d
lay hands on. Then came a few small commissions, an altarpiece here,
organ-doors there, for unimportant churches. No one in Venice talked
of any one save Palma, Bonifazio, and, above all, Titian, and it was
difficult enough for an outsider, who was not one of their clique, to
get employment. But by the time Tintoretto was twenty-six his talent was
becoming recognised; he had painted the two altarpieces for SS. Ermagora
and Fortunato, and the offer he made to decorate the vast church of his
parish brought him conspicuously into notice. In the first ardour of
youth he completed the "Last Judgment" for the choir. From time to time,
during fourteen years, he redeemed his early promises and executed the
"Golden Calf" and the "Presentation of the Virgin." Within two years of
his offer to the Prior, came his first great opportunity of achieving
distinction. This was a commission from the Confraternity of St. Mark,
and with the "Miracle of the Slave" he sprang at once to the highest
place.

The picture was universally admired, and was followed by three more
dealing with the patron saint. At forty he married happily a beautiful
young girl, Faustina dei Vescovi, or Episcopi, as it is indifferently
given, the daughter of a noble family of the mainland. Tradition has
always pointed to the girl in blue in the "Golden Calf" as her portrait,
while it is easy to recognise Tintoretto himself in the black-bearded
giant, who helps to carry the idol. His house at this time was somewhere
in the Parrocchia dell' Orto, and there, during the next fourteen years,
eight children were born, of whom the two eldest, Domenico and Marietta,
attained distinction in their father's profession. Another great
event, which profoundly influenced his life, was the beginning of his
connection in 1560 with the Scuola di San Rocco, the great confraternity
which was devoted to combating the ravages of the plague and to
succouring the families of its victims. His work for this lasted to the
end of his life and is his most distinguished memorial.

The palace to which the Robusti family moved in 1574, and which was
inhabited by his descendants so late as 1830, can still be identified in
the Calle della Sensa. It is broken up into two parts, but it is evident
that it was a dwelling of some importance, a good specimen of Venetian
Gothic. It still bears marks of considerable decoration; the walls are
sheathed in marble plaques, and the first floor has rows of Gothi