his work off
by mere skill of hand, he would have been one of the greatest painters
that Venice has ever had. Not that this prevents him from being a bold
and able painter, and delicate, fanciful, and alert in spirit.

[Illustration: THE LAST JUDGMENT

(_After the painting by =Jacopo Tintoretto=. Venice: S. Maria
dell'Orto_)

_Anderson_]

Now, when it had been ordained by the Senate that Jacopo Tintoretto and
Paolo Veronese, at that time young men of great promise, should each
execute a scene in the Hall of the Great Council, and Orazio, the son of
Tiziano, another, Tintoretto painted in his scene Frederick Barbarossa
being crowned by the Pope, depicting there a most beautiful building,
and about the Pontiff a great number of Cardinals and Venetian
gentlemen, all portrayed from life, and at the foot the Pope's chapel of
music. In all this he acquitted himself in such a manner, that the
picture can bear comparison with those of the others, not excepting that
of the above-named Orazio, in which is a battle that was fought at Rome
between the Germans of that Frederick and the Romans, near the Castello
di S. Angelo and the Tiber. In this picture, among other things, is a
horse in foreshortening, leaping over a soldier in armour, which is most
beautiful; but some declare that Orazio was assisted in the work by his
father Tiziano. Beside these Paolo Veronese, of whom there has been an
account in the Life of Michele San Michele, painted in his scene the
same Frederick Barbarossa presenting himself at Court and kissing the
hand of Pope Ottaviano, to the despite of Pope Alexander III; and, in
addition to that scene, which was very beautiful, Paolo painted over a
window four large figures: Time, Union, with a bundle of rods, Patience,
and Faith, in which he acquitted himself better than I could express in
words.

Not long afterwards, another scene being required in that hall,
Tintoretto so went to work with the aid of friends and other means, that
it was given to him to paint; whereupon he executed it in such a manner
that it was a marvel, and that it deserves to be numbered among the best
things that he ever did, so powerful in him was his determination that
he would equal, if not vanquish and surpass, his rivals who had worked
in that place. And the scene that he painted there--to the end that it
may be known also by those who are not of the art--was Pope Alexander
excommunicating and interdicting Barbarossa, and that Fre