DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0261
TINTORETTO.
25“
walls of his father’s house. The dyer, being a man
of sense, did not attempt to oppose his son’s predi-
lection for art, but procured for him the best in-
struction his means would allow, and even sent him
to study under Titian. This did not avail him much,
for that most excellent painter was by no means a
good instructor, and it is said that he became jea-
lous of the progress of Tintoretto, or perhaps re-
quired more docility. Whatever might be the cause,
he expelled him from his academy, saying, somewhat
rashly, that “ he would never be anything but a
dauber.” Tintoretto did not lose courage; he pur-
sued his studies, and after a few years set up an
academy of his own, and on the wall of his paint-
ing-room he placed the following inscription, as
being expressive of the principles he intended to
follow : “Il disegno di Michel Agnolo : il colorito
di Tiziano ” (the drawing of Michael Angelo, and
the colouring of Titian). Tintoretto was a man of
extraordinary talent, unequalled for the quickness
of his invention and the facility and rapidity of his
execution. It frequently happened that he would
not give himself the trouble to make any design or
sketch for his picture, but composed as he went
along, throwing his figures on the canvas and
painting them in at once, with wonderful power
and truth, considering the little time and pains
they cost him. But this want of study was fatal
to his real greatness. He is the most unequal of
25“
walls of his father’s house. The dyer, being a man
of sense, did not attempt to oppose his son’s predi-
lection for art, but procured for him the best in-
struction his means would allow, and even sent him
to study under Titian. This did not avail him much,
for that most excellent painter was by no means a
good instructor, and it is said that he became jea-
lous of the progress of Tintoretto, or perhaps re-
quired more docility. Whatever might be the cause,
he expelled him from his academy, saying, somewhat
rashly, that “ he would never be anything but a
dauber.” Tintoretto did not lose courage; he pur-
sued his studies, and after a few years set up an
academy of his own, and on the wall of his paint-
ing-room he placed the following inscription, as
being expressive of the principles he intended to
follow : “Il disegno di Michel Agnolo : il colorito
di Tiziano ” (the drawing of Michael Angelo, and
the colouring of Titian). Tintoretto was a man of
extraordinary talent, unequalled for the quickness
of his invention and the facility and rapidity of his
execution. It frequently happened that he would
not give himself the trouble to make any design or
sketch for his picture, but composed as he went
along, throwing his figures on the canvas and
painting them in at once, with wonderful power
and truth, considering the little time and pains
they cost him. But this want of study was fatal
to his real greatness. He is the most unequal of