raged painting as did the Church, in order to teach its subjects
its own glory in a way that they could understand without being led on
to critical enquiry. Venice was not the only city, it is true, that used
painting for political purposes; but the frescoes of Lorenzetti at Siena
were admonitions to govern in accordance with the Catechism, while the
pictures in the Great Hall of the Doge's Palace were of a nature to
remind the Venetians of their glory and also of their state policy.
These mural paintings represented such subjects as the Doge bringing
about a reconciliation between the Pope and the Emperor Barbarossa, an
event which marked the first entry of Venice into the field of
Continental politics, and typified as well its unchanging policy, which
was to gain its own ends by keeping a balance of power between the
allies of the Pope and the allies of his opponents. The first edition,
so to speak, of these works had been executed at the end of the
fourteenth century and in the beginning of the fifteenth. Toward the end
of that century it no longer satisfied the new feeling for reality and
beauty, and thus had ceased to serve its purpose, which was to glorify
the State. The Bellini, Alvise Vivarini, and Carpaccio were employed to
make a second rendering of the very same subjects, and this gave the
Venetians ample opportunity for finding out how much they liked pageant
pictures.

It is curious to note here that at the same time Florence also
commissioned its greatest painters to execute works for its Council
Hall, but left them practically free to choose their own subjects.
Michelangelo chose for his theme "The Florentines while Bathing
Surprised by the Pisans," and Leonardo "The Battle of the Standard."
Neither of these was intended in the first place to glorify the
Florentine Republic, but rather to give scope to the painter's genius,
Michelangelo's for the treatment of the nude, Leonardo's for movement
and animation. Each, having given scope to his peculiar talents in his
cartoon, had no further interest, and neither of the undertakings was
ever completed. Nor do we hear that the Florentine councillors enjoyed
the cartoons, which were instantly snatched up by students who turned
the hall containing them into an academy.

=VI. Painting and the Confraternities.=--It does not appear that the Hall
of Great Council in Venice was turned into a students' academy, and,
although the paintings there doubtless gave a decid