[16] … “The Butcher’s Dog, in the corner of Mr. Mulready’s ‘Butt,’ displays, perhaps, the most wonderful, because the most dignified, finish … and assuredly the most perfect unity of drawing and colour which the entire range of ancient and modern art can exhibit. Albert Durer is, indeed, the only rival who might be suggested.”





John Ruskin
Slade Professor of Art: Modern Painters.










Mulready, William (RA)
The Butt: Shooting a Cherry
1822-1848
oil on canvas
45.4 38.4 cm
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

“It is a portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti, and I believe it is a real Titian. It shows finish. It is a very perfect sample of the highest finish of ancient art.[17]








[17] … “I feel entitled to point out that the picture by Titian, produced in the case of Whistler v. Ruskin, is an early specimen of that master, and does not represent adequately the style and qualities which have obtained for him his great reputation—one obvious point of difference between this and his more mature work being the far greater amount of finish—I do not say completeness—exhibited in it … and as the picture was brought forward with a view to inform the jury as to the nature of the work of the greatest painter, and more especially as to the high finish introduced in it, it is evident that it was calculated to produce an erroneous impression on their minds, if indeed any one present at the inquiry can hold that those gentlemen were in any way fitted to understand the issues raised therein.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,





A. MOORE.
“Nov. 28.”
Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Echo.

Titian (TIZIANO Vecellio)
Portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti
c. 1545 Oil on canvas,
133 x 103 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington