The Mentor: Venice, the Island City, Vol. 1, Num. 27, Serial No. 27
Date: 2015-09-06T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Venice (Italy) -- Description and travel

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Title: The Mentor: Venice, the Island City, Vol. 1, Num. 27, Serial No. 27

Author: Dwight L. Elmendorf

Release date: September 6, 2015 [eBook #49891]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MENTOR: VENICE, THE ISLAND CITY, VOL. 1, NUM. 27, SERIAL NO. 27 ***

The Mentor, No. 27,
Venice, the Island City

The Mentor

“A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”

Vol. 1 No. 27

VENICE, THE ISLAND CITY

ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL

DOGE’S PALACE AND CAMPANILE

BRIDGE OF SIGHS

GRAND CANAL

TYPICAL VENETIAN CANAL

RIALTO BRIDGE

A Trip Around the World with
DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF, Lecturer and Traveler.

“The Pearl of the Adriatic,” she has been called. “Queen of the Sea” is another of the poetic terms applied to her. If all the expressions that have been used by admirers to pay tribute to the beauty of Venice were gathered together, they would make a glossary of eulogy of considerable size. It was inevitable from the beginning that Venice should receive such homage; for she has a beauty that distinguishes her from all other cities. She is absolutely unique in picturesque attraction and in romantic interest. There are many cities that draw the admiration of the traveler: there is but one Venice, and anyone who has been there and felt her spell cannot wonder at the worshipful admiration that she has received from the time of her birth in the sea.

The fascination of Venice for the traveler is such that ordinary terms of appreciation are insufficient. The city takes complete possession of one, and visitors who have surrendered to her charms are referred to as having the “Venice fever.” All who love beauty have had more or less violent attacks—the artist is most susceptible to it.

THE GRAND CANAL DURING A FÊTE

This is the main artery of traffic in Venice. It is nearly two miles long, and varies from 100 to 200 feet in width. It is adorned with about two hundred magnificent old patrician palaces.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

Venice is built on a group of little islands. At a depth of from ten to fifteen feet there is a firm bed of clay; below that a bed of sand or gravel, and then a layer of peat. Artesian wells dug to the depth of sixteen hundred feet have shown a regular succession of these beds. On this base, piles, where they have been used for the foundation, have become petrified. So the city may be described actually as having been built up from the bed of the sea. In its physical aspect it may be summed up by saying that Venice stands on 117 small islands formed by something like 150 canals and joined together by 378 bridges.

THE GRAND CANAL BY MOONLIGHT

There is but little in the way of sidewalks. Occasional narrow paths of stone skirt the canals; but in many places the water laps the very walls of the buildings, and transportation is to be had only by boat. Of course there are many lanes and passages among the houses; but the general effect is such as would make an impression on the traveler of a city set in the sea, and the people live, move, and have their being on either stone or water. They are strangers to groves, shady lanes, and country places. Some of the inhabitants of Venice have never seen a horse or a cow.

A GONDOLA

These black-painted craft take the place of cabs in Venice. They are propelled by a gondolier, who stands at the rear.

The city is divided into two parts by the Grand Canal, which is nearly two miles in length and varies from 100 to 200 feet in width. It makes a fine curve like the letter S, and by this it displays to advantage the magnificent residences that line it. There on its gleaming surface are to be seen the brilliant pageants of the city,—gondolas and autoboats in great number, gay parties, chatting and laughing and tossing flowers, and the whole stretch a blaze of intoxicating color. Some of the most attractive views of Venice are to be had not from within the canal, but from some point out in the lagoon. Your map of Venice will show you the city not literally situated in the Adriatic Sea, but located within the lagoon and protected from the outer sea by long sand hills strengthened by bulwarks of masonry. From the strip to the mainland, across the lagoon, where Venice is situated, the distance is about five miles, and in this stretch of water you will see many striped posts called “pali.” These mark the navigable channels about the city.

VENICE AND THE ADRIATIC SEA

A panorama of the beautiful “Island City.”

ST. MARK’S

It is not the physical conditions alone that make Venice unique. In the beauty and interest of its domestic architecture it ranks before any city in the world. The mosaics of Venice have been famous for centuries, and are today the marvel of all who see them. The spot where Venice has massed the gems of her beauty is St. Mark’s Place.

A VENETIAN CANAL

One of the smaller and narrower canals of Venice.

ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL

The remains of St. Mark, the tutelary saint of Venice, are said to have been brought from Alexandria in 829, and to have been buried here.

The view of Venice most familiar to stay-at-home bodies is the one to be had from across the water looking at St. Mark’s Place, and including, besides the cathedral of St. Mark, the Doge’s (doje) Palace and Campanile (cam-pa-nee´-le) Tower, and in some cases a glimpse of the Bridge of Sighs. The Piazza of St. Mark is called the “Heart of Venice.” All the life of the city surges there at certain times, then sweeps from there through its various channels. It is gayest on summer evenings, when the population turns out to enjoy the fresh air and listen to the military band. At that time the piazza is brilliant with fashionable people. Go there on a moonlight night, and you will find it a dream of beauty. You must see, of course, the pigeons of St. Mark’s. Flocks of them circle about the square or gather in groups on the pavement, wherever food is to be found. The pigeons of St. Mark’s used to be fed at public expense. It is not necessary now: there are always plenty of travelers that will pay them this pleasant toll for the sake of being photographed in their company. St. Mark’s Place is 191 yards in length, and in width 61 yards on one side and 90 on the other. The beautiful effect of it can hardly be expressed. It is paved with trachyte and marble, and surrounded by buildings that are not only important historically but most interesting architecturally.

THE RECONSTRUCTED CAMPANILE OF ST. MARK’S

The Church of St. Mark, now a cathedral, was begun in 830. The year before that the bones of St. Mark, the saint of Venice, were brought from Alexandria, and they now lie buried in the church. This marvelous building is Romanesque in style. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries it was remodeled and decorated with most lavish magnificence. In the fifteenth century it received some Gothic additions which enhanced its effect. In such short space as this it is impossible to do justice to the beauty of St. Mark’s. It is best by far to rest on what Ruskin has said in his “Stones of Venice”:

“The effects of St. Mark’s depend not only upon the most delicate sculpture in every part, but eminently on its color also, and that the most subtle, variable, inexpressible color in the world,—the color of glass, of transparent alabaster, of polished marble, and lustrous gold.”

AMERICANS FEEDING THE DOVES OF ST. MARK’S

The building is in the form of a Greek cross, with mosaics covering more than 4,500 square feet. Over the upper entrance are four horses in gilded bronze, counted among the finest of ancient bronzes. They may have adorned the triumphal arch of Nero or that of Trajan in Rome. The Emperor Constantine sent them to Constantinople, and from there they were brought by the Doge Dandolo to Venice in 1204. These horses were taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1797, and for awhile crowned a triumphal arch in that city. After Napoleon’s downfall, in 1815, the bronzes were restored to their original place at Venice.

PALACE AND CAMPANILE

Close beside the cathedral of St. Mark stands the square Campanile, the most prominent feature in all Venetian views. Standing 325 feet high, the Campanile always dominated the picturesque low stretch of Venice’s skyline and gave a peculiar distinction to the whole scene. It seemed indeed to many Venetians and to lovers of Venice all over the world that the city had lost its crowning feature when, in 1902, the Campanile collapsed. It was originally erected in 900 and rebuilt in 1329. After it had fallen Venice seemed maimed, and the hearts of thousands felt the depression until the tower was rebuilt and the city could once again hold up its beautiful head. A new tower was built by Piacentini (pee´-ah-chen-tee´-nee) during the years 1905 to 1911, and on completion it was consecrated with most impressive ceremonies.

LION OF ST. MARK’S

The Doge’s Palace was originally founded about 800; but was destroyed by fire five times, and each time rebuilt on a grander scale. The older part of the present edifice was built in 1309; while the west wing, facing on the piazzetta, was built between 1424 and 1438 by the celebrated architects Buon, father and son.

In gazing at the Doge’s Palace the eye is first caught by the upper arcade. From there the sentences of the “Council of Ten” were pronounced—listened to by the assembled people in silence and in awe.

THE BRONZE HORSES OF ST. MARK’S

These horses are among the finest of ancient bronzes. They probably once adorned the triumphal arch of Nero, emperor of Rome.

The columns of this arcade are most beautiful, and have been pointed to with pride for years. Ruskin describes the detail of the sculptured columns, and declares that they are the finest of their kind in Europe. The interior of the Doge’s Palace is wonderful. Tintoretto’s painting of “Paradise” is there, a marvel in size and in detail. The residence of the Doges and the apartment in which the authorities held their meetings are there, revealing still much of their ancient glory. The palace is virtually a museum, and it shows a great display of fine paintings, containing, among others, notably works of Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, (vay-ro-nay´-seh) and Palma Giovane (jo-vah´-neh). Days could be spent profitably wandering through these halls, studying the treasures of art and history to be found there.

THE PALACE OF THE DOGES

The Doge’s Palace is said to have been founded beside the church of St. Theodore about 800 for the first Doge of Venice. It has been rebuilt and altered many times.

SCALA DEI GIGANTI, DOGE’S PALACE

The Stairway of the Giants, so called from the colossal statues of Mars and Neptune at the top, leads to the Palace of the Doges. On the highest landing of these steps, in the later days of the Republic, the Doges were crowned.

BRIDGE OF SIGHS

HALL OF THE GRAND COUNCIL, DOGE’S PALACE

This was the assembly hall of the great council, which consisted of all members of the nobility over twenty.

In one room you will find yourself gazing from a window at a sight that will be familiar to you; though you may never have traveled before. You will exclaim when you see it, “The Bridge of Sighs!” A corridor nearby leads you to the bridge. You will take it, and find that it conducts you across from the Palace of the Doges to the prison, where are to be seen the gloomy walls as well as the torture chamber and the place of execution of former days. The Bridge of Sighs is best known in Venice, and the reason for it is chiefly sentimental. The Council of Ten of the Middle Ages is supposed to have sent doomed state prisoners across this bridge to their execution. We gather that these unfortunates saw the light of day for the last time when crossing the bridge. The thought is enough to seize upon the imagination of visitors, and many of them indulge themselves in sympathetic reveries when there. The interior of the Bridge of Sighs is gloomy enough to start creepy feelings; but there is no need of wasting too much sentiment on it. W. D. Howells calls it a “pathetic swindle.” As a matter of fact, there is no evidence that any great number of prisoners, or any prisoner of importance, ever crossed there.

BRONZE WELL, DOGE’S PALACE

Aside from any sentimental reason, however, the Bridge of Sighs is most interesting architecturally. It was built in 1600. It is attractive in design, and it makes a good picture, connecting with fine lines the two grim buildings on each side and bridging over the long, narrow canal beneath.

PICTURESQUE WATERWAYS

The canals of Venice are of varying width, and as they wind through the city they offer picturesque nooks and corners that have from the earliest times captivated the eye of the artist. F. Hopkinson Smith, a long-time devotee of Venice, has painted several hundred pictures, and at that has drawn but lightly on the possibilities of the subject.

Little canals in deep shadows, wider canals in sunlight, some straight, some curved, and at various points picturesquely bridged, supply effects in light and color that the eye greets with delight.

THE GRAND CANAL

THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE

Erected in 1641-56 in commemoration of the removal of the plague in 1630. The interior contains excellent paintings by Titian.

It is trite and ineffective simply to say that the Grand Canal is the great artery and thoroughfare of Venice. It is so much more than that: it is a magnificent show course adorned with two hundred or more magnificent palaces dating from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and beautiful churches and interesting public buildings. A sightseeing trip in a gondola affords the visitor an object of architectural beauty and historic interest at every rod. The historic interest of some of these houses is double,—the interest attached to them by virtue of the original patrician owners, and a new interest acquired through the residence in them of notable men of later time. Drift slowly along this splendid waterway. Marble steps lead down from the noble residences to the water’s edge. Tall posts bearing the colors of the family serve as hitching posts for the boats. Your guide will tell you the stories, poetic and dramatic, of the families whose names are set down in the great roll of the nobility of Venice entitled “The Book of Gold.” Then you will be told of the later associations that enhance the interest of some of the palaces. That handsome mansion over there is where Desdemona lived. Nearby it is the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi, (ven-drah´-min cahl-ehr´-gee) in which Richard Wagner (vahg´-ner) died in 1883. That stately palace over there was for a time the home of Robert Browning; he died there in 1889, and there is a memorial tablet on the wall. Look at those three palaces close together. The one in the center was occupied by Lord Byron in 1818. Nearby is the Browning home, a Gothic building, in which W. D. Howells wrote his “Venetian Life.” In another palace George Sand had residence for a time. The great painter Titian (tish´-an) lived in one of these buildings.

PALAZZO VENDRAMIN-CALERGI

Richard Wagner, the composer, died in this house in 1883.

Each structure has its interest. Each bend of the canal reveals new beauties. Across the beautiful waterway are three bridges—the name of one is familiar the world over.

THE BRIDGE OF THE RIALTO

For many years this was the only bridge across the Grand Canal, and it stands for much of the past glory of Venice. It is made of marble, and is over 150 feet long. It was built between the years 1588 and 1592, and is today, as it was in early times, a place of shops. Here Shylocks have bargained and Bassanios have met their friends these many years. More literally speaking, it was not the Bridge of the Rialto that Shylock refers to in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” but the district nearby.

It is difficult for anyone who has visited Venice to select single points for comment or description. The city appeals to him as a whole, and each object of beauty in it is a part of the wonderful whole. The essence of Venice is a dreamy, poetic charm,—a charm of light, color, and form, not of sound. Mrs. Oliphant writes:

“Venice has long borne in the imagination of the world a distinctive position, something of the character of a great enchantress, a magician of the seas.… She is all wonder, enchantment, the brightness and glory of a dream.”

THE GRAND CANAL

Looking across the canal we see here an example of the beautiful palaces which line this famous thoroughfare.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Studies in the History of Venice | H. R. F. Brown
Venice | H. R. F. Brown
Makers of Venice | Mrs. Oliphant
The Venetian Republic (two volumes) | W. C. Hazlitt
Venetian Life | W. D. Howells
St. Mark’s Rest | John Ruskin
The Stones of Venice | John Ruskin
Gondola Days | F. Hopkinson Smith
Literary Landmarks of Venice | Laurence Hutton
Pen Sketches | Finley Archer

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Subscribers desiring further information concerning this subject can obtain it by writing to

The Mentor Association

381 Fourth Avenue, New York City

ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL, VENICE

VENICE
St. Mark’s Cathedral

ONE

The Church of St. Mark’s is unequaled in the whole world for richness of material and construction. It was originally the private chapel of the Doge or ruler of Venice. One reason for its being so richly adorned is that there was a law in Venice which required every merchant trading with the East to bring back some material for the decoration of the church. Thus it became the final resting place of the adornments from countless other buildings, both in the East and in Italy. The building has been compared to the treasure den of a band of pirates. It forms a museum of sculpture of the most varied kind, from the fourth century down to the latest Renaissance.

In 828 a little wooden church was built to receive the relics of the Apostle Mark. The Moslems had pulled down the church where he was buried in Alexandria; so his remains were brought to Venice, and Saint Mark became the patron saint of the city in place of Saint Theodore. In 976 this wooden church was burned, along with the ducal palace, in the insurrection against Doge Canadiano IV. The church was rebuilt on a larger scale by Pietro Orseolo and his successors. It was a very simple church, in the form of a Greek cross, built of brick in the Romanesque style. It was adorned with lines of colored brick, and brick set in patterns here and there. On it were five low cupolas. St. Mark’s grew in wealth as Venice became rich and important.

Doge Contarini remodeled the cathedral in 1063. Byzantine and Lombard workmen were employed, and the two styles of architecture were joined. The low brick cupolas were covered by high domes of wood roofed with metal. Parts of the walls were sheathed with slabs of alabaster. Incrusted marbles and mosaics were used further to decorate the outside. Then in the fifteenth century the Gothic pinnacles and other florid adornments of the exterior were added. The final result is the finest piece of many-colored architecture in Europe.

The Cathedral of St. Mark is in its present form a Greek cross, surmounted by a dome at each end and one in the center. The west front has five great porches opening upon the Piazza di San Marco. The church contains five hundred columns, mostly in oriental style, with richly ornamented capitals.

The top of the narthex (that part of the church nearest the main entrance) forms a wide gallery, in the center of which stand the four great bronze horses which are said to have belonged to some Greco-Roman triumphal quadriga, and to have been brought to Venice by Doge Enrico Dandolo after the fall of Constantinople in 1204. In 1797 Napoleon carried them to Paris; but they were restored by Francis of Austria in 1815.

The pala d’oro, or retable of the high altar, is one of the chief glories of St. Mark’s, and is one of the most magnificent specimens of goldsmiths’ and jewelers’ work in existence. The famous treasury of St. Mark’s contains a precious collection of church plate, jeweled book bindings, and other artistic treasures of the early Middle Ages.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE CAMPANILE AND DOGE’S PALACE, VENICE

VENICE
The Campanile and Doge’s Palace

TWO

On July 14, 1902, the Campanile or bell tower of St. Mark’s Cathedral fell to earth with a crash. Earthquakes and a rotting foundation at length worked its ruin. But its reconstruction was begun in 1905, and the new tower was completed in 1911, nine years after the fall. The Campanile stands, as is usually the case in Italy, detached from the church. The first bell tower on this site was built in 900. The one that fell in 1992 was probably erected in 1329.

The Campanile signified to the Venetians the greatness of Venice. It was used as a watch tower before the year 1000. Then in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it became a bell tower also. Its bells rang out at the first hint of danger to warn the citizens of the republic. During later times these bells announced the taking of Constantinople by Dandolo to a waiting and expectant crowd; the victory of Lepanto, which made Venice master of the East; the establishment of her fights of sovereignty against Rome. They clanged when Martin Paliero, the traitor Doge, was beheaded. They tolled a dirge when the peace of Campoformio ended the Venetian republic forever. When the lagoons were united to the Italian mainland they rang out in announcement.

When the Campanile fell the Venetians were shocked and broken-hearted. There was some question as to whether it could be reconstructed; but the Italians were determined that it should be. In its fall the bell tower inclined toward the north and open piazza. If it had fallen in any other direction, either the Library of Sansovino, or the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Cathedral, or the royal palace would have been destroyed. In fact, some of the debris fell very near St. Mark’s; but did not disfigure it in the least.

The old foundations of the Campanile were used as a nucleus for the new. The shaft outside is a perfect model of the old bell tower; but by modifying the inside the weight has been reduced 20,000 tons.

The nucleus of the first Venice, before it was made the seat of government of the republic, is said to have been the little district about the great bridge over the Grand Canal, which still retains the name Rialto. But as soon as the island group of Rivo Alto became the capital of the Venetian republic a palace for the Doge was erected near the open mouth, on the site that its successor still occupies. This earliest palace was probably built about the year 800. It was burned down in 976 and again in 1106. The present magnificent building was a slow growth over three centuries.

As a whole, the Doge’s Palace as it now stands may be regarded externally as the characteristic typical example of fully developed Venetian Gothic. It is built of brick, and is lined or incrusted with small lozenge-like slabs of variously colored marble.

The interior of the Doge’s Palace is of much later date than is the exterior. On the walls of the chief council chambers are oil paintings by many Venetians, among them Tintoretto’s masterpiece “Bacchus and Ariadne,” and the huge picture of Paradise, the largest oil painting in the world.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE

VENICE
The Bridge of Sighs

THREE

Everyone probably has heard of the Ponte de Sospiri or Bridge of Sighs. It is said that over this bridge walked political prisoners in the days of Venice’s greatness, and these men were never seen again. This bridge, however, is, as W. D. Howells says, “A pathetic swindle.” The Bridge of Sighs dates only from the sixteenth century, and since that time there has been only a single instance (Antonio Foscarini) of political imprisonment. The bridge led from the criminal courts in the palace to the criminal prisons on the other side of the Rio Canal.

The prisons really used for political offenders were the Pozzi, often wrongly described as being beneath the level of the canal. A thick wooden casing to the walls protected the inmates from damp, and the romantic accounts of the horrors of these prisons are probably all imaginary. The best known is that of Charles Dickens:

“I descended from the cheerful day into two ranges, one below another, of dismal, awful, horrible stone cells. They were quite dark. Each had a loophole in its massive wall, where, in the old time, every day a torch was placed, to light the prisoners within, for half an hour. The captives, by the glimmering of these brief rays, had cut and scratched inscriptions in the blackened vaults. I saw them; for their labor with the rusty nail’s point had outlived their agony and them through many generations. One cell I saw in which no man remained for more than twenty-four hours; being marked for dead before he entered it. Hard by, another, and a dismal one, whereto at midnight the confessor came,—a monk brown-robed and hooded,—ghastly in the day and free, bright air, but in the midnight of the murky prison Hope’s extinguisher and Murder’s herald. I had my foot upon the spot where at the same dread hour the shriven prisoner was strangled; and struck my hand upon the guilty door—low-browed and stealthy—through which the lumpish sack was carried out into a boat and rowed away, and drowned where it was death to cast a net.”

The Council of Ten which ruled Venice for many years had its place of assembly during the sixteenth century in one of the smaller apartments of the ducal palace on the second floor, a circular room with large windows, looking on the canal spanned by the Bridge of Sighs. This council had absolute power in administering justice and in governing the Venetian State.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE

VENICE
The Grand Canal

FOUR

The Grand Canal, or Canalazzo, the street of the nobles in Venice, is one of the deeper channels in the lagoon. It is the original Rivo Alto, or deep stream, that created Venice, and up which the commerce of all countries was able to reach the city in the days of her splendor. Let us step into a gondola, and, telling our gondolier to keep to the left side till we reach the railway station, ascend the canal. That long, low building flanking the exact end of the canal, looking seaward, is the Dogana di Mare. It was erected in 1676 by Benoni. There on the summit are two Atlases bearing a gilded globe. A bronze Fortuna surmounts this, serving as a weather vane. And over there stands the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. During the plague of 1630 the republic vowed to give a church to Our Lady of Deliverance if the pestilence was removed, and the building was begun in 1631.

Passing along the canal we now come to a large, new palace, the Palazza Genovese, erected in 1898, an imitation of the earlier Gothic buildings.

After this we float by many houses and palaces until we finally reach the mouth of the Rio San Barnaba, where we see the huge and lofty Rezzonico, which was formerly the home of the poet Robert Browning. We float on and on by many more palaces and canals until we reach the Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto). We go under this strikingly picturesque bridge, past the fish market, and finally reach the Fondaco dei Turchi (Warehouse of the Turks). This is a large palace, and got its name in the seventeenth century, when it was let out to the Turkish merchants in Venice. It is representative of the Byzantine period.

Here we are at the railway station. Now we turn and go down the other bank. We pass the broad mouth of the Cannaregio, and come to the gigantic Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi. Wagner, the great composer, died here. At the entrance to the Rio della Maddalena the canal makes an angle, and after passing many buildings and the mouth of the Rio di Noale we come to the Ca’ d’Oro. This is a very ornate building. Its name, the House of Gold, came from the fact that it was once gilded. Then we go by many palaces, and come to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, or Guild of the German Merchants in Venice. An earlier Teutonic guild hall existed here from the thirteenth century. Venice imported oriental goods and passed them on to Germany. All the quarter round the Rialto Bridge was the business district, the Wall Street of Venice.

We pass under the Ponte di Rialto again, and after a little while arrive at the Palazzo Loredan, the most beautiful house on the Grand Canal. It is a Byzantine-Romanesque Venetian palace, with a distinct oriental feeling. Finally we come to a dainty little house, which the gondolier tells us is Desdemona’s Palace. This palace is named the Contarini-Fasan.

The rest of the canal is mainly occupied by hotels. Beyond the Hotel de l’Europe we come to the gardens of the Royal Palace. Our trip ends at the Bridge of Sighs.

The palaces on the Grand Canal bear witness to the early peace and civilization of Venice. Her houses were built for beauty and pleasure, when the nations of the earth were still building castles for defense.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE RIALTO BRIDGE, VENICE

VENICE
The Rialto Bridge

FIVE

The Ponte di Rialto, or Rialto Bridge, gets its name from the part of Venice it is in. This locality was the ancient city of Venice, and derives its name, Rialto, from Rivo Alto, as the land on the left of the canal was called. Even after the city expanded it continued to be the center of commerce and trade, the business heart of Venice. In this quarter were the Fabriche, or warehouses and custom houses, and many of the handsomest buildings, such as the Fondaco dei Turchi (Warehouse of the Turks) and the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (Warehouse of the Germans). It is this part of the city that Shakespeare means, when Shylock says:

“Signor Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys.”

The first Bridge of Rialto was built by an engineer named Barattieri in 1180. Up to this time a bridge of boats had been used. Barattieri’s bridge may be seen in the great picture of Carpaccio in the Accademia. In the sixteenth century there was a great competition for the honor of designing the new bridge. Fra Giocondo, Sansovino, Palladio, Vignola, and even Michelangelo himself contended. Antonio da Ponte obtained the coveted prize, and he began the present Ponte di Rialto in 1588 under Doge Pasquale Cicogna. At its completion it was very much criticized. Soon, however, this criticism was silenced, and on the engravings of the time it is called “Il Famoso Ponte” (The Famous Bridge). The span of the Rialto Bridge is 91 feet; its height is 24½ feet; its width, 72 feet.

The Annunciation on the bridge is by Girolamo Campagna. The angel is at one end of the span, and the Madonna is at the other end. The dove, flying toward the Madonna, forms the keystone of the bridge.

Along the footway of the bridge is a long line of shops.

Close to the Rialto Bridge is the Church of St. Giacomo di Rialto. This church is said to date from the foundation of the town. It possesses no remains of its antiquity. The campanile of the Church of St. Giacomo is a fine example. Built almost altogether of brick, the long lines of its arcades give an effect of great height. The details are good. Their character is Gothic.

Facing the church a statue of a hunchback, “Il Gobbo di Rialto,” supports a pillar. From the back of this statue the laws of the republic were proclaimed, and this was the center of business life in Venice.

And as we gaze upon all these relics of the past we agree with Lawrence Hutton:

“So strange and so strong is the power of fiction over truth, in Venice, as everywhere else, that Portia and Emilia, Cassio, Antonio, and Iago appear to have been more real here than are the women and men in real life. We see, on the Rialto, Shylock first, and then its history and associations; and the Council Chamber of the Palace of the Doges is chiefly interesting as being the scene of Othello’s eloquent defense of himself.”

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

A TYPICAL VENETIAN CANAL, VENICE

VENICE
A Typical Venetian Canal

SIX

In Venice one takes a gondola as in America he takes a taxicab: with one difference,—after the gondola ride he still has some money left. A gondola is a long black skiff, with graceful lines and a swanlike prow sweeping up from the water. It is typically Venetian. It is admirably adapted to the work it has to do. There are only two points in all Venice where a gondola may not go even at low water,—one near the great theater of the Fenice, and the other near the Palazza Mocenigo at San Stae.

Two is the best number of passengers for a gondola. The rower is out of sight, behind. All is ideal. There is no noise, no dust, not even the feeling of motion, except the ripple of water past the bow.

The wood of which a gondola is built must be well seasoned and without knots. All gondolas turned out of one workshop are the same length. A new gondola is left unpainted for the first year. This is to prove its newness to any possible buyer. An unpainted gondola can easily be examined for knots. As soon as it is painted its value decreases.

The gondoliers become very attached to their own boats. They learn their peculiarities; for a gondola, like a person, has a character of its own.

Since the earliest days of Venice gondolas have been in use. Their present form has resulted from gradual development. The earliest authentic document relating to Venice mentions the light boats that were to the Venetians “as horses tied to the doors of their houses.” At first these boats were simple in construction; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the gondolas became very sumptuous. Finally, so luxurious did they become that they had to be regulated by law. Now they are longer and speedier, and are usually painted black.

There are about twenty ferries operating across the Grand Canal and the Giudecca. They resemble our cab service. The gondoliers also have guilds or unions. The police license the gondolas; but the real laws of the gondolier are those of his guild. Each guild has its own meeting place, where all questions of hours of work and choice of station are settled. If one member of the union becomes sick, he is cared for out of the public purse, and if he dies he is carried to the grave by his fellow members. These guilds are probably the last survivors of the old medieval crafts of Venice.

The skill of the average Venetian gondolier is marvelous. Rare indeed are collisions. These gondoliers are not the romantic heroes one may imagine them to be. They do not float in the moonlight singing serenades beneath their sweethearts’ windows. They are hardy fellows, thrifty, sober, and laborious, good husbands and fathers, matter-of-fact money makers.

One dollar and forty cents a day is the charge for a gondola and its gondolier in the season; at other times the price is forty cents less. A gondolier earns on an average sixty cents a day. This does not seem very much; but the gondoliers live fairly well, and even put money into the bank.

All the gondoliers of Venice are divided into two factions, the Nicolotti and the Castellani. The rivalry between these two is intense, and the question of supremacy was formerly settled by the knife. Nowadays, however, more peaceable but exciting races are the means. The Nicolotti wear a black sash and cap, and the Castellani wear red. There are four principal races a year. The first is rowed in May for a banner of red and gold; in August two pennons are rowed for, the white and gold, and the green; the blue banner is the prize in October.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

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Table of Contents

- The Mentor, No. 27, Venice, the Island City

- VENICE, THE ISLAND CITY

- HOW IT CAME TO BE
- ST. MARK’S
- PALACE AND CAMPANILE
- BRIDGE OF SIGHS
- PICTURESQUE WATERWAYS
- THE GRAND CANAL
- THE BRIDGE OF THE RIALTO
- SUPPLEMENTARY READING

- VENICE St. Mark’s Cathedral
- VENICE The Campanile and Doge’s Palace
- VENICE The Bridge of Sighs
- VENICE The Grand Canal
- VENICE The Rialto Bridge
- VENICE A Typical Venetian Canal
- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE