Asia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Mongols -- History; Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?; Voyages and travels
There is no portrait of Marco Polo in existence with any claim to
authenticity. The quaint figure which we give in the _Bibliography_,
vol. ii. p. 555, extracted from the earliest printed edition of his
book, can certainly make no such pretension. The oldest one after this
is probably a picture in the collection of Monsignor Badia at Rome, of
which I am now able, by the owner’s courtesy, to give a copy. It is set
down in the catalogue to Titian, but is probably a work of 1600, or
thereabouts, to which the aspect and costume belong. It is inscribed
“_Marcus Polvs Venetvs Totivs Orbis et Indie Peregrator Primus._” Its
history unfortunately cannot be traced, but I believe it came from a
collection at Urbino. A marble statue was erected in his honour by a
family at Venice in the 17th century, and is still to be seen in the
Palazzo Morosini-Gattemburg in the Campo S. Stefano in that city. The
medallion portrait on the wall of the _Sala dello Scudo_ in the ducal
palace, and which was engraved in Bettom’s “Collection of Portraits of
Illustrious Italians,” is a work of imagination painted by Francesco
Griselini in 1761.[26] From this, however, was taken the medal by
Fabris, which was struck in 1847 in honour of the last meeting of the
Italian Congresso Scientifico; and from the medal again is copied,
I believe, the elegant woodcut which adorns the introduction to M.
Pauthier’s edition, though without any information as to its history.
A handsome bust, by Augusto Gamba, has lately been placed among the
illustrious Venetians in the inner arcade of the Ducal Palace.[27]
There is also a mosaic portrait of Polo, opposite the similar portrait
of Columbus in the Municipio at Genoa.
[Illustration: S. Lorenzo as it was in the 15th century]
[Sidenote: Further History of the Polo Family.]
49. From the short series of documents recently alluded to,[28] we
gather all that we know of the remaining history of Marco Polo’s
immediate family. We have seen in his will an indication that the two
elder daughters, Fantina and Bellela, were married before his death. In
1333 we find the youngest, Moreta, also a married woman, and Bellela
deceased. In 1336 we find that their mother Donata had died in the
interval. We learn, too, that Fantina’s husband was MARCO BRAGADINO,
and Moreta’s, RANUZZO DOLFINO.[29] The name of Bellela’s husband does
not appear.
Fantina’s husband is probably the Marco Bragadino, son of Pietro, who
in 1346 is mentioned to have been sent as Provveditore-Generale to
act against the Patriarch of Acquileia.[30] And in 1379 we find Donna
Fantina herself, presumably in widowhood, assessed as a resident of S.
Giovanni Grisostomo, on the _Estimo_ or forced loan for the Genoese
war, at 1300 _lire_, whilst Pietro Bragadino of the same parish—her son
as I imagine—is assessed at 1500 _lire_.[31] [See vol. ii., _Calendar_.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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