A History of Art for Beginners and Students Part 7

The work which is usually called his masterpiece is an altar-piece in the Church of Santa Maria Formosa, in Venice; the St. Barbara in the centre is very beautiful, and is said to have been painted from his daughter Violante.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 45.--PORTRAIT OF t.i.tIAN. _From the etching by Agostino Caracci._]

The greatest master of the Venetian school is called t.i.tIAN, though his real name was TIZIANO VECELLI, and sometimes Cadore is added to this, because of his having been born in that village (1477-1576). His family was n.o.ble and their castle was called Lodore, and was in the midst of a large estate surrounded by small houses; in one of these last, which is still preserved, the painter was born.

As a child he was fond of drawing, and so anxious to color his pictures that he squeezed the juices from certain flowers, and used them as paints.

When but nine years old he was taken to Venice to study, and from this time was called a Venetian; he is said by some writers to be the first portrait-painter of the world.

He first studied under Sebastian Zuccato, and then under the Bellini, where he was a fellow-pupil with Giorgione, and the two became devoted friends, at the time when they were just coming to be men and were filled with glad hopes of future greatness. After a time, when t.i.tian was about thirty years old, the two were employed on the "Fondaco dei Tedeschi," or the exchange for German merchants in Venice. Here the frescoes of t.i.tian were more admired than those of Giorgione, and the latter became so jealous that they ceased to live together, as they had done, and there is cause for believing that they were never good friends again. But after the early death of Giorgione, t.i.tian completed the works he had left unfinished, and, no doubt, sincerely mourned for him.

One of the most celebrated pictures by t.i.tian is the Presentation in the Temple, which was painted for the Church of the Brotherhood of Charity, called in Italian "La Scuola della Carita;" this church is now the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where the picture still remains. It represents the Virgin Mary when three years old entering the temple and the high priest receiving her at the entrance. All around below the steps is a company of friends who have been invited by her father and mother to attend them on this important occasion. The picture is full of life and action, and is gorgeous in its coloring. Several of the figures are said to be portraits, one being that of t.i.tian himself.

Among his female portraits, that of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, is celebrated; also one called "Flora;" both of these are in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, while near by, in the Pitti, is "La Bella," or the beautiful lady of t.i.tian. He also made many portraits of his daughter Lavinia, who was very beautiful; sometimes he represented her as a fruit or flower-girl, again as Herodias and in various characters (Fig. 46). One of the finest of these is at Berlin, where she is in a very rich dress, and holds up a plate of fruit; it is one of his best works.

t.i.tian's fame extended throughout Italy, and even all over Europe, and the Duke of Ferrara invited him to his court. The artist went, and there painted two very famous mythological pictures, besides portraits and other works. One of these important subjects was "Bacchus and Ariadne," and it is now in the National Gallery, London; the second was a Venus, surrounded by more than sixty children and cupids; some are climbing trees, others shoot arrows in the air, while still others twine their arms around each other; this is now in Madrid.

While at Ferrara the Pope, Leo X., asked t.i.tian to go to Rome; but he longed for his home--he wished for his yearly visit to Cadore, and he declined the honorable invitation, and returned to Venice. In 1530 t.i.tian's wife died, leaving him with two sons, Pomponio and Orazio, and his daughter, Lavinia. In this same sad year the Emperor Charles V. and Pope Clement VII. met at Bologna. All the most brilliant men of Germany and Italy were also there, and t.i.tian was summoned to paint portraits of the two great heads of Church and State, and of many of the notable men among their followers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 46.--PORTRAIT OF LAVINIA. _By t.i.tian._]

When the painter returned to Venice he was loaded with honors and riches.

He bought a new house at Berigrande, opposite the island of Murano; it commanded fine views and its garden was beautiful. The landscapes of his pictures soon grew better than they had been, and no wonder, when he could always see the Friuli Alps in the distance with their snow-capped peaks rising to the clouds; nearer him was the Murano, like another city with its towers and domes, and then the ca.n.a.ls, which at night were gay with lighted gondolas bearing fair ladies. .h.i.ther and thither. Here t.i.tian entertained many people, and some of them were exalted in station. The house was called "Casa Grande," and on one occasion, when a cardinal and others invited themselves to dine with him, t.i.tian flung a purse to his steward, saying, "Now prepare a feast, since all the world dines with me."

While living at "Casa Grande," the artist saw the most glorious years of his life. It seemed that every person of note in all Europe, both men and women, desired their portraits at his hand. One only, Cosmo I., Grand Duke of Florence, refused to sit to him. If these pictures could be collected together, most of the famous persons of his time would be represented in them.

After he was sixty years old t.i.tian made a second journey to Ferrara, Urbino, and Bologna. This time he painted a portrait of Charles V., with a favorite dog by his side. After this, in 1545, at an invitation from Pope Paul III., the great master went to Rome; while there he painted many wonderful pictures--among them, one of the pope with his two grandsons was very remarkable; it is now in the Museum of Naples. He left Rome when he was sixty-nine years old.

In 1548 Charles V. summoned t.i.tian to Augsburg, and while there made him a count, and gave him a yearly pension of two hundred gold ducats. The emperor was very fond of t.i.tian, and spent a good deal of time with him.

On one occasion the painter dropped his brush; the emperor picked it up, and returned it to him. The etiquette of courts forbade any one to receive such a service from the sovereign, and t.i.tian was much embarra.s.sed, when Charles said, "t.i.tian is worthy to be served by Caesar," this being one of the great ruler's t.i.tles. Charles continued his favors to t.i.tian through life, and when he resigned his crown, and retired to the monastery of Yuste, he took nine pictures by this master into his solitude. One of these, a portrait of the Empress Isabella, was so hung that the emperor gazed upon it when dying; this is now in the museum at Madrid, where are also many fine works by t.i.tian, for Philip II. was his patron as his father had been.

When eighty-five years old he finished his wonderful picture of the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence" for the Church of the Jesuits in Venice, and his old age was one of strength and mental clearness. Though he had seen great prosperity and received many honors, he had not escaped sorrow.

After the death of his wife, his sister Orsa, who was very dear to him, had kept his house; she too sickened and died; his son Pomponio was a worthless fellow, and caused him much grief; Lavinia had married, and the old man was left with Orazio alone, who was a dutiful son. He also was an artist, but painted so frequently on the same canvas with his father that his works cannot be spoken of separately.

At length t.i.tian's work began to show his years, and some one told him that his "Annunciation" did not resemble his usual pictures. He was very angry, and, seizing a pencil, wrote upon it, "_Tizia.n.u.s fecit fecit_"--meaning to say by this, "Truly, t.i.tian did this!" When he was ninety-six years old he was visited by Henry III. of France, attended by a train of princes and n.o.bles. The aged painter appeared with such grace and dignity as to excite the admiration of all, and when the king asked the price of some pictures, t.i.tian presented them to him as one sovereign might make a gift to another who was his equal, and no more.

In 1576 the plague broke out in Venice, and both t.i.tian and Orazio fell victims to it. Naturally the man of ninety-eight years could not recover, and, though Orazio was borne off to the hospital and cared for as well as possible, he also died. After t.i.tian was left alone robbers entered his house while he still lived, and carried away jewels, money, and pictures.

He died August 27th, and all Venice mourned for him.

There was a law that no person who died of the plague in Venice should be buried within the city; but t.i.tian was so much honored and beloved that exception was made, and he was buried in the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa de Frari; or as it is usually called, "the Frari." He had painted a great picture of the a.s.sumption for this church, which has since been removed to the Academy of Venice; but another work of his, called the Pesaro altar-piece, still remains near his grave. His burial-place is marked by a simple tablet, inscribed thus: "Here lies the great Tiziano di Vecelli, rival of Zeuxis and Apelles."

A little more than two centuries after his death the citizens of Venice determined to erect a monument to t.i.tian, and Canova made a design for it; but political troubles interfered, and prevented the execution of the plan. In 1852 the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I., placed a costly monument near his grave; it consists of a Corinthian canopy beneath which is a sitting statue of the painter, while several other allegorical figures are added to increase its magnificence. This monument was dedicated with imposing ceremonies, and it is curious to note that not far away from it the sculptor Canova is buried, and his own monument is made from the design which he made for that of t.i.tian.

Some writers consider the "Entombment of Christ," in the Manfrini Palace, as the greatest work of t.i.tian. At all events, it is the best existing representation of this subject, and is a picture which has had a great effect upon art; its chief feature is the general expression of sorrow which pervades the whole work.

t.i.tian gave a new importance to landscape-painting by making backgrounds to his pictures from natural scenery, and that not as if it was merely for the sake of a background, but in a manner which showed his love for Nature, and, in fact, he often rendered it with poetical significance.

The works of t.i.tian are very seldom sold. One subject which he oftentimes repeated was that of "Danae" with the shower of gold falling about her; one of these was purchased by the Emperor of Russia for six hundred thousand francs. One of the most important of his religious pictures was that of "St. Peter Martyr;" this was burned in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice in 1868. An excellent copy of it had been for a long time in the Museum of Florence, and this was presented to the Venetians in order to repair their loss as far as possible. Victor Amadeus of Sardinia presented nine pictures by t.i.tian to the Duke of Marlborough, and these were all destroyed in 1861 when the chateau of Blenheim was burned. Kugler says: "In the multifariousness of his powers t.i.tian takes precedence of all other painters of his school; indeed, there is scarcely a line of art which in his long and very active life he did not enrich." His last work was not quite completed by himself, and is now in the Academy of Venice.

It is a Pieta, and although the hand of ninety-eight years guided the brush uncertainly, yet it has the wonderful light this master threw around his figures, and the whole is conceived with his accustomed animation.

The pupils and followers of t.i.tian were too numerous to be spoken of one by one, and none of them were so great as to require their mention in detail here; yet they were so good that, while the other schools of Italy were decreasing in importance during the sixteenth century, that of Venice was flourishing, and some great masters still existed there. Among these was JACOPO ROBUSTI (1512-1594), who was called, and is best known as Tintoretto, which name was given him because his father was a dyer. He studied under t.i.tian for a time, and then he attempted to follow Michael Angelo, and it is said that his motto was, "The coloring of t.i.tian, the drawing of Michael Angelo." His best pictures are slightly treated, and others are coa.r.s.e and unfinished in the manner of painting. His portraits seem to be his best works, probably because they are more carefully finished.

Several works of his are simply enormous; one is seventy-four by thirty feet; the school of St. Roch has fifty-seven large pictures by him, in many of which the figures are of life size. His two most famous works are the "Miracle of St. Mark," in the Academy of Venice, and the "Crucifixion," in the school of St. Roch. The last is, for every reason, his best work; there are crowds of people in it, on foot and on horseback, while their faces show every possible kind of expression, and their movements are infinitely varied. The immense painting mentioned above is in the Doge's Palace, and is called "Paradise." His daughter, MARIETTA ROBUSTI (1560-1590), was a pupil of her father's, and became so good a portrait-painter that she was invited to the Court of Spain by Philip II., but her father could not consent to a separation from her. Some excellent pictures of hers still exist, and her portraits of Marco dei Vescovi and the antiquarian Strada were celebrated pictures. When the Emperor Maximilian and the Archduke Ferdinand, each in turn, desired her presence at their courts, her father hastened to marry her to Mario Augusti, a wealthy German jeweller, upon the condition that she should remain in her father's house. She was celebrated for her beauty, had fine musical talents, and was sprightly and enthusiastic; her father was so fond of having her with him that he sometimes allowed her to dress as a boy, and go with him to study where young girls were not admitted.

When but thirty years old Marietta Robusti died; she was buried in the Church of Santa Maria dell Orto, where are several works by her father.

Both he and her husband mourned for her all their remaining days. Many pictures of Tintoretto painting his daughter's portrait after her death have been made by later artists.

PAOLI CAGLIARI, or CALIARI, called PAUL VERONESE (1528-1588), was born at Verona, but as he lived mostly at Venice, he belongs to the school of that city. He was an imitator of t.i.tian, whom he did not equal; still he was a fine painter. His excellences were in his harmonious color, his good arrangement of his figures in the foreground, and his fine architectural backgrounds. He tried to make his works magnificent, and to do this he painted festive scenes, with many figures in splendid costumes. He is buried in the Church of St. Sebastian, where there are many of his works.

In the gallery of the Louvre is his "Marriage at Cana." It is thirty by twenty feet in size, and many of its figures are portraits. His pictures are numerous and are seen in the European galleries. The "Family of Darius," in the National Gallery, London, cost that inst.i.tution the enormous sum of thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty pounds; it was formerly in the Pisani Palace, Venice, and was said to have been left there by Veronese as payment for his entertainment during a visit he had made in the palace. In 1868, at the Demidoff sale, a portrait of his daughter sold for two thousand five hundred and twenty-four pounds.

At the close of the sixteenth century a family of a father and four sons were busy painting what may rightfully be termed the earliest _genre_ pictures of Italy. This term is used to denote pictures that stand between historical and utterly imaginary subjects; that is to say, the representation of something that seems real to us because it is so familiar to our imagination, or because it is something that we know might have happened, that it has all the naturalness of an actual reproduction of a fact. There may be interior or landscape _genre_ pictures. The first represent familiar in-door scenes--the latter are landscapes with animals or figures to give a life element and to tell a story.

The name of the family of which I speak was Da Ponte, but it was called Ba.s.sano, from the birth-place of JACOPO DA PONTE Ba.s.sANO (1510-1592), the father, who was the most important of the family. He studied in Venice, but returned to his native town. His portraits are fine; among them are those of the Doge of Venice, Ariosto, and Ta.s.so. His works are very numerous and are seen in all galleries. He introduced landscapes and animals into most of his pictures, sometimes with great impropriety.

We come now to ANTONIO ALLEGRI, called CORREGGIO (1493-1534), who was born at the end of the fifteenth, but did his work in the beginning of the sixteenth century. His name of Correggio is that of his birth-place, and as he was not born at any of the great art centres, and did not adopt the precise manner of any school, he, with his followers, stand by themselves, and yet, because his princ.i.p.al works were done at Parma, he is sometimes said to be of the school of Parma.

When Correggio was thirteen years old he had learned to draw well. He studied under Andrea Mantegna and his son Francesco Mantegna. From these masters he learned to be very skilful in drawing, especially in foreshortening, or in representing objects seen aslant. But though he learned much of the science of art from his teachers, his grace and movement and his exquisite light and shade are all his own, for they did not possess these qualities.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 47.--PORTRAIT OF CORREGGIO.]

Foreshortening is so important that I must try to explain it; and, as Correggio is said to be the greatest master in this art since the days of the Greeks, it is quite proper for me to speak of it in connection with him. The art of foreshortening is that which makes different objects painted on a plane or flat surface appear as if they were at different distances from the eye of the person who is looking at the picture, or as scenes in nature appear, where one part is much farther off than another.

To produce this effect it is often necessary to make an object--let us say, for example, an arm or a leg, look as if it was stretched forward, out of the canvas, directly toward the person who is looking at it. Now, the truth is that in order to produce this effect the object is often thrown backward in the drawing; sometimes also it is doubled up in an unnatural manner, and occupies a small s.p.a.ce on the canvas, while it appears to be of life size when one looks at it. A "Christ in Glory"

painted by Correggio in the cupola of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Parma, is a fine piece of foreshortening. The head is so thrown back, and the knees are so thrown forward, that the whole figure seems to be of life size; yet if the s.p.a.ce from the top of the head to the soles of the feet were measured, it would be found to be much less than the height of the same figure would be if it were drawn in an erect position.

I have already explained the meaning of chiaro-scuro, and this delicate manner of pa.s.sing from light to shade was another quality in the works of Correggio. It is even seen in his early works, as, for instance, in the beautiful Madonna di San Francesco, now at Dresden, which he painted when he was but eighteen years old.

When this master was twenty-six years old he married Girolama Nurlini, and about the same time he was summoned to Mantua by the Duke Federigo Gonzaga. During eleven years after his marriage he was occupied with works in Mantua, and with his great frescoes at Parma. In 1530 he returned to Correggio, and there pa.s.sed the remainder of his life. That he held a high position is proved by certain records of his life, among which is the fact that in 1533 he was invited to be one of the witnesses of the marriage of the Lord of Correggio.

It is said that when this painter saw one of the great works of Raphael, he exclaimed, enthusiastically and thankfully, "I, too, am a painter!" and no doubt he then felt himself moved to attempt such works as should make his name known to all the world through future centuries. When t.i.tian saw Correggio's frescoes at Parma, he said: "Were I not t.i.tian, I should wish to be Correggio." Annibale Caracci, also a great artist, said of Correggio, more than a hundred years after his death, "He was the only painter!" and declared that the children he painted seemed to breathe and smile with such grace that one was forced to smile and be happy with them.

In 1534 Correggio died of a fever, and was buried in his family tomb in the Franciscan Convent of his native city. His grave is simply marked with his name and the date of his death.

Some of his oil-paintings are very famous. One at Dresden, representing the "Nativity of the Saviour," is called the "Notte," or night, because the only light on the picture comes from the halo of glory around the head of the Holy Child. Correggio's "Reading Magdalen" is in the same gallery; probably no one picture exists which has been more universally admired than this.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48.--UPPER PART OF A FREs...o...b.. CORREGGIO.]

There was a large work of his representing "The Shepherds Adoring the Infant Saviour," at Seville, in Spain. During the Peninsular War (1808-14) the people of that city sent many valuable things to Cadiz for safety, and this picture, on account of its size, was cut in two. By some accident the two parts were separated; but both were sold, and the purchaser of each was promised that the other portion should be given him. From this much trouble arose, because both purchasers determined to keep what they had, and each claimed that the whole belonged to him, and as they were equally obstinate, the two parts of the same work have never been reunited. Fortunately, each half makes a picture by itself.

The frescoes at Parma are the greatest works of this master, and it is very interesting to visit that quaint old city; his works are in the Cathedral, the Church of St. John the Evangelist, and in the parlor of the Convent of the Benedictine Nuns. This last is a wonderful room. The ceiling is arched and high, and painted to represent an arbor of vines with sixteen oval openings, out of which frolicsome children are peeping, as if, in pa.s.sing around behind the vines, they had stopped to look down into the room. The pictures here will make you understand the effect (Figs. 48 and 49). Beneath each of these openings or lunettes is a half-circular picture of some mythological story or personage. Upon the wall of the parlor, above the mantel, there is a picture of Diana, the G.o.ddess of the moon and the protector of young animals, which is a beautiful picture.

When Correggio worked on the frescoes at the Church of St. John, he lived much in the monastery connected with it. The monks became very fond of him, and made him a member of the Congregation Ca.s.sinensi; the poet Ta.s.so also was a member of this fraternity. This membership gave him the right to share in the ma.s.ses, prayers, and alms of the community, and after his death the same offices for the repose of his soul would be performed as if he had been a true monk.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49.--LOWER PART OF A FREs...o...b.. CORREGGIO.]

The works of Correggio are very rarely sold. The madonna in the National Gallery, London, known as "_La Vierge au Panier_," was formerly in the Royal Gallery at Madrid. During the French invasion of Spain, Mr. Wallace, an English artist, obtained it. It is painted on a panel, and is 13 inches high by 10 inches wide. In 1813 it was offered for sale in London at twelve hundred pounds. In 1825 it was sold in Paris for eighty thousand francs, and soon after sold to the National Gallery for thirty-eight hundred pounds, or nearly nineteen thousand dollars.

A copy of the "Reading Magdalen" was sold to Earl Dudley for sixteen hundred pounds, or more than seven thousand dollars.

Correggio had but few pupils, but he had many imitators. The one most worthy of mention was FRANCESCO MAZZUOLI (1503-1540), called IL PARMIGIANO, or PARMIGIANINO. He was not a great painter. The "Vision of St. Jerome," in the National Gallery, London, is one of his best works. It is said that during the sack of Rome, in 1527, he was painting the figures of the Virgin and Child in this picture, and was so engrossed by his work that the invaders entered his studio, and surrounded him before he was aware of their approach. And they, for their part, were so moved by what they saw that they went away, and left him undisturbed.