colour of his fleshes, in smoothness and facility of hand. But Titian was still to remain unequalled in his art; and Varotari is not a little inferior to him in animation, and in the expression of truth. Nor can I believe that his method of preparing his canvass, and of colouring it, was the same as that pursued by Titian's disciples, many of his pieces being much darkened, with the shades either deepened or altered. This is very perceptible even in Varotari's Dead Christ, at Florence, a painting which the prince not very long since purchased for his gallery there. In other points he appears to me to have observed the same method, in regard to his model, as Poussin, who aimed at Raffaello's manner, without reaching it, either from want of ability, or from a dread of falling into servility. His masterpiece is said to be the Supper of Cana, a piece that has been engraved by Patina, among the _Select Paintings_. It was formerly in Padua, and is now at Venice in the Chapter of La Carità; with few figures in proportion to the place; a rich display of costume and ornament; dogs that appear like those of Paul, full of life; grand attendance, women of the most exquisite forms warmed with more ideal beauty than those of Titian, and drawn in the most graceful attitudes. Still it is not every one who will approve of his introduction of them for the service of such a table, in preference to men, as is the more general custom. The above picture cannot, however, boast such fresh and lucid tints as his four histories of the Life of San Domenico, which are to be seen in a Refectory of Santi Giovanni and Paolo, containing as it were the flower of Padovanino's best style. This very elegant artist spent his time between the capital and his native province, where alone his pictures abound in public; in other cities they are more rarely met with, and are scarce even in private collections. In forming a judgment of his productions, it is necessary to be upon our guard against a variety of copies, many of his disciples having so happily imitated him, that Venetian professors themselves with difficulty distinguish their hand from that of their master.