re with this of San Giorgio.) Now, a dark penetration is often
a most precious assistance to a building dependent upon color for its
effect; for a cavity is the only means in the architect's power of
obtaining certain and vigorous shadow; and for this purpose, a
circular penetration, surrounded by a deep russet marble moulding, is
beautifully used in the centre of the white field on the side of the
portico of St. Mark's. But Palladio had given up color, and pierced
his pediment with a circular cavity, merely because he had not wit
enough to fill it with sculpture. The interior of the church is like a
large assembly room, and would have been undeserving of a moment's
attention, but that it contains some most precious pictures, namely:

1. _Gathering the Manna._ (On the left hand of the high altar.) One of
Tintoret's most remarkable landscapes. A brook flowing through a
mountainous country, studded with thickets and palm trees; the
congregation have been long in the Wilderness, and are employed in
various manufactures much more than in gathering the manna. One group
is forging, another grinding manna in a mill, another making shoes,
one woman making a piece of dress, some washing; the main purpose of
Tintoret being evidently to indicate the _continuity_ of the supply of
heavenly food. Another painter would have made the congregation
hurrying to gather it, and wondering at it; Tintoret at once makes us
remember that they have been fed with it "by the space of forty
years." It is a large picture, full of interest and power, but
scattered in effect, and not striking except from its elaborate
landscape.

2. _The Last Supper._ (Opposite the former.) These two pictures have
been painted for their places, the subjects being illustrative of the
sacrifice of the mass. This latter is remarkable for its entire
homeliness in the general treatment of the subject; the entertainment
being represented like any large supper in a second-rate Italian inn,
the figures being all comparatively uninteresting; but we are reminded
that the subject is a sacred one, not only by the strong light shining
from the head of Christ, but because the smoke of the lamp which hangs
over the table turns, as it rises, into a multitude of angels, all
painted in grey, the color of the smoke; and so writhed and twisted
together that the eye hardly at first dis