Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/411

Rh which is a great fire, and the executioners stand around it. The time being night, there are two servants with torches giving light to those parts of the picture, that are beyond the reach of the fire beneath the gridiron, which is a large and fierce one; but the light it throws, as well as that of the torches, is overcome by a flash of lightning which descends from heaven, and cleaving the clouds, shines brightly over the head of the Saint and the other principal figures. In addition to these three lights there is that of lamps and candles, held by those at the windows of the building. All this produces a fine effect, and the whole work is, in short, executed with infinite art, genius, and judgment.

At the Altar of San Niccolb, in the Church of San Sebastiano, there is a small picture by Titian, representing St. Nicholas, so animated as to seem alive; it is seated in a chair painted to imitate marble, and an angel is holding the mitre; this was executed for the advocate Messer Niccolb Crasso. At a later period, our artist painted a half-length figure of Mary Magdalene for the Catholic King; her hair falls about her neck and shoulders, her head is raised and the eyes are fixed on Heaven, their redness and the tears still within them, giving evidence of her sorrow for the sins of her past life. This picture, which is most beautiful, moves all who behold it to compassion; when it was finished, a Venetian gentleman,..... Silvio, was so much pleased therewith, that, being a zealous lover of painting, he gave Titian a hundred crowns for the picture, and the master had to make another for the Catholic King, which was however no less beautiful.

Among the Portraits by Titian is that of a Venetian citizen his friend, called Sinistri; and of Messer Paolo da Ponte, whose daughter, cSlled the Signora Giulia da Ponte, a most beautiful damsel, and a gossip of Titian, the latter also took; as he did the Signora Irene, another lovely maiden accomplished in music, in learning, and in design, who died about eight years since, and was celebrated by the pens of almost all the Italian writers. Titian also made the like-