Old Continental Towns

by Walter M. Gallichan

Tintoretto’s “Miracle of St Mark” and “Adam and Eve” are two instances of his genius for colour, in the Academy, calling for special study, and another of his works is to be seen in Santa Maria della Salute. We have just looked at a number of this painter’s pictures in the Doge’s Palace.

It has been said that Tintoretto inspired El Greco, whose pictures we shall see in Toledo. Tintoretto was a pupil of Titian, basing his drawing on the work of Michael Angelo, and finding inspiration for his colour in the painting of Titian. He was a most industrious and prolific artist.

Paolo Veronese, though not a native of Venice, was one of the school of that city. He surpassed even Tintoretto in the use of colour, and adorned many ceilings and altars, besides painting canvases. The “Rape of Europa” and others of Paolo’s mythical subjects display his gift of colour and richness of imagination.

Among the later Venetian painters, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is perhaps the most remarkable. His conceptions were bizarre, and his fanciful style is manifest in his picture of the “Way to Calvary,” preserved in Venice. Canaletto may be mentioned as the last of the historic painters of Venice.

The work of Bellini must on no account be forgotten before we leave the subject of Venetian art. His “Madonna Enthroned” is in the Academy, among other of the masterpieces of his brush; and one of his most exquisite paintings is in the Church of the Friari.

Let us also remember the splendid treasures of the art of Carpaccio, as seen in the picture of “Saint Ursula” in the Academy, and in the delightful paintings of San Giorgio, which moved Ruskin to rapture.

The many churches of Venice contain pictures of supreme interest. Most of them are in a poor light, and can only be examined with difficulty. San Zanipolo is a church of Gothic design, built by the Dominicans, abounding in tombs and monuments. San Zaccaria has Bellini’s altarpiece “The Madonna and Child.”

Many of the palaces, especially those of the Grand Canal, are exceedingly beautiful in design, whether the style is Renaissance or Byzantine-Romanesque. Among the oldest are the Palazzo Venier, the Palazzo Dona, and the Palazzo Mesto; while for elegance the following are notable: Dario, the three Foscari palaces, the Pesaro, the Turchi, and Ca d’ Oro, and the Loredan.

Some of these historic houses are associated with men of genius of modern times. Wagner lived in the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. In 1818 Byron resided in the Palazzo Mocenigo, and Browning occupied the Palazzo Rezzonico.

Robert Browning and his wife had a passionate love for Venice. As a young man the poet visited the city, and returned to England thrilled by his impressions. Mrs Bridell Fox, his friend, says that: “He used to illustrate his glowing descriptions of its beauties—the palaces, the sunsets, the moonrises, by a most original kind of etching. Taking up a bit of stray notepaper, he would hold it over a lighted candle, moving the paper about gently till it was cloudily smoked over, and then utilising the darker smears for clouds, shadows, water, or what not, would etch with a dry pen the forms of lights on cloud and palace, on bridge or gondola, on the vague and dreamy surface he had produced.”