列奧納多比他同時(shí)代的人更了解花草樹木。他有個(gè)學(xué)徒,叫盧伊尼,以一種花命名畫了一幅畫。畫中一位年輕女子懷抱一顆耬斗菜,所以這幅畫就叫做《耬斗菜》。盧伊尼畫中的女人帶有列奧納多擅長(zhǎng)畫的那種似是而非的笑容。盧伊尼是一位優(yōu)秀的畫家,但還是比不上老師列奧納多·達(dá)·芬奇,因?yàn)榱袏W納多·達(dá)·芬奇是一位了不起的天才。
14 SIX VENETIANS六個(gè)威尼斯人
VENICE is a city where the streets are water and where you take a boat instead of an automobile to go from place to place. Nowadays Venice belongs to Italy, but in the time of the Renaissance, though Venice was in Italy, it didn’t belong to Italy. There wasn’t any republic of Italy then, and Venice was an independent state, a republic that governed itself. Venice had its own army and navy, its own ruler called the Doge, and its own way of doing things. It had its own great painters, too, during the Renaissance— painters still famous above all others for the wonderful colors they gave to their pictures.
In the early years of the Renaissance there was a painter of Venice named Bellini (Bel-leen’ee) and he had two sons who also became painters. The sons were better painters than their father. One of the Bellini brothers taught painting to two young men who became better painters than any of the Bellinis. These two men were called Giorgione (Jor-jone’ay), which means Big George, and Titian (Tish’an), which just means Titian. Three Bellinis, Giorgione, and Titian—five men with only three names to remember.
I wish I had room to tell you more about the Bellinis. I think you would like their pictures of the Doges, the rulers of Venice. But there isn’t room in this chapter for all of them, so we’ll begin with Giorgione.
Giorgione is called one of the greatest of painters. Like Leonardo da Vinci, he left very few pictures that we are sure he himself painted. A famous painting called “The Concert” is thought by most people to have been painted by Giorgione, but others think it was painted by Giorgione’s friend Titian. “The Concert” shows the head and shoulders of three men. One of these men is seated at a clavichord. Do you know what a clavichord is? It is a musical instrument like a piano that was used before pianos were invented. The second man has a violin in his hand, and the third wears a big hat with feathers on it that makes him look like a woman. In our house, when I was a boy, we had a photograph of “The Concert” on the wall and I always thought the man with the big hat was a woman until I grew up.
Unfortunately Giorgione didn’t live long enough to paint many pictures. A terrible disease called the plague spread through Venice. Giorgione caught the plague and died when he was only about thirty-two years old.
His friend Titian lived to be a very old man, and so he had time to paint many more pictures than Giorgione. Titian was especially good at painting portraits of the noblemen of his time. One of these portraits is called “The Man with the Glove.” No one now knows who the man with the glove was, but almost every one likes the picture. How do you like it? Look on the opposite page.
Titian could paint other kinds of pictures besides portraits. He painted a picture for an altar in a church in Venice called “The Assumption,” which shows the Madonna entering heaven. The Venetians liked it tremendously. They especially liked its rich glowing color, for Venice itself was full of color, with its deep blue sea on every side and its marble palaces gleaming in the brilliant sunlight.
Venetians even liked pictures painted on the outside of their buildings, to add to the bright colors of the town. Both Giorgione and Titian made many paintings on the outside house walls, but all these have now disappeared, washed away by the weather.
At last after a long life of painting, Titian died—some say from the same disease that had killed Giorgione, the plague.
There were still great artists left in Venice, however. One of these was called Tintoretto, which means Little Dyer, because his father was a dyer. Tintoretto was much younger than Titian. When he was still a boy he was sent to Titian’s studio, or workshop, to learn painting. For some reason Titian let him stay at his studio for only ten days and after that Tintoretto had to teach himself to paint.
No. 14-1 THE MAN WITH GLOVE(《戴手套的男人》) TITIAN(提香 作)
He too painted many pictures on the outside walls of buildings, but these have washed away like Giorgione’s and Titian’s. Titian had always been careful to make good bargains when he sold his paintings, but Tintoretto didn’t seem to care for money. He was satisfied to take much less for his pictures than they were worth. Often he even gave them away.
One of Tintoretto’s greatest undertakings was to paint pictures for the walls of a building called the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice. Michelangelo had made his wall paintings on wet plaster, Leonardo had made his on dry plaster, but Tintoretto made his on canvas. Then the canvas with the painting on it was fastened to the wall. The San Rocco pictures were fastened to the wall.
Tintoretto used to make little clay figures to use as models when he painted. He worked very quickly and so he was able to paint a great many pictures in his lifetime. Most of them are full of energy and action. Some of his figures seem to be rushing through the air. So much action and movement made his pictures very different from the quiet ones of early Italian painters. Tintoretto’s were more like Michelangelo’s energetic paintings. But Tintoretto also had the glowing colors of Titian.
Over his studio door he put these words: “The drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian.” Sometimes he went beyond Titian, whose colors were golden browns and rich reds and greens. Tintoretto’s later pictures contained soft shades of gray and had a silvery finish rather than a golden glow.
One of Tintoretto’s famous paintings is called “The Miracle of Saint Mark.” The story goes that Saint Mark had a faithful servant who was sentenced to be tortured to death for being a Christian. Saint Mark was away when this happened. The servant was stretched on the ground in front of the judge’s chair and the torture was about to begin. Suddenly the tools broke in the executioner’s hands as Saint Mark appeared in the air above. He had come to save his servant.
Tintoretto’s picture shows Saint Mark rushing through the air above the executioner, but nobody in the picture, except a little baby. has noticed him. All are looking at the broken tools of the executioner.
When Tintoretto was an old man he was given the order to paint a huge picture of Paradise. The picture was to be large enough to cover a wall space thirty feet high and seventy-four feet long. Tintoretto set to work and finished the largest painting on canvas in the world. His “Paradise” shows Christ and the Madonna seated on clouds in heaven. Below them are crowds of saints and angels, over five hundred figures altogether. This painting was Tintoretto’s last great work. He died soon after finishing it.
No. 14-2 THE MIRACLE OF SAINT MARK(《圣馬可的奇跡》) TINTORETTO(丁托列托 作)
Some of Tintoretto’s paintings were much better than others. The Venetians used to say he had three pencils, one of gold, one of silver, and one of iron. By this they meant that some of his pictures were wonderfully done, some were only fairly well done, and some were poorly done. Perhaps this is why people have had so many different opinions about Tintoretto.
Venice had great painters after Tintoretto. But certainly the Bellinis, Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto are enough great men to squeeze into one little chapter!
威尼斯是一座水城。城的通路是水道,所以,在威尼斯出行,就不能搭車而是坐船。如今,威尼斯屬于意大利。然而在文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期,雖然威尼斯位于意大利,卻不隸屬意大利。那時(shí)候還沒(méi)有什么意大利共和國(guó),威尼斯是一個(gè)獨(dú)立的國(guó)家,一個(gè)自己統(tǒng)治自己的共和國(guó)。威尼斯擁有自己的軍隊(duì),還有海軍。他們的統(tǒng)治者稱總督,按自己的方式行事。他們?cè)谖乃噺?fù)興時(shí)期也有偉大的畫家——這些畫家至今仍然很有名,主要是因?yàn)樗麄兝L畫的色彩非常鮮亮。
文藝復(fù)興早期,威尼斯有一位畫家叫貝里尼。他有兩個(gè)兒子,后來(lái)也成了畫家,甚至比父親更出色。一個(gè)兄弟收了兩個(gè)年輕的學(xué)徒。這兩個(gè)年輕人后來(lái)比貝里尼家族所有的畫家都出名。這兩個(gè)人一個(gè)叫喬爾喬涅,就是大喬治的意思,另一個(gè)叫提香——就是“黃褐色”的意思。這五個(gè)人只要記住三個(gè)名字就可以了——貝里尼父子仨、喬爾喬涅和提香。
我希望能介紹更多關(guān)于貝里尼家族的故事。我想,他們?yōu)橥崴菇y(tǒng)治者——總督們——畫的畫像,肯定令人喜歡。但要將他們?nèi)冀榻B,這個(gè)章節(jié)肯定不夠,所以我們就先從喬爾喬涅開(kāi)始。
喬爾喬涅被稱作最偉大的畫家之一。同列奧納多·達(dá)·芬奇一樣,我們能確定是他本人畫的畫留下的很少。有幅叫做《音樂(lè)會(huì)》的名作,大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為是喬爾喬涅畫的,但有人認(rèn)為是喬爾喬涅的朋友提香畫的?!兑魳?lè)會(huì)》畫的是三個(gè)男人的腦袋和肩膀。其中一人坐在翼琴旁。你知道翼琴是什么嗎?那是一種很像鋼琴,但在鋼琴問(wèn)世之前使用的樂(lè)器。另外一人手里拿著小提琴。第三個(gè)人頭上戴著大帽子,帽檐上插著羽毛,使他看去像一個(gè)女人。我小時(shí)候,家里墻壁上也掛了一幅《音樂(lè)會(huì)》的照片,我一直以為那個(gè)戴帽子的是女的,長(zhǎng)大后才知道原來(lái)他是男的。
不幸的是,喬爾喬涅壽命短暫,所以就沒(méi)畫多少畫。當(dāng)時(shí)有種叫瘟疫的可怕疾病在威尼斯肆虐。喬爾喬涅染上了瘟疫,32歲就去世了。
他的朋友提香卻長(zhǎng)壽,所以與喬爾喬涅相比,他就有充裕的時(shí)間去畫更多的畫。提香尤其擅長(zhǎng)為當(dāng)時(shí)的貴族們畫肖像畫。其中有幅畫叫《戴手套的男人》。至今也沒(méi)有人知道這幅畫中戴手套的男子到底是誰(shuí),但是幾乎人人都喜歡這幅畫。你覺(jué)得怎樣呢?
提香除了肖像畫外,也畫其他類型的畫。他曾經(jīng)為威尼斯一座教堂的祭壇畫過(guò)一幅叫《圣母升天》的畫,描繪了圣母瑪利亞升天的景象。威尼斯人非常喜歡這幅畫,尤其是它絢麗的色彩,因?yàn)橥崴贡旧砭褪俏孱伭模荷钏{(lán)色的大海環(huán)繞四周,大理石宮殿在明媚的陽(yáng)光下熠熠閃爍。
威尼斯人還喜歡在房子的外墻壁上畫畫,這些畫為整座城市增添了明亮的色彩。喬爾喬涅和提香都在房子的外墻壁上畫過(guò)許多的畫,但是經(jīng)過(guò)風(fēng)吹雨打,現(xiàn)在這些畫都已不復(fù)存在了。
提香經(jīng)歷了漫長(zhǎng)的繪畫生涯后,最終也離開(kāi)了人世。有人認(rèn)為他和喬爾喬涅一樣死于一場(chǎng)瘟疫。
然而,威尼斯還有偉大的畫家。其中有一個(gè)叫丁托列托,意思是“小染匠”,因?yàn)樗赣H曾是一個(gè)染工。丁托列托比提香小很多。他很小就被送到提香的工作室或畫室學(xué)畫??刹恢裁丛颍嵯阒蛔尪⊥辛型性谒漠嬍掖耸?。從那以后,丁托列托就只好自學(xué)繪畫了。
丁托列托也在房子的外墻壁上畫過(guò)許多畫,但這些畫也都像喬爾喬涅和提香的畫一樣,風(fēng)吹日曬,慢慢消失不見(jiàn)了。提香賣畫時(shí)總是小心翼翼,希望能賣個(gè)好價(jià)錢。但是,丁托列托卻好像并不那么在乎錢。就算賣的畫價(jià)低于畫本身,他也心滿意足。他甚至經(jīng)常把畫拿去送人。
丁托列托做過(guò)許多了不起的事,其中一件就是為威尼斯一座叫圣洛可大教堂的建筑外墻畫畫。米開(kāi)朗基羅在濕灰泥墻上畫;達(dá)·芬奇在干灰泥墻上畫;但丁托列托卻在帆布上畫,然后把畫了畫的帆布固定到墻壁上。圣洛可大教堂外墻上的畫就是這樣完成的。
丁托列托在畫畫時(shí),常常捏一些小泥人作模型。他工作速度非常快,所以他一生創(chuàng)作了許多作品。他的畫大多充滿活力,富有動(dòng)感。畫中有些人物就好像從空中飛馳而過(guò)。他的動(dòng)態(tài)畫與意大利早期畫家的靜態(tài)畫區(qū)別很大。丁托列托那充滿活力的畫風(fēng)更像米開(kāi)朗基羅的繪畫風(fēng)格,但卻又含有提香畫中那種絢麗的色彩。
他在自己畫室的門上寫道:“米開(kāi)朗基羅的技巧和提香的色彩。”不過(guò),有時(shí)候他會(huì)超越提香,而采用金褐色、鮮紅色和綠色。丁托列托晚期的畫卻包含了柔和的灰色陰影,并且用銀色修飾代替金色亮光。
丁托列托有一幅名畫叫做《圣馬可的奇跡》。據(jù)說(shuō),圣馬可有一個(gè)非常忠誠(chéng)的仆人,就因?yàn)槭腔酵蕉慌袠O刑要處死。這事發(fā)生在圣馬可離家外出之時(shí)。這仆人被捆綁推倒在法官席前的地上,即將受刑??删驮谶@時(shí),行刑者手上的刑具突然斷裂,圣馬可出現(xiàn)在上空,來(lái)拯救他的仆人。
從丁托列托的畫中可以看到,圣馬可從行刑者正上方的天空飛過(guò),但是除了一個(gè)嬰兒外,畫里沒(méi)有任何人注意到他。因?yàn)樗械娜硕颊⒅行陶呤种袛嗔训男叹摺?nbsp;
丁托列托年老時(shí),奉命畫一幅巨大的描繪樂(lè)園的畫。這幅畫要畫得非常大,足夠遮住一堵長(zhǎng)74英尺、寬30英尺的墻壁。
丁托列托開(kāi)始著手工作,接著就完成了世界上最大的一幅帆布畫。在這幅《天堂》畫面上,基督和圣母坐在天空的云朵上,底下是一群圣人和天使,人物共有五百多。這幅畫是丁托列托最后一幅偉大的作品。這幅畫完成后沒(méi)多久,他就去世了。
丁托列托繪畫作品有的好,有的差。威尼斯人常說(shuō)他有三支筆,一支金的,一支銀的,還有一支鐵的。意思是他有些畫非常好,有些畫卻一般,還有一些畫很蹩腳。這或許就是人們?yōu)槭裁磳?duì)丁托列托的看法各有不同的原因吧。