§ LXI. Of the tomb of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, in St. Mark's, I have
spoken before. It is one of the first in Venice which presents, in a
canopy, the Pisan idea of angels withdrawing curtains, as of a couch, to
look down upon the dead. The sarcophagus is richly decorated with
flower-work; the usual figures of the Annunciation are at the sides; an
enthroned Madonna in the centre; and two bas-reliefs, one of the
martyrdom of the Doge's patron saint, St. Andrew, occupy the
intermediate spaces. All these tombs have been richly colored; the hair
of the angels has here been gilded, their wings bedropped with silver,
and their garments covered with the most exquisite arabesques. This
tomb, and that of St. Isidore in another chapel of St. Mark's, which was
begun by this very Doge, Andrea Dandolo, and completed after his death
in 1354, are both nearly alike in their treatment, and are, on the
whole, the best existing examples of Venetian monumental sculpture.
§ LXII. Of much ruder workmanship, though still most precious, and
singularly interesting from its quaintness, is a sarcophagus in the
northernmost chapel, beside the choir of St. John and Paul, charged with
two bas-reliefs and many figures, but which bears no inscription. It
has, however, a shield with three dolphins on its brackets; and as at
the feet of the Madonna in its centre there is a small kneeling figure
of a Doge, we know it to be the tomb of the Doge Giovanni Dolfino, who
came to the throne in 1356.
He was chosen Doge while, as provveditore, he was in Treviso, defending
the city against the King of Hungary. The Venetians sent to the
besiegers, praying that their newly elected Doge might be permitted to
pass the Hungarian lines. Their request was refused, the Hungarians
exulting that they held the Doge of Venice prisoner in Treviso. But
Dolfino, with a body of two hundred horse, cut his way through their
lines by night, and reached Mestre (Malghera) in safety, where he was
met by the Senate. His bravery could not avert the misfortunes which
were accumulating on the republic. The Hungarian war was ignominiously
terminated by the surrender of Dalmatia: the Doge's heart was broken,
his eyesight failed him, and he died of the plague four years after he
had ascended the throne.
§ LXIII. It is perhaps on this account, perhaps in consequence of later
injuries, that the tomb has neither effigy nor inscription: that it has
been subjected to some violence is evident from the dentil which once
crowned its leaf-cornice being now broken away, showing the whole front.
But, fortunately, the sculpture of the sarcophagus itself is little
injured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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