00000345 |
Previous | 345 of 406 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
GIOVANNI E PAOLO. 313
the branch of this mutilated olive against the dim light of the
distant sky; while, close beside it, St. Joseph of Arimathea
drags along the dust a white garment—observe, the principal
light of the picture,—stained with the blood of that King
before whom, five days before, his crucifiers had strewn their
own garments in the way.
2. Our Lady with the Camerlenghi. (In the centre chapel
of the three on the right of the choir.) A remarkable instance of the theoretical manner of representing Scriptural facts,
which, at this time, as noted in the second chapter of this
volume, was undermining the belief of the facts themselves.
Three Venetian chamberlains desired to have their portraits
painted, and at the same time to express their devotion to the
Madonna ; to that end they are painted kneeling before her,
and in order to account for their all three being together, and
to give a thread or clue to the story of the picture, they are
represented as the Three Magi ; but lest the spectator should
think it strange that the Magi should be in the dress of Yenetian chamberlains, the scene is marked as a mere ideality, by
surrounding the person of the Virgin with saints who lived
five hundred years after her. She has for attendants St.
Theodore, St. Sebastian, and St. Carlo (query St. Joseph).
One hardly knows whether most to regret the spirit which
was losing sight of the verities of religious history in imaginative abstractions, or to praise the modesty and piety which
desired rather to be represented as kneeling before the Yirgin
than in the discharge or among the insignia of important
offices of state.
As an " Adoration of the Magi," the picture is, of course,
sufficiently absurd : the St. Sebastian leans back in the corner
to be out of the way ; the three Magi kneel, without the
slightest appearance of emotion, to a Madonna seated in a
Venetian loggia of the fifteenth century, and three Yenetian
servants behind bear their offerings in a very homely sack,
tied up at the mouth. As a piece of portraiture and artistical
composition, the work is 'altogether perfect, perhaps the best
piece of Tintoret's portrait-painting in existence. It is very
carefully and steadily wrought, and arranged with consummate skill on a difficult plan. The canvas is a long oblong, I
| Title | The stones of Venice - 3 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000345 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | GIOVANNI E PAOLO. 313 the branch of this mutilated olive against the dim light of the distant sky; while, close beside it, St. Joseph of Arimathea drags along the dust a white garment—observe, the principal light of the picture,—stained with the blood of that King before whom, five days before, his crucifiers had strewn their own garments in the way. 2. Our Lady with the Camerlenghi. (In the centre chapel of the three on the right of the choir.) A remarkable instance of the theoretical manner of representing Scriptural facts, which, at this time, as noted in the second chapter of this volume, was undermining the belief of the facts themselves. Three Venetian chamberlains desired to have their portraits painted, and at the same time to express their devotion to the Madonna ; to that end they are painted kneeling before her, and in order to account for their all three being together, and to give a thread or clue to the story of the picture, they are represented as the Three Magi ; but lest the spectator should think it strange that the Magi should be in the dress of Yenetian chamberlains, the scene is marked as a mere ideality, by surrounding the person of the Virgin with saints who lived five hundred years after her. She has for attendants St. Theodore, St. Sebastian, and St. Carlo (query St. Joseph). One hardly knows whether most to regret the spirit which was losing sight of the verities of religious history in imaginative abstractions, or to praise the modesty and piety which desired rather to be represented as kneeling before the Yirgin than in the discharge or among the insignia of important offices of state. As an " Adoration of the Magi," the picture is, of course, sufficiently absurd : the St. Sebastian leans back in the corner to be out of the way ; the three Magi kneel, without the slightest appearance of emotion, to a Madonna seated in a Venetian loggia of the fifteenth century, and three Yenetian servants behind bear their offerings in a very homely sack, tied up at the mouth. As a piece of portraiture and artistical composition, the work is 'altogether perfect, perhaps the best piece of Tintoret's portrait-painting in existence. It is very carefully and steadily wrought, and arranged with consummate skill on a difficult plan. The canvas is a long oblong, I |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| B |
|
| C |
|
| G |
|
| H |
|
| M |
|
| T |
|
| U |
|
| Y |
|
|
|
