Art -- Italy -- Venice; Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel
The "Last Judgment" is one of his Michael-Angelesque works and also one
of his earliest, before he was strong enough or successful enough (often
synonymous states) to be wholly himself. But it was a great effort, and
the rushing cataract is a fine and terrifying idea. "The Worship of the
Golden Calf" is a work interesting not only as a dramatic scriptural
scene full of thoughtful detail, but as containing a portrait of the
painter and his wife. Tintoretto is the most prominent of the calf's
bearers; his Faustina is the woman in blue.
Two very different painters--the placid Cima and the serene Bellini--are
to be seen here too, each happily represented. Cima has a sweet and
gentle altar-piece depicting the Baptist and two saints, and Bellini's
"Madonna and Child" is rich and warm and human. Even the aged and very
rickety sacristan--too tottering perhaps for any reader of the book to
have the chance of seeing--was moved by Bellini. "Bellissima!" he said
again and again, taking snuff the while.
The neighbouring church of S. Marziale is a gay little place famous for
a "Tobias and the Angel" by Titian. This is a cheerful work. Tobias is a
typical and very real Venetian boy, and his dog, a white and brown
mongrel, also peculiarly credible. The chancel interrupts an
"Annunciation," by Tintoretto's son, the angel being on one side and the
Virgin on the other.
And now for the most north-westerly point of the city that I have
reached--the church of S. Giobbe, off the squalid Cannaregio which leads
to Mestre and Treviso. This church, which has, I suppose, the poorest
congregation of all, is dedicated to one of whom I had never before
thought as a saint, although his merits are unmistakable--Job. Its
special distinction is the beautiful chapel of the high altar designed
by the Lombardi (who made S. Maria dei Miracoli) for Doge Cristoforo
Moro to the glory of S. Bernardino of Siena. S. Bernardino is here and
also S. Anthony of Padua and S. Lawrence. At each corner is an exquisite
little figure holding a relief.
On the floor is the noble tombstone of the Doge himself (1462-1471) by
Pietro Lombardi. Moro had a distinguished reign, which saw triumphs
abroad and the introduction of printing into the city; but to the
English he has yet another claim to distinction, and that is that most
probably he was the Moro of Venice whom Shakespeare when writing
_Othello_ assumed to be a Moor.
The church also has a chapel with a Delia Robbia ceiling and sculpture
by Antonio Rossellino. The best picture is by Paris Bordone, a mellow
and rich group of saints.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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