DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0150
TINTORETTO
recipients of almsgiving—one has a loaf at his side, the other a
cup at hers.
Tintoretto resorts here to his favourite expedient of placing
his principal figure at some distance from the eye. The Saviour,
with the half obliterated form of St. John leaning across Him, is
seated at the far end of the low table, giving the Bread to
St. Peter. On His left Judas shrinks away, with the startled,
resentful look of a wild animal. In the background the servants
are busy at the high buffet, decked with those huge brass
chargers, hereditary possessions, which have only of late years
found their way from Venetian kitchens to the curiosity-dealers.
In the presence of the beggars we have once more the thought of
the altarpiece in S. Polo ; that humanity, and above all the poor,
are to be guests at the Holy Table. We cannot help noticing
what a prominent place he has given to the dog, and from the way in
which he introduces it here, and in the ‘ Last Supper ’ in S. Stefano
and in ‘ Moses striking the Rock,’ he seems to lay peculiar stress on
its presence, and we may please ourselves with the idea that
the painter was fond of dogs, and perhaps painted in his own
favourites, intending to show, what would be very unusual in a
Catholic, that he recognized their claim to a share in the scheme
of immortality.
In looking along this dark side of the hall, we are struck with
the way in which the artist has, as far as possible, overcome the
difficulty of seeing, by choosing strong and varied effects of light
for these shadowed spaces. In the ‘Nativity,’ a supernatural light
streams through the ruined roof upon the Holy Family, the
‘ Baptism ’ has a powerful effect of light through broken clouds, in
the ‘ Resurrection ’ a flood of dazzling glory bursts from the tomb,
in the ‘ Garden’ the whole is illumined by streams of light from the
ministering angel, and in the ‘ Last Supper ’ the evening sunlight
streams into the chamber from some hidden opening and falls in
such a way as to concentrate our attention on the Saviour.
The paintings on the wall opposite have a better chance of
being seen. The series of five may be read as holding one lesson.
In the middle is the ‘ Ascension,’ on one side is the ‘ Miracle of the
Loaves and Fishes’ and the ‘ Raising of Lazarus,’ on the other the
‘ Pool of Bethesda’ and the ‘ Temptation.’ It is the Gospel of the
84
recipients of almsgiving—one has a loaf at his side, the other a
cup at hers.
Tintoretto resorts here to his favourite expedient of placing
his principal figure at some distance from the eye. The Saviour,
with the half obliterated form of St. John leaning across Him, is
seated at the far end of the low table, giving the Bread to
St. Peter. On His left Judas shrinks away, with the startled,
resentful look of a wild animal. In the background the servants
are busy at the high buffet, decked with those huge brass
chargers, hereditary possessions, which have only of late years
found their way from Venetian kitchens to the curiosity-dealers.
In the presence of the beggars we have once more the thought of
the altarpiece in S. Polo ; that humanity, and above all the poor,
are to be guests at the Holy Table. We cannot help noticing
what a prominent place he has given to the dog, and from the way in
which he introduces it here, and in the ‘ Last Supper ’ in S. Stefano
and in ‘ Moses striking the Rock,’ he seems to lay peculiar stress on
its presence, and we may please ourselves with the idea that
the painter was fond of dogs, and perhaps painted in his own
favourites, intending to show, what would be very unusual in a
Catholic, that he recognized their claim to a share in the scheme
of immortality.
In looking along this dark side of the hall, we are struck with
the way in which the artist has, as far as possible, overcome the
difficulty of seeing, by choosing strong and varied effects of light
for these shadowed spaces. In the ‘Nativity,’ a supernatural light
streams through the ruined roof upon the Holy Family, the
‘ Baptism ’ has a powerful effect of light through broken clouds, in
the ‘ Resurrection ’ a flood of dazzling glory bursts from the tomb,
in the ‘ Garden’ the whole is illumined by streams of light from the
ministering angel, and in the ‘ Last Supper ’ the evening sunlight
streams into the chamber from some hidden opening and falls in
such a way as to concentrate our attention on the Saviour.
The paintings on the wall opposite have a better chance of
being seen. The series of five may be read as holding one lesson.
In the middle is the ‘ Ascension,’ on one side is the ‘ Miracle of the
Loaves and Fishes’ and the ‘ Raising of Lazarus,’ on the other the
‘ Pool of Bethesda’ and the ‘ Temptation.’ It is the Gospel of the
84