Some of the Prado

BY CHARLES H. CAFFIN

HE catalogue of the Praclo Gallery with the order of a Knight of the Spur. quotes the remark of a writer that Charles declared that henceforth no one T to know well it is necessary should paint his portrait but the great to study him first in Venice and then in Venetian, and treated him with every Madrid. This is based on the fact that mark of distinguished consideration. in the Prado alone there are forty-two al­ On one occasion, so the story goes, he leged examples of the Venetian master. picked up a brush which the artist had But two, the " Sisyphus " and the " Pro­ dropped, and handed it to him with the metheus/' are copies by the Spanish remark, " Titian is worthy to be served painter Alonso Sanchez Coello of origi­ by Cajsar." On another occasion, at some nals which were afterward destroyed by ceremony in Bologna, he caused the artist fire; two others, " Virgen de los Dolores" to ride Iseside him, observing to the rest and "La Dolorosa," are considered to be of the retinue around him, " I can make wrongly ascribed to the master, being as many lords as I wish, but God alone possibly the work of his assistants; while can make a Titian." some others represent but indifferently After the abdication of Charles V. in Titian's greatness. Meanwliile there are 1555, his son and successor to the throne canvases which rank among his greatest. of Spain and the Netherlands, Philip II., Titian's relations with the court of continued the role of patron. During the Spain began with his introduction to remaining twenty years of the artist's Charles V. in 1530. This occurred while life he was continually being plied with the Emperor was visiting Bologna, and requests for pictures by the King, who, was engineered by the astute and un­ while he was eager to get them, was very scrupulous Pictro Aretino. The latter, slow in paying. Some of the correspond­ with Titian and the architect Sansovino, ence regarding their relations still exists. had formed the celebrated " Triumvirate," Garcia, for example, the King's envoy in for their mutual advancement and the Venice, writes in October, 1564, to the systematic pursuit of pleasure. Those Minister at Madrid: " The ' Christ at the were the days when Titiaii's luxurious Last Supper' is a marvel, and one of the villa at Biri Grande was the scene of best things that Titian has done. Though princely entertainments, ai v.'hich the it is finished and I was to have it in Sep­ guests included most of the men then tember, he said; when I sent for it, that famous in Italian art and politics. he would finish it on his return and then Titian had become recogriizcLl as the give it to me, which I suspect is due to painter of the great, and it was a natural his covetousness and avarice, which make sequence that he should paint a portrait him keep it hack till the despatch arrives of the greatest, of the Csesar who held ordering payment to be made. Though in his hand the destinies of the greater he is old, he v.'orks and can still work, part of Europe. and if there were but money forthcoming Charles was so satisfied with the result we should get more out of him than we of this first visit that two years later could expect from, his age." he invited the artist to renew it, when Titian himself writes to the " In­ the relations between the two became vincible and Potent King Philip," " Is firmly cemented. For each portrait the not my only aim in life to refuse the Emperor gave him a thousand crowns, services of other princes and cling to besides which he settled upon him an that of your Majesty?" But he has to annuity of two hundred, tci be paid by urge that the King will attend to the the city of Milan; raised hira to the rank arrears of his pension and payment on of a Count Palatine, and invested him pictures forwarded to Madrid. Philip on

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PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 450 HAEPIIE'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE one occasion sends an order upon Milan Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," while " Di- to settle the arrears of the annuity which aua Surprised at the Fountain " and " Ca- "Charles, his father (now in Olory), had listo's Frailty Exposed by Diana" are de­ granted." With his own liabilities he is spatched with " The Entombment," and a still remiss. Whereupon Titian writes, " Christ in the Garden " with " Europa." "As an intercessor I have prepared a The record of the relations between picture in which the Magdalen appears the grasping Philip and the great artist, before you in tears, and as a suppliant whose powers were gradually failing, in favor of your most devoted servant." while his extravagant tastes showed no On this letter Philip notes, " It seems to abatement, are, in fact, more than a little me that this matter is already arranged." unpalatable. There is a suspicion that Apparently, however, the royal memory the King had little of the respect for the was in error, for the sum in question was greatness of the artist which his father paid later. Philip's standing order was had had, and that his chief motives wore, for religious pictures; but the artist, on the one hand, the superstitious venera­ knowing his master's dovibio role of tion he held for his father's memory, and ascetic and libertine, shrewdly includes on the other, his personal in being- in tho consignment a nude or " poesie." served by tho artist whose name was still Thus a nude " Venus " accompanies " The held in the highest repute. Meanwhile

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PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED SOME TITIANS OF THE PKADO 451 ihcrc is a!.-o a suspicion tliat Titian sky. But in her rather mundane face, treated Philip as eertaiu modern paint­ and still more in the sweet evcry-day ers have not scrupled to treat Anioriean nobility of the Virgin's expression and millionaires, of whose vanity and ig­ gesture, Titian's self is pronounced. So norance an easy advantage could he taken. also in the treatment of her drapery of For certainly, as has already heen sug­ azure blue and the crimson robe. A lit­ gested, some of the pictures which the tle of the latter's rosy hue overflows into aged artist "un­ loaded " on his pa­ tron do not sustain his reputation. One is reminded of the statement of Vasari, who visited Titian in his home in Ven­ ice in 166(1: " Ct would have been well for him if, in these later years of his life, he had only labored for pastime, in order not to lose by works of declin- iiig value the repu­ tation gained in early days." In the disastrous firo of Christn)as, IT.'ll, which destroy­ ed the old Alcazar and consumed so many of the art treasures collected by Charles and the three Philips, some of the Titians per­ ished, while others were damaged. vSonie also have from time to time been given away as presents to distinguished per­ sons, so that those PORTRAIT OF TITIAN, BY HIMSELF now gathered in the Prado fall short of the original complement. The oldest the dove-gray gown of St. Brigida, whose of them in point of time is the " Ma­ mantle is golden brown, set against the donna and Child with Saints ITlfo and man's black armor and repeated in a Brigida," which used to be attributed drabber hue of brown in the " dossal" to Giorgionc. It belongs to Titian's behind the Virgin's head. Illfo's dark early period, when he was experimenting head, painted with superb simplicity, is with the Giorgionesque influence. You relieved against the deep apple green of may trace it in the contrast of Illfo's the curtain, which hue is echoed in the warm brcwn face with the fair-skinned bit of curtain on the right. This picture Brigida, v,-hosc golden-red hair, rippling belongs to the same period as the so- over the ears, is set against a white called " " of the cloud, gleaming in a translucent blue Borghese Palace in Eome. Indeed, the

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WoRSHiP OF VENUS same two models have served tlie artist freedom and freshness of imagination in both pictures. that created the figures. The nudes es­ Two other pictures, earl,v, in view of pecially reveal a fragrance and purity of Titian's long life, but representing him sentiment that the artist's later ones, in his full maturity, are " The Bacchanal" those of his middle age, have lost. and " Worship of Venus," which belong to The charm of landscape in the " Wor­ the period of the " " ship of Venus " consists not only in the of the . All of these color, but also in the sentiment. The sky v/ere painted for Duke Alfonso, who had is a lovely robin's-egg blue, in which float summoned the artist to Ecrrara in order dreamily gray and creamy clouds. These that he might complete Giovanni Bellini's gradually pale toward the horizon, where last and unfinished picture^ " The Baccha­ appear a church spire and trees, softened nal, or Feast of the Gods on Earth," which to blue by distance. The foreground of is now in Alnwick Castle, England. The yellowing grass slopes up on the left to result of this work was a commission for a mossy bank, overshadowed by a clump the •'•' Bacchanal" and " Worship of of trees; deep green foliage spotted with Venus," followed a little later by one for yellow and rosy apples, against a farther the " Bacchus and Ariadne"; all of m.ass of golden brown. Through an which adorned a room in the Palace at interval in the rich leafage is a glimpse Ferrara. They carry forward the idea of a gray-roofed, white-walled cottage. and the spirit of Giovanni Bellini, but But even more lovely than this radiant in a manner individually Titian's own. color scheme is the exquisitely imagined This declares itself in particular in the sentiment of the scene. The countrj'- radiant beauty of the landscape back­ side breathes an atmosphere of lovable grounds; in a general way, in the joyous naturalness and enchanting simplicity.

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED SOME TITIANS OF THE PEADO 453 which seem to take shape in the countless circles the neck, which is inclined to infant forms. Their innocence and lib­ be short, and the arms are covered with erty of gesture embody the spirit of the sleeves of the same material as the skirt. scene, and from the latter they draw a The whole, in fact, has less freedom and reasonableness of existence which makes swing of gesture and expression. It was their frolic seem entirely natural. The painted about 1550, whereas the Prado IJOVCS which gambol in the air have rosy picture is assigned to a period at least wings, while those of their comrades be­ ten years later, and is supposed to have low are mostly blue. Inexhaustible in­ been painted from memory. vention is displayed in the variety of Of the Titian portraits in the Prado gesture of these tiny forms, whose let us examine three: those of Charles V. sprightliness also is so artlessly child­ and his wife and their son. And first like. The upper of the two girls on the the Queen's. Dona Isabella de Portugal right is clad in deep blue, while her com­ was first cousin to her husband, both panion, who holds the mirror, wears a being grandchildren of Ferdinand and lovely claret-red skirt. In the centre of Isabella. The latter's eldest daughter, the foreground lies a bit of geranium- Isabella, had married Emmanuel of Por­ colored drapery, bunched in front of tugal, while their third child, Juana, by which is a mass of white. On the edge her marriage with Philip of Austria, be- of this Titian has signed his name. The so-called " Sa­ lome " of the Prado will be recognized as a study of the artist's daughter, Lavinia, who appears as a Bride and as a Ma­ tron in the Dresden Gallery, and on three other occasions in an attitude similar to this one. One of these variations of the theme is in the Hermitage, another in the collection of Earl Grey in Eng­ land, while the best known is that of the Berlin Gallery. In the last the salver, instead of contain­ ing the head of , is piled with flowers and fruit. The gown, as here, is of amber brown, the drapery over the back whitish gray, while the gold­ en hair in both cases is dressed with jew­ els of pearls and ru­ bies. In the Berlin picture, however, a string of pearls en­

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came the mother of Charl(>s V. Since ascened with gold. The plume is white, Queen Isabella never left S])alri, the por­ the trunks are pearly satin, the silk trait has given rise to a surmise that stockings and shoes dove gray. This Titian may have visited Spain. But from lower ])art of the figure is disposed 1532 to 1543, the period during' which it against a table-cover of deep burgundy was painted, Titian maintained a cor­ red. The portrait is at once a magnificent respondence with his friend Aretino that picture and a remarkable psychological is still in existence. A visit to Spain record. It summarizes in anticipation v/ould certainly have been mentioned if that strange combination of qualities it had occurred; but the lettei's contain which was to characterize Philip when he no reference to such a matter. It is con­ succeeded to the government of Spain and jectured, therefore, that Titian's model 1 be Netherlands — his shiftlessness and for the face was a portrait by some other doggedness of policy, his mingling of painter, possibly the riemish portrait- the libertine and ascetic, the man whose painter Antonio Mor, who spent many weakness was destined to impoverish his years in Madrid. It is painted with a country, wdiile he left of himself an en- certain timidity, a tightness and smootl;- (hiring monument in that mausoleum- ness, very different from th(; masterful monastery-niansion—the Escorial. treatment of the costume. I'lie lattov A companion picture to the above is the consists of a rosy brownish purple velvet " Charles V. on Foot," representing the stomacher, sleeves, and skirt, the last Rmperor at the age of about forty years, opening over a cloth-of-c:i)l

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1547. The imperial troops bci>-an to take penetrates the gray vapor, gathering to a up their positions aloiij? tlie bank of the rosy primrose over the horizon. Here are Elbe at dawn, while the night mist was distant hills, blued by atmosphere. From slowly lifting and the sky was flushed the ford of the Elbe a grassy lawn, still with rose. The Emperor, mounted on his slumbering in shadow, slopes up to a lit­ favorite charger, a very dark brown, al­ tle plateau, crowned with a clump, of most black Audalusian, is shown ac­ drowsy foliage, olive green and tawny coutred exactly as he appeared on that drabs and browns. These form a mass historic morning. Eor a record exists of support to the figure of the horse, by a contemporary historian, Don Luis the legs of which are merged into the de Avila y Zuniga, who dedicated his umbery shadows of the foreground. Commentary on the, German War to the Similarly, to secure a massed rather Emperor. than a scattered eifect, the horse's head Color plays so important a part in the is carried close to the chest. The color majesty of the conception that we will of its body is practically dull black, reconstruct the scheme in imagination. the head-gear steel and gold, the plume The upper sky is laced with layers of claret red. The saddle-cloth is of much slaty blue; but lower down a soft rose the same hue, but, being of velvet, is VOL. CXXVI.—NO. 75,-i.—57

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED CHARLES V. AT THE BATTLE OF MUHLEERG more varied in its values and rielier in immediately directs it to the Emperor's textvire, while the larger cloth is of paler face, whose fixed expression seems to be claret, slightly suffused with blue. This epitomized in its forward thrust. It is wine-eolor is echoed again, with difference the face of a ver;\- sick man. Charles for of silky texture, in the Emperor's sash, the some time had been the victim of gout, insignia of a general of the House of which had attacked all his limbs; his Burgundy, and culminates in an intense voice had grown so feeble that it was rosy hue in his plume. The morion and with difiiculty that his staff-oflicers could armor, of finest Spanish make, are of understand his orders. His weakened black steel, richly damascened with gold. body, while the attendants fastened on the Around the neck hangs the collar of the armor, was all atremble. Seated in the Golden Fleece, of which most highly saddle, however, he held himself rigid by esteemed Burgundian and Xetherland a supreme effort of will, his face mean­ order Charles was Grand Master. while set and white as that of a corpse. A very remarkable feature of the com­ The Protestants called him " The Dead position is the placing of the lance. Its One." point, set against the sky, draws one's Awesome and poignant is this contrast attention from the horse's head, and of the cadaverous face with the splendor having done so, by some strange secret and authority of the whole conception.

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The direness and inevitableness of The prayer for his parents' souls. Opposite to Man of Destiny have never anywhere this royal group stands the single figure of been so portrayed in painting. Com­ the Virgin, a note of beautiful blue. She pared with this, the pictures of Napoleon is close to the Divine Throne, but turns seem like portraits of a play-actor. If to gaze at the concourse of the blessed one seeks for the reason, it is perhaps dead, who throng the sides and lower part because, in the first place, no painter of of the composition. On the left are the Napoleon was a colorist, who could pro­ evangelists; Moses, Noah, and the Mag­ duce the orchestration of solemn, solitary dalen occupy the centre; and on the right grandeur with which the figure is in­ appears David. Above him is a profile vested. Secondly, Titian had the ad­ portrait of Titian himself, beside a re­ vantage of the armor. He realized its cumbent figure which represents Job. psychological relation to the wearer in The last, it appears, is a portrait of D. its suggestion not only of the superb, but Francisco Vargas, Charles's ambassador of the indomitable. The rigidity of the in Venice. Titian in a letter to the steel has been rendered with unsurpass­ Emperor, which has been preserved, says: able realization of the facts, and its con­ " I inserted the portrait of Don Fran­ trast with, and at the same time its af­ cisco Vargas at his command. If it is finity to, the grim, pale, hard face is not pleasing to your Majesty, any paint­ indescribably expressive. er with two little strokes of a brush can change it into somebody else." Titian The Emperor's career as a hero termi­ painted this picture in 1554, when he was nated with his victory at Muhlberg. about seventy-seven years old. To a Recognizing that death had laid its grip period eight years later belongs the por­ upon him, he made preparation to meet trait of himself which hangs in the Prado. the end. In 1.555 he retired to the mon­ This is the latest portrait of Titian. astery of San Yuste, whence he still X The background is olive brown, the vel­ meddled with the affairs of empire, while vet cap black, the coat of dark hue, indulging a hobby for collecting clocks resembling black, interrupted only by a and watches, and varying his excesses of double chain, the insignia of the order eating and drinking with fits of penitence. of a Count Palatine and a Knight of From his bed he would witness through the Spur. From this field of obscurity a window that opened into the church emerge the hand, holding a brush, and the celebration of the mass, while on the the face. To the latter a further isola­ wall in front of him hung Titian's tion and an emphasis are given by the " Gloria." In the presence of this pic­ rulT. Its whiteness accentuates the ture he died, September 21, 1556. tawny gray of the beard and the rosy The " Gloria," or, as Titian himself cream of the flesh, which has gray and called it, " The Most Holy Trinity," rep­ occasionally transparent brown shadows. resents the Emperor's effort to fortify his The eye is a slightly grayish blue. The conscience against the terrors of the life modeling of the features is firm, but to come. The once proud conqueror is they are enveloped with an atmosphere kneeling in his grave-clothes, as a sup­ of soft, almost golden light that invests pliant at the feet of the Father and the with tenderness the angles and cavities, Son, whose forms are flooded with the and spiritualizes the expression. It is glory of the Divine Dove. His wife, in the face of a soul that is waiting and her grave-clothes, kneels behind him, and watching in gentle wistfulness the out­ both are supported and urged to hope by come of the evening of its days. angels; while his son Philip joins in

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OU might have guessed, or I might to enthuse; as ideally located as could have guessed, that the moon ir bo imagined. In shape an irregular el­ Y made of green cheese, but nevei lipse of eighty acres, it was well covered that old "Ten-dollar" Malbone owned a with trees save for one small open tract beautiful country estate like Sunset Is­ on the eastward side, perhaps an acre land. in extent. This clearing, sandy and level, For Malbone was a car-tracing clerk contained a snug, two-room log bungalow, in the L. W. & T. Eailroad at eighty- and an ample vegetable plot which ren­ five dollars a month, and, by limitation dered Malbone independent of the village of little ability and a sickly mother and across the inlet for fresh provender. The sister, bound as tightly to his job as an shore of this clearing bounded the cove, elevator-boy is to his the week before a shelter large enough for the home­ Christmas. He had never b(;en known made dock and the tidy cat - boat and in his life to spend dory. A hundred feet more or less than ten beyond the house was dollars for a suit of a spring of very clear clothes, wherefore his and cold water. Mal­ cognomen, nor to ven­ bone had dug a little ture farther than 155th trench in the firm, Street, even during sandy soil, providing his ten - day vacation a fiow right up to the each August. Al­ bungalow door suf­ though not so very ficient for the wash­ old — forty-two —• he ing of man or fish. seemed somehow out All during the rav­ of the running. He ishing days of late was discouraged, sal­ April and early May, low, extremely thin, while the people in and " dead broke" town would be wearily just before every pay­ waking to street noises day. and preparing for an­ His improvement other day's grind in that spring, when he air-proof offices, Mal­ suddenly gained six­ bone would rise in the teen pounds in three pearl-gray, freshening weeks, was the cause dawn, kindle a fire in of daily wonder in the the sheet - iron camp- office, and attributed stove, and send steam­ jocularly to every­ ing into the brighten­ thing from " Flesh- ing sunlight the aroma ola " to malt. No one of bacon, coffee, and even remotely sur­ No ONE WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT self-raising flapjacks. MALBONE OWNED A COUNTRY ESTATE mised that it was due After breakfast to Malbone'~ life upon there was fishing, a country estate whicli in natural beauty either from the little promontory on the surpassed even Penrynhurst. the old- north side of the island, or in one of the English Westchester County manor of tiny inlets on the south side, where the the president of the L. T. & W. bass and haddock came in. And then a Sunset Island was a plaee over which paddle to the village for the papers, and

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