is the Madonna, who looks cheerfully on, while the lovely Child throws a garland of flowers down below.' Excellent pictures of this kind are in Munich, especially in the Leuchtenberg Gallery. The figure of John the Baptist, as large as life, with all its beauty is not of a decided character, and is imbued rather with the expression of gentle sorrow than of high presentiment. The large St. Jerome, in a grandly wooded rocky landscape, is an imposing representation of overwhelming repentance, and may be considered one of those subjects of Titian which most impressed the minds of the painters of the seventeenth century. One of the best specimens of the often repeated representation of the Magdalen is in the Barberigo palace; others are in the Escurial, in the Pitti palace, in the Studj Gallery at Naples, in the Doria palace at Rome, &c. These pictures represent grief of no profound or moral character, but rather a beautiful woman, whose repentance will not be of any great duration. A grand altar-piece, Tobit with the Angel, is in the church of St. Catherine at Venice the assistance of Titian's scholar, Santo Zago, is thought to be discernible in it. Titian excels in those subjects in which the external repose of the figures affords an opportunity for the development of his peculiar excellence. Even in the Assumption and Entombment above mentioned this is observable, but it is less so in those more rare works in which an animated action is necessary. Such subjects are foreign to his nature, and the constraint is evident. This is the case, for instance, in the Christ crowned with Thorns, in the Louvre, where the painter hardly seems at home in the representation of the rude and the violent. Even in his two most celebrated historical pictures, great as were his powers of life and animation, we observe that his sphere lay more in the representation of existence than in that of action. One of these two great pictures, the St. Peter Martyr, in S. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice, is hardly a happy conception for a colossal altar-piece. The Saint is looking up to heaven, in expectation : 1 [Or rather holds a wreath as if ready to crown a votary; two infant angels also hold wreaths.-ED.] 2 Now removed to Russia. 3 [Another picture of this subject, unquestionably by Titian, is or was in S. Marziale. See Zanetti, Della Pittura Veneziana, pp. 107, 108.-Ed.] of death. His sufferings are seen most in the furious spring of the murderer, and in the terrified action of the disciple. The landscape-the border of a dark wood, with fine clouds, and the mountains seen behind in bright twilight—is one of Titian's invariably masterly scenes.' The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo, an altar-piece of equally colossal dimensions, in the Jesuits' Church at Venice, is a picture of incomparably more importance (like the Peter Martyr it has suffered considerably). The fine, nobly foreshortened figure of the Saint, lighted above by a beam of heavenly glory, and below by the fire, exhibits far less the physical suffering than the sacred fortitude of the Martyr-to the astonishment of the rude tormentors around him, some of whom show their feelings in increased malignity, others in admiration or in flight; only a hardened veteran remains untouched, and continues looking at the Saint without any change of emotion. To this is added an effect of light such as is perhaps unique in painting-the fire, the ray from above, the light from two pans of burning pitch, altogether producing a combination of light and reflection in the nocturnal scene which, in themselves, would have given the highest value to the commonest composition. Titian executed important pictures, principally of historical [It has not been thought necessary to notice every instance where the judgments of the author differ from received opinions, but it is impossible to suffer the above remarks on the Pietro Martire to pass without at least observing that the majority of critics have long placed this picture in the highest rank of excellence. The Christ crowned with Thorns is unsurpassed in colour, but the Pietro Martire has been always considered as excellent in invention as in the great qualities which are peculiar to the painter. Having said thus much, it may be granted that the author's general remark respecting Titian's superior treatment of grave subjects appears to be well founded, and instances of exaggerated action might undoubtedly be quoted. A certain imitation of Michael Angelo is to be recognized in some of Titian's works in the most vigorous period of his career; but this imitation seems to have been confined to qualities (such as contrast in action and grandeur of line) which were analogous to his own characteristic excellences. The Friar escaping from the Assassin, in the Pietro Martire, is as fine an example of the union of these qualities in form as is to be found in the works of any painter: other instances were perhaps less successful. For the rest, the taste was not permanent in Titian: he returned to that "senatorial dignity" which Reynolds has pointed out as one of his prominent qualities, and in this view the remark of the author must be allowed its due weight. The description which follows of the picture representing the martyrdom of S. Lorenzo must be understood to refer to the original appearance of that work: at present, parts of it are so much darkened as to be scarcely visible.—ED.] subjects, in the Palace of the Doge: they were destroyed by a fire which consumed almost the whole interior of the edifice, about the middle of the sixteenth century. A fresco of St. Christopher, painted over a small staircase next to the chapel, is preserved. The head is fine; the rest of the figure very mediocre. In the Palazzo del Consiglio at Verona, an historical picture of very large size is ascribed to him. In this the Doge of Venice is represented on a throne, on each side of which are the senators in red costume; on the right, the Sclavonian guard; on the left, in white silk habiliments, the councillors of Verona, delivering up the banner and keys of their city to the Doge. Above, in the clouds, is the Virgin, with St. Mark and S. Zeno, the patron saints of Venice and Verona. The composition of this picture is not remarkably grand. In some parts (the figures of the saints for instance) the hand of an inferior artist is easily to be recognized. The portrait-heads are, however, very excellent, and full of life. In the representation of the naked female form, Titian displays peculiar mastery; the magic of his colouring is here developed in its fullest power. It must be remarked, however, that this very mastery over his materials not unfrequently betrays him into an ostentatious exhibition of it, so that where we look for artlessness, for example in the freedom of domestic retirement, we find sometimes a studied display of beautiful limbs. This is very striking in a comparison between the two famous Venuses in the tribune of the Uffizj in Florence. The artlessness of one (she holds flowers in her hand-in an adjoining apartment women are taking garments out of a chest) powerfully fascinates the beholder; the other (with Love standing behind), although displaying equal mastery in the execution, leaves the spectator cold. For the rest, the firstmentioned is wonderfully true to nature: the figure appears quite surrounded by light, for she reclines on a white drapery before a light background, yet the forms are exquisitely rounded, and are very powerful in colour. Similar pictures are frequent-for example, at Dresden; in the gallery at Naples there is a beautiful Danae; another is at Vienna; other specimens of the kind are in England: a celebrated picture is in the gallery at Cambridge; in this instance Venus is personated by the Princess of Eboli, and Philip II. playing the lute sits beside her. Other excellent pictures of a similar class are also in England: two large ones of Diana and her Nymphs in the Bath are in the Stafford Gallery; in one the subject of Actæon is introduced-in the other the Disgrace of Calisto. Both these pictures belong to the later period of the master, and are greater in general effect than in execution. A repetition by his own hand of the picture of Calisto, painted for Philip II., is in the Madrid Gallery; another in the Belvedere at Vienna. A charming picture of Venus rising from the sea and drying her hair is in the Stafford Gallery alsonear her is a floating shell. Another, of Venus trying to keep Adonis from the Chase, is in the Madrid Gallery; a second original repetition is in the Barberigo palace at Venice; another is in the English National Gallery. In the Barberigo palace there is a picture of Venus (a halflength figure), with Cupid holding a mirror before her; also a picture of a Nymph embraced by a Satyr. An Equipment of Cupid is in the Borghese palace: Venus is binding his eyes, whilst another amorino leans whispering over her shoulder, and two Graces bring the bow and quiver. Although somewhat mannered, and assimilating to the style of Paul Veronese, this picture is remarkable for the cheerful life and naïveté which pervades it. Three splendid pictures painted by Titian in 1514, for Alphonso Duke of Ferrara, represent larger mythological scenes in a rich landscape: two of them, the Arrival of Bacchus in the Island of Naxos, and a Sacrifice to the Goddess of Fertility, are in the gallery at Madrid; the third, Bacchus and Ariadne, is in the National Gallery at London. This is the most poetic and charming conception of the ancient myth, full of beauty and fancy, with severer and nobler forms than Titian's later works usually exhibit. Giovanni Bellini's already mentioned Bacchanalian scene with Titian's landscape is supposed to have been the fourth picture of this class. Another Bacchanalian scene, in the Madrid Gallery, is also of the highest beauty. It represents a party of youths and maidens, chiefly undraped, revelling in the open air -some drinking and singing, and others dancing in sportive groups. The only studied figure is a bacchantin sleeping |