To the W., on the site of the present royal gardens, stood the old granaries of the Republic. We turn E., cross the Ponte della Paglia (straw) where the barges laden with straw used to unload, and reach the Riva degli Schiavoni, in olden times the most bustling quarter of Venice. Here lived the Schiavoni (Dalmatian sailors), who manned the galleons and argosies of the Republic. Here was the starting-point for the galleys bound for the Holy Land. On the site of the present prison, John the Englishman, in the fourteenth century, kept “The Dragon,” a hostelry, with stables, much patronised by English pilgrims, for horses were then almost as common in Venice as in other mediæval towns. Several of the Doges had the finest stables in Italy, and horses and mules were largely used by the Venetians. There was no wide Riva[110] in those days, only a narrow fondamenta beyond the Molo, which was then a projecting quay, the chief landing-stage of Venice. The Riva is the favourite promenade of the Venetian popolani, and affords an ever-changing scene of local colour for the stranger. We cross two bridges to S. Maria della Pietà, which contains a masterpiece (Christ in the House of the Pharisee) by Moretto, the Brescian painter (1498-1560), in the upper choir at the S. end. Just over the next bridge (del Sepolcro, so called because the pilgrims to and from the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem lodged near), is the site of the house given by the Republic to Petrarch. Here he lived with his married daughter, entertained Boccaccio, and had a disputation with a notorious atheist of Venice, whom he failed to convert, and ejected from the house.
We turn N., beyond the house, by the calle del Dose, and reach the church of S. Giovanni in Bragora (the marshes). Here we shall find one of the finest Cimas in Venice (The Baptism of Christ), unhappily difficult to see as a whole, owing to its position behind the high altar. It was painted in 1491. On a pillar, R. of the choir, is another work by the same master—SS. Helena and Constantine; on a pillar to the L. is Alvise Vivarini’s Resurrection, painted in 1498. The Virgin and Child in the second chapel R. of the entrance is generally given to Alvise, though by some critics attributed to Giov. Bellini. On the L. wall is a Virgin and Child with the Baptist and St Andrew by Bartolomeo Vivarini, painted in the same year. Beneath are three predelle by Cima, with scenes from the Invention of the Cross. The church contains also a doubtful Bissolo between the first and second chapels in the R. nave, and a Last Supper by Paris Bordone, utterly disfigured by restoration, in the L. nave.
On leaving, we turn again E. to the church of S. Martino, with a Bocca del Leone (p. [248]) in the façade. Just beyond the church we sight the main portal of the great arsenal, once fortified with twelve watch-towers and walls two miles in extent, paced night and day by sentinels. The portal is flanked by the four Greek lions in marble brought from the Porta Leoni at Athens by Francesco Morosini, and surmounted by the Lion of St Mark and a statue of St Giustina by Campagna, to commemorate the victory of Lepanto. The museum contains on the first floor, among other objects of interest, models of Venetian ships and galleys of all kinds, a small carved panel from an old Bucintoro, and a fragment of a mast, all that remains of the last Bucintoro which Goethe saw and described as not over-loaded with decoration, since it was all decoration. A model of this gorgeous vessel may be seen in the room. On the second floor is a collection of weapons and spoils of war. The simple, noble statue of Vittor Pisani faces us as we ascend the staircase. A striking contrast is afforded by Canova’s sentimental monument to Angelo Emo. In the room are preserved the armour of Doge Seb. Ziani, with closed visor and bearing a crest on the cuirass, and of Seb. Venier, with open visor, and crest on cuirass; of Henry IV. of France, and of the condottiero Gattamelata. We cross the iron bridge to the L. of the portal of the arsenal, and return to the Riva. We may now proceed past the church of S. Biagio to the Public Gardens.
SECTION X
S. Salvatore—Corte del Milione—S. Giovanni Grisostomo
We take our way along the Merceria, past the church of S. Zulian, until we come in sight of the tall apse of S. Salvatore. We enter from the Merceria by the door of the L. aisle. S. Salvatore is one of the most important examples of ecclesiastical Renaissance architecture in Venice. Spavento, four of the Lombardi, Sansovino, Scamozzi and Longhena all contributed at various periods to the building and decoration, not to speak of more modern restorers. Here in the R. transept is the massive memorial to unhappy Queen Catherine Cornaro by Bernardini Contino. A finer specimen of monumental art is Sansovino’s tomb of Doge Franc. Venier (1556), beyond the second altar in the R. aisle. The figures of Faith and Charity, the former said to have been almost wholly carved by the master in his eightieth year, are among the greatest achievements of later Renaissance sculpture. Over the third altar is Titian’s Annunciation and at the high altar his Transfiguration, both painted when he was approaching ninety years of age; the latter, however, by some critics is depreciated to a school painting. In the chapel L. of choir is a most interesting, Christ at Emmaus, generally attributed to Giovanni Bellini, but by Crowe and Cavalcaselle confidently assigned to Carpaccio. Another critic (Molmenti) is convinced it is by no other hand than that of Benedetto Diana.
Leaving by the front entrance we find ourselves on the Campo S. Salvatore, where in olden times stood a water trough, and a fig tree to which horses were tied, after the law of 1287 forbade equestrian traffic along the Merceria. We turn R. by the new Merceria due Aprile, pass the Goldoni statue, and cross the Ponte dell’ Olio to the church of S. Giovanni Grisostomo. Before we enter, a slight deviation by the calle Ufficio della Seta and the calle del Teatro (over a fruiterer’s shop will be seen the inscription: Provisores Sirici, p. 117) will bring us on the R. to the entrance to the Corte Milione. On the N. side of this court stood the house of the Polo family which Marco, then a lad of seventeen, left in 1271, with his uncles Nicolo and Maffeo, for the East. A quarter of a century later three travel-stained wanderers, dressed in coarse garb of Tartar cut and speaking broken Venetian with a Tartar accent, were at first refused admission by their kinsmen. The three, to warm the affection of their relatives, invited them to a sumptuous banquet, and when all were seated entered arrayed in flowing crimson robes of satin. Having washed their hands, they retired and returned clothed in crimson damask, and ordered the first dresses to be cut up and distributed among the servants. After a few dishes a similar change was made into crimson velvet and similarly disposed of. Again they changed into dresses of ordinary fashion. When the nine suits had been divided among the servants, Marco rose, went to his chamber, and appeared with the old Tartar coats, and ripping them open with a knife, showered on the table before his amazed guests a glittering and inestimable treasure of jewels and precious stones. The thirteenth century arched doorway and various fragments of sculptured stonework imbedded in the walls of the neighbouring houses almost certainly formed part of the original Polo mansion (p. [99]).
