PALACE OF THE DOGE.

79

more stern and gloomy than the private entrance which freely now admits the idle traveller. . . . light of heart, and light of foot, who has privilege to come, and power to go, whenever the whim takes him. To him its gloom matters little.... but during the

"Thirteen hundred years of freedom gone,"

that Lord Byron mourns over, when it admitted only the licensed throng, composed of tyrants and of slaves, from the Doge himself to the humble retainer upon his greatness, how many aching hearts must have passed under it!.... This dark entrance is from the narrow canal that divides the palace from the prisons, and across which is thrown the well-known Bridge of Sighs, which connects them together. Another bridge, for the convenience of the walkers passing from the quay before the palace to that before the prison, must be passed under, in order to arrive at the watery portico by which the palace is approached; and when, all the brightness of the Grand Canal being left behind, the gondola has shot this little bridge, it seems to be taking you at once into the very depth of that iron gloom which the imagination has for ever and for ever thrown around the very name of the Venetian prisons... When the boat stops, the Bridge of Sighs hangs high before you, connecting the upper story of the prisons with a floor of equal altitude with the palace; and the dark walls of

...

80

PAINTINGS OF TITIAN AND TINTORETTO.

both rise higher above your head than the eye can reach, while the frowning portico, with its dark steps, which no sun-beam ever reached, is lashed by the silent wave, that seems to flow stealthily up the narrow creek, as if it would perform a dismal errand secretly. All this is in exact keeping with the foregone conclusions respecting this spot which we have all nourished in our fancies throughout life ... and this is one of the reasons which makes it so infinite a pleasure to be here.

Whether this historic palace of the Doge is architecturally beautiful as to its elevation, or not, I am perfectly unable to tell you.... All I know is, that I looked upon it with indescribable delight, and that it seemed to me a precious volume full of history, poetry, and romance. But when I got within it, I found delight of another kind, that had, perhaps, less of fancy in it, and of which, therefore, I may venture to speak with more confidence .... the pictures of Titian, in this the arena of his glory, where he performed his greatest works, near to which he was born, and where, full of honour, he died, wanting but one single year of a century. The pictures of Titian, at Venice, produced an effect somewhat like that of cultivating the intimacy of a man at home, after having more slightly known him abroad. This mighty painter, together with Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and some other great, though lesser names, have left works here, calculated not only to immortalise them

PAINTINGS OF TITIAN AND TINTORETTO. 81

selves, but also the republic, in whose service they laboured, and whose deeds, both of arms and of policy, they record with a splendour of detail, and on an unsparing magnitude of scale, which really make all the pictures seen before seem but little miniatures drawn for a lady's boudoir. Were their enormous size, however, their only or their chief recommendation, the impression left would be of a far different kind. . . . . They are not only splendid in composition, and admirable in execution, but have a warm vigour of life about them that is most extraordinary. The picture

...

known by the name of "The Doge Marino Grimani's Faith" is considered as a chef d'œuvre of Titian's pencil, and is in truth a wonderful picture, so full of life and truth, that we almost fancy the scene it represents is passing before us. Tintoretto, too, is seen here in great perfection, and with a degree of freshness and of splendour which shows both that he worked with ardour and for the spot where the pictures still hang uninjured. Paul Veronese, always and ever the most gorgeous of painters, is at Venice more gorgeous still.. But here, as elsewhere, I felt that, admirable and magnificent as he is, there is never much time left to spare for him when Titian hangs near him. It was with reverence, rather than with admiration, that we contemplated a figure in fresco upon a staircase, said to be the only morsel of fresco remaining of Titian's in Venice. It appears to be very carefully

VOL. II.

G

...

82

PORTRAITS OF THE DOGES.

preserved, but it is greatly faded.

The Hall of

the Pregadi made me quake, for the senators' stalls are still there; and the chamber of the Council of of Ten would have been more awful still, I suppose, were it not that nothing remained to remind me who it was that used to sit there, or where and how they placed their awful persons, as in the case of the Senate Chamber.

The ceiling of this Council of Ten room is by Paul Veronese, and most magnificent. In the old hall of the Great Council, are the portraits of many Doges, hung close together in a series. . . . all being in similar frames, and all of the same size. The frame of this series which produces the strongest effect though there are many goodly faces, and well painted too, amongst them. . . . is that within which, instead of the "counterfeit presentment" of a man, is a black board containing this inscription: Hic est locus Marino Faliero, decapitati pro criminibus. There is something horribly ghastly in this, and I shuddered as if I had seen the headless trunk of the unfortunate offender.

The grand hall of the Great Council, which is the finest room I ever entered, has so much in it, that were it less enormous, it would be awkwardly crowded; but as it is, even the prodigious paintings seem almost lost in its vastness. Tintoretto's

66

Glory of Paradise" is here, but disappointed me, because I had heard it greatly vaunted, and had hoped to see something as noble as his great altar

piece in the old castle near Munich.... but whereas that is all sublime poetry, this seems only an elephant folio of nonsense verses, where, if there be the rhyme of art, there is none of the reason of composition. . . . the whole canvass giving a feeling of violent confusion, that is absolutely painful. Besides the enormous pictures which spread themselves over the walls, there is a charming collection of antique marbles, many among them being of an excellence that even there, where there is so much to divide the attention, holds the spectator spell-bound. But both pictures and statues are but accessories; for this noble room has recently been made the depository of the celebrated library of St. Mark. Of this extremely valuable collection Petrarch is said to have laid the foundation, by presenting to the city his collection of manuscripts; partly, as we may suppose, from a very natural feeling of ambition; and partly, it is said, as a testimony of gratitude for the gracious reception he received when he took refuge here from the plague. . There is a manuscript of the Gospels here, said to be a thousand years old, but not having any introduction to the librarian, we could not see it. With all respect for the celebrated republic of Venice, it certainly seems doubtful whether they either knew or cared much about the literary treasures confided to their keeping. Though one account states that Petrarch's noble benefaction remained for years forgotten, in a small

...