DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0069
work. The flesh tints are still amazingly fresh and Tintorettesque ;
flaming in the light, glowing and bronzed in the shade. Parti-
cularly fine are certain chords of crimson, blue, and black,
always on a background of golden white. Certain white, glitter-
ing draperies and a mantle of cloth of gold are pieces of
characteristic bravura. Many of the types are individual, and
must be portraits. It is a picture which has not been included
in every critic’s list, but, after careful examination, I feel its
authenticity is hardly to be doubted.
‘ And still new visions boiled in that fertile brain.’ The wide
bare walls of the newly restored church of his parish, in which, no
doubt, like a good Catholic, he often attended mass, were too
attractive to be resisted. How long did their contemplation
distract him in his devotions, before he asked the Prior of the
monastery to commission him to cover them ? It is more than
likely that before this he had planned out his scheme, for he could
not be content to renounce it, when told that the expenses of
restoration had left no funds available for decoration, but said, as
once before, that he would paint the choir without charge if the
materials were supplied. No wonder the Prior thought it was a
jest and laughed, but Tintoretto was sufficiently well known to
insure the grateful acceptance of his proposal, when he made it
clear that he was in sober earnest, and he worked at his task with
an enthusiasm that gained him the title of ‘ Il Furioso.’ The
canvases are fifty feet in height, but he had already in 1546
painted on the outside of the Fabri Palace a ‘Belshazzar’s Feast,’
which had given rise to prophecies that he would be a ‘ miracle in
art,’ and he was well accustomed to deal with large spaces. The
stretch of wall, high and narrow, is utilized by painting the
celestial figures at the very top, so that the eye goes ever upward,
till one seems to be actually looking into the skies.
With the example of Michelangelo forcibly in his mind, it was
not entirely surprising that Tintoretto should seize the opportunity
of composing a ‘Last Judgment.’ He must have been well ac-
quainted from drawings with the altarpiece in the Sistine Chapel,
and here and there we find incidents not improbably suggested by
it, but the whole treatment is very original, and he lets himself go
over it, as he might not have been able to do at this time, if he
35
flaming in the light, glowing and bronzed in the shade. Parti-
cularly fine are certain chords of crimson, blue, and black,
always on a background of golden white. Certain white, glitter-
ing draperies and a mantle of cloth of gold are pieces of
characteristic bravura. Many of the types are individual, and
must be portraits. It is a picture which has not been included
in every critic’s list, but, after careful examination, I feel its
authenticity is hardly to be doubted.
‘ And still new visions boiled in that fertile brain.’ The wide
bare walls of the newly restored church of his parish, in which, no
doubt, like a good Catholic, he often attended mass, were too
attractive to be resisted. How long did their contemplation
distract him in his devotions, before he asked the Prior of the
monastery to commission him to cover them ? It is more than
likely that before this he had planned out his scheme, for he could
not be content to renounce it, when told that the expenses of
restoration had left no funds available for decoration, but said, as
once before, that he would paint the choir without charge if the
materials were supplied. No wonder the Prior thought it was a
jest and laughed, but Tintoretto was sufficiently well known to
insure the grateful acceptance of his proposal, when he made it
clear that he was in sober earnest, and he worked at his task with
an enthusiasm that gained him the title of ‘ Il Furioso.’ The
canvases are fifty feet in height, but he had already in 1546
painted on the outside of the Fabri Palace a ‘Belshazzar’s Feast,’
which had given rise to prophecies that he would be a ‘ miracle in
art,’ and he was well accustomed to deal with large spaces. The
stretch of wall, high and narrow, is utilized by painting the
celestial figures at the very top, so that the eye goes ever upward,
till one seems to be actually looking into the skies.
With the example of Michelangelo forcibly in his mind, it was
not entirely surprising that Tintoretto should seize the opportunity
of composing a ‘Last Judgment.’ He must have been well ac-
quainted from drawings with the altarpiece in the Sistine Chapel,
and here and there we find incidents not improbably suggested by
it, but the whole treatment is very original, and he lets himself go
over it, as he might not have been able to do at this time, if he
35