subject: The Venice Academy [print this page] The Venice Academy The Venice Academy
Art lovers spend many days studying this unsurpassed assemblage of Venetian paintings. The average tourist, with time for only one visit, can hardly expect to absorb all the riches displayed in the Academia. It's certainly better to be selective, rather than trying to see everything and taking in nothing. The following rundown of the museum's highlights should help.
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An/(lsit to the Academia must in lude Veronese's Feast at the House of Levi, a compelling canvas which covers an entire wall in Room X. Painted in 1573 as The Last Supper, this famous work angered Vatican authorities, who reprimanded Veronese for including dogs, buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such absurdities. Given three months to correct the picture, Veronese simply retiled it. None of the fascism noting figures (look for the animals under the table) was removed; the masterpiece remained intact.
In the same room hang Tintoretto's dazzling St. Mark paintings, notably the haunting Transport of the Body of St. Mark. Titian's late, dark and sober Pielil is also here. The overpowering Room XI contains Veronese and Tintoretto masterpieces and some memorable Tiepolo all worth close examination. Room XX has two of Venice's most famous paintings. Gentile Bellini's Procession Around the Piazza Bearing the Cross shows how little San Marco has changed since 1496except for its mosaics and the addition of the clock tower and Procurator Nova to the Piazza. In the second one, Carpaccio's The Miracle of the Holy Cross at the Rialto Bridge with its intriguingly familiar gondolas on the Grand Canal, we can see the previous bridge at the Rialto.
Carpaccio's greatly admired St. Ursula cycle in Room XXI portrays the King I of England and others involved with the tragic young lady. Presentation by Titian, in Room XXIV, is considered . one of the master's finest works. Far smaller in size but none the less celebrated are the paintings in Rooms IV and V, particularly Mantegna's St. George, Giorgione's Tempest I and Giovanni Bellini's series of the Madonna and Child.
Santa Maria die Mira coli Venetians call this their golden jewel box (spring Doro), and like to get married here. Some enthusiasts call it the most beautiful church in the world. Though difficult to find in the warren of canals and narrow walkways behind the Rialto Bridge, Santa Maria dei Miracle enchants even the most indifferent church visitor. Those pioneers of early Renaissance architecture, the Lombardo family, built this surprisingly small church between 1481 and 1489, marbling the inner and outer walls and covering its arched ceiling with portraits of holy men.
The Miracoli was built for and named after the picture of the Virgin Mary at the towering altar, one of a number of medieval religious portraits in Venice credited with miraculous healing. The afternoon, when sunshine streaming through the windows glints off the gilt ceiling, is the best time to see the Mira coli. The custodian will turn on the lights for close inspection of the remarkable carved figures decorating the choir stalls and the entire chancel. You may not visit the church during religious services.
Though not on the main tourist itinerary, this is one of the true treasures of Venice; to sit quietly in a pew when the Mira coli is uncrowned is an ' unforgettable experience. The church dominates its immediate neighborhood: one photo shop proudly dis ' plays pictures of the latest j crop of beaming brides and nervous looking grooms, blissfully ignoring the Renaissance splendor of the Mira I coli. San Sebastian purportedly the best restored church in Venice, San Sebastian is a glittering tribute to that much loved painter Veronaese, who is buried here among many of his works. It was built in 1548 to commemorate the end of a plague.
Veronese painted most of the colorful, sensuous works decorating the walls, altar and fantastic ceiling. For a small sum to cover our electricity bill, the custodian will be glad to turn on the lights which, with the handy viewing mirror, is the only way to really see one of Venice's most beautiful churches. San Nicole dei Mend coli Often overlooked way down behind the docks, this humble parish church, erected in the 7th century, is one of Venice's gems. The campanile of San Nicolo has stood for 800 years; noisy children are admonished to be quiet or it will fall down.
The candlelit interior conveys an entrancingly ancient atmosphere. Its beautiful madonnas and gilt arches have been carefully restored by the British Venice in Peril Fund. Almost 200 years passed between the time work started on this huge brick church and its consecration in 1430. Ever since, it has had a very special place in Venetian hearts. One of the city's two great Gothic churches (with the Frari), it is commonly known as the Pantheon of Venice because so many doges and lesser republican dignitaries are buried here.
Art experts argue about the comparative merits of Giovanni Bellini's very early polyptych (right-hand nave) I and Lorenzo Lotto's mellow toned St. Anthony. But it's the I tombs, some with graphically , morbid sculptures, that dominate the church, often arousing strong emotions. In the campo (small square) outside proudly stands the 15th century masterpiece by Andrea Verrocchio and Ales-sandro Leopardi, probably the world's most famous equestrian statue. The rider assertive in glimmering green:
was Bartolommeo Colleoni, a mercenary captain who left money for a statue of himself, stipulating that it should be erected in the Piazza San Marco. The republic did not ordinarily erect monuments to contemporary figures, but hated to waste the money; it shrewdly decided to put Colleen's statue outside the Scuola di San Marco instead (now Venice's municipal hospital), next to San Zanipolo.
