Chapter XXIV: Section IX

_The Riva degli Schiavoni--S. Maria della Pietà--Petrarch’s
House--S. Giovanni in Bragora--S. Martino--The Arsenal--The Public
Gardens--S. Pietro in Castello_

Turning S. from the Piazza we pass the Libreria Vecchia, designed by Sansovino to contain the books left to the Republic by Petrarch and Cardinal Bessarione and reach the two columns of grim memories, where Browning delighted to

“observe
The swallows soaring their eternal curve
’Twixt Theodore and Mark.”

To the W., on the site of the present royal gardens, stood the old granaries of the Republic. We turn E., cross the Ponte della Paglia (straw) where the barges laden with straw used to unload, and reach the _Riva degli Schiavoni_, in olden times the most bustling quarter of Venice. Here lived the Schiavoni (Dalmatian sailors), who manned the galleons and argosies of the Republic. Here was the starting-point for the galleys bound for the Holy Land. On the site of the present prison, John the Englishman, in the fourteenth century, kept “The Dragon,” a hostelry, with stables, much patronised by English pilgrims, for horses were then almost as common in Venice as in other mediæval towns. Several of the Doges had the finest stables in Italy, and horses and mules were largely used by the Venetians. There was no wide Riva[110] in those days, only a narrow fondamenta beyond the Molo, which was then a projecting quay, the chief landing-stage of Venice. The Riva is the favourite promenade of the Venetian _popolani_, and affords an ever-changing scene of local colour for the stranger. We cross two bridges to S. Maria della Pietà, which contains a masterpiece (Christ in the House of the Pharisee) by Moretto, the Brescian painter (1498-1560), in the upper choir at the S. end. Just over the next bridge (del Sepolcro, so called because the pilgrims to and from the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem lodged near), is the site of the house given by the Republic to Petrarch. Here he lived with his married daughter, entertained Boccaccio, and had a disputation with a notorious atheist of Venice, whom he failed to convert, and ejected from the house.

We turn N., beyond the house, by the calle del Dose, and reach the church of S. Giovanni in Bragora (the marshes). Here we shall find one of the finest Cimas in Venice (The Baptism of Christ), unhappily difficult to see as a whole, owing to its position behind the high altar. It was painted in 1491. On a pillar, R. of the choir, is another work by the same master--SS. Helena and Constantine; on a pillar to the L. is Alvise Vivarini’s Resurrection, painted in 1498. The Virgin and Child in the second chapel R. of the entrance is generally given to Alvise, though by some critics attributed to Giov. Bellini. On the L. wall is a Virgin and Child with the Baptist and St Andrew by Bartolomeo Vivarini, painted in the same year. Beneath are three predelle by Cima, with scenes from the Invention of the Cross. The church contains also a doubtful Bissolo between the first and second chapels in the R. nave, and a Last Supper by Paris Bordone, utterly disfigured by restoration, in the L. nave.

On leaving, we turn again E. to the church of S. Martino, with a Bocca del Leone (p. 248) in the façade. Just beyond the church we sight the main portal of the great arsenal, once fortified with twelve watch-towers and walls two miles in extent, paced night and day by sentinels. The portal is flanked by the four Greek lions in marble brought from the Porta Leoni at Athens by Francesco Morosini, and surmounted by the Lion of St Mark and a statue of St Giustina by Campagna, to commemorate the victory of Lepanto. The museum contains on the first floor, among other objects of interest, models of Venetian ships and galleys of all kinds, a small carved panel from an old Bucintoro, and a fragment of a mast, all that remains of the last Bucintoro which Goethe saw and described as not over-loaded with decoration, since it was all decoration. A model of this gorgeous vessel may be seen in the room. On the second floor is a collection of weapons and spoils of war. The simple, noble statue of Vittor Pisani faces us as we ascend the staircase. A striking contrast is afforded by Canova’s sentimental monument to Angelo Emo. In the room are preserved the armour of Doge Seb. Ziani, with closed visor and bearing a crest on the cuirass, and of Seb. Venier, with open visor, and crest on cuirass; of Henry IV. of France, and of the condottiero Gattamelata. We cross the iron bridge to the L. of the portal of the arsenal, and return to the Riva. We may now proceed past the church of S. Biagio to the Public Gardens.