Vasari and Ridolfi concur in the account of the bold manner in which Tintoretto bore off the prize in a contest at the Scuola di San Rocco. This was the most interesting and the richest of the Scuole; and the Brotherhood, having obtained the relics of the saint, albeit in a manner not to be commended, had built their fine church and Scuola in his honor. From Antonio Grimani to the fall of the Republic, the Doges were enrolled in this order, and the Confraternity of San Rocco was a liberal patron of art. Mrs. Jameson gives this account of the acquisition of the relics:-- "In the year 1485 the Venetians, who from their commerce with the Levant were continually exposed to the visitation of the plague, determined to possess themselves of the relics of {368} S. Roch. The conspirators sailed to Montpellier, under pretence of performing a holy pilgrimage, and carried off the body of the saint, with which they returned to Venice, and were received by the Doge, the Senate, the clergy, and all the people with inexpressible joy." When on one occasion the Brotherhood of San Rocco demanded cartoons for a picture they wished to have painted from five celebrated artists, Tintoretto secretly measured the space, and painted the scene in a few days. When the day of competition arrived, he managed to fasten his canvas in the place for the intended decoration and covered it; and when the other designs had been displayed, he snatched the covering from his picture, and electrified all present. The judges were as angry as the competitors, and told the painter that they had met to judge of cartoons, and not to have a picture forced on them. Tintoretto replied that this was his only method of design; that designs and models should always be so executed that the full effect of the completed work could be seen; and, finally, he said that he set no price on his picture, which he wished to present to them. As they were not permitted to refuse a gift to their saint, they were forced to keep it. At length, the excitement having passed, the larger number of votes was cast in favor of Tintoretto, and he was formally appointed to do all that was necessary for the decoration of the Scuola, receiving a hundred ducats a year during his life, and promising to paint for it one picture annually. The picture which he nailed to the roof while his rivals made their drawings may still be seen there. It was executed in 1560, and represents "The Apotheosis of Saint Roch." Thus it happened that the Lower and Upper Halls, the Staircase and the Albergo of the Scuola became galleries of the works of Tintoretto, while still others are in the {369} Church of San Rocco. When the Scuola was finished, it became, in a sense, a school of painting. Ridolfi says it was--