Another large church of pointed architecture is that of the Santi Giovanni e Paolo. This was begun in 1246, but not finished till 1390. It is of the same sort of architecture, and like the Frari, spoilt by the iron ties. There are five piers on each side of the nave, some cylindrical, and some formed of three inosculating cylinders; but they are all too small. There are no detached pillars in the choir. It is not uncommon in this part of Italy to have little deep chapels open into the transept on one side only, and in the same direction with the choir. This is done apparently to preserve the smaller, as well as the larger altar towards the east; for though not so superstitious as you are in England on this head, yet they used in the darker ages to pay some attention to it. The clerestory windows in this church are preserved; those of the side aisles have been altered. Over the pointed arches of the side aisles are little openings, which suggest the notion of a triforium, but there is not, I believe, any passage in that part.
The church of S. Stefano was founded in 1325, and offers some rich detail of external ornament. The inside is covered with a wooden roof, over arches supported on columns, which are not very unlike Corinthian. The effect of the lower part is by no means displeasing, but the upper is not so well managed.
Santa Maria del Carmine was dedicated in 1348; twenty-four columns support the arches which open from the nave, and form a very pleasing perspective. Above the arches is a rich Corinthian entablature, but the upper part appears to have been modernized, and one large arch of the groined vaulting occupies the space of two of the arches of the nave. This has a bad effect.
The latest Gothic church in Venice is that of S. Zaccaria, which was founded in 1457, but not completed till 1547; the western front seems to belong to the latter date, or perhaps has been added still later, but the rest of the building is in a sort of pointed style. The cornices are ornamented with simple, pointed arches, and there are many pointed arches to the windows, and clustered columns about the choir; but we have also little domes, and Corinthian columns (bad enough) supported on high pedestals. These passages of one style into another are often curious, but seldom beautiful. The side aisles are very lofty, and the clerestory windows very minute, so that this mode of arrangement seems to have been preserved to the last period of pointed architecture.
I will conclude my remarks on the Gothic edifices of Venice with the Ducal Palace, which is said to have been founded in the ninth century; but nothing of the architecture at present existing can claim a higher date than the middle of the fourteenth, when it was erected by the doge, Marino Faliero. The architect is said to have been one Filippo Calendario, who was executed for taking part in the conspiracy of his patron.
I have already mentioned to you the external appearance, with which indeed, from the number of prints, you must be pretty familiar. Between this mass of building and the church of St. Mark is a gateway, by which one enters the court. This was built under the doge, Francesco Foscari, who was elected in 1423, and died in 1457; and from a comparison of other circumstances, it appears certain that it was begun about 1448, under the direction of a certain Bartholomeus de Cisternis. The name of Bartolommeo Buono, as architect, appears on the architrave; but as this artist did not die till 1529, it is hardly possible that he should have superintended a building in 1448. Perhaps this Bartholomeus de Cisternis was also named Buono; or perhaps the inscription was only in consequence of some posterior alteration; you may take which opinion you please; I incline to the first. The arches here, and indeed all the parts, are very much broken and confused; the architect appearing to have great horror of a continued line, whether straight or curved. The foliage above the arch is very large; and this, and the figures rising among it, are so exactly in the style of the upper finish of the church of St. Mark, that there can be no doubt of their being nearly of the same period. The court is surrounded on three sides by two stories of arcades, supporting the upper apartments of the building; the lower arches are semicircular, with a small round hole above each; the upper are pointed. The upper part of two sides is somewhat in the style of the front, but the windows are not regularly disposed; it is principally of brick. One side is as richly ornamented as possible. The remaining side towards the church is very irregular, but also much ornamented, and without any plain surface, except in some receding parts, which are covered with marble slabs. The whole is in bad taste, between Gothic, and the revival of Roman architecture; but the latter style seems to have been much less conspicuous at first, as considerable alterations are sufficiently evident. A very fine flight of marble steps leads to the first story, but you have another staircase to ascend before you enter the principal apartments. The first of these was ornamented by Palladio, after a fire which happened in 1574; particularly the four doorways are of his design, yet they are not very good, and are besides too solid and consequential for inside doorways. Each of them has a portico of two columns, without pediments, and there are three statues over each. The marble of the columns is very beautiful. The colour is a dark green, with yellow veins and red markings. They are not all precisely alike, yet perhaps are from the same bed; they are called Greek. The cornices and swelled friezes are also of dark veined marble, and this renders the mouldings confused.
I shall not conduct you step by step through all these numerous apartments, splendid with gilding, and with all the glories of the Venetian school of painting, which spreads over the walls, and covers the ceilings, as if it had only cost a few shillings the square yard. There is also a very fine collection of ancient sculpture. No expense has been spared; Sansovino, Palladio, and Scamozzi, have united their talents to those of Paul Veronese, Tintoret, Palma, and the Bassans, and many other fine painters, to make them beautiful. Yet from the want of repose and simplicity, the result is not satisfactory; the very exuberance of art injures its effect.
S. Jacopo in Rivo Alto, was first built in 1194. It was entirely rebuilt in 1531, precisely in the old form, as we are informed by an inscription in the portico; we may doubt the perfect accuracy of the imitation, but the six marble columns of the nave, with their capitals copied from the Corinthian, are probably parts of the ancient building. The middle space is about twice the width of the others, forming a transept, and a cupola rises at the intersection. I suspect that this was an innovation, but on the whole it is a pretty little thing.
The school of S. Rocco (I shall say nothing of the church) has been attributed to Sansovino, but it is now usually given to Bartolommeo Buono, Sante Lombardo, and Antonio Scarpagnino. The first began it in 1516 and continued it till 1524, when he was dismissed, because he wished to make some alteration in the doorways on the staircase, and in the portico towards the canal. It was then given to Sante Lombardo, who was only twenty years old, but with the condition that his father, Giulio Lombardo, should assist him. These artists also wished to introduce some novelties of their own, and therefore, in 1527, the direction was given to Antonio Scarpagnino. Sansovino was called in, we know not why, in 1532, but in 1536, we find Scarpagnino offering a new design for the principal front; and more indulgent to him than to his predecessors, the confraternity adopted it. I dare say there was plenty of intriguing among all these changes, but one hardly knows for what, unless there was a large salary and little to do, for the building is not a large one, and it is not easy to imagine what they could be doing for the twenty years which elapsed from the foundation, before they began the front; which expression is, however, I apprehend, not to be understood of the solid masonry, but of a mere facing. This front is of two orders, each of six entire columns, round which the entablature breaks. The windows are arched, and in pairs; each pair is placed in an arched recess in the lower story, and crowned with a pediment in the upper. It is more singular than beautiful. Buono’s style is more simple, and that of the Lombardi would probably be better than the one adopted, for they had some taste and feeling in their way, though it too often happens that their houses are monuments, and their monuments gingerbread.
Bartolommeo Buono was the architect of the Procuratie Vecchie, forming the north side of the Place of St. Mark. The design is not without taste, and is certainly completely different from that of the gateway of the Ducal Palace. There are two series of small arches over the larger arches below, each of which supports two of the range above it. So far the appearance is light and not inelegant, but the piers below are too weak. There is hardly as much breadth between the lower order and that above it, as the change of design requires; the circular windows in the widened frieze are bad, and the finishings against the roof execrable.