mposition; the horizon is so low that
the spectator must fancy himself lying at full length on the grass, or
rather among the brambles and luxuriant weeds, of which the foreground
is entirely composed. Among these, the seamless robe of Christ has
fallen at the foot of the cross; the rambling briars and wild grasses
thrown here and there over its folds of rich, but pale, crimson.
Behind them, and seen through them, the heads of a troop of Roman
soldiers are raised against the sky; and, above them, their spears and
halberds form a thin forest against the horizontal clouds. The three
crosses are put on the extreme right of the picture, and its centre is
occupied by the executioners, one of whom, standing on a ladder,
receives from the other at once the sponge and the tablet with the
letters INRI. The Madonna and St. John are on the extreme left,
superbly painted, like all the rest, but quite subordinate. In fact,
the whole mind of the painter seems to have been set upon making the
principals accessary, and the accessaries principal. We look first at
the grass, and then at the scarlet robe; and then at the clump of
distant spears, and then at the sky, and last of all at the cross. As
a piece of color, the picture is notable for its extreme modesty.
There is not a single very full or bright tint in any part, and yet
the color is delighted in throughout; not the slightest touch of it
but is delicious. It is worth notice also, and especially, because
this picture being in a fresh state we are sure of one fact, that,
like nearly all other great colorists, Tintoret was afraid of light
greens in his vegetation. He often uses dark blue greens in his
shadowed trees, but here where the grass is in full light, it is all
painted with various hues of sober brown, more especially where it
crosses the crimson robe. The handling of the whole is in his noblest
manner; and I consider the picture generally quite beyond all price.
It was cleaned, I believe, some years ago, but not injured, or at
least as little injured as it is possible for a picture to be which
has undergone any cleaning process whatsoever.

2. _The Resurrection._ (Over the high altar.) The lower part of this
picture is entirely concealed by a miniature temple, about five feet
high, on the top of the altar; certainly an insult little expected by
Tintoret, as, by getting on