V. M. 希利尔 （仲秋　译）

作者簡介

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家 ，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》。

Venice is a city where the streets are water and where you take a boat instead of an automobile to go from place to place. Nowadays Venice belongs to Italy， but in the time of the Renaissance， though Venice was in Italy， it didnt belong to Italy. There wasnt any republic of Italy then， and Venice was an independent state， a republic that governed itself. Venice had its own army and navy， its own ruler called the Doge， and its own way of doing things. It had its own great painters， too， during the Renaissance—painters still famous above all others for the wonderful colors they gave to their pictures.

In the early years of the Renaissance there was a painter of Venice named Bellini （Bel-leene） and he had two sons who also became painters. The sons were better painters than their father. One of the Bellini brothers taught painting to two young men who became better painters than any of the Bellinis. These two men were called Giorgione （Jor-joneay）， which means Big George， and Titian （Tishan）， which just means Titian. Three Bellinis， Giorgione， Titian， and Tintoretto—six men with only three names to remember.

I wish I had room to tell you more about the Bellinis. I think you would like their pictures. But there isnt room in this chapter for all of them， so well begin with Giorgione.

威尼斯城里的道路是水路，所以如果你在那里要去一个地方的话，不是乘汽车而是要坐船。现在威尼斯属于意大利，但是在文艺复兴时期，它虽然地处意大利，但却并不属于意大利。文艺复兴时期的意大利还不是一个王国，而威尼斯自己就是一个独立的共和国：威尼斯由总督作为最高统治首脑，有自己的步兵和海军，也有自己的行事方式。不仅如此，它还有自己伟大的画家。文艺复兴时期的威尼斯画家至今都享有盛名，因为他们绘画作品的色彩特别美丽。

在文艺复兴早期时，有一个威尼斯画家名叫贝里尼，后来他的两个儿子也成了画家，甚至比他还要出名。贝里尼的兄弟中还有一个是绘画教师，他教出的两个年轻学生后来比贝里尼家族中的任何人都画得还要好。这两个学生分别叫乔尔乔涅（意思是“大乔治”）和提香（意思是“黄褐色”）。贝里尼父子三人，加上乔尔乔涅、提香和丁托列托，总共六个人，但需要记住的只有乔尔乔涅、提香、丁托列托三个人的名字。

我希望能给你们多介绍一些贝里尼家族成员的故事，而且我猜你一定会喜欢他们作的一些画。可惜这里没有足够的篇幅展示这么多图片，所以我们就先从乔尔乔涅讲起吧。……