=*=335. _Tintoretto._ Susanna at the Bath. Admirable example of this
artist’s bold and effective method. In him the Venetian School attains
its last possible point before the decadence.
Beneath it, two good Venetian portraits.
336. _Tintoretto._ A characteristic Paradise (sketch for the great
picture in the Doge’s Palace at Venice), whose various circles of saints
and angels should be carefully studied. Gloomy glory.
Above it, 17. A Venetian gentleman introduced to the Madonna by St.
Francis and a sainted bishop, with St. Sebastian in the background.
Doubtless, a votive picture in gratitude for the noble donor’s escape
from the plague.
Beyond these, we come chiefly upon Venetian pictures of the Decadence,
among which the most noticeable are the Venetian views by Canaletto and
Guardi, showing familiar aspects of the Salute, the Doge’s Palace, San
Zaccaria, and other buildings.
Further on, this compartment contains =Spanish pictures=,—an artificial
arrangement not without some real justification, since in the 16th and
17th centuries, Spain, enriched by her American possessions, became, for
a short period, the material and artistic inheritor of Italy, and
accepted in full the mature fruits of the Italian Renaissance. At the
same time, she imbued the developed arts she received from Italy with
Spanish showiness and love of mere display, to the exclusion of deeper
spiritual feeling. The most famous among the few Spanish pictures of the
Louvre are:—