"TITIAN, (Tiziano Vecelli,) called DA CADORE, born in 1480 at the castle of Cadore. . . ." No. 14.--THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. LAWRENCE. This large picture, a repetition of the one painted for the Jesuits at Venice, . . . may be considered as one of his grandest works, exhibiting his truth and energy, his wonderful chiaro-oscuro, as well as his peculiar colouring generally, in the highest degree. The following descriptions of the work are extracted from Lanzi and other authors, the former notice of it having been from another: "His natural manner of representing the various effects of light may be best gathered from his martyrdom of San Lorenzo, belonging to the Jesuits at Venice, in which he displayed such an astonishing diversity in the splendour of fire, and in that of torch-lights, and in that of a supernatural light, which appears to fall upon the martyr; a picture unfortunately much defaced by age, but of which there is a near imitation or duplicate in the Escurial. He likewise expressed with the utmost felicity, the time of the day in which the event is supposed to have taken place; and he frequently selected nightfall, drawing forth all its most beautiful attributes for the canvas. . . ." [P. 26; entry includes a detailed biography of the artist.]
Catalogue of the Pictures Forming the Collection of the Works of the Old Masters now Being exhibited at the Gallery of the National Academy of Design in Broadway. 1849. New-York: George F. Nesbitt, Stationer and Printer, corner of Wall and Water Streets. 1849.