228 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS lowed by the holy Confessors ; here Titian displayed much boldness, a fine man- ner, and improving facility. I remember that Fra Bastiano del Piombo, speaking 1 on this subject, told me that if Titian had then gone to Rome, and seen the works of Michael Angelo, with those of Raphael and the ancients, he was con- vinced, the admirable facility of his coloring considered, that he would have pro- duced works of the most astonishing perfection ; seeing that, as he well deserved to be called the most perfect imitator of Nature of our times, as regards coloring, he might thus have rendered himself equal to the Urbinese or Buonarroto, as re- garded the great foundation of all, design. At a later period Titian repaired to Vicenza, where he painted " The Judgment of Solomon," on the Loggetta where- in the courts of justice are held ; a very beautiful work. Returning to Venice, he then depicted the facade of the Germain ; at Padua he painted certain frescos in the Church of Sant' Antonio, the subjects taken from the life- of that saint; and in the Church of Santo Spirito he executed a small picture of San Marco seated in the midst of other saints, whose faces are portraits painted in oil with the utmost care ; this picture has been taken for a work of Giorgione. Now, the death of Giovan Bellino had caused a story in the hall of the Great Council to remain unfinished ; it was that which represents Federigo Bar- barossa kneeling before Pope Alessandro III., who plants his foot on the emper- or's neck. This was now finished by Titian, who altered many parts of it, introduc- ing portraits of his friends and others. For this he received from the senate an office in the Exchange of the Germans called the Senseria, which brought him in three hundred crowns yearly, and which those Signori usually give to the most eminent painter of their city, on condition that from time to time he shall take the portrait of their doge, or prince when such shall be created, at the price of eight crowns, which the doge himself pays, the portrait being then preserved in the Palace of San Marco, as a memorial of that doge. After the completion of these works, our artist painted, for the Church of San Rocco, a figure of Christ bearing his cross ; the Saviour has a rope round his neck, and is dragged forward by a Jew ; many have thought this a work of Giorgione. It has become an object of the utmost devotion in Venice, and has received more crowns as offerings than have been earned by Titian and Giorgione both, through the whole course of their lives. Now, Titian had taken the portrait of Bembo, then secretary to Pope Leo X., and was by him invited to Rome, that he might see the city, with Raffaello da Urbino and other distin- guished persons; but the artist having delayed his journey until 1520, when the pope and Raffaello were both dead, put it off for that time altogether. For the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore he painted a picture of" St. John the Baptist in the wilderness ; " there is an angel beside him that appears to be living ; and a distant landscape, with trees on the bank of a river, which are very graceful. He took portraits of the Prince Grimani and Loredano, which were considered ad- mirable ; and not long afterward he painted the portrait of King Francis, who was then leaving Italy to return to France. In 1530, when the Emperor Charles V. was in Bologna, Titian, by the inter-
