_Bonifazio, the elder_ (Veronese: about 1490-1540).
Morelli disentangles from the confusions of art-historians and
critics three different painters of this name, whom he calls
respectively Bonifazio Veronese I., Bonifazio Veronese II., and
Bonifazio Veneziano (see _German Galleries_, pp. 184-194). The
elder Bonifazio Veronese, the painter of this picture, was a
pupil of Palma Vecchio, and one of the most brilliant of the
later Venetian painters. "His bright conception," says Morelli,
"and the light gracefulness of his figures seem to me never
to belie his native home, Verona; yet, as a technician, he is
an out-and-out Venetian. While the chords of his colouring
are neither so delicate and startling as in Giorgione, nor so
profound and powerful as in Palma and Titian, nor so ingenious
as in Lotto, yet they wield a peculiar charm over the eye
of the spectator by their bright, cheerful, and harmonious
lustre." Bonifazio's earlier works have been frequently
ascribed to Palma. Such was the case with the present picture,
a work of gorgeous colour and in admirable preservation. In
his later works the influence of Giorgione makes itself felt.
A much-damaged picture by Bonifazio at Hampton Court, "Diana
and Actæon," was long ascribed to Giorgione. Venice possesses
many works of this "God-made painter," as Ruskin calls him.
None is finer than the "Dives and Lazarus" in the Accademia, a
picture of sumptuous colour and exquisitely poetical sentiment.
In the Brera at Milan is another splendid work by Bonifazio,
long attributed to Giorgione--the "Finding of Moses," a subject
of which he was fond, and into which he introduced numerous
figures in the gorgeous Venetian costumes of his day.
A composition belonging to a class which Palma Vecchio brought into
favour, and which the Italians call _Sante Conversazioni_--groups,
in restful attitudes, framed in sunny landscapes, with blue mountain
distances. Bonifazio's landscape backgrounds are very fine, and he was
fond, like Titian, of introducing into them the scenery of the Dolomite
mountains. On the right is St. Catherine holding a fragment of her
wheel, while the youthful St. John the Baptist, standing on another
fragment, stoops to kiss the infant Christ's foot--an action symbolical
of the kingship of the Saviour ("Thou hast put all things under him").
On the left is St. James--with his staff, borne always by him as the
first of the apostles who departed to fulfil the Gospel mission, and
dressed as a pilgrim--Campostella, where his body was reputed to be,
being in the middle ages a favourite place of pilgrimage. Behind St.
James is St. Jerome. Notice the significance of the incident in the
middle distance--a shepherd asleep, while a wolf is devouring a sheep
("But the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep").