404 VENETIAN INDEX

not that of a natural scene, but of a perfect picture. They differ in this respect from all other existing works; for there is not, as far as I know, any other instance in which a great master has consented to work for a room plunged into almost total obscurity. It is probable that none but Tintoret would have undertaken the task, and most fortunate that he was forced to it. For in this magnificent scene-painting we have, of course, more wonderful examples, both of his handling and knowledge of effect, than could ever have been exhibited in finished pictures; while the necessity of doing much with few strokes keeps his mind so completely on the stretch throughout the work (while yet the velocity of production prevented his being wearied), that no other series of his works exhibits powers so exalted. On the other hand, owing to the velocity¹ and coarseness of the painting, it is more liable to injury through drought or damp; and as the walls have been for years continually running down with rain, and what little sun gets into the place contrives to fall all day right on one or other of the pictures, they are nothing but wrecks of what they were;² and the ruins of paintings originally coarse are not likely ever to be attractive to the public mind. Twenty or thirty years ago they were taken down to be retouched; but the man to whom the task was committed providentially died, and only one of them was spoiled. I have found traces of his work upon another, but not to an extent very seriously destructive. The rest of the sixty-two, or, at any rate, all that are in the upper room, appear entirely intact.

Although, as compared with his other works, they are all very scenic in execution, there are great differences in their degrees of finish; and, curiously enough, some on the ceilings and others in the darkest places in the lower room are very nearly finished pictures, while the “Agony in the Garden,” which is in one of the best lights in the upper room, appears to have been painted in a couple of hours with a broom for a brush.

For the traveller’s greater convenience I shall give a rude plan of the arrangement, and list of the subjects, of each group of pictures before examining them in detail.

¹ [Ridolfi’s story of Tintoret’s connexion with the Brotherhood of S. Rocco illustrates the speed at which the painter worked. The picture referred to is No. 40 in Ruskin’s list: “S. Rocco in Heaven.” “About 1560 the members of the brotherhood resolved to have a great picture painted in the Refectory.” The best artists of the day were invited to submit designs. “When, on the appointed day, Paolo Veronese, Andrea Schiavone, Giuseppe Salviati, and Federigo Zuccaro came to show their designs, and Tintoretto was asked to exhibit his, he uncovered his canvas, which he had cleverly hidden with a cartoon, and said that they could make no mistake about the design which he had drawn; and if his readiness displeased them, he would make a gift of it to S. Rocco, who had already given him so much.” The artists, who had made only designs, while Tintoret had made a picture, withdrew from the competition. “So they received Tintoretto into the brotherhood, and gave him the charge of what paintings should be needful for the rooms of the Scuola. In addition they granted him an annuity of 100 ducats for life, on condition that he should provide one complete picture each year.”]

² [On the neglect of the pictures in the Scuola, compare Vol. IV. pp. 40, 395.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]