VENICE V E N I C E BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE AUTHOR OF " WALKS IN ROME," " DAYS NEAR ROME, ' ETC. SECOND EDITION GEORGE ALLEN 1, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR, LONDON \2 \ SUNNYSIDE, ORPINGTON \All rights reset vcd\ CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE APPROACH I ii. s. MARK'S AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 14 III. THE GRAND CANAL 53 IV. SOUTH-EASTERN VENICE 98 V. NORTH-EASTERN VENICE 127 VI. WESTERN VENICE 152 VII. SUBURBAN VENICE : THE GIUDECCA AND IL REDENTORE, S. GIORGIO, THE ARMENIAN CONVENT, S. ELENA, AND THE LIDO 179 VIII. CHIOGGIA 190 IX. MURANO AND TORCELLO 195 INDEX 209 VE: [CE VENICE. CHAPTER I. THE APPROACH. [The station is about an hour in a gondola from the Piazza S. Marco, which is the centre of Venetian life. A gondola with one gondolier costs I fr. , each piece of luggage 20 c. extra. Hotels. Grand Hotel, a large new hotel ; Italia, Europa, good ; Bretagna, excellent for families, but with no good single rooms ; Pension Suisse all these are in the same admirable situation near the entrance of the Grand Canal, and close to the Piazza S. Marco. Vittoria, good, but situated on a side canal, subject to terrible smells. Danieli, Riva degli Schiavoni, old-fashioned. Inghilterra, Riva degli Schiavoni, a small but comfortable house, pleasant and sunny in winter and spring, hot in summer. Restaurant. Quadri, Piazza S. Marco (right), excellent for lunch- eons if you are in an hotel, for everything if in lodgings. Bauer Grunwald, Via 22 Marzo. S. Moist, opposite the church of that name. CaffZ. Florian (left), of world -wide reputation, Piazza S. Marco. Quadri (right). Gondolas (the cabs of Venice) cost (with one gondolier and four pas- sengers) I fr. the first hour, and fr. for each hour afterwards. For the whole day 5^ frs. English Church. On the second floor of Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, close to the Accademia, on the right. Photographer celebrated for portraits Ant. Sorgato, 4674 Cam- piello del Tin, S. Zaccaria, behind Hotel d'Angleterre. For Venetian views, Naya, Piazza S. Marco. Bookseller. Munster, Piazza S. Marco. Curiosity Shops, once almost confined to the Ghetto, ' are now to be found everywhere in the city, and most of them are on the Grand Canal, where they heap together marvellous collections, and establish authenticities beyond cavil. " Is it an original ?" asked a young lady B 2 VENICE who was visiting one of their shops, as she paused before an attributive Veronese, or perhaps a Titian. " S\> signora, originalissimo ! " ' Howells. Venetian Jewellery. The street near the Ponte di Rialto, left bank. It should be known that almost everything bought in the Piazza S. Marco costs treble the price asked in the Frezzaria and other less fashion- able parts of the town. Wood Sculpture. . Travellers should visit the Atelier (2795 Canal Grande) of Valentino Besarel. It is only in Italy that you find this interesting type of the untaught artist of unerring taste, whose art is the sole object and interest of his life. Besarel is a native of Cadore, where his ancestors were carvers of wood in Titian's time.] ' This noble citie doth in a manner chalenge this at my hands, that I should describe her also as well as the other cities I saw in my journey, partly because she gave me most louing and kinde entertain- ment for the sweetest time (I must needes confesse) that euer I spent in my life ; and partly for that she ministered vnto me more variety of remarkable and delicious obiects then mine eyes euer suruayed in any citie before, or euer shall . . . the fairest Lady, yet the richest Paragon, and Queene of Christendome.' Coryafs Crudities, 1611, ' Les autres villes ont des admirateurs, Venise a des amoureux.' Saint- Victor. THE railway from Padua to Venice crosses a flat plain covered with vineyards, whose garlands reach almost to the edge of the lagoons. It is at Mestre that all the in- terest begins. There is ' a breath of Venice in the breeze.' Across the soft grey distances, the towers of Venice are seen on the horizon, repeating themselves in the water. Through- out the still expanse, poles rising at intervals mark the ' path- ways in the sea.' In the nearer foreground boats with great red and yellow sails are finding their way out into the open water by narrow runlets through the tall reeds. The traveller now hurries past Mestre ; but till a few years ago it was important, as the place where, wearied with a long journey by diligence or carriage, he embarked for Venice, while gladdened by the first sight of the promised city. ' Not but that the aspect of the city itself was generally the source of some slight disappointment, for, seen in this direction, its buildings are far less characteristic than those of the other great towns of Italy ; but this inferiority was partly disguised by distance, and more than atoned THE LAGOONS 3 for by the strange rising of its walls and towers out of the midst, as it seemed, of the deep sea, for it was impossible that the mind or the eye could at once comprehend the shallowness of the vast sheet of water which stretched away in leagues of rippling lustre to the north and south, or trace the narrow line of islets bounding it to the east. The salt breeze, the white moaning sea-birds, the masses of black weed separating and disappearing gradually, in knots of heaving shoal, under the advance of the steady tide, all proclaimed it to be indeed the ocean on whose bosom the great city rested so calmly ; not such a blue, soft, lake-like ocean as bathes the Neapolitan promontories, or sleeps beneath the marble rocks of Genoa, but a sea with the bleak power of our northern waves, yet subdued into a strange spacious rest, and changed from its angry pallor into a field of burnished gold, as the sun declined behind the belfry tower of the lonely island church, fitly named " St. George of the Sea- weed." As the boat drew nearer to the city, the coast which the traveller had just left sank behind him into one long, low, sad-coloured line, tufted irregularly with brushwood and willows : but, at what seemed its northern extremity, the hills of Arqua rose in a dark cluster of purple pyramids, balanced on the bright mirage of the lagoon, two or three smooth surges of inferior hills extended themselves about their roots, and beyond these, beginning with the craggy peaks above Vicenza, the chain of the Alps girded the whole horizon to the north a wall of jagged blue, here and there showing through its clefts a wilder- ness of misty precipices, fading far back into the recesses of Cadore, and itself rising and breaking away eastward, when the sun struck oppo- site upon its snow, into mighty fragments of peaked light, standing up behinds the bars of clouds of evening, one after another, countless, the crown of the Adrian Sea, until the eye turned back from pursuing them, to rest upon the nearer burning of the campaniles of Murano, and on the great city, where it magnified itself along the waves, as the quick silent pacing of the gondola drew nearer and nearer. And at last, when its walls were reached, and the outmost of its untrodden streets was entered, not through towered gate or guarded rampart, but as a deep inlet be- tween two rocks of coral in the Indian sea ; where first upon the travel- ler's sight opened the long ranges of columned palaces each with its black boat moored at the portal each with its image cast down, beneath its feet, upon that green pavement which every breeze broke into new fantasies of rich tessellation ; when first, at the extremity of the bright vista, the shadowy , Rialto threw its colossal curve slowly forth from behind the palace of the Camerlenghi ; that strange curve, so delicate, so admantine, strong as a mountain cavern, graceful as a bow just bent ; when first, before its moonlike circumference was all risen, the gondolier's cry, " Ah ! Stall ! " struck sharp upon the ear, and the prow turned aside under the mighty cornices that half met over the narrow canal, where the plash of the water followed close and loud, ringing along the marble by the boat's side ; and when at last that boat darted B2 4 VENICE forth upon the breadth of silver sea, across which the front of the Ducal palace, flushed with its sanguine veins, looks to the snowy dome of Our Lady of Salvation, it was no marvel that the mind should be so deeply entranced by the visionary charm of a scene so beautiful and so strange, as to forget the darker truths of its history and its being. Well might it seem that such a city had owed its existence rather to the rod of the enchanter, than the fear of the fugitive ; that the water which encircled her had been chosen for the mirror of her state, rather than the shelter of her nakedness ; and that all which in nature was wild or merciless Time and Decay, as well as the waves and tempests had been won to adorn her instead of to destroy, and might still spare, for ages to come, that beauty which seemed to have fixed for its throne the sands of the hour-glass as well as of the sea.' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice.' ' I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand : A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around me, and a dying Glory smiles O'er the far times, when many a subject land Look'd to the wing'd Lion's marble piles, Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles ! ' She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers At airy distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powers ; And such she was ; her daughters had their dowers From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East Pour'd in her lap all gems in sparkling showers. In purple was she robed, and of her feast Monarchs partook, and deem'd their dignity increased. ' In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more, And silent rows the songless gondolier ; Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, And music meets not always now the ear ; Those days are gone but Beauty still is here. States fall, arts fade but Nature doth not die, Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear, The pleasant place of all festivity, The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy ! Byron, ' Childe Harold. ' Venice, founded c. 421, owes its existence to the panic inspired by the total destruction of Aquileia. 1 Many of the 1 Aquileia and Grado (see Cities of Northern Italy) should be visited in connec- tion with Venice. THE FOUNDATION OF VENICE 5 inhabitants of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua also fled before the barbarians, to the seventy-two islands which had formed in the lagoons of the Adriatic, and there they built a town. ' In the northern angle of the Adriatic is a gulf, called Zagune, in which more than sixty islands of sand, marsh, and seaweed have been formed by a concurrence of natural causes. These islands have become the City of Venice, which has lorded it over Italy, conquered Constan- tinople, resisted a league of all the kings of Christendom, long carried on the commerce of the world, and bequeathed to nations the model of the most stable government ever framed by man. ' Daru, ' Histoire de la Republique de Venise. ' ' It was for no idle fancy that their colonists fled to these islands ; it was no mere whim which impelled those who followed to combine with them ; necessity taught them to look for security in a highly disadvan- tageous situation, which afterwards became most advantageous, enduing them with talent, when the whole of the northern world was immersed in gloom. Their increase and their wealth were the necessary conse- quence. New dwellings arose close against dwellings, rocks took the place of sand and marsh, houses sought the sky, being forced, like trees enclosed in a narrow compass, to seek in height what was denied to them in breadth. Being niggard of every inch of ground, as having been from the outset compressed into a narrow compass, they allowed no more room for the streets than was absolutely necessary for separating one row of houses from another, and affording a narrow way for pas- sengers. Moreover, water was at once street, square, and promenade. The Venetian was forced to become a new creature ; and Venice can only be compared with itself.' Goethe. ' A few in fear, Flying away from him whose boast it was That the grass grew not where his horse had trod, Gave birth to Venice. Like the water- fowl, They built their nests among the ocean-waves ; And where the sands were shifting, as the wind Blew from the north or south where they that came Had to make sure the ground they stood upon, Rose, like an exhalation from the deep, A vast metropolis, with glistening spires, With theatres, basilicas adorned ; A scene of light and glory, a dominion, That has endured the longest among men.' Rogers. 1 The ruler of the Adriatic, who never was infant or stripling, whom God took by the hand and taught to walk by himself the first hour. ' Landor. 6 VENICE For nearly uoo years the colony thus formed was governed by a series of Dukes or Doges? amongst whom perhaps the best-known names have been those of Sebas- 1 The order of the Doges has been 697 716. Paolo Anafesto. 726 737. Orso I. 742 755. Deodato Orso. 756 756. Galla. 759 764. Dom. Monegario. 764 787. Maurizio Galbaia. 804 809. Obelario Antenorip. 810 827. Angelo Partecipazip. 827 830. Giustiniano Partecipazio. 830 837. Giovanni Partecipazio I. 837 864. Pietro Tradonico. 864 88 1. Orso I. Partecipazio. 881 886. Giov. Partecipazio II. 886 887. Pietro Candiano I. 888 912. Pietro Tribuno. 932 932. Orso II. Partecipazio. 932 939. Pietro Candiano II. 939 942. Pietro Badoero Partecipazio. 942 959. Candiano III. 959 97^- Candiano IV. 976 977. Pietro Orseolo I. 978 979. Vittore Candiano. 979 991. Tribolo Memmo. 991 009. Ottone Orseolo. [nigo. 1026 030. Pietro Barbplano Centra- 1030 043. Dom. Flabanicp. 1043 071. Dom. Contarini. 1071 081. Dom. Selva. 1084 096. Vitale Falieri. 1096 102. Vitale Michieli I. 1102 117. Ordelaffo Falieri. 1117 130. Domenico Michieli. 1130 148. Pietro Polani. 1148 156. Dom. Morosini. 1156 1172. Vitale Michieli II. 1172 1178. Sebastiano Ziani. 1178 1192. Orio Malipiero. 1192 1205. Enrico Dandolo. 1205 1228. Pietro Ziani. 1229 1249. Jacopo Tiepolo. 1249 1252. Marco Morosini. 1252 1268. Riniero Zeno. 12681275. Lorenzo Tiepolo. 1275 1280. Giovanni Dandolo. 1288 1310. Pietro Gradenigo. 13101311. Marco Giorgio. 1311 1328. Giovanni Soranzo. 1328 1339. Francesco Dandolo. 1339 1342. Bartolommeo Gradenigo 13421354. Andrea Dandolo. 1354 1355. Marino Faliero. 1355 1356. Giovanni Gradenigo. 1356 1361. Giovanni Delfino. 1361 1365. Lorenzo Celsi. 13651367. Marco Cornarp. 1367 1382. Andrea Contarini. 1382. Michele Morosini. 1382 1400. Antonio Venier. 1423- 1457- 1462- 1471- M73- 1474- 1476- 1478- 1485- 1486 1501 1521 1523- 1528- 1545- 1553- 1554- 1556- 1559- 1567- 1570- 1577- 1578- 1585- 1595- 1606- 1612 1615- 1618. 1618- 1623- 1624 1630 -- 1631 1645- 1655- 1656. 1656- 1658- 1659- 1674- 1676- 1423- 1457- 1462. 1471. 1473- 1474. 1476. 1478. 1485. 1485. 1501. 1521. 1523- 1528. 1545- 1553- 1554- 1556- 1559- 1567. 157- 1577- 1578- 1585- 1595- 1606. 1612. 1615. 1618. 1623. 1624. 1630. 1631. X 645- -1655- 1656. 1658. 1659. -1674. -1676. 1694 1700 1709 1722 1732 I73S 1741 1752 1762. 1768 1779 -1694. 1700. ^1709. -1722. -1732. -1735. 1741. -1752. -1762. -1779. -1788. 1797, Michele Steno. Tommaso Mocenigo. Francesco Foscari. Pasquale Malipiero. Cristofero Moro. Niccol6 Tron. Niccol5 Marcello. Pietro Mocenigo. Andrea Vendramin. Giovanni Mocenigo. Marco Barberigp. Agostino Barberigo. Leonardo Loredan. Antonio Grimani. Andrea Gritti. Pietro Lando. Francesco Donato. Marco Trevisan. Francesco Venier. Lorenzo Priuli. Girolamo Priuli. Pietro Loredan. Alvise Mocenigo I. Sebastiano Venier. Niccol6 da Ponte. Pasquale Cicogna. Marino Grimani. Leonardo Donato. Marco Memmo. Giovanni Bembo. Niccol5 Donato. Antonio Priuli. Francesco Contarini. Giovanni Cornaro. Niccolb Contarini. Francesco Erizzo. Francesco Molin. Carlo Contarini. Francesco Cornaro. Bertuccip Valier. Giovanni Pesaro. Domenico Contarini II. Niccolb Sagredo. Alvise Contarini II. Marc. Ant. Giustiniani. Franc. Morosini. Silvestro Valier. Alvise Mocenigo II. Giovanni Cornaro. Seb. Mocenigo III. Carlo Kuzzini. Alvise Pisani. Pietro Grimani. Francesco Loredan. Marco Foscarini. Alvise Mocenigo III. Paolo Renier. Lodovico Manin. ARRIVAL AT VENICE 7 tiano Ziani, under whom Frederick Barbarossa humbled him- self in the portico of S. Mark's before Pope Alexander III.; Andrea Dandolo, who took part in the fourth Crusade and the conquest of Constantinople ; Marino Faliero, beheaded before the Ducal palace for aspiring to the sovereign power ; and Francesco Foscari, deposed after having been forced to drive his own son into permanent exile. ' We take no note nowadays, and the Doges and magnificent Senators took no note, of the generation of true founders, who must have buried themselves with their piles and stakes, upon the mud banks, to lay a feasible foundation for the place, founding it, as every great human city is founded, upon human blood and sacrifice. But there stands the city of S. Mark miraculous, a thing for giants to wonder at, and fairies to copy if they could. The wonder leaps upon the traveller all at once, arriving over the broad plains of Italy, through fields of wheat and gardens of olive, through vineyards and swamps of growing rice, across broad rivers and monotonous flats of richest land, by the Euganean mountains dark upon the pale sky of evening, and the low swamps gleaming under the new-risen moon. The means of arrival, indeed, are commonplace enough, but lo ! in a moment you step out of the common- place railway station, into the lucid stillness of the Water City, into poetry and wonderland. The moon rising above shines upon pale palaces dim and splendid, and breaks in silver arrows and broad gleams of whiteness upon the ripple and soft glistening movement of the canal, still, yet alive with a hundred reflections, and a soft pulsation and twinkle of life. The lights glitter above and below, every star and every lamp doubled ; and the very path by which you are to travel lives and greets you with soft gleams of liquid motion, and soft gurgle of liquid sound. And then comes the measured sweep of the oars, and you are away along the silent splendid road, all darkling, yet alight, the poorest smoky oil-lamp making for itself a hundred twinkling stars in the little facets of the wavelets ; ripplets, which gleam far before you, shining and twinkling like so many fairy forerunners preparing your way. Not a sound less harmonious and musical than the soft plash of the water against the marble steps and grey walls, the wave and wash against your boat, the wild cry of the boatmen, as they round with magical precision each sharp gorner, or the singing of some wandering boatful of musicians on the Grand Canal, disturbs the quiet. Across the flat Lido from the Adriatic comes a little breath of fresh wind, touching your cheek with a caress ; and when, out of a maze of narrow water-lanes, you shoot out into the breadth and glorious moonlight of the Grand Canal, and see the lagoon go widening out, a plain of dazzling silver, into the distance, and great churches and palaces standing up pale against the light, our Lady of Salvation and S. George the Greater 8 VENICE guarding the widening channel, what words can describe the novel, beautiful scene ? ' Blackwood, DCCV. The impression produced when we have passed the great railway bridge, which has dissolved the marriage of Venice with the sea, and the train glides into the Railway Station is one never to be forgotten. Instead of the noise of a street, and its rattling carriages, you find, as you descend the portico of the station, the salt waves of the Grand Canal lapping against the marble steps, and a number of gondolas, like a row of black hearses, drawn up against them. Into one of these you step, take your seat in thefetze, or little hut, and noiselessly, ghastlily, without apparent motion, you float off into the green water. ' Let me this gondola boat compare to a slumbrous cradle, And to a spacious bier liken this cover demure ; Thus on the open canal through life we are swaying and swimming Onward with never a care, coffin and cradle between.' Monckton Milnes, from Goethe, ' How light we move, how softly ! Ah, Were life but as the gondola ! ' C lough. It is perhaps best, and no mere romantic idea, to enter Venice for the first time hy moonlight. Then all the shabby detail, all the ruin and decay, and poor unartistic repairs of the grand old buildings are lost, and the first views of the Grand Canal are indeed surpassingly beautiful, and you are carried back to ' the golden days of the Queen of the Adriatic.' ' The south side rises o'er our bark, A wall impenetrably dark, The north is seen profusely bright ; The water, is it shade or light ? In planes of sure division made By angles sharp of palace walls The clear light and the shadow falls ; Oh, sight of glory, sight of wonder ! Seen, a pictorial portent, under, O great Rialto, the vast round Of thy thrice-solid arch profound.' Clough, THE INFLUENCE OF VENICE 9 'A city of marble, did I say? nay, rather a golden city, paved with emerald. For truly, every pinnacle and turret glanced and glowed, overlaid with gold, or bossed with jasper. Beneath, the unsullied sea drew in deep breathing, to and fro, its eddies of green wave. Deep- hearted, majestic, terrible as the sea the men of Venice moved in sway of power and war ; pure as her pillars of alabaster, stood her mothers and maidens ; from foot to brow, all noble, walked her knights ; the low bronzed gleaming of sea-rusted armour shot angrily under their blood-red mantle-folds. Fearless, faithful, patient, impenetrable, im- placable every word a fate sate her senate. In hope and honour, lulled by flowing of wave around their isles of sacred sand, each with his name written and the cross graven at his side, lay her dead. A won- derful piece of the world. Rather, itself a world. It lay along the face of the waters, no larger, as its captains saw it from their masts at evening, than a bar of sunset that could not pass away ; but for its power, it must have seemed to them as if they were sailing in the ex- panse of heaven, and this a great planet, whose orient edge widened through ether. A world from which all ignoble care and petty thoughts were banished, with all the common and poor elements of life. No foulness or tumult, in those tremulous streets, that filled or fell beneath the moon ; but rippled music of majestic change, or thrilling silence. No weak walls could rise above them ; nor low-roofed cottage, nor straw-built shed. Only the strength as of rock, and the finished setting of stones most precious. And around them, far as the eye could reach, still the soft moving of stainless waters, proudly pure ; as not the flower, as neither the thorn nor the thistle, could grow in the glancing fields. Ethereal strength of Alps, dream-like, vanishing in high procession beyond the Torcellan shore ; blue islands of Paduan hills, poised in the golden west. Above, free winds and fiery clouds ranging at their will ; brightness out of the north, and balm from the south, and the stars of the evening and morning clear in the limitless light of arched heaven and circling sea. ' Ruskin, ' Modern Painters. ' ' A Venise, celui qui est heureux, celui qui a soif des bruits du monde et qui a peur du silence, se sent bientot envahi par le boiteux ennui ; mais, quand on a connu les rigueurs de la vie, on y revient toujours ; on se prend peu a peu d'une sorte de tendresse pour chaque place, pour chaque coin, pour chaque Traghetto ; la legerete de ce ciel, la clarte unique de 1'atmosphere, cette lumiere grise, argentee, les reflets d'acier de la lagune, les miroitements de Venise la Rouge, la douceur du parler venitien, la confiance paisible des habitants, leur indulgence a toute fantaisie, leur doux commerce, les nuits claires comme les jours et je ne sais quoi qui chante au coeur et dans le ciel et sur les eaux : tout seduit le voyageur et le charme, le prend tout entier, et il va se regarder comme un exil quand il sera loin de la Piazzetta.' Charles Yriarte. io VENICE It is not a mere following up of the list of sights indicated in these pages which can give the impression of what Venice ought to convey, and is ready to teach through the wonder- ful histories and allegories which are engraved in the sculp- tures of her walls as in a marble picture-book. Venice, like Orvieto, is full of the deepest material for thought, and many of her buildings are still like an index to the his- torical and religious feelings of the time in which they were built. ' At Venice, as indeed throughout the whole Christian world, the legend was the earliest form of poetry ; and if it did not strike root there deeper than elsewhere, it at least adorned the infancy of the re- public with an infinite variety of flowers, which retained all their beauty and freshness in the proudest days of its prosperity. Each temple, monastery, religious or national monument, was surrounded from its foundations with its own peculiar legends, which increased with every succeeding century ; and, not satisfied with these local traditions, the people took possession of those of Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece, which became naturalised in the Lagunes in proportion as the relics of saints and martyrs were transported there, in order to preserve them from the outrages of the Infidels, now become masters of those countries in which the earliest Christian churches had been founded. Rio. Venice is still one of the most religious cities in Italy. Prayer never ceases here : the Sacrament is constantly ex- posed in one or other of the churches, and the clergy succeed one another in prayers before it, night as well as day. Every Venetian boy is called Giovanni, as every girl is Maria names which are supposed to protect them from the power of witches. These, therefore, are the appellations given by the Church, which has a right to choose one of the three names of each child, the others being selected by the santolo or godfather. Almost all Venetian women marry young as the popular song says ' Maridite, maridite, donzela, Che dona maridada e sempre bela ; Maridite finche la foglia e verde, Perche la zoventii presto se perde. ' VENETIAN GEOGRAPHY 11 Each day spent in the water- city will add to its charm, but from the first all is novel and enchanting : the very cries of the gondoliers have something most wild and pic- turesque. They are thus explained by Monckton Milnes : ' When along the light ripple the far serenade Has accosted the ear of each passionate maid, She may open the window that looks on the stream She may smile on her pillow and blend it in dream ; Half in words, half in music, it pierces the gloom, " I am coming stall but you know not for whom ! Stall not for whom ! " Now the tones become clearer you hear more and more How the water divided returns on the oar Does the prow of the gondola strike on the stair ? Do the voices and instruments pause and prepare ? Oh ! they faint on the ear as the lamp on the view, " I am passing preme but I stay not for you ! Preme not for you ! " Then return to your couch, you who stifle a tear Then awake not, fair sleeper believe he is here ; For the young and the loving no sorrow endures, If to-day be another's, to-morrow is yours ; May, the next time you listen, your fancy be true, " I am coming sciar and for you and to you ! Sciar and to you ! " ' ' To English eyes the sailors wh&facchini with their large earrings are almost as curious as the young dandies in the Giardino in summer with their almost invariable fans as well as parasols ! Travellers will do well to select an hotel as near as possible to the Piazza S. Marco, which is in itself filled with interest and delight, and is the centre of everything else. Here they may devote every extra moment to revisiting the most glorious church in the world, and hence they will gradually learn to make their way through the narrow streets which wind labyrinthine-like over the closely-packed group of islets. The best way will be to make a tour of Venice 1 From the verb Stalir, to go to the right ; Premier, to go the left ; and Sciar or Siar, to stop the boat by turning the flat part of the oar against the current. 12 VENICE first in a gondola, and then, when partially familiar with the position of things, to follow up your explorations on foot, for every square, every house even of the city, may be visited by land as well as by water, as the 72 islands on which the town is built are connected by from 350 to 400 bridges. The geography, however, is indescribably difficult. The Ca/le, as the narrow streets are called, are, in their way, as full of interest as the canals. ' Jusqu'aux ruelles, aux moindres places, il n'y a rien qui ne fasse plaisir. Du palais Loredan, oil je suis, on tourne, pour aller a Saint- Marc, par des calle biscornues et charmantes, tapissees de boutiques, de merceries, d'etalages de melons, de legumes et d'oranges, peuplees de costumes voyants, de figures narquoises ou sensuelles, d'une foule bruis- sante et changeante. Ces ruelles sont si etroites, si bizarrement etriquees entre leurs murs irreguliers, qu'on n'ape^oit sur sa tete qu'une bande dentelee du ciel. On arrive sur quelque piazzetta, quelque campo desert, tout blanc sous un ciel blanc de lumiere. Dalles, murailles, enceinte, pave, tout y est pierre ; alentour sont des maisons fermees, et leurs files forment un triangle ou un carre bossele par le besoin de s'etendre et le hasard de la batisse ; une citerne delicatement ouvragee fait le centre, et des lions sculptes, des figurines nues jouent sur la margelle. Dans un coin est quelque eglise baroque un portail charge de statues, tout bruni par I'humidite de 1'air sale et par la brulure antique du soleil ; un jet de clarte oblique tranche 1'edifice en deux pans, et la moitie des figures semblent s'agiter sur les frontons ou sortir des niches pendant que les autres reposent dans la transparence bleuatre de 1'ombre. On avance, et, dans un long boyau qu'un petit pont traverse, on voit des gondoles sillonner d'argent le marbre bigarre de 1'eau ; tout au bout de 1'enfilade, un petillement d'or marque sur le flot le ruissellement du soleil qui, du haut d'un toit, fait danser des eclairs sur le blanc tigre" de 1'onde.' Taine. For a passing stranger it may be well to divide the sight- seeing at Venice into eight divisions. 1. The Piazza of S. Marco and its surroundings. 2. The Grand Canal. 3. The South-Eastern quarter of Venice from S. Zaccaria to the Public Gardens. 4. The North-Eastern quarter from S Moise to S. Giobbe. 5. Western Venice from S. Trovaso to S. Andrea. 6. The Giudecca, the Armenian Convent, and the Lido. 7. Chioggia. 8. Murano and Torcello. VENETIAN SIGHTS 13 In the arrangement of Venetian sight-seeing it should be remembered that few of the churches are open after twelve o'clock, and the Academy closes at three. The mornings therefore should be given to sights in the town, the after- noons to general explorations. 14 VENICE CHAPTER II. 'S. MARK'S AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. WE will suppose the traveller threading his way from one of the neighbouring hotels to the Piazza S. Marco. As far as S. Moise the old Venetian character of the direct approach to S. Mark's has been destroyed in recent years by the formation of the commonplace Via 22 Marzo, but the description of Ruskin may be applied to many other streets which lead to the great piazza.. ' It is a paved alley, some seven feet wide where it is widest, full of people, and resonant with cries of itinerant salesmen a shriek in their beginning, and dying away into a kind of brazen ringing, all the worse for its confinement between the high houses of the passage along which we have to make our way. Overhead an inextricable confusion of rugged shutters, and iron balconies and chimney flues pushed out on brackets to save room, and arched windows with projecting sills of Istrian stone, and gleams of green leaves here and there where a fig-tree branch escapes over a lower wall from some inner cortile, leading the eye up to the narrow stream of blue sky high over all. On each side, a row of shops, as densely set as may be, occupying, in fact, intervals between the square stone shafts, about eight feet high, which carry the first floors : intervals of which one is narrow and serves as a door ; the other is, in the more respectable shops, wainscoted to the height of the counter and glazed above, but in those of the poorer tradesmen left open to the ground, and the wares laid on benches and tables in the open air, the light in all cases entering at the front only, and fading away in a few feet from the threshold into a gloom which the eye from without cannot penetrate, but which is generally broken by a ray or two from a feeble lamp at the back of the shop, suspended before a print of the Virgin. The less pious shopkeeper sometimes leaves his lamp unlighted, and is contented with a penny print ; the more religious one has his print coloured and set in a little shrine with a gilded or figured fringe, with perhaps a faded flower or two on each side, and his lamp burning APPROACH TO ST. MARK^S 15 brilliantly. Here at the fruiterer's, where the dark -green water-melons are heaped upon the counter like cannon balls, the Madonna has a taber- nacle of fresh laurel leaves ; but the pewterer next door has let his lamp out, and there is nothing to be seen in his shop but the dull gleam of the studded patterns on the copper pans, hanging from his roof in the darkness. Next comes a " Vendita Frittole e Liquori," where the Virgin, enthroned in a very humble manner beside a tallow candle on a back shelf, presides over certain ambrosial morsels of a nature too ambiguous to be defined or enumerated. But a few steps further on, at the regular wine-shop of the calle, where we are offered "Vino Nostrano a Soldi 28-32," the Madonna is in great glory, enthroned above ten or a dozen large red casks of three-year-old vintage, and flanked by goodly ranks of bottles of Maraschino, and two crimson lamps ; and for the evening, when the gondoliers will come to drink out, under her auspices, the money they have gained during the day, she will have a whole chande- lier. ' A yard or two farther, we pass the hostelry of the Black Eagle, and, glancing as we pass, through the square door of marble, deeply moulded in the outer wall, we see the shadows of its pergola of vines resting on an ancient well, with a pointed shield carved on its side ; and so pre- sently emerge on the bridge and Campo San Moise, whence to the entrance into S. Mark's Place, called the Bocca di Piazza (mouth of the square), the Venetian character is nearly destroyed, first by the frightful fa9ade of San Moise, and then by the modernising of the shops as they near the piazza, and the mingling with the lower Venetian populace of lounging groups of foreigners. We will push past through them into the shadow of the pillars at the end of the " Bocca di Piazza," and then we forget them all ; for between those pillars there opens a great light, and, in the midst of it, as we advance slowly, the vast tower of S. Mark seems to lift itself visibly forth from the level field of chequered stones ; and, on each side, the countless arches prolong themselves into ranged symmetry, as if the rugged and irregular houses that pressed together above us in the dark alley had been struck back into sudden obedience and lovely order, and all their rude casements and broken walls had been transformed into arches charged with goodly sculpture, and fluted shafts of delicate stone. ' And well may they fall back, for beyond those troops of ordered arches there rises a vision out of the earth, and all the great square seems to have opened from it in a kind of awe, that we may see it far away ; a multitude of pillars and white domes, clustered into a long low pyramid of coloured light ; a treasure-heap, it seems, partly of gold, and partly of opal and mother-of-pearl, hollowed beneath into five great vaulted porches, ceiled with fair mosaic, and beset with sculpture of alabaster, clear as amber and delicate as ivory sculpture fantastic and involved, of palm-leaves and lilies, and grapes and pomegranates, and birds clinging and fluttering among the branches, all twined together 1 6 VENICE into an endless network of buds and plumes ; and, in the midst of it, the solemn forms of angels, sceptred, and robed to the feet, and leaning to each other across the gates, their figures indistinct among the gleam- ing of the golden ground through the leaves beside them, interrupted and dim, like the morning light as it faded back among the branches of Eden, when first its gates were angel-guarded long ago. And round the walls of the porches there are set pillars of variegated stone, jasper and porphyry, and deep green serpentine spotted with flakes of snow, and marbles, that half refuse and half yield to the sunshine, Cleopatra- like, "their bluest veins to kiss" the shadow, as it steals back from them, revealing line after line of azure undulation, as a receding tide leaves the waved sand ; their capitals rich with interwoven tracery, rooted knots of herbage, and drifting leaves of acanthus and vine, and mystical signs, all beginning and ending in the Cross ; and above them, in the broad archivolts, a continuous chain of language and of life angels, and the signs of heaven, and the labours of men, each in its appointed season upon the earth ; and above these, another range of glittering pinnacles, mixed with white arches edged with scarlet flowers a confusion of delight, amidst which the breasts of the Greek horses are seen blazing in their breadth of golden strength, and the S. Mark's Lion, lifted on a blue field covered with stars, until at last, as if in ecstacy, the crests of the arches break into a marble foam, and toss themselves far into the blue sky in flashes and wreaths of sculptured spray, as if the breakers on the Lido shore had been frost-bound before they fell, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid them with coral and amethyst.' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice. ' Glorious indeed is this piazza and the succession of buildings which surrounds it, and most animated is the scene, especially towards evening, when all society at Venice is 'in piazza.' ' The Place of S. Mark is the heart of Venice, and from this beats new life in every direction, through an intricate system of streets and canals, that bring it back again to the same centre. ... Of all the open spaces in the city, that before the Church of S. Mark alone bears the name of Piazza, and the rest are called merely campi, or fields. But if the company of the noblest architecture can give honour, the Piazza S. Marco merits its distinction, not in Venice only, but in the whole world. I never, during three years, passed through it in my daily walks, without feeling as freshly as at first the greatness of its beauty. The church, which the mighty bell-tower and the lofty height of the palace-lines make to look low, is in no wise humbled by the contrast, but it is like a queen enthroned amid upright reverence. The religious sentiment is deeply appealed to, I think, in the interior of TORRE DELL OROLOGIO 17 S. Mark's ; but if its interior is heaven's, its exterior, like a good man's daily life, is earth's ; and it is this winning loveliness of earth that first attracts you to it, and when you emerge from its portals, you emerge upon spaces of such sunny length and breadth, set round with such exquisite architecture, that it makes you glad to be living in this world. ' Whatever could please, the Venetian seems to have brought within and made part of his Piazza, that it might remain for ever the city's supreme grace ; and so, though there are public gardens and several pleasant walks in the city, the great resort in summer and winter, by day and by night, is the Piazza S. Marco. Beginning with the warm days of early May, and continuing till the villeggiatura (the period spent at the country seat) interrupts it late in September, all Venice goes by a single impulse of dolce far niente, and sits gossiping at the doors of the innumerable caffes on the Riva degli Schiavoni, and in the dif- ferent squares in every part of the city. But of course the most brilliant scene of this kind is in S. Mark's Place, which has a night-time glory indescribable, won from the light of uncounted lamps upon its architec- tural groups.' Howe Us, ' Venetian Life.'' On the north of the square are the Procuratie Vecchie, of which the lower portion was built by Pietro Lombardi, in 1496, and the upper by Bartolommeo Buono da Bergamo, 1517. Then comes the tower called Torre dell' Orologio, built 1496-1498, conspicuous from its dial of blue and gold, and surmounted by bronze figures which strike the hours upon a bell. The arch beneath leads into the busy streets of the Merceria, whither the married ladies of Venice used to go every Ascension Day, to study a puppet, which was made to change its fashions after those of Paris. On Ascension and for many days after, the Magi come forth in procession and salute the Virgin and Child on this tower when the clock strikes twelve. A little beyond the arch a white stone in the pavement marks the spot where the standard-bearer of Bajamonte Tiepolo was killed in 1310, by a heavy stone thrown from a window. The stone was intended for Tie- polo himself, who was heading a conspiracy to assassinate Doge Pietro Gradenigo and dissolve the Grand Council. A banner, hung from the window whence Giustina Rossi threw the stone, long celebrated her act, and in 1841 her bust was placed near the Sotto Portico del Capello. c 1 8 VENICE On the opposite side of the piazza are the Biblioteca and the Procuratie Nuove, built from designs of Scamozzi. The latter are converted into a palace : they occupy the site of the fine church of S. Geminiano, which was built by Sansovino and where he was buried. The Libreria Vecchia is continued down the west side of the Ptazzetta, which opens from the piazza opposite the Torre dell' Orologio. It is the finest building of the sixteenth century in Venice, is the masterpiece of Jacopo Fatti, called Sansovino, in 1536, and is mentioned by Aretino as ' superiore all' invidia.' The foundation of the library was the collection of Petrarch, who came to settle in Venice in 1529, and made ' S. Mark the heir of his library.' It was afterwards greatly enriched by Cardinal Bessarion and others. The great hall is very hand- some, and contains paintings by Paul Veronese, and two great works of Tintoret ' The Body of S. Mark stolen from the Saracens,' and 'S. Mark rescuing a Sailor.' Between the windows are a row of philosophers, which Ruskin describes as the finest thing of the kind in Italy, or in Europe. Amongst the five works of Bonifazio in the palace, the ' Flight of Quails' and the 'Queen of Sheba before Solomon' deserve especial notice. ' La Piazzetta, observatoire du lion gardien de la Republique, et point d epart des expeditions maritimes destinees a faire respecter au loin sa foi et son pavilion. C'etait Ik que se faisaient les adieux et que se donnaient les benedictions reciproques avant I'embarquement des equipages ; car les galeres expeditionnaires etaient mouillees en face du lieu qui servait de theatre k toutes ces manifestations, et 1'on peut dire que ce petit espace, resume entre le palais ducal, la bibliotheque et la mer, est, apres le forum des Remains, celui qui a etc consacre par les plus grands souvenirs.' Rio, 'Epilogue cl PArt Chrltien: Adjoining the palace, facing the lagoon, is the Zecca, built as a mint by Sansovino in 1536, and which gave its name to the Zecchino or Sequin, the favourite coin of the republic. 1 In the entrance corridor are gigantic statues by 1 The first gold piece struck here was the dncato of 1284, which was of the same value as the zecchino of the sixteenth century. There was no money of the Doges BETWEEN THE PILLARS 19 Gir. Campagna and Tiziano Aspetti. The pictures here in- clude a remarkable Madonna by Benedetto Diana, and two groups by Tintoret of the 'Proveditori della Zecca.' At the end of the Piazzetta towards the lagoon are too huge granite pillars, 1 brought from one of the islands of the Archipelago in 1127. One is surmounted by the Lion of S. Mark, the other by a statue of S. Theodore ' martir et cavalier di Dio' standing on a crocodile (by Pietro Guilombardo, 1329) the saint who was patron of the Republic before the body of S. Mark was brought from Egypt in 827. Doge Sebastiano Ziani (1172-78), having promised any 'onesta grazia } to the man who should safely lift the columns to their places, it was claimed by Nicolo il Barattiere, who demanded that gambling, prohibited elsewhere, should be permitted within these pillars. The promise could not be revoked ; but to render it of no effect, all public executions were also ordained to be held on this spot, so as to render it one of ill -omen. The great Carmagnola was executed here in 1432. ' On this stone are laide for the space of three days and three nights the heads of all such as being enemies or traitors to the State, or some notorious offenders, haue been apprehended out of the citie, and beheaded by those that haue been bountifully hired by the Senate for the same purpose. In that place do their heads remain so long, though the smell of them doth breede a uery offensive and contagious annoyance. For it hath beene an ancient custome of the Venetians whensoeur any notorious malefactor hath for any enormous crime escaped out of the city for his security to propose a great reward to him that shall bring his head to that stone. Yea, I haue heard that there haue beene twenty thousand duckats giuen to a man for bringing a traytor's head to that place.' Coryafs Crudities, 1611. At the inner entrance of the Piazzetta, between the Ducal Palace and the church, are the richly sculptured Pillars of before the time of Sebastiano Ziani (1177) ; before that time the coins bore the name of emperors of Germany. The most celebrated artificers of Venetian coins were Aless. Leopardi and Vittor Camelio in the fifteenth, and Andrea Spinelli in the sixteenth, century. 1 There were originally three columns, but one fell into the sea as it was being landed, and could never be recovered. Fro. Marco e Toda.ro is a Venetian proverb expressing perplexity. C2 20 VENICE S. Jean d'Acre, once part of a gateway of S. Sabbas at Acre, a church which the republics of Genoa and Venice were supposed to hold in common, but in which they came to hand-to-hand fights. When the Venetians under Lorenzo Tiepolo had driven out the Genoese in 1256, they sent the two pillars home in proof of their triumph : a decree of the Senate still exists which decides where they were to be placed. Near these, at the corner of the church, is a low pillar of red porphyry, which is also said to have come from Acre. It is called Pietra del Bando, and the laws of the Republic are said to have been promulgated from hence. At the corner nearest the Ducal Palace are four quaint figures of red porphyry, which are supposed to represent four emperors who shared the Byzantine throne contemporaneously in the eleventh century, 1068-1070 Romano IV., Michele Ducas, and his brothers Andronico and Costantino as their images appear thus on coins of the period. But a different origin has often been ascribed to the pillars. ' There is a thing to be scene in that place, which is uery worthy your observation. The pourtraitures of foure noble gentlemen of Albania that were brothers are made in porphyrie stone with their faw- chions by their sides, each couple consulting priuately together by themselues, of whom this notable history following is reported. These notable brothers came from Albania together in a ship laden with great store of riches. After their arriuall at Venice, which was the place whereunto they were bound, two of them went on shore, and left the other two in the ship. They two that were landed entred into a con- sultation and conspiracy how they might dispatch their other brothers which remayned in the ship, to the end they might gaine all the riches to themselues. Whereupon they bought themselues some drugges to that purpose, and determined at a banquet to present the same to their other brothers in a potion or otherwise. Likewise on the other side those two brothers that were left in the shippe whispered secretly amongst themselues how they might make away with their brothers that were landed, that they might get all the wealth to themselues. And thereupon procured means accordingly. At last this was the final issue of those consultations. They that had beene at land presented to their other brothers certaine poysoned drugges at a banquet to the end to kill them, which those brothers did eate and dyed therewith, but not incontinently. For before they dyed, they ministered a certain IL CAMPANILE 21 poysoned march-pane or some such other thing at the uery same banquet to their brothers that had been at land ; both which poysons when they had thoroughly wrought their effects vpon both couples, all foure dyed shortly after. Wherevpon the Signiory of Venice seized vpon all their goods as their own, which was the first treasure that euer Venice possessed, and the first occasion of inriching the estate ; and in memo- riall of that vncharitable and vnbrotherly conspiracy, hath erected the pourtraitures of them in porphyrie as I said before in two seuerall couples consulting together. I confesse I neuer read this history, but many gentlemen of uery good account in Venice, both Englishmen and others, reported it vnto me for an absolute truth. And Sir Henry Wotton himself, our King's most honourable, learned, and thrise-worthy Ambassador in Venice counselled me to take speciall observation of those two couples of men as being a thing most worthy to be con- sidered.' Coryafs Crudities, 1611. The wall of the church on this side has been the part most attacked by the 'restorations' of 1878-83. A lamp which burns here nightly before a Byzantine Madonna high on the wall commemorates the remorse of the Council of Ten for the unjust condemnation of Giovanni Grassi (1611), pardoned ten years after his execution. The lamps were always lighted afterwards when an execution took place, and the condemned, before mounting the scaffold, turned round to the picture, and repeated the Salve Regina. The great Campanile was begun by Doge Pietro Tribune in 888, but not finished till 1511. It is entered by a small door on the west (2 soldi), whence a winding and easy foot- path (no steps) leads to the summit. The view is truly magnificent, and should be one of the first points visited in Venice^ It is the only way of understanding the intricate plan of the wonderful water-city, which from hence is seen like a map, with all its towers and churches and distant attendant islands, while beyond it the chain of Alps girds in the horizon with a glistening band of snowy peaks. At the foot of the Campanile is the Loggia (fsotto il Campanile 1 } built by Sansovino in 1540, as a meeting-place for the Venetian nobles. It is richly adorned with reliefs, and has bronze statues of Minerva, Apollo, Mercury, and a God of Peace, by Sansovino. 22 VENICE ' This place is indeed but little, yet of that singular and incom- parable beauty, being all made of Corinthian worke, that I neuer saw the like before for the quantity thereof.' Coryafs Crudities, 1611. In front of the church, rise from richly-decorated bronze sockets, by Alessandro Leopardo, the tall flagstaffs which bore the banners of the Republic. Here, in the piazza, we may always see flocks of pigeons, sacred birds in Venice, which are so tame that they never move out of your way, but run before you as you walk, and perch on the sill of your open window. It is said that they have been kept here ever since Enrico Dandolo, the crusader, received valuable information by means of carrier pigeons as he was besieging Candia ; but probably they are only descendants of birds set free during the festival of Palm Sunday, and which it would have been thought sacrilegious to kill after they had taken sanctu- ary with S. Mark. They were formerly maintained by a provision of the Republic, but now subsist upon the bequest of a pious lady, and the alms of grain and peas which they receive from strangers. ' Ces pigeons remontent aux anciens temps de Venise. Alors il etait d'usage, le jour des Rameaux, de lacher d'au-dessus de la porte princi- pale de Saint-Marc un grand nombre d'oiseaux avec de petits rouleaux de papier attaches a la patte, qui les fo^aient a tomber ; le peuple, malgre leurs efforts pour se soutenir quelque temps en 1'air, se les dispu- tait aussitot avec violence. II arriva que quelques-uns de ces pigeons se delivrerent de leurs entraves, et trainant la ficelle chercherent un asile sur les toits de Saint- Marc. Us s'y multiplierent rapidement ; ettelfut 1'interet qu'inspirerent ces refugies que, d'apres le voeu general, un de- cret fut rendu portant qu'ils seraient non-seulement respectes, mais nourris aux frais de PEtat. ' Valery. The distinctive wonders of the Piazza S. Marco are thus popularly enumerated in the Venetian dialect : ' In piazza San Marco ghe xe tre standardi, Ghe xe quatro cavai che par che i svola, Ghe xe un relogio che '1 par una tore, Ghe xe do mori che bate le ore.' ' It is a great piazza, anchored, like all the rest, in the deep ocean. On its broad bosom is a palace, more majestic and magnificent in its THE FOUNDATION OF S. MARCO 23 old age than all the buildings of the earth, in the high prime and fulness of their youth. Cloisters and galleries so light, they might be the work of fairy hands ; so strong, that centuries have battered them in vain wind round and round this palace, and enfold it with a cathedral, gor- geous in the wild luxuriant fancies of the East. At no great distance from its porch, a lofty tower, standing by itself, and rearing its proud head above, into the sky, looks out upon the Adriatic Sea. Near to the margin of the stream are two ill-omened pillars of red granite ; one having on its top a figure with a sword and shield ; the other, a winged lion. Not far from these, again, a second tower, richest of the rich in all its decorations, even here, where all is rich, sustains aloft a great orb, gleaming with gold and deepest blue ; the twelve signs painted on it, and a mimic sun revolving in its course around them ; while above, two bronze giants hammer out the hours upon a sounding bell. An oblong square of lofty houses of the whitest stone, surrounded by a light and beautiful arcade, forms part of this enchanted scene ; and, here and there, gay masts for flags rise, tapering from the pavement of the unsubstantial ground. ' Dickens. As we are now standing under the shadow of S. Mark's we may give a few moments to its origin and story. ' "And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus." If as the shores of Asia lessened upon his sight, the spirit of prophecy had entered into the heart of the weak disciple who had turned back when his hand was on the plough, and who had been judged, by the chiefest of Christ's captains, unworthy henceforward to go forth with him to the work, how wonderful would he have thought it, that by the lion symbol in future ages he was to be represented among men ! how woful, that the war-cry of his name should so often reanimate the rage of the soldier, on those very plains where he himself had failed in the courage of the Christian, and so often dye with fruitless blood that very Cypriot Sea, over whose waves, in repentance and shame, he was following the Son of Consola- tion ! ' That the Venetians possessed themselves of his body in the ninth century there appears no sufficient reason to doubt, nor that it was principally in consequence of their having done so, that they chose him for their patron saint. There exists, however, a tradition that before he went into Egypt he had founded the church at Aquileia, and was thus, in some sort, the first bishop of the Venetian isles and people. ' Ruskin, 1 Stones of Venice. ' The translation of the body of S. Mark to Venice is said to have been caused by the rapacity of the King of Alexandria, who plundered the church where he was en- 24 VENICE shrined in that city to adorn his own palace. Two Venetian sea-captains who were then at Alexandria implored to be allowed to remove the relics of the saint to a place of safety, and at last the priests, fearful of further desecration, con- sented. ' They placed the corpse in a large basket covered with herbs and swine's flesh, which the Mussulmans hold in horror, and the bearers were directed to cry Khawzir (pork), to all who should ask questions or approach to search. In this manner they reached the vessel. The body was enveloped in the sails, and suspended to the mainmast till the moment of departure, for it was necessary to conceal this precious booty from those who might come to clear the vessel in the roads. At last the Venetians quitted the shore full of joy. They were hardly in the open sea when a great storm arose. We are assured that S. Mark then appeared to the captain and warned him to strike all his sails imme- diately, lest the ship, driven before the wind, should be wrecked upon hidden rocks. They owed their safety to this miracle.' The first church erected at Venice in honour of S. Mark was destroyed by fire in 976. Its rebuilding was immedi- ately commenced, and the existing church was consecrated in 1085. Since that time nearly every Doge has added to the richness of its decorations. The main body of the church is of the eleventh century, the Gothic additions of the fourteenth, and the restored mosaics of the seventeenth. Over the doorways are five mosaics, beginning from the right, viz. : The Translation of the Relics of S. Mark from Alexandria, 1650. Pielro Vecchio. Landing of the Relics. Pietro Vecchio. The Last Judgment, 1836. L. Guerena. The magistrates of Venice venerating the Relics of S. Mark, 1728. Sebastiano Rizzi, The Enshrining of the Relics, and the fa$ade of the church, an ancient work of the early part of the I3th century. Over the portico are the four famous Bronze Horses, THE VESTIBULE OF S. MARCO 25 brought from Constantinople by the Venetians after the fourth Crusade. ' A glorious team of horses I should like to hear the opinion of a good judge of horse-flesh. What seemed strange to me was, that closely viewed, they appear heavy, while from the piazza below they look light as deer.' Goethe. ' In this temple-porch, Old as he was, so near his hundredth year, And blind his eyes put out did Dandolo Stand forth, displaying on his crown the cross. There did he stand, erect, invincible, Though wan his cheeks, and wet with many tears, For in his prayers he had been weeping much ; And now the pilgrim and the people wept With admiration, saying in their hearts, " Surely those aged limbs have need of rest ! " There did he stand, with his old armour on, Ere, gonfalon in hand, that streamed aloft, As conscious of its glorious destiny, So soon to float o'er mosque and minaret, He sailed away, five hundred gallant ships, Their lofty sides hung with emblazoned shields, Following his track to fame. He went to die : But of his trophies four arrived ere long, Snatched from destruction the four steeds divine, That strike the ground, resounding with their feet, And from their nostrils snort ethereal flame Over that very porch. ' Rogers. On entering the vestibule, we see, in front of the central doorway, a lozenge of red and white marble. This marks the spot where the celebrated reconciliation took place be- tween the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alex- ander III., July 23, 1177. The chroniclers narrate that as the Emperor knelt at the feet of the Pope, he exclaimed, ' Non tibi sed Petro,' and that Alexander answered proudly, ' Et mihi et Petro.' ' The Emperor, with the Doge and senators, and with his own Teutonic nobles, advanced to the portal of S. Mark, where stood the Pope in his pontifical attire. Frederick no sooner beheld the successor of S. Peter, than he threw off his imperial mantle, prostrated himself, and kissed the feet of the Pontiff. Alexander, not without tears, raised 26 VENICE him up, and gave him the kiss of peace. Then swelled out the Te Deum ; and the Emperor, holding the hand of the Pope, was led into the choir, and received the Papal benediction.' Milman, 'Hist, oj Latin Christianity. ' All around are columns of precious marbles, chiefly brought from the East, and above these equally precious mosaics. That over the principal door of S. Mark is by the brothers Zuccati'm 1545, from designs of Titian. The representation of the Crucifixion, opposite, is also by the Zuaati. 1 The earlier mosaics are of the eleventh century, and many of these are of great interest. We may especially notice, on the left, as a figure seldom represented in art, that of Phocas, the sainted gardener of Sinope in Pontus (A.D. 303), who, being much given to hospitality, courteously received and lodged the executioners sent to put him to death ; who received his kindness not knowing, but in the morning, when he revealed himself to them, were compelled to behead him, and they buried him in a grave he had dug for himself, amongst his flowers. In the niches of the atrium are buried the Doges Vitale Faliero (1096), Marino Morosini (1252), and Bartolommeo Gradenigo (1342); to- gether with the Dogaressa Felice Michiel, wife of Vitale Michiel, mi. 'The custom of burying illustrious persons in Roman or early Christian sarcophagi prevailed until the fourteenth century. Vitale Faliero, for instance, lies in the atrium of S. Mark's, to the right of the great portal, in a sarcophagus with shapeless octagonal columns. Had Venice had any fitter resting-place for this doge, in whose reign occurred the miraculous recovery of the body of S. Mark and the visit of the Emperor Henry IV. , she would not thus have buried him in a tomb made up of old fragments. In a similar sarcophagus on the other side of the great portal lies the wife of Vitale Michele, who ruled the Republic at the time of the first Crusade, in which Venice co-operated but coldly, fearing that it would interfere with her commerce with the East ; the fleet she sent to Syria was employed in fighting with the Pisans off Smyrna for possession of the bodies of SS. Teodoro and 1 The Zuccati mosaicists, sons and nephews of that Sebastiano Zuccato who was at one time the master of Titian, were accused by their rivals, the Bianchini, of filling in many parts of their mosaics with the brush. They underwent a long trial, from which they came out triumphant, partly through the intervention of Titian. THE BAPTISTERY OF S. MARCO 27 Niccol6, and in plundering the richly-laden Genoese ships in their homeward voyage. Another doge, Marino Morosini, whose short and uneventful reign is summed up by Maestro Martino da Canale in the words, "fu si grazioso ch' egli uso sua vita in pace, ne nullo os6 assalire di guerra," also lies buried in the atrium of S. Mark's in an old Christian sarcophagus, sculptured with rude figures of Christ and the Apostles, angels bearing censers, and ornate crosses. ' Perkins, l Italian Sculptors.'' 1 On the right is the entrance of the Zeno Chapel, built 1505-1515, by Cardinal Giambattista Zeno, and containing his grand bronze tomb, decreed by the Republic and exe- cuted by Antonio Lombardo and Alessandro Leopardo. The altar has a beautiful figure of the Madonna della Scarpa between SS. Peter and John Baptist. The mosaics, which tell the story of S. Mark, are of the twelfth century. A door to the right of the principal entrance leads to the Baptistery, or Chapel of S. Giovanni Battista San Zuane in the soft Venetian vernacular. Here in the pavement, is the great stone ' enorme mozzetto di granito ' brought by Domenico Michiel from Tyre, where it had stood before the gates since our Saviour, weary with travelling, is said to have rested upon it. Against the wall is the tomb of Andrea Dandolo (1354), the last Doge buried in S. Mark's, for whom Petrarch, who was his friend, composed an epitaph. In another tomb, by the door of the Zeno chapel, rests Doge Soranzo (1328). ' We are in a low vaulted room : vaulted, not with arches but with small cupolas starred with gold, and chequered with gloomy figures : in the centre is a bronze font charged with rich bas-reliefs, a small figure of the Baptist standing above it in a single ray of light that glances across the narrow room, dying as it falls from a window high in the wall, and the first thing that it strikes, and the only thing that it strikes brightly, is a tomb. We hardly know if it be a tomb indeed ; for it is like a narrow couch set beside the window, low-roofed and curtained, so that it might seem, but that it is some height above the pavement, to have been drawn towards the window, that the sleeper 1 Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, banished by Richard II. after his duel with the Earl of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., died at Venice, Sept. 22, 1399, and was buried in the vestibule of S. Mark, whence his descendants moved his body to England in 1533. 28 VENICE might be awakened early ; only there are two angels who have drawn the curtains back, and are looking down upon him. Let us look also, and thank that gentle light that rests upon his forehead for ever and dies away upon his breast. ' The face is of a man in middle life, but there are two deep furrows right across the forehead, dividing it like the foundations of a tower ; the height of it above is bound by the fillet of his ducal cap. The rest of the features are singularly small and delicate, the lips sharp, perhaps the sharpness of death being added to that of the natural lines ; but there is a sweet smile upon them, and a deep serenity upon the whole countenance. The roof of the canopy above has been blue, filled with stars ; beneath, in the centre of the tomb on which the figure rests, is a seated figure of the Virgin, and the border of it all around is of flowers and soft leaves, growing rich and deep, as if in a Afield in summer. ' It is the Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man early great among the great of Venice, and early lost. She chose him for her king in his thirty-sixth year ; he died ten years later, leaving behind him that history to which we owe half of what we know of her former fortunes. ' Look round the room in which he lies. The floor of it is in rich mosaic, encompassed by a low seat of red marble, and its walls are of alabaster, but worn and shattered, and darkly stained with age, almost a ruin in places the slabs of marble have fallen away altogether, and the rugged brickwork is seen through the rents, but all beautiful ; the ravaging fissures fretting their way among the islands and channelled zones of the alabaster, and the time-stains on its translucent masses darkened into fields of rich golden brown, like the colour of sea-weed when the sun strikes on it through deep sea. The light fades away into the recess of the chamber towards the altar, and the eye can hardly trace the lines of the bas-relief behind it of the Baptism of Christ : but on the vaulting of the roof the figures are distinct, and there are seen upon it two great circles, one surrounded by the "principalities and powers in heavenly places," of which Milton has expressed the ancient division in the single massy line, "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," and around the other, the Apostles ; Christ the centre of both : and upon the walls, again and again repeated, the gaunt figure of the Bap- tist, in every circumstance of his life and death ; and the streams of the Jordan running down between their cloven rocks ; the axe laid to the root of a fruitless tree that springs upon their shore.' Ruskin t ' Stones of Venice. ' From a door on the left of the Baptistery we enter the church itself. INTERIOR OF S. MARCO 29 ' The church is lost in a deep twilight, to which the eye must be accustomed for some moments before the form of the building can be traced ; and then there opens before us a vast cave, hewn out into the form of a cross, and divided into shadowy aisles by many pillars. Round the domes of its roof the light enters only through narrow apertures like large stars ; and here and there a ray or two from some far-away casement wanders into the darkness, and casts a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves of marble that heave and fall in a thousand colours along the floor. What else there is of light is from torches, or silver lamps, burning ceaselessly in the recesses of the chapels ; the roof sheeted with gold, and the polished walls covered with alabaster, give back at every curve and angle some feeble gleaming to the flames ; and the glories round the heads of the sculptured saints flash out upon us as we pass them, and sink again into the gloom. Under foot and over head, a continual succession of crowded imagery, one picture passing into another, as in a dream ; forms beautiful and terrible mixed together ; dragons and serpents, and ravening beasts of prey, and graceful birds that in the midst of them drink from running fountains and feed from vases of crystal ; the passions and the pleasures of human life symbolised together, and the mystery of its redemption ; for the mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the Cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone ; sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it, some- times with doves beneath its arms and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet ; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the apse. And although in the recesses of the aisles and chapels, when the mist of the incense hangs heavily, we may see continually a figure traced in faint lines upon their marble, a woman standing with her eyes raised to heaven, and the inscription above her, "Mother of God," she is not here the presiding deity. It is the Cross that is first seen, and always, burning in the centre of the temple ; and every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in judgment.' Ruskin, l Stones of Venice.'' It is the general impression, not the detail, of S. Mark's, which makes it so transcendent. The dim effects of shadow amid which golden gleams here and there illuminate some precious fragment of marble wall, or the peacock hues of a portion of the undulating and uneven pavement, make those who have any artistic feeling care little for the technical details of architecture and sculpture. On the left is the beautiful little octagonal chapel or shrine of the Holy Cross. 30 VENICE The Byzantine picture of the Madonna, greatly venerated by the people, was brought from Constantinople in 1206. The screen of the choir is Greek, surmounted by statues by Jacobello and Pierpaolo delle Massegne (1394), and between these the bronze crucifix of Jacopo di Marco Benato (1394). The choir is richly adorned with intarsiatura work, above which are six bronze reliefs telling the story of S. Mark, by Jacopo Sansovino (1546). The altar-front is only of silver-gilt, but, on the highest church festivals, the glorious Pala d' Oro, of solid gold, is exhibited behind the high altar. On these occasions candles are lighted in front of the altar, in the exquisite candelabra of Doge Cristoforo Moro. The Pala d' Oro itself was originally ordered from Con- stantinople by Doge Pietro Orseolo I. in the tenth century. The work then sent over was three times renewed, lastly by Giammaria Boninsegna for Andrea Dandolo, in 1345, when the upper part of the Pala, which was certainly brought to Venice after the conquest of Constantinople in 1205, was probably united to the lower. The High Altar itself before which Caterina Cornaro was formally adopted by the Doge as the daughter of the Republic covers the supposed relics of S. Mark. The original relics were destroyed in 976, by fire, but a legend has made them good. ' After the repairs undertaken by the Doge Orseolo, the place in which the body of the holy Evangelist rested had been altogether for- gotten ; so that the Doge Vital Falier was entirely ignorant of the place of the venerable deposit. This was no light affliction, not only to the pious Doge, but to all the citizens and people ; so that at last, moved by confidence in the Divine mercy, they determined to implore, with prayer and fasting, the manifestation of so great a treasure, which did not now depend upon any human effort. A general fast being therefore proclaimed, and a solemn procession appointed for the 25th day of June, while the people assembled in the church interceded with God in fervent prayer for the desired boon, they beheld, with as much amazement as joy, a slight shaking in the marbles of a pillar (near the place where the altar of the Cross is now), which presently falling to the earth, exposed to TREASURY OF S. MARCO 31 the view of the rejoicing people the chest of bronze in which the body of the Evangelist was laid.' Corner. Behind the High Altar on the left is a small bronze door by./. Sansovino, with reliefs of marvellous beauty, amongst which that of the Entombment deserves especial attention. The portraits of Titian, Aretino, and other contemporaries of the artist are introduced. This leads to the Sacristy, adorned with sixteenth- century mosaics, and intarsiatura work by Antonio and Paolo da Mantova, and Fra Vincenzo da Verona, 1523. Beneath the Choir is a low and curious labyrinthine Crypt (open from 12 to 2) supported by 50 pillars of Greek mar- ble. Here, behind the altar, is the marble sarcophagus which originally contained the body of S. Mark, moved to the altar above in 1835. The crypt was more or less flooded from the sixteenth century till 1830. The Cappella di S. Isidoro was built by Doge Andrea Dandolo to receive the body of S. Isidore, which had been stolen from Chios by the Doge Domenico Michiel in 1125, but concealed for two centuries for fear it should be re- claimed. The figure of the saint is represented upon his tomb. The mosaics tell the story of his life and the finding of his body. From the south Transept is the entrance to the Treasury (shown on Mondays and Fridays from 12. 30 to 2), which contains a very interesting collection of Byzantine work. The Episcopal Throne is said to have been given by the Emperor Heraclius to the Patriarch of Grado. It bears the symbols of the Evangelists surrounded with six wings of seraphs. The reliquary of the True Cross was given in 1 120 to S. Sophia of Constantinople by Irene, wife of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus. Having visited the church to form a general impression of its glories, the traveller should return with the single in- tention of studying the mosaics and observing how com- pletely they are, as it were, an epitome and history of the Christian faith. 32 VENICE 1 A large atrium or portico is attached to the sides of the church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and new converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old Testament history ; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of the Patriarchs up to the period of the Covenant by Moses : the order of the subjects in this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern churches, but significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order to mark to the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for salvation " Our fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness, and are dead ' and to turn his thoughts to the true bread of which that Manna was a type. ' Then, when after his baptism he was permitted to enter the church, over its main entrance he saw, on looking back, a mosaic of Christ en- throned, with the Virgin on one side and S. Mark on the other, in attitudes of adoration. Christ is represented as holding a book open upon his knee, on which is written : " I am the door ; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." On the red marble moulding which sur- rounds the mosaic is written : "I am the Gate of Life ; let those who are Mine enter by Me." Above, on the red marble fillet which forms the cornice of the west end of the church, is written, with reference to the figure of Christ below : " Who He was, and from whom He came, and at what price He redeemed thee, and why He made thee, and gave thee all things, do thou consider." ' Now observe, this was not to be seen and read only by the cate- chumen when he entered the church ; every one who at any time entered, was supposed to look back and to read this writing ; their daily entrance into the church was thus made a daily memorial of their first entrance into the spiritual Church ; and we shall find that the rest of the book which was opened for them upon its walls, continually led them in the same manner to regard the visible temple as in every part a type of the invisible Church of God. ' Therefore the mosaic of the first dome, which is over the head of the spectator as soon as he has entered by the great door (that door being the type of baptism), represents the effusion of the Holy Spirit, as the first consequence and seal of the entrance into the Church of God. In the centre of the cupola is the Dove, enthroned in the Greek manner, as the Lamb is enthroned, when the Divinity of the Second and Third persons is to be insisted upon together with their peculiar offices. From the central symbol of the Holy Spirit twelve streams of fire descend upon the heads of the twelve apostles, who are represented standing around the dome ; and below them, between the windows which are pierced in its walls, are represented, by groups of two figures for each separate people, the various nations who heard the apostles speak, at Pentecost, every man in his own tongue. Finally, on the vaults, at the four angles which support the cupola, are pictured four angels, each MOSAICS OF S. MARCO 33 bearing a tablet upon the end of a rod in his hand ; on each of the tablets of the first three angels is inscribed the word " Holy ; " on that of the fourth is written " Lord ; " and the beginning of the hymn being thus put into the mouths of the four angels, the words of it are continued round the border of the dome, uniting praise to God for the gift of the Spirit, with welcome to the redeemed soul received into His Church : Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth : Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory : Hosanna in the highest : Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a vrork of sanctification. It is the holiness of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels celebrate in their ceaseless praise ; and it is on account of this holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory. ' After, then, hearing praise rendered to God by the angels for the salvation of the newly entered soul, it was thought fittest that the worshippers should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity, as summed up in the three facts without assurance of which all faith is vain : namely, that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault be- tween the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate scenes the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the sepulchre, and the apparition to Mary Magdalene. The second cupola itself, which is the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the sub- ject of the Ascension. At the highest point of it Christ is represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath Him, the twelve Apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna, and, in the midst of them, the two men in white apparel who appeared at the moment of the Ascension, above whom, as uttered by them, are in- scribed the words, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This Christ, the Son of God, as He is taken from you, shall so come, the arbiter of the earth, trusted to do judgment and justice." ' Beneath the circle of the Apostles, between the windows of the cupola, are represented the Christian virtues, as sequent upon the crucifixion of the flesh, and the spiritual ascension together with Christ. Beneath them, on the vaults which support the angles of the cupola, are placed the four Evangelists, because on their evidence our assurance of the fact of the Ascension rests ; and finally beneath our feet, as symbols of the D 34 VENICE sweetness and fulness of the Gospel which they declared, are represented the four rivers of Paradise, Pison, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. ' The third cupola, that over the altar, represents the witness of the Old Testament to Christ ; showing Him enthroned in its centre, and surrounded by the patriarchs and prophets. But this dome was little seen by the people ; their contemplation was intended to be chiefly drawn to that of the centre of the church, and thus the mind of the wor- shippers was at once fixed on the main groundwork and hope of Christi- anity, " Christ is risen," and " Christ shall come." If he had time to explore the minor lateral chapels and cupolas, he could find in them the whole series of New Testament history, the events of the Life of Christ, and the apostolic miracles in their order, and finally the scenery of the Book of Revelation ; but if he only entered, as often the common people do at this hour, snatching a few moments before beginning the labour of the day to offer up an ejaculatory prayer, and advanced but from the main entrance as far as the altar screen, all the splendour of the glitter- ing nave and variegated dome, if they smote upon his heart, as they might often, in strange contrast with his reed cabin among the shallows of the lagoon, smote upon it only that they might proclaim the two great messages, " Christ is risen," and " Christ shall come." Daily, as the white cupolas rose like wreaths of sea-foam in the dawn, while the shadowy campanile and frowning palace were still withdrawn into the night, they rose with the Easter Voice of Triumph, " Christ is risen ; " and daily, as they looked down upon the tumult of the people, deepening and eddying in the wide square that opened from their feet to the sea, they uttered above them the sentence of warning, " Christ shall come." ' And this thought may dispose the reader to look with some change of temper upon the gorgeous building and wild blazonry of that shrine of S. Mark's. He now perceives that it was in the hearts of the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at once a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written word of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold ; and the actual Table of the Law and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether honoured as the Church, or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither the gold nor the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it ; that, as the symbol of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be of jasper, and the foundations of it garnished with all manner of precious stones ; and that, as the channel of the Word, the triumphant utterance of the Psalmist should be true of it, "I have rejoiced in the way of thy testi- monies, as much as in all riches " ? ' Ruskin, ( Stones of Venice.'' Travellers will find it wearisome, almost impossible, to examine all the mosaics of S. Mark's. But among the col- PIAZZETTA DEI LEON1 35 lateral series is one of special interest upon the soffit of the arch which overhangs the western triforium. ' This series of compositions, from the early history of the Virgin, is derived from the Protevangelion or apocryphal gospel of S. Thomas, little known in the Latin Church. In her Marriage, she is represented as a little girl of twelve years old. In the Annunciation, she is in the act of drawing water at a fountain in front of the house, and the angel addresses her, floating in the air. In the compartment which follows, she receives from the hand of the High Priest, at the doors of the temple, a vase containing the purple with which it had fallen to her lot to dye the new veil of the sanctuary six virgins, of the house of David, are in attendance on her. In the Salutation, she is represented as of full stature, being then, according to the Protevangelion, fourteen years old ; to the right, in the same composition, Joseph to whom she had been entrusted, not so much as a husband as a guardian of her virginity vin- dicates himself by the "water of trial" from the suspicion of having " privately married " her. In the seventh of the series, the angel appears to Joseph, revealing the mystery of her conception ; and in the eighth is represented the journey to Bethlehem before Our Saviour was born. The series is continued on the adjacent wall, but by modern artists, the earlier compositions having perished. These eight mosaics have much merit, and are evidently a good deal later than those of the cupolas, the porch, Murano and Torcello.' Lord Lindsay, ' Christian Art.'' The Piazzetta dei Leoni, on the north side of the church, is named from two red-marble lions erected by Doge Alvise Mocenigo, in the eighteenth century. Here are the Palace of the Patriarchs, and the desecrated Church of S. Basso, built in 1670. It is believed that two little lamps which constantly burn on the south-west side of the church commemorate the ' Morte Innocente ' or buori anima del fornaretto, a baker's boy who (1507) was tried, condemned and executed for murder though perfectly innocent because he had picked up the sheath of a dagger with which a murder had been committed in a neighbouring calle, and it had been found in his possession. From S. Mark's the traveller must turn to the Palace by its side, of which till a few years ago it was only the chapel (Cappella Ducale). The courtyard of the Palace is always 36 VENICE open ; its chambers may be visited on week-days from 9 to 4 ; entrance i fr. A Palazzo Ducale was first built in 820 by Doge Angelo Partecipazio, the first ruler of the Venetian colonists. This was a Byzantine palace, and we know from contemporary writers that it was of great magnificence. Probably it some- what resembled the 'Fondaco dei Turchi.' It received great additions during the twelfth century, especially from the Doge Sebastiano Ziani, who 'enlarged it in every direction.' In the fourteenth century the great saloon was built, with may other important additions ; but the palace of Ziani still remained, though contrasting ill with the splendours of the later building, and so strong was the feeling that it ought be rebuilt, that, to save the vast expense, and fearing their own weakness, the Senate passed a decree forbidding anyone to speak of rebuilding the old palace, under a penalty of a thousand ducats. But in 1419 a fire occurred which destroyed part of the old buildings ; a decree for rebuilding the palace was passed under Doge Mocenigo in 1422, and the work was carried out under his successor Doge Foscari. ' The first hammer-stroke upon the old palace of Ziani was the first act of the period properly called the " Renaissance." It was the knell of the architecture of Venice and of Venice herself. 'A year had not elapsed since the great Doge Mocenigo ; his patriot- ism, always sincere, had been in this instance mistaken ; in his zeal for the honour of future Venice, he had forgotten what was due to the Venice of long ago. A thousand palaces might be built upon her burdened islands, but none of them could take the place, or recall the memory, of that which was first built upon her unfrequented shore. It fell ; and, as if it had been the talisman of her fortunes, the city never flourished again.' Ruskin. In 1574 another great fire destroyed the upper rooms of the sea facade and almost the whole of the interior of the palace, and it was debated in the Great Council whether the ruin should not be destroyed and an entirely new palace built ; but it was saved by the advice of an architect named Giovanni Rusconi, and the completion of the repairs necessi- THE PALAZZO DUG ALE 37 tated at this time brought the edifice into its present form ; the architects employed were three members of the family of Bon or Buoni, and to them the two principal colonnades are due. In most buildings the basement story is the heaviest, and each succeeding story increases in lightness : in the Ducal Palace this is reversed, making it unique amongst buildings. The outer walls rest upon the sturdy pillars of open colon- nades, which have a more stumpy appearance than was in- tended, owing to the raising of the pavement in the piazza. They had, however, no bases, but were supported by a con- tinuous stylobate. The chief decorations of the palace were employed upon the capitals of these thirty-six pillars, each of which has its own story to tell, and it was felt that the peculiar prominence and importance given to its angles rendered it necessary that they should be enriched and softened by sculpture, which is most interesting and often most beautiful. The throned figure of Venice above bears a scroll inscribed : ' Fords, justa, trono furias, mare sub pede, pono.' l One of the corners of the palace joined the irregular buildings, connected with S. Mark's, and is not generally seen. There remained therefore only three angles to be decorated. The first main sculpture may be called ' the Fig-tree angle,' and its subject is ' The Fall of Man. 3 ' That statue of Eve is done with that singularity of cunning, that it is reported the Duke of Mantua hath offered to give the weight of it in gold for the image, yet he cannot have it.'- -Coryafs Crudities, 1611. The second is 'the Vine angle,' and represents 'The Drunkenness of Noah.' The third sculpture is ' the Judg- ment angle,' and portrays ' The Judgment of Solomon.' ' In both the subjects of the Fall and the Drunkenness, the tree forms the chiefly decorative portion of the sculpture. Its trunk, in both cases, is the true outer angle of the palace boldly cut separate from the stone- work behind, and branching out above the figures so as to encompass each side of the angle, for several feet, with its deep foliage. Nothing 1 ' Strong and just, I put the furies beneath my throne, and the sea beneath my foot.' 38 VENICE can be more masterly or superb than the sweep of this foliage on the Fig-tree angle ; the broad leaves lapping round the budding fruit, and sheltering from sight, beneath their shadows, birds of the most graceful form and delicate plumage. The branches are, however, so strong, and the masses of stone hewn into leafage so large, that, notwithstanding the depths of the under cutting, the work remains nearly uninjured ; not so at the (opposite) Vine-angle, where the natural delicacy of the vine-leaf and tendril having tempted the sculptor to greater effort, he has passed the proper limits of his art, and cut the upper stems so deli- cately that half of them have been broken away by the casualties to which the situation of the sculpture necessarily exposes it.' Ruskin. The Doge's Palace was not merely the residence of the chief of the state. It was, like our Palace of Westminster, the place where all the councils of state were held. ' In the early times of Venice, the Doges possessed supreme power, unfettered by councils. But defects being perceived in this form of government, a Grand Council was established by consent of the people, consisting of four hundred and eighty men of high birth. ' The Grand Council soon limited the Doge's prerogatives, and 'ap- pointed a Council of Forty to administer criminal justice. A Council of Sixty assisted the Doge in administering domestic and foreign affairs, and the famous Council of Ten held authority over the other councils, and privately investigated and punished all state crimes. ' The Doge was bound to have no private correspondence with foreign states, to acquire no property beyond the Venetian dominions, to inter- fere in no judicial process, and to permit no citizen to use tokens of sub- jection in saluting him. ' It was a serious matter to be Doge of Venice. Five of the first fifty Doges abdicated ; five were banished, with their eyes put out ; nine were deposed ; five were massacred ; and two fell in battle.' ' Story oj Italy: The Palace is entered from the Piazzetta by the beautiful gate called Porta della Carta, 1 which is inscribed with the name of its architect Bartolommeo Bon (1440-1443). The statues of Courage, Prudence, Hope, and Charity, with Justice throned above between the Lions, are also by the Bon or Buoni family. A beautiful sculpture which formerly existed here, representing Doge Francesco Foscari kneel- ing before the Lion of S. Mark, was destroyed by the mob in 1797. 1 From being the place where the secretaries wrote SCALA DEI G1GANTI 39 Opposite the gate is the famous Scala dei Giganti, built by Antonio Rizzo in 1485. It derives its name from the colossal statues of Mars and Neptune wrought by Jacopo Sansovino in 1554. The reliefs are by A less. Vittoria. Coryat (1608) 'thought there had not been so rich a staires in Christendome,' and it is, in truth, the finest open-air staircase in the world. At the head of the stairs the Doges were crowned, with the words : ' Accipe coronam ducalem ducatus Venetorum.' Here also a tradition, followed by Byron, places the execution of Doge Marino Faliero, though, alas ! the staircase itself is of later date. Marino Faliero, formerly Podesta of Treviso, was chosen Doge in 1354, being then an old man. Of very choleric temper, resentment to the slight punishment inflicted by the Council of Forty upon Ser Michele Steno, who had written some scurrilous abuse of him upon his wooden chair, and the desire of punishing them, was his first incentive to seize the supreme power. A conspiracy was engaged in by which all the principal citizens, called together by the great bell on April 15, 1355, were to be cut to pieces, and Faliero proclaimed sovereign. It was exposed, through the warning given to his master by Beltram, a servant of one of those who were doomed. The Council of Ten was hastily summoned ; the minor conspirators were first executed ; then the Doge, stripped of his insignia of office, was beheaded in the closed palace, and one of the council, taking the bloody sword to the space between the columns where public executions were usually held, brandished it, saying 'The terrible doom hath fallen on the traitor.' In the court are two magnificent well-heads (Puteali), of bronze, one by Nicotb de' Conti, Director of the Foundries of the Republic (1556), the other by Alfonso Alberghetti (1559)- On the left of the loggia, reached by the Giants' Stair- case, is the Scala d' Oro, so called from the richness of its decorations, built by Jacopo Sansovino (1556-77). Beyond this are the Tre Stanze degli Avvogadori, the lawyers who kept the famous Libra d' Oro, which was the peerage of the Venetian aristocracy. In one of the chambers of these rooms is a Pietk by Giov. Bellini (1472). Ascending the next staircase to the top, we should now enter, from the left, a suite of rooms which are a perfect 40 VENICE gallery of sixteenth-century art at Venice : many of the pictures have, however, been grievously repainted. 'As the oldest Venetian painting has immortalised itself in the Church of S. Mark, so the latest, that of the followers of Titian, has perpetuated itself in the Ducal palace. ' Burckhardt. Here we first become acquainted with Tintoret ( ' the little dyer'), whom we must know intimately before we leave Venice. There is probably no great master upon whose excellence so great a difference of opinion has existed. His portraits, which often possess ' La gran bela presenza, e '1 gran bel tratto ' of the Venetian song, have always been ad- mired, but before his other vast pictures were illuminated and explained by the writings of Ruskin, there were few who saw more than their huge uncouthness, coarseness, and blackness. Now the deep meaning and careful intention with which they were painted has been revealed to us. Yet even now most of those who look upon them, and all those who look upon them hastily, will see only their dark side. ' Along with much that was grand, there was in Tintoret a certain coarseness and barbarism of feeling ; even his artistic morality often wavered, so that he was capable of descending to the most unconscien- tious daubing. He fails in the higher sense of law, which the artist must impose on himself, especially in experiments and innovations. In his enormous works, which in square feet of painted surface amount perhaps to ten times as much as the fruits of Titian's century of life, one begins to surmise that he undertook such things like a contractor, and executed them very much as an improvisor.' Burckhardt. ' What Shakespeare was to the national history of England in his great series of historic dramas, his contemporary Tintoret was to the history of Venice. It was perhaps from an unconscious sense that her annals were really closed that the Republic began to write her history and her exploits in the series of paintings which covers the walls of the Ducal Palace, 'J. R. Green, ' Stray Studies. ' We first enter the Sala della Bussola, which was the Antechamber of the Council of Ten. In the time of the Republic ' chiamar a la Bussola ' meant to drag a man before the State Inquisition. Here is the inner opening of the famous Bocca di Leone the Lion's Mouth through which SALA DELLE QUATTRO PORTE 41 secret denunciations were handed in. On the walls are pictures, by Aliense, of the surrender of Bergamo and Brescia to the Venetians. Hence we enter the Sala del Capi that is, of the three Presidents of the Council of Ten. The fine fifteenth- century chimney-piece is by Pietro da Salb ; the ceiling by Paul Veronese. The Atrio Quadrato, which leads to the Scala d' Oro, has a ceiling by Tintoret. The Sala delle Quattro Porte, built by Palladio in 1575, has a ceiling designed by Palladio and Sansovino, and car- ried out by Aless. Vittoria. ' Le Vittoria en fait un ensemble sculpte ou se meuvent un monde de statues grandes commes nature qui viennent s'agencer dans les enroulements, autour des caissons, en cariatides, en cartouches, en frises ; se detachant en blanc sur le fond d'or et tenant une telle place dans cette salle que les peintures du Contarini, celles du Titien, de Carletto Cagliari, et de Vicentino cedent la place au sculpteur qui devait evidemment occuper une situation plus modeste.' Yriarte. The (restored) frescoes are by Tintoret. The principal pictures are : Wall of Entrance : Giov. Contarini. The capture of Verona by the Venetians in 1439. Titian. Antonio Grimani at the feet of Faith. Contarini. Marino Grimani kneeling before the Virgin. Wall of Exit: Carletto Cagliari. The ambassadors of Nuremberg. Andrea Vicentino. Henry III. of France arriving at the Lido, and his reception by the Doge Mocenigo. C. Cagliari. The reception of the Persian ambassadors by Doge Cicogna, 1585. The door opposite that by which we entered leads to The Anticollegto, containing : * Tintoretto. Ariadne and Bacchus. Id. Minerva and Mars. *P. Veronese. The Rape of Europa. * The most important works here and elsewhere are indicated by an asterisk. 42 VENICE ' La merveille de ce sanctuaire de 1'art est I'Enlevement d'' Europe. La belle jeune fille est assise, comme sur un trone d'argent, sur le dos du taureau divin, dont le poitrail de neige va s'enfoncer dans la mer bleue qui tache d'atteindre de ses lames amoureuses la plante des pieds qu'Europe releve par une enfantine peur de se mouiller, detail ingenieux des Metamorphoses que le peintre n'a eu garde d'oublier. Les com- pagnes d'Europe, ne sachant pas qu'un dieu se cache sous la noble forme de ce bel animal si doux et si familier, s'empressent sur la rive et lui jettent des guirlandes de fleurs, sans se douter qu'Europe, ainsi enlevee, va nommer un continent et devenir la maitresse de Zeus aux noirs sourcils et a la chevelure ambroisienne. Quelles belles epaules blanches ! quelles nuques blondes aux nattes enroulees ! quels bras ronds et charmants ! quel sourire d'eternelle jeunesse dans cette toile merveil- leuse, ou Paul Veronese semble avoir dit son dernier mot ! Ciel, nuages arbres, fleurs, terrains, mer, carnation, draperies, tout parait trempe dans la lumiere d'unElysee inconnu.' Gautier. Leandro Bassano. The Return of Jacob to Canaan. Tintoretto. The Workshop of Vulcan. Id. Mercury with the Graces. P. Veronese. Venice throned (on the ceiling). ' Venice is sitting enthroned above the globe with her lovely face in half shadow a creature born with an imperial attitude.' George Eliot, 1860. The chimney-piece and a beautiful door are by Scamozzi. Through this we reach : The Sala di Collegia, in which foreign ambassadors were received by the Doge. ' La salle se divise en deux parties : Tune surelevee de quelques marches, avec un trone adosse au mur, orne de boiseries a mi-hauteur avec des stalles, pour les conseillers ; 1'autre, vide et de plain-pied avec le sol de 1'etage, comme si on devait y stationner. A droite et a gauche du trone, comme dans un pretoire, siegent les autres magistrals ; les Petits Sages se tiennent debout et decouverts. Encore que la majeste du College, qui est le bras qui execute ce que le Grand Conseil a decide, comporte le luxe et le decorum, on a mis un soin particulier a orner le lieu de ses seances, parce qu'on y re9oit les ambassadeurs. Sur le paroi, au-dessus de la tete du doge et des conseillers, le Veronese a peint le Christ dans sa gloire ; la ville de Venise et Sainte Justine sont a genoux : 1'artiste a personifie la Reine de 1'Adriatique dans une grande et belle jeune femme drapee d'une etoffe blanche, une des plus nobles figures que le peintre ait creees. Le Tintoret, a son tour, a peint le mariage de Sainte Catherine, avec les doges F. Dona, N. da Ponte, Mocenigo et Gritti, dans 1'attitude de la priere. Soit que sa SALA Dl COLLEGIO 43 proportion y prete, soil que Pobjet special auquel elle etait destinee comportat plus de soin et de recherche, cette salle du college est celle de tout le Palais Ducal qui a le plus d'unite et ou on a deploye le plus de gout dans la decoration. Quoique soumise, depuis plus de quatre siecles, a des restaurations inevitables, elle a conserve son caractere, et 1'imagination peut asseoir sur ces banes de chene les venerables chefs de la Quarantie, les conseillers et les Sages Grands, tandis que les jeunes patriciens vaquent aux soins des affaires ou ecoutent, debout et re- cueillis, 1'avis des grands hommes d'etat et des experimentes diplo- mates.' Yriarte. ' Nous retrouvons ici Tintoret et Paul Veronese, 1'un roux et violent, 1'autre azure et calme ; le premier fait pour les grands pans de muraille, le second pour les plafonds immenses.' Gautier. The best pictures, beginning at the further side on the right, are : C. Cagliari. Doge Alvise Mocenigo adoring the Saviour. P. Veronese (over the throne). A votive allegorical picture re- presenting the triumph of Venice after the victory of Lepanto, 1571. Portraits are introduced of Doge Sebastiano Venier, the hero of the Battle of Lepanto, and of Agostino Barbarigo, who perished there. Tintoretto. Doge Andrea Gritti adoring the Virgin and Child. ' It was no doubt the passage of the Psalmist Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam which was so often repeated by the Venetians in the Crusades, which suggested to the doges and naval commanders the idea of being represented in a kneeling attitude before the infant Christ or the holy Virgin, in the pictures destined to transmit their names, or the recollection of their exploits, to future generations. This mode of pious commemoration, which offers the touching contrast of a humble attitude with great dignity or glory, continued in use during the whole of the sixteenth century, in spite of the paganism so univer- sally triumphant elsewhere. After Giovanni Bellini and Catena, came the celebrated artists who adorned the second period of the Venetian school, and who also paid the tribute of their pencil to this interesting subject. It is on this account that pictures representing the Madonna seated, with a doge or a general kneeling before her, are so frequently to be met with in private collections, in the churches, and above all in the Ducal Palace, in which these allegorical compositions, intended to express the close alliance between Religion and the State, seem to have been purposely multiplied.' Rio. The chimney-piece is by Girolamo Campagna, the ceiling designed by Antonio da Ponte and painted by Paul Veronese. 44 VENICE The Sala del Senate, where the Senators met every Wed- nesday and Saturday in that assembly which Pope Pius IV. spoke of as ' a Council of Kings,' is also called the Sala del Pregadi, because originally, before these days were fixed for their meetings, messengers were sent to their houses to pregare each member to attend at the Ducal Palace. This hall contains (turning to the left from the main entrance) : Palma Giovane (over door). The two Doges Priuli in prayer. J. Tintoretto. Doge Pietro Loredan praying to the Virgin. Marco Vecelli. The election of S. Lorenzo Giustiniani to the Patri- archate of Venice. Palma Giovane. The League of Cambray Venice seated in de- fiance upon a lion. Id. Doge Pasquale Cicogna kneeling before the Saviour. Id. Doge Francesco Venier before Venice. J. Tintoretto. The Deposition of Christ, with saints and Doges kneeling. ' One of the most interesting mythic pictures in Venice, two Doges being represented beside the body of Christ. ' Ruskin. J. Tintoretto (in the centre of the ceiling). Venice as Queen of the Sea. ' Notable for the sweep of its vast green surges, and for the daring character of its entire conception.' Ruskin. Bonifazio. Christ expelling the Money-changers. Seb. Rizzi. Cartoons for the mosaics of the story of S. Mark on the Cathedral. J. Tintoretto. Saints. The Chapel, an oratory where the Doge and Council daily heard mass said by the ducal chaplain, has an altar by Scamozzi, and a statue of the Madonna by Sansovino. At the foot of the staircase leading down from the Chapel to the Doges' private apartments is a fresco of S. Christopher, of great interest, as being the only known fresco of Titian. It is supposed to have been painted in honour of the arrival of the French (Sept. 13. 15 23) 1 at the village of S. Cristoforo near Milan. This was the political event of the year, and much to the satisfaction of Titian's patron, Doge Andrea 1 ' 1523, Sept. 13. Vennero [i Frances!] a San Cristoforo a un miglio presso a Milano tra Porta Ticinese e Porta Romana.' GWc only dates from the end of the sixteenth century, since which there has only been a single instance (that of Antonio Foscarini) of political imprisonment. It led from the criminal courts in the palace to the criminal prisons on the other side of the Rio Canal. 'The Rio faade of the Ducal Palace (seen from the Bridge of Sighs), though very sparing in colour, is yet, as an example of finished masonry in a vast building, one of the finest things, not only in Venice, but in the world. It differs from every other work of the Byzantine Renaissance, in being on a very large scale ; and it still retains one pure gothic character, which adds a little to its nobleness, that of perpetual variety. There is. hardly one window of it, or one panel, that is like another ; and this continual change so increases its apparent size by confusing the eye, that though presenting no bold features, or striking masses of any kind, there are few things in Italy more impressive than the vision of it overhead, as the gondola glides from beneath the Bridge of Sighs.' ' Stones of Venice^ iii. 25. 1 Howells. THE POZZI 47 The prisons really used for political offenders were the Pozzi, often wrongly described as being beneath the level of the canal. In ' the last of these prisons are inscriptions left by prisoners upon the walls, of which the most celebrated |g " Di chi mi fido guardami Iddio ; Di chi non mi fido guardero io." ' Jacopo Foscari was probably the most remarkable prisoner immured here. A thick wooden casing to the walls protected the inmates from damp, and the romantic accounts of the horrors of these prisons are probably all imaginary. The best known is that of Dickens : ' I descended from the cheerful day into two ranges, one below an- other, of dismal, awful, horrible stone cells. They were quite dark. Each had a loop-hole in its massive wall, where, in the old time, every day a torch was placed, to light the prisoners within, for half-an-hour. The captives, by the glimmering of these brief rays, had cut and scratched inscriptions in the blackened vaults. I saw them. For their labour with the rusty nail's point had outlived their agony and them, through many generations. ' One cell I saw, in which no man remained for more than four-and- twenty hours ; being marked for dead before he entered it. Hard by, another, and a dismal one, whereto, at midnight, the confessor came a monk brown-robed, and hooded ghastly in the day, and free bright air, but in the midnight of the murky prison, Hope's extinguisher, and Murder's herald. I had my foot upon the spot, where, at the same dread hour, the shriven prisoner was strangled ; and struck my hand upon the guilty door low-browed and stealthy through which the lumpish sack was carried out into a boat and rowed away, and drowned where it was death to cast a net. ' Around this dungeon stronghold, and above some parts of it, lick- ing the rough walls without, and smearing them with damp and slime within ; stuffing dank weeds and refuse into chinks and crevices, as if the very stones and bars had mouths to stop ; furnishing a smooth road for the removal of the bodies of the secret victims of the State a road so ready that it went along with them, and ran before them, like a cruel officer flowed the water.' ' Besides the piombi and the camerotti, the State Inquisitors possessed nineteen horrible prisons underground in the same Ducal Palace. These resemble tombs ; but they are called the pozzi, because there is always two feet of water, which penetrates by the same grating through which they receive a little light. This grating is only a foot square. Unless the wretch condemned to live in these loathsome vaults prefers a foot- 48 VENICE bath of salt water, he is obliged to remain all day seated on a trestle which does duty for table and bed.' Casanova. ' Horrible dark damp cells that would make the saddest life in the free light and air seem bright and desirable.' George Eliot, 1 860. Entered by the same staircase we have ascended, on the second floor, is the Library (open from 9 to 4) founded in 1 3 1 2 by Petrarch, who bequeathed all his collection to Venice, where he had found a refuge during the plague. A very small portion, however, of this donation reached the destina- tion he intended, as is abundantly proved by the number of his MSS. at the Vatican, Laurentian, Ambrosian, and other libraries. The person who really was the greatest amongst many benefactors (Grimani, Contarini, &c.) was Cardinal Bessarion. The greatest treasure of the Library is the famous Gri- mani Breviary, perhaps the most beautiful illuminated work in existence. Its miniatures are exquisite works of Memling, Gerard van der Meire, Antonello da Messina, Alessandro Vittoria, Ugo d' Anversa, and Livien de Gand. It is only shown on Wednesdays at 3 P.M. From the Antechamber of the Library we enter the Sala del Maggior Consiglio an immense room (175^ feet long, 84^ broad, 51^ high), where Caterina Cornaro was betrothed (by proxy) to James, King of Cyprus, in 1468, and where Henri III. of France was received at a great banquet, July 20, 1574. It was originally decorated with frescoes by Guariento (1365), which were destroyed by fire in 1577, and replaced by pictures of the later Venetian school. ' The greater allegorical pictures of the Ducal Palace remain. Those of Paul Veronese are celebrated as compositions of the highest poetry. Their subjects are surely poetical ; but the works themselves are full of such heads and such gestures as were common at Venice, of such satins and velvets as were peculiarly studied in that portrait and pageant- painting school. Tintoret's Paradise is a multitudinous confusion of hurried figures, which none but that furious "fulmine di pennello" could assemble. Palma's Last Judgment is another immense composition, but more intelligibly detailed. These artists seem fond of introducing their friends into such pictures. In one part of this work you see Palma's mistress in heaven, in another the fickle lover sends her to hell. The THE PARADISO OF TINTORET 49 paintings of the great council-chamber form a continued epic on the triumph which the Republic pretends to claim over Frederick Barbarossa. In one picture the suppliant Pope is discovered by the Doge ; in another, the Venetians defeat the Imperial galleys ; in a third, young Otho, their prisoner, bears to his father the demands of the conqueror ; in a fourth, .the emperor is prostrate at S. Mark's. Most of this, I believe, is a romance ; but a romance more pardonable in a Venetian painting than in some grave histories which admit it without any warrant. ' Forsyth. The greatest of the Venetian masters were employed upon the decorations of the ceiling. ' Of the three large ceiling pictures, those of Tintoretto and Palma Giovane are far surpassed by that of Paul Veronese : Venice crowned by Fame. First, the view from below, and the architectural perspective, are far more carefully treated ; also Paolo has confined the allegorical and historical part to the upper group, where his cloud-life is brought quite harmoniously into connection with the architecture in lines and colour ; on the lower balustrade one sees only beautiful women ; farther below, riders keeping watch, and a populace, spectators of the heavenly ceremony ; most wisely, two great pieces of sky are left free, a breathing space which Tintoretto never allows his beholder ; and, in fine, Paolo has given himself up to the full enjoyment of his own cheerful sense of beauty, the feeling of which inevitably affects the beholder. ' Burckhardt. The whole of the entrance wall is occupied by one vast subject the picture which Thomas Coryat(i6o8) found so ' curious and delectable to behold.' Tintoretto. Paradise. ' At first this Paradise of Tintoret is so strange that no wonder the lovely world outside, the beautiful court -yard, the flying birds, and drifting Venetians, seem more like heaven to those who are basking in their sweetness. But it is well worth while, by degrees, with some pain and self-denial, to climb in spirit to that strange crowded place towards which old Tintoret's mighty soul was bent. Is it the heaven towards which his great heart yearned ? He has painted surprise and rapture in the face of a soul just bom into this vast circling vortex ; with its sudden pools and gleams of peace. Mary Mother above is turning to her Son, with outstretched arms, and pointing to the crowds with tender motherhood. In the great eventful turmoil a man sits absorbed in- a book, reading unmoved. Angels, with noble wings, take stately nights, cross and re-cross the darkened canvas. A far-away procession passes in radiance. . . .' Miss Thackeray. E So VENICE ' I believe this is, on the whole, Tintoret's chef-d'oeuvre ; though it is so vast that no one takes the trouble to read it, and therefore less wonderful pictures are preferred to it. ... In the Paradise of Tintoret, the angel is seen in the distance driving Adam and Eve out of the garden. Not, for Tintoret, the leading to the gate with consolation or counsel. His strange ardour of conception is seen here as everywhere. Full speed they fly, the angel and the human creatures ; the angel, wrapt in an orb of light, floats on, stooped forward in his fierce flight, and does not touch the ground ; the chastised creatures rush before him in abandoned terror. All this might have been invented by another, though in other hands it would assuredly have been offensive ; but one circumstance, which completes the story, could have been thought of by none but Tintoret. The angel casts a shadow before him towards Adam and Eve.' Ruskin, ' Modern Painters' The walls are surmounted by a noble series of pictures illustrating the history of Venice, and though greatly black- ened and often injured by the coarsest re-painting, they may be studied with profit. They are, beginning from the left : 1. Carlo and Gabriele Cagliari. Pope Alexander III. taking refuge from Frederic II., 1177, in the Convent of La Carita, where he was found by Doge Ziani. 2. Id. The Embassy from the Pope and the Republic to Frederic II. at Pavia. 3. (Above the window) Leandro Bassano. The Doge receiving a lighted taper from the Pope. 4. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Ambassadors implore Frederic at Pavia to restore peace to the Church. He replies that unless the Venetians deliver up the Pope, he ' will plant his eagles on the portals of S. Mark.' 5. Francesco Bassano. The Pope presents the Doge with a conse crated sword. 6. (Above the window) Fiammingo. The Doge receives the part- ing benediction of the Pope. 7. Dom. Tintoretto. The legendary battle of Salvore, in which the Imperialists are said to have been totally defeated by the Venetians, and Otho, son of Frederic II., to have been taken prisoner. 8. (Over a door) Andrea Vicentino. Otho is presented by Doge Ziani to the Pope. 9. Palma Giovane. Otho is released by the Pope. jo, F. Zucchero. The Emperor makes his submission to the Pope. SALA DI SCRUT1NIO 51 11. (Over a door) Girolamo Gamberato. The Doge lands at Ancona with the Pope and the Emperor after the Peace. 12. Giulio del Moro. The Pope (Alexander III.) presents conse- crated banners to Doge Ziani in the church of S. J. Lateran. To continue the pictures chronologically we must now return to the Paradise, when we shall find on the right : 13. Le Clerc. The Alliance concluded in S. Mark's, 1201, between the Venetians and the Crusaders. 14. Andrea Vicentino. The Siege of Zara (1202), under Doge Andrea Dandolo and the Crusaders. 15. Domenieo Tintoretto (over the window). The Surrender of Zara. 1 6. Andrea Vicentino. Alexius Comnenus implores the help of the Venetians in behalf of his father Isaac. 17. Palma Gicrvane. The Venetians and French, led by the blind Doge Dandolo, take Constantinople in 1203. 1 8. Domenieo Tintoretto. The Crusaders and Venetians take Con- stantinople for the second time (when the bronze horses were carried off), in 1204. 19. And. Vicentino. Baldwin of Flanders elected Emperor of the East by the Crusaders in Santa Sophia. 20. Aliense. The Coronation of Baldwin of Flanders by Enrico Dandolo. 21. Paul Veronese. The Return of Doge Contarini after his Victory over the Genoese at Chioggia. Above these pictures are the portraits of 72 Doges, be- ginning from A.D. 809. The space which should have the portrait of Marino Faliero is covered with black, and has the inscription : ' Hie est locus Marini Falethri decapitati pro criminibus.' ' Le patricien appartient a la Re"publique ; des 1'age de vingt-cinq ans, il lui doit son intelligence, 1'illustration de son nom, ses facultes speciales comme legiste, comme diplomate, comme soldat. ' Yriarte. From this Hall we enter the Sala di Scrutinio, occupying the rest of the fagade towards the Piazzetta. Here the 41 nobles were elected, by whom the Doge was afterwards chosen. Opposite the entrance is a representation of the Triumphal Arch erected by the Senate in 1694 to Doge Francesco Morosini, surnamed Peloponnesiaco, after his conquest of the Morea. The walls are covered with histori- E 2 52 VENICE cal pictures. On the entrance wall is a Last Judgment, by Palma Giovane. Opposite the entrance of the Library is that of the ArchcBological Museum. A passage, lined with indifferent sculpture (but also containing the lower portion of a seated figure supposed by Waldstein to form part of the pediment "of the Parthenon), leads to the Stanza degli Scarlatti, once the bedroom of the Doge, with a grand chimney-piece erected for Doge Agostino Barbarigo (1480-1501), and supposed to be the work of Pietro Lombardo. The best piece of sculpture here is 102. Cupid. The Sala dello Scudo is the room where the shield of arms of a Doge was placed on his election. The walls are hung with maps of the discoveries made by Venetian navi- gators. Here is the map of the world Mappamondo of Fra Mauro, one of the most precious memorials of mediaeval geography, executed between 1457 and 1459. The Stanza degli Scudieri, now called Sala de* Rilievi, is filled with poor sculpture. The Sala d' Udienza del Doge (which also opens from the Sala dello Scudo) is now occupied by a collection of ancient busts. 53 CHAPTER III. THE GRAND CANAL. HAVING visited the group of buildings around S. Mark's, the traveller cannot do better than engage a gondolier at the Piazzetta and bid him row leisurely up and down the Grand Canal (which the Venetians call Canalazzo), which will give him a general impression of the palaces, to be more minutely studied afterwards. The buildings also of the Grand Canal, unlike the rest of Venice, can in most cases only be seen from the water. Those who visit its palaces on foot must make constant use of the traghetti? which, shaded by their little pergolas, ' send out the perfume of vine flowers along the canal.' Here the public gondolas cross as ferry-boats, and here, in the shade, the most pictur- esque groups may usually be seen, Qtfacchini gossiping with the gondoliers, or market-women from Mestre waiting with their baskets overflowing with fruits and greenery. Here a.peculiar class of beggars are always stationed, pretending to pull your gondola to the shore, and really doing you no service what- ever, called by the Venetians gransieri, or crab-catchers. Here we may see that the type of the lagunes, especially the masculine type, is now that which Gozzi describes as ' bianco, biondo, e grassotto,' rather than the dark, bronzed, and grave figures of Giorgione. Gravity certainly is washed out of the Venetian character, and, in the places where dry land 1 The guilds of the Traghetti or ferrymen still survive a relic of the old Venetian republic. A sick brother still receives a daily pittance during illness, and the gastaldo, or chief officer, and four brethren of his Traghetto, always attend his funeral. 54 VENICE affords a meeting ground, nothing can exceed the energy, excitement, and vivacity displayed almost like that of Naples, and even where a shrine is marked by its red lamp on its little landing-place, you seldom see one silent figure kneeling, but two or three votaries pressing forward to the Madonna at once, as if they had a secret to confide to her. It is an ever-changing diorama. ' You will see Venice glide as though in dreams Midmost a hollowed opal : for her sky, Mirrored upon the ocean pavement, seems At dawn and eve to build in vacancy A wondrous bubble-dome of wizardry, Suspended where the light, all ways alike Circumfluent, upon her sphere may strike. 4 There Titian, Tintoret, and Giambellin, And that strong master of a myriad hues, The Veronese, like flowers with odours keen, Shall smite your brain with splendours : they confuse The soul that wandering in their world must lose Count of our littleness, and cry that then The gods we dream of walked the earth like men. ' /. A. Sy /not ids. As S. Maria della Salute is the most prominent object, we will begin by noting the principal objects on the left, marking those on the right as we return. Entering the Grand Canal, the first building on the left is the Dogana, of 1676. 4 The statue of Fortune, forming the weathercock, standing on the world, is alike characteristic of the conceits of the time, and of the hopes and principles of the last days of Venice. ' Ruskin. Then comes the Seminario Patriarchate (entered from the Campo della Salute), built by Baldassare Longhena (1670). Its oratory contains the graves of several Venetian patriarchs, and the tomb of the architect Jacopo Sansovino, with a terra-cotta bust by Alessandro Vittoria : in the sacristy are statues of SS. Cecilia and Caterina by Tullio Lombardo. IL SEMINARIO PATRIARCHALE 55: The Cloisters contain a number of sculptures and in- scriptions from suppressed convents and churches, many of them of historic interest. We may notice The Inscription from the tomb erected in S. Marina by the Doge and Senate to the brave Captain Taddeo Volpe da Imola, 1534. Above hang the keys of Padua, which hung in S. Marina over the tomb of Doge Michael Steno, in whose reign (1405) Padua fell into the hands of Venice. Bust of Lorenzo Bragadin, by Girolamo Campagna. Bust of the physician G. B. Peranda, by A less. Vittoria, 1586. Tomb of Antonio Corner, i6th century. Front of the sarcophagus of Vitale and his wife Paolina, gth century. Inscription from the tomb of the popular Doge Nicolo da Ponte, by Vincenzo Scamozzi (1585), to overlook which the Procuratore Marc Antonio Barbaro (' Le Patricien a Venise ') was appointed by the Senate. This was removed from the church of the Carita. Tomb of Doge Francesco Dandolo, with a relief of the Death of the Virgin, 1339. ' It might have been thought that the ashes of the great Doge Fran- cesco Dandolo were honourable enough to have been permitted to rest undisturbed in the chapter-house of the Frari, where they were first laid. But, as if there was not room enough, nor waste houses enough in the whole desolate city, to receive a few convent papers, the monks, want- ing an "archivio," have separated the tomb into three pieces; the canopy, a simple arch sustained on brackets, still remains on the blank walls of the desecrated chamber ; the sarcophagus has been transported to a kind of museum of antiquities, established in what was once the cloister of Santa Maria della Salute ; and the painting which filled the lunette behind it is hung far out of sight, at one end of the sacristy of the same church. The sarcophagus is completely charged with bas- reliefs ; at its two extremities are the types of S. Mark and S. John ; in front, a noble sculpture of the Death of the Virgin ; at the angles, angels holding vases. The whole space is occupied by the sculpture ; there are no spiral shafts or panelled divisions ; only a basic plinth below, and crowning plinth above, the sculpture being raised from a deep concave field between the two, but, in order to give piquancy and picturesqueness to the mass of figures, two small trees are introduced at the head and foot of the Madonna's couch, an oak and a stone pine. ' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice > iii. Gravestone of Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio, the friend and companion of Fra Paolo Sarpi, 1664. Inscription from the tomb of the painters Francesco and Jacobello del Fiore, 1433. 56 VENICE Tomb of Carlo Ridolfi, author of 'The Lives of Venetian Painters,' 1668. The Museo Statuario contains : Statue of Tommaso Rangoni of Ravenna, by A less. Vittoria, brought from S. Giuliano. Kneeling figure of Doge Agostino Barbarigo, in whose reign Rimini, Faenza, and Cyprus were added to the domains of the Re- public. This figure, attributed to Bartolommeo da Rovezzano, was brought from the magnificent tomb of the brothers Barbarigo at La Carita. Opposite the figure of Barbarigo knelt the (lost !) statue of his brother Doge Marco, who pre- ceded him, and who died (1486) of a broken heart, from his ill-treatment. Part of the portal of the house of Bajamonte Tiepolo, destroyed by decree of the Senate in 1314. S. Andrea, bas-relief of 1362, with admirable drapery. Bacchic altar, brought hither from Burano, originally probably from Altino. A noble sixteenth-century staircase by Longhena leads to the Pinacoteca Manfredini. It contains : * Leonardo da Vinci. The Holy Family, with a violin player, and the arms of the Sforza, in whose house the painter was a guest, and was wont to practise music with Lodovico Sforza. Titian. Portrait of Pietro Aretino. The Library is rich in Venetian history, and possesses a MS. 'Decameron' of 1449. Above the door of the Refec- tory is a fresco of Paul Veronese (1551), brought from Soranza. Grand marble steps form the approach from the canal to the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, which commemo- rates the deliverance of Venice from the Plague of 1630-31, in which 46,490 persons were carried off in sixteen months within the city, whilst the number of those who died in the lagoons amounted to 94,235. ' Santa Maria della Salute was built by Baldassare Longhena in 1632, according to a decree of the Senate, as a votive offering to the Virgin for having stayed the plague which devastated the city in 1630. Con- sidering the age in which it was erected, it is singularly pure, and it is well adapted to its site, showing its principal fafade to the Grand Canal S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE 57 while its two domes and two bell-towers group most pleasingly in every point of view from which Venice can be entered on that side. Exter- nally it is open to the criticism of being rather too overloaded with decoration ; but there is very little of even this that is unmeaning, or put there merely for the sake of ornament. Internally the great dome is only 65 ft. in diameter, but it is surrounded by an aisle, or rather by eight side-chapels opening into it through the eight great pier arches ; making the whole floor of this, which is practically the nave of the church, 107 ft. in diameter.' Fergusson. The pillars of this church were brought from the amphi- theatre of Pola. Before the high-altar is a grand bronze candelabrum by Andrea Bresciano. The ceiling of the choir is by Titian ; a picture of Venice imploring deliverance from pestilence, by Fiammingo. The beautiful bronze candela- brum is by Andrea d 1 Alessandro Bresciano. The Ante-Sacristy contains, amongst other pictures : * Titian. S. Mark, a most grand figure, with the shadow of a cloud thrown across him. On the left are SS. Cosmo and Damian ; on the right, S. Roch, and S. Sebastian with an arrow lying at his feet. * Marco Basaili. S. Sebastian, a grand figure, in a beautiful land- scape of Umbrian scenery. Opposite, there is a Pieta, a relief of the i$th century, by Antonio Dentone. The Sacristy contains : Entrance Wall. Girolamo (Pennachf) da Treviso. S. Roch with SS. Sebastian and Jerome. Sassoferrato. Two beautiful Madonnas. Salviati. The Last Supper, and Saul and David. Right. Tintoret. Marriage at Cana from the Refectory of the Crociferi ; one of the few pictures of the artist signed with his name. 1 An immense picture, some twenty-five feet long by fifteen high, and said by Lazari to be one of the few which Tintoret signed with his name. I am not surprised at his having done so in this case. Evidently the work has been a favourite with him, and he has taken as much pains as it was even necessary for his colossal strength to take with anything. The subject is not one which admits of much singularity or energy in composition. It has always been a favourite one with Veronese, be- cause it gave dramatic interest to figures in gay costumes and of cheerful countenances ; but one is surprised to find Tintoret, whose tone of mind 58 VENICE was always grave, and who did not like to make a picture out of bro- cades and diadems, throwing his whole strength into the conception of a marriage feast ; but so it is, and there are assuredly no female heads in any of his pictures in Venice elaborated so far as those which here form the central light. Neither is it often that the works of this mighty master conform themselves to any of the rules acted upon by ordinary painters ; but in this instance the popular laws have been observed, and an academy student would be delighted to see with what severity the principal light is arranged in a central mass, which is divided and made more brilliant by a vigorous piece of shadow thrust into the midst of it, and which dies away in lesser fragments and sparkling towards the ex- tremities of the picture. This mass of light is as interesting by its com- position as by its intensity. The cicerone who escorts the stranger round the sacristy in the course of five minutes, which allows him some forty seconds for the contemplation of a picture which the study of six months would not entirely fathom, directs his attention very carefully to the " bell' effetto di prospettivo," the whole merit of the picture being, in the eyes of the intelligent public, that there is a long table in it, one end of which looks farther off than the other ; but there is more in the " bell' effetto di prospettivo " than the observance of the common law of optics. The table is set in a spacious chamber, of which the windows at the end let in the light from the horizon, and those in the side wall the intense blue of an eastern sky. The spectator looks all along the table, at the farther end of which are seated Christ and the Madonna, the marriage guests on each side of it on one side men, on the other women : the men are set with their backs to the light, which, passing over their heads and glancing slightly on the table-cloth, falls in full length along the line of young Venetian women, who thus fill the whole centre of the picture with one broad sunbeam, made up of fair faces and golden hair. ' Close to the spectator a woman has risen in amazement, and stretches across the table to show the wine in her cup to those opposite ; her dark red dress intercepts and enhances the mass of gathered light. It is rather curious, considering the subject of the picture, that one cannot dis- tinguish either the bride or bridegroom ; but the fourth figure from the Madonna in the line of women, who wears a white head-dress of lace and rich chains of pearls in her hair, may well be accepted for the former, and I think that between her and the woman on the Madonna's left hand the unity of the line of women is intercepted by a male figure. The tone of the whole picture is sober and majestic in the highest degree ; the dresses are all broad masses of colour, and the only parts of the picture which lay claim to the expression of wealth or splendour are the head-dresses of the women. In this respect the conception of 1 To give the golden tint (handed down in Venetian pictures) to their hair, the city beauties used to steep their hair in a special preparation and then dry it in the sun. For this purpose they sat for hours in their balconies, with broad-brimmed hats, without crowns, shading their complexions, and their hair falling over them. ABBAZIA DI S. GREGORIO 59 the scene differs widely from that of Veronese, and approaches more nearly to the probable truth. Still the marriage is not an unimportant one ; an immense crowd, rilling the background, forming a superbly rich mosaic of colour against the distant sky. Taken as a whole, the picture is perhaps the most perfect example which human art has produced of the utmost possible force and sharpness of shadow united with richness of local colour. This picture unites colour as rich as Titian's with light and shade as forcible as Rembrandt's, and far more decisive. ' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice ,' iii. Palma Giovane. Samson. The altar-piece of the Virgin and Child is by Padovanino. The Little Sacristy contains a fourteenth-century relief of the Coronation of the Virgin. Close to S. Maria, on the right, is the rich gothic Church of S. Gregorio of 1342, now used as a magazine. The rich gothic doorway in the low wall beyond, admits to the courtyard of the Abbazia di S. Gregorio (founded in 1342, by monks of S. Ilario, successors of those who had fled from the persecution of Ezzelino in 1247), now l et m tenements, but indescribably picturesque, with its ancient central well of red marble, its dark arcades supported by columns with richly-sculptured capitals, and the masses of flowers which adorn its windows and parapets. Combined with the grand dome of S. Maria in the background, or with its open porch towards the glistening canal and old palaces on the opposite shore, it is a glorious subject for an artist. ' The loveliest cortile I know in Venice. ' Ritskin. Beyond S. Maria, as the canal opens, we see a vista of palaces. ' The charm which Venice still possesses, and which for the last fifty years has made it the favourite haunt of all the painters of picturesque subjects, is owing to the effect of the gothic palaces, mingled with those of the Renaissance. c The effect is produced in two different ways. The Renaissance palaces are not more picturesque in themselves than the club-houses of Pall Mall ; but they become delightful by the contrast of their severity and refinement with the rich and rude confusion of the sea-life beneath them, and of their white and solid masonry with the green waves. Re- move from beneath them the orange sails of the fishing boats, the black 60 VENICE gliding of the gondolas, the cumbered decks and rough crews of the barges of traffic, and the fretfulness of the green water along their founda- tions, and the Renaissance palaces possess no more interest than those of London or Paris. But the gothic palaces are picturesque in them- selves, and wield over us an independent power. Sea and sky and every other accessory might be taken away from them, and still they would be beautiful and strange.' Rtiskin, ' Stones of Venice ,' ii. ch. 7- ' While other Italian cities have each some ten or twelve prominent structures on which their claim to architectural fame is based, Venice numbers her specimens by hundreds ; and the residence of the simple citizen is often as artistic as the palace of the proudest noble. No other city possesses such a school of Architectural Art as applied to domestic purposes ; and if we must look for types from which to originate a style suitable to our modern wants, it is among the Venetian examples of the early part of the sixteenth century that we should probably find what is best suited to our purposes. ' Fergusson. Passing the beautiful Lombard front of the Palazzo Dario of 1450, inlaid with circular disks of precious coloured marbles, we reach the mosaic manufactory of Salviati. At the corner of the Campo S. Vito, we pass Palazzo Loredan, of late years the residence of Don Carlos (' Charles VII.') of Spain. Next comes the Lombard Palazzo Manzoni of c. 1465. Here, passing under the hideous iron bridge, we arrive at the steps of the Campo della Carita the Field of Charity belonging to the ancient convent of La Carita, which dates from the thirteenth century, and where the proud Alexander III. took refuge in his exile. In the conventual church Doge Nicolb da Ponte was buried in 1585 : part of his tomb by Scamozzi is now in the cloister of the Seminario Patriarchale. The conventual buildings are now occupied by The Accademia (open daily on week days from 1 1 to 3, on payment of i fr. per head ; on Sundays, from n to 2, free). 1 Over the porch is a relief representing S. Leonard, the patron of prisoners, standing with fetters in his hand and a liberated slave kneeling on either side. 1 The Academy may be reached on foot in ten minutes from the Piazza. S. Marco, by S. Moise, S. Maria Zobenigo, and the Campo S. Stefano, on the left of which is the entrance to the bridge toll two centimes. The bridge itself was, till recently, almost the only modern thing in Venice, and is utterly disgraceful to it. THE ACCADEM1A 61 The gallery is reached by a corridor lined with marble. A passage leads to the ist. Hall, containing interesting Furniture in boxwood and ebony, carved by the celebrated Brustolon in the middle of the eighteenth century, showing alike the perfec- tion of his workmanship and the detestable taste of his times. The 2nd Hall contains a collection presented in 1843 by Count Girolamo Contarini. It includes : Left Wall: 84. Palma Vecchio. Christ and the Widow of Nain. *94. Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. A most exquisitely beautiful picture. 96. Marco Marziale. The Supper at Emmaus ; a very curious example of a rare and harsh master, who followed Carpaccio. no. Pordenone. Madonna and Child, with SS. Catherine and John Baptist. 117. Francesco Bissolo. The Dead Christ, carried by angels. End Wall: 124. Vincenzo Catena. The Virgin and Child, with SS. John Baptist and Jerome. *I25- Cima da Conegliano. Virgin and Child, with SS. John and Paul. 132. Boccaccino da Cremona. The Virgin and Child, with SS. Peter, John Baptist, Catherine, and Barbara. 133. Polidoro Veneziano. Virgin and Child, with S. John Baptist and an angel. Right Wall: 138. Morone. Female Portrait. 151. /. Callot. 'The Market of Impruneta ' (still held near Florence), a curious picture, with innumerable figures. 155. Schiavone. The Circumcision. Entrance Wall: 168. Tintoretto. A male Head. 'An excellent quiet portrait in an unregarded corner. ' Ruskin. 179. Tintoretto. Madonna and Faithful. ' A lovely little Tintoret, purest work of his heart, and fairest of his faculty. ' Ruskin. 1 86. Francesco Bissolo. Madonna and Child. 62 VENICE In the yd Hall we may notice : 234-238. Giovanni Bellini. Miniature allegorical pictures very curious and interesting. tfh Hall. Casts. Bartolommeo Vivarini (1475). The Holy Family in the Bethlehem stable. On either side four Saints. $th Hall. Sala degli Antichi Dipinti, which has a most beautiful fifteenth-century ceiling carved, painted, and gilded representing Christ and the Evangelists. In this and in the other rooms only the most remarkable paintings are noticed ; those of the greatest importance are, as elsewhere, indicated by an asterisk. 1. Bartolommeo Vivarini (\A$\). Madonna and four Saints. One of the earliest works of the artist, painted on a gold ground, from the island Church of the Certosa. ' A noble picture ; not of any supreme genius, but completely con- taining the essence of Venetian art. ' Ruskin. 2. Michele Mattei (or Lambertini}, Bolognese. The Virgin and Saints. Above, the Crucifixion. Below, the Story of S. Helena, from S. Elena in Isola. 4. Marco Basaiti. S. James, from the Convent of the Miracoli. *5. Lorenzo Veneziano and Francesco Bissolo. The Annunciation, with Saints, from S. Antonio di Castello. 8. Giovanni and Antonio da Murano (1440). The Coronation of the Virgin signed, formerly in S. Barnaba. 1 6. Altar-piece. The centre, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, is by Stefano, the vicar of S. Agnes ( 1 380) ; the smaller panels by Semitecolo. It is inscribed : ' MCCCLXXX STEFAN. PLEBANVS SANCTAE AGNETIS PINXIT.' ' ' Symmetrically orderly, gay. In the heart of it, nobly grave. ' Ruskin. 17. A. Vivarini. Lovely figure of a youth. *23- Giovanni cT Alemagna and Antonio da Murano (1496). The Ma- donna enthroned, with the Doctors of the Church, from the Scuola della Carita. The 6th Hall, Sala delF Assunta, has a ceiling by Cheru- bini Ottali, with a painting by P. Veronese in the centre ; it contains : 1 Nothing is known of the Vicar but that he was a Venetian painter, ' and a very cheery, loveable vicar he must have been," says Ruskin. THE ACCADEMIA 63 *24- Titian. The Assumption. The most important picture of the master, brought from the Church of the Frari. ' Fra Marco Germano, head of the convent [of the Frari], who ordered this picture at his own expense and fitted it when completed into a fine framework of marble for the high-altar, had many criticisms to make during the frequent visits he paid to the painter at his work. Titian was troubled, indeed, by all the ignorant brethren coming and going, molestatodalkfrequentivisite loro, and by ilpoco loro intendimento, their small understanding of the necessities of art. They were all of opinion that the Apostles in the foreground were too large, di troppo smisurate grandezze, and though he took no small trouble to persuade them that the figures must be in proportion to the vastness of the space and the position which the picture was to occupy, yet nevertheless the monks continued to grumble and shake their heads. But when the emperor's envoy offered a large sum if they would give it up, in order that he might send it to his master, ihefrati began to think it better to hold by their bargain. ' The fathers in chapter,' says Ridolfi, ' decided, after the opinion of the most prudent, not to give up the picture to anyone, recognising finally that art was not their profession, and that the use of the breviary did not convey a knowledge of painting.' Oliphant, ' The Makers of Venice. ' ' The Madonna is a powerful figure, borne rapidly upwards as if divinely impelled. Head, figure, attitude, drapery, and colour are all beautiful. Fascinating groups of infant angels surround her ; beneath stand the Apostles, looking up with solemn gestures. ' Kugler. 25. facopo Tintoretto. Adam and Eve. A splendid example of the master, from the Scuola della Trinita. 27. Bonifazio Veneziano. S. Mark. 31. Marco Basaiti (1510). The Calling of the Sons of Zebedee, from the Certosa. ' In this picture the naive simplicity of the attitudes, the expression of humility in the countenances of the two brothers, and their strictly apostolical character, cannot fail to excite our admiration.' Rio. 32. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Virgin and Child, with three Senators. 33. Titian. The Burial of Christ, completed by Palma Vecchio, from S. Angelo. ' Les Beaux- Arts renferment le dernier tableau de Titien, tresor in- estimable ! Les annees, si pesantes pour tous, glisserent sans appuyer sur ce patriarche de la peinture, qui traversa tout un siecle et que la peste surprit a quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ans travaillant encore. ' Ce tableau, grave et melancolique d'aspect, dont le sujet funebre semble un pressentiment, represente un Christ depose de la Croix ; le ciel e.st sombre, un jour livide eclaire le cadavre pieusement soutenu par 64 VENICE Joseph d'Arimathie et sainte Marie- Madeleine. Tous deux sont tristes, sombres, et paraissent, a leur morne attitude, desesperer de la resur- rection de leur maitre. On voit qu'ils se demandent avec une anxiete secrete si ce corps, oint de baumes, qu'ils vont Conner au sepulchre, en pourra jamais sortir ; en effet, jamais Titien n'a fait de cadavre si mort. Sous cette peau verte et dans ces veines bleuatres il n'y a plus une goutte de sang, la pourpre de la vie s'en est retiree pour toujours. Pour la premiere fois, le grand Venetien a ete abandonne par son antique et inalterable serenite. L'ombre de la mort prochaine semble lutter avec la lumiere du peintre qui cut toujours le soleil sur sa palette, et enve- loppe le tableau d'un froid crepuscule. La main de 1'artiste se glaga avant d'avoir achieve sa tache, comme le temoigne 1'inscription en lettres noires tracee dans le coin de la toile : Quod Tizianus inchoatum reliquit Palma reverenter absolvit Deoque dicavit opus. " L'ceuvre que Titien laissa inachevee, Palma 1'acheva respectueusement et I'offrit a Dieu." Cette noble, touchante, et religieuse inscription fait de ce tableau un monument. Certes, Palma, grand peintre lui-meme, ne dut approcher qu'avec tremblement 1'ceuvre du maitre, et son pinceau, quelque habile qu'il fut, hesita et vacilla sans doute plus d'une fois en se posant sur les touches du Titien.' Thlophile Gatitier. 35. Titian. The Visitation. Called the first picture of the artist, from the Monastery of S. Andrea. 36. facopo Tintoretto. The Resurrection, and three Senators. 37. Giorgione. Much retouched by Paris Bordone. The famous Legend of S. Mark and the Fisherman, from the Scuola di S. Marco. ' On the 25th of February, 1340, there fell out a wonderful thing in this land ; for during three days the waters rose continually, and in the night there was fearful rain and tempest, such as had never been heard of. So great was the storm that the waters rose three cubits higher than had ever been known in Venice ; and an old fisherman being in his little boat in the canal of S. Mark, reached with difficulty the Riva di San Marco, and there he fastened his boat, and waited the ceasing of the storm. And it is related that, at the time this storm was at the highest, there came an unknown man, and besought him that he would row him over to San Giorgio Maggiore, promising to pay him well ; and the fisherman replied, " How is it possible to go to San Giorgio? we shall sink by the way ! " but the man only besought him the more that he should set forth. So, seeing that it was the will of God, he arose and rowed over to San Giorgio Maggiore ; and the man landed there, and desired the boatman to wait. In a short time he returned with a young man ; and they said, "Now row towards San Niccolo di Lido." And the fisherman said, " How can one possibly go so far with one oar? 'and they said, " Row boldly, for it shall be possible THE ACCADEMIA 65 with thee, and thou shalt be well paid." And he went ; and it appeared to him as if the waters were smooth. Being arrived at San Niccolo di Lido, the two men landed, and returned with a third, and having entered into the boat, they commanded the fisherman that he should row beyond the two castles. And the tempest raged continually. Being come to the open sea, they beheld approaching, with such terrific speed that it appeared to fly over the waters, an enormous galley full of demons (as it is written in the Chronicles, and Marco Sabellino also makes mention of this miracle) : the said bark approached the castles to overwhelm Venice, and to destroy it utterly ; anon the sea, which had hitherto been tumultuous, became calm ; and these three men, having made the sign of the cross, exorcised the demons, and com- manded them to depart, and immediately the galley or the ship vanished. Then these three men commanded the fisherman to land them, the one at San Niccolo di Lido, the other at San Giorgio Maggiore, and the third at San Marco. And when he had landed the third, the fisherman, notwithstanding the miracle he had witnessed, desired that he would pay him, and he replied, "Thou art right ; go now to the Doge and to the Procuratore of S. Mark, and tell them what thou hast seen, for Venice would have been overwhelmed had it not been for us three. I am S. Mark the Evangelist, the protector of this city ; the other is the brave knight S. George, and he whom thou didst take up at the Lido is the holy bishop S. Nicholas. Say to the Doge and to the Procuratore that they are to pay you, and tell them likewise that this tempest arose because of a certain schoolmaster dwelling at San Felice, who did sell his soul to the devil, and afterwards hanged himself." And the fisher- man replied, " If I should tell them this, they would not believe me ! " Then S. Mark took off a ring which was worth five ducats ; and he said, " Show them this, and tell them when they look in the sanctuary they will not find it," and thereupon he disappeared. The next morning, the said fisherman presented himself before the Doge, and related all he had seen the night before, and showed him the ring for a sign. And the Procuratore having sent for the ring, and sought it in the usual place, found it not ; by reason of which miracle the fisherman was paid, and a solemn procession was ordained, giving thanks to God, and to the relics of the three holy saints who rest in our land, and who de- livered us from this great danger. The ring was given to Signer Marco Loredano and to Signer Andrea Dandolo the Procuratore, who placed it in the sanctuary ; and, moreover, a perpetual provision was made for the aged fisherman above mentioned.' Jameson' 1 s ' Sacred Art.' *38. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin and six Saints. A most beau- tiful picture, painted for a chapel at S. Giobbe, which was especially arranged to bring all its beauties into relief. It is the crowning work of this great master, which established his fame and led to his employment by the State. F 66 VENICE 1 Alone worth a modern exhibition building, hired fiddlers and all. The third best John Bellini in Venice, and probably in the world.' Ruskin. 1 Finely thought out is the concentration of light on the Virgin, seated with the Babe on her knee, looking forward as if struck by some external event, yet full of calm benevolence ; varied the move- ments of the three angels playing instruments at her feet ; kindly, in their meditative submission, the passive S. Francis, the praying Job, the attentive Baptist, the wounded S. Sebastian, the eager SS. Dominic and Louis ; a broad system of shadows, tempered to suit the gloom of the chapel for which the picture was intended, completes the attraction.' Crowe and Cavalcaselle. *45- Jacopo Tintoretto. S. Mark delivering a Slave condemned to Death. ' Ce tableau a pour sujet le saint patron de Venise venant a 1'aide d'un pauvre esclave qu'un maitre barbare faisait tourmenter et gehenner a cause de 1'obstinee devotion que ce pauvre diable avait a ce saint. L' esclave est etendu a terre sur une croix entouree de bourreaux affaires, qui font de vains efforts pour 1'attacher au bois infame. Les clous re- broussent, les maillets se rompent, les haches volent en eclats ; plus misericordieux que les hommes, les instruments de supplice s'emoussent aux mains des tortionnaires : les curieux se regardent et chuchotent etonnes, le juge se penche du haut du tribunal pour voir pourquoi Ton n'execute pas ses ordres, tandis que S. Marc, dans un des raccourcis les plus violemment strapasses que la peinture ait jamais risques, pique une tete du ciel et fait un plongeon sur la terre, sans nuages, sans ailes, sans cherubims, sans aucun des moyens aerostatiques employes ordinairement dans les tableaux de saintete, et vient delivrer celui qui a eu foi en lui. Cette figure vigoureuse, athletiquement musclee, de proportion colossale, fendant 1'air comme le rocher lance par une catapulte, produit 1'effet le plus singulier. Le dessin a une telle puissance de jet, que le saint massif se soutient a 1'ceil et ne tombe pas ; c'est un vrai tour de force. ' T. Gautier. 47- Alessandro Varottari (II Padovanino). The Wedding at Cana. 50. Bonifazio. The Woman taken in Adultery. 51. /. Tintoretto. Portrait of Doge Alvise Mocenigo. 54. Paul Veronese. The Madonna in glory, with S. Dominic beneath distributing garlands of roses. From S. Pietro Martire at Murano. *55- Bonifazio. The Judgment of Solomon who is represented as very young and beautiful. *57. Bonifazio. The Adoration of the Magi. 63. /. Tintoretto. The Death of Abel, from the Scuola della Trinita. ' One of the most wonderful works in the whole gallery. ' Ruskin. THE ACCADEMIA 67 ' Although the great Venetian masters are chiefly concerned with the external life of their city, her pomp and circumstance, incidentally we find them influenced to the very depths of their art by the aesthetic qualities of their native place. The dome-like spaces which Bellini leaves above his throned Madonnas' heads recall the infinite sweep of the vast Venetian sky ; nowhere in painting do we feel as we feel in Tintoret that shimmer of light, that blending of tones which belong to the waters of the lagoon ; nowhere are the flaming glories of the sunset sky more vividly reproduced than in the triumphant splendours of Titian's canvasses.' Horatio F. Brown, ' Venetian Studies.' 1 The itk Hall, with a ceiling painted by Tintoretto, con- tains : 65. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Pietro Marcello. 66. Giuseppe Porta (Salviati). The Baptism of Christ. (Unnumbered). Gentile Bellini. Doge Cristoforo Moro. *( Unnumbered). Cima da Conegliano. The Angel and Tobias. The 8/7* Hall contains original sketches by the great masters. The drawings by Raffaelle and Lionardo, but es- pecially those of the latter, are of the highest importance. The qth and ioth Halls are unimportant. In the u//z Hall are : 566. Domenico Tintoretto, 1595. Benedetto Marcello, Procuratore of S. Marco. 568. Jacopo Tintoretto. The Descent from the Cross, from S. Maria dell' Umilta. *572. Bonifazio. Adoration of the Magi. 582. Cima da Conegliano. The Virgin and Child throned, with SS. Sebastian, George, Jerome, Nicholas, Catherine and Lucy, from the Church of the Carita. 586. Bonifazio. SS. Benedict and Sebastian much repainted, but still a very fine picture. 593. Palma Vecchio. S. Peter throned, with other Saints, from the Church of Fontanello d' Oderzo. The i2th, 13^, and \\th Halls contain rubbish. The i$th Hall contains : *52g. Gentile Bellini. Part of the True Cross having fallen into one of the canals during a procession to S. Lorenzo, is saved by Andrea Vendramin, Guardian of the Confraternity. Cata- 68 VENICE rina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, and her suite are amongst the spectators lining the sides of the canal. Foremost amongst a kneeling group on the right, is said to be the artist himself. From the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista. ' On voit dans ces toiles les anciennes maisons de Venise avec leurs murs rouges, leurs fenetres aux trefles lombards, leurs terrasses sur- montees de piquets, leurs cheminees evasees, les vieux ponts suspendus par des chaines, et les gondoles d'autrefois, qui n'ont pas la forme qu'elles affectent aujourd'hui : il n'y a pas de felce, mais un drap tendu sur des cerceaux, comme aux galiotes de Saint-Cloud ; aucune ne porte cette espece de manche de violon en fer poli qui sert de contre-poids an rameur place a la poupe ; elles sont aussi beaucoup moins effilees. ' T. Gautier. *533- Vittore Carpaccio. The dream of S. Ursula, the daughter of Theonotus, King of Brittany, that she must undertake a pil- grimage to the shrine of the martyrs. (Painted, with its companion pictures, in 1491-5, for the School of S. Ursula, near SS. Giovanni and Paolo.) ' Rien n'est plus elegant, plus juvenilement gracieux que la suite de peintures oil Vittore Carpaccio a represente la vie de sainte Ursule. Ce Carpaccio a le charme ideal, la sveltesse adolescente de Raphael dans le Mariage de la Vierge, un de ses premiers et peut-etre le plus charmant de ses tableaux ; on ne saurait imaginer des airs de tete plus nai'vement adorables, des tournures d'une plus angelique coquetterie. II y a surtout un jeune homme a longs cheveux vu de dos, laissant glisser a demi sur son epaule sa cape an collet de velours, qui est d'une beaute si fiere, si jeune et si seduisante, qu'on croirait voir le Cupidon de Praxitele vetu d'un costume moyen age, on plutot un ange qui aurait eu la fantaisie de se travestir en magnifique de Venise.' T. Gautier. *534. Marco Basaiti. The Agony in the Garden a lovely example of the master, from S. Giobbe. ' The still pathos of nature is remarkable in this picture, where the fading light and leafless trees seem to point to a new morrow and a new summer. Here the disciples sleep full in the foreground, in the form of a pyramid, of which one, full length on his back, forms the base. Christ is on an elevation behind, where the painter seems instinctively to have felt the anomaly of placing Him, and therefore gives Him another form of prominence by the force of the figure against the twilight sky. This is a devotional picture, with saints on each side. The lamp is a quaint device to show its destination upon an altar.' East lake, ' Hist, of our Lord.'' 537. Vittore Carpaccio. King Theonotus receives the ambassadors of the pagan Agrippinus, king of England, who had come to ask the hand of the Christian Princess Ursula, for his son Conon. THE A CCA DEMI A 69 539. Vittore Carpacdo. The ambassadors ask of Theonotus the hand of his daughter, and he confers with the Princess Ursula, who demands that Conon should first be baptized, and that she should be allowed three years for her pilgrimage with a thousand virgins her companions. 540. Giovanni Mansueti (a pupil of Bellini). S. Mark preaching at Alexandria. From the School of S. Marco. 541. Francesco Bissolo. The Coronation of S. Catherine of Siena an important example of the great artist of Treviso. 542. Vittore Carpacdo. Prince Conon, agreeing to the conditions of Ursula, takes leave of his father. In the same picture he is seen meeting his betrothed. He embarks with her upon her pilgrimage. 544. Id. The arrival of S. Ursula and her Virgins at Cologne dis- playing marvellous correctness of perspective. 546. Id. Pope Cyriacus, with his Cardinals, receives S. Ursula, with her Bridegroom, and the Virgins, at Rome. (Regarded as a subject this should precede 554.) *547. Paul Veronese, 1572. The Supper in the house of Levi, painted for the refectory of SS. Giovanni and Paolo. Many of the figures, especially that of the master of the feast, are full of the noblest Venetian character. On the 8th of July, 1573, Maestro Paolo Cagliari, of Verona, then residing in the parish of S. Samuele, was summoned before the Sacred Tribunal in the Capella di S. Teodoro, to be examined as to his irre- verence in painting ' buffoons, drunkards, Germans, dwarfs, and similar indecencies,' at supper with our Lord. Veronese defended himself on the authority of Michelangelo, who 'in the papal chapel at Rome painted our Lord Jesus Christ, His mother, S. John, and S. Peter, and all the court of heaven, from the Virgin Mary downwards, naked, and in various attitudes, with little reverence.' Paul Veronese was ordered to correct and amend the picture within three months at his own expense j but the sentence was a matter of form and was never en- forced. 548. Giovanni Manstieti. From the Monastery of SS. Giovanni and Paolo. A Miracle of the True Cross, when the monks who carried it were stopped by an invisible power on the bridge of S. Leone. From the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista. 549. Vittore Carpacdo. The Ambassadors of Agrippinus bringing back the answer of King Theonotus. 551. Sebastiano Florigerio. SS. Francis, Anthony, and John the Evangelist. From S. Bovo at Padua. 552. Vittore Carpacdo. Meeting of SS. Joachim and Anna. SS. 70 VENICE Louis and Ursula are introduced. Painted for S. Francesco of Treviso. 554. Vitlore Carpaccio. The Martyrdom of S. Ursula and her Virgins. *SSS- Gentile Bellini. A miracle of the Holy Cross. The scene is the Piazza S. Marco. The church is exhibited in minute de- tail. The old mosaics of the recesses above the doorways and of the upper gables are shown as they existed before the alterations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The procession has issued from a gate between the church and the ducal palace. Near the shrine kneels Jacopo Salis, the merchant of Brescia, whose son is supposed to have been healed in consequence of a vow which he then made. The picture is wonderfully harmonious and delicate, and is full of interesting architecture and detail. From the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista. ' In each of these three magnificent compositions, which were painted by Gentile for the Confraternity of S. John the Evangelist, is represented a miracle worked by a fragment of the True Cross in the possession of the brotherhood. In the first, a young man of Brescia, dangerously wounded in the head, is miraculously cured in consequence of a vow made by his father when this relic was carried in a procession, and as a proof that the disposition of his heart was in perfect harmony with the occupation of his pencil, the artist has inscribed the following touching words beneath : Gentilis Bellinus amore incensus crucis, 1466. ' The next miracle which he represented was the recovery of this very relic from the canal (into which it had fallen on the day that it was carried in procession to the church of S. Lorenzo) by the intervention of the pious Andrea Vendramini after its rescue had been vainly attempted by the profane. In representing this beautiful legend, the heart of the painter was even more powerfully affected than by the former work, and in order to express his increasing devotion for the holy sign of the Redemption, he inscribed underneath these still more forcible words : Gentilis Bellinus pio sanctissimae crucis affectu lubens fecit, 1500. 1 The third picture was worthy to be the companion of the two others. The subject he had to represent was the miraculous cure of a member of the Confraternity from a quaternian fever, who is contemplating the instrument of his recovery with ecstatic admiration. This gave the aged Bellini another opportunity of displaying his pious imagination ; and it was perhaps his last work, for he died a few years after its com- pletion, and we may be permitted to suppose that he often dwelt on the consoling thought that it embodies, and looked himself to the Cross for the cure of all his infirmities. ' Rio. THE ACCADEMIA 71 560. Vittore Carpaccio, 1491. S. Ursula with her Virgins and Pope Cyriacus, receiving the reward of her martyrdom. This pic- ture is the last of the series, which is arranged in the gallery in the order of the dates at which it was painted. *56i. Lnigi Vivarini, 1480. The Virgin and Child throned between saints of the greatest dignity and expression. 564. Vittore Carpaccio. A sick man healed by the True Cross, which is presented from a balcony by the Patriarch of Grado. The old Rialto called ' Del Bagatin ' is introduced. ' We can desire no better view of the old Rialto and the palace of the Patriarch of Grado, as they existed at the close of the fifteenth century, than has been set forth with all the advantage of true perspective and a realistic reproduction of nature.' Crowe and Cavalcaselle. ' The scene lies on the Great Canal immediately in front of the Rialto. It is the hour of sunset, and darker-edged clouds are beginning to fleck the golden haze of the west which still arches over the broken sky-line, roof and turret and bell-towers and chimneys of strange fashion with quaint conical tops. The canal lies dusk in the eventide, but the dark surface throws into relief a crowd of gondolas, and the lithe, glowing figures of their gondoliers. The boats themselves are long and narrow as now, but without the indented prora which has become uni- versal ; the sumptuary law of the Republic has not yet robbed them of colour, and instead of the present ' ' coffin " we see canopies of gaily -hued stuffs on four light pillars. The gondolier himself is commonly tricked out in almost fantastic finery : red cap with long golden curls flowing down over the silken doublet, slashed hose, the light dress displaying those graceful attitudes into which the rower naturally falls. On the left side of the canal its white marble steps are crowded with figures of the nobler Venetian life ; a black robe here and there breaking the gay variety of golden and purple and red and blue, while in the balcony above a white group of clergy, with golden candlesticks towering overhead, are gathered round the demoniac whose cure forms the subject of the picture.'^. R. Green, ' Stray Studies.' In the i6th Hall (which contains the original model for the Hercules and Lycas of Canova, and which has a ceiling by Tiepolo) are : 486. Pordenone. Our Lady of Carmel and Saints. *487. Titian. The Presentation of the Virgin. This beautiful picture is one of the earliest works of the master. The old woman with the eggs is one of his most powerful representations from the Scuola della Carita. ' Au sommet d'un e"norme escalier grisatre se tiennent les pretres et le grand pontife. Cependant, au milieu des gradins, la petite fillette, 72 VENICE bleue dans une aureole blonde, monte en relevant sa robe ; elle n'a rien de sublime, elle est prise sur le vif, ses bonnes petites joues sont rondes ; elle leve sa main vers le grand pretre, comme pour prendre garde et lui demander ce qu'il veut d'elle ; c'est vraiment une enfant, elle n'a point encore de pensee ; Titien en trouvait de pareilles au catechisme. Au premier plan, en face du spectateur, sur le bas de 1'escalier, il a pose une vieille grognonne en robe bleue et capuchon blanc, vraie villageoise qui vient faire son marche a la ville, et garde aupres d'elle son panier d'ceufs et de poulets ; un Flamand ne risquerait pas davantage. On se sent dans une ville reelle, peuplee de bourgeois et de paysans, ou Ton exerce des metiers, oil 1'on accomplit ses devotions, mais ornee d'an- tiquites, grandiose de structure, pare par les arts, illuminee par le soleil, assise dans le plus noble et le plus riche des paysages. Plus m^ditatifs, plus detaches des choses, les Florentins creent un monde ideal et abstrait par dela le notre ; plus spontane, plus heureux, Titien aime notre monde, le comprend, s'y enferme,'et le reproduit en I'embellissant sans le refondre ni le supprimer.' Taine. It is curious to read on the spot Ruskin's very different criticism : ' To me simply the most stupid and uninteresting picture ever painted by Titian. The colour of the landscape is as false as a piece of common blue tapestry, and the " celebrated " old woman with the basket of eggs is as dismally ugly and vulgar a filling of spare corner as was ever daubed on a side scene in a hurry at Drury Lane.' *488. Vittore Carpaccio. The Presentation of Christ (1510) from S. Giobbe a picture to study in its marvellous beauty, truthfulness, and detail even to the lovely little pictures on the edge of the robe of S. Simeon. The artist was stimulated to his utmost efforts, because the masterpiece of Bellini, whom he never approached so closely as in this picture, was placed in the same church. 489. Paul Veronese, The Annunciation from the Scuola dei Mercanti. *49O. Pordenotie. SS. Lorenzo Giustiniani, John Baptist, Francis, and Augustine, with the Lamb a magnificent work, in- tended for the Renieri altar in S. Maria dell' Orto. *492. Paris Bordone. The Fisherman presenting to the Doge the ring he received from S. Mark from the Scuola di S. Marco. ' This picture is like a grand piece of scenic decoration ; we have before us a magnificent marble hall, with columns and buildings in per- spective ; to the right, on the summit of a flight of steps, sits the Doge in Council ; the poor fisherman^ascending the steps, holds forth the THE ACCADEMIA 73 ring. The numerous figures, the vivid colour, the luxuriant architecture, remind us of Paul Veronese, with, however, more delicacy, both in colour and execution. ''Jameson's ' Sacred Art.' 1 The splendid execution gives this picture the most attractive air of truth, to which the view of the grand Venetian buildings much contri- butes. ' Kugler. 495. Rocco Marconi. The Descent from the Cross full of grandeur and touching expression. This master recalls the Spanish artist Juan de Juanes. From the Church of the Servi. *5oo. Bonifazio. Lazarus and the Rich Man from the Palazzo Grimani. ' Bonifazio peignait le portrait. Ses physionomies e"tudie"es et indi- viduellement caracteristiques, rappellent avec fidelite les types patri- ciens de Venise, qui ont si souvent pose devant 1'artiste. L'anachronisme du costume fait voir que Lazare n'est qu'un pretexte et que le veritable sujet du tableau est un repas de seigneurs avec des courtisanes, leurs maitresses, au fond d'un de ces beaux palais qui baignent leurs pieds de marbre dans 1'eau verte du grand canal.' T. Gautier. 503. J. Tintoretto. The Virgin and Child and four Senators. 505. Bonifazio. Our Saviour enthroned, with Saints. 513. Paul Veronese. The Marriage of Cana. 519. Paul Veronese. The Virgin with SS. Joseph, John Baptist, Justina, Francis, and Jerome from S. Zaccharia. There is a replica of this picture in the Capitol at Rome. ' Certes, les amateurs de la verite vraie ne retrouveront pas ici 1'humble interieur du pauvre charpentier. Cette colonne en brocatelle rose de Verone, cet opulent rideau ramage, dont les plis a riche cassure forment le fond du tableau, annoncent une habitation princiere ; mais la sainte famille est plutot une apotheose que la representation exacte du pauvre menage de Joseph. La presence de ce S. Francois portant une palme, de ce pretre en camail et de cette sainte sur la nuque de laquelle s'enroule, comme une corne d'Ammon, une brillante torsade de cheveux d'or a la mode venitienne, 1'estrade quasi royale ou trone la Mere divine, presentant son bambin a 1'adoration, le prouvent surabondam- ment.' T. Gautier. The \*\th Hall contains : 441. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Marco Grimani. 443. Jacopo Bellini (father of Gentile and Giovanni). Madonna and Child signed. 447. Sebastiano Lazzaro. A saint seated in a tree with a book, and two other saints beneath very curious. *4S6. Cima da Conegliano. The Saviour, with SS. Thomas and Magnus a most noble picture. 74 VENICE The i%th Hall contains a collection bequeathed by Countess Renier in 1850. It includes : 419. Piero detta Francesco,. A man (supposed to be Girolamo Malatesta, son-in-law of Federigo d' Urbino) kneeling before his patron S. Jerome. 421. Cima da Conegliano. Virgin and Child. 423. Marco Bella. Virgin and Child, with S. John. *424. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin, with SS. Paul and George. 429. Cima da Conegliano. . Pieta. 433. Morone. A Portrait. 435. Francesco Bissolo. The Presentation in the Temple. 436. Giov. Bellini. Virgin and Child, with SS. Mary Magdalen and Catherine. ' The three women are characterised by an extraordinary union of dignity, earnestness, and beauty.' Crowe and Cavalcaselle. In the 2oM Hall is : 388. Giovanni da Udine. Christ amongst the Doctors. ' Christ is represented seated on a throne, and disputing with the Jewish doctors, who are eagerly arguing or searching their books. In front of the composition stand S. Jerome, S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, and S. Gregory, who, with looks fixed on the youthful Saviour, appear to be reverently listening to, and recording, His words. This is a wholly poetical and ideal treatment of a familiar passage in the life of Christ. -Jameson'' s ' Sacred Art.' 1 The 2 \st Hall contains : 360. Beat a Caterina Vigri. S. Ursula. 365. A. Schiavone. The Virgin and Child, with SS. John, Cathe- rine, Jerome, and James. 366. Titian. S. J. Baptist. *368. Bonifazio. Adoration of the Magi from the Scuola di S. Teodoro. 372. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin and sleeping Child. In the 22#^ Hall (II Corridoio) are : 295. J. Tintoretto. Portrait of Antonio Cappello from the Pro- curatie Nuove. 310. M. A. Caravaggio. A Portrait. 313. Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. 315. Engelbrechlen. The Crucifixion. 318. G. Schiavone. Madonna and Child. *3I9. Titian. Jacopo Soranzo. A magnificent Portrait. PALAZZO CONTARINI, PALAZZO FOSCARI 75 *326. Bonifazio. Madonna and Saints with glowing colour and beautiful background from the Scuola di S. Pasquale. 337. Francesco Bissolo. Madonna and Child, with Saints. 348. Bernardo Darentino. The Nativity. 349. Antonello da Messina. The Madonna. 350. Titian. Portrait of Priamo da Lezze. 352. Tommaso da Modena. S. Catherine. 354. Andrea da Murano. The Saviour throned, between two Saints. In the 2$rd Hall we may observe : 254. Lorenzo di Credi. Holy Family and S. John. 268. Holbein. A Portrait. 273. Andrea Mantegna. S. George with a landscape marvellous in its detailed truthfulness. Re-entering our gondola, we see on the left the Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, of which one side is built in the Lombard style, 1504-1546, the others in the gothic of the fifteenth century. On the latter are two Renaissance statues, probably by Ant. Rizzi. There were eight doges of the Contarini family, and their wealth was so great that the people called their residence II Palazzo degli Scrigni, or 'of the money chests.' Some of the curious old iron chests in which the Contarini kept their treasures are still to be seen here. The second floor of this palace contains the English Church. Beyond this is the noble Palazzo Rezzonico, begun by Longhena in 1680, finished by Massari, 1745. The Rezzonico family was founded here by the merchant Au- relia : one of its members mounted the papal throne as Clement XIII. We now pass the two Palazzi Giustiniani of the fifteenth century. One is called del Vescovi> from the first sainted Patriarch of Venice, who was a member of the family. The noble Palazzo Foscari is of 1437. This palace will always be connected with the touching story of Doge Foscari. His son Giacopo was accused to the Council of Ten of having received presents from foreign princes, by a nobleman named Loredano, who believed that the death of two of his own relations had been due to the Doge, and who wrote in his books ' Francesco Foscari, debtor for the deaths of my father and uncle. ' 76 VENICE Giacopo was tortured on the rack and, being found guilty, his father was forced to pronounce his sentence of banishment. For five years he languished in exile at Treviso, at the end of which time he was ac- cused of having compassed the murder of Donate, a Venetian senator, from the mere fact of a servant of his being found near at the time. He was brought back to Venice, again tried on the rack, and banished for life, on presumptive evidence, to Candia. Hence Giacopo unwisely wrote to entreat the intercession of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. The letter was carried to the Council of Ten. He was brought again to Venice, flogged, and then tortured. Being asked what had induced him to write to a foreign prince, he replied that he had done it knowing the risk, but feeling that it would be worth while to undergo the torture a third time, to breathe once more the same air with his parents, his wife, and children. He was again condemned to be banished, but this time a sentence of close imprisonment was added. One farewell interview was allowed with the aged Doge and Dogar- essa, his wife Marina, and his children. ' Ah, my lord, plead for me,' he cried, stretching out his hands to his father, who replied firmly, ' O Giacopo, obey what thy country commands, and seek nothing else.' On reaching his prison Giacopo died of a broken heart. Immediately afterwards, but too late, his innocence was completely established ; Erizzo, a Venetian nobleman, confessed, on his death-bed, that he was the murderer of Donato. Yet the vengeance of Loredano was incomplete. The sobs of the Doge on taking leave of his unhappy son were made the foundation of an accusation of imbecility and incapacity for government. He was formally deposed, and ordered to quit the Ducal Palace within eight days. Loredano had the cruel pleasure of carrying the mandate to the Doge, who listened quietly and then answered ' I little thought that my old age would be injurious to the State ; but I yield to the decree.' Stripping himself of his robes, and accompanied by his aged brother Marco, and all the rest of his family, he left the palace where he had reigned for thirty-five years, and returned to his own house on the canal. But the sound of the great bell which announced the election of his successor was his death-knell ; he burst a blood-vessel, and died in- stantly. ' When the bell rang At dawn, announcing a new Doge to Venice, It found him on his knees before the Cross, Clasping his aged hands in earnest prayer ; And there he died. Ere half his task was done, It rang his knell.' Rogers. So great was the popular excitement on hearing of this event, that the senate forbade ' the affair of Francesco Foscari to be mentioned on pain of death. ' PALAZZO PISANI 77 The Foscari and its two adjoining palaces form a most conspicuous group at the end of the first reach of the Grand Canal. ' They certainly form a most magnificent group, and are in every way worthy of their conspicuous position. The palace at the junction of the two waters is that of Foscari ; the other belonged, I believe, to the Giustiniani family. The date of the smaller palaces, and probably of the large one also, is very early in the fifteenth century ; and the latter had, in 1574, the honour of being the grandest palace that the Venetians could find in which to lodge Henry III. of France. They are all three very similar in their design. Their water-gates are pointed, and the windows in the water-stage small and unimportant. The second stage is more important, and has cusped ogee window-heads and balconies. The third stage is, however, the piano nobile, all the windows having deep traceried heads and large balconies. The fourth stage is very nearly like the first, save that instead of balconies there is a delicate balustrading between the shafts of the windows, which is very frequent in good Venetian work, and always very pretty in its effect.' G. E. Street. We should enter the narrow canal called Rio di Ca' Foscari at the side of the Palace. ' Here, almost immediately after passing the great gateway of the Foscari courtyard, we shall see on the left, in the ruinous and time- stricken walls which tower over the water, the white curve of a circu- lar (Byzantine) arch covered with sculpture, and fragments of the bases of small pillars, entangled among festoons of the Erba della Madonna. ' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice,' 1 Appendix ii. Next comes the Palazzo Balbi Q{ 1582, followed by the Palazzo Grimani a S. Polo (1475-1485), with beautifully sculptured capitals. Close to this, near the Ponte S. Toma, is an ancient doorway of the twelfth century. There is a good early gothic door on the bridge itself. Passing the Palazzo Persico and the Palazzo Tiepolo (1501), we reach the noble Palazzo Pisani, a splendid build- ing of the fifteenth century. There is a gallery here hung with fine old Venetian mirrors. It was from this palace that the Paul Veronese of ' The Family of Darius ' was pur- chased for the British National Gallery in 1857 for i3,56o/. 78 VENICE ' The capitals of the first-floor windows are singularly spirited and graceful, very daringly undercut, and worth careful examination.' Ruskin. The neighbouring Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza (1568-1569) was at one time the residence of Titian. Its fine collection of pictures is now at S. Petersburg. Passing the Palazzo Cappello and the Palazzo Grimani, both of the period of the Lombardi, we reach the Palazzo Bernardo, a fine building of the fifteenth century. Passing the Traghetto della Madonnetta, is a small palace, with vestiges of arcades and Byzantine work, called by Ruskin, The Madonnetta House. The Palazzo Dona is much restored. Of this family were the Doges Francesco Benzon (1545) and Leonardo Nicolo (1618). The Palazzo Tiepolo is Renaissance of the sixteenth century, but possesses five central windows with a plaited or braided border of Byzantine work : hence it is called by Ruskin, The Braided House. Close by is the Casa Busi- nello, on the side of which the Byzantine mouldings appear in the first and second stories of a house lately restored. Immediately opposite the Palazzo Grimani is the Byzan- tine building described by Ruskin as The Terraced House. ' It has a small terrace in front of it, and a little court with a door to the water, beside the terrace. Half the house is visibly modern, and there is a great seam, like the edge of a scar, between it and the ancient remnant, in which the circular bands of the Byzantine arches will be instantly recognised.' Near the bend of the canal we now pass the Church of S. SilvestrOy which is only of interest as containing : 1st Altar on the left. Girolamo da Santa Croce. S. Thomas a Becket with the Baptist and S. Francis. 'A superb example of the Venetian religious school.' Rtiskin. 1st Altar on the right. Tintoret. The Baptism of Christ (the upper part an addition). ' There is simply the Christ in the water, and the S. John on the shore, without attendants, disciples, or witnesses of any kind ; but the THE RIALTO 79 power of light and shade, and the splendour of the landscape, which is on the whole well preserved, render it a most interesting example. The Jordan is represented as a mountain-brook, receiving a tributary stream in a cascade from the rocks, in which S. John stands : there is a rounded stone in the centre of the current ; and the parting of the water at this, as well as its rippling among the roots of some dark trees on the left, are among the most accurate resemblances of nature to be found in any of the works of the great masters. I hardly know whether most to wonder at the power of the man who thus broke through the neglect of nature which was universal at his time ; or at the evidences, visible throughout the whole of the conception, that he was still content to paint from slight memories of what he had seen in hill-countries, in- stead of following out to its full depth the fountain which he had opened. There is not a stream among the hills of Friuli which in any quarter of a mile of its course would not have suggested to him finer forms of cascade than those which he has idly painted at Venice.' JRuskin, ' Stones of Venice J iii. The famous Adoration of the Magi, by Paul Veronese, in our National Gallery, was painted for this church in 1573. Opposite the church, in the Campo S. Silvestro, Gior- gione resided when in Venice, and died in 1511. He covered the front of his . house with frescoes, of which some traces remain. The Patriarch of Grado also resided near this church from the twelfth century till 1451, when Nicholas V., suppressing that dignity together with that of the Bishop of Castello, concentrated them in the new Patri- archate of Venice. We now approach the bridge till lately the only bridge over the Grand Canal which is called by English abbre- viation the Rialto. Venetians speak of it as Ponte di Rialto^ for this part of the town was the ancient city of Venice, and derives its name from Rivo-alto, as the land on the left of the canal was called here. After the limits of the town were extended, it continued, like the City of London, to be the centre of commerce and trade. In this quarter were the Fabriche, or warehouses and custom-houses, and many of the handsomest buildings, such as the Fondaco dei Turchi, and the Fondaco de' Tedeschi. The Rialto which Shake- speare alludes to, when Shylock is made to say 8o VENICE ' Signer Antonio, many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me About my monies ' refers, of course, to this quarter of the town, and not to the bridge. In 1180 an engineer named Barattieri made the first bridge, in the place of a bridge of boats which had pre- viously existed here, and his bridge is to be seen in the great picture of Carpaccio in the Accademia. In the sixteenth century all the great architects of the period Fra Giocondo, Sansovino, Palladio, Vignola, even Michelangelo himself contended for the honour of designing the new bridge. The prize was obtained by Antonio da Ponte, by whom the exist- ing Ponte di Rialto (span of arch, 91 feet ; height, 24^ feet ; width, 72 feet) was begun in 1588 under Doge Pasquale Cicogna. It was abused at first, but criticism was soon silenced, and on even the smallest engravings of the time it is designated as ' // Famoso Ponte.' The Annunciation on the bridge (the angel being at one end, the Madonna at the other, of the span) is by Girolamo Campagna. The dove, flying towards the Madonna, forms the keystone of the bridge. The footway of the bridge is lined with shops. ' Le Rialto est certainement un coin unique ; la se pressent les barques noires chargees de verdure, qui viennent des iles pour appro- visionner Venise, les grands radeaux charges de coco/neri, ftangtirie, de citrouilles et de pasteques qui forment des montagnes colorees ; la se heurtent les gondoles, et les gondoliers s'interpellent dans leur idiome venitien qui eveille 1'idee d'un gazouillement d'oiseaux ; la aussi se tiennent les pecheurs, dans un marche grouillant, vivant, noiratre, curieux par 1'aspect des batisses et par les types des marchands ; et, comme un contraste elegant, sur les marches du pont, devant les boutiques des joailliers, s'arretent les filles des differents quartiers de Venise, celles de Cannareggio, de Dorso-Duro, celles de San Marco et de Santa Croce, venues de tous les coins de la ville pour acheter les fichus colores dont elles se parent, les bijoux d'or finement travailles, les perles de verre brillantes de Murano, ou ces boules de verre bul- beuses irisees de vert, de bleu, de rose ; tandis que, drapees dans leurs vieux chales gris qui ne laissent voir que leurs profils edentes et leurs meches d'argent, les vieilles femmes du Rialto trainent leurs sandales sur les marches et se glissent dans la foule, cachant sous les pans de leurs tabliers les mets etranges qu'elles viennent d'acheter a tous les IL GOB BO DI RIALTO 81 marchands de friture en plein vent qui se tiennent aux abords du Rialto. ' Yriarte. Close to the bridge is the Church of S. Giacomo di Rialto^ said to date from the earliest foundation of the town, but possessing no remains of its antiquity. Over the high-altar is a statue of the patron saint by Alessandro Vittoria, re- markable for its calm and stately attitude and the simple folds of its drapery. The statue of S. Antonio is by Girolamo Campagna. ' The campanile of S. Giacomo is a perfectly fine example. It is almost entirely of brick, and the long lines of its arcades give great effect of height, while the details are all good and quite gothic in their character. ' Street. Facing the church is the curious statue of a hunchback, // Gobbo di Rialto ^ the sixteenth -century work of Pietro da Sato, supporting a pillar. From the back of the statue the Laws of the Republic used to be proclaimed. In the times of the Republic this was the centre of mer- cantile life in Venice. ' These porticoes are daily frequented by Florentine, Genoese, and Milanese merchants, by those from Spain and Turkey, and all the other different nations of the world, who assemble here in such vast multi- tudes that this piazza is celebrated amongst the first in the universe.' Sansffvino, 1580. The market-place is still full of colour and picturesque- ness : ' All the pictures out of all the churches are buying and selling in this busy market ; Virgins go by, carrying their infants ; S. Peter is bargaining his silver fish ; Judas is making a low bow to a fat old monk, who holds up his brown skirts and steps with bare legs into a mysterious black gondola that has been waiting by the bridge, and that silently glides away. . . . Then a cripple goes by on his crutches ; then comes a woman carrying a beautiful little boy, with a sort of turban round her head. One corner of the market is given up to great hobgoblin pump- kins ; tomatoes are heaped in the stalls ; oranges and limes are not yet over ; but perhaps the fish-stalls are the prettiest of all. Silver fish tied up in stars with olive-green leaves, gold fish, as in miracles ; noble people serving. There are the jewellers' shops too, but their wares do not glitter so brightly as all this natural beautiful gold and silver.' Miss Thackeray. G 82 VENICE The poultry-sellers have a proverb in frequent use, ' One fat and one lean, like the birds of Marano,' which records the arrangement in the December distribution of the Doge's wild- ducks, shot near his castle at Marano, of which he was expected to present five to every Venetian nobleman, in accordance with one of the clauses of his coronation oath, obliging him to distribute fowl to them all at Christmas time. 1 Following the Ruga degli Orefici and turning to the left, we reach S. Giovanni Elemosinario, rebuilt in the six- teenth century on the site of a church of the eleventh century. The campanile is of 1398-1410. Chapel right of High Altar. Pordenotu, 1530. SS. Sebastian, Catherine, and Roch. High Altar. Titian. The Charity of S. Giovanni Elemosinario. Sides of Last Altar. Marco Vecelli. A Priest offering Holy Water to Doge Leonardo Dona on his visiting this church, and the Charity of S. Giovanni. The Doge came hither every Wednesday in Passion Week to receive the Indulgence left by Alexander III. in 1177. Last Altar. Bonifazio. The Madonna in glory. We must now return to our gondola at the little wharf near the bridge, one of the most picturesque sites on the Grand Canal. ' Venice is sad and silent now, to what she was in the time of Cana- letto ; the canals are choked gradually, one by one, and the foul water laps more and more sluggishly against the rent foundations ; but even yet could I but place the reader at the early morning on the quay below the Rialto, when the market boats, full laden, float into groups of golden colour ; and let him watch the dashing of the water about their glitter- ing steely heads, and under the shadow of the vine leaves ; and show him the purple of the grapes and the figs, and the glowing of the scarlet gourds carried away in long streams upon the waves ; and among them the crimson fish-baskets, plashing and sparkling, and flaming as the morning sun falls on their wet tawny sides ; and above, the painted sails of the fishing boats, orange and white, scarlet and blue ; and better than all such florid colour, the naked, bronzed, burning limbs of the seamen, the last of the old Venetian race, who yet keep the right Giorgione colour on their brows and bosoms, in strange contrast with 1 See Horatio Brown. S. BARTOLOMMEO, PALAZZO CORNER 83 the sallow, sensual degradation of the creatures that live in the cafes of the Piazza, he would not be merciful to Canaletto anymore.' Ruskin, ' Modern Painters,' 1 We should visit the little piazza which opens to the Rialto, on the S. Mark's side of the canal (where the artist Vincenzo Catena lived, and died September 1531), for the sake of some very interesting examples of the third order of Venetian windows in one of its houses. ' The house faces the bridge, and its second story has been built in the thirteenth century, above a still earlier Byzantine cornice remaining, or perhaps introduced from some other ruined edifice, in the walls of the first floor. The windows of the second story are of pure third order, and have capitals constantly varying in the form of the flower or leaf introduced between their volutes.' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice J ii. vii. Here is the Church of S. Bartolommeo, to which the great merchant prince Cristoforo Fugger presented a noble picture by Giovanni Bellini, now in the Bohemian monastery of Strahow. Its pictures by Sebastian del Piombo are described by Lazari as ' barbaramente sfigurati da mani imperite, che pretendevano ristaurarli.' Close to the Rialto on the left is the very handsome Palazzo del Camerlenghi, built in 1525 by Guglielmo Berga- masco, but of irregular form, owing to the space afforded. Here the three Camerlenghi dwelt as Treasurers of the State under the Republic. Passing the Traghetto of the Pescheria, we reach the Palazzo Corner della Regina, so called from Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, to whom an older palace on this site was allotted after her abdication. It was bequeathed by her to the Papacy, by whom it was given to the Counts of Cavanis, founders of the Scuole Pie. The existing palace was built in 1724 by Domenico Rossi. It is now used as a Monte di Pieta. In front of the Palace, as the procession of the unfortu- nate queen was passing on her public reception by the Republic, her brother, Giorgio Cornaro, was knighted by the Doge, for the skill with which he had persuaded her to give up her crown. 84 VENICE We now reach the magnificent Palazzo Pesaro, built by Baldassare Longhena, architect of the Salute, in 1679. The Pesaro family is one of the most illustrious in Venetian history. They first came to Venice in 1 2 25, being descended from Jacopo Palmieri of Pesaro. Besides the famous gene- ral Bernardo Pesaro and the Doge Giovanni, many illus- trious generals and procurators were of this house. ' The Pesaro Palace, built by Longhena, though over-ornamented, has no striking faults. Though not in the purest taste, it still perfectly expresses the fact that it is the residence of a wealthy and luxurious noble, and is, taken as a whole, a singularly picturesque piece of palatial architecture. From the water-line to the cornice, it is a rich, varied, and appropriate design, so beautiful as a whole that we can well afford to overlook any slight irregularities in detail. ' Fergusson. A little beyond this is the Church of S. Stae (S. Eustachio) built by Dom. Rossi in lyog. 1 The pictures are all of the school of Tiepolo, the best (in the sacristy) representing S. Eustachio before his judges. Near the second altar on the left, is the bust of Antonio Foscarini, beheaded April 21, 1622, by order of the Council of Ten, for having conspired with the enemies of the State, and pardoned in the following January, the accusations against him having been proved false. [Hence, by the Salizzada and the Calle del Megio, we reach the Palazzo Sanudo a S. Giacomo, a fine building of the fifteenth century, which was the residence of Marino Sanudo il Giovane, the historian of Venice and author of the ' Diarii,' who died here, aged 73, in 1539.] Now, on the Grand Canal, passing first the Palazzo Duodo, built originally in gothic of the fifteenth century, but altered, then the classic Palazzo Tron, and the Palazzo Capovilla, marked by two pyramids on its parapet, we reach the Fondaco dei Turchi, a Byzantine palace of the ninth century, and one of the earliest buildings, not ecclesiastical, in Venice. It belonged originally to the house of Este, but was purchased by the Republic in the sixteenth century for 1 The Sacristan one of the extra- ordinary family l who seemed to transmit the genius of architecture like a heritage, and imparted the name Archi- tettura Lombardesca to the style of their period. A hundred years afterwards it was sold to the Duke of Brunswick, who, in his turn, sold it to the Duke of Mantua. A lawsuit afterwards compelled its re-sale, and, in 1589, it was bought by Vittore Calerghi, whose family becoming extinct in the male line, it passed to the Grimani, and thence to the Vendra- mini, by whom it was sold in 1842 to the Duchesse de Berri, mother of Henri V., Comte de Chambord. It is now the property of the Duca della Grazia. His half-brother, Richard Wagner, the eminent composer, died here in 1883, in a room on the first floor overlooking the Grand Canal. The fagade (78 ft. long, 63 ft. high) is built of grey Istrian stone, with pillars of Greek marble, and medallions of porphyry. The wing towards the garden is by V. Scamozzi. In the interior are two beautiful statues of Adam and Eve by Tullio Lombardo, ' In the Palazzo Vendramini nothing can exceed the beauty of the proportions of the three cornices, and the dignity of that which crowns the whole. The base, too, is sufficiently solid without being heavy, and the windows being all mullioned, and the spaces between reinforced with three-quarter columns, there is no appearance of weakness any- where, while there is almost as much opening for light and air as in any building of its age. ' Fergusson. In 1658, whilst the palace was in possession of the Grimani, three brothers of the house Giovanni, Pietro, and Vittore, a priest having a grudge against the noble Francesco Guerini, seized him as he was leaving the theatre at night, and carrying him off in a gondola, brought him to the little garden bordering the canal, and there murdered him. The Senate cited the brothers to answer for the crime at their tribunal, and when they refused to appear, degraded them from their rank as nobles, ordered their goods to be confis- cated, their palace door built up, and a column with an 1 Pietro, Tullio, Santi, Martino, Antonio, and Moro Lombard!. 90 VENICE inscription recording their crime to be erected in their garden. In a mysteriously short time, however, their sentence was repealed, the column was removed, and the three brothers had so much increased in wealth and pro- sperity as to add a wing to their already magnificent palace. The neighbouring Palazzo Marcello (now Ricchetti) was the residence of Benedetto Marcello, the musician. The Palazzo Erizzo, of the fifteenth century, has perishing pictures of the heroic exploits of Paolo Erizzo at the defence of Negroponte. At the opening of the next side canal is the Palazzo Grimani, built by Vincenzo Scamozzi in the sixteenth century. It was formerly decorated outside by frescoes of Tintoret, which have disappeared. There were three Doges of the Grimani family. The next building of importance is the fairy-like Cd Doro, so named from its ancient owners, the family of Doro. It is one of the most beautiful and graceful of the fifteenth-century palaces, and is crowned, like the Ducal Palace, by an adap- tation of the delicate ' crown-like ornaments which crest the walls of the Arabian mosque.' Some suppose the architect of this exquisite palace to have been Filippo Calendario, ' Capo maestro del Palazzo Pubblico,' hanged for the con- spiracy of Marino Faliero. Beyond this is the Palazzo Morosini or Sagredo, dating from the thirteenth century, but altered in later times. It has a grand staircase by Andrea Tirali, decorated with a picture of the Fall of the Giants \yy Longhi (1734). Nicolo Sagredo was Doge in 1674. Close by is the Palazzo Michieli delle Colonne^ of the seven- teenth century. It contains some fine old tapestries of the history of Darius and Alexander the Great. Three Doges belonged to the Michieli (Michiel) family : Vitale(io95), dis- tinguished in the Holy Land; Domenico (i 117), who fought in the East; and the murdered Vitale II. (son of the last, 1155), who espoused the cause of Pope Alexander III. against Frederick Barbarossa. The arms of the Micheli bear the SS. APOSTOLI, FOND AC O DEI TEDESCHI 91 leather coinage established by Doge Domenico during the absence of the Venetian fleet at the Crusades and circulated upon his personal security that it should be exchanged for gold when the ships returned. Adjoining this palace is the Corte del Remer with gothic windows of the fifteenth century, and an interesting house inlaid with bands of colour. ' One of the houses in the Corte del Remer is remarkable as having its great entrance on the first floor, attained by a bold flight of steps, sustained on four pointed arches wrought in brick. The rest of the aspect of the building is Byzantine, except only that the rich sculptures of its archivolt show in combats of animals, beneath the soffit, a beginning of the gothic fire and energy. The moulding of its plinth is of a gothic profile, and the windows are pointed, not with a reversed curve, but in a pure straight gable, very curiously contrasted with the delicate bending of the pieces of marble armour cut for the shoulders of each arch. There is a two-lighted window, on each side of the door, sustained in the centre by a basket-worked Byzantine capital : the mode of covering the brick archivolt with marble, both in the windows and doorway, is precisely like that of the true Byzantine palaces.' Rtiskin, ' S tones of Venice J ii. vii. The neighbouring Church of the Apostoli is for the most part modern, but the tower is of the thirteenth century. Close to the Rialto is the Fondaco del Tedeschi, built for the German merchants by decree of the Senate, by Girolamo Tedesco 1 in 1505. The side towards the Grand Canal was painted by Giorgione, and that towards the Merceria by Titian, whose works on this occasion so excited the jealousy of his companion, as to break off an old friendship between the two artists. The frescoes were destroyed in a ' restora- tion.' Passing the Rialto, we reach the Palazzo Manin (built in the sixteenth century by Jacopo Sansovino). It is now the National Bank. The Manin family came from Florence and was ennobled during the war of Chioggia for a sum of money paid to the State. Ludovico Manin, who was the last Doge of Venice, lived here. Just beyond this, grouping well with the Rialto, is the 1 A German named Jerome. 92 VENICE Palazzo Bembo, of the beginning of the fifteenth century. There is a beautiful Byzantine cornice above the entresol. Next comes Palazzo Dandolo, of the twelfth century, inter- esting as having been the residence of Enrico Dandolo, the conqueror of Constantinople. ' Enrico Dandolo, when elected Doge, in 1 192, was eighty-five years of age. When he commanded the Venetians at the taking of Constan- tinople, he was consequently ninety-seven years old. At this age he annexed the fourth and a half of the whole empire of Romania, for so the Roman empire was then called, to the title and territories of the Venetian Doge. ' Dandolo led the attack on Constantinople in person : two ships, the Paradise and the Pilgrim, were tied together, and a drawbridge or ladder let down from their higher yards to the walls. The Doge was one of the first to rush into the city. Then was completed, said the Venetians, the prophecy of the Erythraean sybil : "A gathering to- gether of the powerful shall be made amidst the waves of the Adriatic, under a third leader ; they shall beset the goat they shall profane Byzantium they shall blacken her buildings her spoils shall be dis persed ; a new goat shall bleat until they have measured out and run over fifty-four feet, nine inches, and a half. " ' Byron, Notes to ' Childe Harold: We now reach Palazzo Loredan, of the twelfth century, covered with the richest sculpture. The capitals of the second story resemble those of S. Vitale at Ravenna. ' This palace, though not conspicuous, and often passed with neglect, will be felt at last, by all who examine it carefully, to be the most beautiful palace in the whole extent of the Grand Canal. It has been restored often, once in the Gothic, once in the Renaissance times some writers say, even rebuilt ; but, if so, rebuilt in its old form. The Gothic additions harmonise exquisitely with its Byzantine work, and it is easy, as we examine its lovely central arcade, to forget the Renaissance additions which encumber it above.' Ruskin. Here from 1363 to 1366 lived Peter V. Lusignan, King of Cyprus, as the guest of Federigo Corner Piscopia. His arms are over some of the windows. Here the learned Elena Cornaro Piscopia was born. Don Carlos inhabits the Palazzo Loredan, where his arms appear over the door, and the palli are painted red and yellow, the Spanish colours. The other side of the Palazzo Loredan looks upon the Campo S. Vito (S. Vio in Venetian), named from a PALAZZO FARSETTI, PALAZZO GRIMANI 93 church built in 912 by the families Magno and Vido, and repaired in the fourteenth century with marbles from the des- troyed houses of Bajamonte Tiepolo. ' The church was once the honoured resting-place of the Beata Contessa Tagliapietra, a noble maid, whose pretty story might have served the pencil of Carpaccio. She lived with her father on the other side of the Grand Canal, and from the very first she showed great piety and a passion for the service of the Church. In season and out of season, the child would steal away to the shrine of S. Vito, and remain for hours in ecstacy and prayer. Her father thought such conduct ill- becoming in a gentle maid ; but finding remonstrance of no avail, he sent down orders to the gondoliers at the traghetto below his windows to refuse his daughter passage. When the child came down to the traghetto one day, and found she could not cross, without a moment's hesitation she set foot upon the water, and so, to the amazement of all, she won her way to her favourite shrine, and achieved her place in the hierarchy of heaven.' Horatio F. Brown, 'Life on the Lagoons.'' Passing the Traghetto di S. Luca, we reach the Palazzo Farsetti (once Dandolo, now Munidpio). In the latest years of the republic an academy was established here, in which the sculptor Canova received his first education. The front is modernised and exceedingly rich, but the ground floor and first floor have nearly all their shafts and capitals from an original building of the twelfth century, only they have been much shifted from their original positions. The adjoining Palazzo Grimani (now Tribunale d' Appello) is a noble work of Sanmicheli. ' Sanmicheli's masterpiece is the design of the Grimani Palace. It does not appear to have been quite finished at his death, in 1542, but substantially it is his, and, though not so pleasing as some of the earlier palaces, is is a stately and appropriate building. The proportions of the whole fajade are good, and its dimensions (92 ft. wide by 98 in height) give it a dignity which renders it one of the most striking fagades on the Grand Canal, while the judgment displayed in the design elevates it into being one of the best buildings of the age in which it was erected. ' Fergusson. The Palazzo Cavalli is of the i5th, the Palazzo Martin- engo of the sixteenth century. The Palazzo Benzon is only interesting as having been frequently visited by Byron, 94 VENICE Moore, Canova, and others. The Palazzo Corner- Spinelli'^, a beautiful Renaissance building, by Pietro Lombardo, ^.1500. The balconies are exquisitely decorated. Portions of the interior are by Sanmicheli. The Palazzo Mocenigo (1520-1524)13 exceedingly rich. The roses on their coat of arms appear on all buildings of this family. Byron usually resided here when at Venice, and many are the quaint stories recollected of his life here. Amongst other eccentricities, every evening he used to go to the recep- tions of the Contessa Maria Benzon (the original of ' La biondina in gondoletta,' the most famous of Venetian barcarolles), and arriving about twelve, stayed about two hours. Then his servant always arrived with a lanthorn and a board. Lord Byron went downstairs, undressed, gave his clothes to his servant, and putting the lanthorn on the board swam home with it. The writing-table of the poet is preserved in the palace. Whilst living here Byron wrote the first cantos of ' Don Juan,' ' Beppo ' and part of ' Marino Faliero ' and ' Sardanapalus.' The Palazzo Contarini delle Figure is of 1514-1546, and very beautiful. ' In the intervals of the windows of the first story, certain shields and torches are attached, in the form of trophies, to the stems of two trees whose boughs have been cut off, and only one or two of their faded leaves left, scarcely observable, but delicately sculptured here and there, beneath the insertions of the severed boughs. It is as if the workman had intended to leave us an image of the expiring naturalism of the gothic school.' Ruskin, 'Stones of Venice,' iii. This is one of the haunted palaces of Venice, and it has served as an asylum both to Cardinal Pole and Torquato Tasso. The Palazzo Moro-Lin, by the Florentine Seb. Mazzoni^ has a fagade of the four orders of classic architecture. It contains frescoes by Lazzarini. This palace first belonged to the family of Lin, on whose extinction it passed to that of Moro, of whom was Doge Cristoforo Moro, by some believed to have been the original of Othello. PALAZZO GIUSTINIANI-LONIN 95 The Palazzo Grasst, now Palazzo Sina, by Giorgio Massart, only dates from the last century, but has a most noble staircase decorated by Longhi. The walls represent the Carnival of 1 745, with portraits of the family of that time, young and old, looking over balustrades. The Grassi family came from Chioggia in 1718, and bought their nobility, but the interior of their palace is more worth seeing than any other in Venice. The Palazzo Giustiniani-Lonin was built in the seven- teenth century by Baldassari Longhena. The family claim descent from the Emperor Justinian. They were settled in Venice from the earliest period of its history. All the males of the house were killed in battle against Emmanuel Com- nenus, except one, who was a monk, and who was released from his vows by the Pope, in order to refound the family. He married the daughter of Doge Vitale, had a numerous family, including the direct ancestor of the present Prince Giustiniani, and afterwards re-entered his convent. At the iron bridge we reach the Campo S. Vidal. The red-towered Church of S Vitale contains a noble and ex- pressive picture of the patron saint on horseback by Vittore Carpaccio (1514). The Palazzo Cavalli is of the fifteenth century. The family were founded here by Giacomo Cavalli, who came from Verona and defended Venice against the Genoese in 1380. Formerly the property of the Comte de Chambord, this palace now belongs to Baron Franchetti, who married one of the Rothschilds, and has restored it with more splendour than taste. The Palazzo Barbara belonged to descendants of the famous procuratore Marc Antonio, and contained till lately a frescoed ceiling by Tiepolo (sold at Paris in 1874) repre- senting the triumph of Francesco Barbaro (1398-1454), the defender of Brescia against Piccinino of Milan. Formerly the family lived in the quarter of the Angelo Raffaelle at the Zattere, where the paternal house (much disfigured) still exists. 96 VENICE The front of the Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande, now the Prefetoria, is a noble work of Jacopo Sansovino of 1532. There is here a beautiful courtyard, in the centre of which is a fountain with a statue, by Francesco Penso. Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, belonged to this family. ' Le palais Cornaro, le plus riche de tous en glorieux souvenirs de tout genre, depuis le souvenir de la couronne royale deChyprejusqu'au souvenir de la couronne d'epines qui ceignit la tete de la bienheureuse Elena Cornaro. C'etait la, sur ce balcon qui donne sur le grand canal, qu'on mettait sa piete enfantine a la plus rude des epreuves, en la fo^ant d'assister a contre-coeur aux fetes profanes qui se donnaient a 1'occasion du carnival, et qui, au lieu de la rejouir, la faisaient fondre en larmes.' Rio, ' Epilogue a VArt Chretien,'' Passing Palazzo Finz, and Casa Ferro, with a beautiful four-sided pergola of the fourteenth century, we reach one of the most exquisite of the small gothic buildings, the Palazzo Contarini-Fasan (often shown as the House of Desdemona), of the fourteenth century, with corded edges, and balconies of surpassing richness supported on richly-sculptured corbels. ' The very pleasant little terrasse that jutteth or butteth out from the maine building, with many pretty little turned pillars of marble to leane over.' Thomas Cory at, 1 608. The Palazzo Emo, now Treves, is of 1680. It contains a beautiful staircase, a ceiling telling the story of Psyche, by Giovanni Demin, and colossal statues of Hector and Ajax by Canova. The Palazzo Giustiniani, now Hotel Europa, is of the fifteenth century. Here Chateaubriand stayed when he visited Venice, and wrote, ' Que ne puis-je m'enfermer dans cette ville en harmonic avec ma destine'e, dans cette ville de poetes !' Here also the celebrated Topffer, the writer of ' Voyages en Zigzag,' put up with his band of pupils ; and here Theophile Gautier passed the first part of the long visit to which we owe the charming ' Voyage en Italic.' ' Sans un malheureux ecriteau plante au-dessus du portique et con- tenant ces mots : Hotel de 1' Europe, chez Marseille, le palais Giustini- ani serait encore tel qu'on le voit sur le merveilleux plan d'Albert Diirer a 1'exception de deux fenetres au troisieme etage.' Gautier, PALAZZO GIUSTINIAN1 97 George Eliot stayed at the Hotel Europa on her honeymoon after marrying Mr. Cross, and here her husband narrowly escaped death by falling from the balcony into the canal. Wagner made the hotel his residence for a long period, and wrote his ' Tristram and Isolde ' here. We now reach the gardens of the Royal Palace, and the opening to the lagoon, opposite S. Giorgio. VENICE CHAPTER IV. SOUTH-EASTERN VENICE. IN a gondola to S. Zaccaria ; S. Giorgio clei Greci ; S. Antonino ; S. Giorgio degli chiavoni ; Palazzo Grimani ; S. Maria Formosa ; Ponte del Paradiso ; SS. Giovanni e Paolo ; S. Lazzaro; S. Francesco della Vigna; S. Pietro di Castello ; S, Giuseppe di Castello ; Giardini Pubblici ; S. Biagio ; the Arsenal ; S. Giovanni in Bragora. Those who wish to select, should leave their gondola for S. Zaccaria, S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, the pictures in S. Maria Formosa, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, and the Arsenal. A GREAT feature on the Riva degli Schiavoni is the Jr\. Hotel Danieli, formerly Palazzo Bernardo-Nani. In 1833 Alfred de Mussetand Mme Georges Sand stayed here a long while. Here the authoress wrote ' Leone Leoni,' and the poet nearly died here. ' C'est a cet hotel Danieli que le poete fit une grave maladie et fut soigne par le vieux Dr. Santini toujours accompagne d'un jeune etudiant, aujourd'hui le Dr. Pietro Pagello de Bellune. La chambre qu'habita A. de Musset porte le No. 13, situee au fond de la grande galerie a gauche. G. Sand ne quitta pas le chevet du malade tant qu'il y eut du danger.' Bournet, ( Venise.'' A little archway on the left of the Hotel d'Angleterre leads from the Riva degli Schiavoni to the beautiful ChurchofS. Zaccaria, built by Antonio di Marco (1457-1477). Every year, at Easter, this church was visited with a solemn procession by the Doge, wearing the precious ducal berretto with which he was crowned, which was the gift of an abbess of S. Zaccaria to the Republic. This visit had its origin in the reign of Sebastiano Ziani in gratitude to the nuns who S. ZACCARIA 99 had given up part of their garden, now occupied by the Piazza S. Marco, to the public. In 837, Doge Pietro Tradonico, visiting S. Zaccaria on the festa of the patron saint, had been murdered close to the gate towards the Riva degli Schiavoni, whence the doges always came by the Via SS. Filippo e Giacomo. To the left of the church some remains still exist of the ancient Benedictine monastery sup- pressed in 1810; the campanile is of the thirteenth century. The ancient church was long the burial-place of the doges, and contained the tombs of Pietro Tradonico, 837 ; Orso Partecipazio, 88 1 ; Pietro Tribune, 888 ; Tribuno Memo (who died a monk), 991 ; the beloved Pietro Orseolo II. (cele- brated for his naval victories, which secured the maritime power of Venice), buried here 'per la trista citta elachrimosa,' 1009 ; Domenico Flabanico, 1042 ; Vitale Michiel I. (who sent a fleet to the first crusade), 1102 : and Vitale Mich- iel II., murdered on his way to take refuge in the church during an insurrection in 1172. The fa9ade of the later church, which is one of the most beautiful works of the Renaissance, is doubtless the design of Martino Lombardo (1477-1490), architect of the Scuola di S. Marco. The statue of S. Zaccaria over the principal entrance is by Aless- andro Vittoria. 'One of the finest of the early facades of Italy is that of San Zaccaria at Venice. The church was commenced in 1446, and inter- nally shows pointed arches and other peculiarities of that date. The fa9ade seems to have been completed about 1515, and though not so splendid as that of the Certosa at Pavia, and some of the more elabo- rate designs of the previous century, it is not only purer in detail, but reproduces more correctly the internal arrangements of the church. Though its dimensions are not greater than those of an ordinary Palladian front, the number and smallness of the parts make it appear infinitely larger, and, all the classical details being merely subordinate ornaments, there is no falsehood or incongruity anywhere ; while, the practical constructive lines being preserved, the whole has a unity and dignity we miss so generally in subsequent buildings. Its greatest defect is perhaps the circular form given to the pediment of the central and side aisles, which does not in this instance express the form of the roof. ' Fergusson. H 2 ioo VENICE The interior is semi-Byzantine in the nave, and gothic in the choir. The side aisles, which are divided from the nave by very slender columns, are exceedingly lofty. The church is a perfect gallery of pictures. Right Aisle. Over the 2nd Altar is the monument of the eloquent and erudite Marco Sanudo di Francesco, 1505, by Leopardi. The sarcophagus of Marco Sanudo Torsello, father of the famous traveller Marino, was found in the neighbouring campo in 1824. From the yd arch is the entrance of the monastic choir, with tarsia work of Francesco and Marco da Vicenza, 1464. Here also are : Palma Vecchio. Madonna and Saints. Tintoretto. Birth of the Baptist. The Cappella di S. Tarazio (locked) contains curious 15th-century altars, due to the piety of different nuns, whose names they bear, 1 decorated with an exaggerated richness very rare in Venice, but which, in the north, would be called 'flamboyant.' The frames and wooden figures are by Ludovico da Friuli; the paintings by Antonio and Gio- vanni da Murano, 1443. ' Were it not for the wilfulness which so often spoils the fruits of the ingenuity of past ages, we should still have these masterpieces in their primitive state, a little bleached perhaps or changed in colour, but valuable as perfect monuments. This condition they do not possess altogether, because the principal altar was taken to pieces and reset in 1839, on which occasion the relic-press was closed by the introduction of a Virgin and Child between S. Martin and S. Blaise, finished for some other purpose by Pievan di Sant' Agnese, the obverse being altered on the same occasion by the introduction of a new course of subjects in niches, bearing all the marks of the style of Agnolo Gaddi. ' Crowe and Cavalcaselk. Beneath this chapel is a crypt, which is part of the ancient church in which the eight Doges who ruled from 836 to 1172 were buried. In the ^rd Choir Chapel is : Giovanni Bellini. The Circumcision. *Left Aisle, 2nd Altar. Giovanni Bellini. The Virgin and Child, with SS. Peter, Jerome, Catherine, and Lucy a glorious picture. ' The best J. Bellini in Venice, after that of San G. Crisostomo.' JRuskin. Near the door into the sacristy is the monument of Alessandro Vittoria, the ' Michelangelo of Venice,' the last great artist of the i6th century, 1608, designed by himself, with a characteristic bust. ' Quoiqu'il ne soil mort qu'en 1608, Alessandro, des 1595, avait com- mence son monument ; il est plus que simple, et se compose d'un cadre 1 Elena Foscari, Marina Donate, Margarita Donate, and Agnesina Giustiniani. PALAZZO TREVISAN lot applique au mur, supporte par des cariatides representant 1'Architecture et la Sculpture, et couronne par une corniche a volutes ; au milieu se dresse le buste de 1'artiste, sculpte aussi par lui-meme ; on lit au-dessous pour toute inscription ; Alexander Victoria. Vivens vivos e marmore duxit vultus ; Vivant il a tire du marbre des Stres vivants. Les deux petites figures allegoriques qui supportent la corniche sont d'une grace achevee. Yriarte. There is a beautiful early gothic gateway at the further entrance of the Campo S. Zaccaria, with a relief, by the Masegne, of the Virgin between two saints. Passing through this, in the direction of S. Marco, in the Canonica, near the palace of the Patriarch, is the Palazzo Trevisan, of the sixteenth century, by Guglielmo Bergamasco. In 1577, this palace was sold by Domenico Trevisan to the famous Bianca Cappello, who purchased it for her brother Vittore. It was aftenvards for some time called the Palazzo Cappello. ' In the inlaid design of the dove with the olive branch, in the Casa Trevisan, it is impossible for anything to go beyond the precision with which the olive leaves are cut out of the white marble ; and, in some wreaths of laurel below, the rippled edge of each leaf is finely and easily drawn, as if by a delicate pencil. No Florentine table is more exquisitely finished than the fa$ade of this entire palace; and as an ideal of executive perfection, this palace is most notable amidst the architec- ture of Europe.' Rtiskin, ' Stones of Venice,'' iii. [From the Fondamenta dell' Osmarin, opposite the neigh- bouring Campo S. Provolo, rises the beautiful fourteenth- century Palazzo Prtuli, once covered with paintings by Palma Vecchio, which have entirely perished. By the Ponte del Diavolo and the next Calle we may reach the Fonda- menta di S. Severe, where on the left, beyond the canal, is seen the fifteenth-century Palazzo Zorst, with details of such exquisite sculpture that it is usually attributed to Alessandro Leopardi. Following the Fondamenta, and the Borgoloco on the right, we reach the Church of S. Lorenzo, built by Simeone Sorella (1595-1605), for a Benedictine convent. It has a high-altar with statues by Girolamo Campagna (1615-1618). In the old church on this site, Nicolo, father of Marco Polo the great traveller, was buried, 102 VENICE as well as Giuseppe Zarlino di Chioggia, one of the great musicians of the sixteenth century, 1590.] If we return from S. Zaccharia to the Schiavoni, and. take the first side canal on the left, we reach the Church of S. Giorgio dei Greet, built by Santi Lombardo and Gian An- tonio Chioma (1539-1570). The dome was added in 1571 by Maestro Andrea ; the beautiful leaning campanile by Bernardino Angarin (1587-1592). The west front and the interior are decorated with Greek mosaics. Three Gospels of the tenth century, and a Ravenna papyrus of 553, are preserved here. Some fine silver icons are of the eighth century. Above the side door on the right is the tomb of Gabriele Severe, Archbishop of Philadelphia (1616), who presided over the Greek colony in Venice, and the Collegia Greco Flangini, which rises close to the church and was built by the Corsican, Tommaso Flangini, from designs of Baldassare Longhena, for the education of young Greeks. A few steps (on foot) behind S. Giorgio is S. Antonino, where the procurator Alvise Tiepolo is buried in a tomb by Alessandro Vittoria (1590). ' Among other privileges of the Church, abolished in Venice long ago, was that ancient right of the monks of S. Anthony, Abbot, by which their herds of swine were made free of the whole city. These animals, enveloped in an odour of sanctity, wandered here and there, and were piously fed by devout people, until the year 1409, when, being found dangerous to children and inconvenient to eveiybody, they were made the subject of a special decree, which deprived them of their freedom of movement. ' Hoiuells. Beautifully placed on a platform above the next side canal from the Schiavoni, is the exquisite little Church of S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, rebuilt in the sixteenth century. It occupies the site of a priory granted in 1452 by the Council of Ten to a Dalmatian Brotherhood of S. George and S. Tryphonius, in whose hands it still remains, the duty of the confraternity being to assist all poor and needy Dalmatians in Venice, to arouse them to religious duties whilst living, and to pray for them when dead. It has become a treasure-house S. GIORGIO DEGLI SCHIAVONI 103 of the works of Vittore Carpaccio, who was employed to pour tray here the deeds of the three great Dalmatian saints, George, Tryphonius, and Jerome, whose festivals are cele- brated here. ' La petite eglise de Saint George des Esclavons, ou sa legende, si riche en incidents pittoresques, fut tracee par un pinceau sympathique dans un temps ou 1'ecole Venitienne n'avait pas encore cessd d'etre nai've. ' Rio, ' L?Art ChrStien. ' The church is an oblong chamber, brown and golden in colour, with exquisite wrought-iron grilles before the windows. Beginning on the left, we must carefully study *i. S. George and the Dragon. The beautiful youth, with rippled golden hair floating on the wind, riding upon a brown horse, transfixes the dragon with his spear. Beneath the feet of the horse are the remains of former victims of the monster. The rescued princess stands by. A wonderful landscape, with a city and ships, is seen against the sunset sky. 2. The captive dragon is brought into the city to the King and Queen. 3. The King and his daughter are baptised by S. George. *4- The child S. Tryphonius subdues, by the power of prayer, the basilisk which has ravaged Albania a picture of marvellous beauty and finish. 5. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 6. The Calling of S. Matthew, executed in 1502. 7. S. Jerome quells the lion from which his monastic companions are taking flight. *8. The Death of S. Jerome (1502) exceedingly beautiful and simple. 9. S. Jerome in his study. A commonplace work of Aliense over the altar takes the place of a beautiful fourteenth- century picture of the Virgin between SS. Jerome and Tryphonius, which has disappeared in the last few years. The Upper Chamber of the Orator}, with poor works, of the school of Palma Giovane, is a most picturesque room. The little sacristy contains a good throned Madonna by Vincenzo Catena, once used as a church banner. The gondola quickly takes us to the Palazzo Grimani^ 104 VENICE of the sixteenth century, with an entrance attributed to San- micheli. In its court long stood the noble colossal statue of M. Agrippa, now in the Museo Correr. Crossing the Ponte Ragagiuffa, on the left is the Palazzo Malipiero, wrongly attributed to Santi Lombardo, and, in the same line, the Palazzo Querim', containing a picture gallery and library, and collection of prints bequeathed to the city by Giovanni Querini Stampaglia, the last of his race, in 1868. It is open to the public from 3 to n P.M. on ordinary days, from 1 1 A.M. to 1 1 P.M. on festivals. Close by are the Campo and Church of S. Maria For- mosa. The original church is said to have been built by a bishop of Uderzo (driven from his see by the Lombards), in obedience to the Virgin, who desired him to erect a church in her honour wherever he saw a white cloud rest. The cloud floated before him and where it rested he built the church of S. Mary the Beautiful. The existing church was the work of Marco Bergamasco (1492), but has been added to at later times. Over the entrance is the sepulchral urn of Vincenzo Cappello (1541), conqueror of the Turks at Risano, by Domenico da Salo. The church contains one glorious picture * Right Aisle, 1st Altar. Palma Vecchio. S. Barbara being a portrait of the painter's daughter, Violante, beloved by Titian. ' She is standing in a majestic attitude, looking upwards with inspired eyes, and an expression like a Pallas. She wears a tunic or robe of a rich warm brown, with a mantle of crimson ; and a white veil is twisted in her diadem and among the tresses of her pale golden hair ; the whole picture is one glow of colour, life, and beauty ; I never saw a combination of expression and colour at once so soft, so sober, and so splendid. Cannon are at her feet, and her tower is seen behind. Be- neath, in front of the altar, is a marble bas-relief of her martyrdom ; she lies headless on the ground, and fire from heaven destroys the execu- tioners.'^ Jameson's'' Sacred A rt,' ii. 495. ' An almost unique presentation of a hero-woman, standing in calm preparation for martyrdom, without the slightest air of pietism, yet with the expression of a mind filled with serious conviction.' George Eliot, 1860. ' The head is of a truly typical Venetian beauty, the whole is finished PONTE DEL PARADISO 105 with the greatest power and knowledge of colour and modelling.' Burckhardt. The picture was painted for the Bombardieri. S. Barbara was the patroness of soldiers, who come hither to adore her shrine. At its sides are SS. Anthony and Sebastian, SS. John Baptist and Dominic : above is the Madonna bending over the dead Christ. 2nd Altar, Bart. Vivarini, 1473. A Madonna (sheltering the faithful under her robe) with Joachim and Anna and the Birth of the Virgin. Right Transept. Leandro Bassano. The Last Supper. On the 2nd of February, 944, a number of Venetian maidens who had gone to be married at S. Pietro in Castello, taking with them the arcelle (coffers) containing their dowries, were carried off by a sudden inroad of pirates. They were pursued and vanquished by the Venetians under Doge Pietro Candiano III., and the brides were brought back ; but the victory was owing to the bravery of the cabinet- makers of S. Maria Formosa, who asked as their sole reward that the Doge should visit their church on that anniversary every year. ' But if it rains ? ' said the Doge. ' We will give you hats to cover you.' ' But if I am thirsty ? ' ' We will give you to drink.' Hence dated the Festa delle Marie^ which was always held in this church on February 2. First twelve and afterwards three poor maidens were always dowered here by the city on that day, when the Doge always came in state to the church, and received from the priest two hats of gilt straw, two flasks of malvagia, and two oranges. A hat presented here to Doge Manin in 1797 is preserved in the Museo Civico. One of the houses in the Campo S. Maria Formosa has an interesting example of a cross let in, above a window. To the left of the west front of the church is a beautiful gothic canopy of the fourteenth century, over the entrance to a bridge called Ponte del Paradise. It is a lovely remnant, and leads into a street called Via del Paradise, so curiously narrow that one is inevitably reminded of ' Strait is the gate 106 VENICE and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it ' (Matt. vii. 14). 'This archway, appropriately placed hard by the bridge called "del Paradiso," is one of the most exquisite little pieces of detail in the whole city. The main points to be noted are the characteristic flatness of the details, and the line of dentil-moulding, which defines all the leading architectural features, originally invented for borders of incrustations at S. Mark's, and here, as everywhere in Venice, used for decoration after- wards. The incrusted circles of marble on each side of the figure give great life to the spandrel beneath the arch. The windows close by show us a late example of the not unfrequent use of the semicircular and ogee arches together in the same window.' Street. [Turning to the right on foot after passing the Calle del Paradiso we reach the Church of S. Lio of 1619, contain- ing good sixteenth-century sculptures of the Lombardi school. From the adjoining Bridge of S. Antonio, an elegant little palace by one of the Lombardi is seen on the left. From the Campo S. Lio, the Calle della Fava leads to the Chiesa della fava, named from the shops in this neighbourhood for the sale of the cake (fava) eaten by relations when they visit the graves of their dead on All Souls' Day. From the bridge in front of the church we see the fine faqade of the Palazzo Giustiniani, now the Post-Office, a splendid building of the fifteenth century. From S. Lio, the Ponte del Pister and Calle della Malvasia lead to the Campo di S. Marina, which contained an interesting church built 1030, rebuilt 1705, de- stroyed 1820. The tombs of the Doges Michele Steno and Nicolo Marcello, now in SS. Giovanni e Paolo, stood here. This church was annually visited by the Doge on the anni- versary of the conquest of Padua, July 17, 1570, and the keys of that city hung above the tomb of Doge Steno. They still exist in the Seminario Patriarch ale.] A few strokes of the gondolier now bring us to the pic- turesque group formed by the west front of SS. Giovanni and Paolo, the Scuola di S. Marco, and the statue of the famous condottiere, Bartolommeo Colleoni. He left all his fortune to the Republic, on condition of his statue being placed in STATUE OF BARTOLOMMEO COLLEONI 107 the Piazza S. Marco. This was contrary to the laws, but the senate found a loophole for securing the inheritance by placing it in front of the Scuola di San Marco. The noble equestrian statue was designed by Andrea Verocchio (Andrew the keen-eyed), but completed by Alessandro Leopardi, whose name appears on the cinghia of the horse ; the pedestal is also by Alessandro. The figure looks as if it were riding into space. ' I do not believe that there is a more glorious work of sculpture existing in the world than the equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Col- leoni.' Ruskin. ' To make the statue Verocchio came to Venice, and had just mod- elled the horse, when a report reached him that the Signory intended to have the rider executed by Donatello's scholar, Vellano of Padua. In- dignant at this intended insult, he instantly broke the head and legs of the horse in pieces, and returned to Florence, whither he was followed by a decree forbidding him under pain of death again to set foot upon Venetian territory ; to which he replied, that he never would incur that risk, as he was aware that if his head were once cut off, the Signory could neither put it on again nor supply its place, while he could at any time replace the head of his horse by a better one. Feeling the truth of this answer, the Venetians rescinded their unjust edict, and not only in- vited Verocchio to resume his work, but doubled his pay, and pledged themselves not to allow him to be in any way interfered with. Pacified by this amende honorable, he returned to Venice, and had begun to restore his broken model, when he was attacked by a violent illness which speedily carried him to his grave. How much, or rather how little, of his task was then completed, is clearly shown by the passage of his Will in which he supplicates the Signory to allow his scholar, Lorenzo di Credi, to finish the horse which he had commenced. His request was not complied with, and Alessandro Leopardi, a Venetian sculptor, was employed to complete the group, but, as he doubtless used Verocchio's sketches, the general conception must be ascribed to the latter ; though as we look on this rich and picturesque group, whose ample forms are so opposed to the meagreness of the Tuscan sculptor's manner, we are led to conclude that Leopardi worked out Verocchio's idea according to his own taste, and honour him as the chief author of this, the finest modern equestrian statue, as did the Venetians, by giving him the sur- name "del Cavallo." ' The stalwart figure of Colleoni, clad in armour, with a helmet upon his head, is the most perfect embodiment of the idea which history gives us of an Italian Condottiere. As his horse, with arched neck and slightly bent head, paces slowly forward, he, sitting straight in his saddle, turns 108 VENICE to look over his left shoulder, showing us a sternly-marked countenance, with deep-set eyes, whose intensity of expression reveals a character of iron which never recoiled before any obstacle. It indeed admirably embodies the graphic picture of Colleoni's personal appearance given by Bartolommeo Spina in these words: " Saldo passo, vista superba, risplendente per le ricche armi e pennachi sopra nobil corsiere; occhi neri, nella guardatura ed acutezza del lume, vivi, penetranti o terribili. " The stern simplicity of the rider is happily set off by the richness of detail lavished upon the saddle, the breastplate, the crupper, and the knotted mane of his steed ; and the effect of the whole group is heightened by the very elegant pedestal upon which Leopardi has placed it.' Perkins, ' Tuscan Sculptors.'' The grand Church of SS. Giovanni and Paolo (in Vene- tian dialect S. Zanipolo) was built for Dominicans ; begun in 1234, but not consecrated till 1430, which explains the varieties of style in its construction. It is a Latin cross, with three aisles in the nave. It is 290 ft. long, 125 ft. broad at the transepts, and 108 feet high in the centre and choir. The central door is a magnificent example of fourteenth-cen- tury gothic, the Roman influence being visible in the columns and friezes. There are some curious reliefs let into the facade; Daniel in the Lions' Den of the eighth, and the Annunciation of the seventh century. On either side of the portal are thirteenth and fourteenth century monuments. One is a sarcophagus containing the remains of Doge Giacomo Tiepolo, the founder (1251), and his brother Lorenzo, also Doge of Venice (1275). Hither every yth October the Doge came to a state service in honour of the victory of Venice over the Turks in the Dardanelles, and here the Doges lay in state and their funeral services were held. The church, ' which the common poverty of imagination has decided to call the Venetian Westminster Abbey,' ' is full of their monuments. Gentile Bellini, by his own desire, was buried here, Feb. 1507, and his brother Giovanni was laid by his side, Nov. 1516. ' The foundation of this church was laid by the Dominicans about 1234, under the immediate protection of the Senate and the Doge Gia- como Tiepolo, accorded to them in consequence of a miraculous vision 1 Howells. SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO 109 appearing to the Doge ; ol which the following account is given in popular tradition. ' In the year 1226, the Doge Giacomo Tiepolo dreamed a dream ; and in his dream he saw the little oratory of the Dominicans, and, behold, all the ground around it (now occupied by the church) was covered with roses of the colour of vermilion, and the air was filled with their fragrance. And in the midst of the roses, there were seen flying to and fro a crowd of white doves, with golden crosses upon their heads. And while the Doge looked, and wondered, behold, the angels descended from heaven with golden censers, and passing through the oratory, and forth among the flowers, they filled the place with the smoke of their incense. Then the Doge heard suddenly a clear and loud voice which proclaimed, " This is the place that I have chosen for my preachers ! " and having heard it, straightway he awoke, and went to the Senate, and declared to them the vision. Then the Senate decided that forty paces of ground should be given to enlarge the monastery ; and the Doge Tiepolo himself made a still larger grant afterwards. ' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice, ' iii. ' The plan of this church is of the same sort as that of the Frari a nave with aisles, and transepts with two chapels opening on each side of them. These are all apsidal, but planned in the usual way and not as at the Frari. The east end is a fine composition, having an apse of seven sides, and is the only part of the exterior to which much praise can be given. It is divided into two stages by an elaborate brick cor- nice and a good balustraded passage in front of the upper windows. The traceries are all unskilfully designed, and set back from the face of the wall with a bald plain splay of brickwork round them ; the lower windows here have two transomes and the upper a single band of heavy tracery which performs the part of a transonic in an ungainly fashion, though not so badly as in the great south-transept window in the same church. Here, just as at the Frari, it is obvious that the absence of buttresses to these many-sided apses is the secret of the largeness and breadth which mark them ; and, to say the truth, not only are large buttresses to an apse often detrimental to its effect, but at the same time they are very often not wanted for strength. 'Street. Making the round of the church from the west end, beginning on the right, we see : The tomb of Doge Pietro Mocenigo, with fifteen allegorical figures, by Pietro Lombardo and his sons Tullio and Antonio, 1477-1488. This Doge only held the supreme power two years, after a long life spent in fighting for the Republic against the Turks. The monument is in- scribed ' Ex hostium manubiis. ' The tomb of Admiral Girolamo Canal, 1535 an urn of the school no VENICE of the Leopardi. Under this is a relief of Christ throned between two angels the grave-stone of Doge Ranieri Zen, 1 268. Right Aisle. Over the First Altar was the famous picture by Bellini burnt in 1867, replaced by a Madonna of Francesco Bissolo. Then comes the black pyramidal tomb of the painter Melchiorre Lanza, by Melchior Barthel, a Saxon, 1673 ; then the tomb to Marc Antonio Bragadin, 1596. ' The defence of Famagosta, the principal city in Cyprus, was one of the most heroic exploits of the age : the combined conduct and valour of the Venetian governor, Bragadino, were the theme of universal praise; honourable terms were to be granted to the garrison ; and when he notified his intention to be in person the bearer of the keys, the Turkish commander replied in the most courteous and complimentary terms, that he should feel honoured and gratified by receiving him. Bragadino came, attended by the officers of his staff, dressed in his purple robes, and with a red umbrella, the sign of his rank, held over him. In the course of the ensuing interview the Pasha suddenly springing up, accused him of having put some Mussulman prisoners to death : the officers were dragged away and cut to pieces, whilst Bragadino was reserved for the worst outrages that vindictive cruelty could inflict. He was thrice made to bare his neck to the executioner, whose sword was thrice lifted as if about to strike : his ears were cut off: he was driven every morning for ten days, heavy laden with baskets of earth, to the batteries, and compelled to kiss the ground before the Pasha's pavilion as he passed. He was hoisted to the yard-arm of one of the ships and exposed to the derision of the sailors. Finally, he was carried to the square of Famagosta, stripped, chained to a stake on the public scaffold, and slowly flayed alive, while the Pasha looked on. His skin, stuffed with straw, was then mounted on a cow, paraded through the streets with the red umbrella over it, suspended at the bowsprit of the admiral's galley, and displayed as a trophy during the whole voyage to Con- stantinople. The skin was afterwards purchased of the Pasha by the family of Bragadino, and deposited in an urn in the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. ' Qtiarterly Review, No. 274. Second Altar. A picture in many compartments, probably by V. Carpaccio. Tomb of the Procurator Alvise 1 Michiel, 1589. In the pavement, the gravestone, with Cupids in relief, of Ludovico Diedo, the Venetian admiral who took Constantinople from the Turks. Over the following doors, the immense Tombs of the Doges Silvestro and Bertuccio Valier, and by Tirali, 1708, of Elisabetta Quirini, wife of Silvestro, who, contrary to custom and law, was crowned with the ducal berretto, and caused medals to be struck, bearing her own effigy. 1 Alvise is Venetian for Luigi. SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO in ' Towering from the pavement to the vaulting of the church, behold a mass of marble, sixty or seventy feet in height, of mingled yellow and white, the yellow carved into the form of an enormous curtain, with ropes, fringes, and tassels, sustained by cherubs ; in front of which, in the now usual stage attitudes, advance the statues of the Doge Bertuccio Valier, his son, the Doge Silvester Valier, and his son's wife, Elizabeth. The statues of the Doges, though mean and Polonius-like, are partly redeemed by the ducal robes ; but that of the Dogaressa is a consum- mation of grossness, vanity, and ugliness the figure of a large and wrinkled woman, with elaborate curls in stiff projection round her face, covered from her shoulders to her feet with ruffs, furs, lace, jewels, and embroidery. Beneath and around are scattered Virtues, Victories, Fames, Genii the entire company of the monumental stage assembled, as before a drop scene executed by various sculptors, and deserving attentive study as exhibiting every condition of false taste and feeble conception. The Victory in the centre is peculiarly interesting ; the lion by which she is accompanied, springing on a dragon, has been in- tended to look terrible, but the incapable sculptor could not conceive any form of dreadfulness, could not even make the lion look angry. It looks only lacrymose ; and its lifted forepaws, there being no spring nor motion in its body, give it the appearance of a dog begging. The in- scriptions under the two statues are as follows : ' " Bertucius Valier, Duke, Great in wisdom and eloquence, Greater in his Hellespontic victory, Greatest in the Prince his son, Died, 1658. ' " ElizaDeth Quirina, the wife of Silvester, Distinguished by Roman virtue, By Venetian piety, And by the Ducal Crown, Died, 1708.'" Ruskin, ' Sfottes of Venice ,' iii. Silvestro Valier, recording the fact that he succeeded his father, took as his device two eagles, wearing ducal caps, flying towards the sun. In the Chapel which opens beneath this monument (left) is a picture of S. Hyacinth by Leandro Bassano. The Chapel of S. Dominic is covered with rich bronze decorations by Camilla Mazza. Right Transept (on the wall). S. Augustine, by Bart. Vivarini, 1473 one of the finest works of the master. Tomb of Nicolo Orsini, Conte di Pitigliano, 1509, who commanded the armies of the Republic in the war against the League before Cambray a golden warrior on a horse. Altar with S. Antonino, by Lorenzo Lotto. Over the door. Monument of Luigi Naldo da Briseghella, general of the Republic, distinguished in many battles during the League of Cambray, 1510, by Lorenzo Bregno ' plus mouvemente, mais beaucoup moins correct que les Lombardi et les Leopardi.' ' Stained glass by Girolamo Mocetto, from designs of Vivarini, 1473. 1 Yriarte. 112 VENICE Altar. Rocco Marconi. Christ between SS. Andrew and Peter. ' This is one of the best pictures of the school, with most beautiful mild heads, especially that of Christ, which resembles the Christ of Bellini. S. Peter's attitude expresses the deepest devotion. Above him, is a choir of angels making music. ' Burckhardt. 1st Chapel, East End. Bonifazio. Three Saints. In this chapel is an English monument ' Odoardo Windsor Baroni Anglo.' Altar by Alessandro Vittoria, with a crucifix by Cavrioli. (Right.} Tomb of Paolo Loredan, 1365. 2nd Chapel. Cappetta della Maddalena (Right}. Monument of Matteo Giustiniani, 1574. Over the altar a statue of the Magdalen, by Gugl. Bergamasco. (Left.} Monument of Marco Giustiniani, 1347, ambassador to the Scaligeri. (Over the monument.}}. Tintoretto, Madonna, with kneeling Sena- tors. 'Our Lady with the Camerlenghi,' representing three Venetian chamberlains who desired to have their portraits painted, and at the same time to express their devotion to the Madonna. ' As a piece of portraiture and artistical composition, the work is altogether perfect. The sky appears full of light, though it is as dark as the flesh of the faces ; and the forms of the floating clouds, as well as of the hills over which they rise, are drawn with a deep re- membrance of reality. ' Ruskin. On a pillar, a pulpit of 1510. Apse (right of High Altar}. The beautful gothic tomb of Doge Michele Morosini, 1382. Morosini only reigned for four months, but they were rendered remarkable by the capture of Tenedos. The tomb of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Grapiglia, 1572 the statue of the Doge (who died, aged ninety, in 1521) is by Campagna. (Left. } The tomb (brought from the Church of the Servi) of Doge Andrea Vendramin, 1478, by Alessandro Leopardi. The surrounding statuettes are of great beauty. Much praise has also been bestowed upon the figure of the Doge, but spectators are not generally aware that the effigy has only one side, that turned to the beholder. The statues of the Magdalen and S. Catherine, attributed to Lorenzo Bregno, occupy the place of the statues of Adam and Eve by Tullio Lombardo, which have been removed to the Palazzo Vendramin-Calerghi, as not sufficiently severe for an ecclesiastical building. ' This doge died, after a short reign of two years, the most disastrous in the annals of Venice. He died of a pestilence which followed the ravage of the Turks, carried to the shores of the lagoons. He died, leaving Venice disgraced by sea and land, with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the blue distances of Friuli ; and there was raised to him the most costly tomb ever bestowed upon her monarchs. . . . SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO 113 Yet who, with a heart in his breast, could have stayed his hand, as he drew the dim lines of the old man's countenance could have stayed his hand as he reached the bend of the grey forehead, and measured out the last veins of it, at so much the zecchin ? ' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice, ch. i. Tomb of Doge Marco Corner, 1368, with saints above, of beautiful 14th-century gothic ; probably of the Masegne. Cappella della Trinita (right). Tomb of the procurator Pietro Corner, who established the peace of 1378 with the Duke of Austria. yd Chapel (right}. Leandro Bassano. A Coronation of the Virgin. (Left.) The Monument of Andrea Morosini, 1347, illustrious in the war against Mastino della Scala. $th Chapel, Cappella di S. Pio (right). Tomb of Jacopo Cavalli, Commander of the Venetian troops in the famous Chioggian war, by Paolo dijacobello delle Masegne, 1394, with an inscription in Venetian dialect. ' ' The sarcophagus is heavily but richly adorned with leaf-mouldings, and with roundels containing the symbols of the Evangelists in alto- relief. Upon it lies the effigy of the brave knight clad in armour. His face is very much sunken in his helmet, his hands are crossed upon his breast, his head rests upon a lion, and his feet upon a dog, fitting emblems of his honour and fidelity.' -Perkins, ' Italian Sculptors.' 1 Tomb of Doge Giovanni Dolfin, 1361. ' The sarcophagus is enriched with statuettes, and with bas-reliefs of the doge and the dogaressa kneeling at the feet of the enthroned Christ, the Death of the Virgin, and the Epiphany, and has an elaborate leaf- work cornice and plinth.' Perkins, ' Italian Sculptors.' Beneath this, the tomb of Marino Caballo, 1572. Left Transept. Marble group, of Vittore Cappello (brother of Bianca), general-in-chief of the Venetian army against the Turks, re- ceiving the staff of command from S. Helena, by Antonio Dentone, 1467. (Over the door}. Tomb of Doge Antonio Venier, 1400, of the school of the Masegne. Through this door was the entrance to the Cappella del Rosario, painted by Aless. Vittoria, still a ruin from the fire of August 16, 1867, in which the two great pictures of the church perished the famous Titian of the Death of S. Peter Martyr, and one of the finest works of Giovanni Bellini. Tomb of Agnese, wife of Doge Antonio Venier, and of their daughter Orsola, 1411. Tomb of Leonardo da Prato, knight of Rhodes, 1511, with an equestrian statue in gilt wood, erected by the Senate. 1 Quest' opera d' intajo e fatto in piera Un Venician la fe cha nome Polo Nato de Jachomel che tajapiera. 114 VENICE Left Aisle. Over the door of the Sacristy, busts of Titian and the two Palmas \>yjacopo Alberelli, 1621. Before this door lie the bones of Palma Giovane (Giovanni and Gentile Bellini are also buried in this church). In the Sacristy are a Cross-bearing of Alvise Vtvarini, and a Foundation of the Dominican Order, Leandro Bassano. Tomb of Doge Pasquale Malipiero an admirable sarcophagus Florentine work of the 1 5th century. Under this. Giovanni Udine ? Coronation of the Virgin. Tomb of the Senator Bonzio, 1508. Beneath this, the statue of S. Thomas, by Antonio Lombardo, and of S. Peter Martyr, by Paolo da Milano. Tomb of Doge Michele Steno, 1413, ' amator justitiae, pacis, et ubertatis,' conqueror of Padua (only part of the tomb brought from the Church of S. Marina). The tomb of Alvise Trevisan, 1528 (these are the only tombs placed sufficiently low for careful examination). Monument of Pompeo Giustiniani, with his figure on horseback, by Franc. Terilli da Feltre, 1616. Beneath this, the epitaph of Doge Giovanni Dandolo, 1289. Monument of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, 1424 ' Huomo oltre modo desideroso della pace ' during whose reign the Republic acquired Friuli and much of Dalmatia ; by Pietro di Nicolb da Firenze and Gio- vanni di Nicolb da Fiesole. ' The tomb of the Doge is wrought by a Florentine ; but it is of the same general type and feeling as all the Venetian tombs of that period, and it is one of the last which retains it. The classical element enters largely into its details, but the feeling of the whole is as yet unaffected. Like all the lovely tombs of Venice and Verona, it is a sarcophagus with a recumbent figure above, and this figure is a faithful but tender portrait, wrought as far as it can be without painfulness, of the Doge as he lay in death. He wears his ducal robe and bonnet his head is laid slightly aside upon his pillow his hands are simply crossed as they fall. The face is emaciated, the features large, but so pure and lordly in their natural chiselling, that they must have looked like marble even in their animation. They are deeply worn away by thought and death ; the veins on the temples branched and starting ; the skin gathered in sharp folds ; the brow high-arched and shaggy ; the eye-ball magnificently large ; the curve of the lips just veiled by the slight moustache at the side ; the beard short, double, and sharp-pointed : all noble and quiet ; the white sepulchral dust marking like light the stern angles of the cheek and brow.' Ruskin, 'Stones of Venice? ch. i. Monument of Doge Nicolo Marcello, 1474, in whose reign the Republic acquired Cyprus : a grand specimen of the Lombard! style, by Aless. Leopardi brought from the destroyed Church of S. Marina. The statues of Justice and Fortitude are inestimable. SCUOLA DI S. MARCO 115 Sepulchral inscription of Doge Marino Zarsi, 1312. Altar of the Rosary. A copy of the S. Peter Martyr of Titian, which was destroyed in the Chapel of the Rosario on the morning after the festa of the Assumption, 1867, by a fire probably caused by the smoulder- ing wax candles carelessly put away in the chapel. ' Painted when Luther was at his zenith, it perished in the days of Mazzini and Gari- baldi.' The copy was presented by Victor- Emanuel I. Monument of Ora/io Baglioni, 1617, who died fighting for the Republic in Friuli, with an equestrian figure. The Last Altar, by Guglielmo Bergamasco, 1523, has a statue of S. Jerome, by A/ess. Vittoria. At the foot of this altar rests Verde, wife of Nicolo d' Este, and daughter of Mastino della Scala, brought hither from the Church of the Servi. Monument of Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, 1485, by Tullio Lombardo. ' Close to the great door. Tomb of Doge Alvise Mocenigo, 1576 ; and his wife, Loredana Marcello. The unhappy reign of this Doge was marked by the Plague, and the loss of the best conquests of Venice. Tomb of Doge Giovanni Bembo, 1618, by Girol. Grapiglia. Outside the church, occupying the north side of the Campo, is the Scuola di S. Marco, built by Martino Lom- bardo (1485), a beautiful specimen of the peculiar architec- ture of the Lombardi, decorated with coloured marbles. The perspective views in marble are very curious. The interior is now used as a hospital (Ospedale Civile) : it has two noble halls. Opening from the lower hall was the Chapel of La Madonna della Pace, the burial-place of the Falier family. When the sarcophagus of the unhappy Doge Marino Faliero was opened, his body was found with the head between his knees. In the adjoining Campo is a beautiful Renaissance well of the sixteenth century with sporting amorini. Another much finer specimen of a well-head is an exquisite work, attributed to Bartolommeo Bon, in the adjoining Corte Bressana. Returning to our gondola, on the same canal (Rio dei Mendicanti), is the Church of S. Lazaro de' Mendicanti, built by Vine. Scamozzi (1601-1663). The portico contains the tomb of Alvise Mocenigo, the heroic defender of Candia against the Turks, by Giuseppe Sardi. Entering the lagoon, and turning to the right, we soon 1 There were seven Doges of the Mocenigo family. I 2 n6 VENICE pass near the great Church o/S, Francesco delta Vigna (entered from a side canal), begun in 1534, but not finished till 1634. It derives its name from a vineyard bequeathed in 1253 by Marco Ziani, son of the Doge Pietro, to the Convent of S. Maria dei Frari. Tradition tells that, surprised by a great storm which overtook him as he was returning from Aquileja, S. Mark took refuge here, and was here saluted by an angel with the words, ' Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus,' which words were afterwards added to the arms of the Republic. The ancient church, built to preserve the tradition, was de- stroyed in 1 1 80. A second church, erected by Marino di Pisa in the thirteenth century, and near which S. Bernardino da Siena lived for some time in a cell, was destroyed in the six- teenth. The existing church was built at the expense of Doge Andrea Gritti. The exterior is by Palladia ; the interior, which was completed first, by Sansovino. We may observe : Right Aisle, 1st Altar. Paul Veronese. The Resurrection. yd Chapel. Right : Barocco tomb of Doge Alvise Contarini, 1676-1684. Left: Tomb of Doge Francesco Contarini, 1623-24. tyh Chapel. Paul Veronese. The Resurrection. Right Transept, Left Chapel. Vivarini, often ascribed to Fra Antonio da Negroponte. 'The Madonna, with a kindly round physiognomy, in a mantle shining with gold, and with a nimbus painted in relief, is seated before a luxuriant rosebush, upon a stone throne of a showy Renaissance style of architecture, with genii and antique decorations in relief. Above the throne are rich pendants of fruit, and below, a flowery meadow with very natural birds. She is adoring the Infant who lies in her lap, and who, with the true Paduan feeling, is drawn in hard and sculpturesque style. Four cherubs in gay robes are standing by.' Kugler. Over door. Tomb of Dom. Trevisani, a much honoured ambassador and procuratore, by Sansovino. Left of Altar. Giustiniani Chapel with beautiful sculptures of the 1 5th century, which are amongst the best Venetian works. Tomb of the Doge Marc- Antonio Giustiniani, 1688. The architecture of the side door serves as a monument to Doge Marc- Antonio Trevisani, 1554, buried in front of the high altar. The door beneath this tomb leads to the Cappella Santa (so called from a miraculous Madonna), containing a picture of the Madonna and Saints by Giovanni Bellini, Here is the entrance to a pretty cloister. S. GIUSTINA, PALAZZO CONTARINI 117 The Sacristy has a picture of SS. Antonio, Jerome, and Nicholas, by Bernardino de 1 Fiori. Over the Pulpit is Christ with God the Father, by Girolamo Santa Croce. Left Aisle, 1st Chapel. Paul Veronese. Virgin and Child ; S. Antony is seen below, turning towards the spectator, his pig at his side ; a female martyred saint seated by him is gazing upwards. yd Chapel. Statue of Alvise Sagredo and Tomb of Doge Nicolo Sagredo, mannered works of Antonio Gat, 1 743. 4/7; Chapel. Alessandro Vittoria. SS. Antony, Sebastian, and Roch the figure of S. Antonio a very beautiful work. Holy Water Basin. S. Francesco, in bronze, by A less. Vittoria. The Cappella Barbara was founded by Francesco Barbara, 1488-1568, to contain the ashes of his illustrious ancestors, amidst whom he is buried himself. His tomb bears the device a red circle (tondo) on a silver field which was granted in 1125 to the Admiral Marco Barbaro, in remembrance of his having, during the battle of Ascalon, cut off the hand of a Moor who had seized the flag of his vessel, slain him, and turned his turban into a banner, after having traced a red circle with his bleeding arm. Close by is the Palazzo del Nunzio Apostolico, of 1535, given by the Republic to the Papal nuncio when the Palazzo di Venezia at Rome was received from Pius V. The palace was given to the Franciscans by Gregory XVI. The Calle del Te Deum leads to the suppressed Church of S. Giustina, built by Baldassare Longhena (1640) for the Soranzo family. It was visited annually by the Doge on Oct. 7, the anniver- sary of the victory of Curzolari (1571), on which occasion the Doge gave the nuns of the adjoining convent the money called Giustine, first struck in 1571. [Near S. Francesco are several interesting palaces. Cross- ing the Ponte di S. Francesco, we see, on the Salizzada di S. Giustina, the beautiful Palazzo Contarini (or Porta diFerrd) with an entrance of the thirteenth century, which once had the wrought- iron gates which gave the name of Portadi Ferro to the noble family of which the Doge Francesco Contarini was a member. The courtyard has an admirable fifteenth- century staircase and other details worthy of attention. Proceeding hence to the Campo delle Gatte and by the Calle degli Scudi to the Campo dei Do Pozzi, we enter Calle n8 VENICE Magno, on the right of which is the entrance to the ancient Palazzo Bembo alia Celestia, an important work of the fourteenth century, with a beautiful outside staircase in its courtyard little known, but well deserving of study.] Following the lagoon along the outer wall of the Arsenal so often painted by our landscape artists, we enter the broad Canale di S. Pietro, under the Island of S. Pietro (San Piaro in Venetian), where the Doges were elected in the earliest times of the Republic. It was here that the Rape of the Venetian brides took place, Feb. 2, 944 ; they were carried off by pirates, and were pursued and rescued (according to Daru and Sismondi) by an armament hastily equipped by the Doge in person. The Church of S. Pietro di Castello, formerly SS. Sergius and Bacchus, is of very ancient foundation, and was the early cathedral of the Republic. The church was entirely rebuilt at the end of the sixteenth century, and presents nothing to admire except the campanile, which is remarkable for the long architectural lines which give it so stately an effect. This tower ' is one which has forsaken the true Romanesque detail, but in which the true Romanesque feeling is not lost.' ' It is credibly reported to have been founded in the seventh century, and (with somewhat less of credibility) in a place where the Trojans, conducted by Antenor, had, after the destruction of Troy, built " un castello, chiamato prima Troja, poscia Olivolo, interpretato, luogo pieno." It seems that S. Peter appeared in person to the Bishop of Heraclea, and commanded him to found, in his honour, a church in that spot of the rising city on the Rialto. The title of Bishop of Castello was first taken in 1091 ; S. Mark's was not made the cathedral church till 1807.' Ruskin, 'Stones of Venice.' ' At a comparatively late period, Venetian fathers went with their daughters to a great annual matrimonial fair at S. Pietro di Castello Olivolo, and the youth of the lagoons repaired thither to choose wives from the numbers of the maidens. These were all dressed in white, with hair loose about the neck, and each bore her dower in a little box, slung over her shoulder by a ribbon. It is to be supposed that there was commonly a previous understanding between each damsel and some youth in the crowd. As soon as all had paired off, the bishop gave them a sermon and his benediction, and the young men gathered up their brides and boxes, and went away wedded. It was on one of S. PIETRO DI CASTELLO 119 these occasions that the Triestine pirates stole the Brides of Venice and their dowers, and gave occasion to the Festa delle Marie, and to Rogers's poem, which everybody pretends to have read. ' Hoiuells. The interior of the church is by G. Grapiglia, We may notice : Right. Tomb of the procurator Filippo Corner, brother of Pope Gregory XII. , 1410. Right. Marco Basaiti. S. George, 1520 most beautiful, though injured. Right, beyond 2nd Altar. A very interesting old Bishop's chair, of Arabian origin, engraved with a sentence from the Koran. The chair was given by Michele Paleologo to Doge Pietro Gradenigo, in 1310. A tradition declares that it was used by S. Peter at Antioch. * yd Altar. Marco Basaiti. S. Peter throned between four saints a noble and beautiful picture with the characteristic of the master, who loved figures in shadow against a glowing sky. 'The same exclusively religious character may be remarked in Basaiti, who resembles Cima da Conegliano in many respects, although he differs from him in the general tone of his compositions, which rather incline to softness and grace, whilst those of Cima are characterised by a majestic severity. Basaiti is particularly distin- guished by the harmony and suavity of his colouring, by his knowledge of chiaroscuro, in which he is superior to most of his contemporaries, and by the expression of angelic beatitude and calm melancholy which he gives to his personages. He is inferior to Cima in the arrangement of his landscapes and the disposition of his draperies, but these purely external defects are fully compensated by the deep religious feeling which breathes in all his compositions. ... In these pictures of S. Pietro in Castello, notwithstanding their injured condition, the suave and harmonious touch of the artist may still be recognised. ' Rio. Tomb of the Patriarch Federigo Giovanelli, 1800. Removed to the altar of the Right Transept, from the church on the desecrated island of S. Elena, is an urn supposed to contain the ashes of the mother of Constantine. Behind the High Altar. Bust, of the I5th century, of S. Lorenzo Giustiniani (1380-1456), Bishop of Castello, and first Patriarch of Venice. There is a portrait of this saint in the Academy, by Gentile Bellini, much in the same attitude. Left. The Vendramin Chapel, full of florid and tasteless marble ornamentation, but possessing a black monumental slab with the arms in fine metal-work. S. Pietro is the scene of a charming Romeo and Juliet story in Bandello. Elena, secretly married to the young 120 . VENICE Gerardo, but afterwards separated from him, and falling into a trance on the eve of another enforced marriage, is laid in a marble sarcophagus at S. Pietro ; Gerardo, returning that evening from Syria, finds her there, and carrying her off, breathes back life with his embrace, and their parents forgive them. The neighbouring Church of S. Giuseppe di Castello (seldom open) contains the splendid tomb of Doge Marino Grimani, with bronze ornaments by Girolamo Campagna, and the tomb of his son the procurator Girolamo Grimani (a liberal protector of the arts and builder of the Palazzo Grimani on the Grand Canal) by Aless. ] r ittoria. Close to this is the entrance of the Public Gardens Giardini Pubblid laid out by Giannantonio Selva in 1810. They are approached from the Riva degli Schiavoni by the widest street in Venice, now called Via Garibaldi. Here is a beautiful gothic gateway. The gardens are generally deserted. ' II y a, comme a 1'ordinaire, tres-peu de promeneurs. Les Veni- tiennes elegantes craignent le chaud et n'oseraient sortir en plein jour, mais en revanche elles craignent le froid et ne se hasardent guere dehors la nuit. II y a trois ou quatre jours, fails expres pour elles dans chaque saison, oil elles font lever la couverturede lagondole, mais elles mettent rarement les pieds a terre ; c'est une espece a part, si molle et si delicate qu'un rayon de soleil ternit leur beaute, et qu'un souffle de la brise ex- pose leur vie. Les hommes civilises cherchent de preference les lieux ou ils peuvent rencontrer le beau sexe : le theatre, les conversazioni, les cafes, et 1'enceinte abritee de la Piazzetta a sept heures du soir. II ne reste done aux jardins que quelques vieillards grognons, quelques fumeurs stupides, et quelques bilieux melancoliques. ' George Sand, ' Lettres cfun Voyageur. ' ' The gardens were made by Napoleon, who demolished to that end some monasteries once cumbering the ground. They are pleasant enough, and are not gardens at all, but a park of formally planted trees syca- mores, chiefly. There is also a stable, where are the only horses in Venice. They are let at a florin an hour. On the Lunedi dei Giardini (in September) all orders of the people flock to the gardens, and pro- menade, and banquet on the grass.' Howells. The Giardini Pubblici is one of the best points from GIARDINI PUBBLIC1 121 which to watch the glorious Venetian sunset. Here are two descriptions of it : ' Le soleil e"tait descendu derriere les monts Vicentins. De grandes nuees violettes traversaient le ciel au-dessus de Venise. La tour de Saint-Marc, les coupoles de Sainte-Marie, et cette pepiniere de Heches et de minarets qui s'eleve de tous les points de la ville, se dessinaient en aiguilles noires sur le ton etincelant de 1'horizon. Le ciel arrivait, par une admirable degradation de nuances, du rouge-cerise au bleu de smalt ; et 1'eau, calme et limpide comme une glace, recevait exactement le re- flet de cette immense iridation. Au-dessous de Venise elle avait 1'air d'un grand miroir de cuivre rouge. Jamais je n'avais vu Venise si belle et si feerique. Cette noire silhouette jetee entre le ciel et 1'eau ardente, comme dans une mer de feu, etait alors une de ces sublimes aberrations d'architecture que le poete de 1' Apocalypse a du voir flotter sur les greves de Patmos, quand il revait sa Jerusalem nouvelle et qu'il la com- parait a une belle epousee. ' Peu a peu les couleurs s'obscurcirent, les contours devinrent plus massifs, les profondeurs plus mysterieuses. Venise prit 1'aspect d'une flotte immense, puis d'un bois de hauts cypres ou les canaux s'enfon- $aient comme de grands chemins de sable argente. Ce sont la les instants ou j'aime a regarder au loin ; quand les formes s'effacent, quand les objets semblent trembler dans la brume, quand mon imagina- tion peut s'elancer dans un champ immense de conjectures et de caprices.' George Sand, * Let (res (fun Voyageur.' ' La ligne de maisons de la Giudecca qu'interrompt le dome de 1'eglise du Redempteur ; la pointe de la Douane de mer elevant sa tour carree, surmontee de deux Hercules soutenant une Fortune ; les deux coupoles de Santa Maria della Salute, forment une decoupure merveil- leusement accidentee, qui se detache en vigueur sur le ciel et fait le fond du tableau. ' L'ile de Saint-Georges- Majeur, placee plus avant, sert de repous- soir, avec son eglise, son dome et son clocher de briques, diminutif du Campanile, qu'on apercoit a droite, au-dessus de 1'ancienne Bibliotheque et du palais ducal. ' Tous ces edifices baignes d'ombre, puisque la lumiere est derriere eux, ont des tons azures, lilas, violets, sur lesquels se dessinent en noir les agres des batiments a 1'ancre ; au-dessus d'eux eclate un incendie de splendeurs, un feu d'artifice de rayons ; le soleil s'abaisse dans des amoncellements de topazes, de rubis, d'amethystes que le vent fait couler a chaque minute, en changeant la forme des nuages ; des fusees eblouis- santes jaillissent entre les deux coupoles de la Salute, et quelquefois, selon le point oil Ton est place, la fleche de Palladio coupe en deux le disque et 1'astre. 4 Ce coucher de soleil a la lagune pour miroir : toutes ces lueurs, tous ces rayons, tous ces feux, toutes ces phosphorescences ruissellent sur 122 VENICE le clapotis des vagues en etincelles, en paillettes, en prismes, en trainees de flamme. Cela reluit, cela scintille, cela flamboie, cela s'agite dans un fourmillement lumineux perpetuel. Le clocher de Saint-Georges- Majeur, avec son ombre opaque qui s'allonge au loin, tranche en noir sur cet embrasement aquatique, ce qui le grandit d'une faon demesuree et lui donne 1'air d'avoir sa base au fond de Pablme. La decoupure des edifices semble nager entre deux ciels ou entre deux mers. Est-ce 1'eau qui reflete le ciel ou le ciel qui reflete 1'eau? L'ceil hesite et tout se confonde dans un eblouissement general. Gautier, 'Italia.'' Very near one end of the gardens is the Church of S. Biagio, containing the tomb of the Admiral Angelo Emo (1731-1792) by Giovanni Ferrari. Close to this our gondo- lier should turn up the Rio del Arsenale, to the principal buildings of the Arsenal, 1 which, begun in 1300, is nearly two miles in circuit. Its battlemented walls, protected by fourteen towers, are attributed to Andrea Pisano, and a beautiful gothic gate bears his name. The Renaissance gateway has quaint red towers. The statue of S. Giustina is by Gir. Campagna, and commemorates the Battle of Lepanto, fought on her festival, Oct. 7, 1571. The Arsenal was the foundation of the strength of Venice, and as its ruin was the chief object of an enemy, incessant surveillance was established there. In 1428, a man suspected of intending to set fire to it for the Duke of Milan, was dragged at a horse's tail by the Schiavoni, and quartered on the Piazzetta. In 1491 three keepers of the Arsenal were appointed, who were to remain thirty-two months in office, and, during that time, were to leave their own palaces and inhabit three official houses called Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno. Each was to have fifteen days' guard in turn, and during that time was never to leave the inclosure. On either side the entrance stand the two famous Lions brought from Athens in 1687 by Doge Francesco Morosini. ' The lion, in a sitting posture, and ten feet in height, stood on the inner shore of the Piraeus harbour, which it seemed to guard. From 1 The name of Arsenal came to this building (which Dante calls Arza.no) from the Arabic darsanda, whence the Venetian darsena. THE ARSENAL 123 that statue the harbour itself derived the name of Porto Leone, which it bore among the Franks all through the Middle Ages and down to our own times. As such it is mentioned by Lord Byron in "The Giaour." ' The second statue, also of Pentelic marble, was nearly equal to the first in point of art, but far less good in point of preservation. The travellers of 1675 saw ^ on its original base, a little outside the city, near the ancient " Sacred Way." The animal is represented as couch- ing and at rest ; and Spon says that he felt inclined to address it in the following words : " Sleep on, Lion of Athens, since the Lion of the Harbour watches for thee." ' ' Close observers must from the first have noticed with surprise that the statue of the sitting lion bore around each of its shoulders, and in serpentine folds, the remains of barbaric inscriptions. These strange characters were after a time recognised as Norwegian Runes. Their interpretation is due to M. Rafnr, an antiquary of Copenhagen. If reduced to straight lines the inscription on the lion's left shoulder is as follows : ' ' ' Hakon, combined with Ulf, with Asmund, and with Orn, conquered this port [the Piraeus]. These men and Harold the Tall 2 imposed large fines, on account of the revolt of the Greek people. Dalk has been detained in distant lands. Egil was waging war, together with Ragnar, in Roumania and Armenia. " ' We will now give the inscription from the right shoulder of the lion : . ' " Asmund engraved these Runes in combination with Asgeir, Thor- leif, Thord, and Ivar, by desire of Harold the Tall, although the Greeks on reflection opposed it." ' Quarterly Review. The Armoury and Museum (open from 9 to 3, upon leaving your name) contains much of interest, especially to those conversant with naval affairs. Ordinary travellers will notice : Lower if all: Model of a Venetian house, showing the piles on which it is built. Mast of the Bucentaur. Model of the Bucentaur. The Bucentaur was used in the ceremony of wedding the Adriatic, which was enjoined by the gratitude of Pope Alexander III. after 1 Voyages de Spon et Wheler, vol. ii. pp. 145 et 177, ed. 1679. = Harold, son of Sigurd, called Hardrada, or ' the Severe.' In 1040 he overcame the Athenian insurgents ; and. in 1042, dethroned the Emperor Michael and pro- claimed Zoe and Theodora joint Empresses of Constantinople. He succeeded Magnus the Good upon the throne of Norway, and on September 25, 1066, was killed by an arrow in battle at Stamford Bridge, near York, whilst fighting against Harold the Saxon in behalf of his brother Tosti. 124 VENICE the victory of the Venetians under Doge Sebastino Ziani over the fleet of Frederick Barbarossa, and which thenceforth annually proclaimed the naval supremacy of Venice to the world. This was attended by the Papal Nuncio and the whole of the diplomatic corps, who, without protest, every year witnessed the dropping of a sanctified ring into the sea, with the prescriptive accompaniment : Desponsanms te, mare, in sig- num veri perpetuique dominii. ('We espouse thee, sea, in sign of true and lasting dominion.') ' The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord ; And, annual marriage now no more renewed, The Bucentaur lies rotting unrestored, Neglected garment of her widowhood ! S. Mark yet sees his lion where he stood Stand, but in mockery of his withered power, Over the proud Place where an Emperor sued, And monarchs gazed and envied in the hour When Venice was a queen with an unequalled dower. ' Byron, ' Childe Harold.' Upper Hall: Banners taken at Lepanto. Monument and relics of Vittore Pisani, 1 380. Armour of Sebastiano Venier, hero of Lepanto, Oct. 7> I S7 I - Armour of Agostino Barbarigo, I57 1 - Armour of Henri IV. of France, given by him to the Republic in 1603. Armour of Doge Contarini. Armour of Doge Sebastiano Ziani, ob. 1178. Armour of Gattemelata, 1438. Armour of Cristoforo Moro, given by Pope Pius II., 1468. Sword of Doge Pesaro. Armour of Doge Alvise Mocenigo. Armour used in Torture. The Doge's Chair, used when he visited the arsenal. Beautifully wrought Springal, by the son of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, 1 6th century. Horse Armour, found at Aquileja. The Arsenal of Venice furnished Dante with one of the most remarkable similes for his ' Inferno.' ' Quale nell' arzana de' Viniziani Bolle 1' inverno la tenace pece A rimpalmar li legni lor non sani S. GIOVANNI IN BR AGORA 125 Che navicar non ponno ; e 'n quella vece Chi fa suo legno nuovo, e chi ristoppa Le coste a quel che piu viaggi fece ; Chi ribatte da proda, e chi da poppa ; Altri fa remi, e altri volge sarte ; Chi terzeruolo ed artimon rintoppa : Tal, non per fuoco, ma per divina arte, Bollia laggiuso una pegola spessa.' Inf. xxi. 7-18. Close to the Arsenal is the Church of S. Martina, formerly belonging to the Patriarch of Grado, built by J. Sansovino, 1540-1653. It contains: Right, over the side door. Tomb of Doge Francesco Erizzo, by Matteo Camera, 1633. After many years of peaceful reign, this Doge died as he was preparing to lead an expedition against the Turks in his Both year. Right of High Altar. Girolamo da Santa Croce. The Resurrection. A Bergamasque master one of his early pictures. On the Organ Gallery. Id. The Last Supper, 1459. The font has four angels by Tullio Lombardo, 1484 amongst the best works of his period. Near this was the (now destroyed) Cistercian convent with the famous church known as La Celestia, where the great general Carlo Zeno was buried (1418) by the Venetian sailors, who claimed it as their right towards their famous captain. A wooden bridge and narrow calle lead to the fifteenth- century Church of S. Giovanni in Bragora, originally built by S. Magnus, the bishop, in obedience to a vision of the Baptist in the first years of Venice. It contains several very fine pictures : \st Chapel, Right. * Giovanni Bellini. Madonna and Child. The perfectly divine mother is seated between two windows, through which an exquisite landscape is seen. Paris Bordone. Last Supper. Right Aisle. Vivarini. SS. Martin, Andrew, and James. * Right of High Altar. Cima da Conegliano. Helena and Constan- tine. *Apse. Cima da Conegliano. The Baptism of Christ one of the grandest works of the master, which ought to be thoroughly studied. It can only be properly seen by standing on the 126 VENICE altar. The picture was badly restored in the last century. Sansovino describes how the landscape is taken from Conegliano, the beloved native place of the artist. This was probably painted in rivalry of Bellini, who treated the same subject at Vicenza. ' In the dignity of the head of Christ, in the beauty of the angels, and the solemn gestures of the Baptist, this picture is incomparable.' Burckhardt. Luigi Vivarini. The Resurrection, 1498. ' Here the hardness of Bartolommeo is mellowed, partly through the influence of Bellini, into a really noble grace and fulness. Burck- hardt. Bart. Vivarini. Madonna and Saints. The beautiful Font is by Sansovino. In the Campo di S. Giovanni in Bragora is the fine old Palazzo Badoer, of 1310, inlaid with coloured marbles. It has been infamously modernised. ' The ogeed arches of the windows are more than usually good ; whilst the beauty of the central window, inclosed within a square line of moulding, within which the wall is incrusted with marble relieved by medallions, is very great. The balconies of the lower windows are clearly modern, but there is a trace of the original balustrade between the shafts of the windows in the second stage ; and in front of the side- lights to the upper window is a grille of iron-work taking the place of a balcony, and composed of a combination of quatrefoils. The arrange- ment of the windows in this part is not absolutely regular, but still the centre is very marked ; and though it is of early date, the true use of the arch nowhere appears. The usual dog-tooth cornice finishes the walls under the eaves.' Street. In the Riva degli Schiavoni, close to the Ponte del Sepolcro, is the Casa del Petrarca, originally Palazzo dei Molin, which was given in 1362 to Petrarch by the Republic, in gratitude for the gift of part of the poet's library. The neighbouring Chiesa della Pieta contains a ceiling with the Triumph of Faith, the best fresco of Giambattista Tiepolo, and, behind the high-altar, Christ in the House of the Pharisee, a fine work of Moretto da Brescia. 127 CHAPTER V. THE NORTH-EASTERN QUARTER OF VENICE. IN a gondola to S. Moise, S. Fantino, S. Maria Zobenigo, S. Maurizio, S. Stefano, S. Luca, Corte del Maltese, S. Salvatore, S. Giuliano, S. Lio, Palazzo dei Polo, La Madonna dei Miracoli, Palazzo Sanudo, Palazzo Bembo, Casa di Tiziano, Palazzo Falier, SS. Apostoli, S. Maria dei Gesuiti, Cap- pella Zen, S. Felice, S. Fosca, the Servi, the Misericordia, La Madonna dell' Orto, S. Giobbe, La Maddalena. THOSE who are obliged to select need only leave their gondolas at S. Stefano and S. Maria dell' Orto, and perhaps for the staircase in the Corte del Maltese. But this excursion is one which gives an admirable idea of the quiet bits of beauty in the side canals, of the marvellous variety of the palaces rising steeply from the pale green water, of the brilliant acacias leaning over the old sculptured walls, of the banksia roses falling over the parapets of the little courts like snowdrifts,- and of the tamarisks feathering down into the water, which is ever lapping with melancholy cadence against what Ruskin calls 'the sea- stories.' Travellers may often complain of the weariness of the Venetian sights, and of their being so like one another. It is quite true that they are so, but let those who are bored sit still in their gondolas. For the sake of a few gems many churches must be visited, but the gondola days afford many delightful memories for those who never do any definite sight-seeing. ' Floating down narrow lanes, where carpenters, at work with plane and chisel in their shops, toss the light shaving straight upon the water, where it lies like weed, or ebbs away before us in a tangled heap. Past 128 VENICE open doors, decayed and rotten from long steeping in the wet, through which some scanty patch of vine shines green and bright, making un- usual shadows on the pavement with its trembling leaves. Past quays and terraces, where women, gracefully veiled, are passing and repassing, and where idlers are reclining in the sunshine on flagstones and on flights of steps. Past bridges, where there are idlers too, loitering and looking over. Below stone balconies, erected at a giddy height, before the loftiest windows of the loftiest houses. Past plots of garden, theatres, shrines, prodigious piles of architecture Gothic Saracenic fanciful with all the fancies of all times and countries. Past buildings that were high and low, and black and white, and straight and crooked ; mean and grand, crazy and strong. Twining among a tangled lot of boats and barges, and shooting out at last into a Grand Canal ! ' Dickens. The part of Venice we are about to visit is divided by a wider canal than most into the two principal islands of Castello and S. Nicola. It is curious to see how traces of a fierce rivalry, at least 350 years old, still appear in their popular songs, e.g : ' Nu semo Castelani e tanto basta, E marciaremo co la fassa rossa, E marciaremo co '1 sigaro in boca : Faremo le cortelae, chi toca, toca ! ' ' E semo Nicoloti e tanto basta, E marciaremo co la fassa nera, La fassa nera e '1 fiore su '1 capelo Faremo le cortelae co quei de Castelo.' ' Nulle part il n'y a plus de paroles et moins de fails, plus de que- relles et moins de rixes. Les barcarolles ont un merveilleux talent pour se dire des injures, mais il est bien rare qu'ils en viennent aux mains. Deux barques se rencontrent et se heurtent a 1'angle d'un mur, par la maladresse de Tun et 1'inattention de 1'autre. Les deux barcarolles atten- dent en silence le choc qu'il n'est plus temps d'eviter ; leur premier regard est pour la barque ; quand ils se sont assures 1'un et 1'autre de ne s'etre point endommages, ils commencent a se toiser pendant que les barques se separent. Alors commence la discussion. Pourquoi n'as tu pas crie siastalit J'ai crie. Non. Si fait. Je gage que non, corpodi Bacco. Je jure que si, sangue di Diana. Mais avec quelle diable de voix ? Mais quelle espece d'oreilles as-tu pour entendre ? Dis-moi dans quel cabaret tu t'eclaircis la voix de la sorte. Dis-moi dequel ane ta mere a reVe quand elle etait grosse de toi. La vache qui t'a conc^i aurait du t'apprendre a beugler. L'anesse qui t'a enfante aurait du te donner les oreilles de ta famille.--Qu'est-ce que tu dis, racedechien? Qu'est- S. MOISE, S. F ANTING 12$ ce que tu dis, fils de guenon ? Alors la discussion s'anime, et va toujours s'echauffant a mesure que les champions s'eloignent. Quand ils ont mis un ou deux ponts entre eux, les menaces commencent. Viens done un peu ici, que je te fasse savoir de quel bois sont faites mes rames. Attends, attends, figure de marsouin, que je fasse sombrer ta coque de noix en crachant dessus. Si j'eternuais aupres de ta coquille d'osuf, je la ferais voler en 1'air. Ta gondole aurait bon besoin d'enfoncer un peu pour laver les vers dont elle est rongee. La tienne doit avoir des araignees, car tu as vole le jupon de ta maitresse pour lui faire une doublure. Maudite soit la madone de ton traguet pour n'avoir pas envoye la peste a de pareils gondoliers ! Si la madone de ton traguet n'etait pas la concubine du diable, il y a longtemps que tu serais noye. Et ainsi de metaphore en metaphore on en vient aux plus horribles imprecations ; mais heureusement, au moment ou il est question de s'egorger, les voix se perdent dans 1'eloignement, et les injures continuent encore longtemps apres que les deux adversaires ne s'entendent plus.' George Sand. The first canal on the right beyond the mole of the Piaz- zetta leads speedily to the gorgeous fagade of the Chtirch of S. Mois^ built by A. Tremtgnan, 1688. 1 Notable as one of the basest examples of the basest school of the Renaissance. ' Ruskin. ' Culmine d' ogni follia architettonica.' Lazari. The church contains, near the entrance, the grave of Law, the originator of the South Sea Bubble, who died here, 1729. Montesquieu, who met him at Venice, wrote : ' C'etait le meme homme, toujours 1'esprit occupe de projets, toujours la tete remplie de calculs et de valeurs numeraires ou representatives. II jouait souvent, et assez gros jeu, quoique sa fortune fut fort mince.' Chapel left of Altar. Palnia Giovane. The Last Supper. Tintoretto. Christ washing the disciples' feet. An important picture. The Via 22 Marzo and the Calle delle Veste lead hence to the Church of S. Fantino. It contains : Right. Monument of the physician Parisano Parisani, 1609, by Giulio del Moro. Cappella Maggiore. A work of Sansovino, 1533. Right wall, Lombard Monument of Bernardino Martini, 1518. Monument of Vinciguerra Dandolo, with a splendidly sculptured eagle, 1517. Giovanni Bellini. Holy Family K 130 VENICE 2,' Ateneo Veneto, close to the church, was formerly the Scuola di S. Girolamo, belonging to a confraternity devoted to the burial of the dead, but through the present century it has been occupied by a literary and scientific academy. The architecture is by Francesco Contino. In the facade is a noble relief of the Crucifixion by Aless. Viitoria. The upper halls are decorated with paintings byTintoret, Leonardo Corona, Palma Giovane, &c. In the Sala Maggiore are some fine busts by Aless. Vittoria. In the hall of entrance is the tomb of Santorio Santorio (1636), a famous physician, brought from the Church of the Servi. Returning by the Calle delle Veste to the Via 22 Marzo, and passing the Ponte dejle Ostreghe, one reaches : The Church of S. Maria Zobenigo (or del Giglio), founded by the extinct family of Zobenico, in the ninth century. The existing building (1680-83) is due to the munificence of the Barbaro family, four of whom are represented on the facade. ' S. Maria Zobenigo is the most impious building, illustrative of the degradation of the Renaissance. ' Rtiskin. The church contains the tomb of the procurator Giulio Contarini by Aless. Vittoria, and a statue of Christ by Giulio del Moro ; also : *2nd Altar on right. Tintoret. Christ with SS. Giustina and Agostino. ' Christ appears to be descending out of the clouds between the two saints, who are both kneeling on the sea-shore. It is a Venetian sea, breaking on a flat beach, like the Lido, with a scarlet galley, in the middle distance, of which the chief use is to unite the two figures by a point of colour. Both the saints are respectable Venetians of the lower class, in homely dress and with homely faces. The whole picture is quietly painted, and somewhat slightly ; free from all extravagance, and displaying little power except in the general truth or harmony of colours so easily laid on. It is better preserved than usual, and worth dwelling upon as an instance of the style of the master when at rest. ' Ruskin, ' Stoiies of Venice ',' vol. iii. Turning to the right, and crossing two bridges, we reach the Church of S. Afaurizto, which contains sculptures by S. STEFANO 131 Domenico Fadiga. Near it is the Scuola degli Albanesi, founded by Albanian merchants in 1447. T ne buildings are of 1500 : some curious reliefs are let into the walls. Looking upon the same Campo is the Palazzo Baffo, of the sixteenth century, once covered with frescoes by Paul Veronese^ of which few vestiges remain. In the neighbour- ing Calle del Dose is the Palazzo da Ponte built by Doge Nicolb da Ponte (1578-1585). This palace was also adorned with frescoes, attributed to Procaccino. The Church of S. Stefano was built by Augustinian friars (1294-1320). Its handsome gothic door is probably by the Masegne. ' The manner of the introduction of the figure of the angel at the top of the arch is full of beauty.' ! ' The want of proper balance between decoration and the thing decorated, and of fit subordination of detail to general effect, becomes more and more palpable as we approach the period of the Renaissance. About this gothic arch the stone vegetation is absolutely rank, and quite out of proportion with the dimensions of the arch itself.' Perkins, ' Italian Sculptors. ' ' The interior of S. Stefano is very fine and unlike what is common in the North of Europe. The dimensions are very large. The nave is about 48 ft. wide, and the whole length about 1 70 ft. There are a cloister and a chapter-house north of the nave, and a campanile detached at some distance to the east. The arcades of six pointed arches dividing the nave from either aisle are very light, and supported on delicate marble columns, whose capitals, with square abaci and foliage of classical cha- racter, hardly look like gothic work. The masonry and mouldings of these arches are not arranged in a succession of orders, as is the case in almost all good pointed work, but have a broad, plain soffit, with a small and shallow moulding at the edge, finished with a dentil or fillet orna- ment, which, originally used by the architect of S. Mark's in order to form the lines of constructional stonework within which his encrusted marbles were held, was afterwards, down to the very decline of pointed architecture, used everywhere in Venice not only in its original posi- tion, but, as at S. Stefano, in place of a label round the arch. ' Street. Novello Carrara, lord of Padua, cruelly strangled (1405) in the prisons of the Republic with his two sons, Jacopo and Francesco III., was buried with great pomp in this church on the day after his murder, but the spot of his grave is unknown. 1 Ruskin, Stones of Venice. K 2 132 VENICE In the centre of the nave is the slab tomb of Doge Francesco Morosini (1694), by Filippo Parodi. This great doge, distinguished as a general in the defence of Candia s and by the capture of Athens, which brought him the name of ' Peloponnesiaco,' deserved a nobler monument. Making the round of the church we see : Right (above the tomb of Grazioso Grazioli, 1588), the sepulchral inscription of Jacopo clal Verme, 1408, a famous condottiere, who passed from the service of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1404) to the ser- vice of Venice, and was general in the war against Francesco Novello of Carrara. He fell fighting against the Turks in 1408. Near the Entrance to the Sacristy. An altar erected by Jacopo Suriano, a physician of Rimini, where he is represented kneeling with his wife Eugenia at the feet of the Virgin and Child. i6th century. Sacristy. At the sides of the altar. Vivarini, SS. Lorenzo and Nicolo. Choir. Reliefs of great beauty by Vittore Camelio. Bronze cande- labra of the school of Aless. Vittoria, 1577. Before the altar the grave of the Archduke Frederick of Austria, 1847. Chapel left of High Altar. Tomb of C. B. Ferretti, a lawyer of Vicenza, attributed to Sanmicheli, 1557. It once bore a noble bust by Aless. Vittoria. Baptistery. Statue of the Baptist by Giulio del Moro. Over the Cloister Door. Monument of Bartolommeo d' Alviano, a brave general of the Republic, taken prisoner by Louis XII., but who returned to be distinguished in many sieges and battles, 1515. Cloister. Dilapidated frescoes by Pordenone. Fine Lombard doorway by Fra Gabriele, 1532. Near the door into the church the fine tomb of Doge Andrea Contarini, under whom the glorious victory of Chioggia was gained, corbelled out of the wall, 1382. ' MCCCLXVII. Dux creatus ; MCCCLXXXII. in coelum sublatus. ' ' On one wall of this court are remains very shadowy remains indeed of frescoes painted by Pordenone at the period of his fiercest rivalry with Titian ; and it is said that Pordenone, while he wrought upon the scenes of scriptural history here represented, wore his sword and buckler, in readiness to repel an attack which he feared from his competitor. The story is very vague, and I hunted it down in divers authorities only to find it grow more and more intangible and uncertain, but it gave a singular relish to our daily walk through the old cloister. ' Hoivells. Left of the principal entrance. The noble tomb of Jacopo Suriano of Rimini, 1551. His statue reposes upon a very rich urn, and, with CAMPO DI S. STEFANO 133 the bas-relief of the lunette, and the exquisite surrounding ornaments, is amongst the most beautiful specimens of the Lombard art of the 1 6th century. The arched bridge under the choir (which is built over a canal) should be noticed. The Campo di S. Stefano contains a modern statue of Nicolb Tommaseo (1802-74), and a number of beautiful old buildings. The Palazzo Loredan (sixteenth century), of Ionic and Corinthian architecture once adorned with frescoes by Giuseppe Salviati ; the Palazzo Morosini of the sixteenth century, in which the Doge Francesco Morosini, surnamed Peloponnesiaco, was born, and which contains his bust, executed at the cost of the Republic in his lifetime ; the huge Palazzo Pisani, of the seventeenth century ; and the Palazzo Baffo, of the sixteenth century, once covered with frescoes by Paul Veronese. In the calle which leads to the Campo S. Samuele is a house with a most beautiful parapet, having delicately carved devices in stone let into each pinnacle. ' Out of the crooked and bewildering streets, with their bright medley of form and colour, we emerge on to the campi in front of the churches, to which they were originally attached as burial-grounds. Each of these squares is now a little centre of life, and has its farmacia and grocery and fruiterer's shop, perhaps a palazzo with the upper stories to let, sometimes a tree or two swaying leafy boughs against the balconies. Each has its well, generally raised on steps, round which the gossips of the place collect, and where you may glean many a characteristic and amusing incident of Venetian life. Every morning at eight o'clock the iron lid which closes its mouth is unlocked, and then there is a clanking of heels on the stone pavement and a brisk chattering of tongues, as the water-carriers, stout-built peasant maidens from Friuli, each wearing the same high-crowned hats and short skirts, come to fill their copper buckets at the well. ' fulia Cartivright. Behind S. Stefano is the wide Campo S. Angelo, which once contained the Church of S. Angelo, destroyed 1838, where Domenico Cimarosa, the musician, was buried in 1 80 1. A little beyond is the Church of S. Luca, built 1581, which contains a picture of S. Luke and the Virgin by Paul Veronese. Here, with the grammarian Dionisio Atanigi, and the historian Alfonso Ulloa, Pietro Aretino is buried. 134 VENICE ' Sur le mur est son portrait, par Alvise dal Friso, neveu et eleve de Paul Veronese ; mais il n'y a aucune trace de sa sepulture, qui probable- ment aura disparu lorsque 1'eglise fut refaite, a la fin du xvi me siecle. Les cures de la paroisse se sont transmis de 1'un a 1'autre que 1'Aretin, pres de mourir, ayant re9u 1'extreme-onction, dit en riant ce vers que la bouffonnerie italienne rend peut-etre moins impie qu'il ne le parait : " Guardatemi da' topi, or che son unto." Valery. Opposite this church is the Teatro Rossini, and just beyond it the Palazzo Contarini Mocenigo, a fine Renais- sance building of the fifteenth century. By taking the Calle della Vida out of the Campo Manin we come to the Calle delle Locande, in which, in the courtyard called Corte del Maltese, is a beautiful circular twisted staircase of the fifteenth century, probably by one of the Lombardi. ' It has con- tinuous open arcades following the rise of the steps, the usual shafted balustrade filling the lower part of the openings between the columns.' The palace to which this staircase appertained, belonged originally to the Contarini del Bovolo, afterwards to the extinct family of Minelli. In the neighbouring Campo S. Benedetto is a splendid half-ruined gothic palace, once belonging to the Pesaro family. The brackets of its balconies, the flower-work on its cornices, and the arabesques on the angles of the bal- conies themselves, deserve attention. The Church of S. Benedetto, of 1619, contains : 2nd Altar, right. Bernardo Strozzi, called // Prete Genovese, S. Sebastian. Doge Domenico Contarini was buried in this church, in 1675- Near this, in the Campo Manin, formerly S. Paternian, is the red house of Daniele Manin (ob. 1857), honoured as having been instrumental in re-establishing the independence of Venice in 1848. His trumpery statue by Luigi Borro was erected here in 1875, the Church of S. Paterniano and the interest of the campo being demolished to make room for it ! By a narrow calle, or a winding canal, we reach the S. SALVATORE, S. GIULIANO 135 Church of S. Salvatore, built on the site of a church of the twelfth century, in the porch of which Pope Alexander III, is said to have taken refuge for the night. The faQade is of 1663. The interior is interesting as the work of Tullio, one of the great architect family of the Lombardi, of whom Venice possesses so many masterpieces. It contains : Right. 2nd Altar. Gir. Campagna. Madonna and Child. Jacopo Sansovino. The stately tomb of Doge Francesco Venier ~ of uneventful reign, 1554-56, in a classic style, yet showing the influence of the Lombard school. The figure of the dead Doge is magnificent, yd Altar. Titian. The Coronation of the Virgin. Right Transept. Bernardino Contino, 1570. The tomb of the famous Caterina Cornaro, who, born 1454, married in 1468 Jacopo Lusignano, King of Cyprus, and in 1473 was left a widow with one child, which died soon after its father. Harassed by wars domestic and foreign, she ceded the island of Cyprus, the key of Eastern conv merce, to the Republic of Venice in 1489, and received the Castle of Asolo and the right of retaining her proud titles in recompense. Treated with the utmost distinction at Venice, she died there in 1510. Chapel right of High Altar. Bonifazio. The Martyrdom of S, Theodore. High Altar. Titian. The Transfiguration. On the altar a beau, tiful Pala MIRACOLI 137 Passing Ponte di S. Gian Crisostomo, and taking the Calle del Fruttarol to the right, and then the Calle de' Miracoli, one reaches the beautiful Renaissance Church of La Madonna de' Miracoli, possessing the utmost individuality. It was built by Pie fro Lombardo (1484-1489), and, one of the most perfect specimens of his style, is worthy of being classed with the masterpieces of antiquity. The material is rich white marble, inlaid with red and black. The decorations are very rich and delicately executed. The interior is also by Pietro Lombardo : the proportions of the balustrade and other decorations of the Cappella Maggiore deserve the minute attention of architects. The statues of SS. Francesco and Chiara are by Gir. Campagna. The church has been restored 1885-86. ' It seems almost incredible that eight years sufficed for the construc- tion and ornamentation of this church, which is one of the most elaborate examples of Renaissance architecture. Without and within, its walls, doorways, and pilasters are covered with leaves, flowers, birds, and strange creatures born of a fancy wayward but ever logical in its deduc- tions from nature, not carelessly carved, but conscientiously worked out in every detail with equal taste and skill. The rich balustrades of the staircase leading to the chapel of the Sanctuary are adorned with small half-figures of the Virgin, the Angel of the Annunciation, S. Francis, and S. Chiara, and the pilasters and panels about it are filled with ornaments inspired by but not copied from the antique.' Perkins, 1 Italian Sculptors. ' One should follow the calle at the side of the church, and cross the bridge of S. Maria Nuova to admire the apse and campanile, executed by Pietro Lombardo between 1484 and 1489. The Palazzo Sanudo near this is a noble gothic fourteenth century palace with Byzantine cornices and fragments, espe- cially in its inner court. Its door is quite perfect, ' retaining its wooden valve richly sculptured, its wicket for examination of the stranger demanding admittance, and its quaint knocker in the form of a fish.' The house was the residence of Marino Sanudo (1466-1535), who wrote fifty-five folio volumes on the history of Venice and the world. 138 VENICE In the Campo di S. Maria Nuova is the Palazzo Bembo, on the front of which is a niche with a figure bearing a sundial, erected, as an inscription tells, by Giammatteo Bembo (1491-1570), in memory of his friends Paolo Giovio and Sebastiano Miinster. Close by, converted into a maga- zine, is the Church of S. Maria Nuova (1536), where Doge Nicolo Contarini was buried in 1631. A little farther is the Campo di Tiziano, where the House of Titian^ which he inhabited from 1531 to 1576, is marked by an inscription. ' This house, which is now hemmed in by larger buildings of later date, had in the painter's time an incomparably "lovely and delightful situation." Standing near the northern boundary of the city, it looked out over the lagoon, across the quiet isle of sepulchres, San MJchele, across the smoking chimneys of the Murano glass-works, and the bell- towers of her churches, to the long line of the sea-shore on the right, and to the mainland on the left ; and beyond the nearer lagoon islands and the faintly-pencilled outlines of Torcello and Burano in front, to the sublime distance of the Alps, shining in silver and purple, and resting their snowy heads against the clouds. It had a pleasant garden of flowers and trees, into which the painter descended by an open stairway, and in which he is said to have studied the famous tree in the Death of Peter Martyr. Here he entertained the great and noble of his day, and here he feasted and made merry with the gentle sculptor Sansovino, and with their common friend the rascal poet Aretino.' Howells, Returning a little, we enter the Campo, which contains the Church of S. Canciano of the seventeenth century. Turning to the right by the Ponte di S. Canciano and by the Campiello della Cason, one reaches the Campo dei SS. Apostoli. Near this, on the Rio dei SS. Apostoli, is the Palazzo Falter, containing some portions of the house of Marino Faliero, beheaded 1355. The beautiful Byzantine window is of the thirteenth century. 'But for this range of windows, the little Piazza SS. Apostoli would be one of the least picturesque in Venice ; to those, however, who seek it on foot, it becomes geographically interesting from the extraordinary involution of the alleys leading to it from the Rialto. It is only with much patience, and modest following of the guidance of the marble thread beneath his feet, that the pedestrian will at last emerge over a steep bridge into th? open space of the Piazza, rendered cheerful in SS. APOSTOLI 139 autumn by a perpetual market of pomegranates, and purple gourds, like enormous black figs ; while the canal, at its extremity, is half blocked up by barges laden with vast baskets of grapes as black as charcoal, thatched over with their own leaves. ' Looking back, on the other side of the canal, he will see the windows and the arcade of pointed arches beneath them, which are the remains of the palace of Marino Faliero. The balcony is, of course, modern, and the series of windows has been of greater extent, once terminated by a pilaster on the left hand, as well as on the right, but the terminal arches have been walled up. What remains, however, is enough, with its sculptured birds and dragons, to give a very distinct idea of the second order window in its perfect form.' Ruskin, ' Stones of Venice,' ii. vii. Close by is the Scuola dell 1 Angela Custode, of the eigh- teenth century, containing a Christ in Benediction, by Titian. The building is now used as a German Protestant chapel. The feeble Church of the SS. Apostoli, with a campanile by Andrea Tirali (1672), contains : Right, The Cappella Corner (Cornaro}, a very beautiful reproduc- tion of the Lombard style in 1510 by Gugl. Bergamasco. It contains the 16th-century monuments of Marco and Giorgio Corner, the father and uncle of Caterina, Queen of Cyprus, who induced her to renounce her kingdom in favour of the Republic. The unhappy queen (widowed at nineteen, and forced by the Republic to abdicate at twenty-five, and to live henceforth in honourable retirement at Asolo) is also buried here. ' Caterina died in Venice on the loth of July, 1510, fifty-six years old. On the nth a bridge of boats was made across the Grand Canal from the Cornaro Palace to the other side. The dead queen was fol- lowed by the patriarch, the signory, the vice-doge, the archbishop of Spalato, and an immense crowd of citizens with torches in their hands. There was something fitting in the manner of her burial, for the night ( was a stormy one, with heavy wind and rain. On her coffin lay the crown of Cyprus outwardly, at least, Venice insisted that her daughter was a queen ; but inside, her body lay shrouded in the habit of S. Francis, with cord and cowl and coarse brown cloak. Caterina was carried to the Cornaro chapel, and next day the funeral service was performed. Over her grave Andrea Navagero, poet, scholar, and am- bassador, made the oration that bade farewell to this unhappy queen, whose beauty, goodness, gentleness, and grace were unavailing to save her from the tyrannous cruelty of fate. ' Horatio F, Brown, ' Venetian Studies.' Left of High Altar, Paul Veronese. The Descent of the Manna, 140 VENICE At the end of this canal to the east is the Church of S. Maria dei Gesuiti (or S. Maria Assunta), due externally to Giambattista Fattoretto, and internally to Domenico Rossi (1715-30). It contains: Chapel right of High Altar. Tomb of Orazio Farnese, distinguished n the Battle of the Dardanelles (1654). High Altar. A curious work of the Carmelite Father, Giuseppe Pozzo. Chapel left of High Altar. Tomb of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, 1585-95, builder of the Bridge of Rialto, by Girolamo Campagna. Following Altar. J. Tintoretto. The Assumption. Last Altar. Titian. The Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo. Spoilt by time and restoration. Entrance Wall. Tomb of the procurators Priamo, Giovanni, and Andrea Lezze, of the I7th century. The patriot, Daniele Manin, is buried here, the church having been rebuilt in 1715 by the liberality of his family. After being imprisoned by the Austrians, he was released by the people, and became their heroic leader, driving out the Austrian Marshal, and proclaiming the Republic at the Piazza. In less than a year the city was besieged, but only capitulated when all its supplies were at an end. Manin was exiled and supported .himself by giving lessons in Italian at Paris, where he died and whence his body was brought back in state when Venice was finally evacuated by the Austrians. In the Campo de' .Gesuiti, opposite the church, and attached to the Scuola de 1 Crodferi, is the Cappella Ztn, some- times called Oratorio di SS. Filippo e Luigi, or Chiesa del? Ospedaletto. It is entered by a gothic portal surmounted by a bas-relief of the Virgin and Child, to whom a kneeling pilgrim is presenting a model of the church, and a book. The interior has a good panelled ceiling with an Assump- tion by Palma Giovane in the centre. The pictures round the walls are also, for the most part, by Palma Giovane^ though those of the Flagellation and Deposition have been recently ascribed to Tintoret. They are : PALAZZO ZEN, S. FELICE 141 Left Wall. i. Doge Pasquale Cicogna hearing mass in a senator's robe. 2. The same Doge receiving the news of his promotion to the ducal dignity. 3. The same Doge visiting this church. Left of Altar, Pope S. Clement instituting the Order of the Crociferi. Left of Altar. Pope Paul IV. giving the ambassador of Venice a brief for the Crociferi. Right Wall. The Flagellation. The Deposition. Wall opposite the Altar. The Saviour in glory, with Doge Raniero Zen and his wife granting the privileges of the Hospice. Near this, on the Fondamenta Zen, is the Palazzo Zen, of 1531. Farther down the Fondamenta is the Collegio Marco Foscarini, occupying the old monastery of S. Catherine. In the church are : High Altar. Paul Veronese. The Marriage of S. Catherine. An important work of the artist. At the sides of the Choir. Tintoret. Six pictures of the Life of S, Catherine. At the end of the Fondamenta we may cross the Ponte Molin, and then the Ponte Priuli, and follow the new Via Vittorio Emanuele to the Church of S. Felice, founded 960, and rebuilt 1551-56 in the style of the Lombardi. It contains : t) yd Altar. Tintoretto. S. Demetrio and a Suppliant of the Ghisi Family. High Altar. Doinenico Cresti da Passignano. The Redeemer, with S. Felix and two Suppliants. Statues of Faith and Charity by Giulio del Mora. Over the door of the Sacristy. An inscription commemorating the baptism of Clement XIII. (Carlo Rezzonico) in this church, March 29, 1693. To the right of the neighbouring Ponte di Pasqualigo, rises the beautiful fifteenth-century front of the Palazzo Giovanelli, supposed to be the work of Filippo Calendario. A few steps distant is the Campo di S. Fosca, where, behind the apse of the church, beyond the Rio, we see the fagade of a Palazzo Vendramin of the fifteenth century, with a beauti- ful portal. The Church of S. Fosca, built 1679, has nothing of interest except its fifteenth-century campanile. The 142 VENICE painter Bernardo Strozzi, ' II Prete Genovese/ was buried in this church. Crossing the Ponte di S. Antonio, we may see the Church of La Maddalena, built by Tommaso Temenza (1750-55). Returning to the Campo di S. Fosca and crossing the Ponte senza Parapetti, we should turn to the left along the Fondamenta beyond the Ponte Diedo, where Fra Paolo Sarpi, the great Venetian theologian, lawyer, and metaphysician, was stabbed as he was returning from S. Marco to his own convent of the Servi, October 3, 1607. ' In 1607, Caspar Schoppe, the publicist, while passing through Venice, sought an interview with Sarpi, pointed out the odium which Fra Paolo had gained in Rome by his writings, and concluded by asserting that the Pope meant to have him alive or to compass his assassination. In September of the same year the Venetian ambassador at Rome received private information regarding some mysterious design against a person or persons unknown, at Venice, in which the Papal Court were implicated, and which was speedily to take effect. On October 5 Sarpi was returning about five o'clock in the afternoon to his convent at S. Fosca, when he was attacked upon a bridge by five ruffians. It so happened that on this occasion he had no attendance but his servant Fra Marino ; Fra Fulgenzio and a man of courage, who usually accompanied him, having taken another route home. The assassins were armed with harquebuses, pistols, and poniards. One of them went straight at Sarpi, while the others stood on guard and held down Fra Marino. Fifteen blows in all were aimed at Sarpi, three of which struck him in the neck and face. The stiletto remained firmly embedded in his cheek-bone between the right ear and nose. He fell to the ground senseless ; and a cry being raised by some women who had witnessed the outrage from a window, the assassins made off, leaving their victim for dead. It was noticed that they took refuge in the palace of the Papal Nuncio, whence they escaped that same evening to the Lido, en route for the States of the Church. An old Venetian nobleman of the highest birth, Alessandro Malipiero, who bore a singular affection for the champion of his country's liberty, was walking a short way in front of Sarpi beyond the bridge upon which the assault was perpetrated. He rushed to his friend's aid, dragged out the dagger from his face, and bore him to the convent. There Sarpi lay for many weeks in danger, suffering as much, it seems, from his physicians as from the wounds. ... In the future he took a few obvious precautions, passing in a gondola to the Rialto, and thence on foot through the crowded Merceria to the Ducal Palace. Otherwise, he refused to alter the customary tenor of his way.' Symouds, l Renaissance in Italy.' THE SERVI 143 At the head of the Fondamenta are the ruins of the magnificent Church of the Servi, demolished in 1812, con- sisting chiefly of the wall surrounding the Istituto Canal, and of two gateways. The destruction of this church, which dated from 1330, has been the greatest injury inflicted upon Venice in the present century. It contained the tombs of Doge Vendramin, now in SS. Giovanni e Paolo : of Doge Francesco Dona, destroyed with the exception of the statue, which is preserved at Maren near Conegliano ; of Verde della Scala, now at SS. Giovanni e Paolo ; of Giovanni Emo, General of the Republic (1483), destroyed except the statue, which is now in the museum at Vicenza ; and of Admiral Angelo Emo, now at S. Biagio. In the refectory was the famous Paul Veronese, of the Supper in the Pharisee's House, now in the Louvre. Here also, amongst other illustrious monks, was buried Fra Paolo Sarpi, whose ashes were transported to S. Michele of Murano. 1 The end of Sarpi's life consecrated the principles of duty to God and allegiance to his country which had animated its whole course. He fell into a bad state of health ; yet nothing would divert him from the due discharge of public business. ' All the signs of the soul's speedy departure from that age-enfeebled body, were visible ; but his indefatigable spirit sustained him in such wiee that he bore exactly all his usual burdens. When his friends and masters bade him relax his energies, he used to answer : " My duty is to serve and not to live ; there is some one daily dying in his office." When at length the very sources of existence failed, and the firm brain wandered for a moment, he was once heard to say, " Let us go to S. Mark, for it is late." The very last words he uttered, frequently repeated, but scarcely intelligible, were " Estoperpetua," May Venice last for ever ! This was the dying prayer of the man who had consecrated his best faculties to the service of his country. But before he passed away into that half-slumber which precedes death, he made confession to his accustomed spiritual father, received the Eucharist and Extreme Unction, and bade farewell to the superior of the Servites, in the following sen- tence : " Go ye to rest, and I will return to God, from whom I came." With these words he closed his lips in silence, crossing his hands upon his breast and fixing his eyes upon a crucifix that stood before him. ' Symonds, ' Renaissance in Italy. ' Close to the ruins of the church is the Scuola del Volto 144 VENICE Santo, built, in 1360, by Lucchesi established at Venice, and decorated in 1370 with a representation of the story of the Volto Santo at Lucca, by Nicola Semitecolo. Returning to the Ponte senza Parapetti, and turning to the left, we find the Church of S. Marziale, dating from 1 133, but rebuilt 1693-1721. It contains: Left, 1st Altar. Titian. Tobias and the Angel. The Festa of S. Marziale (July i) was always celebrated by the Republic, being the anniversary of three of its famous victories. Crossing the neighbouring Ponte di S. Marziale, and turning to the right by the Fondamenta della Misericordia as far as the bridge, then turning to the left, and crossing the wooden bridge of the Abbazia, we reach the Abbazia della Misericordia, dating from the tenth century, but modernised. The district is called Fondamenta dei Mori, from having been the residence of three brothers Rioba, who came from the Morea, and were on that account vulgarly called Mori. Their palace is adorned with a spirited relief of a Moor lead- ing a laden camel. At the angle of the wall is a figure regarded as the Pasquino of Venice Sior Antonio Rioba, the predecessor of Pantaloon, for ' The Planter of the Lion of S. Mark, the standard of the Republic, is the real origin of the word Pantaloon Piantaleone, Pantaleon, Pantaloon.' Byron, Notes to ' Childe Harold* It was in this building that the famous artist Jacopo Robusti, called II Tintoretto, lived and worked, and here he died, May 31, 1594. Close by rises the Church of La Madonna dell' Orto, Originally built in honour of S. Cristoforo, by Fra Tiberio da Parma, who died in 1371, its dedication was changed after the discovery of a rude image of the Virgin in a neighbour- ing kitchen garden in 1377. In 1399 the church was almost rebuilt, and its facade was added in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and is attributed to Bartolommeo Bon : LA MADONNA DELL ORTO 145 the statues are certainly his. Since a recent restoration, an attempt has been made to revive the old name of S. Cristoforo. 1 The doorway and rose windows are of red and white marble, and in the side windows the tracery and monials are of white marble, and the jambs alternately red and white. The rest of the wall is brick, but has been plastered and washed with pink. The windows at the end of the aisles are remarkable for transoms of tracery supported upon two heights of delicate marble shafts, and entirely independent of the glazing that is fixed in frames within them. This kind of arrangement, incongruous and unsatisfactory as it is here, is worth recollecting, as being suggestive of an obvious opening for the use of traceried windows in domestic work ; and it is a plan of most frequent occurrence in the best Italian ecclesiastical architecture.' Street. To see this church well it should be visited after 2 P.M. The interior is very handsome. It is almost entirely of brick. Luigi Orsini, strangled in prison by order of the Republic, after his murder of Vittoria Accoramboni, is buried in this church. Here also rest Alessandro Leopardi, Ramusio the geographer, and Tintoretto, with his family. ' J'ai regrette de ne point trouver de traces du tombeau du Tintoret et de celui de Marietta Robusti, sa fille et son eleve, qu'il cut la dou- leur de perdre dans un age peu avance ; Marietta, grand peintre de por- traits, etait encore celebre par les graces de sa personne et ses talents comme musicienne et cantatrice, talents qu'elle devait aux lefons du Napolitain Jules Zacchino, le Cimarosa de son temps ; invitee a se rendre a la cour de Philippe II., de 1'empereur Maximilien, et de 1'archiduc Ferdinand, son pere ne put jamais se separer de la fille dont il etait si fier ; il la maria a un joaillier Venitien, homme de bon sens, desinteresse", et qui preferait que sa femme fit le portrait de ses confreres ou de ses amis au lieu de peindre les riches et les grands. La mort de Marietta fut a Venise une perte publique, et Tintoret voulut qu'elle reposat a Ste Marie dell' Orto, au milieu de ses propres chefs-d'oeuvre, qu'il semblait en quelque sorte lui consacrer.' Valery. The church contains : *Right Aisle. 1st Altar. Cima da Conegliano. The Baptist between SS. Mark and Peter, and SS. Jerome and Paul. Behind, a tree stands out against a clear sky beautiful drawing of the leaves and branches, also of the flowers in the foreground. ' The type of S. John the Baptist was, perhaps, the best adapted to L 146 VENICE the genius of Cima, who has not only surpassed himself in it, but in the conception of the character has left the greatest painters of the age Titian and Raffaelle included far behind him. Cima's superiority in this respect must be admitted by all who see this his chef-]$. 6d. ' Mr. Hare's book is admirable. We are sure no one will regret making it the companion of a Spanish journey. It will bear reading repeatedly when one is moving among the scenes it describes no small advantage when the travelling library is scanty.' SATURDAY REVIEW. ' Here is the ideal book of travel in Spain ; the book which exactly anticipates the requirements of everybody who is fortunate enough to be going to that enchanted land ; the book which ably consoles those who are not so happy by supplying the imagination from the daintiest and most delicious of its stories.' SPECTATOR. ' Since the publication of " Castilian Days," by the American diplomat, Mr. John Hay, no pleasanter or more readable sketches have fallen under our notice/ ATHEN^UM. DAYS NEAR ROME. With more than 100 Illustrations by the Author. Third Edition. 2 vols. crown 8vo. i8j. LIFE AND LETTERS OF FRANCES BARONESS BUNSEN. With Portraits. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 21 s. MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE. 3 vols. crown 8vo. Vols. I. and II. 2ls. j Vol. III., with numerous Photographs, ioj-. 6