THE ACADEMY. "The whole.world without art and dress Would be one great wilderness."-Butler. The ACADEMY (" Accadémia delle Belle Arti") is open on week-days during the months of October to March inclusive, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and during the months of April to September inclusive, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.;1 admission, one franc; and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free. It is closed on New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, and on other legal holidays. The building occupied by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts ("Reale Accadémia delle Belle Arti") is situated on the Grand Canal, near the Iron Bridge (a steamboat, "vapore," station). It was formerly a convent belonging to the Church of Santa Maria della Carità (" Holy Mary of Charity"), and was built in 1552 by Paládio. Much of it was burnt in 1630, and additions have since been made to it, so that little of the original building now remains. It was for some time used as a barracks, but it was subsequently altered and adapted to its present purpose. About 1670 a Venetian gentleman founded a School of Art at Venice, and a century later another School of Art, under the support of the State, was in existence, and flourished until the fall of the Venetian Republic. In 1807 the present Academy was founded by a decree of Napoleon. The pictures here have been brought together, partly from the monasteries and ecclesiastical corporations, after their abolition; partly from ancient churches and chapels, demolished or applied to other purposes; and partly through presents and purchases made in modern times. The chief private collectors to whom the Academy is indebted are Girólamo Contarini, Ascánio Molin, and Bernardo Renier. The Gallery comprises at present 730 pictures, arranged in 20 rooms, besides numerous drawings and a few statues. The works here are thoroughly representative of the birth, maturity, and decline of Venetian painting, and are interesting alike to the student of art, and to those who care only 1 The Academy will eventually be open during these hours, but at present it is open all the year from 9 to 3 on week-days. for the beauties of Venetian colouring. The works of some of the masters of North Italy can scarcely be met with elsewhere, but unfortunately Titian and some other prominent Venetian painters are not as well represented as might be expected.1 "The Gallery of Venice is a feast of colour, and a dream of artistic beauty. You glide to it in a gondola, with the Grand Canal before you, and the decaying architecture of the Renaissance around you; you enter its cloister, ascend its somewhat dingy staircase, and emerge into the long succession of spacious rooms, whose grave quiet is in strange contrast with the glowing pictures on the walls." (Radcliffe, p. 548.) As the collection of pictures in the ACADEMY has just been re-arranged, the system of classification adopted for it in this book is an alphabetical one. All the paintings by every old master represented in the Academy will be found described under his name, with a cross-reference to his family, or, less usual, appellation, where necessary.2 The arrangement of the pictures is now, as far as possible, according to Schools. The numbering is consecutive, beginning with the room at the head of the stairs. Short lives of the chief painters of North Italy will be found in Part II. The dates of the other artists represented are given in the text. 1 An account of the Venetian School and its characteristics will be found on pages xiv. and xvi. 2 The names by which the old masters are most generally known are the ones used throughout in this book: for instance, Tiziano Vecellio is called Titian, and Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto. LIST OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PICTURES IN THE ACADEMY. 1. FIORE (JACOBELLO DEL).—Coronation of the Virgin. 10. LORENZO (VENEZIANO).-Altar-piece in eighteen compart ments. 21. * SEMITECOLO.-Altar-piece, Coronation of the Virgin, etc. * VIVARINI (ANTONIO and JOANNES).-Coronation of the 33. 36. 38. 39. * Virgin. CIMA.-Madonna Enthroned with Saints. ** BELLINI (GIOV.).—Madonna with six Saints. 40. 41. * 43. 44. 47. * * CARPACCIO.-Presentation of Christ in the Temple. 48. FABRIANO (Gentile da).-Madonna. 52. FRANCIA.-The Holy Family. 69. BASAITI.-The Agony in the Garden. 70. PREVITALI (Ascribed to).-Madonna and Saints. 76. * MARZIALE (MARCO).-The Supper at Emmaus. 79. BISSOLO.-Christ Presenting the Crown of Thorns to St. Catherine of Siena. 104. BASTIANI (or SEBASTIANI).—Three Saints of the Franciscan Order. 151. PELLEGRINO.-The Annunciation. 156. UDINE (GIOV. DA).-Madonna and Saints. 166. *MARCONI (Rocco).—Descent from the Cross. 203. * VERONESE (PAOLO).-Feast in the House of Levi. 205-208. 213. 217. 220. * TINTORETTO.-The Crucifixion. * Descent from the Cross. Portrait of Antonio Capello. 260. * VERONESE (PAOLO).-The Annunciation. 277. BONIFAZIO I.-SS. Matthew and Oswald. 291. 295. ** BONIFAZIO I.-Dives and Lazarus. The Judgment of Solomon. 297. GIORGIONE (Attributed to).-Portrait of a Venetian noble holding a glove. 301. PALMA VECCHIO.-Portrait of a woman. 302. * St. Peter Enthroned with Saints. 303. * Pordenone. —Portrait of a Woman. 309. BONIFAZIO II.-Christ with His Disciples. 310. PALMA 316. * VECCHIO.-Christ healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman. PORDENONE. San Lorenzo Giustiniani surrounded by 317. MARCONI (Rocco).-The Saviour with SS. Peter and Andrew. 320. ** BORDONE (PARIS).—The Fisherman presenting St. Mark's Ring to the Doge. 321. PORDENONE.-Madonna of Mercy of the Carmelites. 331. * MORETTO.-St. Peter. 400. TITIAN AND PALMA GIOVANE.-Pietà. 464-469. LONGHI (PIETRO).--Several genre subjects. 516. ATTRIBUTED TO PALMA VECCHIO AND GIORGIONE. - An Episode of St. Mark and Fisherman. * 562. MANSUETI.-Miracle of Holy Cross. 563. BELLINI (GENTILE).-Miraculous Cure of Pietro di Ludovico. 564. MANSUETI.-Miracle of the Holy Cross. 566. CARPACCIO. ,, BELLINI (GENTILE).-Procession in Piazza San Marco. Cross. * MANSUETI.-St. Mark preaching at Alexandria. 571. 572-580. * CARPACCIO.-Nine pictures, illustrating the Legend of St. Ursula. 587. MESSINA (ANTONELLO DA).—The Virgin; or, A Nun Weep 588. 592. 595. 596. ing. *MANTEGNA.-*St. George. * CIMA.-Tobias and the Angel. * BELLINI (GIOV.).--Five small Allegorical Subjects. 599. BOCCACCINO.Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles. 600. Madonna and Saints. 607. VIVARINI (ALVISE).—Madonna Enthroned with Saints. 610. BELLINI (GIOV.).-Madonna between SS. Paul and George. 611. CIMA.-The Incredulity of St. Thomas. * 613. BELLINI (Giov.).—Madonna with SS. Mary Magdalene and Catherine. 625. * VIVARINI (ANTONIO and Grov.).-Madonna Enthroned with Saints. 626. * TITIAN.-Presentation of the Virgin. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE PICTURES IN THE ACADEMY. Albarengo. See Venetian School. 555. Alberti (Francesco). Venetian painter living in 1550; pupil of Battista del Moro.-Madonna. At the sides, St. Mark and St. John the Evangelist; below are the portraits of Giov. and Marco Marcello, the donors of the picture. This picture, which was formerly in S. M. Maggiore, has been ascribed to Battista del Moro, but Cav. Botti and others assign it to his pupil Alberti. Canvas: 10 ft. 10 in. by 6 ft. 7 in. 565. Alboni (Paolo). Bolognese: 1671 (?) 1734. He painted at Rome, Naples, and Vienna. Was an imitator of Ruysdael.-The Pastor. Presented by Molin. Panel: 1 ft. in. by 1 ft. 63 in. Allemagna (Giovanni d'). See Vivarini. Amerighi (Michael-Angelo). See Caravaggio. Andrea (Vicentino). See Michieli. 587. Antonello da Messina. The Virgin; or, a Nun Weeping ("L'Addolorata "). A doubtful picture by the master who introduced oil painting into Venice. On wood: 1 ft. 6 in. square. "If the beautiful Mater Dolorosa be really his, he deserves high praise; but the correctness of the ascription seems very doubtful.' (Lindsay.) "The colour is dark and olive. This looks like the work of an aged painter. It is not a pleasant picture, and far inferior in interest to the other examples of Antonello in this Gallery." (Eastlake.) 590. Virgin Annunciate. Another doubtful work of this |