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“Bartolomeu mt Paul pinxit, Chatarino Filius Magistri Andre e incixit hoc opus.” But that Chatarinus was also a painter is shown by his altarpiece in the hands of the Conte Orsi at Ancona, 1 on the border of which one reads: “ Chatari . . . nus de . Yenecii pinxit.” 2 This is a production important only for its inscription, being executed with little talent, and defective not merely in types which are ugly, but in colour which is harsh, dull and raw. The gazing eyes, the broad rude touch and hard outlines are equally repulsive; and in his work Chatarinus reveals the germ of the style which became marked in the school of Crivelli. It has never been affirmed that the early Venetian school was great in composition. It lias been said that it was from its origin a school of colour. Yet in the fourteenth and half the fifteenth centuries the Venetians were not only inferior colourists to the Florentines, but to the Siennese and Umbrians. That Gentile da Fabriano, an Umbrian, shed his influence over the art of Venice is admitted. He was on friendly terms with Jacopo Bellini who had studied the Florentine masterpieces in the city that produced them. But Venice did not lead as a school of colour till the arrival of Antonello da Messina and the rise of the sons of Jacopo Bellini. She kept that lead under Giorgione and Titian, and if at first she clung to old and worn traditions long after they had been abandoned by other cities, she compensated for previous 1 Contrada delle Stade. No. 67. Representing the Madonna, be tween S.S. John the Baptist and Anthony the abbot, Christopher, and James, with a crucifixion in the upper course between S.S. Barbara, Bartholomew, and Lucy, Catherine, Chiara, and Mary [ Magdalen. A small figure of a donor kneels at the feet of the Virgin. 2 The painter’s name is divided by a shield, with the donor’s arms.
