Reynolds in Venice Author(s): David Mannings Reviewed work(s): Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 148, No.

1244, Art in Venice and the Veneto (Nov., 2006), pp. 754-763 Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20074610 . Accessed: 15/02/2013 11:56
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Burlington Magazine.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Reynolds
by DAVID

in Venice
Aberdeen University of

MANNINGS,

years in Italy, mosdy spent in Rome, Joshua on in arrived Venice 24th July 1752. He stayed in Reynolds the city only threeweeks, departing on 16thAugust and arriv two on 16th October.1 Sixty years later his in of the shortness Northcote reflected that, spite pupil James seems most of his stay in the city, 'it is that school which ing back in London to have

after

powerfully

owned pictures by of his importance as a collector. Reynolds almost all the great Venetians from Giovanni Bellini to such contemporaries as Canaletto and Zuccarelli. He owned about thirty pictures attributed to Titian,3 almost as many labelled 'Veronese' and half a dozen Tintorettos.4 We should also consider theVenetian element in his own painting, especially

influenced the professional conduct of A full account of his response toVenetian life'.2 [Reynolds's] art would have to include an assessment of his considered and years later in the Discourses, opinions as expounded

the subdy shadowed portraiture of the 1750s and 1760s. The limited: to object of the present article is however more retrace as far as possible the artist's footsteps during those three weeks with his sketchbook, so to speak, in hand; to see what make

he saw and to consider why certain works inspired him to ? to us at least as particular comments while others - are over to in In silence. short, impressive apparendy passed reconstruct to the creative he and try enjoyed experience in the long run, had such a profound effect on the which, development of British painting down century, ifnot beyond. did not arrive in Venice Reynolds to themid-nineteenth

unprepared. Like all serious travellers he relied upon guidebooks, not just to select places to visit but to direct his studies. A note in another Italian sketchbook reads: 'at Perugia bye a book of the Pictures', and, although we have no way of knowing which book

between two thieves, 24- Drawing afterPalma Giovane's Christ crucified by Joshua 1752. Black chalk, 20 by 15.5 cm. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fol.27r, Reynolds. British Museum, London).

it can be deduced that he had which edition of Boschini, access to both Le minere della pittura of 16645 and to the 1733 and edition, revised by Anton Maria Zanetti the Younger to to include references early eighteenth-century updated

this was, there are references in his Venetian sketchbook to Carlo Ridolfi's Le Maraviglie delVarte, published in 1648, does not specify and toMarco Boschini. Although Reynolds

artists.6These were easily have

are likely particular pictures or details within compositions to have attracted the attention of any reasonably observant visitor. In the Madonna dell'Orto Reynolds specifically noted

could all small volumes which Reynolds as into around the his he moved pocket slipped to attention his works would have drawn city. They specific in churches filled with pictures. In some cases, of course,

of PrinCs and Drawings, British Museum, London, LB 13, fol.73v Departmenc (hereafter ciced as LB 13). A complece Cranscription of che noces was published by L. . . . in the British Museum, London 1902, Binyon: Catalogue of Drawings byBritishArtists .This is III, pp.206-21 excremely useful; however, che transcriptions in che presenc kalian period, see J. Ingamells: stady are my own. For a summary of Reynolds's

Antony Griffiths and Tom Nichols for help with illustrations, and to John Gash and Lois Oliver for answering queries. My research on this topic has been supported by granes from eheCarnegie Trusc for cheUniversities of Scotland and cheUniversity of Aberdeen and two travel awards from the British Academy. 1 Reynolds jotted che daces in one of Che Cwo Iealian skecchbooks, now in che

This is an expanded version of a Calkgiven aC eheReynolds Stady Day aCTaCe Britain on 9th September 2005.1 am grateful to Peter Humfrey for his advice on the text, to

Arbor

Wallace Collection, London, noe the original in Europa (ehe small copy now in ehe of che Isabella Scewart Gardner Museum, BosCon). The definitive stady ofReynolds's collection of paintings is F. Broun: 'Sir Joshua Reynolds' Collection of Paintings', unpublished Ph.D. diss., (PrinceCon University 1987), University Microfilms, Ann

A Didionary ofBritish and Irish Travellers in Italy 1701-1800, New Haven and London 1997? pp.808-10. 2 Northcoce: Memoirs ofSirJoshua Reynolds, London 1815, p.xvi. J. Supplement to the 3 ofArt) and The rape Including Titian's so-called Niccolo Orsini (Baltimore Museum 754 NOVEMBER 200? CXLVIII THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

Drawings, British Museum, London (176.a. 13, p.49). 6 copy of Zanetti: Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture della dtta Reynolds's was loc 1987 in ehe sale of his books overseen by Phillips di Venezia e Isole circonvicine, Son & Neale, London, i8ch day, 26chMarch 1798; his copy of Ridolfi was loc 1977

GaCeshead Art Gallery, or the one inToronto; see Broun, op. cit. (note 3), II, p.314. 5 C. Ridolfi: Le 1648; M. Boschini: Le Minere della Maraviglie dell'Arte, Venice 1664. The Perugia note occurs in the so-called Copland-Griffiths pittura, Venice sketchbook, of which a photographic copy is kept in theDepartmene of Prints and

'Editorial: Sir Joshua Reynolds' collection 1987; see also [E.K. Wacerhouse]: magazine 86 (1945), pp.133-34; II: ibid. 87 (1945), of piceures, I', the burlington pp. 211-17; III: ibid. 87 (1945), pp.263-73. 4 Including Tincoretto's Christ washing thedisciples'feet, eieher che version on loan Co

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

a basso Santa Giustina, translation of'?Z Salvatore in aria [...]& e San Francesco di Paola, del Tintoretto'.8 In S. Trovaso, 'St Anthony noted Tintoretto's tempted by the Reynolds which echoes Pddolfi's Devil & some handsom women', description Sometimes of the picture with its 'donne gentili & ornate'.9 note provides a clue, the wording of Reynolds's in the church of S. Angelo (since demolished) he the Piet?

as when, wrote that

it foot of the cross (Fig.24). Nevertheless may not be entirely this that Ridolfi had coincidental specifically mentioned its hands aggroppate, expressive of grief.11 In figure with the sacristy at S. Francesco della Vigna, he commented on the

over the guide aesthetic response surely took precedence sketch book, as when in S. Giustina he made a whole-page with of Palma Giovane's Christ crucified between two thieves, at the the remarkable figure of the Magdalene lamenting

(now in the Accademia, Venice) 'was begun by Titian and finished by Palma. The statues are . . . ',which is almost an exact translation entirely of Titian In some cases Reynolds's of the description in Boschini.IO

damaged condition more than a century earlier.12 Occasion ally he quotes differing opinions on points of attribution. In S. Nicol? ai Frari he noted a Last Supper, 'By Benedetto Caliari according to Boschini. Ridolfi says tis Paolo'.13 artist who

deterioration of a mural by Veronese. This is unusual, for in the course of his rapid survey of the treasures of Venice, he rarely paused to note the physical state of pictures, but in this case he was again echoing Ridolfi, who had noted its

26. Drawings afterTintoretto's Baptism ofChrist and Giuseppe Salviati's Deposition, 1752. Black chalk, annocaCed in ink, each folio 20 by 15.5 cm. by Joshua Reynolds. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fols.39V and 40r, British Museum, London).

Ridolfi's when

the clouds in Tintoretto's Adoration of the golden calf and feature in the river in the Last Judgment, both of which descriptions, but perhaps coincidentally.7 However, del Gigho he seems not to have he visited S. Maria on notes the any spot, but inwhat looks very much like

it isworth remembering isTintoretto. However, that this painter's reputation had long been under attack by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers in both Italy and interest in him shows his inde France, and young Reynolds's taste.14 Certainly two of the most pendence from 'official' powerful drawings in the sketchbook are afterTintoretto's set sketchbook in the Biblioteca Marciana.15 Although of five philosophers they are not annotated, no two pages tell us more about the

Itwill not surprise themodern visitor to the city that the Venetian appears most frequendy in Reynolds's

He

made a note written

the up later in ink, he jotted phonetically 'St Maria Giubenicco' traditional name, and, (Zobenigo), reminding himself of what he had seen by checking in 'Christ in the air; below, St Giustina and Boschini, wrote: Francesco di Paolo [sic] Tintoret'. This is almost a straight

of the page, leaving awhite border. Nor ishe concerned with awareness of the anatomy of a figure inmove Tintoretto's ment. Instead he concentrates analytically on the system of

nature and purpose ofReynolds's sketchbook studies (Fig.25). shell-niches behind the does not draw the decorative a creates but of pool deep shadow in themiddle philosophers,

light and shadow.16 A comparable figure caught his eye in the 'Around the Altar under church of theMadonna dell'Orto.

Cochin: he noces frescos by Pordenone, 'much decayed' (LB13, fol.43r). C.-N. Le Voyage d'Italie de Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1758), ed. C. Michel, Rome 1991, III, p.35, describes chem as 'presque touteseffac?es'. 3 LB13, fol.54v. Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), I, p.332, aecribuces che pictare Co Paolo Veronese and assiscancs. The church was demolished in 1806. **This was scressed KiCson inM. Kicson: Zwei Jahrhunderte Englische by Michael

in ehe same sale (Luge 5722). 7 LB13, fol.?iv; see Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 5), ed. D.F. von Hadeln, Berlin 1914-24, II, pp.20-21; all further references are Co chis edition. 8 Boschini, op. cit. (noce 5), p. 107. y Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), II, p.39. 10 Boschini: op. cit (noCe 5), p. 120: 'questo fit principiato da Tiziano, efomito dal Palma: li chiari oscurisono tutti di Tiziano . . . '. 11 Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), II, p. 187. S. Giustina was converted inco a school c.1840; ehe picture is lose. 12 LB13, fol.53v; see Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), I, p.325. In che cloiscer of S. Scefano

Malerei: BritischeKunst und Europa

1680 bis 1880, Munich 1979, quoeed in G. Perini: 'Sir Joshua Reynolds and Italian Art and Art Liceratare,' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 51 (1988), pp. 141-68, esp. p. 144. Perini's useful article ranges widely over Reynolds's kalian period buc couches only briefly on his time inVenice. 15 LB13, fols.3 iv and 32V.Originally cherewere eighceen; see Boschini, op. cit. (noce lises che artistewho painced chem as TinCoretto, Piecro Vecchia, 5), p. 89, who are and BaCtisCa Franco. The two sketched by Reynolds Schiavone, Veronese

ehe Library in 1750 is confirmed by Cochin, op. cit. (noee 12), III, p.29, and they were presumably still cherewhen Reynolds skecched ehem. 16 own description in his commenCary This corresponds quice closely Co Reynolds's on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, in J. Reynolds: Works, ed. E. Malone, 2nd ed., London 1798, III, pp.147?48, of his cechnique, when in Venice, of skeCching any 'extraordinary effecCof lighc and shade' in a pictare. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLVIII NOVEMBER 200? 755

attributed to Tintoretto by P. De Vecchi: L'opera completa del Tintoretto, Milan 1970, no. 189, noting that theywere transferred Co ehe Doge's Palace in ehe eighceeneh cheir presence in centary and noc retained Co ehe Library until 1929. However,

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

'Religion', or more properly, Faith, is placed in the centre of the upper range of the apse and is the only one of theVirtues It is not which is generally agreed not to be by Tintoretto. even to but with electric see, easy Reynolds was lighting,

theCupoly [sic]', he wrote, 'are 5 figures representing vertues; some of them very fine, particularly religion'.17 The figure of

[Outline] Scumbled and Lost'.18 In the same church he made a full-page sketch of Tintoretto's St Agnes raising Licinius in the Contarini Chapel, carefully framing itwith its arched top within the area of the page, leaving a border at the sides and

impressed. He made a fluent sketch and noted that 'this is a light figure; all the linnen inmezzo Tint; the upper part of the Picture and on this side [i.e. right] the Ground Lighter.

lower edge. He covered most of the facing page with notes, its analysing Tintoretto's picture-making technique with balance of light and dark colours contrasting with patches of white, and the way that small areas of light can be used to break up larger masses of shadow.19 Reynolds's choice is interesting. The picture is of marvellous quality, which he evidently recognised, and yet it isnot one of Tintoretto's most in Cochin fils, in Venice spectacular works. Charles-Nicolas 1750, often censured the artist forwhat we would nowadays see as his 'Mannerist'

27- The removal of the body ofStMark, by Andrea Zucchi Museum, London). Engraving, 41 by 52 cm. (British

afterTincoretto.

1720?

With

tendencies; nevertheless he thought this well picture composed, giving it rather lukewarm praise in the was one of only two course of a brief notice. And although it commissioners pictures by Tintoretto selected by Napoleon's to to to in 1797 be removed Paris be displayed in the Louvre aswar booty, this may reflect its relatively 'classical' composi tion; its 'Mannerist' features, unappealing century official taste, being less obtrusive By contrast, Reynolds's in the Scuola di S. Rocco to late eighteenth than usual.20

a Glass Eye one sees no colours scarce'.22 Reynolds does not comment on the poses of the figures, but the woman he describes as receiving the 'principal light' is in to the left, her right hand placed across her breast, profile fingers slightly spread in a way reminiscent of a number of

later female portraits. Reynolds's Tintoretto's Adoration of the shepherds in the Scuola di tomake not only a careful study S. Rocco inspired Reynolds

Last Supper is a purely dark heads of the the study, apostles silhouet compositional ted against the patch of light in the middle of the page and the surrounding rough strokes of the chalk extending the area of shadow to the four sides of the page with no border. Another similar sketch from the same series, this time of the sketch of Tintoretto's is not annotated.21 This Baptism ofChrist, is reduced so far as to occupy only the top leftquarter of an otherwise blank page (Fig. 26). It is not clear did this, but it may be connected with his use why Reynolds of a diminishing glass to view large pictures. In the adjacent and probably on the same day, he made church of S. Rocco, notes on

black, white Handkerchief; he [a shepherd] before her in red; light catches on his left of [sic] leg, left shoulder & tips of his fingers'.23 Such jottings, unsteadily written with frequent blots and crossings out, must have been made in situ; later, back

of the pattern of light and shade in the lower half of the composition but also notes on light and colour: 'Woman in

an unlikely error if he mistakenly wrote 'School of StMark', written on the spot. Occasionally the stance of a particular to lift itfrom a composition and copy figure inspiredReynolds it as an isolated motif, aswhen he made an almost portrait-like study of the armoured soldier who flanks the recumbent Christ in Tintoretto's Ecce Homo, also in the Scuola di S. Rocco this issue, Fig.40).24 the pictures Among

in his lodgings, Reynolds checked the pages he had used and noted the location, and sometimes the name of the artist, at the foot of the page in question. Frequently thiswas done quickly; the pages shut before the ink was dry. In this case

Principal light.Another wo [man's] head over hers, the figure lying at one end light, other little light, & strong reflections.

(but did not sketch) Tintoretto's Pool of Bethesda, again attending only to the broad scheme of the composition: 'Between the Christ and the figure he looks at [is] a mass receive the of Shadow. Part of that figure and a woman

(see

detailed most

to the most that spurred Reynolds and analytic descriptions were two of Tintoretto's famous works, which at that time hung in the Scuola

tions Ravenna 1983, p.64; F. Haskell: Patrons and from the 16th to the 20th century, Painters: a Study in the Relations between Italian Art and Society in the Baroque, Age of the rev. ed., New York, EvansCon, San Francisco and London 1971, p.313. 19LB 13, fols.66v and 67r. The altarpiece is described by Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), II, p.21. 20 Cochin, 756 op. cit. (noce 12), III, p.no; CXLVIII C. Gould: Trophy of Conquest: the Mus?e

17 LBi3, fol.6ov (punctaacion added). 18 Ibid., fol.65v. Reynolds was noC alone in chisperiod in admiring chese figures; Cwo Marshal of chem, Temperance and Fortitude,were copied by Gian Anconio Guardi for Schulenburg; see A.L. Lepschy: TintorettoObserved: a documentarysurveyof criticalreac

Creation of the Louvre, London 1965^.57. Napol?on and the 21 LB13, fol.4ov.; repr. in Perini, op. cit. (noCe 14), pl.ioc. 22 Ibid., fol.59r. Diminishing glasses are still available from specialise suppliers of optical inscrumente. The accor Alec Guinness had one: 'lewas a small, gold-rimmed, eleganc eighceench-centary glass which, when held a few inches infrone of ehe eye, produced a brillianc miniatare pictare'; see A. Guinness: Blessings in Disguise, London 1986, p.163. 23 LB13, fol.45r (punctaation added) 2* Ibid., fol.47r. 25 Ibid., fol. 69V, StMark liberatingtheslave; ibid., fol.69r, Removal of the body.

NOVEMBER 200?

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

Grande

cut, although preserved in Andrea Zucchi's Mezzo Tint mass, 'This light body issues out of a print (Fig.27). which masses with the ground at the bottom, which is dark; the ground to upper part of the figure is light'. This is formal analysis of a kind, but it concludes on a purely technical note: 'In painting Architecture, &c. it blue, when you would have after having dead-coloured it shine, scumble white and

figures, including the camel in the Removal of the body, to emerge into the light.One figure in particular interests him in that painting: 'The body of the figure recovering himself [is] fine', he wrote. This must refer to the frightened Alexandrine at the left, a figure praised by Ridolfi but since excised when the canvas was

di S. Marco: The removal of the body of St Mark and In St Mark the slave (both now in the Accademia). liberating both cases itwas the pattern of light and dark that intrigued him, and the way that Tintoretto exploits the tone of the ground, fusing itwith the masses of shadow and allowing

splendid sights inVenice, the ai Frari. On the high altar small oratory of S. Nicol? he noted Titian's great altarpiece, theMadonna with six saints, now, minus its arched top, in theVatican Picture Gallery. 'The and he above', wrote Reynolds, Virgin with Angels to saints the listed five of the unable sixth,whose identify head is turned away. His description is interesting, as he says that the picture is so dark that you can see nothing but the body of St Sebastian, 'and he looks as ifhe had lost his head, 'tis so dark'. For this he offers a rather sophisticated art 'No doubt itwas painted a litde so at historical explanation:

detailed notes on one of themost

first to preserve themass of his body of a beautiful shape'. By 'a beautiful shape' Reynolds probably meant a classical shape, Renaissance artists sometimes cast the that way remembering headless

much oil'. Similarly the StMark liberatingthe slave is subjected to a thorough formal and technical analysis, and he ends to decide how Tintoretto achieves his effects by by trying the ground and scumbling either white or darker exposing scumbled, and the ground left here & there for the partitions between stone, bricks, Sec. Flesh, thewhole laid in soft and broad in the colour, and then the shadows added by scumbling'.25 These are private jottings, not intended for anyone else. He was questioning, probing, searching for the secrets of the dead shadows: 'Sometimes on a dark dead colour white

this classicising observation is his next remark that StNicholas 'is said to be from the head of Laocoon [sic]', a. reference to he follows Zanetti, whose quite closely.28 In description of Titian's the darkening pictures, which so alarmed general and Pierre eighteenth-century French visitors like Cochin seem not to does have worried Jean Grosley,29 Reynolds, who saw as an it aspect of the sublimity of Titian's style.On perhaps

the heads of their nude figures in shadow thereby imitating the effect of so many antique torsos.27 Consistent with

masters, beyond the sort of description he was familiar with from Boschini, Ridolfi or any of the other printed accounts. Years

to them when inVenice than he did to thework of any other artist. In her study of Tintoretto's reputation, Laura Lepschy comments dryly on 'travellers who left their prejudices behind when they crossed the lagoon [. . .but] picked them up again more compli on returning to terra case is firma' ,26 Reynolds's cated. His agenda as a young artist exploring, sketching, ? which jotting spontaneous notes was very differentfrom that he addressed as President of the Royal Academy, drawing upon years of careful reading and reflection, when
concern was to assess the relative value of particular pictures

Italian later he presented polished analyses of many in celebrated his public lectures, the Discourses, but it pictures none is revealing that of Tintoretto's pictures is the subject of an analysis, in spite of the fact that Reynolds paid more attention

unusually long list of pictures.31 In the nave he noted Christ beforePilate by Benedetto Caliari and Christ on theCross by But it seems that, Veronese (both now in the Accademia). even before Reynolds's visit, the extraordinary display of and writers such as Ridolfi described earlier pictures by Boschini was beginning to be dispersed.32 Titian's altarpiece was removed in 1770 toRome, and the final dispersals took

painted'. This is followed by an enthusiastic description of the Pesaro Madonna, also 'very dark', but with 'many portraits [in] most profile incomparably well painted, without shadow'.30 In the presbytery of S. Nicol? ai Frari, he jotted an

the high altar of the Frari, he studied the great Assumption of the Virgin. 'Most terribly dark', he wrote, 'I saw itnear[;] tis nobly

after the suppression of 1806 when the church place was demolished; what remained of the convent was later incorporated into the Archivio di Stato.33 described pictures, for instance Occasionally Reynolds two Sybils 'by Paolo' ai Frari, which [Veronese], in S. Nicol? trace. And near the church of have disappeared without a S. Tro vaso he saw the Casa Toffetti (or Casa Marcello

his primary

interiors that greeted the art-conscious visitor in the century have long since disappeared, even if mid-eighteenth saw and made the individual pictures survive. Reynolds decorated

for the student and to locate them in art-historical terms. churches, some of the most remarkable Among Venetian

S. Tro vaso), 'painted in fresco by Tintoret, with freezes [sic] of boys and naked figures, admirably drawn and colourd. in a Below, Aurora and [a] Titan; on the other side, Cibelle Car'. He notes that 'this is estemed the best fresco inVenice [though] much decayed'.34 In S. Geminiano he saw 'AnAngel

says chac, 'aChigh noon, in a very brighc day, and wich chemosC favourable light,' he was so blackened by candle smoke; see could hardly make anything of the design, it PJ. Grosley: Nouveaux M?moires ou observations sur l'Italie et sur les italiens,London 1764; the quote is from the English translation, as New observations on Italy and its

Lepschy, op. cit. (noce 18), p.57. 27 In view of Reynolds's warm response Co chis image ic is surely noc che Se Sebastian ? by Titian described so unsympachecically inDiscourse XI, as posiced by P. Rogers ? in his nevertheless very useful following ehe earlier suggestion by Louis Dimier noces; see P. Rogers: Reynolds's Discourses, Harmondsworth 1992, p.396. 28 Zanecti, op. cit. (noce 6), p.307. 29 noirci'.Grosley Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, p.68, describes chispictare as 'tellement

26

Inhabitants, London 1769, I, p.281. 3? LB13, fol. 55V. 31 For che dispersal and presenc locations of these pictares, see A. Zorzi: Venezia and J. Schulz: 'Veronese's Ceiling aC San 1977, II, pp.377?79; Scomparsa, Milan magazine noces 4 and 5. ai Frari', the Burlington Nicol? 103 (1961)^.241, 32 Schulz, op.cit., (noce 31), p.41, noce 5. 33 Ibid., p.41: Zorzi, op. cit. (noce 31), II, p.377; G. LorenzeCCi: Venezia e il suo

estuario, ed. N. Vianello, TriesCe 1963, p.577. 34 LB13, fol.47v; che lase two words are crammed into the bottom corner of the page. For Tintoretto's lost decoration, seeR. Pallucchini and P. Rossi: Tintoretto: Le opera sacre eprofane, Milan 1982,1, p.261. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLVIII NOVEMBER 200? 757

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

29- Drawing after a female satyrby Veronese in S. Sebastiano, Venice, by Joshua 1752. Black chalk, annotated in ink, 20 by 15.5 cm. (Venetian Sketch Reynolds. book, fol.34r, British Museum, London).

28. An angel foretelling St Catherine of hermartyrdom,by Andrea Zucchi afterTin Coretto. 1720? Engraving, 50 by x 33.5 cm. (BritishMuseum, London).

admiring in foretelling to Sta Catterine of her martyrdom', men in of old the the group background, which he particular a in large manner, tho' very small thought 'sweedy Painted figures' (Fig.28).3* At the risk of over-interpreting Reynolds's jottings, we may detect here, and in similar comments, an early intimation of his later concern with what he would come to call the Great Style. (Incidentally, Boschini records this as the first picture on the left as you enter the church, a

taken up onto the balcony. One reason why he did not sketch themajor pictures in the church may be that he knew prints of and he noted these. That he many of them could be had a to make sketch of the satyr attests to his lively visual paused

Solomonic columns (Fig.29). This is situated on the upper wall of the nave between the clerestory windows and is difficult to see from the floor of the church - presumably Reynolds was

strikes anyone looking through the Italian curiosity, which itmay be significant that Boschirii's sketchbooks. However, entry for S. Sebastiano, which Reynolds surely read, begins with a paragraph about Veronese and the fact that he is buried there, his epitaph, and then, before describing the famous refers ceiling, specifically to the 'columns, statues and architec tural ornaments' with which Veronese frescoed thewalls.36 on the island of Burano,37 In the church of S. Mauro

quoting

point towhich we shall return.) The church of S. Sebastiano has always been revered by admirers of Veronese, of whom Reynolds was certainly one. When he visited ithe wrote notes on many of the pictures but he made only one sketch, of a grotesque female satyr,part of a grisaille frieze of prophets and sybils set between painted

saw, on the high altar, Veronese's Martyrdom of Reynolds a S. Mauro, picture described by Boschini as gready admired and 'copiosa di figure'J8 The church was suppressed in 1806 and has totally disappeared. On another island close to Torcello,

35 LBi3, fol.6or. The pictare disappeared after 1818 bue was idencified in 1959 by seeR. Pallucchini: L'opera completadel Pallucchini in a privaCe collection inChicago; Milan 1970, no. 126. Tintoretto, 36Boschini, op. cit. (noce 5), p.333. 37 le is remarkable chac Reynolds managed, in che short cime he was inVenice, Co 75^ NOVEMBER 2006 CXLVIII THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

visie ehe islands ofMurano, Burano and Torcello. 38 Boschini, op. cit. (noce 5), quoCedby Zorzi, op. cit. (noce 31), II, p.432. Zorzi traced Veronese's painting Co 1853, bue iehas noc, Co my knowledge, been locaced since. 39 R. Marini: L'opera completa del Veronese,Milan 1968, no. 133. Only che central figure is actaally 'sitting'.

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

1752. Black 30. Drawing afterGiuseppe Salviati's Deposition, by Joshua Reynolds. chalk, annotaced in ink, 20 by 15.5 cm. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fol.39r, British Museum, London).

visited S. Antonio Abate, a convent of Benedictine Reynolds nuns also suppressed in 1806, and saw on the high altar 'three Sts Anthony Abbot, saints sitting'. This picture, Veronese's 'The right Cornelius and Cyprian, is now in the Brera, Milan.39

31. Deposition, by Giuseppe Murano).

Salviati. Early 1550s. Canvas.

(S. Pieero Martire,

side of the church, looking toward the high altar', wrote 'is all painted by Paolo'.40 Reynolds, comments on particular pictures by the great Reynolds's us of what sixteenth-century Venetians frequently remind we see as 'Venetian' In elements in his own painting. S. Giovanni

the three great Venetians Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese the artistwho features most often inReynolds's After Giuseppe great altarpiece of the Deposition ofChrist (Fig. 31) is still in the church of S. Pietro now on the north wall, it Martire on the island ofMurano; saw it.43 was on the high altar when Reynolds He jotted an enthusiastic note, observing that the figure of Christ was sim Salviati, who settled in Venice. His He ilar to one he had seen in Florence, he thought in S. Croce.44 also made two sketches, one of a holy woman attending to the fainting Virgin (Fig. 30), and on the next page he drew Venetian sketchbook is the Roman-trained

Elemosinario he admired Titian's altarpiece rep saint the [rochet] resenting giving alms. 'The white Rocket shadows dark tomass with the ground, the short cloak being dark, the upper part of the rocket is likewise so, to mass with it. The left arm in shadow'.41 In S. Polo he notes that, Meeting of Joachim and Anne, 'the lower part of a and many similar little fight'.42 These, St Joseph catches comments, anticipate the distinctive fighting effects that we associate with Reynolds's portraiture made soon after his inVeronese's return to England from Italy.

stands at the right the figure of the soldier in armour who is careful of the composition (Fig.26). In both cases Reynolds to establish the pattern of fight and shade, indicating, for

40 41

Ibid., fol.46r. Titian's pictare is, of course, still in Che church. 42 Ibid., fol.45v. Reynolds, following Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), I, p.325, calls ic 'ehe Marriage of eheVirgin'. 43 Seen chere and praised by Boschini, op. at. (noce 5), p.528,buc omitted by Cochin,

LBi3,fol.44r.

who

Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy & Lorrain, 2nd ed., London 44 LB13, fol.44r. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLVIII

and also noCed by Reynolds describes inscead Che two pictures by Veronese two by Litterini; see Cochin, op. cit. (note 12), III, pp. 126-27. Keysler also saw itover the high altar; he calls it 'a celebrated piece'; see J.G. Keysler: Travels through Germany, 1757, III, p.302.

NOVEMBER 200?

759

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

obscurity of thismiracle of the Virgin did not studies of such details as Reynolds,50 who made a a motif 'of [which] I have seen a clutching dog, on horseback wearing in England', and a woman The

concern the boy drawing a 'white

apron, a light red petticoat, sleeves [of] white satin striped with green; [her] shoe striped' (Fig.25).51 This note on her striped shoe, a tiny pinpoint in such a large, multi-figured

attests to Reynolds's composition, sharp eye for the kind a standard part of of costume detail that was to become his repertory as a society portrait painter. II Padovanino

highly.52 Like

in the eighteenth century (1588-1648) was better known than he is today: Cochin describes five pictures by him in S. Maria Maggiore, praising this composition particularly

32.Miracle of a woman giving birthon thesea shore,by II Padovanino. 490 by 636 cm. (Madonna Addolorata, San Giorgio di Nogaro).

1628. Canvas,

comment, for although we would be more inclined nowadays to notice theMannerist elements in Salviati's style,49 itwas above all his debt to Titian particularly in his use of rich ? colour and cleverly shadowed that attracted figures attention. We should bear in mind that the Reynolds's Deposition would have been more colourful when Reynolds saw it, closer to the Purification, which, as we has evidendy been cleaned. conservative The more side of Reynolds's very evident whelming in the Venetian sketchbook, emphasis on sixteenth-century see it today,

pictures by Salviati in S. Polo,45 in S. Zacear?a,46 in S. Maria della Salute47 and in the Frari, where he admired the altarpiece of the Purification of the Virgin, which he thought 'as fine as Titian or Paolo tis in their stile'.48 This is a significant

example, right forearm and right leg of the soldier and the sequence of light and dark areas on the ? face in shadow, fight torso, slumped figure of the Virgin shadowed thighs, fight knees, and so on. Reynolds also noted

the shadowed

composed and the particularitys [sic] are nobly a painted [in] large, broad manner. There are heads in this Picture equal to any masters whatsoever'.53 It is pleasant, son from and instructive, to think of this schoolmaster's sort Devonshire of image that other totally unfazed by the British visitors such as theRevd Francis Drake, a Yorkshire ? so vicar who was in Venice in 1750 often dismissed as popish trumpery.54 In S. Maria della Salute he paused to make a small sketch of a baby from Luca Giordano's Assumption whole iswell Prochno has pointed out, of the Virgin (Fig.3 3). As Renate the almost verbatim into his Ino and pose Reynolds copied at in 1771.55 More exhibited the Bacchus, Royal Academy than thirtyyears later he remembered itwhen painting Lady StAsaph with her baby in her lap, awork now in theBdtimore

is Pietro Muttoni, the pages of the Venetian sketchbook - as Pietro della Vecchia, and so-called known significandy His somewhat histrionic by Reynolds. Crucifixion in the as 'admirable [. . .] the church of Ognissanti struckReynolds

the French critic would have Reynolds, to in conservative features his work. responded positively seicento master praised in Another backward-looking

Museum of Art (Fig. 34). The baby's attention is here directed ? a to its mother instead of the grapes dangled by the nymph sensitive reinterpretation of themotif. own time was to Reynolds's Nearer Nicol? Bambini

taste is also its over with

painting. And a interest in he took keen seicento painting, the although to that his tend reflect earlier eye pictures caught styles. In a S. Maria Maggiore he noted huge, somewhat Titianesque (whom composition by Alessandro Varotari, il Padovanino he, like other representing eighteenth-century writers, calls Varottari), 'awoman who is delivered in the sea' (Fig. 32).

In the church of S. Polo, Reynolds sketched (1651-1739). a Conversion ofSt Paul, which he claimed was by Bambini but seems to have disappeared. On which the high altar today is the same subject by Palma Giovane; indeed, it seems always to have been there. It does not correspond to Reynolds's drawing.56 Was Bambini's picture painted for a side chapel and

eventually sold off, with other pictures, to pay for the restoration of the church in 1804? Cochin, who visited

45 Ibid., fol.45v. 'Four pictures [. . . ]The History of Christ,' according toReynolds's note. They are mentioned by Ridolfi, op. cit. (note 7), II, p.242. 46 Ibid., fol.68v. Ibid., fols.7ov and 71 v. 48 Ibid., fol.55V. 451 Which perhaps did not appeal to Cochin, who omits any reference to the picture; Cochin, op. cit. (note 12), III, pp.68-69. 50 In the entry forAlessandro Varotari in his Dictionary of 1764,Matthew Pilkington 'Ic praises 'an excellene picture of chismasCer's hand' in S. Maria Maggiore, Venice. represents some legendary miracle of cheVirgin'.; seeM. Pilkington: The Gentleman's and Connoisseur's Dictionary ofPainters, new edition, London 1798, p.694. In view of che vagueness of chis accounc, Cogecherwich che face chac Ridolfi, Pilkington's chief NOVEMBER 200? CXLVIII THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE 47

wheeher

was praised by Boschini, op. cit. (noce 5), p.386, and Zanetti, op. cit. (noee thesea shore woman on horseback and her satin dress. See also 6), pp. 362-63 actually mentions Che R. Pallucchini: Lapittura Veneziano del seicento, Milan 1981, II, pl.265. *2Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, pp.97-98. 53LB 13, fol.48v (punctaation added). Whae appears Co be Reynolds's firsc scribbled noCe, presumably made in frone of ehe picture and subsequently crossed ouC, is on

church of che Madonna Addoloraca, San Giorgio di Nogaro, province ofUdine. 51Punctaation added. The skecches are LB13, fols.32r and 33r; che noce is on fol.46v. The church still exiscs, incorporaCed inco a prison, che pictares long ago removed; see Zorzi, op. cit. (noce 31) II, pp.533?35. Padovanino's Miracle of a woman giving birthon

source for early sevenCeench-centary Venetians, does noc mention Pilkington had heard abouc ehe piccure from Reynolds.

ie, one wonders Ic is now in che

7?0

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

33-Noces and a skeCch of a baby afterLuca Giordano's Assumption of theVirgin, by Joshua Reynolds. 1752. Black chalk and ink, each folio 20 by 15.5 cm. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fols.58r and 57V, British Museum, London).

of figures grouped inwhat appears to be a Baroque interior, a perhaps a temple; the third is rather slight study of a draped seems to correspond to any figure seen from the back. None of the pictures by this artist visible inVenice today. However, in addition to the large altarpieces now in S. Stefano, S. Stae and

describes in some detail the pictures shortly before Reynolds, ? in the church of S. Polo including three which have since no mention but makes of any by Bambini.57 The disappeared in three the sketchbook have drawings openings following after other pictures by this artist. Two are full-page sketches

the Scalzi visited), Bambini (all of which Reynolds a number of small history pictures, painted 'Poussinesque' and examples of which are displayed in the Ca' Rezzonico, saw some of these pictures which it is possible thatReynolds

34- Sophia, Lady StAsaph with her son, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 1786. Canvas, of Art, Jacob EpsCein Collection). by 110.5 cm. (The Baltimore Museum

141.7

foreign visitors, political reasons, discouraged from welcoming and so, as an earlier writer explained, 'the palaces here [...] are less accessible, than in other parts of Italy'.59 This helps to explain why there is not one reference in the sketchbook

reflect the Venetian-born Roman Bambini's presumably saw them, for sojourn. But it is unclear where Reynolds he seems not to have visited any private collections while in Venice.58 We know that the Venetian nobility were, for

sketchbook contains references tomore than fifty Reynolds's Palace and the Librer?a churches and scuole, plus the Doge's Sansoviniana all apparendy visited. This is an extraordinarily high proportion of the potential sites of interest. Still, it is ? Padovanino, painters striking that of these late Baroque Pietro della Vecchia, Giordano and Bambini only Giordano in the Discourses, and then only in passing.61 was his attention Occasionally caught by the work of an not to In the since artisthe perhaps did find inVenice. expect a abandoned church of S. Anna, he noted St Francis by Guido ismentioned 'the same as that in the Colonna'.62 This was presumably

to any of the private palaces or great houses of Venice. But in any case, Reynolds would hardly have had time. In the 1750s G. Keysler computed the number the German travelwriter J. to be 180.60 of churches, convents and hospitals in Venice

Reni

fol.78r. The description on fol.48v was evidenely wriccen up lacer.The pictare is now in che Fondazione Cini, Venice; see Pallucchini, op. cit. (noce 51) I, p. 173; II, figs. 503 and 504. 54 246 and 247; III, p.4. On flyleaf: 'Mr Drake's Oxford, Magdalen College, MSS Tour in ehe year 1750'. 55 R. Prochno: Joshua Reynolds, Weinheim: 1990, p. 172. VCH, AcCa Humaniora, 56 LB13, fol.35r. 57 Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, pp.62-64. 58There is a noce in che skeCchbook: 'ac Venice aeMr Smich Copland-Griffichs a fine figure'. Photographic record, [presumably Consul Joseph Smich] a Rebecca, London, 176.a. 13, p. 14. DepartmenC of Princs and Drawings, British Museum, ie isunclear whecher he actaally visiced Smich or whecher che noce records However,

Discourses onArt, ed. R.R. Wark, New Haven and London 1975, p.215. 62 LB13, fol.67v; for S. Anna see Zorzi, op. at. (noce 31), I, pp.488-89. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLVIII

a piece of information he had been given. The Tiepolo skecch (Fig. 12), if ic does record ehe fresco in ehe Palazzo Labia, is anocher possible exception. 59 Breval: Remarks on several J. parts ofEurope, London 1738, I, p.228. They seem Co have become more accessible in Che second half of ehe centary Co judge from che comments of another traveller,Adam Walker, in 1787: 'We found', he wrote, 'the . . . '; palaces of the noble Venetians very open to our curiosity quoeed in J. Black: The BritishAbroad: the Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century, Seroud 2003, p.299. 60 Keysler, op. cit. (noce 43), III, p.304. 61 Reynolds dismisses Luca Giordano's histories asmediocre inDiscourse VII (1776) bue inDiscourse XII (1784) praises him for 'readiness of invention'; see J.Reynolds:

JANUARY 2006

j6?

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

since although it had been firmly attributed to Guido Reni Malvasia.64 With this inmind, the status of the picture that was seen by Reynolds in S. Anna is intriguing, for Cochin, while listing it as a copy, considered it so good that itmight perhaps be an original.65 Earlier, Zanetti had noted a picture of a Franciscan saint 'in the Bolognese style', presumably know that a few other Bolognese the same one.66 We pictures were inVenice at this time, but theywere in private

a version of St Francis inprayer with two angels in the Colonna an attribution now of uncertain status,63 Gallery in Rome,

collections which Reynolds did not get the chance to visit.67 The woman ofSamaria, now considered a copy afterGuercino, was seen by Cochin in the Palazzo Sagredo and was acquired in 1752.68 In the church of the Consul Smith by Joseph a picture of Sts Helena saw and Mendicanti, Reynolds Lazarus, and he jotted a note that thiswas 'the only Picture in Venice He of Guercino'. afterwards crossed this out, and it is just conceivable that he did so on hearing of Smith's

acquisition. in spite of the low opinion of contemporary Italian Nor, art that he expresses in the Discourses, did Reynolds entirely In the church of Corpus neglect eighteenth-century painting. Domini he noted only one work, apparendy the first picture

obscure subject as, rather surprisingly, was Antonio Maria who described librarian of the Librer?a Marciana, Zanetti, ? a in it as 'St Domenico the books the fire' tide throwing in his hand, book surely with Zanetti's down.70 know that the We church, demolished duly jotted in i860, contained a remarkable sequence of works, a virtual in Venice, untraced from a now history of painting that Reynolds,

seen by the visitor on entering the building,69 St Dominic submitting theholy scripturesto the testof fire by Sebastiano Ricci, was baffled by the 'a good picture' he thought. Reynolds

he notes none of them. This is not the only instance when we find him very attentive to the first picture he sees and afterwards more selective. In S. Zaccaria he comments on Salviati's 'fine' Miracle of Cosmos and Dami?n, then, as But

del Fiore early fifteenth-century altarpiece by Jacobello to sixteenth-century works by, among others, Cima da Giovane and and seventeenthand Palma early Conegliano Fumiani, eighteenth-century examples by Gian Antonio the last Gregorio Lazzarini and Giovanni Battista Pittoni was there.71 still very active in Venice when Reynolds

35-Drawing afterGiambattisea Tiepolo's Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra (?), by 1752. Black chalk, 20 by 15.5 cm. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fol.22v, Joshua Reynolds. British Museum, London).

di S. Rocco he made sketches from several on notes two: but took Christ pictures beforePilate and only the Annunciation, which is the first picture seen by the visitor wrote two separate notes.74 In and on which Reynolds S. Marziale
the

In the Scuola

now, on the first altar to the left as one enters the church.72 He follows with an enthusiastic description of Veronese's admired Virgin and Child with saints on the altar of the sacristy (now in the Accademia), ignoring the many other canvases as then almost now, every surface in the building.73 covering,

by Boschini
church.75

he admired Titian's Tobias and theangel, described as the first picture on the left upon entering the most

intriguing sketches represents an eighteenth-century subject. Annotated 'Tiepoli', it is clearly identifiable as The meeting of and Antony Cleopatra (Fig. 3 5) but ithas puzzled Tiepolo scholars because itdoes not correspond One of

1971, L'op?ra completa di Guido Reni, incr. by C. G?rboli, Milan reference to this picture does not seem to have pp. 116?17, no.XXIV. Reynolds's been picked up in theReni literature. 64 in E.A. Safarik, ed.: Catalogo sommario della Galleria Colonna inRoma: Quoted Rome 1981, p. 109. dipinti, 65 Cochin, op. at. (note 12), III, p.44. 66 'Neil'uscire di chiesa vedesi una tavola con un Santo Francescano di maniera Bolognese', see Zanetti, op. cit. (noce 6), p.205. NoC mentioned by Boschini. 67 See Haskell, op. cit. (noce 18), p.262; Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, p. 149. 68Now see M. Levey: The Later Italian Pictures in the in CheRoyal CollecCion; Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London 1964, no. 526. 7?2 NOVEMBER 200? CXLVIII THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

63 E. Baccheschi:

69 According CoZanecti, op. cit. (noce 6), quocedbyj. Daniels: Sebastiano Ricci, Hove 1976, no.505. 70 LB13, fol.4iv; Zanetti, op. cit. (noce 6), p.423. Cochin, presumably also following Zanecti, calls ic 'SaintDominique qui jette ses livresaufeu'; see Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, p.119. 71 For ehe see Zorzi, op. cit. (noce 31), II, pp.301?02. pictares inCorpus Domini, 72 LB13, fol.68v. Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), I, p.242, confirms ehe location of chis alearpiece. 73 Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, pp.48?49, describes chis alearpiece as one of chemose admirable pictares in Icaly, excellenc in every way and perfeccly preserved. 74 LB13, fols.4iv and 53r.

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REYNOLDS

IN VENICE

sketch occupies the lower half of the page, and in the top half sketched the risen Christ from Francesco Bassano's Reynolds a figure Resurrection, also in the church of the Redentore, which, 'has a fine sweep', he noted (Fig.36).77 He probably thought of Bassano's Christ as quite the several figures are disposed separate, but the way on the page sets up a composition in its own right.Whether or not the artist was conscious of this at the time, he returned with to itwhen its arms spread,

with outstretched arms, taken from the group of holy women in Tintoretto's Ascension on the adjacent altar. This

seems exact.76 Indeed, on at least one occasion Reynolds to be improvising a composition by combining figures from more than one picture. In theRedentore he sketched the into the tomb from the body of Christ being lowered Entombment by Palma Giovane, adding a wailing Magdalene

eighteenth-century paintings, the only picture he noted was a Flagellation 'by Georgione'.79 This was not mentioned by or Boschini but is listed in Zanetti, who describes Ridolfi two pictures framed the Flagellation by together, one the other Christ carrying the crossby an unknown Giorgione, artist.80Perhaps significandy, Reynolds (presumably) missed the public exhibition of pictures displayed every year on

he designed his own Resurrection for the Lady of Salisbury Cathedral.78 Chapel In general, however, eighteenth-century pictures tend to get short shrift. When he visited S. Stae (St Eustacio a in Reynolds's filled with notes), Baroque masterpiece

the feast day of S. Rocco, 16th August, the very day he left in Canaletto's and commemorated Venice, picture in the National Gallery, London. Either he had not heard about it or, more likely, his opinion of contemporary Venetian
36. Drawings after Francesco Bassano's Resurredion ofChrist and Palma Giovane's 1752. Black chalk, annotaCed in ink, 20 by 15.5 Entombment, by Joshua Reynolds. cm. (Venetian SkeCchbook, fol.26r, British Museum, London).

to the fresco in the Palazzo in the National

match Labia, nor does it

the sketch

Gallery of Scodand, Edinburgh. One might was drawn partly from memory, but the it that suppose differences between Reynolds's drawing and the fresco in the Palazzo Labia are very particular as regards the placing of

figures and the distribution of light and dark and, taking into account the unlikelihood of his having visited any of the can only conclude that he was one city's private collections, a shown version of the composition that has not survived. But the circumstances remain mysterious, even allowing for the fact that his drawings from pictures seen are not always

attesting to the critical and artist. mind of the enquiring They are not like Reynolds's four surviving letters from his Italian period, which, while never intended for publication, would - the writer knew be widely read within his circle of family and friends. Italian notes constitute purely private material. his Rather, ? a are spontaneous, unedited, uncensored type of They material most likely to be lost or destroyed with the passing are precious of time. They survivals that document lished travel literature while visual curiosity and aesthetic Reynolds's most formative period of his career. priorities

to warrant delaying his enough saw the traveller Grosely, who exhibition in 1758, dismissed it as 'ni brillante, ni nombreuse'.81 Certainly Reynolds makes no reference to it in his sketchbook. to approach Reynolds's Venetian How, then, are we notes and sketches? As we have seen, they draw upon pub

painting was not high French departure. The

at this

Maseers'. 77The skecch is LB13, fol.26r, che noce is fol.67v. Reynolds choughc ehe pictare was Bassano. Leandro by 78 Reynolds's design survives only in che form of an engraving by J. Jones of Martin Poscle's entry inD. Mannings: SirJoshua Reynolds: A Complete 1796, repr. in Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London 2000, II, pi. 1685. The general skeCches iswell summarised problem of identifying che exacc sources ofReynolds's by Perini, op. cit. (noce 14), pp.155?56.

75 Boschini, op. cit. (noce 5), p.473. The picture is now in che sacristy. 76 Perini, op. cit. (noce 14), pp. 146-47, who illuscraces ehe skecch afterTiepolo as her 'free CreacmenCof eheOld ob, and discusses several ocher examples ofReynolds's pi. 1

79 LBi3, fol.4iv. There is one ocher reference Co a pictare sometimes accribuced Co Giorgione. Reynolds noCed ehe Christ carrying the cross in ehe church of S. Rocco (now in ehe Scuola) buc followed Ridolfi, op. cit. (noce 7), I, p. 158, in attributing ie CoTitian (fol. 58V). 80 Zanecti, op. cit. (noce 6), p.438; noC mentioned by Cochin, op. cit. (noce 12), III, pp. 122-24. 81 exhibitions', wroce Michael Grosley, op. cit. (noce 29), II, p.30. 'These San Rocco Levey, 'are really Che nearesC form Co an organized exhibition that took place in the city, excepe chac eherewas no organization, cherewere no caCalogues, and hardly any XVIII foreign visitors to the city knew of che annual evenc.'; seeM. Levey: Painting in Century Venice, London 1959, p. 12. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLVIII JANUARY 200? 7^3

This content downloaded on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:56:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions