ACADEMY ("Accadémia delle Belle Arti ") open daily, 9 to 3, adm. I franc. Sundays, 10 to 2, free DOGES' PALACE (=" Palazzo de' Doges,") open daily, 9 to 3, adm. 120 franc. Sundays, 10 to 2, free SCUOLA DI SAN ROCCO, open daily, 9 to 3, adm. I franc. CORRER MUSEUM (="Muséo Civico "), open daily, 10 to 4, adm. I franc. Sundays, 10 to 3, free SEMINARIO PATRIARCHALE, open daily, 10 to 3, fees. Sundays, 12 to 2, fees b LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE I. ACADEMY: Gentile Bellini.-The Miracle of the Holy St. George Giovanni Bellini.-The Madonna, St. Paul, and Bonifazio I.-The Rich Man and Lazarus. Carpaccio.-The Dream of St. Ursula St. Ursula and her Father (detail). Cima. -The Incredulity of St. Thomas The Madonna, with St. John the Bap- PAGE 10 12 14 18 32 34 38 40 Pordenone.-San Lorenzo Giustiniani and Saints 66 Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple 84 12. DOGES' PALACE: Titian.-"Fede" ("Faith") 104 Paolo Veronese.-The Rape of Europa 106 Venice Enthroned 116 15. SANTA MARIA FORMOSA: Palma Vecchio. -Santa Bar 14. bara 16. FRARI: Titian.-The Madonna Pesaro 17. SAN GIORGIO DEGLI SCHIAVONI: Carpaccio.-Triumph of St. George 18. SANTA MARIA, MATER DOMINI: Vincenzo Catena.— The Martyrdom of Ste. Christine. 19. SANTA MARIA DELL' ORTO: Tintoretto. of the Virgin in the Temple 1188 . 200 Presentation 20. SAN ZACCARIA: Giovanni Bellini.-Madonna and Saints 224 X SHORT HISTORY OF VENICE.1 -"For a tale to catch Credulous ears, and hold your hearts in chains, No city casts such a spell over the imagination as Venice. Its history is full of dramatic interest, and poets of all nations have found it a fruitful storehouse of plot, incident and character. For more than seven hundred years Venice was a sovereign power, exercising a decided influence on European policy, and gathering into her treasury the wealth of the East. Her fleets were in every sea; her colonies were numerous and thriving; her merchants were princes, and her princes were heroes, and a long succession of great men raised the Republic to a position of supreme celebrity. The history of Venice is divided into four quite distinct periods : 1st. The fugitives from the mainland of Aquileia, after the destruction of that place, March 23rd, 421, gather into one nation. The Ducal Government established in 697. 2nd. From 1100 to 1301,-the period of great wars and the Crusades. 3rd. From 1301 to 1520,-the period of scholarship and fine art productions. 4th. From 1520 to 1600,-the period of luxury and display. The first permanent settlement on the present site of Venice was made at Rivo Alto (Rialto) in the ninth century. The first Doge was chosen in 697, but it was not until 742 that the form of an aristocratic republic was firmly established. Towards the end of the tenth century, the Doge Pietro Orseolo cleared the sea of pirates, and on the 20th of May, 998, he conquered Dalmatia, and constituted himself protector of the sea. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Venetians defeated the Turks and the Greeks, gained vic 1 Short sketches of the lives of many of the Doges and of events in their reigns will be found in the text. A complete list of the Doges is given on pages 264-270. tories over the kings of Hungary, and annexed Istria, Croatia, and other provinces. During the Crusades Venetian ships were engaged as transports, and much of the wealth and greatness of Venice dates from this time. (See account of Crusades in text of Doges' Palace.) At the beginning of the thirteenth century the Venetian nobility was the most powerful and opulent class in the world, as well as the most polished and enlightened, and was everywhere held in the highest consideration. By the middle of the thirteenth century the flag of Venice was respected on every sea. The rest of the century was largely spent in adjusting the Republic to the new conditions consequent upon its greatly enlarged territory, and with struggles in the colonies, with Genoa and with the Papal See. "The City of the Sea was the centre of the commerce of the world; the seas, the skies of many lands, the manners of many nations, were familiar to its people. They stood apart from the political and ecclesiastical trammels of other States. They were citizens of the world; they handled and gathered the wealth of the world; they were liberal in thought, cultivated in taste, and sensuous in temperament." (Gilbert, Cadore, 302.) All historians agree that the fifteenth century was the period of the greatest luxury and magnificence of Venice. It was during the Doge-ship of Tommaso Mocenigo (14131423) that the Republic reigned supreme. At this time Brescia, Bergamo, and Ravenna belonged to Venice, whose sovereignty was acknowledged in many other places as well; but during the reign of Francesco Foscari (1423-1457) a series of destructive wars began, and the Republic was finally obliged to relinquish Constantinople. No event in mediæval history had more influence on the destinies of European nations than this victory of the Muslems. In 1477, the year of Titian's birth, Venice lost Lemnos, Mantinea, and Scutari, and many of her possessions in Greece, and at the close of the fifteenth century she was almost totally shorn of substantial power in the East. The beginning of the sixteenth century was for Venice the beginning of her decadence. The pride of wealth had replaced republican equality by a numerous noblesse. The League of Cambrai (See Doges' Palace) and that monument of Venetian vanity, the "Libro d'Oro,” were simultaneous. The chief causes of the downfall of Venetian commerce were the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and more especially the passage to India around the Cape of Good Hope, and the rapid growth of Holland, Spain, and England. Something of the decline of Venice was due also to the inherent vices of her form of government and the luxurious indolence that took possession of her citizens.1 Her court where naked Venus keeps, And Cupids ride the lion of the deeps." Wars and conquests, commerce and luxury, are not the only things associated with the name of Venice. Here Galileo, in 1609, invented the telescope; here Loyola, in 1536, organized the Order of Jesus; here lived Lucretia Cornaro, a Doctor of Laws, Cardinal Bembo, Paolo Scarpi, Marco Polo, Goldoni, Pietro Aretino, and other celebrated personages. At Venice the first book printed in Italy was issued from the press, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century the first newspaper in the world appeared at Venice, being sold for a coin called gazetta, hence the name. At Venice, too, appeared the first bill of exchange and the first bank of discount. In 1797 Venice was conquered by Napoleon and handed over to Austria. During the revolution of 1848 the Republic was again established under the dictatorship of Daniel Manin, but, after a noble defence of seventeen months the Austrians conquered the city and held it until the summer of 1866, when it was ceded to France, as a consequence of the Austrian war with Prussia and Italy, and finally, in the autumn of the same year to Victor Emanuel. 1 See Molmenti's "Vie Privée à Venise." |