Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Venice in Art
Water may be the first thing you notice about Venice when you arrive, but as you get
closer, you'll discover that this city is actually saturated with art. Canals are just brief
interruptions between artworks in this Unesco World Heritage Site, with more art
treasures than any other city.
Art Heists, Foiled
Until Napoleon grabbed every Venetian painting that he fancied, most remained in the
churches and palaces for which they were painted. But lavishly painted ceilings wer-
en't so easy to detach, and can still be seen their original settings at Chiesa di San Se-
bastiano, Ca' Rezzonico, Palazzo Ducale and Scuola Grande dei Carmini. Tintoretto's
looming masterpieces were left in place at Scuola Grande di San Rocco and Chiesa
della Madonna dell'Orto, where a more portable Bellini was stolen as recently as
1993. Though some of Napoleon's favourite souvenirs remain in the Louvre - includ-
ing Paolo Veronese's Wedding at Cana , ripped from San Giorgio Maggiore's monas-
tery wall and shipped to Paris in pieces - stolen artwork returned after Napoleon's fall
forms the basis of collections at Museo Correr, Accademia and Ca' d'Oro.
Mosaics
All that glitters is probably mosaic in Venice, where the art of making tiny glass
tesserae (tiles) into wall-sized artworks dates from the lagoon's Byzantine heyday.
The medieval lagoon capital of Torcello perfected mosaic technique, with cathedral
mosaics showing the Madonna staring down blue devils tipping the scales of Final
Judgment. But Torcello was soon upstaged by the Basilica di San Marco's 8500 sq
metres of golden mosaics. Even the basilica was impressed with itself: the church is
depicted at least nine times in its own mosaics. To appreciate the effort involved, tech-
nical explanations accompany stunning mosaic fragments at the basilica, the Museo di
Torcello and Murano's Museo del Vetro.
Frescoes
Things are perpetually looking up in Venice, thanks to the prolific maestro of ceiling
frescoes, Giambattista Tiepolo. The sun seems to shine right through the roof of Ch-
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search