DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0097
COLOUR AND LIGHT
looked to it from the body of the church for a welcome, as they
passed on to kneel before the High Altar, and seen in this way,
it shines out, a most noble picture. Every figure takes its place ;
the rich crimsons and deep creams have their own value in the
warm emotion of the scene; the gesture of the Saviour has a
generosity, a passionate desire to give, that conveys to us the
idea which inspires the whole. Here is no attempt to represent
the scene as it really took place, but an intention to give a symbolic
rendering which shall appeal to all comers to the Mass. It is the
Bread of Life, given not alone to the twelve, but now and ever-
more, and to all mankind; and, with the noble Venetian whose
fine head stands out against the evening sky, we become reverent
spectators of the mystery.
In San Trovaso Tintoretto has given a more prosaic conception
of the whole scene. Over-painted as it is, it is only in the central
figure and the opening at the back that we find anything remain-
ing of the painter’s charm of colour, but the treatment shows no
lack of variety. The room in which Christ and his disciples are
gathered is quite a humble one; the wooden staircase with a
rail, the small, low table, the common stools and rush-bottomed
chairs, are such as we may see to-day in any little Italian bottega.
The types, too, are ignoble, and perhaps, as Ruskin suggests, it
was painted for a few zecchini in a short space of time. It is
the moment of the word, ‘ one of you shall betray me,’ and
Judas, who has sprung up startled and overturned his chair, tries
to cover his confusion by reaching for the wine bottle, while he
is still unable to detach his fascinated gaze from the Master, in
whom he sees a miraculous power of divination. A sketch for this
picture was in the possession of Messrs. Sulley, in Bond Street, in
1907. The arrangement is different enough to preclude its being
a sketch from the altarpiece. The window is more decidedly
behind, the shape of the room differs, and where the disciple sits
on a stool in the one, in the other he leans across the table,
and is more after the model of the St. Peter in the San Polo
picture.
The same full and brown-red colour connects with these the
‘ Esther before Ahasuerus ’ at Hampton Court, the same subject
in the Escorial, and the ‘ House of Martha and Mary ’ at Augs-
49
looked to it from the body of the church for a welcome, as they
passed on to kneel before the High Altar, and seen in this way,
it shines out, a most noble picture. Every figure takes its place ;
the rich crimsons and deep creams have their own value in the
warm emotion of the scene; the gesture of the Saviour has a
generosity, a passionate desire to give, that conveys to us the
idea which inspires the whole. Here is no attempt to represent
the scene as it really took place, but an intention to give a symbolic
rendering which shall appeal to all comers to the Mass. It is the
Bread of Life, given not alone to the twelve, but now and ever-
more, and to all mankind; and, with the noble Venetian whose
fine head stands out against the evening sky, we become reverent
spectators of the mystery.
In San Trovaso Tintoretto has given a more prosaic conception
of the whole scene. Over-painted as it is, it is only in the central
figure and the opening at the back that we find anything remain-
ing of the painter’s charm of colour, but the treatment shows no
lack of variety. The room in which Christ and his disciples are
gathered is quite a humble one; the wooden staircase with a
rail, the small, low table, the common stools and rush-bottomed
chairs, are such as we may see to-day in any little Italian bottega.
The types, too, are ignoble, and perhaps, as Ruskin suggests, it
was painted for a few zecchini in a short space of time. It is
the moment of the word, ‘ one of you shall betray me,’ and
Judas, who has sprung up startled and overturned his chair, tries
to cover his confusion by reaching for the wine bottle, while he
is still unable to detach his fascinated gaze from the Master, in
whom he sees a miraculous power of divination. A sketch for this
picture was in the possession of Messrs. Sulley, in Bond Street, in
1907. The arrangement is different enough to preclude its being
a sketch from the altarpiece. The window is more decidedly
behind, the shape of the room differs, and where the disciple sits
on a stool in the one, in the other he leans across the table,
and is more after the model of the St. Peter in the San Polo
picture.
The same full and brown-red colour connects with these the
‘ Esther before Ahasuerus ’ at Hampton Court, the same subject
in the Escorial, and the ‘ House of Martha and Mary ’ at Augs-
49