The San Francisco call., 1899-10-17

at Ausburg, where he painted one OF
his most consummate masterpieces, the
equestrian portrait Of Charles V at the
Battle of Muhlberg" (Madrid). Titan
had now for several years reached the
summit of his ambitions He was the
favorite of Popes and Emperors and
feared no rival. Yet he never ceased
from nagging for money and from send
ing unordered pictures in hopes of being
well paid. After the death of Charles V
Titan was high in favor with Philip II
whom he had more than once painted
while he was yet Prince. Perhaps It was
the influence of Spanish fanatfcfsm grad
ually creeping over him, perhaps II was
the advance of old age; but whatever the
reason may be. we see Titan gradually
returning to religious scenes and treating
them with less triviality and less brutal
ity. At the same time he does not so
often treat nude figures and NEUROLOGICAL
scenes AretinO was dead; neo-Cathol-
icism was supreme. The Christ Crowned
With Thorns' (Munich) and the "Pieta"
(Venice, Belle ArtD, on which the master
was engaged at the time of his death,
are good examples of this kind of pseudo
religious hysteria that formed quite
lengthy prelude to his death in 1876, dur
ing the great plague.
The significance of Titian's art lies not
in drawing or composition, but in coloring
His drawing was indifferent. though Mi
chelangelo regarded it as defective. His
ability to compose, at first decidedly sec
ond rate, became excellent, but his large
compositions never were his most charac-
teristic pieces-as compositions. Neither
is Titan suggestive and inspiring in the
theme or the inner life of his pictures as
are so many other great Italian artists
The delight he does give us-often but not
always-is almost purely through the coll
or sense; in the landscape, the atmo-
sphere the combinations and gradations
Of tone, the play of light, the inwardness
Of color. He shows extreme reticence for
a Venetian in producing his color effects.
not forcing the note, not making a naunt-
ing display OF technical mastery, nor seek
ing vivid contrasts. He is sober and har-
mOnious, tending more and more as he ad-
Vances in years toward a single color
note, flooding the surface with light and
obltteratnG outlines. This makes him at
last quite an impressiOnist, so that to ap-
preciate many of his late pictures II is
necessary to obtain the right distance and
focus before the proper effect of color and
form can be understood. AT close quar-
ters they seem blurred and careless
But beyond the wonderful coloring
which so often gives just the intoxfcatio5
Of Venetian evening there was undoubt-
edly a vivid power of characterjzatfon in
Titian's art, whether his portraits have
the clear outlines of fhe Young Man
With the Glove, or are impressonistic
ike the AnliqudFy STdda.' il the mas
ter's art is perpleXing in it's variety of
stages, it is due to his long life and the
changes in contemporary art; If il is un-
even in its quality it is because his laxitv
was not proof against the temptation Of
pot boilers-and for this his age was more
TO blame than he was. Certainly the fact
that his nature was impressiona bic has
made him radiant reflection of the sen
suous life of the late Venetian renaissance
to a degree that would have been impossi
BILE to a more self-posed or solitary
genius.
Copyright, 1899, by Seymour Eaton.)
Note.-A study of Correggio by Frank
Fowler of New York will be presented
npNf vNepk