perspective are unexceptionable. He is said to have
finished a great number of pictures; but his genuine works are somewhat
rare and valuable--many of those which are called originals being copies
either by the sons of Bassano or by others. Bassano's style varied
considerably during his lifetime. He naturally was at first a copier of his
father, but his productions in this style are not of great value. He was
then strongly attracted by the lightness and beautiful colouring of Titian,
and finally adopted the style which is recognized as his own. Although he
painted few great pictures, and preferred humble subjects, yet his
altar-piece of the Nativity at Bassano is estimated highly by the best
judges, and in Lanzi's opinion is the finest work of its class.
BASSANO, a city of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Vicenza, 24 m. N.E.
of Vicenza and 30 m. N. of Padua by rail, at the foot of the Venetian Alps.
Pop. (1901) town, 7553; commune, 15,097. It is well situated upon the
Brenta, which is here spanned by a covered wooden bridge, and commands fine
views. The castle, erected by the Ezzelini in the 13th century, lies in the
upper portion of the town, above the river; a tower, erected by a member of
the same family, is a conspicuous feature. The museum and cathedral and
some of the other churches contain pictures by the da Ponte family (16th
and early 17th century), surnamed Bassano from their birth-place; Jacopo is
the most eminent of them. The museum also contains drawings and letters of
the sculptor Antonio Canova. The church of S. Francesco, begun in the 12th
century in the Lombard Romanesque style, was continued in the 13th in the
Gothic style. Some of the houses have traces of paintings on their facades.
In the 11th century Eccelin, a German, obtained fiefs in this district from
Conrad II. and founded the family of the Ezzelini, who were prominent in
the history of North Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries. Bassano
apparently came into existence about A.D. 1000. Its possession was disputed
between Padua and Vicenza; it passed for a moment under the power of Gian
Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, who fortified it. At the beginning of the 15th
century it went over to Venice; its industries flourished under Venetian
government, especially its printing-press and manufacture of majolica, the
latter of which still continues. On the 8th of September 1796 an action was
fought here between the French and the Austrians, in which the Fre
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