Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

As the criminals mounted the scaffold, they were accustomed to turn and look at a Byzantine Madonna, high on the wall of San Marco, and repeat the Salve Regina. A lamp burns before this Madonna at night to commemorate the remorse of the Ten for having unjustly executed Giovanni Grassi in 1611. Ten years later the truth was known; a pardon was published, and this Madonna set up in remembrance of Grassi, and as a warning against hasty and unjust judgments.

The Piazzetta has well been called the antechamber of the Piazza. It is the chief resort of the gondoliers; and at all hours of the day there is a procession of men, women, and children, carrying water from the Ducal Palace,—the best water in all Venice. The two splendid bronze cisterns from which the water is taken are more than three centuries old; and besides the debt due them for good water, an almost equal one is owing them as the centre of the picturesqueness by which they are daily surrounded.

Entering by the splendid Porta della Carta, one sees these cisterns in the midst of the great inner court, the four façades of which are covered with reliefs and figures that symbolize Christianity and mythology with apparently equal approbation. Mars and Neptune seem quite at ease in the society of Adam and Eve; and such a wilderness of boughs and plants, of blossoms and vines, and such numbers of griffins, fawns, and goats as can rarely be seen with a coup d'œil make a bewildering whole which may well be studied in detail. But great powers of concentration are needed if much of this is not forgotten while observing the moving, living actors in the scene around these wells.

The water-bearers come and go, carrying vessels of all sizes, forms, and colors. Some who are strong and seem to be in haste quickly fill their cans and jars, and go away. Others, more at leisure, put down their burdens and stay to tell and hear the gossip of the day. The variety of faces, young and old, of dress and manners, and especially of gestures, is most remarkable. The two distinctive charms of this court, the artistic past and the picturesque present, make it always fascinating, no matter how often seen; and if one would here study Rizzo and Sansovino, it is sometimes necessary to shut the eyes and think of what is to be done, or the human nature of to-day will prove itself far more absorbing than the sculpture of the past.

But the treasure-house of rare and precious antiques in Venice is the Basilica of San Marco. On the exterior, besides the Bronze Horses, there are numerous fragments from more ancient edifices which bear witness to the good taste and the acquisitiveness of the old Venetians. Within and without are more than five hundred pillars of rare marbles, mostly Oriental. During the building of the Basilica all Venetian vessels that sailed to the East were obliged to bring back a contribution to San Marco. Many of the pillars in the façade have Armenian and Syriac inscriptions, having once adorned older edifices; and tablets with ancient sculptures, of which no history can be given, are inserted in the walls. Of the three doors which open from the vestibule into the church, that on the right is believed to have been taken from St. Sophia, in 1203; and the eight marble columns on each side this entrance came from the same temple. An ancient Greek altar, with bas-reliefs of dolphins and children, supports the basin for holy water; and within the baptistery the mass of granite which forms the altar is said to be the stone on which Christ stood when he preached to the people of Tyre, or, as another tradition says, upon which he rested by the gate of Tyre, whence it was brought to Venice in 1126 by the Doge Domenico Michieli.

The Pala d' Oro is a remarkable specimen of Byzantine art. It is only seen on high festival days, when the candles are lighted in front of the high altar, in the splendid candelabra given by the Doge Cristoforo Moro in the middle of the fifteenth century.

This altar screen was originally intended to decorate the front of the altar. It was ordered to be made in Constantinople by the Doge Pietro Orseolo in 976, and was not brought to Venice until 1105, when it was enlarged and enriched by Venetian artists, and this process repeated in 1209 and 1345. Naturally the splendor it has gained detracts from its original value. It was Byzantine; it is now also Gothic and Venetian. The inscriptions are both in Greek and Latin; and, on the whole, it is inferior in workmanship to other specimens of European gold and enamel work of the Middle Ages. That portion which was made in Constantinople consists of a picture in enamel or gold, enriched with chasing, pearls, cameos, and precious stones. This Pala is a fitting symbol of the Basilica, which is as composite in its architecture and as incongruous in its detail as it is splendid and imposing as a whole.

The canopy above the altar of the Holy Sacrament is supported by four spiral fluted pillars, said to have been brought from the Temple of Solomon. The bronzes by the Italian masters, here and there all over the Basilica, are of great interest. They date from the twelfth century, two of the doors from the vestibule into the church having been executed between 1100 and 1112. The five outer doors, made by the Venetian goldsmith Bertuccio, were finished in 1300. The bronze tomb of Cardinal Zeno is a magnificent specimen of the art of Lombardo and Leopardo (1505-15). It was decreed by the Republic to be placed in the chapel which the Cardinal had built. The statue of the Cardinal, surrounded by figures symbolic of his virtues, the lovely Madonna della Scarpa (golden shoe), with Saints Peter and John the Baptist, the two lions in colored marbles, and the mosaics of the twelfth century, make this chapel a wonderful treasure-house, and a worthy tribute to one who loved his Venice with supreme affection.

The Treasury of St. Mark once contained the finest collection of Byzantine jewelry in the world; and despite the demands made on it by the Republic in its emergencies, and the ravages of the robbers of 1797, it is still rich. It contains interesting reliquaries, chalices, cups, and similar objects in crystal, Oriental agate, gold, and silver, ornamented with enamels and precious stones. The reliquary containing a portion of the True Cross was given to St. Sophia, in 1120, by the Empress Irene. Among the other remarkable relics, all of which are in rich and costly reliquaries, are said to be a morsel of the skull of Saint John the Baptist and a bone from the arm of Saint George.

The altar of the Virgin Mary is continually surrounded by worshippers. A picture of the Virgin, believed to have been painted by Saint Luke, is there. It is usually veiled; but on certain festival days it is taken into the Piazza, also on occasions of plagues or other public afflictions, and there the people flock to make their prayers and vows.