384 VENETIAN INDEX

that, at first, we wonder where St. Paul is; but presently we observe that, in the front of this crowd, and almost exactly in the centre of the picture, there is a figure seated on the ground, very noble and quiet, and with some loose garments thrown across its knees. It is dressed in vigorous black and red. The figure of the Father in the sky above is dressed in black and red also, and these two figures are the centres of colour to the whole design. It is almost impossible to praise too highly the refinement of conception which withdrew the unconverted St. Paul into the distance, so as entirely to separate him from the immediate interest of the scene, and yet marked the dignity to which he was afterwards to be raised, by investing him with the colours which occurred nowhere else in the picture except in the dress which veils the form of the Godhead. It is also to be noted as an interesting example of the value which the painter put upon colour only; another composer would have thought it necessary to exalt the future apostle by some peculiar dignity of action or expression. The posture of the figure is indeed grand, but inconspicuous; Tintoret does not depend upon it, and thinks that the figure is quite ennobled enough by being made a keynote of colour.

It is also worth observing how boldly imaginative is the treatment which covers the ground with piles of stones, and yet leaves the martyr apparently unwounded. Another painter would have covered him with blood, and elaborated the expression of pain upon his countenance. Tintoret leaves us under no doubt as to what manner of death he is dying; he makes the air hurtle with the stones, but he does not choose to make his picture disgusting, or even painful. The face of the martyr is serene, and exulting; and we leave the picture, remembering only how “he fell asleep.”¹

GIOVANELLI, PALAZZO, at the Ponte di Noale. A fine example of fifteenth century Gothic, founded on the Ducal Palace.²

GIOVANNI E PAOLO, CHURCH OF ST.* Foundation of, XI. 86 [base in, IX. 341; string courses, IX. 148; representative of Venetian Gothic, IX. 43; less popular than St. Mark, X. 90]. An impressive church, though none of its Gothic is comparable with that of the North, or with that of Verona. The western door is interesting as one of the last conditions of Gothic design passing into Renaissance, very rich and beautiful of its kind, especially the wreath of fruit and flowers which forms its principal moulding. The statue of Bartolomeo Colleone, in the little square beside the church, is certainly one of the noblest works in Italy. I have never seen anything approaching it in animation, in vigour of portraiture, or nobleness of line.³ The reader will need Lazari’s Guide

* I have always called this church, in the text, simply “St. John and Paul,” not Sts. John and Paul; just as the Venetians say San Giovanni e Paolo, and not SantiG., etc.

¹ [In the Sala del Conclave is a fine Carpaccio-“St. George and the Dragon.”]

² [This palace contains, among other good pictures, the “Adrastus and Hypsipyle” (otherwise known as the “Giovanelli Figures,” or “The Stormy Landscape, with the Soldier and the Gipsy,” which is one of the few works universally admitted to be by Giorgione. It was formerly in the Manfrini Collection (see below, p. 391). The palace also contains a battle-piece and several portraits by Tintoret.]

³ [For this statue, see Vol. X. p. 8 n.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]