Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll.
- Anna Brownell Jameson
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll. Source: Wellcome Collection.
297/335 page 251
![tween the leaves: it is called in the old catalogues Alessandro de’ Medici, and has been engraved under the name of Boccac- cio ; 1 hut it has no pretensions to either name: it is a wonder- ful piece of life. There is also a lovely figure of a standing Lueretia, about half life size, with very little drapery — not at all characteristic of the modest Lueretia who arranged her robes that she might fall with decorum : she holds with her left hand a red veil over her face, and in the right a dagger with which she is about to stab herself. This picture belonged to Charles I., and came to England with the Mantua Gallery in 1G29; it was sold in 1650, after the king’s death, for 200Z. (a large price for the time), and afterwards restored. In the collection at Windsor there are the portraits of Titian and Andrea Franceschini, half length, in the same picture. Fran- ceschini was chancellor of the Republic, and distinguished for his literary attainments ; he is seen in front in a robe of crim- son (the habit of a cavaliero of St. Mark), and holds a paper in his hand. The acute and refined features have that expres- sion of mental power which Titian, without any apparent effort, could throw into a head: the fine old face and flowing beard of Titian appear behind. This picture belonged to Charles I., and was sold after his death for 112Z. ; it has been called in various catalogues Titian and Aretino, [but in the “ Official Guide to Windsor Castle,” 1894, it is correctly en- tered.] In the Louvre there are [about fifteen] pictures by Titian; in the Vienna Gallery [a much larger number, more indeed than in all the other German collections put together]. The Madrid Gallery contains most of the fine pictures painted for Charles V. and Philip II. Before I quit the subject of Titian, I may remark that a collection of his engraved portraits would form a complete his- torical gallery illustrative of the times in which he lived. Not only was his art at the service of princes and their favorite beauties, but it was ever ready to immortalize the features of those who were the objects of his own affection and admiration. 1 The engraving, which is most admirable, was executed by Cornelius Vischer, when the picture was in Holland, in the possession of a great collector of that time, named Van Kevnst, from whom the States of Holland purchased it with *everal others, and presented them to Charles I.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24877888_0297.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
