s a thing to be heedlessly wasted; and as
it is physically impossible to see and to understand more than a certain
quantity of art in a given time, the attention bestowed on second-rate
works, in such a city as Venice, is not merely lost, but actually
harmful,--deadening the interest and confusing the memory with respect
to those which it is a duty to enjoy, and a disgrace to forget. The
reader need not fear being misled by any omissions; for I have
conscientiously pointed out every characteristic example, even of the
styles which I dislike, and have referred to Lazari in all instances in
which my own information failed: but if he is in any wise willing to
trust me, I should recommend him to devote his principal attention, if
he is fond of paintings, to the works of Tintoret, Paul Veronese, and
John Bellini; not of course neglecting Titian, yet remembering that
Titian can be well and thoroughly studied in almost any great European
gallery, while Tintoret and Bellini can be judged of _only_ in Venice,
and Paul Veronese, though gloriously represented by the two great
pictures in the Louvre, and many others throughout Europe, is yet not to
be fully estimated until he is seen at play among the fantastic chequers
of the Venetian ceilings.

I have supplied somewhat copious notices of the pictures of Tintoret,
because they are much injured, difficult to read, and entirely neglected
by other writers on art. I cannot express the astonishment and
indignation I felt on finding, in Kugler's handbook, a paltry cenacolo,
painted probably in a couple of hours for a couple of zecchins, for the
monks of St. Trovaso, quoted as characteristic of this master; just as
foolish readers quote separate stanzas of Peter Bell or the Idiot Boy,
as characteristic of Wordsworth. Finally, the reader is requested to
observe, that the dates assigned to the various buildings named in the
following index, are almost without exception conjectural; that is to
say, founded exclusively on the internal evidence of which a portion has
been given in the Final Appendix. It is likely, therefore, that here and
there, in particular instances, further inquiry may prove me to have
been deceived; but such occasional errors are not of the smallest
importance with respect to the general conclusions of the preceding
pages, which will be found to rest on too broad a basis to be disturbed.

A

ACCADEMIA DELLE BELLE ARTI. Notice above the door the two bas-reliefs