Venice - Italy - page 321

slightly from the next. Room 1 is primarily concerned with artists influenced by
the Byzantine and Gothic styles. The paintings of Paolo Veneziano, who is cred-
ited with initiating the Venetian school, suggest a confluence of Eastern and
Western influences; the use of gold leaf to give a sheen to the backgrounds reflects
Venice's close connection with Constantinople.
Behind Lorenzo Veneziano's Annunciation with SS Gregory, the Baptist, James
and Stephen (1371) is the stairway leading to Room 2, where works by early-
Renaissance masters (notably Jacopo Bellini and his sons, Giovanni and Gentile)
begin to show the influence of principles of perspective and realism. Vittore
Carpaccio's thrilling Crucifixion and Apotheosis of the Ten Thousand Martyrs of
Mount Ararat (1515) is a standout favorite, one where you'll swear the artist tried
to include all 10,000 willing victims.
As you move through the next few rooms you'll find Giorgione's stirring stud-
ies of humanity, La Tempesta and La Vecchia, which broke ground in their use of
landscape to amplify atmosphere. For many, the highlights of the Accademia are
the works by Titian, who is not much represented in other galleries or museums
in Venice; you'll encounter his work in Room 6, alongside paintings by Tintoretto
and Veronese (his Venice Receives Homage from Hercules and Ceres is particularly
noteworthy).
When you reach Room 8, you'll see how the use of color has grown more
vivid, taking on a quite extraordinary quality; notice, for example, Negretti's
sumptuous use of color in The Assumption.
In Room 10, Titian's Pietà, impressive for its almost Impressionistic quality,
shares space with huge canvases by Veronese and Tintoretto; look for Tintoretto's
study of a group of Christians stealing St. Mark's body. And carefully scan Paolo
Veronese's Feast in the House of Levi (1573), which was commissioned as The Last
Supper, but was considered so defamatory that the artist was hauled before the
Inquisition and ordered to remove details that were thought to corrupt the bibli-
cal event; clearly, he didn't comply. In this and subsequent rooms, pay attention
to the distinguishing characteristics of High Renaissance masters Tintoretto and
Veronese—the former played with light and the sensation of movement to bring
drama to his canvases, while the latter is noted for his striking use of bold, vibrant
colors. Baroque paintings (often by non-native Venetians) occupy Room 11.
Here, Giambattista Tiepolo's Castigo dei Serpenti ( Miracle of the Bronze Serpent;
1731-32) will remind you of a Hollywood disaster movie, its epic destruction
rendered on a monumental scale; the damage to the canvas is a result of the work
being rolled up for 60 years.
Go into Room 13 for a look at Titian's Madonna and Child, and then pause
in Room 12 to consider Francesco Zuccarelli's Baccanale featuring maidens danc-
ing sexily with a number of satyrs.
Head on to Room 20, where massive canvases by Carpaccio, Mansueti, and
Gentile Bellini depict some of the major religious-historic events that have
affected Venice. Notice Bellini's rendition of Piazza San Marco as it “was” in 1496,
and Carpaccio's view of the Rialto Bridge (1494). Back then it was a wooden
structure; the movable midsection is visible in the painting Miracle of the True
Cross at the Rialto Bridge.
The work of Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1526) fills Room 21; the nine remark-
able studies are from a series depicting the legend of St. Ursula transposed into