The interior is imposing by reason of its vast size and simple plan; though the dome, the Renaissance monuments and rococo details disturb the symmetry. The Mendicant Orders possessing the right to bury the dead within the precincts of their buildings were able to grant permission to wealthy and influential families, their supporters, to erect family chapels and sepulchral monuments in their churches. In this Dominican temple lie buried in monumental pomp Doges and statesmen, great captains and admirals, side by side with famous painters; for the two Bellini and Palma Giovane rest here. The traveller who remembers his Ruskin will doubtless turn first to the two monuments typical of noble and debased sculpture which are contrasted with such vehement rhetoric in the opening chapter of the “Stones of Venice.” He will find the “faithful tender portrait” of Doge Tomaso Mocenigo (1423) in the L. aisle beyond the second altar, recumbent on a beautiful transitional tomb wrought by two Florentine sculptors, Piero di Nicolo and Giov. di Martino. It is the last of the Gothic tombs in Venice and marks the advancing Renaissance. In the choir, L. of the high altar, is the monument, “perfect in workmanship but devoid of thought,” of Doge Andrea Vendramin (1478), executed by Aless. Leopardi and one of the Lombardi. To this “culminating point of the Renaissance,” Ruskin attained “by the ministry of such ancient ladders as he found in the sacristan’s keeping,” and discerned that the figure of the old Doge had but one hand, and that the “wretched effigy was a mere block on the inner side, ... the artist staying his hand as he reached the bend of the grey forehead.” The sculptor of “this lying monument to a dishonoured Doge,” adds the passionate critic, “was banished from Venice for forgery in 1478.” The tomb is, however, a fine example of early Renaissance work, in Burckhardt’s opinion “the most beautiful of all the tombs of the Doges.” Two inferior figures of St Catherine and the Virgin at the base are not by Leopardi; they were substituted for the admirable statues of Adam and Eve by Leopardi’s colleague, which were transferred to the Pal. Vendramin. To the L. of the choir is the early Gothic tomb of Doge Marco Corner (1368), a beautiful and simple monument, probably by the Massegne. Opposite is the “richest monument of the Gothic period in Venice,” the tomb of Michele Morosini (1382). The strongly marked features of the dead Doge, “resolute, thoughtful, serene and full of beauty” are wrought in masterly style. These are the tombs referred to by Ruskin: the former as noble Gothic; the latter is furnishing the exactly intermediate condition in style between the pure Gothic and its final renaissance corruption. L. of this is the monument to Doge Leonardo Loredan (1521) with allegorical figures, late Renaissance, executed in 1572. The statue of the Doge is an early work by Campagna.