Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

Of the pictures of the Fourth Crusade, the first is by Le Clerc, and represents the scene in San Marco, in 1201, when the alliance was concluded between the Venetians and the Crusaders,—a most interesting subject, which should have been treated by a greater master. The second, by Andrea Vicentino, is the "Siege of Zara;" and next, above a window, the "Surrender of Zara," by Domenico Tintoretto, which is followed by "Alexius Comnenus imploring the Help of the Venetians for his Father," by Andrea Vicentino.

Domenico Tintoretto represents the "Second Taking of Constantinople, in 1204." "The Election and Coronation of Baldwin" follow, by Andrea Vicentino and Aliense, and close the story of this Crusade, the final space being filled by Paul Veronese's representation of "The Return of Doge Contarini after the Defeat of the Genoese at Chioggia."

The frieze of this Hall of the Great Council is composed of the portraits of seventy-two Doges. The reign of the earliest dates from 809; and many of them must, of course, have been painted from fancy. A large number are from the hand of Tintoretto. The space where the portrait of Marino Faliero should have hung is covered with a black veil, and has the inscription, "Hic est locus Marini Falethri decapitati pro criminibus" (This is the place of Marino Faliero, beheaded for his crimes).

What a world of associations must rush through the mind as one traverses the halls of this magnificent palace! What scenes of splendid gayety are called up by the pictures of the luxurious and splendor-loving men and women of the Republic! And then, when reading this inscription, we recall that other scene, the tragic extreme; and between these two types of association there are hundreds of others, which fill the distance between them with every shade of sentiment from "grave to gay." But just here we can only remember that "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, brandished it, saying, 'The terrible doom hath fallen on the traitor.'" We are glad that the steps on which Faliero fell no longer exist, and that no such scene has been enacted on the splendid Staircase of the Giants, over which Mars and Neptune now preside, and where, since 1485, the Doges have been crowned with the formula, "Accipe coronam ducalem ducatus Venetorum." The author of the "Story of Italy" says: "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."

We remember that in the Sala dello Scrutinio is a picture of the Triumphal Arch erected in 1694, in honor of Francesco Morosini, called Il Peloponnesiaco from his conquest of the Morea, and whose name, alas! is now oftenest recalled in connection with the destruction of the Parthenon.

One of the best works of Palma Giovane is also here,—"The Last Judgment," in one part of which he represents his mistress in heaven, and in another she is consigned to hell. "The Taking of Zara" is one of the wonderful pictures by Tintoretto. Charles Blanc says that he was possessed by the genius of battles, and in depicting such scenes seemed to be himself engaged in the assault. This work is full of fire. It is confused; but here and there a single picturesque figure stands out from the heroic disorder of this tumultuous story.

Blanc relates that an abbé who acted as his guide in the Ducal Palace called his attention to the fact that the portrait of Marino Faliero did not appear in "The Taking of Zara," which should have made his name immortal as much as his tragic death has done; but the Senate forbade Tintoretto to place him on his canvas, since his head had fallen by the hand of the executioner. Blanc asks: "If the Doge had betrayed the Republic, was that a reason why the Republic in its turn should betray the truth?"

The frieze of the portraits of the Doges is concluded in this hall, where the forty-one nobles were chosen who afterwards elected these rulers. It is now the repository of the manuscripts, the early printed books, and the Aldine editions of the Library.

The Sala dello Scudo is rich in a very different sort of decoration from that of the halls we have described. It is hung with maps, many of which represent the discoveries made by Venetian navigators. Here is the famous Mappamondo of Fra Mauro, dating from 1457 to 1459, which is of great value in connection with mediæval history, showing as it does the geographical knowledge or ignorance of that era.