TREES IN PAINTING 217 



stones. So the Venetians were colourists rather 

 than designers ; and nowadays painters who 

 are, above all, designers, such as Burne-Jones, 

 turn rather to the Florentines and Umbrians 

 than to them for instruction and inspiration, 

 or, if they go to the Venetians, single out for 

 especial affection and praise, Giovanni Bellini 

 and Carpaccio, who come nearer than the 

 later masters to the mid- Italians. Thus Burne- 

 Jones once wrote to a friend in Italy: **Of 

 all things do go to the little chapel of S. 

 Giorgio di Schiavoni, where the Carpaccios 

 are. The tiniest church that ever was, like 

 a very small London drawing-room — but with 

 pictures ! ! ! And whenever you see Carpaccio 

 give him my love, and whenever you see 

 Bellini give him my adoration, for none is like 

 him — John, that is, for his brother I only 

 respect." 



On the other hand Titian came much less 

 near to Burne-Jones's heart, yet it is to him 

 we go, more than to Bellini and Carpaccio, for 

 a " forward movement" in the painting of land- 

 scape, and particularly, here, of trees. The 

 wondrous beauty of the sea, the mountains and 

 the woodland, was to him something to be re- 



