DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0185
r-
designed as the centre-piece for some painted ceiling. Jupiter it
is, as the eagle bearing his thunderbolts indicates, and not
Hermes, who bears the infant Hercules to Olympus, where Juno
lies upon her couch, attended by her royal peacocks. All is life
and movement; and the little Loves, grasping their insignia,
their nets and bows and arrows, dart and flutter as joyously as
butterflies, and the stars start to life with irresistible spontaneity.
Tintoretto is in one of his most graceful moods, and shows how
far his temper was removed from gloom ; tragic and emotional he
could be, but he was equally ready to be playful and joyous when
he found a subject which touched his fancy and attracted his taste.
And in neither frame of mind, we will venture to say, did he
compose the greater part of the huge decorations which he
contributed to the Doge’s Palace. The necessity for making the
old Doges everywhere the central interest entails a monotony
which hampers him. Yet the world of light and air upon which
he opens does much to redeem the stiffness which religious and
national ceremonial made almost inevitable. The compositions
are all in some degree determined by Titian’s initial example of
Doge Grimani adoring Faith, in which the magnificent portrait
of the Doge redeems an otherwise banale setting. In Tintoretto’s
series, we have 4 Doge Niccold da Ponte adoring the Virgin,’ 4 Doge
Donato assisting at the marriage of St. Catherine,’ 4 Doge Alvise
Mocenigo in worship before the Redeemer.’ Where St. Mark
presents Doge Mocenigo and the Saviour floats forward on a sea
of golden light, the painter has visualized the event, and in the
detail, he has put vehemence into the clashing wings of the
Lion of St. Mark and painted the Persian carpet with a richness
like jewels, and concentrated grace and charm on the putti who
dart above the heads of the Doge and his suite. St. Catherine is
an exquisite figure in a gleaming silk dress, and the floating veil
falls over her, showing the sky through it, 4 as an Alpine cascade
falls over a marble rock.’ In the midst of the graceful fancy of
this picture we can almost discern the painter’s discouragement
at having to place the prosaic old Doge Donato in the most
prominent place in the foreground. In the Coliegio, St. Mark
has the same monotonous task of presenting Doge Gritti to the
Virgin, who is attended by S. Bernardino of Siena and S. Louis
105
designed as the centre-piece for some painted ceiling. Jupiter it
is, as the eagle bearing his thunderbolts indicates, and not
Hermes, who bears the infant Hercules to Olympus, where Juno
lies upon her couch, attended by her royal peacocks. All is life
and movement; and the little Loves, grasping their insignia,
their nets and bows and arrows, dart and flutter as joyously as
butterflies, and the stars start to life with irresistible spontaneity.
Tintoretto is in one of his most graceful moods, and shows how
far his temper was removed from gloom ; tragic and emotional he
could be, but he was equally ready to be playful and joyous when
he found a subject which touched his fancy and attracted his taste.
And in neither frame of mind, we will venture to say, did he
compose the greater part of the huge decorations which he
contributed to the Doge’s Palace. The necessity for making the
old Doges everywhere the central interest entails a monotony
which hampers him. Yet the world of light and air upon which
he opens does much to redeem the stiffness which religious and
national ceremonial made almost inevitable. The compositions
are all in some degree determined by Titian’s initial example of
Doge Grimani adoring Faith, in which the magnificent portrait
of the Doge redeems an otherwise banale setting. In Tintoretto’s
series, we have 4 Doge Niccold da Ponte adoring the Virgin,’ 4 Doge
Donato assisting at the marriage of St. Catherine,’ 4 Doge Alvise
Mocenigo in worship before the Redeemer.’ Where St. Mark
presents Doge Mocenigo and the Saviour floats forward on a sea
of golden light, the painter has visualized the event, and in the
detail, he has put vehemence into the clashing wings of the
Lion of St. Mark and painted the Persian carpet with a richness
like jewels, and concentrated grace and charm on the putti who
dart above the heads of the Doge and his suite. St. Catherine is
an exquisite figure in a gleaming silk dress, and the floating veil
falls over her, showing the sky through it, 4 as an Alpine cascade
falls over a marble rock.’ In the midst of the graceful fancy of
this picture we can almost discern the painter’s discouragement
at having to place the prosaic old Doge Donato in the most
prominent place in the foreground. In the Coliegio, St. Mark
has the same monotonous task of presenting Doge Gritti to the
Virgin, who is attended by S. Bernardino of Siena and S. Louis
105