We’re in Venice, a city that Americans and lots of other tourist love. I am always happy to be anywhere in Italy, though I will confess, Venice is not the draw for me that it is for others. It takes a little more work to see below the surface, and the way to do that is to try to walk away from the more touristy areas. Today though, was mostly about San Marco, and that is definitely a touristy area!
Our professor gave us a Spotify list of music that was performed or specifically composed for San Marco, and we listened as we walked around the sanctuary. The parts that I was most looking forward to, though, were waiting upstairs. My 2023 Madonna was waiting (she’s on the right, above) and this year I captured a couple of other mosaics too.
I feel possessive of the Madonna because I made a square print from the photo of her face and it hangs in my bathroom. At my house, she is the Madonna of the toothbrushing because I look at her calm but a little sad, young face, morning and night.
These mosaics are from the 13th and 14th century and were on the walls of the women’s gallery. Because the fragments are now conserved at eye level, I really feel a connection with the faces while being able to appreciate the detailed work. The folds of fabric, the curve of the shoulders, the lines around the eyes– all done with tiny little squares.
My second favorite art is also upstairs: the four bronze horses (Cavalli di San Marco):
The heads and faces are so animated! These are the originals, and may date from the 2nd-3rd centuries or perhaps the 4th-5th. They are actually made mostly of copper, and were long displayed in Constantinople. They originally pulled a chariot. Venetians sacked Constantinople in 1204 (the Fourth Crusade). They severed the heads to transport them (you can cry if you want to), and moved them to Venice, adding the collars to mask the damage. They were displayed high up on on San Marco from 1254.
Napoleon brought them to France after he took Venice 1797. After 1815, Venice asked for and received them back, and they were displayed outside until 1980. After that time, copies were made and those are outside today. I’ve photographed the originals which are protected inside. I have another photo from 2023 which is on the same bathroom wall with the Madonna.
With a beautiful and cloudless blue sky, everything looked magnificent from the high terrace of San Marco this morning.
We left San Marco and visited two more sites. One was a fraternal organization that had been founded to help the people of Dalmatia, back in the day. The art on the walls has recently been restored with the help of an American foundation with the mission to save Venetian art. I was most struck by a painting that used light to represent the wisdom of St. Jerome pouring over a scholar, perhaps St. Augustine. The attentiveness of the little white dog, sitting in the light, really captured my imagination:
There were also some paintings of the story of St. George slaying the dragon and saving the princess…and then converting her Muslim family to Christianity. The painting is revered for its depiction of Arabic clothing. I liked the detail of the pumpkin, wrapped in a turban, in the foreground of the conversion panel:
We also viewed a famous Bellini painting at St. Zaccaria’s Church. This painting had a rough time. It was stolen by Napolean, and cut to fit a spot somewhere in France. When it came back, it has been hung in the same church, but not the same location, and doesn’t fit exactly. Bellini built up the layers of tempera color gradually. The church does not have bright light, so this was a little hard to see, but maybe the pinks look peachy, like the cocktail his work inspired?
You can see how the bottom and top are lost and don’t fit the space.
We had a very cool lunch event: current Colorado College students, studying in Florence, with their class, came to Venice to eat pizza with us and visit. It was a nice long lunch (and good pizza.) It’s always exciting, for me anyway, to be around students of any age. The ones we sat with are having a great college experience, and also with this particular class.
Mark and I strolled around a bit after we bid the students goodbye, and took a break because we wanted to be rested for our evening: a tour of a very old palazzo that is now the home of a very important music conservatory in Italy. We entered the former Palazzo di Pisani after dark. It was moody. The family fell into ruin after Napoleon conquered Venice, and the palazzo became apartments. Eventually it was purchased by the City of Venice and now houses the conservatory. There is grandeur and lots of areas that could be, should be, or are being restored.
We were ushered into the music library where we saw their two most prized treasures. One is a handwritten composition by Vivaldi, which was long lost, but now has been published. The second is the baton Wagner, who died in Venice, used for his last concert.
Two students gave us a short but wonderful violin concert, and we ended the evening by walking all the way up to the open air roof for a view of Venice and beyond in the moolight.
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