centre of which, rising in a bold sweep, is a very fine bronze gate. The
High Altar, impressively placed at the top of some steps, has eight
splendid panels containing bas-reliefs by Donatello. The master was also
responsible for the fine group of the Madonna and Saints, as well as the
huge crucifix, which are placed above it. The magnificent bronze
candelabrum, which stands to the left of the altar, is twelve feet high.
Its maker, Andrea Riccio, spent ten years over the work before he
considered it fit to leave his studio. The figures at the base are
symbolical of Music, History, Destiny, and Astrology, forming with
those above, a paschal candlestick that is one of the finest pieces of
bronze work in any church in the country. The sanctuary beyond the apse
was an addition of the year 1693, and occupies the most eastern dome
seen in the illustration. Great gilded sliding doors hide a wonderful
example of fifteenth-century goldsmith's work, a casket with Il Santo's
tongue inside, and many other sacred relics, as well as Gattamelata's
marshal's baton. The great doors are surrounded by work of the late
seventeenth century, an example of the bad taste and very low ebb
ecclesiastical art had sunk to at that period. Cherubs and nude female
figures playing stringed instruments--angels apparently--circle round S.
Antonio, who is borne aloft by other nudes. The extravagance of the
whole thing is a jarring note amongst much that is extremely fine.
The monks of the brotherhood of S. Antonio still inhabit the conventual
buildings attached to the church, and their dark-robed figures pass
silently to and fro in the cloistered courts of the monastery. The walls
of these three courts are lined with fine tombs and memorial slabs, and
it was from one of these cloisters the illustration was taken. A great
magnolia tree grows on the well-kept grass which covers the ground like
green velvet. No sound from the outside world penetrated this
sequestered nook. The only note to break the silence was the drowsy
hum from a voice at prayer in one of the little green-shuttered rooms
above, and the occasional twittering of a canary in its cage. One worked
undisturbed at those domes and towers which compose so well and seem to
reach up to the very heavens.
[Illustration: S. ANTONIO, PADUA]
Padua's university was founded in 1221 by the Emperor Frederick II. on
the site of the Inn of the Ox, and is still called il Bò. Its handsome
courtyard, attributed to Palladio, is adorned with armorial bearings of
distinguished _alumni_. At the head of the great staircase is a statue
to Elena Piscopia, a poetess, musician, and fluent linguist; she
received a doctor's degree and died a spinster in 1684. The anatomical
theatre is the oldest in Europe. Among other famous men connected with
il Bò the names of Baldus, who taught law, and Galileo, who expounded
mathematics, must be mentioned.
Padua also possesses the oldest Botanical Gardens in Europe, which were
instituted by the Venetian Senate in 1543. Many of the exotics which
grow now all over Europe were first established here, brought from the
East by Venetian traders, and the botanist can spend many interesting
hours in this well cared for and shady retreat.
A vast building with a remarkable history occupies one whole side of the
market square. A much-travelled architect and engineer, Fra Giovanni,
visited Padua in the fourteenth century, bringing with him drawings of
an Indian palace; these so pleased the Padovanese that he was asked to
construct a roof to their great hall, the three divisions of which had
been destroyed by fire. Fra Giovanni set to work, and his vaulted wooden
ceiling, one of the largest in Europe, stands covering the principal
chamber of the Palazzo della Ragione, though the roof above was renewed
in 1857. The paintings on the walls of this magnificent room have by
degrees replaced a series of frescoes by Giotto. They are mostly
mystical and symbolical, the best among them being those representing
Justice and Prudence. The wooden horse which stands in the hall is
supposed to have been the model for Donatello's bronze horse on which
Gattamelata is seated in the famous equestrian statue outside S.
Antonio. The fine _loggia_ on the ground floor of the palazzo is of
later date than the original parts of the building, which were designed
by Pietro Cozzo and constructed in the years 1172 to 1219. In a street
not far off is another beautiful building, the early-Renaissance Loggia
del Consiglio, with its fine stairway and open arcade. In front of this
is an antique column with the Lion of S. Mark, the sign that the city at
one time belonged to the Republic of Venice. Many other houses in this
quaint old town are of great interest, and the windings of its streams
as they meander past rose-covered walls and low roofs, with perhaps a
tapering _campanile_ or a dome towering above, afford a rare field for
endeavours with the pencil and brush.
VENICE
Venice, which has no counterpart in the world, is a city of all others
in which one can linger on in a dream taking no count of time. The days
run into weeks, these spread themselves into months, and it becomes more
and more difficult to tear oneself away from the entrancing "Mistress of
the Seas," from her Cathedral and all her other marvellous buildings;
from her seductive gondolas and silent canals; from her picture
galleries, and alas! from the fragrant coffee we sip idling away the
time under the colonnade outside Florian's in the Piazza.
Well, the seductive cup is drained and while our cigarette is alight let
us look round. Directly opposite to us, on the north side of this grand
square, stretches the long colonnade of the Procuratie Vecchie, built
early in the sixteenth century as a habitation for the procurators of S.
Mark. It is one of the best examples of early Renaissance architecture
in Italy; nobler, simpler than the Procuratie Nuove where we sit, which
was built in the last quarter of the same century. An arcaded building
in the classical style erected by Napoleon in 1810 connects the western
extremities of the two Procuratie. It is a pity that this great
Renaissance Piazza should be completed by an inferior bit of modern work
instead of such a brilliant gem of the Renaissance style as Sansovino's
Libreria Vecchia--at present invisible to us round the corner. To this
building, which faces the Doge's Palace, no higher tribute could be
given than to say that its perfection fairly distracts the admiration of
the onlooker from the wonderful Gothic pile before it.
But all this is _Hamlet_ without the Prince. It is time to leave the
shadow of the arches, to step out into the open, and to surrender
ourselves to the spell of the great church which draws one with an
irresistible fascination from the first moment we set foot in the
Piazza. S. Mark's rises bounding the vision at the eastern end of the
great square with its gorgeous façade and cool grey domes. So rich is
the colouring and so strange the outline that one wonders almost whether
architecture has not passed here into the sister art of painting.
[Illustration: S. MARK'S, VENICE]
Yes, there stands a building surpassingly fascinating, unique and
outside all comparison with any other church in the country. Planned as
a Greek Cross, like S. Sophia at Constantinople, it is reminiscent of
the East far more than any building in the peninsula, or even in
Sicily where some with direct Arab influence still exist. The great
traders of Venice who lavished their wealth on its decoration, and whose
every homeward bound ship brought back from the Orient a choice column,
a rare piece of marble, or some such thing as a contribution towards its
making, helped to raise it bit by bit until the wonderful church grew to
be what we find it to-day, the most seductive ecclesiastical fabric in
Italy.
It was not until the year 1807 that S. Mark's became the Cathedral
church of Venice. Before this date the Patriarchal seat was the church
of S. Pietro di Castello, and S. Mark's simply the chapel attached to
the Doge's Palace. In 828 the body of the Evangelist, stolen from
Alexandria, was brought to Venice and S. Theodore the tutelary saint
deposed to make way for a more important patron. S. Mark's remains were
then placed in a church which was destroyed by fire in 976. The
following year saw the first stone laid of a building which is perhaps
the most interesting in Christendom; but it was not until eighty years
had passed that the walls were finished, and seventy more gone by before
it was consecrated. The interior sustaining walls are brick, and are
lined with marble or covered with mosaics and decorated with every sort
of inlay. The _tout ensemble_ of this is an extraordinarily harmonious
mixture of styles which compels unceasing admiration.
Standing at the west end of the Piazza one sees, almost stretching
across the further side, a marvellous façade of deep shadowed arches;
the tympanums seem to sparkle with jewels; the arches are supported by
what appears to be a forest of columns, orderly in rank, receding into
the shadow. Above, to give quality to this shade, is a flat surface that
runs from end to end of the façade, broken by a central semicircular
window, and crowned with Gothic turrets, crocketed finials and angels
with wings outspread. Then, surmounting all are five wondrous domes,
Oriental in themselves, so overpoweringly Oriental that the eye, unable
at this distance to discriminate, telegraphs to the brain the magic
words--"The East!" Spoils from the East, from Greece, from Syria, from
Egypt; mosaics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, bronze horses
of Roman origin, Gothic saints under canopied turrets, flag poles with
the crimson banner and golden Lion of S. Mark, all arranged without
disorder, but all succumbing to the majesty of the marvellous domes.
More Eastern than European is the Venetian's love of colour, and this is
the note most deeply impressed on the mind with regard to S.
Mark's--five grey domes, a foil to the brilliant mosaics and many-hued
marble columns and walls below, but blending with them so subtly that
the whole is one gorgeous chromatic scale.
The effect of the blazing sun pouring down on the façade at midday,
casting deep shadows under the arches, is very fine. Again, in the
evening when the domes are alight with the last rays of the dying orb
and the great Piazza is in cool shade, the glories of the wonderful
fabric assume a dramatic effect which becomes almost tragic as the light
disappears and everything subsides into a monotone. Colour begets more
subtlety in grey weather; every note that might jar on the eye is then
diffused among the quieter tones around, and for this reason the pearly
sky of a grey day was chosen to depict S. Mark's. The great _campanile_
which fell to the ground on July 14, 1902, is now in course of
re-erection. For some years past the necessary but hideous hoarding at
its base has interfered with the beauty of the Piazza. The illustration
does not show this but depicts the length of the façade, with the
beautiful Porta della Carta and corner of the Doge's Palace beyond.
The lowest portion of the façade is formed as a vestibule with seven
arches, the last one of which at each end is open through. All the
columns and their capitals (spoils from the East) are of much older date
than the building. Very few of these capitals fit the _abacus_ on which
they rest; most of them are exquisitely carved with foliage free from
all imagery. The central arch is larger than the others. Under it is a
grand door of forty-eight bronze panels inlaid with silver. The
workmanship of the other doors which flank this is also very fine. The
intricate Byzantine carving above these forms a scheme of decoration
wherein figures, birds, beasts and arabesques run in a perfect riot of
fanciful design. The vaulting of the vestibule is covered with mosaics
of different periods. Those of the twelfth century are concerned with
the Creation of the Firmament and the Creation of Life; the story of
Adam and Eve continued on to the Deluge and Noah; the tragedy of Cain
and Abel; Joseph's dream, Pharaoh and the story of Moses. The general
scheme throughout is of white figures, mostly nude, on a green ground.
Although not in any way comparable to the earlier mosaics at Ravenna,
these are far better in style and true feeling for the enrichment of a
flat surface than those of later date in the lunettes above the façade
arches. Here the _raison d'être_ of mosaic has been made subservient to
an attempt to imitate the shades and gradations of an oil painting. The
most important of these later mosaics is that which was executed from a
design by Titian by the brothers Zuccati in the sixteenth century,
wherein S. Mark appears in pontifical robes. It is above the centre
door. On the pavement beneath is a red and white lozenge of marble
marking the spot where Pope Alexander III. and Barbarossa were
reconciled in July 1177, through the intervention of the Venetian
Republic. Many inscribed slabs of marble bearing legends in Greek and
Syriac, and Roman bas-reliefs, are let into the walls of the vestibule,
evidence of offerings towards the building of the fabric. All the
archivolts of the five large arches are decorated with symbolic
carvings; the most interesting being that of the main entrance, where a
charmingly quaint story illustrative of peasant life in the twelve
months of the year tells in a realistic way the labours of those who
till the soil. February with a little figure sitting at a fire warming
his hands is particularly naïve.
On the south, S. Mark's joins the Doge's Palace by means of the Porta
della Carta. At the base of a column which stands in an angle of the
wall are four porphyry figures of knights in chain mail with arms round
one another's necks. This group is supposed to have come from Acre.
Detached from the main building, and not far from its south-west corner,
are two short rectangular columns with Greek inscriptions. They were
brought from the church of S. Saba at Ptolemais in 1256. Amongst other
interesting spoils there is a slab let into the north wall on which
Ceres, holding a torch in each hand, appears drawn in a chariot by two
dragons. It seems to be a very early Persian work. But the best known,
and certainly the finest gift the exterior of the building can boast, is
that of the four bronze horses which stand over the principal entrance.
Sent from Constantinople in 1204 by order of the Doge Dandolo as part of
the spoils of victory when that city fell to the arms of the Venetians
in the fourth Crusade, these horses at one time adorned the triumphal
arch of Nero in Rome. Both Domitian and Trajan transferred them in turn
to arches of their own; and Constantine conveyed them across the seas to
his new capital in the East, where he also put them up over an arch. In
1797, when the Republic of Venice was no more, Napoleon took these
already much-travelled horses from S. Mark's façade to Paris and placed
them on the top of the Arc du Carrousel. After the peace in 1815 the
Austrian Emperor, Francis I. caused them to be returned to their former
position, and there they remain to-day.
Three doors open into the cathedral from the vestibule, and two on the
north side. The interior strikes one at first as being very dark; but
when the eye becomes accustomed to the half-light and is familiar with
everything within, this wears off, and the senses are rather soothed
than otherwise by the mystic gloom. Indeed, it is a great relief to
find oneself inside out of the glare of the Piazza, and, seated in a
corner perhaps, quietly contemplating the grand mosaics which cover the
vaulting from end to end. It is quite impossible to describe these
adequately in a short chapter which deals with other things as well, but
noting them in guide-book fashion one observes that those in the aisles
on either side of the main entrance depict the Acts and Miracles of the
Apostles. On the vaulting of the dome which forms, so to speak, the foot
of the Greek cross, is the Descent of the Holy Ghost. The great central
dome is covered by twelfth-century mosaics of the Ascension, and the
vault between this and the first dome with Christ's Passion and
Resurrection. The vaulting of the two domes which compose the arms of
the cross is decorated by work of later date; that on the north with the
history of S. John, and that on the south with the saints. The chapel of
S. John which is in the north transept was converted in the seventeenth
century into one dedicated to the Miraculous Virgin of Constantinople.
In the south transept also a rededication has taken place; the chapel of
S. Leonard being turned into that of the Holy Sacrament.
Behind the gorgeous marble screen which divides the presbytery from the
body of the church the high altar rises beneath a canopy of _verde
antico_ borne by four columns. Two of these columns are eleventh century
and are elaborately carved in courses of innumerable figures. They came
from Pola when Venice subdued Istria, and are much more interesting than
the other two of a later date; the remains of S. Mark rest within this
magnificent shrine. On the screen itself stand the Evangelist, the
twelve Apostles, and Mary.
At the back of the high altar is the Pala d'Oro, the greatest treasure
the cathedral possesses, and the most celebrated golden altarpiece in
existence. The upper part came from Constantinople in 976, the lower
about the middle of the fourteenth century. It is composed of
eighty-three panels of Greek and Byzantine design filled with enamelled
figures, studded with uncut gems and precious stones, and covered with
Greek and Latin inscriptions. More gorgeous than that of S. Ambrogio in
Milan, this magnificent piece of goldsmith's art glitters and sparkles
in a wonderful manner when lit up by the candles used at high mass, and
is without doubt the most splendid ecclesiastical treasure in Italy.
[Illustration: INTERIOR, S. MARK'S, VENICE]
The fifth or eastern dome which is over the presbytery is covered with
mosaics representing Christ and the Prophets, and one that is hardly
visible of S. Mark is on the walls of the east end. The great figure of
Christ faces the church and in its simplicity is very impressive.
The gallery, which is where the triforium would be in a Gothic building,
runs round the whole cathedral and is pierced on its inner side only.
The walls at the back and above are decorated with more mosaic work
dealing with acts of martyrdom, and the Translation and Recovery of the
Body of the Lord. When stray beams of sunlight find their way through
the openings in the domes and pass along the gold background, lighting
up in odd places small portions of these wonderful _tesseræ_ pictures,
the effect is very beautiful. All the angles of this mosaic work are
rounded off and the travelling rays glinting first on one golden corner,
then on another, are strangely attractive to eyes accustomed to the
greater architectural severity of a northern clime. The well-chosen
slabs that line the lower portions of the cathedral walls have taken to
themselves a sombre, dusky hue, a pale velvety brown, but there can be
no doubt that in their pristine state they realised in their splendour
the Venetian's love of colour.
The strange pulpit, which with part of the rood screen seen in the
illustration stands to the north of the steps leading into the
presbytery, is arranged in a double tier, and is entered by a double
winding stair from the vestibule of the Capella de S. Pietro. Its
curious domed sounding-board is very reminiscent of the East. Mention
has already been made of the chapels of the Miraculous Virgin and S.
Leonard. That dedicated to S. Peter is behind this pulpit on the north
side of the presbytery. It has a door leading out into the piazza. The
corresponding chapel to the south is dedicated to S. Clement. At the end
of the north transept is another to S. Isidore--a dark, solemn little
place. The sacristy is beyond the chapel of S. Peter at the back of the
presbytery. It is a fine apartment with mosaics from designs by Titian
and his pupils, which may be studied as a good example of Renaissance
decoration in _tesseræ_. Sansovino, who executed the beautiful door, is
said to have had it in hand for twenty years.
The baptistery is entered from the south aisle, and with the adjoining
Cappella Zeno is one of the most interesting parts of S. Mark's. In the
former is the monument and sarcophagus of Doge Andrea Dandolo, who died
in 1354. It is a grand specimen of the sculpture of the age. The
recumbent figure of the Doge, who was the last to be buried in S.
Mark's, is very serene in its realisation of the Last Sleep. All the
mosaics the chamber contains were given and paid for by Andrea. Most of
them naturally relate to the Holy Rite. The font is very ancient, and
has a fine bronze cover designed by Sansovino and surmounted by a
statuette of S. John the Baptist. A very beautiful low relief of four
crossed swords which compose a cross, with birds beneath, is let into
one of the walls. On the vaulted roof of the Cappella Zeno, the life of
the Evangelist, whose body at first rested here, is well depicted in a
series of mosaics. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the tomb of
Cardinal Zeno, who left the bulk of his immense fortune to S. Mark's.
The altar stands under a bronze canopy covering figures of Our Lady (who
wears a gilded shoe), S. Peter, and S. John the Baptist. The legend runs
that the Virgin gave her bronze shoe once to a poor votary and it was
immediately turned into gold. From this incident the chapel, which
became the Cardinal's Mausoleum, is also known as that of the Madonna
della Scarpa.
Venice possesses nearly seventy churches, but of these only the two most
celebrated can be mentioned in this chapter. They are SS. Giovanni e
Paolo, and the Frari. The former had its origin in the great preaching
Order of S. Dominic, and the latter in that of S. Francis. These saints,
bound by vows of poverty, went forth preaching humility, and so great a
meed of success did they attain, that we find throughout the country, as
a result of their crusade, huge churches like these built to hold large
congregations. In Venice both Orders had their following among different
patrician families, who were mainly responsible for the monetary
assistance the Orders received, and who therefore acquired a sort of
prescriptive right to burial space within the holy walls they had helped
to raise. For this reason the tombs we find in SS. Giovanni e Paolo and
the Frari are not only an epitome of the rulers of Venice, but in them
can be traced from the earliest Gothic the different styles of Venetian
decorative art as exemplified in her sepulchral monuments.
SS. Giovanni e Paolo is a fine brick building of early Italian Gothic,
which was commenced in 1246 and finished in 1390. Its length is three
hundred and thirty feet, its width at the transepts one hundred and
forty-three, and in the nave ninety-one feet. From this it will be seen
that the transepts are short. The spacious nave has five bays, the
arches of which are supported by single columns of grey stone with
simple floral capitals. The vaulting, as is usual in Italian Gothic, is
low. The galleried triforium has small outlets into the church, and a
clerestory of pointed lights in groups of three has taken the place of
much larger single windows. The aisles are narrow. The apsidal choir is
architecturally very striking. From a few feet above the floor rise the
long narrow windows of the apse reaching up beyond the base of the
vaulting and giving an idea of immense height. The glass they contain
is, however, very crude; and, unfortunately, a terrible pink wash covers
the walls, so pink that the beauty of the architectural features is
considerably marred. The choice of material and the selection of colour
has more to do with the success or failure of a building than is
generally realised. The transepts, nave, and aisles are coloured grey,
and harmonise with the stone columns mentioned above, and with the
monuments of faintly tinted marble which crowd the walls of the aisles.
Among the most notable tombs are those of the Mocenigo family, a family
which possessed the whole of the west wall of the church, and whose
monuments almost cover it. Of the three equestrian tombs that are in the
church, pride of place must be given to the one put there to Niccolo
Orsini, who commanded the Republic's forces in the war against the
League of Cambray. The gilded group of the general and his horse above
the sarcophagus is full of life and vigour. The simple but very
beautiful tomb of Paolo Loudan, on which his recumbent figure in full
chain mail lies stretched, is a fine work of the middle of the
fourteenth century.