Man in Black_, No. 1591
in the Louvre. It shows a man of some forty years, of simple mien yet of
indefinably tragic aspect; he wears moderately long hair, is clothed
entirely in black, and rests his right hand on his hip, while passing
the left through his belt. The dimensions of the canvas are more
imposing than those of the _Jeune Homme au Gant_. No example in the
Louvre, even though it competes with Madrid for the honour of possessing
the greatest Titians in the world, is of finer quality than this
picture. Near this--No. 1592 in the same great gallery--hangs another
_Portrait of a Man in Black_ by Titian, and belonging to his middle
time. The personage presented, though of high breeding, is cynical and
repellent of aspect. The strong right hand rests quietly yet menacingly
on a poniard, this attitude serving to give a peculiarly aggressive
character to the whole conception. In the present state of this fine and
striking picture the yellowness and want of transparency of the
flesh-tones, both in the head and hands, gives rise to certain doubts as
to the correctness of the ascription. Yet this peculiarity may well
arise from injury; it would at any rate be hazardous to put forward any
other name than that of Titian, to whom we must be content to leave the
portrait.]
[Footnote 15: This is the exceedingly mannered yet all the same rich and
beautiful _St. Catherine, St. Roch, with a boy angel, and St.
Sebastian_.]
[Footnote 16: See Giorgione's _Adrastus and Hypsipyle (Landscape with
the Soldier and the Gipsy)_ of the Giovanelli Palace, the _Venus_ of
Dresden, the _Concert Champetre_ of the Louvre.]
[Footnote 17: It is unnecessary in this connection to speak of the
Darmstadt _Venus_ invented by Crowe and Cavalcaselle, and to which as a
type they so constantly refer. Giovanni Morelli has demonstrated with
very general acceptance that this is only a late adaptation of the
exquisite _Venus_ of Dresden, which it is his greatest glory to have
restored to Barbarelli and to the world.]
[Footnote 18: _Die Galerien zu Muenchen und Dresden von Ivan Lermolieff_,
p. 290.]
[Footnote 19: Palma Vecchio, in his presentments of ripe Venetian
beauty, was, we have seen, much more literal than Giorgione, more
literal, too, less the poet-painter, than the young Titian. Yet in the
great _Venus_ of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge--not, indeed, in that
of Dresden--his ideal is a higher one than Titian's in such pieces as
the _Venus
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