At Works, 4.276 Ruskin discusses the painting by Tintoretto of the Last Judgement in Santa Maria dell'Orto Church in Venice: 'By Tintoret only has this unimaginable event been grappled with in its Verity'. Vasari thinks it is a joke. He comments on the haste of Tintoretto's work and writes of the Last Judgement:
If this fanciful invention had been executed with correct and regular design ('disegno') and had the painter displayed as much care in the details as he has upon the general effect, expressing the terror and confusion of that day, it would be a stupendous work, and at a first glance one is astounded, but on careful examination it looks as if it were painted in jest. ( Vasari, Le Vite, Testo V.470)
Reynolds on Tintoretto extends the attack, not least because Tintoretto and Veronese developed a style which was 'merely ornamental, but 'disseminated throughout all Europe'. Ruskin on Tintoretto challenges such views.