_Titian_; or _Palma Vecchio_ (Bergamese: 1480-1528).
_See also_ (p. xix)
This picture was long ascribed to Titian; then for many years to Palma
(of whom, therefore, some notice is here retained); now it has been
restored by the officials to Titian. Others believe it to be the work
of Giorgione (see below).
Jacopo Palma, the elder (II Vecchio), is one of the most
illustrious of the "post-Bellinian School" of painters at
Venice. But he was born near Bergamo and "could never
entirely lay aside his mountain nature in his works" (see
Morelli's _German Galleries_, pp. 13-18, 24-31, for the best
account of Palma's place in art history). He was especially
great in the Holy Families, called by the Italians "Sante
Conversazioni," in which the figures of sacred story are
grouped together in restful attitudes and enframed with blue
mountain landscapes. He painted so many of these compositions
that Ruskin says--somewhat too sweepingly--that he painted "no
profane subject of importance" (_Modern Painters_, vol. v.
pt. ix. ch. iii. § 17). He was also a magnificent painter of
female and fancy portraits--a branch of art in which he rivals
even Titian. Palma's works are sometimes divided into three
manners--the Bellinesque, the Giorgionesque, and the _blonde_.
Among the most famous of his productions are the "Adoration
of the Shepherds," in the Louvre; the "Jacob and Rachel," at
Dresden; and the altar-piece in St. Sebastiano at Vicenza--"his
finest and most perfect work," according to Morelli. His "St.
Barbara," in S. Maria Formosa at Venice, is also celebrated.
The so-called "Bella da Tiziano," at Rome, and the "Three
Sisters," at Dresden, are among the best-known of his portraits.
This fine portrait was formerly supposed to represent Ariosto
(1474-1533), who was acquainted with Titian and commemorates him as one
"who honours Cadore not less than Sebastiano del Piombo and Raphael
honour Venice and Urbino." But the portrait bears little resemblance to
the poet as he is known to us by authenticated likenesses. The title
"Portrait of a Poet" is based partly on the character of the face,
partly on the bush of laurel in the background. The evidence for the
ascription to Palma is by no means conclusive (see _Notes and Queries_,
Dec. 28, 1889). Mr. W. Fred Dickes has suggested--ingeniously, if not
convincingly--that the portrait is of the famous "Liberator of Italy,"
Prospero Colonna (1464-1523), painted in 1500, when he was living in
temporary retirement as a lay brother in a Benedictine monastery.
Prospero is described as "tall in person, ruddy in countenance; his
eyes were black, his beard reddish, and the locks of his hair of a
chestnut character." The laurel would be appropriate to a victorious
captain, no less than to a poet. Mr. Dickes ascribes the portrait
to Giorgione (see _Magazine of Art_, March and April 1893). This
ascription is accepted by Mr. Herbert Cook. "The conception is
characteristic of Giorgione--the pensive charm, the feeling of reserve,
the touch of fanciful imagination in the decorative accessories, but,
above all, the extreme refinement.... Where can the like be found
in Palma, or even Titian? Titian is more virile in his conception,
less lyrical, less fanciful; Palma, infinitely less subtle in
characterisation" (_Giorgione_, p. 84).