Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Titian-red robes. According to local lore, a glimpse of the Madonna's wrist slipping
from her cloak has led monks to recant their vows over the centuries.
Both inside and outside the painting, onlookers gasp and point at the sight: with careful
2012 restoration by Save Venice, the Assunta Madonna is positively glowing. Titian out-
did himself here, upstaging his own 1526 Pesaro altarpiece - a dreamlike composite family
portrait of the Holy Family with the Venetian Pesaro family.
Other Masterpieces
As though this weren't quite enough artistic achievement for one church or planet, there's
puzzlework marquetry worthy of MC Escher in the coro (choir stalls), Bellini's achingly
sweet and startlingly 3D Madonna with Child triptych in the sacristy , and Bartolomeo's St
Mark Enthroned , showing the fluffy-bearded saint serenaded by an angelic orchestra in
the Capella Corner .
In the middle of the nave, Baldassare Longhena's eerie Doge Pesaro funereal monument is
hoisted by four burly, black-marble figures bursting from ragged white clothes like Invis-
ible Hulks. Bringing up the rear are disconsolate mourners dabbing at their eyes with the
hems of their cloaks on Canova's marble pyramid mausoleum , which he originally intended
as a monument to Titian. The great painter was lost to the plague at 90 in 1576, but legend
has it that, in light of his contributions here, Venice's strict rules of quarantine were bent
to allow Titian's burial near his masterpiece.
NOT ALLOWED
Note that no phones, cameras or food are allowed in the church, and appropriate dress is required.
Architecture
Built for the Franciscans in the 14th and 15th centuries, of modest brick rather than stone,
the Frari has none of the flying buttresses, pinnacles and gargoyles typical of international
Gothic - but its vaulted ceilings and broad, triple-nave, Latin-cross floor plan give this
cathedral a grandeur befitting its art masterpieces.
The facade facing the canal has delicate scalloping under the roofline, contrasting red-
and-white mouldings around windows and arches, and a repeating circle motif of oculi
(porthole windows) around a high rosette window. The tall bell tower has managed to re-
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