DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52600#0229
MIDDLE PERIOD 173
with His raised right hand, whilst holding a glass globe
in the left ; He is draped in the ample folds of a blue
mantle over a purple tunic. The type differs from
those which we have met thus far in Buonconsiglio,
and betrays a striving after the nobility and gentleness
of Bellini’s conceptions of Christ ; yet it must be
confessed, that the result is of no little insipidity.
To the right of the Saviour stands St. Secundus, a
young knight in glittering armour, holding a banner
in his right hand and with his left arm akimbo, whilst
gazing dreamily before him. This figure at once calls
up to memory Giorgione’s San Liberale. On the
opposite side, old St. Jerome, in a cardinal’s robes,
looks up toward heaven, interrupting his reading.
The play of lines is easy and pleasing and the problem
of illumination is here also studied with much interest
and success.
Zanotto 1 and recently Dr. Ludwig 2 have expressed
the opinion that this picture is posterior to the settle-
ment of the Dominicans in the church and convent of
San Secondo, which took place in 1534, since the con-
vent of Benedictine nuns, which was founded on the
island in 1034, had been suppressed in 1531. I find
it, however, impossible to agree with these writers.
Their thesis is that the ugly cartoccio with the emblems
of the Dominicans on the pedestal, was painted by
Buonconsiglio ; and then the picture could of course
not be previous to 1534. Zanotto, after having
asserted that a “ scrupulous examination ” of the
picture proved that the cartoccio was original, adds :
“ and this will be clear also to less experienced people,
1 Zanotto, Pinacoteca veneta, i. No. 14.
2 Ludwig, loc. cit.p.90. This author says {ibid,, p. 89) that Crowe
and Cavalcaselle make the error (“ fatalen Irrtum ”) of considering
Buonconsiglio’s latest work (i.e. the San Secondo paid) his—earliest.
This statement is, however, entirely wrong.
with His raised right hand, whilst holding a glass globe
in the left ; He is draped in the ample folds of a blue
mantle over a purple tunic. The type differs from
those which we have met thus far in Buonconsiglio,
and betrays a striving after the nobility and gentleness
of Bellini’s conceptions of Christ ; yet it must be
confessed, that the result is of no little insipidity.
To the right of the Saviour stands St. Secundus, a
young knight in glittering armour, holding a banner
in his right hand and with his left arm akimbo, whilst
gazing dreamily before him. This figure at once calls
up to memory Giorgione’s San Liberale. On the
opposite side, old St. Jerome, in a cardinal’s robes,
looks up toward heaven, interrupting his reading.
The play of lines is easy and pleasing and the problem
of illumination is here also studied with much interest
and success.
Zanotto 1 and recently Dr. Ludwig 2 have expressed
the opinion that this picture is posterior to the settle-
ment of the Dominicans in the church and convent of
San Secondo, which took place in 1534, since the con-
vent of Benedictine nuns, which was founded on the
island in 1034, had been suppressed in 1531. I find
it, however, impossible to agree with these writers.
Their thesis is that the ugly cartoccio with the emblems
of the Dominicans on the pedestal, was painted by
Buonconsiglio ; and then the picture could of course
not be previous to 1534. Zanotto, after having
asserted that a “ scrupulous examination ” of the
picture proved that the cartoccio was original, adds :
“ and this will be clear also to less experienced people,
1 Zanotto, Pinacoteca veneta, i. No. 14.
2 Ludwig, loc. cit.p.90. This author says {ibid,, p. 89) that Crowe
and Cavalcaselle make the error (“ fatalen Irrtum ”) of considering
Buonconsiglio’s latest work (i.e. the San Secondo paid) his—earliest.
This statement is, however, entirely wrong.