DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49608#0029
40
In this picture, as in that by Paris Bordone recently described, St.
John the Baptist is represented as an elderly man, an anachronism
severely censured by a late writer. Errors of this kind, however, if such
they are, do not belong exclusively to the school of Venice: the finest
works of Raffaele, in the Vatican, are not exempt from them, nor is
even his celebrated Transfiguration, in a corner of which he has intro-
duced two figures, supposed portraits, wholly unconnected with the
subject. But it has been strongly urged by eminent writers, that in
devotional pictures, intended to call to mind the exemplary piety of
departed saints, or to represent the mysteries of religious faith, in which
r
Christians of all ages are equally participators, there is no real impro-
priety in this seeming departure from chronological precision. The
argument is, however, too extensive for this place.
This picture is on canvas, and measures 2 feet in height, by 3 feet in
width, and was purchased out of the Orleans collection.
No. 19. ANDREA SCHIAVONE. Nat. 1522, ob. 1582.
CHRIST BEFORE PILATE.
A greater degree of correctness of design would have placed this
artist in the very first rank of the Venetian school. As a colourist he
is, in his best works, scarcely inferior to Titian. It is recorded of Tin-
toret, that he not unfrequently assisted him in his pictures, in order to
observe his method of painting, and that he was accustomed to say, no
artist should be without a specimen of Schiavone in his study. Though
defective in drawing, his figures possess a certain ease and graceful-
ness which, independently of the charms of colouring, render his pic-
tures attractive. These qualities were derived from the study of Par-
migiano, in imitation of whose style Schiavone etched many plates,
which are most highly prized by the connoisseurs, and have too long
In this picture, as in that by Paris Bordone recently described, St.
John the Baptist is represented as an elderly man, an anachronism
severely censured by a late writer. Errors of this kind, however, if such
they are, do not belong exclusively to the school of Venice: the finest
works of Raffaele, in the Vatican, are not exempt from them, nor is
even his celebrated Transfiguration, in a corner of which he has intro-
duced two figures, supposed portraits, wholly unconnected with the
subject. But it has been strongly urged by eminent writers, that in
devotional pictures, intended to call to mind the exemplary piety of
departed saints, or to represent the mysteries of religious faith, in which
r
Christians of all ages are equally participators, there is no real impro-
priety in this seeming departure from chronological precision. The
argument is, however, too extensive for this place.
This picture is on canvas, and measures 2 feet in height, by 3 feet in
width, and was purchased out of the Orleans collection.
No. 19. ANDREA SCHIAVONE. Nat. 1522, ob. 1582.
CHRIST BEFORE PILATE.
A greater degree of correctness of design would have placed this
artist in the very first rank of the Venetian school. As a colourist he
is, in his best works, scarcely inferior to Titian. It is recorded of Tin-
toret, that he not unfrequently assisted him in his pictures, in order to
observe his method of painting, and that he was accustomed to say, no
artist should be without a specimen of Schiavone in his study. Though
defective in drawing, his figures possess a certain ease and graceful-
ness which, independently of the charms of colouring, render his pic-
tures attractive. These qualities were derived from the study of Par-
migiano, in imitation of whose style Schiavone etched many plates,
which are most highly prized by the connoisseurs, and have too long