herein is Christ
on the Cross, with the Thieves, and at the foot the ministers of the
crucifixion, which he is painting for Messer Giovanni d'Anna; and a
picture which was begun for the Doge Grimani, father of the Patriarch
of Aquileia. And for the Hall of the Great Palace of Brescia he has
made a beginning with three large pictures that are to go in the
ornamentation of the ceiling, as has been related in speaking of
Cristofano and his brother, painters of Brescia. He also began, many
years ago, for Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, a picture of a nude young
woman bowing before Minerva, with another figure at the side, and a
sea in the centre of which, in the distance, is Neptune in his car;
but through the death of that lord, after whose fancy the work was
being executed, it was not finished, and remained with Tiziano. He has
also carried well forward, but not finished, a picture wherein is
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene in the Garden in the form of a
gardener, with figures the size of life; another, also, of equal size,
in which the Madonna and the other Maries being present, the Dead
Christ is laid in the Sepulchre; likewise a picture of Our Lady, which
is one of the best things that are in that house, and, as has been
told, a portrait of himself that was finished by him four years ago,
very beautiful and natural, and finally a S. Paul who is reading, a
half-length figure, which has all the appearance of the real Saint
filled with the Holy Spirit.

[Illustration: THE ENTOMBMENT

(_After the painting by =Tiziano=. Madrid: The Prado_)

_Anderson_]

All these works, I say, he has executed, with many others that I omit
in order not to be wearisome, up to his present age of about
seventy-six years. Tiziano has been very sound in health, and as
fortunate as any man of his kind has ever been; and he has not
received from Heaven anything save favours and blessings. In his house
at Venice have been all the Princes, men of letters and persons of
distinction who have gone to that city or lived there in his time,
because, in addition to his excellence in art, he has shown great
gentleness, beautiful breeding, and most courteous ways and manners.
He has had in Venice some competitors, but not of much worth, so that
he has surpassed them easily with the excellence of his art and with
his power of attaching himself and making himself dear to the men of
quality. He has earned much, for he has been very well paid for his
works;