elief, a foolish
thing without mastery.

_Cennino Cennini._

CLXIV

You have heard about Merlin's magic art; here in Venice you may _see_
that of Titian, Giorgione, and all the others. In the Palazzo Barbarigo
we went to the room which is said to have been Titian's studio for some
time. The window faces the south, and the sun is shining on the floor by
two o'clock. This made us think, whether you should not, after all, let
the sun be there while you are painting. A temperate sunlight in the
room makes the lights golden, and through the many, crossing, warm
reflections the shadows get clearer and more transparent. But the
difficulty is to know how to deal with such a shimmer; it is easier to
paint with the light coming from the north. On the other hand, you see
that the Venetians never tried to render in painting the impression of
real, open sunlight. Their delicate sense of colour found a greater
delight in looking at the fine fused tones and shades which are seen
when the sunlight is only reflected under the clear blue sky and between
the high palaces. Therefore, you often think that you see, for instance,
groups of gondoliers on the Piazzetta in gay silvery notes, as in any
painting by Paolo Veronese; and in the warm daylight in the great,
gorgeous halls of the Palazzo Ducale there are still figures walking
about in a colour as golden and fresh as if they were paintings by
Titian.

_E. Lundgren._

PORTRAITURE

CLXV

Painting the face of a pretty young girl is like carving a portrait in
silver. There may be great elaboration, but no likeness will be
forthcoming. It is better to put the elaboration into the young lady's
clothes, and trust to a touch here and a stroke there to bring out her
beauty as it really is.

_Ku K'ai-Chih_ (Chinese, fourth century).

CLXVI

Portraiture may be great art. There is a sense, indeed, in which it is
perhaps the greatest art of any. And portraiture involves expression.
Quite true, but expression of what? Of a passion, an emotion, a mood?
Certainly not. Paint a man or a woman with the damned "pleasing
expression," or even the "charmingly spontaneous" so dear to the
"photographic artist," and you see at once that the thing is a mask, as
silly as the old tragic and comic mask. The only expression allowable in
great portraiture is the expression of character and moral quality, not
of anything temporary, fleeting, and accidental. Apart from portraiture
you don't wa