Reverting to Antonello, we are told by Borghini and Ridolfi, that Gian Bellini, having assumed the dress and character of a Venetian gentleman, for the pretended purpose of having his portrait taken, penetrated by this disguise into the studio of the Messinese; and watching him while he painted, discovered the whole secret of the new method, which he speedily applied. But Zanetti conjectures that Antonello was not very jealous of his secret, by which means it was quickly diffused among the different professors of the art. And this is clearly shewn by a picture of Vivarini, coloured in oil, as early as 1473, no less than by others from different hands in the years following. Argenville even goes farther; for he asserts that such was the generosity with which Antonello taught in Venice, that he drew a crowd of pupils, who assisted in spreading a knowledge of the discovery through all parts. And among these we find several foreigners, such as Theodore Harlem, Quintinus Messis, along with several others mentioned in the preface to the third volume, p. iii. This we are likewise inclined to admit during the period of his public instructions in the city. All that now remains before we reach the times of Titian and Giorgione, is comprised in that last stage of the art which, in every school, has opened a path to the golden period which ensued. The masters who were to distinguish the stage alluded to, in Venice, as in almost all other parts, are found to retain traces of the ancient stiffness of manner, and sometimes exhibit, like the naturalists, imperfect forms copied from the life; as, for instance, in those extravagantly long and spare figures which we noticed in Pisanello. In Venice such forms were in high repute with Mansueti, Sebastiani, and other of their contemporaries, nor were they disliked by the Bellini themselves. And, indeed, where they selected good proportions, they are apt to arrest the attention by that simplicity, purity, care, and, as it were timidity of design, which attempts to avoid every approach to exaggeration. Such artists we might suppose to have been educated by the more ancient Greek sculptors, in whose works the exhibition of truth attracts the spectator, like that of grandeur in others. Their heads, more particularly, are correct and fine; consisting of portraits taken from the life, both among the populace, and among persons of superior birth, whether distinguished for learning, or for their military exploits. And to this practice, familiar also to artists of the thirteenth century, we are indebted for many likenesses which were copied at the instance of Giovio, for his museum. Thence they were again multiplied both by painting and engraving, in different parts of the world. Often also the artist of those times inserted his own portrait in his composition; a circumstance so favourable to Vasari's history; but this species of ostentation was gradually abandoned as real cultivation in Italy advanced. But then, as