gued as an early Titian under the influence of Giovanni
Bellini. Judging only from the reproduction on a large scale done by
Messrs. Braun and Co., the writer has ventured to suggest
elsewhere[9]--prefacing his suggestions with the avowal that he is not
acquainted with the picture itself--that we may have here, not an early
Titian, but that rarer thing an early Giorgione. From the list of the
former master's works it must at any rate be struck out, as even the
most superficial comparison with, for instance, _La Zingarella_
suffices to prove. In the notable display of Venetian art made at the
New Gallery in the winter of 1895 were included two pictures (Nos. 1 and
7 in the catalogue) ascribed to the early time of Titian and evidently
from the same hand. These were a _Virgin and Child_ from the collection,
so rich in Venetian works, of Mr. R.H. Benson (formerly among the
Burghley House pictures), and a less well-preserved _Virgin and Child
with Saints_ from the collection of Captain Holford at Dorchester House.
The former is ascribed by Crowe and Cavalcaselle to the early time of
the master himself.[10] Both are, in their rich harmony of colour and
their general conception, entirely Giorgionesque. They reveal the hand
of some at present anonymous Venetian of the second order, standing
midway between the young Giorgione and the young Titian--one who, while
imitating the types and the landscape of these greater contemporaries
of his, replaced their depth and glow by a weaker, a more superficial
prettiness, which yet has its own suave charm.

[Illustration: _Virgin and Child, known as "La Zingarella." Imperial
Gallery, Vienna. From a Photograph by Loewy_.]

The famous _Christ bearing the Cross_ in the Chiesa di S. Rocco at
Venice is first, in his Life of the Castelfranco painter, ascribed by
Vasari to Giorgione, and then in the subsequent Life of Titian given to
that master, but to a period very much too late in his career. The
biographer quaintly adds: "This figure, which many have believed to be
from the hand of Giorgione, is to-day the most revered object in Venice,
and has received more charitable offerings in money than Titian and
Giorgione together ever gained in the whole course of their life." This
too great popularity of the work as a wonder-working picture is perhaps
the cause that it is to-day in a state as unsatisfactory as is the _Man
of Sorrows_ in the adjacent Scuola. The picture which presents "Christ
dragge