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338 VENETIAN INDEX.
are bent, the star itself, gleaming through the timbers above,
being quite subordinate. The composition would almost be
too artificial were it not broken by the luminous distance where
the troop of horsemen are waiting for the kings. These, with
a dog running at full speed, at once interrupt the symmetry of
the lines, and form a point of relief from the over concentration of all the rest of the action.
3. Flight into Egypt. One of the principal figures here is
the donkey. I have never seen any of the nobler animals—
lion, or leopard, or horse, or dragon—made so sublime as this
quiet head of the domestic ass, chiefly owing to the grand
motion in the nostril and writhing in the ears. The space of
the picture is chiefly occupied by lovely landscape, and the
Madonna and St. Joseph are pacing their way along a shady
path upon the banks of a river at the side of the picture. I
had not any conception, until I got near, how much pains had
been taken with the Virgin's head; its expression is as sweet
and as intense as that of any of Raffaelle's, its reality far
greater. The painter seems to have intended that everything
should be subordinate to the beauty of this single head; and
the work is a wonderful proof of the way in which a vast field
of canvas may be made conducive to the interest of a single
figure. This is partly accomplished by slightness of painting,
so that on close examination, while there is everything to astonish in the masterly handling and purpose, there is not much
perfect or very delightful painting; in fact, the two figures are
treated like the living figures in a scene at the theatre, and
finished to perfection, while the landscape is painted as hastily
as the scenes, and with the same kind of opaque size color. It
has, however, suffered as much as any of the series, and it is
hardly fair to judge of its tones and colors in its present state.
4. Massacre of the Innocents. The following account of this
picture, given in "Modern Painters," maybe useful to the
traveller, and is therefore here repeated. "I have before
alluded to the painfulness of Raffaelle's treatment of the Massacre of the Innocents. Fuseli affirms of it, that, ' in dramatic
gradation he disclosed all the mother through every image of
pity and terror.' If this be so, I think the philosophical spirit
has prevailed over the imaginative. The imagination never
| 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 | 00000368 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 338 VENETIAN INDEX. are bent, the star itself, gleaming through the timbers above, being quite subordinate. The composition would almost be too artificial were it not broken by the luminous distance where the troop of horsemen are waiting for the kings. These, with a dog running at full speed, at once interrupt the symmetry of the lines, and form a point of relief from the over concentration of all the rest of the action. 3. Flight into Egypt. One of the principal figures here is the donkey. I have never seen any of the nobler animals— lion, or leopard, or horse, or dragon—made so sublime as this quiet head of the domestic ass, chiefly owing to the grand motion in the nostril and writhing in the ears. The space of the picture is chiefly occupied by lovely landscape, and the Madonna and St. Joseph are pacing their way along a shady path upon the banks of a river at the side of the picture. I had not any conception, until I got near, how much pains had been taken with the Virgin's head; its expression is as sweet and as intense as that of any of Raffaelle's, its reality far greater. The painter seems to have intended that everything should be subordinate to the beauty of this single head; and the work is a wonderful proof of the way in which a vast field of canvas may be made conducive to the interest of a single figure. This is partly accomplished by slightness of painting, so that on close examination, while there is everything to astonish in the masterly handling and purpose, there is not much perfect or very delightful painting; in fact, the two figures are treated like the living figures in a scene at the theatre, and finished to perfection, while the landscape is painted as hastily as the scenes, and with the same kind of opaque size color. It has, however, suffered as much as any of the series, and it is hardly fair to judge of its tones and colors in its present state. 4. Massacre of the Innocents. The following account of this picture, given in "Modern Painters," maybe useful to the traveller, and is therefore here repeated. "I have before alluded to the painfulness of Raffaelle's treatment of the Massacre of the Innocents. Fuseli affirms of it, that, ' in dramatic gradation he disclosed all the mother through every image of pity and terror.' If this be so, I think the philosophical spirit has prevailed over the imaginative. The imagination never |
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