Xlltra (ar13) VERONICA FRANCO. TINTORETTO. AND NARCISSUS Norman E. Land At the beginning of the second book of his treatise on painting, De Pictura (1435), Leon Battista Alberti refersto Narcissus as "the first painter."For Alberti, Narcissus was a painter because he "depicted" his image on the surfaceof the pool of water into which he gazed. Although Alberti does not say as much, he impliesthat Narcissus was also a viewer or spectator of his own creation. Other writers-namely, Antonio Averlino called Il Filarete, and Paolo Pino-also allude to the mythological fig- ure as an artistbut do not present Narcissus specifically in the imageof a viewer.' There is, however, at least oneauthor, theVenetian poet and courtesan Veronica Franco, who, in a publishedletter addressed to Jacopo Tintoretto, apparentlysaw the implication of Alberti'simage.2 In her letter, Franco first laments the opinion that ancienttimes were betterthan her own day,that nature favored the men of antiquity but not those of sixteenth-century Venice. Somepeople claim, she says, that thereare no contemporary artists as excel- lent as those of antiquity such as the painters Apelles and Zeuxis,and the sculp- tors Praxitelesand Phidias. On the other hand, sheadds, thereare those who say that Michelangelo,Raphael,Titian, and Tin- toretto surpass the ancients. According to Franco, Tintoretto, who is obliviousto praise,pays no attention to other people's opinions about him, goodor bad.Rather, shecontinues, he concentrates on his painting, which is an art of imitating nature. Franco tellsTintoretto thathe excels at imitating not only the human body,but, most impressively, human emotions. In- deed,the great ancientRoman actor Ros- cius was probably not as ableto express as manyemotions on stage asTintoretto is able to paint in his marvelous pictures.Here Franco signals her awareness of the dramat- ic and theatrical qualities of many of Tinto- retto's paintings. His figures arelike players on a stage, expressing manydifferent emo- tions, and he, by implication, is like the director of a play,who draws forth a variety of expressions from his actors. Then Franco turnsto Tintoretto's portrait of her, which is often associated with a painting in the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts (Fig. 1).r Shesays thatwhen she first viewedthe portrait,she could not be certain whether it wasa painting by Tin- toretto or a diabolical deception-"diaboli- co inganps"-gleated by the devil, not to cause herto fall in love with herself, asNar- cissus did with himself, but for someother. unknown reason. ThankGod, she exclaims, shedoes not consider herself so lovely that shewould fall in love with her own image. In short,she knows herselfand is not like Narcissus, who lovedhis own beauty. Nature, Franco warns Tintoretto, is aware of his divinamano, or "divinehand," andof the lossshe suffers as a result of it, and will not grant to connoisseurs of art enough intelligence to explainthe artist'sachieve- SOURCE: Notes in the History of Art, 22, 2 (2003) © Norman E. Land