Art -- Italy -- Venice; Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel; Venice (Italy) -- History
We leave by the door of the L. aisle, and make our way through the long
Campo S. Margarita to the church of S. Pantaleone, which we visit for
the sake of the fine altar-piece, a Coronation of the Virgin, by Giov.
Alemano and Antonio Vivarini in the chapel L. of the choir. What art was
able to accomplish four centuries later we may see by lifting our eyes
to the ceiling of the church over which expatiate Fumiani’s paintings of
the Martyrdom and Apotheosis of the patron-saint.
We leave the church on our left, and continue N.E. to the Campo S. Tomà.
Here we shall find the old Guild Hall of the Cobblers (_Scuola dei
Calerghi_) with a relief by Pietro Lombardo, St Mark healing the
cobbler. The quaint signs of the craft over the portal and Pietro’s
sculpture bear traces of the original colouring. We make our way E.,
passing the fourteenth-century Campanile of S. Polo, one of the finest
at Venice. At the base are carved in stone two lions, one of which has a
serpent coiled round its neck, the other holds a human head in its
claws. They are popularly supposed to symbolise the fate that overtook
Marin Faliero. We note on the L. the fine old Gothic S. portal of the
church, and emerge into the broad Campo S. Polo.
From the S.E. angle of the campo a way leads along the Calle della
Madonetta, and by the Calle del Perdon to the Campo S. Apollinare. On
the L., just before we emerge into the campo, are an inscription and a
medallion of Pope Alexander III., which mark his legendary resting-place
(p. 50). (Another tradition, however, indicates the portico of the old
church of S. Salvatore in the Merceria as the spot where he lay.) S.
from the campo a way leads to the S. Silvestro Pier on the Grand
Canal.
[Illustration: TIMBER BOATS.]
SECTION XV
_Giudecca--The Redentore--S. Trovaso_
A steamer leaves the Riva degli Schiavoni every hour for the S. Croce
Pier on the island of the Giudecca where stands Palladio’s masterpiece,
the plague church of the Redentore de’ Cappucini. The island, formerly
known as Spinalunga was assigned (_giudicata_) in the ninth century as a
place of banishment to certain of the nobles implicated in the murder of
Doge Tradenico. Hence according to some authorities its name: by others
it is believed to have been the ancient Jewry.
The fine proportion and symmetry make the interior of the church even
more impressive than that of S. Giorgio Maggiore. In the sacristy are
three early Venetian paintings once assigned to Giov. Bellini, now
generally attributed: (1) Virgin with the Sleeping Jesus attended by two
Angels to Alvise Vivarini (p. 196); (2) Virgin and Child with SS. John
and Catherine and (3) Virgin and Child with SS. Mark and Francis to
Bissolo. The last is by some critics attributed to Pasqualino, a feeble
imitator of Giov. Bellini.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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