; the second by Tintoret,
namely:

_The Baptism of Christ._ (Over the first altar on the right of the
nave.) An upright picture, some ten feet wide by fifteen high; the top
of it is arched, representing the Father supported by angels. It
requires little knowledge of Tintoret to see that these figures are
not by his hand. By returning to the opposite side of the nave, the
join in the canvas may be plainly seen, the upper part of the picture
having been entirely added on: whether it had this upper part before
it was repainted, or whether originally square, cannot now be told,
but I believe it had an upper part which has been destroyed. I am not
sure if even the dove and the two angels which are at the top of the
older part of the picture are quite genuine. The rest of it is
magnificent, though both the figures of the Saviour and the Baptist
show some concession on the part of the painter to the imperative
requirement of his age, that nothing should be done except in an
attitude; neither are there any of his usual fantastic imaginations.
There is simply the Christ in the water and the St. John on the shore,
without attendants, disciples, or witnesses of any kind; but the power
of the light and shade, and the splendor of the landscape, which on
the whole is well preserved, render it a most interesting example. The
Jordan is represented as a mountain brook, receiving a tributary
stream in a cascade from the rocks, in which St. John stands: there is
a rounded stone in the centre of the current; and the parting of the
water at this, as well as its rippling among the roots of some dark
trees on the left, are among the most accurate remembrances of nature
to be found in any of the works of the great masters. I hardly know
whether most to wonder at the power of the man who thus broke through
the neglect of nature which was universal at his time; or at the
evidences, visible throughout the whole of the conception, that he was
still content to paint from slight memories of what he had seen in
hill countries, instead of following out to its full depth the
fountain which he had opened. There is not a stream among the hills of
Priuli which in any quarter of a mile of its course would not have
suggested to him finer forms of cascade than those which he has idly
painted at Venice.

SIMEONE, PROFETA, CHURCH OF ST. Very important, th