low; and I believe that in some
repairs of the roof this head must have been destroyed and repainted.
It is one of Tintoret's usual fine thoughts that the lower part of the
figure is veiled, not merely by clouds, but in a kind of watery
sphere, showing the Deity coming to the Israelites at that particular
moment as the Lord of the Rivers and of the Fountain of the Waters.
The whole figure, as well as that of Moses and the greater number of
those in the foreground, is at once dark and warm, black and red being
the prevailing colors, while the distance is bright gold touched with
blue, and seems to open into the picture like a break of blue sky
after rain. How exquisite is this expression, by mere color, of the
main force of the fact represented! that is to say, joy and
refreshment after sorrow and scorching heat. But, when we examine of
what this distance consists, we shall find still more cause for
admiration. The blue in it is not the blue of sky, it is obtained by
blue stripes upon white tents glowing in the sunshine; and in front of
these tents is seen that great battle with Amalek of which the account
is given in the remainder of the chapter, and for which the Israelites
received strength in the streams which ran out of the rock in Horeb.
Considered merely as a picture, the opposition of cool light to warm
shadow is one of the most remarkable pieces of color in the Scuola,
and the great mass of foliage which waves over the rocks on the left
appears to have been elaborated with his highest power and his most
sublime invention. But this noble passage is much injured, and now
hardly visible.

24. _Plague of Serpents._ The figures in the distance are remarkably
important in this picture, Moses himself being among them; in fact,
the whole scene is filled chiefly with middle-sized figures, in order
to increase the impression of space. It is interesting to observe the
difference in the treatment of this subject by the three great
painters, Michael Angelo, Rubens, and Tintoret. The first two, equal
to the latter in energy, had less love of liberty: they were fond of
binding their compositions into knots, Tintoret of scattering his far
and wide: they all alike preserve the unity of composition, but the
unity in the first two is obtained by binding, and that of the last by
springing from one source; and, together with this