Vasto an Allocution (for so they called it) made by that lord to his
soldiers; and after that he took the portrait of Charles V, that of
the Catholic King, and many others. These works finished, he painted a
little altar-piece of the Annunciation for the Church of S. Maria
Nuova in Venice; and then, employing the assistance of his young men,
he executed a Last Supper in the refectory of SS. Giovanni e Polo,
and for the high-altar of the Church of S. Salvadore an altar-piece in
which is a Christ Transfigured on Mount Tabor, and for another altar
in the same church a Madonna receiving the Annunciation from the
Angel. But these last works, although there is something of the good
to be seen in them, are not much esteemed by him, and have not the
perfection that his other pictures have. And since the works of
Tiziano are without number, and particularly the portraits, it is
almost impossible to make mention of them all; wherefore I shall speak
only of the most remarkable, but without order of time, it being of
little import to know which was first and which later. Several times,
as has been related, he painted the portrait of Charles V, and in the
end he was summoned for that purpose to the Court, where he portrayed
him as he was in those his later years; and the work of Tiziano so
pleased that all-conquering Emperor, that after he had once seen it he
would not be portrayed by other painters. Each time that he painted
him, he received a thousand crowns of gold as a present, and he was
made by his Majesty a Chevalier, with a revenue of two hundred crowns
on the Chamber of Naples. In like manner, when he portrayed Philip,
King of Spain, the son of Charles, he received from him a fixed
allowance of two hundred crowns more; insomuch that, adding those four
hundred to the three hundred that he has on the Fondaco de' Tedeschi
from the Signori of Venice, he has without exerting himself a fixed
income of seven hundred crowns every year. Of the same Charles V and
King Philip Tiziano sent portraits to the Lord Duke Cosimo, who has
them in his guardaroba. He portrayed Ferdinand, King of the Romans,
who afterwards became Emperor, and both his sons, Maximilian, now
Emperor, and his brother. He also portrayed Queen Maria, and, for the
Emperor Charles V, the Duke of Saxony when he was a prisoner. But what
a waste of time is this? There has been scarce a single lord of great
name, or Prince, or great lady, who has not been portrayed by Tiziano,
a painter of truly extraordinary excellence in this field of art. He
painted portraits of King Francis I of France, as has been related,
Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, the Marquis of Pescara, Antonio da
Leva, Massimiano Stampa, Signor Giovan Battista Castaldo, and other
lords without number.
[Illustration: PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA
(_After the painting by =Tiziano=. London: Hertford House_)
_Mansell_]
In like manner, besides the works mentioned above, at various times
he has executed many others. In Venice, by order of Charles V, he
painted in a great altar-piece the Triune God enthroned, Our Lady and
the Infant Christ, with the Dove over Him, and the ground all of fire,
signifying Love; and the Father is surrounded by fiery Cherubim. On
one side is the same Charles V, and on the other the Empress, both
clothed in linen garments, with the hands clasped in the attitude of
prayer, among many Saints; all which was after the command of the
Emperor, who, at that time at the height of his victories, began to
show that he was minded to retire from the things of this world, as he
afterwards did, in order to die like a true Christian, fearing God and
desirous of his own salvation. Which picture the Emperor said to
Tiziano that he wished to place in the monastery wherein afterwards he
finished the course of his life; and since it is a very rare work, it
is expected that it may soon be published in engravings. The same
Tiziano executed for Queen Maria a Prometheus who is bound to Mount
Caucasus and torn by Jove's Eagle, a Sisyphus in Hell who is toiling
under his stone, and Tityus devoured by the Vulture. These her Majesty
received, excepting the Prometheus, and with them a Tantalus of the
same size (namely, that of life), on canvas and in oils. He executed,
also, a Venus and Adonis that are marvellous, she having swooned, and
the boy in the act of rising to leave her, with some dogs about him
that are very natural. On a panel of the same size he represented
Andromeda bound to the rock, and Perseus delivering her from the
Sea-Monster, than which picture none could be more lovely; as is also
another of Diana, who, bathing in a fount with her Nymphs, transforms
Actæon into a stag. He also painted Europa passing over the sea on the
back of the Bull. All these pictures are in the possession of the
Catholic King, held very dear for the vivacity that Tiziano has given
to the figures with his colours, making them natural and as if alive.
[Illustration: PHILIP II
(_After the painting by =Tiziano=. Naples: Museo Nazionale_)
_Anderson_]
It is true, however, that the method of work which he employed in
these last pictures is no little different from the method of his
youth, for the reason that the early works are executed with a certain
delicacy and a diligence that are incredible, and they can be seen
both from near and from a distance, and these last works are executed
with bold strokes and dashed off with a broad and even coarse sweep of
the brush, insomuch that from near little can be seen, but from a
distance they appear perfect. This method has been the reason that
many, wishing to imitate him therein and to play the practised master,
have painted clumsy pictures; and this happens because, although many
believe that they are done without effort, in truth it is not so, and
they deceive themselves, for it is known that they are painted over
and over again, and that he returned to them with his colours so many
times, that the labour may be perceived. And this method, so used, is
judicious, beautiful, and astonishing, because it makes pictures
appear alive and painted with great art, but conceals the labour.
[Illustration: MARY MAGDALENE
(_After the painting by =Tiziano=. Naples: Museo Nazionale_)
_Anderson_]
Tiziano painted recently in a picture three braccia high and four
braccia broad, Jesus Christ as an Infant in the lap of Our Lady and
adored by the Magi, with a good number of figures of one braccio each,
which is a very lovely work, as is also another picture that he
himself copied from that one and gave to the old Cardinal of Ferrara.
Another picture, in which he depicted Christ mocked by the Jews, which
is most beautiful, was placed in a chapel of the Church of S. Maria
delle Grazie, in Milan. For the Queen of Portugal he painted a picture
of a Christ scourged by Jews at the Column, a little less than the
size of life, which is very beautiful. For the high-altar of S.
Domenico, at Ancona, he painted an altar-piece with Christ on the
Cross, and at the foot Our Lady, S. John, and S. Dominic, all most
beautiful, and executed in his later manner with broad strokes, as has
just been described above. And by the same hand, in the Church of the
Crocicchieri at Venice, is the picture that is on the altar of S.
Lorenzo, wherein is the martyrdom of that Saint, with a building full
of figures, and S. Laurence lying half upon the gridiron, in
foreshortening, with a great fire beneath him, and about it some who
are kindling it. And since he counterfeited an effect of night, there
are two servants with torches in their hands, which throw light where
the glare of the fire below the gridiron does not reach, which is
piled high and very fierce. Besides this, he depicted a
lightning-flash, which, darting from Heaven and cleaving the clouds,
overcomes the light of the fire and that of the torches, shining
over the Saint and the other principal figures, and, in addition to
those three lights, the figures that he painted in the distance at the
windows of the building have the light of lamps and candles that are
near them; and all, in short, is executed with beautiful art,
judgment, and genius. In the Church of S. Sebastiano, on the altar of
S. Niccolò, there is by the hand of the same Tiziano a little
altar-piece of a S. Nicholas who appears as if alive, seated in a
chair painted in the likeness of stone, with an Angel that is holding
his mitre; which work he executed at the commission of Messer Niccolò
Crasso, the advocate. Tiziano afterwards painted, for sending to the
Catholic King, a figure of S. Mary Magdalene from the middle of the
thighs upwards, all dishevelled; that is, with the hair falling over
the shoulders, about the throat, and over the breast, the while that,
raising the head with the eyes fixed on Heaven, she reveals remorse in
the redness of the eyes, and in her tears repentance for her sins.
Wherefore the picture moves mightily all who behold it; and, what is
more, although she is very beautiful, it moves not to lust but to
compassion. This picture, when it was finished, so pleased ... Silvio,
a Venetian gentleman, that in order to have it, being one who takes
supreme delight in painting, he gave Tiziano a hundred crowns:
wherefore Tiziano was forced to paint another, which was not less
beautiful, for sending to the above-named Catholic King.
There are also to be seen portraits from life by Tiziano of a Venetian
citizen called Sinistri, who was much his friend, and of another named
M. Paolo da Ponte, for whom he likewise portrayed a daughter that he
had at that time, a most beautiful young woman called Signora Giulia
da Ponte, a dear friend of Tiziano; and in like manner Signora Irene,
a very lovely maiden, skilled in letters and music and a student of
design, who, dying about seven years ago, was celebrated by the pens
of almost all the writers of Italy. He portrayed M. Francesco Filetto,
an orator of happy memory, and in the same picture, before him, his
son, who seems as if alive; which portrait is in the house of Messer
Matteo Giustiniani, a lover of these arts, who has also had a picture
painted for himself by the painter Jacopo da Bassano, which is very
beautiful, as also are many other works by that Bassano which are
dispersed throughout Venice, and held in great price, particularly
his little works and animals of every kind. Tiziano portrayed Bembo
another time (namely, after he became a Cardinal), Fracastoro, and
Cardinal Accolti of Ravenna, which last portrait Duke Cosimo has in
his guardaroba; and our Danese, the sculptor, has in his house at
Venice a portrait by the hand of Tiziano of a gentleman of the Delfini
family. There may be seen portraits by the same hand of M. Niccolò
Zono, of Rossa, wife of the Grand Turk, at the age of sixteen, and of
Cameria, her daughter, with most beautiful dresses and adornments. In
the house of M. Francesco Sonica, an advocate and a gossip of Tiziano,
is a portrait by his hand of that M. Francesco, and in a large picture
Our Lady flying to Egypt, who is seen to have dismounted from the ass
and to have seated herself upon a stone on the road, with S. Joseph
beside her, and a little S. John who is offering to the Infant Christ
some flowers picked by the hand of an Angel from the branches of a
tree that is in the middle of a wood full of animals, where in the
distance the ass stands grazing. That picture, which is full of grace,
the said gentleman has placed at the present day in a palace that he
has built for himself at Padua, near S. Giustina. In the house of a
gentleman of the Pisani family, near S. Marco, there is by the hand of
Tiziano the portrait of a gentlewoman, which is a marvellous thing.
And having made for Monsignor Giovanni della Casa, the Florentine, who
has been illustrious in our times both for nobility of blood and as a
man of letters, a very beautiful portrait of a gentlewoman whom that
lord loved while he was in Venice, Tiziano was rewarded by being
honoured by him with the lovely sonnet that begins--
Ben vegg'io, Tiziano, in forme nuove
L'idolo mio, che i begli occhi apre e gira (with what follows).
Finally, this excellent painter sent to the above-named Catholic King
a Last Supper of Christ with the Apostles, in a picture seven braccia
long, which was a work of extraordinary beauty.
[Illustration: TIZIANO: THE EDUCATION OF CUPID
(_Rome: Borghese Gallery. Canvas_)]
In addition to the works described and many others of less merit
executed by this man, which are omitted for the sake of brevity, he
has in his house, sketched in and begun, the following: the Martyrdom
of S. Laurence, similar to that described above, and destined by him
for sending to the Catholic King; a great canvas wherein is Christ
on the Cross, with the Thieves, and at the foot the ministers of the
crucifixion, which he is painting for Messer Giovanni d'Anna; and a
picture which was begun for the Doge Grimani, father of the Patriarch
of Aquileia. And for the Hall of the Great Palace of Brescia he has
made a beginning with three large pictures that are to go in the
ornamentation of the ceiling, as has been related in speaking of
Cristofano and his brother, painters of Brescia. He also began, many
years ago, for Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, a picture of a nude young
woman bowing before Minerva, with another figure at the side, and a
sea in the centre of which, in the distance, is Neptune in his car;
but through the death of that lord, after whose fancy the work was
being executed, it was not finished, and remained with Tiziano. He has
also carried well forward, but not finished, a picture wherein is
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene in the Garden in the form of a
gardener, with figures the size of life; another, also, of equal size,
in which the Madonna and the other Maries being present, the Dead
Christ is laid in the Sepulchre; likewise a picture of Our Lady, which
is one of the best things that are in that house, and, as has been
told, a portrait of himself that was finished by him four years ago,
very beautiful and natural, and finally a S. Paul who is reading, a
half-length figure, which has all the appearance of the real Saint
filled with the Holy Spirit.
[Illustration: THE ENTOMBMENT
(_After the painting by =Tiziano=. Madrid: The Prado_)
_Anderson_]
All these works, I say, he has executed, with many others that I omit
in order not to be wearisome, up to his present age of about
seventy-six years. Tiziano has been very sound in health, and as
fortunate as any man of his kind has ever been; and he has not
received from Heaven anything save favours and blessings. In his house
at Venice have been all the Princes, men of letters and persons of
distinction who have gone to that city or lived there in his time,
because, in addition to his excellence in art, he has shown great
gentleness, beautiful breeding, and most courteous ways and manners.
He has had in Venice some competitors, but not of much worth, so that
he has surpassed them easily with the excellence of his art and with
his power of attaching himself and making himself dear to the men of
quality. He has earned much, for he has been very well paid for his
works; but it would have been well for him in these his last years not
to work save as a pastime, so as not to diminish with works of less
excellence the reputation gained in his best years, when his natural
powers were not declining and drawing towards imperfection. When
Vasari, the writer of this history, was at Venice in the year 1566, he
went to visit Tiziano, as one who was much his friend, and found him
at his painting with brushes in his hand, although he was very old;
and he had much pleasure in seeing him and discoursing with him. He
made known to Vasari Messer Gian Maria Verdezotti, a young Venetian
gentleman full of talent, a friend of Tiziano and passing able in
drawing and painting, as he showed in some landscapes of great beauty
drawn by him. This man has by the hand of Tiziano, whom he loves and
cherishes as a father, two figures painted in oils within two niches,
an Apollo and a Diana.
Tiziano, then, having adorned with excellent pictures the city of
Venice, nay, all Italy and other parts of the world, deserves to be
loved and revered by the craftsmen, and in many things to be admired
and imitated, as one who has executed and is still executing works
worthy of infinite praise, which shall endure as long as the memory of
illustrious men may live.
[Illustration: PARIS BORDONE: THE VENETIAN LOVERS
(_Milan: Brera, 105. Canvas_)]
Now, although many have been with Tiziano in order to learn, yet the
number of those who can truly be called his disciples is not great,
for the reason that he has not taught much, and each pupil has gained
more or less knowledge according as he has been able to acquire it
from the works executed by Tiziano. There has been with him, among
others, one Giovanni, a Fleming, who has been a much-extolled master
in figures both small and large, and in portraits marvellous, as may
be seen in Naples, where he lived some time, and finally died. By his
hand--and this must do him honour for all time--were the designs of
the anatomical studies that the most excellent Andrea Vessalio caused
to be engraved and published with his work. But he who has imitated
Tiziano more than any other is Paris Bordone, who, born in Treviso
from a father of Treviso and a Venetian mother, was taken at the age
of eight to the house of some relatives in Venice. There, having
learned his grammar and become an excellent musician, he went to be
with Tiziano, but he did not spend many years with him, for he
perceived that man to be not very ready to teach his young men,
although besought by them most earnestly and invited by their patience
to do his duty by them; and he resolved to leave him. He was much
grieved that Giorgione should have died in those days, whose manner
pleased him vastly, and even more his reputation for having taught
well and willingly, and with lovingness, all that he knew; but, since
there was nothing else to be done, Paris resolved in his mind that he
would follow the manner of Giorgione. And so, setting himself to
labour and to counterfeit the work of that master, he became such that
he acquired very good credit; wherefore at the age of eighteen there
was allotted to him an altar-piece that was to be painted for the
Church of S. Niccolò, of the Friars Minors. Which having heard,
Tiziano so went to work with various means and favours that he took it
out of his hands, either to prevent him from being able to display his
ability so soon, or perhaps drawn by his desire of gain.
Afterwards Paris was summoned to Vicenza, to paint a scene in fresco
in the Loggia of the Piazza where justice is administered, beside that
of the Judgment of Solomon which Tiziano had previously executed; and
he went very willingly, and painted there a story of Noah with his
sons, which was held to be a work passing good in diligence and in
design, and not less beautiful than that of Tiziano, insomuch that by
those who know not the truth they are considered to be both by the
same hand. Having returned to Venice, Paris executed some nudes in
fresco at the foot of the bridge of the Rialto; by reason of which
essay he was commissioned to paint some façades of houses in Venice.
Being then summoned to Treviso, he painted there likewise some façades
and other works, and in particular many portraits, which gave much
satisfaction; that of the Magnificent M. Alberto Unigo, that of M.
Marco Seravalle, and of M. Francesco da Quer, of the Canon Rovere, and
of Monsignor Alberti. For the Duomo of that city, in an altar-piece in
the centre of the church, at the instance of the reverend Vicar, he
painted the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and then a Resurrection. For S.
Francesco he executed another altar-piece at the request of the
Chevalier Rovere, another for S. Girolamo, and one for Ognissanti,
with different heads of Saints both male and female, all beautiful and
varied in the attitudes and in the vestments. He executed another
altar-piece for S. Lorenzo, and in S. Polo he painted three chapels,
in the largest of which he depicted Christ rising from the dead, the
size of life, and accompanied by a great multitude of Angels; in the
second some Saints with many Angels about them, and in the third Jesus
Christ upon a cloud, with Our Lady, who is presenting to Him S.
Dominic. All these works have made him known as an able man and a
lover of his city.
In Venice, where he has dwelt almost always, he has executed many
works at various times. But the most beautiful, the most remarkable
and the most worthy of praise that Paris ever painted, was a scene in
the Scuola of S. Marco, at SS. Giovanni e Polo, wherein is the story
of the fisherman presenting to the Signoria of Venice the ring of S.
Mark, with a very beautiful building in perspective, about which is
seated the Senate with the Doge; among which Senators are many
portraits from nature, lifelike and well painted beyond belief. The
beauty of this work, executed so well and coloured in fresco, was the
reason that he began to be employed by many gentlemen. Thus in the
great house of the Foscari, near S. Barnaba, he executed many
paintings and pictures, and among them a Christ who, having descended
to the Limbo of Hell, is delivering the Holy Fathers; which is held to
be a work out of the ordinary. For the Church of S. Giobbe in Canal
Reio he painted a most beautiful altar-piece, and for S. Giovanni in
Bragola another, and the same for S. Maria della Celeste and for S.
Marina.
[Illustration: THE FISHERMAN AND THE DOGE GRADENIGO
(_After the painting by =Paris Bordone=. Venice: Accademia_)
_Anderson_]
But, knowing that he who wishes to be employed in Venice is obliged to
endure too much servitude in paying court to one man or another, Paris
resolved, as a man of quiet nature and far removed from certain
methods of procedure, whenever an occasion might present itself, to go
abroad to execute such works as Fortune might set before him, without
having to go about begging. Wherefore, having made his way with a good
opportunity into France in the year 1538, to serve King Francis, he
executed for him many portraits of ladies and other pictures with
various paintings; and at the same time he painted for Monseigneur de
Guise a most beautiful church-picture, and a chamber-picture of
Venus and Cupid. For the Cardinal of Lorraine he painted a Christ
in an "Ecce Homo," a Jove with Io, and many other works. He sent to
the King of Poland a picture wherein was Jove with a Nymph, which was
held to be a very beautiful thing. And to Flanders he sent two other
most beautiful pictures, a S. Mary Magdalene in the Desert accompanied
by some Angels, and a Diana who is bathing with her Nymphs in a fount;
which two pictures the Milanese Candiano caused him to paint, the
physician of Queen Maria, as presents for her Highness. At Augsburg,
in the Palace of the Fugger family, he executed many works of the
greatest importance, to the value of three thousand crowns. And in the
same city he painted for the Prineri, great men in that place, a large
picture wherein he counterfeited in perspective all the five Orders of
architecture, which was a very beautiful work; and another
chamber-picture, which is in the possession of the Cardinal of
Augsburg. At Crema he has executed two altar-pieces for S. Agostino,
in one of which is portrayed Signor Giulio Manfrone, representing a S.
George, in full armour. The same master has painted many works at
Civitale di Belluno, which are extolled, and in particular an
altar-piece in S. Maria and another in S. Giosef, which are very
beautiful. He sent to Signor Ottaviano Grimaldo a portrait of him the
size of life and most beautiful, and with it another picture, equal in
size, of a very lustful woman. Having then gone to Milan, Paris
painted for the Church of S. Celso an altar-piece with some figures in
the air, and beneath them a very beautiful landscape, at the instance,
so it is said, of Signor Carlo da Roma; and for the palace of the same
lord two large pictures in oils, in one Venus and Mars under Vulcan's
net, and in the other King David seeing Bathsheba being bathed by her
serving-women in the fount; and also the portrait of that lord and
that of Signora Paola Visconti, his consort, and some pieces of
landscape not very large, but most beautiful. At this same time he
painted many of Ovid's Fables for the Marchese d'Astorga, who took
them with him to Spain; and for Signor Tommaso Marini, likewise, he
painted many things of which there is no need to make mention.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A LADY
(_After the painting by =Paris Bordone=. London: National Gallery, No.
674_)
_M.S._]
And this much it must suffice to have said of Paris, who, being
seventy-five years of age, lives quietly at home with his comforts,
and works for pleasure at the request of certain Princes and others
his friends, avoiding rivalries and certain vain ambitions, lest he
should suffer some hurt and have his supreme tranquillity and peace
disturbed by those who walk not, as he says, in truth, but by dubious
ways, malignantly and without charity; whereas he is accustomed to
live simply and by a certain natural goodness, and knows nothing of
subtleties or astuteness in his life. He has executed recently a most
beautiful picture for the Duchess of Savoy, of a Venus and Cupid that
are sleeping, guarded by a servant; all executed so well, that it is
not possible to praise them enough.
[Illustration: VISION OF THE APOCALYPSE
(_After the mosaic by =Zuccati=. Venice: S. Marco_)
_Anderson_]