DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0142
TINTORETTO
blackened limbs, and contorted muscles, the dying writhe in the last
extremity, others take to flight or try to hold down the venomous
monsters; livid light contends with deathly shadow. Up above,
they try to lift their failing heads, to fix their darkening eyes on the
symbol of deliverance, beneath which Moses stands, irradiated by
light from the descending Angel of Mercy, and against the light
rises a beautiful form, an Angel of Hope, it may be, throwing up
his arms with a free, light gesture, which at once relieves us and
distracts our attention from the surrounding horror. Overhead,
wrapped in magnificently-drawn clouds and attended by troops
of angels, whose strong wings make a beautiful feature, there
rushes by the wrathful vision of the Deity. It is necessarily a
scene entailing violent and agitating action, but it has also much
of beauty; the fine lines of light and shade on the right of the
middle distance, the way in which the small, far-off figures at
once take our eye and their use in connecting the two great
scenes, above and below, are examples of an art which it is
astonishing to find at once so fervid and so nicely calculated.
‘ The Fall of Manna ’ is the third of the principal themes of the
ceiling. This differs noticeably in colour from the other two.
The manna was found in the early morning, before the sun
waxed hot and melted it. It is the early dawn that the painter
suggests by his cool grey-green colour. The ground is silvery-
grey as if to suggest hoar-frost, the mountains have the cold blue
of dawn, and the form of the Father, seen above the wide grey
drapery spread to catch the manna, is white and radiant. 4 The
Giver of Bread, as in the “Striking of the Rock,” He is represented
as the Lord of the Rivers and the Fountains.’ We must point
out too, as Ruskin has already done, the willow-tree to which the
drapery is tied as one of the most delicate and delightful pieces of
leafage in all the Scuola.
The figures are as full of energy and action as in either of the
other scenes ; one sometimes hears Tintoretto’s personages called
theatrical and extravagant in gesture. In reality they are often
exceedingly restrained in movement, but where gesticulation is
indicated, it is generally rendered with the whole body, in a way
which seems strange to those not familiar with the Italian people,
and especially with peasants. Those accustomed to the prosaic
78
blackened limbs, and contorted muscles, the dying writhe in the last
extremity, others take to flight or try to hold down the venomous
monsters; livid light contends with deathly shadow. Up above,
they try to lift their failing heads, to fix their darkening eyes on the
symbol of deliverance, beneath which Moses stands, irradiated by
light from the descending Angel of Mercy, and against the light
rises a beautiful form, an Angel of Hope, it may be, throwing up
his arms with a free, light gesture, which at once relieves us and
distracts our attention from the surrounding horror. Overhead,
wrapped in magnificently-drawn clouds and attended by troops
of angels, whose strong wings make a beautiful feature, there
rushes by the wrathful vision of the Deity. It is necessarily a
scene entailing violent and agitating action, but it has also much
of beauty; the fine lines of light and shade on the right of the
middle distance, the way in which the small, far-off figures at
once take our eye and their use in connecting the two great
scenes, above and below, are examples of an art which it is
astonishing to find at once so fervid and so nicely calculated.
‘ The Fall of Manna ’ is the third of the principal themes of the
ceiling. This differs noticeably in colour from the other two.
The manna was found in the early morning, before the sun
waxed hot and melted it. It is the early dawn that the painter
suggests by his cool grey-green colour. The ground is silvery-
grey as if to suggest hoar-frost, the mountains have the cold blue
of dawn, and the form of the Father, seen above the wide grey
drapery spread to catch the manna, is white and radiant. 4 The
Giver of Bread, as in the “Striking of the Rock,” He is represented
as the Lord of the Rivers and the Fountains.’ We must point
out too, as Ruskin has already done, the willow-tree to which the
drapery is tied as one of the most delicate and delightful pieces of
leafage in all the Scuola.
The figures are as full of energy and action as in either of the
other scenes ; one sometimes hears Tintoretto’s personages called
theatrical and extravagant in gesture. In reality they are often
exceedingly restrained in movement, but where gesticulation is
indicated, it is generally rendered with the whole body, in a way
which seems strange to those not familiar with the Italian people,
and especially with peasants. Those accustomed to the prosaic
78