I have already pointed out to the reader, the best masters of the Venetian School, contemporary with, and followers of Gian Bellini; a number which, though we subtract from it several names of inferior note, will leave a larger proportion than is generally supposed. The state, indeed, is full of specimens founded upon his models, the authors of which remain doubtful; yet it is certain they composed in Bellini's style, while their designs partake more or less both of the modern and ancient taste.[39] Undoubtedly, no other school affords a proof of so great a number of disciples from one master, and following so closely in his footsteps. Granting this, I cannot easily give credit to the numerous specimens of Madonnas attributed to his single hand, besides other pictures in different collections. A cautious judge will not be apt to pronounce any work his, which displays much of ideal beauty; Bellini having, for the most part, repeated in his feminine figures an expression of countenance, partaking in some degree of an apish character. Nor will he be easily led to ascribe to him pictures which display a minute care and finish, approaching to the miniature style, inasmuch as he embodied and coloured his conceptions with a free and fearless hand. In short, a certain vigour of colour, warm and lively; a certain reddish tinge of the drapery, approaching a rosy hue; a certain brightness of varnish, are not the usual characteristics of his hand, however much his style of design may be mixed up with them; and such pieces may reasonably be presumed the production of those artists of the state bordering nearest upon Lombardy, whence, likewise, a few of the Venetian state derived the mechanical part of their colouring.