Even here the eternal pride of Venice comes in, for, made local, it has been construed as Love, or say Destiny, completing the nuptials of the Adriatic (Bacchus) with Venice (Ariadne), and conferring on Venice the crown of supremacy.

But that matters nothing.

What matters is that the picture is at once Tintoretto's simplest work and his most lovely.

One can do nothing but enjoy it in a kind of stupor of satisfaction, so soothing and perfect is it.

His "Crucifixion," which we shall see at the Scuola of S.Rocco, must ever be this giant painter's most tremendous achievement; but the picture before us must equally remain his culminating effort in serene, absolute beauty.