Art -- Italy -- Venice; Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel
The first Doge in the Sala dello Scrutinio is Pietro Loredan (1567-1570)
and the last of all Lodovico Manin (1788-1797) who fell before the
inroads of Napoleon. "Take it away," he said to his servant, handing him
the linen cap worn beneath the ducal corno, "we shall not need it any
more." He retired into piety and left his fortune to good works.
This room, also a fine and spacious hall but smaller than the Sala del
Maggior Consiglio, has historical pictures, and a "Last Judgment," by
Palma the younger, which immensely interests the custodian by reason of
a little human touch which may or may not be true. On the left of the
picture, in the Infernal regions, low down, will be seen a large
semi-nude female sinner in torment; on the right, in heaven, the same
person is seen again, in bliss. According to the custodian this lady was
the painter's innamorata, and he set her in both places as a reward for
her varying moods. The other pictures represent the capture of Zara by
Marco Giustiniani in 1346. Zara, I may mention, had very badly the habit
of capture: this was the eighth time it had fallen. Tintoretto is the
painter, and it is one of his best historical works. The great sea-fight
picture on the right wall represents another battle of Lepanto, a later
engagement than Venier's; the painter is Andrea Vicentino, who has
depicted himself as the figure in the water; while in another naval
battle scene, in the Dardanelles, the painter, Pietro Liberi, is the fat
naked slave with a poniard. For the rest the guide-book should be
consulted. The balcony of the room, which juts over the Piazzetta, is
rarely accessible; but if it is open one should tarry there for the fine
view of Sansovino's Old Library.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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