Of Vittore Carpaccio’s likes and dislikes little is known, but Ruskin praises as one of the finest paintings in the world, a Venetian interior by him, representing two fair dames surrounded by animals. Two dogs—one small, one large—a peacock, doves, a turtle and a lizard—such were the pets these ladies kept to amuse their leisure hours.
Albrecht Dürer found special pleasure in studying hares. One hardly knows which is quainter, the thirteen-year-old artist as drawn by himself, or the hare which his childish fingers sketched. A later study is the charming Bunny, apparently pausing after a pleasant nibble to look at his artist vis-à-vis. In some of his pictures, Dürer painted angel children playing with little hares—surely a gentle companionship!
HARE DRAWN BY THE BOY ALBRECHT DURER.
But a still greater name in art is that of Raphael, to whom we owe not only Madonnas and saints, but some wonderfully delicate and realistic designs of animals and birds. Not much is said in his biographies to show that he was fond of animals, but that he studied them closely is evident. It is infinitely sad to pass now through his Loggia at the Vatican, once glowing with the master’s touch, now faded and in part defaced. Still, worn as they are, they express Raphael. In the Stanze, and his other great paintings, we know that his brush worked seriously in accordance with a plan already conceived. But in the Loggia, with the bright Italian sun shining in upon him as he worked, he laid aside all serious intent, and gave himself up to merry play. Under his facile fingers, the arched ceilings became covered with vines in luxuriant tangled growth, with interspaces of blue sky, and clusters of grapes which droop apparently with their own luscious weight, and tempt the birds on every side.
TWO VENETIAN LADIES AND THEIR PETS.
(From the painting by Vittore Carpaccio, in the Correo Gallery, Venice. )