (No. 377), the Catalogue of which pointedly remarks that “the exchange is much to be regretted.”

(1489?-1576)

VENETIAN SCHOOL

No. 1584.—THE ENTOMBMENT

(La Mise au Tombeau)

The dead body of the Christ is borne on a white cloth by Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathæa. Nicodemus is seen from the back wearing
a pale red tunic and a parti-coloured scarf; Joseph of Arimathæa
in green robes is in profile towards the right. St. John in a red
robe supports the right arm of the Christ. To the left St. Mary
Magdalene, with her arms around the Virgin, gazes in profound grief
at the Christ. The Virgin with clasped hands bends forward to look
at her Son.

Painted in oil on canvas.

4 ft 10½ in. × 7 ft. 1 in. (1·48 × 2·15.)]

Paolo Veronese’s masterly work contains no devotional feeling. The Scriptural story merely serves as a pretext for depicting a scene of Venetian festivity and material magnificence with imposing architectural background. The grouping of the figures is varied, dexterously disposed and stately, while the colour is harmonious and sparkling. The changing of the water into wine is, however, merely incidental. It is a significant fact that a work of this description, in which Art in Venice begins to trick herself out in meretricious embellishments, should have been regarded as a seemly decoration for the refectory of a convent. An additional but frankly worldly interest is imparted to the work by the introduction of a portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos (whose portrait by Titian we have already seen) as the bridegroom, on the extreme left of the composition; to his left is the bride, with the features of Eleonora of Austria. The other figures include François I., dressed in blue and wearing a curious headdress; Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII. and widow of Louis XII., in yellow; the Sultan Soliman, in green, at the side of a negro prince who addresses a servant. On the left of the next figure sits Vittoria Colonna, whom Michelangelo described as “a man within a woman,” plying her toothpick! At the end of the table, speaking to a servant, is the Emperor Charles V., seen in profile and wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece. The introduction of the fool with the bells in the centre of the picture is perhaps intended to express the pomp and pleasure of the world pursued without thought of Christ, who, however, occupies the place of honour in the centre of the composition. The couple of dogs in leash, one gnawing a bone, and a cat, lying on her back as she scratches at one of the vases which hold the wine on the right of the composition, may stand for merely brutal nature.

The painter’s personal interest in the scene is depicted in the group of four artists in the foreground. Paolo himself is playing a viol; just behind him is Tintoretto with a similar instrument; while on the right are Titian, in red with a bass viol, and Bassano playing the flute. The theory put forward by Mr. Herbert Cook that Titian was born as late as 1489, and so would be seventy-four years old in 1562-63, the year in which this picture was painted, certainly seems to find corroboration in the features here given to Titian by Paolo Veronese. He certainly does not look eighty-seven years of age, as he should do if he had been born as early as 1476.

In the Catalogue sixteen pictures are assigned to Paolo Veronese. The _Portrait of a Lady and a Child playing with a Dog_ (No. 1199) is an early work. The _Disciples at Emmaus_ (No. 1196), which is signed “PAOLO VERONESE,” is another of the master’s imposing canvases, as also is the _Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee_ (No. 1193), which was presented to Louis XIV. by the Venetian Republic in 1665, and was for many years hung at Versailles. This artist is also officially credited with the _Burning of Sodom_ (No. 1187), a _Holy Family, with St. George, St. Catherine, and a Male Donor_ (No. 1190), a _Holy Family, with St. Elizabeth and St. Mary Magdalene, and a Female Donor_ (No. 1191), a _Christ heeding Peter’s Wife’s Mother_ (No. 1191A), a _Christ fainting under the weight of the Cross_ (No. 1194), a _Calvary_ (No. 1195), and an _Esther fainting before Ahasuerus_ (No. 1189). The _Susan and the Elders_ (No. 1188) is a replica of a picture in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire. The _St. Mark crowning the Theological Virtues_ (No. 1197), and the _Jupiter hurling Thunderbolts on Criminals_ (No. 1198), were originally executed as ceiling paintings for the Doge’s Palace. The _Christ with the Terrestrial Globe_ (No. 1200) and the _Portrait of a Lady in Black_ (No. 1201) are only studio pictures.

Little artistic ability is shown in the empty abstractions, and at times meaningless productions, of many of the late sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century Venetian artists. Felice Riccio (Il Brusasorci the Younger) (1540-1605) is given as the painter of a _Holy Family_ (No. 1463); Alessandro Turchi (Orbetto) (1582-1648) of three pictures (Nos. 1558-1560); Sebastiano Ricci (1659?-1734) of four compositions (Nos. 1458-1461); Antonio Pellegrino (1675-1741) of an _Allegory_ (No. 1413); Alessandro Varotari (1590-1650) of an utterly uninspired _Venus and Cupid_ (No. 1574); and Pietro della Vecchia (1605-1678) of a dull _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 1576).

A century later than the stupendous achievements of Tintoretto and Veronese the art of Venice had passed into decline, but a glimmer of the genius that had found expression in the gorgeously decorative art in Venice in the sixteenth century was yet to be reflected in the work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1692-1769). His _Last Supper_ (No. 1547) was purchased for £400 in 1877, and his sketch for the _Triumph of Religion_ (No. 1549A) for £1200 in 1903. By him also is the _Banner_ (No. 1549), depicting on the one side _St. Martin saying Mass_, and on the other _The Madonna and Child_. An _Apparition of the Virgin to St. Jerome_ (No. 1548) is one of the less striking pictures in the La Caze collection.

Another decorative painter was Antonio Canale, generally known as Canaletto (1697-1768), who is well represented in the _View of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal_ (No. 1203). The Louvre appears to contain nothing by Bernardo Bellotto (1720-1780), who is sometimes referred to as Canaletto, and is seen to the best advantage at Dresden.

Canaletto’s pupil, Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), who was born of Austrian parentage, is the painter of seven Venetian scenes: _After wedding the Adriatic, the Doge embarks at the Lido on the “Bucentaur”_ (No. 1328); _The Doge proceeds to S. Maria della Salute to commemorate the Preservation of Venice from the Plague in 1630_ (No. 1329); _Fête du Jeudi Gras in the Piazzetta_ (No. 1330); _The Procession of Corpus Domini in the Piazza of S. Marco_ (No. 1331); _The Visit of the Doge to the Church of S. Zaccharia on Easter Day_ (No. 1332); _The Doge seated on his Throne in the Sala del Collegio_ (No. 1333); _Coronation of the Doge_ (No. 1334); and a _View of the Church of S. Maria della Salute_ (No. 1335). Guardi’s pupil, François Casanova (1739-1805), a painter of battle-pieces, worked in France; some of his pictures are hung in the French Rooms.

With Guardi we close the chapter of Venetian art which, owing to four centuries of high aspiration and magnificent achievement, came to an end later than the art of any other school of painting in Italy.

THE PADUAN SCHOOL

Far-reaching influences were to be exerted by classical Padua on the art of the neighbouring cities of Northern Italy. Padua was a city of great antiquity, and had been sufficiently powerful and prosperous even in Roman times to excite the cupidity of its enemies. Eventually the Goths and other barbarian hordes had destroyed its monuments of the Roman age; the spirit of antiquity, nevertheless, survived until Giotto came at the very beginning of the fourteenth century to decorate the walls of the Chapel of the Madonna dell’ Arena, which had been founded in 1303 by Enrico Scrovegno on the site of an ancient Roman arena. These very precious frescoes by Giotto, which fortunately are still preserved, revolutionised art, and the movement initiated by him quickened the art-life of this University city.

Half a century later, Altichiero Altichieri (fl. 1320-1385) developed his art under the influence of Giotto, and beautified the churches of Padua with frescoes, the figures in which he clothed in fanciful attire. An art movement was now on foot, and the influence of Altichieri, who was later to become the founder of the school of Verona, was to be revealed in the work of his follower Pisanello, the Veronese painter and medallist.

The long residence in Padua of Donatello (1386-1466), the great Florentine sculptor, and the erection of his famous equestrian statue of Gattamelata initiated in Padua the Renaissance movement, which soon took deep root in this ancient city. The example of Donatello in sculpture before long brought about the foundation of a local school of painting which was rapidly developed through the shrewd commonsense rather than the artistic achievements of Francesco Squarcione (1394-1474). It is noteworthy that Squarcione had travelled in the East, and had there formed a collection of antique works of plastic art which became the basis of his art-teaching.

One of the numerous pupils of Squarcione was Gregorio Schiavone (“The Slavonian”) (fl. 1440-1470), a native of Dalmatia, who in the studio of his Paduan master met Andrea Mantegna. The Louvre authorities with some hesitancy attribute to Schiavone a _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1523). Although it is hardly by him, it exhibits some of the characteristics of Schiavone, who was fond of decorating his pictures with festoons of flowers and fruit in much the same way that his Venetian contemporary, Carlo Crivelli, delighted to adorn his large panel pictures.

ANDREA MANTEGNA

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) was adopted at the age of ten by Squarcione, and so naturally became his pupil. No better training could have been chosen for the boy, who had a natural taste for the classics, proof of which is further afforded by the Latin inscriptions on his pictures. Andrea seems to have quickly realised the connection between the traditions of Paduan antiquities and the classical models of ancient Greece which his adoptive father Squarcione had brought home with him from his travels. Andrea in time became deeply impressed with the methods of Jacopo Bellini, whose daughter Niccolosia he married in 1453, to the great displeasure of Squarcione. Another powerful influence on Mantegna may be traced to the bronzes which Donatello executed for the Church of Sant’ Antonio of Padua in that city.

(1431-1506)

PADUAN SCHOOL

No. 1375.—PARNASSUS

(Le Parnasse)

On the summit of an arched rock stand Mars and Venus before a
draped bed backed by orange trees. To the left is Cupid, while
Vulcan stands before his forge. Below, to the extreme left, Apollo
plays his lyre to the strains of which the Muses dance. To the
right Mercury, wearing the _petasus_ and _talaria_ and carrying the
_caduceus_, leans against Pegasus. Landscape background.

Painted in tempera on canvas.

5 ft. 3 in. × 6 ft. 3½ in. (1·60 × 1·92.)]

After painting the frescoes in the Church of the Eremitani at Padua, Andrea in 1457 executed a large and striking altarpiece for the Church of San Zeno in Verona. It was removed by Napoleon’s agents to France in 1797, but only the principal panel was returned to that church in 1815. The three predella panels were retained in France. The centre one of these, depicting the _Calvary_, is now in the Louvre (No. 1373); the other two, representing the _Agony in the Garden_ and the _Resurrection_, have long hung in the Museum at Tours. The severity of the statuesque figures and the certainty of the drawing seen in the _Calvary_ are characteristic of the early period of the master.

Mantegna now removed to Mantua, where he entered the service of Lodovico II., Marquis of Mantua, as his Court Painter, remaining there for the rest of his life. The _Madonna of Victory_ (No. 1374) was painted to commemorate the victory gained at the Pass of Fornovo on the Taro on July 6, 1495, by Giovanni Francesco III., Marquis of Mantua, over Charles VIII. of France. In the centre of the picture the Madonna and Child are enthroned. On the left kneels the Marquis, and on the right is St. Elizabeth, the patron saint of Gonzaga’s wife, Isabella d’Este, “at the sound of whose name all the Muses rise and do reverence.” St. Michael standing behind the Duke, and St. George behind St. Elizabeth, hold the robe of the Madonna, who is thus represented as taking under her protection the two principal figures. In the background on the left is St. Andrew, name-saint of the painter and one of the patrons of Mantua. On the right is St. Longinus with the spear with which he pierced the side of Christ. His relics were preserved in the Church of St. Andrea in Mantua. The garlands of flowers and festoons of fruit are a well-known device in Mantegna’s pictures.

Mantegna’s _Parnassus_ (No. 1375, Plate XIV.) illustrates the _amours_ of Mars and Venus, which were discovered by her husband, Vulcan. In the foreground the Muses are dancing. The group of the Muses was afterwards appropriated by Giulio Romano for his _Dance of Apollo and the Muses_ in the Pitti Palace at Florence. This painting was executed in 1497, just before the coming of the Renaissance feeling into Venetian art and the representation of classical myth. Notice the excellently drawn and highly characteristic shells and stones placed in the foreground. In the same year Mantegna painted the _Triumph of Wisdom and Virtue over the Vices_ (No. 1376), the last of the four pictures by him in this Gallery. In the corner to the extreme left is Virtus Deserta, who appears under the guise of a laurel tree with a woman’s head; about the stem is wound a scroll with inscriptions in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The Latin inscription reads:

AGITE PELLITE SEDIBUS NOSTRIS
FAEDA HAEC VICIORV̄ MONSTRA
VIRTUTVM COELITVS AD NOS REDEV̄TIVM

and on the inside of the scroll:

DIVAE COMITES.

This painting formerly decorated the _camerino_ of Isabella d’Este at Mantua. It was seized at the sack of Mantua by Cardinal Richelieu in 1630, together with the _Parnassus_ (No. 1375), Perugino’s _Combat of Love and Chastity_ (No. 1567), and Lorenzo Costa’s _Court of Isabella d’Este_ (No. 1261). _The Mythological Scene_ (No. 1262), which is not now exhibited, represents the _Realm of Erotic Love_; it was begun by Mantegna the year he died, and was gone over and completed by Lorenzo Costa.

Mantegna became involved financially towards the end of his life, and the collection he had formed was sold. His last years were clouded by pecuniary embarrassment. His compositions are essentially classic in spirit, his figures noble and painted in imitation of the antique, while his pagan conceptions prepared the way for those of a later generation in the art of Venice. By this process of gradual evolution the school of Padua came to be distinguished among the other local schools of Northern Italy in the lifetime of Mantegna, whose example gave a new impulse to contemporary art.

A small _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1678), which is officially unattributed, is regarded by Mr. Berenson as the work of Bernardo Parenzano (1437-1531), who was influenced by Mantegna, and imitated the methods of his contemporaries.

Many other artists bore their part in the work of this school, and so contributed to the development of this movement which spread to Veronese and Venetian territory. They are, however, unrepresented in the Louvre.

THE SCHOOL OF VERONA

The foundations of the art of Verona were laid in Paduan soil by Altichieri, who initiated the school of Verona. Veronese art early found expression in the naive pictorial and mediæval style practised by the medallist-painter Antonio Pisanello (1397-1455), whose name appears to have been an endearing diminutive. He was a follower, if not a pupil, of Altichieri. The frequency with which he signed himself “PICTOR” on his medals leads one to suppose that he looked upon himself as a painter first and foremost, and contemporary records seem to confirm this. His art was so highly reputed in Northern Italy that the Venetians thought it advisable to invite him to Venice in 1421 to assist Gentile da Fabriano in painting frescoes, now destroyed, in the Doge’s Palace.

Jacopo Bellini also worked at Verona. He is known to have painted a picture of the _Crucifixion_ for the Chapel of S. Niccolò in the Cathedral at Verona in 1436, but, after exercising considerable influence on the art of Northern Italy, it was in 1759 hewn down by a Canon with a view to beautifying the chapel!

Unfortunately, there are only two frescoes from the hand of Pisanello at Verona, while no more than four authentic easel paintings by him are known to exist, two of them being in the National Gallery. He is known to have travelled extensively in Italy, and to have worked also at Mantua, Ferrara, and Rimini. The traditions of mediæval chivalry and the pictorial parade of pomp and mundane realism which are reflected in his work show that his contemporaries were justified in the high esteem in which they held him.

Pisanello’s love of depicting birds and animals is shown in his two pictures in the National Gallery, but in the _Portrait of a Princess of the Este Family_ (No. 1422A, or No. 1422 _Bis_) he is shown to have been a lover of flowers also. This small panel was formerly attributed to Piero dei Franceschi, the Umbrian artist. For many years it hung among the Drawings, being apparently considered unworthy of a place in its proper environment, among the Italian primitive paintings, where it is now hung. It was purchased in 1893 out of the Felix Bamberg collection. The lady is seen in profile to the left. Her hair is dressed according to the fashion of the period, the front hair being plucked out to render the forehead round and high, while the nape of her neck for the same reason is hairless. She wears a white dress with loose-falling red sleeves; a sprig of juniper (_ginevra_) is let into her dress just above the left shoulder. It has been assumed from this that we here have a _Portrait of Ginevra d’Este_. She was the daughter of Niccolò II. d’Este by his second wife, the infamous and ill-treated Parisina Malatesta, who was decapitated in 1425. Ginevra (1419-1440) became the wife of Sigismondo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, in 1433, and died three years later. The background is composed of pinks and columbines, among which fly four highly decorative butterflies. The embroidery on the left sleeve of the dress is patterned with the _impresa_ of a crystal vase set round with pearls. It is interesting to note that Ginevra’s husband, Sigismondo, is probably the Donor in the _Madonna and Child and a Kneeling Donor_ (No. 1159A or No. 1279) by Jacopo Bellini which hangs next to it on the left. The only other painted portrait by Pisanello known is the later, and larger, one of Leonello d’Este in the Bergamo Gallery.

Bono da Ferrara (fl. 1450-1461) was a pupil of Pisanello, and Oriolo (fl. 1450) was a follower of his; their pictures are extremely rare. The Louvre contains no picture by Liberale da Verona (1451-1536), a master who had many pupils, among whom may be included Girolamo dai Libri (1474-1556) and Francesco Caroto (1470-1546). The _Madonna and Child and St. John the Baptist_ (No. 1318), which is officially catalogued under the name of Girolamo, has long been held to be by Caroto.

Domenico Brusasorci (“The Rat-burner”) (1494-1567) was the father of Felice Riccio and a pupil of Caroto. He has been claimed as the author of the _Madonna and St. Martina_ (No. 1163), which passes in the Catalogue as being by the very late Roman painter Pietro Berretini da Cortona (1596-1669). Other versions of this composition, representing St. Martina triumphing over the Idols, are known. A large number of the prominent Veronese painters are unrepresented in this collection, but the influence of Liberale is frequently seen. The _Council of Trent_ (No. 1586) may be assigned to Paolo Farinati, although it is regarded by the authorities as coming from the hand of Titian. By the time that Farinati died, art in Verona had passed into decline.

One of the most decorative painters in Italy in the sixteenth century was Paolo Veronese, who although a native of Verona spent the best years of his life in Venice. He is usually included among the artists of Venice.

THE SCHOOL OF FERRARA

According to tradition the most famous artist in the school of Ferrara before Tura was Ettore de’ Bonacossi, of whom little is known.

At Ferrara, the city of the Este family, as at all the Italian courts, the art of painting was liberally patronised. All Ferrarese art was more or less Paduan both in origin and style, Cosimo Tura (1430?-1495), the founder of this school, having worked at Padua as a pupil of Squarcione.

The seriousness of Cosimo Tura’s realism was unyielding to those intellectual qualities that dominated the art of Florence in his day; but, in spite of a certain harshness of effect, the vigour of his design and the dignity of his conception give permanent value to the work of this master. Tura is represented in the Louvre by two pictures; the figures seen in his large lunette of the _Pietà_ (No. 1556) are admirably designed to fill up the space they occupy. This panel is a dismembered part of an altarpiece which was painted for the Roverella family, and was formerly in its entirety in the Church of S. Giorgio fuori le Mura at Ferrara. The _Pietà_ eventually passed to the Campana collection, and so to the Louvre. The drapery in this panel, which is cracked horizontally, is tinny, and the flesh is metallic with its white and purple lights, while the bones in the faces being over-prominent create an unpleasant effect. The centre panel of the original altarpiece represents the _Madonna and Child Enthroned_. It passed in time into the Frizzoni collection at Bergamo, and was subsequently purchased in 1867 from Sir Charles Eastlake for the National Gallery (No. 772). The sinister wing of the original altarpiece depicts the _Bishop Lorenzo Roverella presented to the Virgin by St. Maurelius and St. Paul_, and is now in the private rooms of the Colonna Palace in Rome.