Paolo Veronese’s masterly work contains no devotional feeling. The
Scriptural story merely serves as a pretext for depicting a scene
of Venetian festivity and material magnificence with imposing
architectural background. The grouping of the figures is varied,
dexterously disposed and stately, while the colour is harmonious and
sparkling. The changing of the water into wine is, however, merely
incidental. It is a significant fact that a work of this description,
in which Art in Venice begins to trick herself out in meretricious
embellishments, should have been regarded as a seemly decoration for
the refectory of a convent. An additional but frankly worldly interest
is imparted to the work by the introduction of a portrait of Alfonso
d’Avalos (whose portrait by Titian we have already seen) as the
bridegroom, on the extreme left of the composition; to his left is the
bride, with the features of Eleonora of Austria. The other figures
include François I., dressed in blue and wearing a curious headdress;
Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII. and widow of Louis XII., in
yellow; the Sultan Soliman, in green, at the side of a negro prince
who addresses a servant. On the left of the next figure sits Vittoria
Colonna, whom Michelangelo described as “a man within a woman,” plying
her toothpick! At the end of the table, speaking to a servant, is the
Emperor Charles V., seen in profile and wearing the Order of the Golden
Fleece. The introduction of the fool with the bells in the centre of
the picture is perhaps intended to express the pomp and pleasure of
the world pursued without thought of Christ, who, however, occupies
the place of honour in the centre of the composition. The couple of
dogs in leash, one gnawing a bone, and a cat, lying on her back as she
scratches at one of the vases which hold the wine on the right of the
composition, may stand for merely brutal nature.
The painter’s personal interest in the scene is depicted in the group
of four artists in the foreground. Paolo himself is playing a viol;
just behind him is Tintoretto with a similar instrument; while on the
right are Titian, in red with a bass viol, and Bassano playing the
flute. The theory put forward by Mr. Herbert Cook that Titian was born
as late as 1489, and so would be seventy-four years old in 1562-63,
the year in which this picture was painted, certainly seems to find
corroboration in the features here given to Titian by Paolo Veronese.
He certainly does not look eighty-seven years of age, as he should do
if he had been born as early as 1476.
In the Catalogue sixteen pictures are assigned to Paolo Veronese. The
_Portrait of a Lady and a Child playing with a Dog_ (No. 1199) is an
early work. The _Disciples at Emmaus_ (No. 1196), which is signed
“PAOLO VERONESE,” is another of the master’s imposing canvases, as
also is the _Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee_ (No. 1193),
which was presented to Louis XIV. by the Venetian Republic in 1665, and
was for many years hung at Versailles. This artist is also officially
credited with the _Burning of Sodom_ (No. 1187), a _Holy Family, with
St. George, St. Catherine, and a Male Donor_ (No. 1190), a _Holy
Family, with St. Elizabeth and St. Mary Magdalene, and a Female Donor_
(No. 1191), a _Christ heeding Peter’s Wife’s Mother_ (No. 1191A), a
_Christ fainting under the weight of the Cross_ (No. 1194), a _Calvary_
(No. 1195), and an _Esther fainting before Ahasuerus_ (No. 1189).
The _Susan and the Elders_ (No. 1188) is a replica of a picture in
the collection of the Duke of Devonshire. The _St. Mark crowning the
Theological Virtues_ (No. 1197), and the _Jupiter hurling Thunderbolts
on Criminals_ (No. 1198), were originally executed as ceiling paintings
for the Doge’s Palace. The _Christ with the Terrestrial Globe_ (No.
1200) and the _Portrait of a Lady in Black_ (No. 1201) are only studio
pictures.
Little artistic ability is shown in the empty abstractions, and
at times meaningless productions, of many of the late sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth century Venetian artists. Felice Riccio
(Il Brusasorci the Younger) (1540-1605) is given as the painter of a
_Holy Family_ (No. 1463); Alessandro Turchi (Orbetto) (1582-1648) of
three pictures (Nos. 1558-1560); Sebastiano Ricci (1659?-1734) of four
compositions (Nos. 1458-1461); Antonio Pellegrino (1675-1741) of an
_Allegory_ (No. 1413); Alessandro Varotari (1590-1650) of an utterly
uninspired _Venus and Cupid_ (No. 1574); and Pietro della Vecchia
(1605-1678) of a dull _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 1576).
A century later than the stupendous achievements of Tintoretto and
Veronese the art of Venice had passed into decline, but a glimmer of
the genius that had found expression in the gorgeously decorative art
in Venice in the sixteenth century was yet to be reflected in the work
of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1692-1769). His _Last Supper_ (No. 1547)
was purchased for £400 in 1877, and his sketch for the _Triumph of
Religion_ (No. 1549A) for £1200 in 1903. By him also is the _Banner_
(No. 1549), depicting on the one side _St. Martin saying Mass_, and on
the other _The Madonna and Child_. An _Apparition of the Virgin to St.
Jerome_ (No. 1548) is one of the less striking pictures in the La Caze
collection.
Another decorative painter was Antonio Canale, generally known as
Canaletto (1697-1768), who is well represented in the _View of the
Church of Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal_ (No. 1203). The
Louvre appears to contain nothing by Bernardo Bellotto (1720-1780),
who is sometimes referred to as Canaletto, and is seen to the best
advantage at Dresden.
Canaletto’s pupil, Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), who was born of
Austrian parentage, is the painter of seven Venetian scenes: _After
wedding the Adriatic, the Doge embarks at the Lido on the “Bucentaur”_
(No. 1328); _The Doge proceeds to S. Maria della Salute to commemorate
the Preservation of Venice from the Plague in 1630_ (No. 1329); _Fête
du Jeudi Gras in the Piazzetta_ (No. 1330); _The Procession of Corpus
Domini in the Piazza of S. Marco_ (No. 1331); _The Visit of the Doge to
the Church of S. Zaccharia on Easter Day_ (No. 1332); _The Doge seated
on his Throne in the Sala del Collegio_ (No. 1333); _Coronation of the
Doge_ (No. 1334); and a _View of the Church of S. Maria della Salute_
(No. 1335). Guardi’s pupil, François Casanova (1739-1805), a painter of
battle-pieces, worked in France; some of his pictures are hung in the
French Rooms.
With Guardi we close the chapter of Venetian art which, owing to four
centuries of high aspiration and magnificent achievement, came to an
end later than the art of any other school of painting in Italy.