pathos and sublimity belong only to the former method.
Tintoret’s versatility would have made a lesser man renowned. He
counted it but an amusement, when the learned critics chided him for
not obeying academic rules, to imitate the style of Titian, or Paul
Veronese, or Schiavone, so that the critics themselves were deceived
and confounded. He invariably adapted his treatment to the requirements
of each work: if it was to be viewed from a considerable distance,
he painted broadly; if it was to be seen near, no one surpassed him
in the delicacy and carefulness of his finish. This sense of fitness
governed his composition as well as his drawing. In a picture intended
for a refectory, for instance, he introduced proportions in harmony
with the dimensions of that refectory, causing it to appear more
spacious and imposing. Where Tintoret’s figures are not correctly
drawn, the apparent fault was often intentional: restore the picture
to the position for which he designed it, and the drawing will no
longer offend; for he always took into account the distance and angle
from which the spectator would look, and he is not responsible for
the changes in location. In studying any picture, remember that there
is one, and only one, point of view where it can be seen as the
artist wished it to be seen. If you stand too far or too near, you
will miss his purpose. In a portrait by Titian or Tintoret, no line,
no dot of color is superfluous: you must adjust your vision until the
tiniest flake of white on the tip of the chin or on the pupils of the
eyes shows you its reason for being there. Try to imagine that last
perfecting touch away, and you will learn its value. For these men
did nothing haphazard: they would as soon have wasted diamonds and
rubies as their precious colors; every hair of their pencil was a nerve
through which their imagination transmitted itself to the canvas.
Although it be well-nigh impossible to describe a painting so that one
who has not seen it can derive profit from the description, I shall
attempt to point out a few of the characteristics of some of Tintoret’s
other works, in the hope of refreshing the memory of readers who are
already familiar with them, and of stimulating the interest of those
who may see them hereafter. It is the thought Tintoret has expressed,
and not the technique of his manner, to which I would call attention,
believing that this can be in some measure made real even to those who
cannot refer to the paintings themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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