Art -- Italy -- Venice; Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel
Andrea Palladio was born in Vicenza in 1518. In Venice he built S.
Giorgio Maggiore (all but the facade), the facade of S. Francesco della
Vigna, the Redentore, Le Zitelle and S. Lucia. Such was Palladio's
influence that for centuries he practically governed European
architecture. Our own St. Paul's would be very different but for him. He
died in 1580 and was buried at Vicenza. By the merest chance, but very
fortunately, he was prevented from bedevilling the Ducal Palace after
the fire in 1576. He had the plans all ready, but a wiser than he, one
Da Ponte, undertook to make the structure good without rebuilding, and
carried out his word. Terrible to think of what the Vicenza classicist
would have done with that gentle, gay, and human facade!
[Illustration: TRAGHETTO OF S. ZOBENIGO, GRAND CANAL]
S. Giorgio has a few pictures, chief of which are the two great
Tintorettos in the choir. These are, however, very difficult to see. My
own efforts once led me myself to open the gates and enter, so that I
might be nearer and in better light: a proceeding which turned the
sacristan from a servant of God into an ugly brawler. A gift of money,
however, returned him to his rightful status; but he is a churlish
fellow. I mention the circumstance because it is isolated in my
Venetian wanderings. No other sacristan ever suggested that the whole
church was not equally free or resented any unaccompanied exploration.
The Tintorettos belong to his most spacious and dramatic style. One,
"The Last Supper," is a busy scene of conviviality. The company is all
at one side of the table and the two ends, except the wretched
foredoomed Judas. There is plenty to eat. Attendants bustle about
bringing more food. A girl, superbly drawn and painted, washes plates,
with a cat beside her. A dog steals a bone. The disciples seem restless
and the air is filled with angels. Compared with the intensity and
single-mindedness of Leonardo, this is a commonplace rendering; but as
an illustration to the Venetian Bible, it is fine; and as a work of art
by a mighty and original genius glorying in difficulties of light and
shade, it is tremendous. Opposite is a quieter representation of the
miracle of the manna, which has very charming details of a domestic
character in it, the women who wash and sew and carry on other
employments being done with splendid ease and naturalness. The manna
lies about like little buttons; Moses discourses in the foreground; in
the distance is the Israelite host. All that the picture lacks is light:
a double portion: light to fall on it, and its own light to be allowed
to shine through the grime of ages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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