DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0178
TINTORETTO
beautiful gradation been contrived as that which melts from the
creamy form of Ariadne to the sun-illumined gold of the goddess
and the glowing tints of the wine-god’s tawny skin. And the
deep delight of this picture, the most sensuous ever painted, that
is yet entirely free from sensuality, lies in the intense feeling that
informs it. In this moment of breathless expectancy, each one of
these persons feels to the finger-tips. Delicately, doubtingly, as
lightly as a flower, the rosy fingers rest upon the palm of the
goddess, and all eyes are fixed upon the tiny ring, the symbol of
union between heart and hand, between land and sea, which,
almost invisible itself, is still the centre of the composition and the
object to which all the lines converge. The simplicity of the
picture enhances its exquisite refinement, every line that is not
essential has been eliminated, and this refinement goes all through
it. The Queen of the Sea has here no gorgeous brocades, no
jewels or sumptuous throne; she reigns by right of her own
loveliness and her crown is God-given, of the stars of heaven.
The lover from the sea brings no costly gifts, but love and truth
and loyalty. We look into the inner shrine of life and behold its
true sublimities, and to the Venetian, accustomed from childhood
to love the grand spectacle of the Doge going out to wed the
Adriatic, this picture must have spoken as the very soul and
spirit of all ceremonial splendour. It comes naturally to us to
compare it with Titian’s ‘ Sacred and Profane Love.’ For actual
beauty of form and colour, the last is, some think, the most
beautiful painting in the world. It is a beauty all-pervading,
mysteriously articulate. It touches all that art that is most in
harmony with nature. It is a culminating moment of enjoyment;
an enjoyment prepared by the intellect for the senses and de-
veloped to the highest point of artistic pleasure. Tintoretto’s is a
culminating moment of the spirit, and here he soars to a region
whither Titian cannot follow him.
In the companion pictures in the Ante-Collegio there is less
poignancy of feeling, but a new delight in the painting of the
nude and a new type of femininity. If we compare the forms of
Ariadne and Venus and the three Graces, with those of Eve
or Susanna at the Bath, we are aware of a marked increase
in slenderness and refinement and of that specially attractive
102
beautiful gradation been contrived as that which melts from the
creamy form of Ariadne to the sun-illumined gold of the goddess
and the glowing tints of the wine-god’s tawny skin. And the
deep delight of this picture, the most sensuous ever painted, that
is yet entirely free from sensuality, lies in the intense feeling that
informs it. In this moment of breathless expectancy, each one of
these persons feels to the finger-tips. Delicately, doubtingly, as
lightly as a flower, the rosy fingers rest upon the palm of the
goddess, and all eyes are fixed upon the tiny ring, the symbol of
union between heart and hand, between land and sea, which,
almost invisible itself, is still the centre of the composition and the
object to which all the lines converge. The simplicity of the
picture enhances its exquisite refinement, every line that is not
essential has been eliminated, and this refinement goes all through
it. The Queen of the Sea has here no gorgeous brocades, no
jewels or sumptuous throne; she reigns by right of her own
loveliness and her crown is God-given, of the stars of heaven.
The lover from the sea brings no costly gifts, but love and truth
and loyalty. We look into the inner shrine of life and behold its
true sublimities, and to the Venetian, accustomed from childhood
to love the grand spectacle of the Doge going out to wed the
Adriatic, this picture must have spoken as the very soul and
spirit of all ceremonial splendour. It comes naturally to us to
compare it with Titian’s ‘ Sacred and Profane Love.’ For actual
beauty of form and colour, the last is, some think, the most
beautiful painting in the world. It is a beauty all-pervading,
mysteriously articulate. It touches all that art that is most in
harmony with nature. It is a culminating moment of enjoyment;
an enjoyment prepared by the intellect for the senses and de-
veloped to the highest point of artistic pleasure. Tintoretto’s is a
culminating moment of the spirit, and here he soars to a region
whither Titian cannot follow him.
In the companion pictures in the Ante-Collegio there is less
poignancy of feeling, but a new delight in the painting of the
nude and a new type of femininity. If we compare the forms of
Ariadne and Venus and the three Graces, with those of Eve
or Susanna at the Bath, we are aware of a marked increase
in slenderness and refinement and of that specially attractive
102