ided every building which contains a Tintoretto, averring that the
sight of Tintoretto's pictures would injure his carefully trained taste.
It is probable that neither anecdote is strictly true. Yet there is a
certain epigrammatic point in both; and I have often speculated whether
even Venice could have so warped the genius of Poussin as to shed one
ray of splendour on his canvases, or whether even Tintoretto could have
so sublimed the prophet of Queen Anne as to make him add dramatic
passion to a London drawing-room. Anyhow, it is exceedingly difficult to
escape from colour in the air of Venice, or from Tintoretto in her
buildings. Long, delightful mornings may be spent in the enjoyment of
the one and the pursuit of the other by folk who have no classical or
pseudo-mediaeval theories to oppress them.

Tintoretto's house, though changed, can still be visited. It formed part
of the Fondamenta dei Mori, so called from having been the quarter
assigned to Moorish traders in Venice. A spirited carving of a turbaned
Moor leading a camel charged with merchandise, remains above the
water-line of a neighbouring building; and all about the crumbling walls
sprout flowering weeds--samphire and snapdragon and the spiked
campanula, which shoots a spire of sea-blue stars from chinks of Istrian
stone.

The house stands opposite the Church of Santa Maria dell'Orto, where
Tintoretto was buried, and where four of his chief masterpieces are to
be seen. This church, swept and garnished, is a triumph of modern
Italian restoration. They have contrived to make it as commonplace as
human ingenuity could manage. Yet no malice of ignorant industry can
obscure the treasures it contains--the pictures of Cima, Gian Bellini,
Palma, and the four Tintorettos, which form its crowning glory. Here the
master may be studied in four of his chief moods: as the painter of
tragic passion and movement, in the huge Last Judgment; as the painter
of impossibilities, in the Vision of Moses upon Sinai; as the painter of
purity and tranquil pathos, in the Miracle of S. Agnes; as the painter
of Biblical history brought home to daily life, in the Presentation of
the Virgin. Without leaving the Madonna dell'Orto, a student can explore
his genius in all its depth and breadth; comprehend the enthusiasm he
excites in those who seek, as the essentials of art, imaginative
boldness and sincerity; understand what is meant by adversaries who
maintain that, after all, Tintorett