Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/173

Rh ART.] VENICE 155 No words can describe the magnificence of this palace on the Grand Canal, its whole facade faced with the most costly variegated Oriental marbles, once picked out with gold, vermilion, and ultra marine, the walls pierced with elaborate traceried windows and enriched with bands and panels of delicate carving, in combined richness of form and wealth of colour giving an effect of almost dazzling splendour. 1 FIG. 6. Ca d Oro, as originally built. Some of the 15th-century palaces of Early Renaissance or, as Mr Ruskin calls it, Giocondesque style are scarcely inferior in beauty to tho.se of the Gothic period. Fra Giocondo, the Lombardi, and other architects of this era (1460-1510) still used with great skill and effect the rich Oriental marbles, which were wholly neglected by the architects of the Pseudo-Classic revival. On the Grand Canal the Corner-Spinelli, Trevisan, and Dario Palaces are specially beauti ful examples of the style ; the richest of all is, however, the small Guisetti Palace in the narrow Rio della Fava, faced with purple Phrygian pavonazzetto and other coloured marbles, and lavishly decorated with delicately sculptured pilasters, friezes, and corbels of the most exquisite design and workmanship. This architectural gem is now quite neglected, and used as a mere warehouse. Among the 16th-century palaces of later style are many of great size and magnificence, though designed in a somewhat dull and scholastic fashion. The influence of these Venetian buildings on the 19th-century architecture of Europe generally has been very great. 2 In most of the Venetian palaces of the Later Renaissance, such as the magnificent Grimani Palace by Sammichele, and in the library of St Mark by Sansovino, the main motive of the facade is taken from the arcading with entablature over engaged columns which was universally used for the theatres and amphitheatres of ancient Rome. In many cases the entire facade of the palace consisted of a series of columns, arches, and cornices, so that no plain wall surface was left at any part of the front, and the whole effect is too laboured and restless, and far less pleasing than the rather earlier examples of the same style, such as the Vendramini Palace on the Grand Canal and the Camerlenghi near the Rial to bridge, finished in 1525, in which some Gothic feeling still survives. One of the noblest palaces of the Later Renaissance is that of Pesaro, on the Grand Canal, built by Longhena, one of the chief Venetian architects of the 17th century, who in this case has followed the style of Sanso vino or other architects of the previous century, using the Colosseum arcade for the two upper stories. In general mass and in the pro portions of the parts this palace is a work of great merit, far superior to the usually degraded style of the 17th century. Other Public Buildings. Much of the splendour of Venice in her days of greatest glory was due to the wealth and religious zeal of the various trade guilds or confraternities, called scuole by the Venetians. The members of each guild were united for both secu lar and religious purposes ; their meeting places and chapels were often buildings of the greatest architectural magnificence, and were decorated with sculpture and painting by the chief artists of the 1 Signor Giacomo Boni has given, in Proc. Inst. Brit. Arch, for February 18S7, a very interesting account of the decorations of this palace, and of thn addition of its elaborate cornice (now destroyed) in 1424 by Bart. Bon, who was paid 210 gold ducats for his work. inner court of the doge s palace. time. The scuola of St Mark, near the great Dominican church, has a magnificent facade designed in 1485 by Pietro Lombardo. A beautiful series of pictures by Vittore Carpaccio was painted for the Slavonian guild, and still exists in their chapel dedicated to St George and St Tryphonius. The scuola of St liocco pos sesses a wonderful collection of noble pictures by Tinto retto, and the other chief guilds, such as those of St Ursula, Della Misericordia, Delia Carita, and St John the Evangelist, possessed very beautiful and richly decorated buildings. One of the most import- g^^^^ Arsenal, ant public buildings of Venice was the arsenal, 3 including large docks and yards for building ships (see p. 143, above). The en trance gateway is an ela- Fic.. 7. The library ie if St Murk s, begun in borate work, built in 1460 by the Lombardi ; and in front of it stand four ancient marble lions, brought as trophies from the Pirn- us in 1687. 4 The arsenal is still an important naval depot, and contains a museum of historically interesting objects. A stately series of public buildings surrounds the square of St Public Mark (see fig. 3). The north side is occupied by the old palace build- of the procurators, designed by Bart. Bon towards the end of the ings 15th century. Near it to the east stands an elaborate clock-tower round St built by Pietro Lombardo in 1496. On the south of the square Mark s is the newer palace of the procurators, designed in 1584 by Scamozzi, Square, now used as part of the royal palace. The west end is occupied by an extension of the public offices built by Napoleon I. in 1805-10, partly over the site of the church of S. Gemimano. The adjoining Piazzetta is bounded on the east by the ducal palace and on the west by the magnificent library 5 of St Mark, built by Jacopo Sanso vino in 1536. The mint occupies part of the same block. The facade of the library is shown in fig. 7. In front of the west facade of St Mark s are three large flagstaffs, originally used to display the gorgeous silk and gold banners of the subject kingdoms of the Morea, Cyprus, and Candia. Their elabo rate bronze sockets were cast in 1505 by the Venetian sculptor, Alessandro Leopardi, who has inserted fine medallion portraits of the reigning doge Lorenzo Loredano. The academy of fine arts, now in the Della Carita guild-house, Mu- than in any other collection in the world. Venetian art, in fact, can only be completely studied in Venice. The academy is very rich in elaborately carved retables of the early Venetian painters, works of great decorative splendour, though not equal in drawing or composition to the work of the 14th and early loth century painters of Florence or Siena. The Vivarini family, the Bellini, with Carpaccio and others of the Bellini school, Cima da Conegliano, Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese are all represented by a large number of their finest works. The Correr Museum, now moved from the Correr palace to fhefondaco of the Turks, is the property of the city. It contains some fine Venetian pictures, and an inter esting collection of early majolica and other mediaeval works of art. The Giovanelli Palace in the Rio S. Felice possesses a fine specimen of Giorgione, the rarest of Venetian masters : it is a noble woody landscape with two figures in the foreground. The portraits by Titian and Tintoretto in the same collection are very fine. The churches of Venice are still marvellously rich in pictures by the chief Venetian painters of all dates. Almost every church con tains some notable painting ; and some of them, such as S. Sebas- tiano, S. Giovanni in Bragora, and S. Giorgio Maggiore, possess a very great number of important works. Many private palaces con tain fine collections of pictures ; but great numbers of these were sold to foreign purchasers during the 19th century. . Painting. For an account of Venetian painting the reader is referred to Painting, the separate articles on the various painters and to SCHOOLS OK PAINTING. 3 Dante, Infer., xxi. 7-15, describes the various operations in the arsenal at Venice. On the largest of these lions is cut a runic, inscription recording a success ful attack on the Pira-us in the llth century by a party of Norse warriors of tlio Varangian guard, under Harold Hardrada, who afterwards (in 1047) became king of Norway (sec Arch. Journ., xvi. pp. 188-192). r Tin s library contains about 65,000 volumes, with 5000 MSS., among which are some very valuable and artistically magnificent codices.