The Mediterranean: Its Storied Cities and Venerable RuinsAllen, Grant
History
The Mediterranean: Its Storied Cities and Venerable Ruins
Allen, Grant
Europe, Southern -- Description and travel; Mediterranean Region -- Description and travel
The palace follows the usual Genoese rule of turning the better side
inwards, and offering the less attractive to the world at large. The
landward side, which borders a narrow street, and thus, one would
conjecture, must from the first have been connected with the upper gardens
by a bridge, or underground passage, is plain, almost heavy, in its
design, but it does not rise to so great an elevation as is customary with
the palazzi in the heart of the city. The side which is turned towards the
sea is a much more attractive composition, for it is associated with the
usual cloister of loggia which occupies three sides of an oblong. This, as
the ground slopes seaward, though on the level of the street outside,
stands upon a basement story, and communicates by flights of steps with
the lower gardens. The latter are comparatively small, and in no way
remarkable; but in the days--not so very distant--when their terraces
looked down upon the Mediterranean, when the city and its trade were on a
smaller scale, when the picturesque side of labor had not yet been
extruded by the dust and grime of over-much toil, no place in Genoa could
have been more pleasant for the evening stroll, or for dreamy repose in
some shaded nook during the heat of the day. The palazzo itself shows
signs of neglect--the family, I believe, have for some time past ceased to
use it for a residence; two or three rooms are still retained in their
original condition, but the greater part of the building is let off. In
the corridor, near the entrance, members of the Doria family, dressed in
classic garb, in conformity with the taste which prevailed in the
sixteenth century, are depicted in fresco upon the walls. On the roof of
the grand saloon Jupiter is engaged in overthrowing the Titans. These
frescoes are the work of Perini del Vaga, a pupil of Raphael. The great
admiral, the builder of the palace, is represented among the figures in
the corridor, and by an oil painting in the saloon, which contains some
remains of sumptuous furniture and a few ornaments of interest. He was a
burly man, with a grave, square, powerful face, such a one as often looks
out at us from the canvas of Titian or of Tintoret--a man of kindly
nature, but masterful withal; cautious and thoughtful, but a man of action
more than of the schools or of the library; one little likely to be swayed
by passing impulse or transient emotion, but clear and firm of purpose,
who meant to attain his end were it in mortal to command success, and
could watch and wait for the time. Such men, if one may trust portraits
and trust history, were not uncommon in the great epoch when Europe was
shaking itself free from the fetters of mediæval influences, and was
enlarging its mental no less than its physical horizon. Such men are the
makers of nations, and not only of their own fortunes; they become rarer
in the days of frothy stump oratory and hysteric sentiment, when a people
babbles as it sinks into senile decrepitude.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account