=Pictures in Church: No. 312

WITH the Lombardo
brothers, Tullio and
Antonio, sons of the architect of Santa Maria dei Miraeoli, passes the first fine careless rapture of the Venetian
1= Renaissance. In spite of all the ormarelisfloole, I a
splendours that follow. there is still the feeling that youth has been lost irrevocably to the .vorld of art and a scent of over ripeness will soon hang upon the air.
The spirit of Giorgione's romantic dream clings to the
M iracoli church built so austerely upon the clean forms of rectangle. cube, and circle, and resulting in so simple a reasonableness. No wonder it is the church of weddings. It breathes a sweet delicacy; a. sense of contentment invades it, yet it is springy with life, inventive. and never dull.
The carving in this church, so quietly subservient to the architecture, is easily overlooked. Yet it is richly worked. much of it in arabesque panels where goats and gryphons and dolphins disport themselves among acanthus and vines, accompanied by cherubs and mermaids in a happy incongruous gambol, Tullio Lombardo was probably responsible for much of
this carving. His gifts were not original. but his work is out of a good tradition which he is content to transmit competently. His are the four kneeling angels that support the altar in the ( hurch of S. Martino.
IRIS CONLAY