Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Head up Sansovino's 24-carat gilt stuccowork
Scala d'Oro
(Golden Staircase) and emerge
into rooms covered with gorgeous propaganda. In the Palladio- designed
Sala delle Quattro
Porte
(Hall of the Four Doors), ambassadors awaited ducal audiences under a lavish dis-
play of Venice's virtues by Giovanni Cambi, whose over-the-top stuccowork earns him
the nickname Bombarda. Other convincing shows of Venetian superiority include Titian's
1576
Doge Antonio Grimani Kneeling Before Faith
amid approving cherubs and
Tiepolo's 1740s
Venice Receiving Gifts of the Sea from Neptune,
where Venice is a gor-
geous blonde casually leaning on a lion.
Delegations waited in the
Anticollegio
(Council Antechamber), where Tintoretto drew par-
allels between Roman gods and Venetian government:
Mercury and the Three Graces
re-
ward Venice's industriousness with beauty, and
Minerva Dismissing Mars
is a Venetian
triumph of savvy over brute force. The recently restored ceiling is Veronese's 1577
Venice
Distributing Honours
, while on the walls is a vivid reminder of diplomatic behaviour to
avoid: Veronese's
Rape of Europe
.
Few were granted an audience in the Palladio- designed
Collegio
(Council Room), where
Veronese's 1575-78
Virtues of the Republic
ceiling shows Venice as a bewitching blonde
waving her sceptre like a wand over Justice and Peace. Father-son team Jacopo and Do-
menico Tintoretto attempt similar flattery, showing Venice keeping company with Apollo,
Mars and Mercury in their
Triumph of Venice
ceiling for the
Sala del Senato
(Senate Hall),
but frolicking lagoon sea-monsters steal the scene.
