388 Route 53. FLORENCE. Gal. degli Uffizi.
These noble portraits were executed in 1537, when the Duke was
appointed Generalissimo of the League against the Turks. The Duke
has a martial bearing, the look of the Duchess is stately but subdued.
To make the difference apparent between the blanched complexion of a
dame accustomed to luxury and ease and the tanned face of a soldier
habitually exposed to the weather, Titian skilfully varied the details of
technical execution. Here he is minute and finished, there resolute and
broad. Here the tinted and throbbing flesh is pitted against a warm light
ground, there the sallow olive against a dark wall. — C. dc C.
II. Saloon. Right: *609. Reduced copy of Titian's 'Battle of
Cadore', destroyed in the burning of the ducal palace at Venice in
1577; 613. Paris Bordone, Portrait; *614. Titian, Giovanni de'
Medici, leader of the 'Black Bands' (p. 419), painted in 1526 from
a cast taken after death; 615. Tintoretto, Portrait; 616. Por¬
denone (?) , Conversion of S. Paul; 618. Copy of Titian s 'Pesaro
Madonna' (p. 267), begun only; 619. Palma Vecchio, Judith, finely
finished, but damaged. *621. Giorgione, Moses when a child.
undergoes the fire ordeal, from a Rabbinic legend, an early work.
Of exquisite touch and minuteness of finish, with a clear exhilarating
sparkle suggesting those delightful hours of the warmer climes when
rain has cooled and filtered the air. — C. dc C.
622. Giorgione (f), Maltese knight; 623. Palma Vecchio, Ma¬
donna with SS. Magdalene, Joseph, and John.
**626. Titian, The so-called 'Flora', painted after 1520.
There is nothing in this ethereal Flora to shock the sensitive eye.
The proportions and features are of surprising loveliness, reminding us
in their purity of some of the choicest antiques. The masterly and clear
light scale is attained by the thin disposal of pigments, the broad plane
of tinting, and the delicate shade of all but imperceptible half-tones. —
C. dc C.
627. Seb. del Piombo (or Schidone), Portrait of a bearded man;
628. Bonifacio, Last Supper; 630. Giorgione, Judgment of Solo¬
mon (damaged).
* 631. Giorgione (attributed by Mr. Crowe to Giov. Bellini),
Madonna receiving the homage of saints in a landscape.
'The perfect arrangement of the scene is as grateful as the purity and
selection of the forms, the grace of the movements and the mildness of
the faces. The colours are sweet and blended and swim in the sunny
haze of noon'. — C. dc C.
*633. Titian, Madonna and Child with the youthful St. John
and S. Antonio Eremita; this work, painted about 1507, excels all
Titian's previous paintings in sweetness of tone, freedom of mod¬
elling, and clever appeal to nature (C. d> C ). 636. P. Veronese,
Crucifixion ; 638. Tintoretto, Portrait of Sansovino ; 645. Savoldo,
Transfiguration; 648. Titian, Catharina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus
(a copy?); *650. Venetian School, Mathematician (1550).
Two short Corridors lead hence to the Cabinet of Engrav¬
ings and Drawings (Director, Sig. Nerino Ferri), the Collection
of Coins (both shown only with a special permesso), and the ■—
Sala di Lorenzo Monaco. To the right, *39. S. Botticelli,
Birth of Venus; 1296. Bacchiacca, History of St. Acasius ; 17. Fra
Angelico da Fiesole, Tabernacle with a gold ground, the Madonna
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