Art -- Italy -- Venice; Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel
The second set of showrooms (which require the expenditure of another
lira)--the oldest rooms in the palace--constitute the Archaeological
Museum. Here one sees a few pictures, a few articles of vertu, some
sumptuous apartments, some rich ceilings, and a wilderness of ancient
sculpture. The first room shown, the Sala degli Scarlatti, is the
bedroom of the Doges, with a massive and rather fine chimney piece and
an ornate ceiling. The next room, the Sala dello Scudo, has a fine
decorative, if inaccurate, map of the world, made by a monk in the
fifteenth century. The next, the Sala Grimani, has rival lions of S.
Mark by Jacobello del Fiore, an early Venetian painter, in 1415, and
Carpaccio a century later. Jacopo's lion has a very human face;
Carpaccio's picture is finer and is also interesting for its
architectural details. The next room, the Sala Erizzo, has a very
splendid ceiling. The next is not remarkable, and then we come on the
right to the Sala dei Filosofi where the custodian displays, at the foot
of the staircase, the charming fresco of S. Christopher which Titian
made for Doge Andrea Gritti. It is a very pleasing rendering, and the
Christ Child never rode more gaily or trustfully on the friendly saint.
With true patriotism Titian has placed the incident in a shallow of the
lagoon and the Doges' Palace is seen in the distance.
Then follow three rooms in the Doges' suite in which a variety of
treasures are preserved, too numerous and heterogeneous for description.
[Illustration: S. CHRISTOPHER
FROM THE FRESCO BY TITIAN
_In the Doges' Palace_]
The antique section of the Archaeological Museum is not of general
interest. It consists chiefly of Greek and Roman sculpture collected by
Cardinal Grimani or dug from time to time from the soil of Venetian
provinces. Here are a few beautiful or precious relics and much that is
indifferent. In the absence of a Hermaphrodite, the most popular
possession is (as ever) a group of Leda and the Swan. I noted among the
more attractive pieces a Roman altar with lovers (Baedeker calls them
satyrs), No. 68; a Livia in black marble, No. 102; a nice girl, Giulia
Mammea, No. 142; a boy, very like a Venetian boy of to-day, No. 145; a
giant Minerva, No. 169; a Venus, No. 174; an Apollo, No. 223. A very
beautiful Pieta by Giovanni Bellini, painted under the influence of
Duerer, should be sought and found.
The Bridge of Sighs, a little way upon which one may venture, is more
interesting in romantic fancy than in fact, and its chief merit is to
span very gracefully the gulf between the Palace and the Prison. With
the terrible cells of the Doges' Palace, to which we are about to
descend, it has no connexion. When Byron says, in the famous line
beginning the fourth canto of "Childe Harold,"
I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account