Verona (Italy) -- Description and travel; Verona (Italy) -- History
The story of Verona is no simple record of a simple town with a
continuous rule guiding her fortunes and directing her destinies. Her
tale is mingled with that of other nations and languages; and Greek,
Ostrogoth, Longobard and Frank have held sway in Verona as well as
Etruscan and Roman. The influence of these diverse nationalities has
left its trace on the art and history of the city to a marked extent.
The architecture alone of Verona is of a nature to demand a long and
deep study, and calls for an expert’s hand to do justice to its
different developments of variety and beauty. Her school of painting too
is a subject that has not yet met with sufficient attention, and that
deserves a study which hitherto has been but scantily bestowed upon it.
I have tried in a humble and limited way to put before the reader some
idea of this school, and to render him familiar with the names and works
and methods of the masters of painting with whom he will come most in
contact in his wanderings through Verona. Many of their masterpieces are
to be found in the grand old churches which form one of the chief
features of Verona, and within whose walls it is well to linger if we
wish to grasp fully the character of the town and of the men who raised
these noble buildings, and who now lie buried in or beside them. The
history of Verona is all-absorbing, but I have tried to give it only
that prominence which is necessary for such an understanding of the town
as will interest the traveller and enable him to enjoy a stay amid
surroundings that will not now perhaps seem “foreign” to him.
I have drawn much of my knowledge on the Veronese school of painting
from Sir A. Henry Layard’s excellent work, _Handbook of Painting. The
Italian School; based on the Handbook of Kugler_ (London: Murray, 1887),
which was most kindly lent to me by Lady Layard; and to Mr Selwyn
Brinton’s _The Renaissance in Italian Art_, Part II. (London: Simpkin,
1898). My grateful thanks are also due to Prof. Commendatore Carlo
Malagola, Head of the State Archives in Venice, for the loan of books
and for help as to the means whereby to arrive at much of the
information I required. I am also indebted to Cav. Giuseppe Biadego,
Bibliotecario of the Biblioteca Comunale of Verona; and to Cav. Dr
Riccardo Galli for help during my stay at Verona. Nor must I omit to say
a word in praise of the Hôtel de Londres in that city, where comfort and
economy are very happily and successfully blended by a most courteous
and diligent landlord. My chief thanks though are due to Cav. Pietro
Sgulmero, Vice-Bibliotecario of the Library and Vice-Inspector of the
Monuments in Verona, who devoted many a spare hour to introducing me to
every part of the town, and in imparting to me all he could of the
knowledge he possesses in an eminent degree of the history and legends
of his native town. My book owes more to him than I am able to express.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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