V. M. 希利爾 （仲秋　譯）

作者簡介

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家 ，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。

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 didnt belong to Italy. There wasnt 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-leene） 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-joneay）， which means Big George， and Titian （Tishan）， which just means Titian. Three Bellinis， Giorgione， Titian， and Tintoretto—six 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. But there isnt room in this chapter for all of them， so well begin with Giorgione.

威尼斯城里的道路是水路，所以如果你在那里要去一個地方的話，不是乘汽車而是要坐船?，F(xiàn)在威尼斯屬于意大利，但是在文藝復(fù)興時期，它雖然地處意大利，但卻并不屬于意大利。文藝復(fù)興時期的意大利還不是一個王國，而威尼斯自己就是一個獨立的共和國：威尼斯由總督作為最高統(tǒng)治首腦，有自己的步兵和海軍，也有自己的行事方式。不僅如此，它還有自己偉大的畫家。文藝復(fù)興時期的威尼斯畫家至今都享有盛名，因為他們繪畫作品的色彩特別美麗。

在文藝復(fù)興早期時，有一個威尼斯畫家名叫貝里尼，后來他的兩個兒子也成了畫家，甚至比他還要出名。貝里尼的兄弟中還有一個是繪畫教師，他教出的兩個年輕學(xué)生后來比貝里尼家族中的任何人都畫得還要好。這兩個學(xué)生分別叫喬爾喬涅（意思是“大喬治”）和提香（意思是“黃褐色”）。貝里尼父子三人，加上喬爾喬涅、提香和丁托列托，總共六個人，但需要記住的只有喬爾喬涅、提香、丁托列托三個人的名字。

我希望能給你們多介紹一些貝里尼家族成員的故事，而且我猜你一定會喜歡他們作的一些畫。可惜這里沒有足夠的篇幅展示這么多圖片，所以我們就先從喬爾喬涅講起吧。

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 Giorgiones 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 didnt 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 at the picture below.

喬爾喬涅被人們認為是世界上最偉大的畫家之一。不過和列奧納多·達·芬奇一樣，能確定是他親筆畫的只有很少幾幅。有一幅叫《音樂會》的畫作非常有名，盡管大部分人都認為這幅畫是出自喬爾喬涅之手，但還是有一些人認為是他的朋友提香所作?！兑魳窌樊嫷氖侨齻€男人的腦袋和肩膀，其中一人坐在一架翼琴旁。你知道什么是翼琴嗎？它是一種和鋼琴很像的樂器，在鋼琴還沒有發(fā)明之前，西方人彈奏的主要是翼琴。另一個人手里拿著一把小提琴;第三個人頭上戴一頂寬檐帽，帽檐上還裝飾有羽毛，使他看起來像一位女士。我小的時候家里的墻上就掛了一幅《音樂會》的臨摹畫，我一直以為戴大帽子的那個是個女人，直到我長大了才知道他其實是男的。

不幸的是，喬爾喬涅活的時間不長，所以并沒有畫很多作品。當(dāng)時威尼斯有一種叫“瘟疫”的可怕疾病在傳播，喬爾喬涅不幸感染上了瘟疫，三十二歲就去世了。

提香的壽命比他的朋友喬爾喬涅要長，因此也比喬爾喬涅有更多的時間創(chuàng)作更多的畫。那時的貴族很喜歡肖像畫，而提香對肖像畫尤其擅長。其中有一幅肖像畫叫作《戴手套的男子》。雖然至今都沒有人知道這幅畫中的男子到底是誰，但是幾乎沒有人不喜歡這幅畫。你喜歡這幅畫嗎？請看下面的（本刊中為左邊的——編者注）插圖。

除了擅長畫人物肖像，提香也創(chuàng)作其他類型的作品。他曾經(jīng)為威尼斯一座教堂的祭壇畫過一幅畫，畫作的名稱是《想象》，展現(xiàn)的是圣母馬利亞升入天堂時的情景。威尼斯人對這幅畫喜愛有加，尤其是它那鮮艷的顏色。威尼斯城本身就是多姿多彩的，城市被藍色的深海環(huán)繞著，白色的大理石宮殿在明媚的陽光下熠熠生輝。

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 Titians 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.

He too painted many pictures on the outside walls of buildings， but these have washed away like Giorgiones and Titians. Titian had always been careful to make good bargains when he sold his paintings， but Tintoretto didnt 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 Tintorettos 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， Da Vinci 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. Tintorettos were more like Michelangelos energetic paintings. But Tintoretto also had the glowing colors of Titian.

威尼斯人還喜歡在建筑的外墻上作畫，因為這些畫為威尼斯城又增添了更多斑斕的色彩。喬爾喬涅和提香都曾經(jīng)在建筑的外墻上作畫，只可惜這些畫經(jīng)過風(fēng)吹雨打日曬之后，已經(jīng)永遠的消失了。

提香后來也過世了，有人認為他和喬爾喬涅一樣死于瘟疫，從而結(jié)束了他的繪畫人生。

在提香之后，威尼斯仍然還有許多著名的畫家。其中有一個叫丁托列托的畫家，丁托列托的意思是“小染匠”，因為他爸爸是一個染坊工匠。丁托列托比提香的年齡小很多，在他還是小孩子的時候，曾經(jīng)就被送到了提香的畫室（工作室），跟著學(xué)畫畫?？墒翘嵯阒蛔尪⊥辛型写耸?，后來丁托列托不得不離開畫室自學(xué)。

丁托列托也曾經(jīng)在當(dāng)時建筑物的外墻上畫過畫，不過和喬爾喬涅、提香的畫一樣，最后都被雨水沖刷沒了。提香賣畫的時候總是在乎能否賣個好價錢，而丁托列托就不那么在乎錢，就算賣的價格不到畫本身的價值他也心滿意足，而且丁托列托還經(jīng)常把自己的畫免費送出。

丁托列托畫過一件很了不起的作品，那就是他給威尼斯圣洛可大教堂的建筑外墻繪制的畫作。米開朗琪羅把畫畫在濕石灰墻上，達·芬奇則畫在干石灰墻上，而丁托列托卻在帆布上畫畫。帆布畫好后再固定到墻壁上，圣洛可大教堂的外墻畫，丁托列托就是這樣完成的。

丁托列托喜歡捏一些泥人在作畫時做模型。丁托列托畫畫的速度超快，所以他一生中創(chuàng)作了很多繪畫作品。他的畫作充滿活力、動感十足，作品中有的人物就好似在空中飛行一樣。這使得他的畫作與意大利早期畫家的靜態(tài)畫極為不同。丁托列托的畫在活力方面很像米開朗琪羅，色彩方面同時又具備提香繪畫作品的絢麗。

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. Tintorettos later pictures contained soft shades of gray and had a silvery finish rather than a golden glow.

One of Tintorettos 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 judges chair and the torture was about to begin. Suddenly the tools broke in the executioners hands as Saint Mark appeared in the air above. He had come to save his servant.

Tintorettos 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 Tintorettos last great work. He died soon after finishing it.

Some of Tintorettos 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！

丁托列托的畫室門框上有這樣的字句：“米開朗琪羅的手法和提香的色彩?！辈贿^色彩方面，丁托列托甚至比提香更有突破。比如，提香最常用的顏色是金褐色、亮紅色和綠色，而丁托列托晚期的畫作還使用了很多柔和的灰色，而且還用銀色代替了金色做修飾。

《圣馬可的奇跡》（本頁左側(cè)畫作——編者注）是丁托列托另一幅著名的畫作。繪畫的故事背景是，圣馬可有一個非常忠誠的仆人，但這個仆人因為是基督徒而被判酷刑處死。當(dāng)事情發(fā)生時，圣馬可并不在家。就在這個仆人被平放在法官席前的地面上即將行刑的時候，突然行刑者手中的刑具無故斷裂了，因為圣馬可從天而來，解救了自己的仆人。

畫中，圣馬可飛在行刑者上方的空中，但是除了一個嬰兒沒人注意到他，因為所有人都盯著行刑者手中斷裂的刑具。

晚年時，丁托列托還奉命繪制一幅巨大的、名為《天堂》的作品。這幅畫非常大，需要覆蓋長74英尺（約22.6米），高30英尺（約9.1米）的墻壁。

丁托列托接下了這項工作，并且完成了世界上最大的一幅帆布畫?！短焯谩愤@幅畫一共有五百多個人物，畫的是耶穌和圣母馬利亞端坐于云朵之上，下面是成群的圣人和天使。這幅畫是丁托列托的遺作之筆，他在完成這幅畫之后沒多久就離世了。

丁托列托繪畫作品的質(zhì)量有好、有差。威尼斯人常說他有三支筆，“金筆、銀筆，還有一支鐵筆”。就是說丁托列托有些畫很好，有些畫還可以，但還有一些畫就不怎么樣了。也許這就是為什么人們對丁托列托有著不同評價的原因。

威尼斯城其實在丁托列托之后還出現(xiàn)了許多大畫家。但這一章只夠擠下這幾位了：貝里尼父子三人、喬爾喬涅、提香，以及丁托列托。

Word Study

undertaking /'?nd?'te?k??/ n. 任務(wù);項目

Organizing the show has been a massive undertaking.

glowing /'ɡl????/ adj. 熱情洋溢的

He spoke of her performance in the film in glowing terms.

torture /'t??t??（r）/ v. 拷打;拷問

Despite being tortured she proclaimed her innocence.