'S 'ARIOSTO' JW BY ROGER E. FRY Af T may be that this is the title admit the danger of arguing as to what a by which the magnificent very precocious artist of the Renaissance portrait recently acquired could or could not have done, the second for the ' objection is, I think, final and conclusive. will always be known, but But the passage quoted bears, neverthe- both the words of the title less, upon our picture, since it shows that have been called in question. Thus Mr. in certain portraits Titian did approximate Herbert Cook would call it 's so nearly to Giorgione as to be almost in- 'Barbarigo,' while the majority of critics distinguishable to his contemporaries. Now adhere to the Titian and drop the 'Ariosto.' with the majority of Titian's early portraits, First, with regard to its being a portrait with the Jeune homme au Gant, the cen- of a member of the Barbarigo family. Vasari tral figure in the Pitti 'Concert,' the Ales- says that Titian, when he began to follow sandro de' Medici of Hampton Court, there Giorgione's manner at the age of eighteen, should be no confusion. In these there is ' made a portrait of a gentleman of the Bar- a sharpness of accent, an alertness and viva- barigo family who was his friend, and this city, together with a more accented model- was considered very beautiful, the render- ling of bony structure which do not belong ing of the flesh being exact and natural, to Giorgione's accepted portraits. In Gior- and the hairs so clearly distinguished that gione's portraits the movement is slower, one might count them, as one might also more legato, the mood more pensive and count the stitches in the doublet of silver- aloof, they are more 'poesies' and less por- embroidered velvet which he painted in traits. There is, moreover, in several of that work (ipunti a'un giubonedi raso inar- these portraits the peculiarity of a ledge on gentato). In fine, it was considered so well which the figure leans hand or arm, and in done, and with such diligence, that if Titian two cases this bears the inscription VV.3 had not signed his name in umber 2 it would Now in all these points of differentiation have been taken for a work of Giorgione.' between Giorgione's portraits and those ot It has been suggested that this description the young Titian our Ariosto agrees with agrees with our 'Ariosto,' and Mr. Cook the Giorgione group. It has the ledge, it seems inclined to accept this view, merely has at least one v, and it has the slower move- disregarding Vasari's statement that though ment, the less alert look of the eyes, to- scarcely distinguishable from a Giorgione gether with the more blunt, more summary it was by Titian, and ascribing it frankly modelling which we find in the undisputed to Giorgione himself. Giorgiones. Moreover, it strikes every- To this identification of the 'Ariosto' one as having in a marked degree that with Vasari's account Mr. strange sense of aloofness, that strong per- had already replied in his 'The Earlier vading mood which we associate even more Work of Titian,' that first of all no one, with Giorgione than with the youthful not even Titian, could conceivably have Titian, so that one might suppose that if painted this work at the age of eighteen; the inscription were not there we should and, secondly, that the doublet of silver- be inclined to attribute it to Giorgione. embroidered velvet, which was evidently a But there stands the'Titianus.' Mr. Cook, conspicuous part of the painting, has no allowing the identification of this picture counterpart in our picture. Even if we with the Barbarigo described by Vasari, 3 1 See frontispiece, page go. We know nothing as yet of the meaning of the VV, the sug- 2 'In ombra.' Is not this more likely than the usual trans- gestion that it represents a badly written ZZ for Zorzone may lation ' in the shadow' ? surely be dismissed. 136

Burlington Magazine is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs ® www.jstor.org ' Tittian's Ariosto' admits that the signature stood thus in mass, combined with an almost quattro- 1544, and supposes that the picture was centist minuteness and precision of detail, left unfinished by Giorgione, and that this sleeve is unapproachable. If Titian Titian some years later thought himself painted only this part of the picture we iustified in adding his signature to the two could scarcely blame him for signing the V's which Giorgione had put there. The whole picture as his. The face, on the signature runs thus: TITIANVS IV on the other hand, seems more thinly painted, a left and a larger v on the right. It has been little hotter in its glazes, and in the treat- suggested that the WVon the left is the re- ment of the hair it shows less power ot sult of a T being superposed by Titian on massed relief; the touches are drawn more an earlier V. But a careful examination shows that this is not the case. The TV was painted at one time as a monogram and by the same hand as did the TITIANVS, and must, I think, stand for Tiziano Vecel- - IJliltIIIa lio. The other v appears to have been done 1 41 at another time and in a different manner. 1 It is of course possible-indeed one may say, in view of the other pictures, likely-that there were originally two large v's, but no trace of the second is now discernible. A further question arises as to the form Titianus; this does not occur elsewhere before the and common

year I520, by MA consent our picture is of an earlier date. 1 \\ There is however nothing improbable in supposing that Titian, who began by em- ploying the form Ticianus, used Ticianus and Titianus indifferently for some while before finally dropping the former spell- ing, and that this picture is therefore the earliest known example of a signature which was later on adopted exclusively. And now as to the itself. painting No. I.-Portrait of Ariosto, from the woodcut after Titian in Though Titian adopted Giorgione's tech- the 1532 edition of 'Orlando Furioso.' nique so completely, there are slight and subtle distinctions in their methods. Ti- separately, with even more reminiscence tian's painting is more solid ; the modelling of the style of the fifteenth century. was carried further before the glaze was It seems to me, therefore, that Mr. Cook's applied; he relied less than Giorgione did theory is not altogether impossible. But upon glaze for actually getting relief and I should say that in any case the share of colour-contrast. Now, in the Ariosto Titian, both in the painting and the final the shoulder, the marvellous white shirt,; fusion of the whole into the precious and and the still more superb quilted sleeve, rare colour-harmony which we now enjoy, all appear to me to have Titian's qualities. is larger than Mr. Cook suggests. For sheer mastery indeed, for the perfect I have attempted here rather to put the combination of the utmost breadth and case than to solve the problem. And now I37 7Titian's 'Ariosto' let us turn to the question of the sitter. unmarked, and a lower jaw inclining to There should here be no difficulty in de- massiveness and somewhat protruding, ciding whether it is or is not Ariosto. For while the hair hangs almost straight. we know what Ariosto was like. The best The other portraits of Ariosto which we authority is the woodcut reproduced here give are taken from medals. The first (No. 2) is that of Pastorino, who worked from about I548-I578. Since Ariosto died in I533 it is only traditional, and is indeed probably taken from the Titian 'I a woodcut by reversing the direction. It is also somewhat but it is a ' ; rejuvenated, finely G?j modelled head, and shows what was recog- nized a few years after Ariosto's death as a likeness of the In the still later medal No. 2.-Medal by Pastorino de' Pastorini. Obv., bust of Ariosto, poet. with legend LVDOVICVS ARIOST POET. Rev., Bees driven by Poggini (No. 3) the type survives, but is out of their hive by fire, with legend PRO BONO MALVM. weakened, and has already almost lost indi- (No. I) from the edition of ' Orlando Fu- vidual character. But all confirms the essen- rioso,' published by FrancescoRosso da tial differences between Ariosto and the sub- Valenzaat Ferrarain I 532, a copy of which ject of our picture. On the other hand it Ariostopresented to CharlesV. This, it is seems to me that these portraits support in a generallysaid, was donefrom a drawingby striking manner the correctness of the tradi- Titian, and there can be little doubt that this tion as regards the other 'Ariosto' of our Na- is the case, so exactly does it agree in style tional Gallery, that attributed to Palma.4 In the rather feeble woodcut on the of the with other woodcuts from Titian's designs. 4 title-page I531 edition of *Orlando Furioso,' Ariosto is represented standing in Here, then, is a contemporary portrait front of two bay trees, a slight indication which tends in the same direction, since it shows the manner in which the poet of Ariosto by Titian, and the comparison liked to be represented. From the constant use of his emblems establishes what to me fundamental in the woodcuts of these early editions, one gathers that he took appear an interest in the designs with which they were adorned and, differences between it and our picture. therefore, presumably in this portrait. The emblems on the reverse of the medals were both invented and constantly used Ariosto's forehead is high, and, one would by Ariosto. One is a beehive set on fire, the other a hand guess, narrow, certainly some- what strongly modelled with well-marked, bony structure. but His nose is fine, slightly 6' distinctly aquiline, and with the '-4 coooo ' bone of the bridge well marked; i~3 ;~~~5-1 ~4r the mouth delicate, somewhat ~ d' too sensitive and undeveloped as regards the lower jaw. The hair is sparse and wavy. Every- thing expresses a type of sensi- tive refinement, nervous and NO. 3.-Medal by Domenico Poggini. Obv., bust of Ariosto, with legend LVDOVICVS chiselled-an elegant ARIOSTVS. Rev., a hand holding shears which have just cutoff the tongue of an adder, finely with PRO BONO MALVM. man. The picture, on the legend shows a man with a un- with scissors, which have just cut off a viper's tongue. The contrary, broad, motto,' Pro bono malum,' refers to the injuries received from marked forehead, a nose which his patron, Cardinal Hippolyto d'Este, in return for the poet's protrudes good services. The second, in which the viper loses his tongue, at an angle from the brow, and is the symbolizes rather the vengeance which Ariosto believed his late patron merited. It is elsewhere accompanied by the motto, reverse of aquiline, with the bridge quite ' Dilexisti malitiam super benignitatem.' 138 6/pecn- .tt/~~-'~' ?~~I~~~