DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0106
TINTORETTO
over his shoulder. The picture was evidently intended to be
placed much higher, and is foreshortened accordingly. Above this
is a long panel of ‘ S. Koch in the Desert.’ The paintings in the
choir were not executed till 1567, and the i Annunciation ’ and
‘S. Roch before the Pope’ in 1577. Though important by their
size and elaborate composition, they are so decayed and blackened
that the original colour-scheme can hardly be guessed, and we may
pass them over in a few words.
In one, S. Roch ministers to the sick in hospital, the recesses
of which were once mysterious and spacious, but are now nearly
impenetrable. Above it is what Ruskin describes as a ‘ Cattle
Piece.’ It is a sort of cartoon, very grandly drawn, with a group
of women and children and a noble landscape, in cool grey tones,
with pines and chestnuts and well-studied oxen and sheep. On
the opposite wall is a battle piece, ‘ a wild group of horses and
warriors.’ Two horses, one ridden by a standard-bearer, meet
with a crash in the middle. It is half a combat and half a
tempest, for a great tree is torn up by the roots by a whirl-
wind, and the whole effect is of a turmoil of human strife
combined with an upheaval of the elements. It must once
have deserved the special commendation which Ridolfi gives it
for fine drawing and splendid colour. The great composite scene
below unites various events, which all bear upon S. Roch’s five
years of ministration in prison, and which are full of painfully
realistic incidents. They end with his death there, when angels
fly down to receive the parting soul. The figure of the Pope in
the painting at the end of the church, is one of those grand old
men in gorgeous vestments whom Tintoretto paints in the
‘ Presentation ’ in the Scuola, but the panel opposite is a very
poor and conventional affair, and both have something stiff and
academic, which renders them unsatisfactory.
The same year in which the ‘Marriage of Cana ’ was signed, 1561,
saw another step taken which had important results. The great hall
built by Sansovino in the Library of San Marco was to be decorated.
Titian, now in his eighty-fifth year, was desired to appoint the
artists, and divided the work between Veronese, Schiavone,
Zelotti, Salviati, and his own son Orazio. The exclusion of a
painter who had by this time reached the position of Tintoretto
56
over his shoulder. The picture was evidently intended to be
placed much higher, and is foreshortened accordingly. Above this
is a long panel of ‘ S. Koch in the Desert.’ The paintings in the
choir were not executed till 1567, and the i Annunciation ’ and
‘S. Roch before the Pope’ in 1577. Though important by their
size and elaborate composition, they are so decayed and blackened
that the original colour-scheme can hardly be guessed, and we may
pass them over in a few words.
In one, S. Roch ministers to the sick in hospital, the recesses
of which were once mysterious and spacious, but are now nearly
impenetrable. Above it is what Ruskin describes as a ‘ Cattle
Piece.’ It is a sort of cartoon, very grandly drawn, with a group
of women and children and a noble landscape, in cool grey tones,
with pines and chestnuts and well-studied oxen and sheep. On
the opposite wall is a battle piece, ‘ a wild group of horses and
warriors.’ Two horses, one ridden by a standard-bearer, meet
with a crash in the middle. It is half a combat and half a
tempest, for a great tree is torn up by the roots by a whirl-
wind, and the whole effect is of a turmoil of human strife
combined with an upheaval of the elements. It must once
have deserved the special commendation which Ridolfi gives it
for fine drawing and splendid colour. The great composite scene
below unites various events, which all bear upon S. Roch’s five
years of ministration in prison, and which are full of painfully
realistic incidents. They end with his death there, when angels
fly down to receive the parting soul. The figure of the Pope in
the painting at the end of the church, is one of those grand old
men in gorgeous vestments whom Tintoretto paints in the
‘ Presentation ’ in the Scuola, but the panel opposite is a very
poor and conventional affair, and both have something stiff and
academic, which renders them unsatisfactory.
The same year in which the ‘Marriage of Cana ’ was signed, 1561,
saw another step taken which had important results. The great hall
built by Sansovino in the Library of San Marco was to be decorated.
Titian, now in his eighty-fifth year, was desired to appoint the
artists, and divided the work between Veronese, Schiavone,
Zelotti, Salviati, and his own son Orazio. The exclusion of a
painter who had by this time reached the position of Tintoretto
56