rast, and I wish Tintoret had not
condescended to paint it. This and the six preceding paintings have
all been uninteresting,--I believe chiefly owing to the observance in
them of Sir Joshua's rule for the heroic, "that drapery is to be mere
drapery, and not silk, nor satin, nor brocade." However wise such a
rule may be when applied to works of the purest religious art, it is
anything but wise as respects works of color. Tintoret is never quite
himself unless he has fur or velvet, or rich stuff of one sort or the
other, or jewels, or armor, or something that he can put play of color
into, among his figures, and not dead folds of linsey-woolsey; and I
believe that even the best pictures of Raffaelle and Angelico are not
a little helped by their hems of robes, jewelled crowns, priests'
copes, and so on; and the pictures that have nothing of this kind in
them, as for instance the "Transfiguration," are to my mind not a
little dull.

20. _Temptation._ This picture singularly illustrates what has just
been observed; it owes great part of its effect to the lustre of the
jewels in the armlet of the evil angel, and to the beautiful colors of
his wings. These are slight accessaries apparently, but they enhance
the value of all the rest, and they have evidently been enjoyed by the
painter. The armlet is seen by reflected light, its stones shining by
inward lustre; this occult fire being the only hint given of the real
character of the Tempter, who is otherways represented in the form of
a beautiful angel, though the face is sensual: we can hardly tell how
far it was intended to be therefore expressive of evil; for Tintoret's
good angels have not always the purest features; but there is a
peculiar subtlety in this telling of the story by so slight a
circumstance as the glare of the jewels in the darkness. It is curious
to compare this imagination with that of the mosaics in St. Mark's, in
which Satan is a black monster, with horns, and head, and tail,
complete. The whole of the picture is powerfully and carefully
painted, though very broadly; it is a strong effect of light, and
therefore, as usual, subdued in color. The painting of the stones in
the foreground I have always thought, and still think, the best piece
of rock drawing before Turner, and the most amazing instance of
Tintoret's perceptiveness afforded by any of his pic