Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers | Page 3

Bacchus and Ariadne Venice 274
GREUZE La Cruche Cassée Paris 280
REYNOLDS Portrait of Lady Cockburn and her Children London 282
RAPHAEL St. Cecilia Naples 288
L. DA VINCI The Last Supper Milan 290
VAN DYCK Portrait of the Children of Charles I. Turin 300
TURNER The Fighting Téméraire London 306
BOTTICELLI Spring Florence 314

GREAT PICTURES
DESCRIBED BY GREAT WRITERS

THE FISHERMAN PRESENTING THE RING TO THE DOGE
GRADENIGO
(_BORDONE_)
THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
This picture, which represents a gondolier returning the ring of Saint

Mark to the Doge, treats of a legend, an episode of which Giorgione, as
we shall see in the next hall, has also painted in a somewhat singular
manner. Here is the story in a few words: One night while the gondolier
was sleeping in his gondola, waiting for custom along the canal of S.
Giorgio Maggiore, three mysterious individuals jumped into his boat
and bade him take them to the Lido; one of the three persons, as well as
he could be distinguished in the darkness, appeared to have the beard of
an apostle and the figure of a high dignitary of the Church; the two
others, by a certain sound as of armour rubbing beneath their mantles,
revealed themselves as men-at-arms. The gondolier turned his prow
towards the Lido and began to row; but the lagoon, so tranquil at their
departure, began to chop and swell strangely: the waves gleamed with
sinster{a} lights; monstrous apparitions were outlined menacingly
around the barque to the great terror of the gondolier; and hideous
spirits of evil and devils half man half fish seemed to be swimming
from the Lido towards Venice, making the waves emit thousands of
sparks and exciting the tempest with whistling and fiendish laughter in
the storm; but the appearance of the shining swords of the two knights
and the extended hand of the saintly personage made them recoil and
vanish in sulphurous explosions.
The battle lasted for a long time; new demons constantly succeeded the
others; however, the victory remained with the personages in the boat,
who had themselves taken back to the landing of the Piazzetta. The
gondolier scarcely knew what to think of their strange conduct; until, as
they were about to separate, the oldest of the group, suddenly causing
his nimbus to shine out again, said to the gondolier: "I am Saint Mark,
the patron of Venice. I learned to-night that the devils assembled in
convention at the Lido in the cemetery of the Jews, had formed the
resolution of exciting a frightful tempest and overthrowing my beloved
city, under the pretext that many excesses are committed there which
give the evil spirits power over her inhabitants; but as Venice is a good
Catholic and will confess her sins in the beautiful cathedral which she
has raised to me, I resolved to defend her from this peril of which she
was ignorant, by the aid of these two brave companions, Saint George
and Saint Theodore, and I have borrowed thy boat; now, as all trouble
merits reward, and as thou hast passed a boisterous night, here is my

ring; carry it to the Doge and tell him what thou hast seen. He will fill
thy cap with golden sequins."
So saying, the Saint resumed his position on the top of the porch of
Saint Mark's, Saint Theodore climbed to the top of his column, where
his crocodile was grumbling with ill-humour, and Saint George went to
squat in the depths of his columned niche in the great window of the
Ducal Palace.
The gondolier, rather astonished, and he had reason enough, would
have believed that he had been dreaming after drinking during that
evening several glasses too many of the wine of Samos, if the large and
heavy golden ring studded with precious stones which he held in his
hand had not prevented his doubting the reality of the events of the
night.
Therefore, he went to find the Doge, who was presiding over the Senate
in his cap of office, and, respectfully kneeling before him, he related
the story of the battle between the devils and the patron saints of
Venice. At first this story seemed incredible; but the return of the ring,
which was in very sooth that of Saint Mark, and the absence of which
from the church treasury was established, proved the gondolier's
veracity. This ring, locked up under triple keys in a carefully-guarded
treasury, the bolts of which showed no trace of disturbance, could only
have been removed by supernatural means. They filled the gondolier's
cap with gold and celebrated a mass of thanksgiving for the peril they
had escaped. This did not prevent the Venetians from continuing their
dissolute course of life, from spending their nights in the haunts of play,
at gay suppers,