DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0239
PORTRAITS AND DRAWINGS
the Rokeby Velazquez. The collection had been taken to
Valparaiso, presumably by a member of his family, and its subse-
quent history has not been traced, but the condition of the
paper and the quality of the drawings left not a moment’s doubt
of their authenticity. When, with infinite care and knowledge,
the varnish and egg glazes with which they were covered were
removed, when chemistry had restored their suppleness to the dried
and crumbling sheets, the sketches, which are in tempera upon
paper, appeared as fresher and more unspoiled examples of
Tintoretto’s methods than anything we possess. They admit us
to an almost overpowering intimacy with the mind of the master.
He is absolutely unreserved, and makes us free of every shade of
feeling. Here is no careful working out of an inner vision, but
one hot trial after another, dashed off, this way and that way, as
if the painter were compelled to clear his brain of the many
alternatives with which it was thronged, for though in some cases
we can identify the sketch he finally made use of, or can recognize
single figures which appear in well-known compositions, it is
evident that numbers did not satisfy him, and were thrown aside
as fast as he dashed them off. We may say, however, that in
every case, the finished design is on the whole superior to the
hasty compositions. Seven of these are for the ‘ Miracle of
the Slave.’ Tintoretto makes a valiant effort to include the lion
floating in the air beside the saint. He tries to dignify it by
giving it an air of intelligent interest in the event, but it refuses
to be anything but comic, and so, no doubt, he perceived, for he
finally abandons the attempt. In the ultimate picture both the
saint and the slave are foreshortened towards instead of away from
us, and the saint, as at length painted, is far finer in attitude than
any of the sketches. In several of these the light is scattered and
the slave is artificial in posture, but in that reproduced here, the
grip of the tight-clenched hands, the expression of the face
(rendered with three blobs), give an astonishing impression of
tension and suspense. The magistrate’s head, as finally given
in its deep bronze colour against the sky, is touched in, in several.
No less than thirty-three drawings are devoted to the ‘ Temp-
tation of St. Anthony,’ though, as far as we know, Tintoretto only
painted this subject once, and finally adopted the main features of
137
the Rokeby Velazquez. The collection had been taken to
Valparaiso, presumably by a member of his family, and its subse-
quent history has not been traced, but the condition of the
paper and the quality of the drawings left not a moment’s doubt
of their authenticity. When, with infinite care and knowledge,
the varnish and egg glazes with which they were covered were
removed, when chemistry had restored their suppleness to the dried
and crumbling sheets, the sketches, which are in tempera upon
paper, appeared as fresher and more unspoiled examples of
Tintoretto’s methods than anything we possess. They admit us
to an almost overpowering intimacy with the mind of the master.
He is absolutely unreserved, and makes us free of every shade of
feeling. Here is no careful working out of an inner vision, but
one hot trial after another, dashed off, this way and that way, as
if the painter were compelled to clear his brain of the many
alternatives with which it was thronged, for though in some cases
we can identify the sketch he finally made use of, or can recognize
single figures which appear in well-known compositions, it is
evident that numbers did not satisfy him, and were thrown aside
as fast as he dashed them off. We may say, however, that in
every case, the finished design is on the whole superior to the
hasty compositions. Seven of these are for the ‘ Miracle of
the Slave.’ Tintoretto makes a valiant effort to include the lion
floating in the air beside the saint. He tries to dignify it by
giving it an air of intelligent interest in the event, but it refuses
to be anything but comic, and so, no doubt, he perceived, for he
finally abandons the attempt. In the ultimate picture both the
saint and the slave are foreshortened towards instead of away from
us, and the saint, as at length painted, is far finer in attitude than
any of the sketches. In several of these the light is scattered and
the slave is artificial in posture, but in that reproduced here, the
grip of the tight-clenched hands, the expression of the face
(rendered with three blobs), give an astonishing impression of
tension and suspense. The magistrate’s head, as finally given
in its deep bronze colour against the sky, is touched in, in several.
No less than thirty-three drawings are devoted to the ‘ Temp-
tation of St. Anthony,’ though, as far as we know, Tintoretto only
painted this subject once, and finally adopted the main features of
137