This was the seventh and last portrait of the Doges of Venice that Titian did; for the two Priuli, Pietro Loredano, and Luigi Mocenigo, who successively held the reins of government during the latter part of the long life of our artist, excused him, in consideration of his advanced age, from the obligation of portraying them. Of these fine works, one only or two were preserved from the fatal destruction of the ducal palace by fire; but many duplicates remained, which Titian did at the request of the Doge's relations; independent of those he introduced in the histories, which, being done in his best years, and being rich in other figures, were the most valuable. This was a most fatal loss, which neither Paul Veronese nor Tintoret (who though they could not rival Titian in every thing, had still many excellences which hardly fell short of his) could repair, as it happened in their old age; nor the younger professors who were far from inheriting the talents of the former.

CHAPTER XL.

DEVOTIONAL WORKS FOR PHILIP THE SECOND, KING OF SPAIN, AND TWO FABULOUS ONES OF DIANA AND CALISTO-DEVOTIONAL WORK FOR THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND, AND FOUR MYTHOLOGICAL ONES FOR THE SAME—TITIAN'S BUST IN BRONZE IN THE PORCH OF THE SACRISTY OF ST MARK'S, AND MEDALS COINED

IN HIS HONOUR-FOUR OTHER MYTHOLOGICAL WORKS FOR PHILIP THE SECOND, AND SOME VENUSESPICTURES OF A DOUBTFUL PERIOD, DONE FOR THE COURT OF SPAIN-DEATH OF PETER ARETIN.

WHEN We reflect on the many works on every subject, sacred and profane, from 1550 to 1565, which Titian did for the Court of Spain, for the Queen of England, for churches, for noblemen and friends of his at Venice and in other cities; and consider the excellence of the work, it makes us forget that they were done in his extreme old age. His engagement with the renowned Charles for the pictures of the Trinity, of Religion, and of St Jerome, did not permit

him to finish as soon as he wished the works ordered of him by the new King of England, Philip the Second, and Queen Mary, his consort. He did not fail, however, to send him by degrees, as soon as he had finished them, one work after another; and before 1558 he had already sent him a Christ in the Garden, with other devotional works; and had already prepared the pictures of Diana at the fountain, and Calisto. It happened unfortunately that in the journey the Christ was lost; wherefore, King Philip wrote to Titian so to contrive that the other pictures might incur no harm, and ordered him to do another Christ, as he did not wish to be bereft of so fine a work. This letter from Philip is given at length in Ridolfi: it is written in the Spanish language, and bears the date of the 13th of July 1558. And as Titian used to keep by him some duplicate or the first sketch of his most elaborate works, he was able in a short time to satisfy the royal wish. It would be a long and tedious labour to describe individually every work Titian did for the Court of Spain; and I shall content myself with the principal of them from time to time, as I come to the period at which they were finished.

In the thick horrors of a dark night, near an

ancient tree, his knees on the earth, his hands and face lifted towards heaven in a suppliant attitude, is seen Jesus Christ, illuminated by the bright glory of an angel of God, who presents to him the cup of grief. At a short distance, lying on the ground in different attitudes, are some of his disciples asleep, on whom, through the clouds which darken heaven, descends a faint ray of the moon. On the other side, led by the treacherous disciple, advances a troop of armed men with a torch, which, casting its glare on those nearest it, leaves the next in an uncertain light, and the rest in an almost total darkness. The impression of these three different lights reminds the spectator of the famous fresco of St Peter in prison, by Raphael; but in the last the quiverings of the light are stronger, as being in a more confined place, and surrounded by walls which reflect the rays. On the other hand, the action represented by Titian, being in a place not confined by walls or any thing to circumscribe the limits, allows the lights to grow insensibly fainter, till they are entirely lost among the surrounding masses of shade. And it is a remarkable thing, how Titian, who always liked open, bold lights, could, with so much skill and truth, show the effects of three opposite lights; -which effects,

VOL. II.

T

how much more wonderful must they have been while the tints of the picture were yet quite fresh! Titian had done few things in this manner till his seventy-fifth year, as is manifest by the light penetrating through the crevice of the rock in the St Jerome, and by the shade of the leaves which falls on the sleeping Cupid in the fable of Venus and Adonis; an artifice particularly fine, and done as it were by the hand of nature; but he proved what he was able to do in the Christ praying in the garden.

The picture of Diana at the fountain, turning the indiscreet Actæon into a stag, is full of life and motion. That of Calisto is full of tender sadness; in it are figures of naked women, so well expressed and in such beautiful and varied attitudes, that even if one does not know the story, one can easily understand what the picture The Diana was engraved by Cornelio

means. Cort.*

Not long after 1554, he had to finish a picture for Queen Mary on a devout subject; and after that, four others on mythological subjects, the figures of the size of life; these were, Prometheus bound to a rock, while an eagle,

* These are probably the same that are at present in the possession of the Marquis of Stafford.