This picture was painted for the Roman sculptor Mocchi to make a bust from, hence the two profiles as well as the full face. Over the profile on the right are the words (in French), "of the two profiles this is the better." In this profile the compressed lips, the merciless eyes, the iron-gray hair and prominent nose, bespeak the great Cardinal Minister of Louis XIII., and the maker of France, who summed up his policy and his character in the words, "I venture on nothing without first thinking it out; but once decided, I go straight to my point, overthrow or cut down whatever stands in my way, and finally cover it all up with my cardinal's red robes." In the full face one sees rather the man who was also a princely patron of the arts and artists (of De Champaigne amongst their number), and the founder of the French Academy.[184] The central head here was clearly used as a study for the full-length portrait, No. 1449.
802. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Bartolommeo Montagna (Venetian: about 1450-1523).
Montagna was born near Brescia, and worked at Vicenza, but must have studied at Venice.[185] "He is entitled," says Kugler, "to a much higher place among the painters of the last part of the fifteenth century than that hitherto accorded to him. His art is distinct in character, with a firm outline and a bold, sure hand; his colour is low but rich, bright, and gem-like. He gives a grand, dignified expression and pose to his figures; his draperies are generally arranged in broad folds, and his landscape backgrounds, although minute, frequently denote an original and poetical fancy." His best work is the great altar-piece now in the Brera at Milan, a picture worthy to rank with those of the same kind by Bellini and Carpaccio. Other important works by Montagna are in the Public Gallery of Bergamo, in the Museo Civico at Vicenza, and in the Pilgrimage Church on Monte Berico, near Vicenza.
This picture is ascribed by some critics to Giovanni Speranza, a painter of Vicenza contemporary with Montagna.
803. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.
Marco Marziale (Venetian: painted 1499-1507).
Marco was one of the assistants engaged to work under Giovanni Bellini in the decoration of the Ducal Palace. Whilst Bellini received sixty ducats a year, Marco received only twenty-four. Nothing else is known about his career. Of his works, which are very rare, the best are in our Gallery.
An example which shows what wealth of interest there is in the National Collection. It is only by a second-rate painter of the Venetian school; but no picture in the Gallery is richer than this in decorative design. Note first the varied and beautifully-designed patterns in the mosaics of the church—recalling one of the domes of St. Mark's. Then the lectern, covered with a cloth, and the delicately-embroidered border, wrought in sampler stitch, deserve close examination. The cushion above this, and the tassels, formed of three pendent tufts of silk hung on to a gold embroidered ball, offer good decorative suggestions to the trimming manufacturer. Attached to the front of the lectern is a label or "cartellino," setting forth that "Marco Marziale the Venetian, by command of that magnificent knight and jurisconsult, the learned Thomaseo R., made this picture in the year 1500." As it is probable that this was the first important commission Marco ever obtained on his own account, there is little wonder that he wrought the record so elaborately. This "Thomaseo R." was Raimondi, a knight of the order of Jerusalem—a man of considerable note in Cremona as a lawyer and poet. His portrait occupies the forefront of the right-hand corner of the picture, his set features recalling the lawyer rather than the poet. It is his mantle, however, which best repays notice—a sumptuous robe of raised red velvet, such a fabric as Venice was then winning industrial renown by weaving. The very pretty pattern is of the so-called "pomegranate form," and occurs also on the mantle of the donor's wife, who occupies a corresponding position on the left-hand side of the picture. In the South Kensington Museum there is a remnant of Italian silk brocade of this pattern (in the Bock collection). The robe of the High Priest is also evidently taken by the painter from a silk robe, and is very rich. The design, in which the wild pink is largely introduced, is unique. Ruskin had a wall-paper made for him in 1872 copied from this robe: it has ever since been used for the walls of the drawing-room and study at Brantwood. "It will thus be seen that this one picture brings before us a great number of suggestions in design for various technic arts; at least half a dozen patterns exist in the ornaments of the mosaic work of the vaults; five or six patterns of embroidered or woven borders will be found in it, as many designs for diapered or other surface decoration, examples of beaten metal-work and of bookbinding, besides the carved wood lectern." For notice of other points, see further the interesting article by G. T. Robinson in the Art Journal, June 1886, and cp. Vacher's Italian Ornament, No. 24.