DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0223
GIORGIONE.
219
louring is splendid, and the grace and harmony of
the whole composition is even the more enchanting
from the naivete of the conception. This picture,
like many others of the same age and style, re-
minds us of those poems and tales of the middle
ages, in which David and Jonathan figure as “ preux
chevaliers” and Sir Alexander of Macedon and
Sir Paris of Troy fight tournaments in honour of
ladies’ eyes and the “ blessed Virgin.” They must
be tried by their own aim and standard, not by the
severity of antiquarian criticism.
In the Academy of Venice is preserved another
historical picture yet more wildly poetical in con-
ception. It commemorates a fact — a dreadful
tempest which occurred in 1340, and threatened to
overwhelm the whole city of Venice. In Gior-
gione’s picture the demons are represented in an
infernal bark exciting the tempest, while St. Mark,
St. Nicholas, and St. George, the patron saints of
Venice, seated in a small vessel tossed amid the
waves, oppose with spiritual arms the powers of
hell, and prevail against them.
In our National Gallery there is a small his-
torical picture, the death of Peter, the Dominican
friar and inquisitor, called St. Peter the Martyr,
who was assassinated. This picture is not of much
V;ilue, and a very inferior work of the master.
Sacred subjects of the usual kind were so seldom
219
louring is splendid, and the grace and harmony of
the whole composition is even the more enchanting
from the naivete of the conception. This picture,
like many others of the same age and style, re-
minds us of those poems and tales of the middle
ages, in which David and Jonathan figure as “ preux
chevaliers” and Sir Alexander of Macedon and
Sir Paris of Troy fight tournaments in honour of
ladies’ eyes and the “ blessed Virgin.” They must
be tried by their own aim and standard, not by the
severity of antiquarian criticism.
In the Academy of Venice is preserved another
historical picture yet more wildly poetical in con-
ception. It commemorates a fact — a dreadful
tempest which occurred in 1340, and threatened to
overwhelm the whole city of Venice. In Gior-
gione’s picture the demons are represented in an
infernal bark exciting the tempest, while St. Mark,
St. Nicholas, and St. George, the patron saints of
Venice, seated in a small vessel tossed amid the
waves, oppose with spiritual arms the powers of
hell, and prevail against them.
In our National Gallery there is a small his-
torical picture, the death of Peter, the Dominican
friar and inquisitor, called St. Peter the Martyr,
who was assassinated. This picture is not of much
V;ilue, and a very inferior work of the master.
Sacred subjects of the usual kind were so seldom