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Stones of Venice [introductions]

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SECTION IV. We must now proceed to obtain some rough idea of the
appearance and distribution of the palace itself; but its arrangement
will be better understood by supposing ourselves raised some hundred and
fifty feet above the point in the lagoon in front of it, so as to get a
general view of the Sea Façade and Rio Façade (the latter in very steep
perspective), and to look down into its interior court. Fig. II. roughly
represents such a view, omitting all details on the roofs, in order to
avoid confusion. In this drawing we have merely to notice that, of the
two bridges seen on the right, the uppermost, above the black canal, is
the Bridge of Sighs; the lower one is the Ponte della Paglia, the
regular thoroughfare from quay to quay, and, I believe, called the
Bridge of Straw, because the boats which brought straw from the mainland
used to sell it at this place. The corner of the palace, rising above
this bridge, and formed by the meeting of the Sea Façade and Rio Façade,
will always be called the Vine angle, because it is decorated by a
sculpture of the drunkenness of Noah. The angle opposite will be called
the Fig-tree angle, because it is decorated by a sculpture of the Fall
of Man. The long and narrow range of building, of which the roof is seen
in perspective behind this angle, is the part of the palace fronting the
Piazzetta; and the angle under the pinnacle most to the left of the two
which terminate it will be called, for a reason presently to be stated,
the Judgment angle. Within the square formed by the building is seen its
interior court (with one of its wells), terminated by small and
fantastic buildings of the Renaissance period, which face the Giant's
Stair, of which the extremity is seen sloping down on the left.

SECTION V. The great façade which fronts the spectator looks southward.
Hence the two traceried windows lower than the rest, and to the right of
the spectator, may be conveniently distinguished as the "Eastern
Windows." There are two others like them, filled with tracery, and at
the same level, which look upon the narrow canal between the Ponte della
Paglia and the Bridge of Sighs: these we may conveniently call the
"Canal Windows." The reader will observe a vertical line in this dark
side of the palace, separating its nearer and plainer wall from a long
four-storied range of rich architecture. This more distant range is
entirely Renaissance: its extremity is not indicated, because I have no
accurate sketch of the small buildings and bridges beyond it, and we
shall have nothing whatever to do with this part of the palace in our
present inquiry. The nearer and undecorated wall is part of the older
palace, though much defaced by modern opening of common windows,
refittings of the brickwork, etc.

SECTION VI. It will be observed that the façade is composed of a smooth
mass of wall, sustained on two tiers of pillars, one above the other.
The manner in which these support the whole fabric will be understood at
once by the rough section, Fig. III., which is supposed to be taken
right through the palace to the interior court, from near the middle of
the Sea Façade. Here _a_ and _d_ are the rows of shafts, both
in the inner court and on the Façade, which carry the main walls;
_b_, _c_ are solid walls variously strengthened with pilasters. A, B, C
are the three stories of the interior of the palace.

[Illustration: FIG. III.]

The reader sees that it is impossible for any plan to be more simple,
and that if the inner floors and walls of the stories A, B were removed,
there would be left merely the form of a basilica,--two high walls,
carried on ranges of shafts, and roofed by a low gable.

The stories A, B are entirely modernized, and divided into confused
ranges of small apartments, among which what vestiges remain of ancient
masonry are entirely undecipherable, except by investigations such as I
have had neither the time nor, as in most cases they would involve the
removal of modern plastering, the opportunity, to make. With the
subdivisions of this story, therefore, I shall not trouble the reader;
but those of the great upper story, C, are highly important.

SECTION VII. In the bird's-eye view above, Fig. II., it will be noticed
that the two windows on the right are lower than the other four of the
façade. In this arrangement there is one of the most remarkable
instances I know of the daring sacrifice of symmetry to convenience,
which was noticed in Chap. VII. as one of the chief noblenesses of the
Gothic schools.

The part of the palace in which the two lower windows occur, we shall
find, was first built, and arranged in four stories in order to obtain
the necessary number of apartments. Owing to circumstances, of which we
shall presently give an account, it became necessary, in the beginning
of the fourteenth century, to provide another large and magnificent
chamber for the meeting of the senate. That chamber was added at the
side of the older building; but, as only one room was wanted, there was
no need to divide the added portion into two stories. The entire height
was given to the single chamber, being indeed not too great for just
harmony with its enormous length and breadth. And then came the question
how to place the windows, whether on a line with the two others, or
above them.

The ceiling of the new room was to be adorned by the paintings of the
best masters in Venice, and it became of great importance to raise the
light near that gorgeous roof, as well as to keep the tone of
illumination in the Council Chamber serene; and therefore to introduce
light rather in simple masses than in many broken streams. A modern
architect, terrified at the idea of violating external symmetry, would
have sacrificed both the pictures and the peace of the council. He would
have placed the larger windows at the same level with the other two, and
have introduced above them smaller windows, like those of the upper
story in the older building, as if that upper story had been continued
along the façade. But the old Venetian thought of the honor of the
paintings, and the comfort of the senate, before his own reputation. He
unhesitatingly raised the large windows to their proper position with
reference to the interior of the chamber, and suffered the external
appearance to take care of itself. And I believe the whole pile rather
gains than loses in effect by the variation thus obtained in the spaces
of wall above and below the windows.

SECTION VIII. On the party wall, between the second and third windows,
which faces the eastern extremity of the Great Council Chamber, is
painted the Paradise of Tintoret; and this wall will therefore be
hereafter called the "Wall of the Paradise."

In nearly the centre of the Sea Façade, and between the first and second
windows of the Great Council Chamber, is a large window to the ground,
opening on a balcony, which is one of the chief ornaments of the palace,
and will be called in future the "Sea Balcony."

The façade which looks on the Piazzetta is very nearly like this to the
Sea, but the greater part of it was built in the fifteenth century, when
people had become studious of their symmetries. Its side windows are all
on the same level. Two light the west end of the Great Council Chamber,
one lights a small room anciently called the Quarantia Civil Nuova; the
other three, and the central one, with a balcony like that to the Sea,
light another large chamber, called Sala del Scrutinio, or "Hall of
Enquiry," which extends to the extremity of the palace above the Porta
della Carta.

SECTION IX. The reader is now well enough acquainted with the topography
of the existing building, to be able to follow the accounts of its
history.

We have seen above, that there were three principal styles of Venetian
architecture; Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance.

The Ducal Palace, which was the great work of Venice, was built
successively in the three styles. There was a Byzantine Ducal Palace, a
Gothic Ducal Palace, and a Renaissance Ducal Palace. The second
superseded the first totally; a few stones of it (if indeed so much) are
all that is left. But the third superseded the second in part only, and
the existing building is formed by the union of the two.

We shall review the history of each in succession. [Footnote: The reader
will find it convenient to note the following editions of the printed
books which have been principally consulted in the following inquiry. The
numbers of the manuscripts referred to in the Marcian Library are given
with the quotations.
Sansovino. Venetia Descritta. 410, Venice, 1663.
Sansovino. Lettera intorno al Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1829.
Temanza. Antica Pianta di Venezia, with text. Venice, 1780.
Cadorin. Pareri di XV. Architetti. Svo, Venice,1838.
Filiasi. Memorie storiche. 8vo, Padua, 1811.
Bettio. Lettera discorsiva del Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1837.
Selvatico. Architettura di Venezia. 8vo, Venice, 1847.]

1st. The BYZANTINE PALACE.

In the year of the death of Charlemagne, 813, the Venetians determined
to make the island of Rialto the seat of the government and capital of
their state. [Footnote: The year commonly given is 810, as in the Savina
Chronicle (Cod. Marcianus), p. 13. "Del 810 fece principiar el pallazzo
Ducal nel luogo ditto Brucio in confin di S. Moise, et fece riedificar
la isola di Eraclia." The Sagornin Chronicle gives 804; and Filiasi,
vol. vi. chap. I, corrects this date to 813.] Their Doge, Angelo or
Agnello Participazio, instantly took vigorous means for the enlargement
of the small group of buildings which were to be the nucleus of the
future Venice. He appointed persons to superintend the raising of the
banks of sand, so as to form more secure foundations, and to build
wooden bridges over the canals. For the offices of religion, he built
the Church of St. Mark; and on, or near, the spot where the Ducal Palace
now stands, he built a palace for the administration of the government.
[Footnote: "Ampliò la città, fornilla di casamenti, _e per il culto d'
Iddio e l' amministrazione della giustizia_ eresse la capella di S.
Marco, e il palazzo di sua residenza."--Pareri, p. 120. Observe, that
piety towards God, and justice towards man, have been at least the
nominal purposes of every act and institution of ancient Venice. Compare
also Temanza, p. 24. "Quello che abbiamo di certo si è che il suddetto
Agnello lo incomminciò da fondamenti, e cosi pure la capella ducale di
S. Marco."]

The history of the Ducal Palace therefore begins with the birth of
Venice, and to what remains of it, at this day, is entrusted the last
representation of her power.

SECTION X. Of the exact position and form of this palace of Participazio
little is ascertained. Sansovino says that it was "built near the Ponte
della Paglia, and answeringly on the Grand Canal," towards San Giorgio;
that is to say, in the place now occupied by the Sea Façade; but this
was merely the popular report of his day. [Footnote: What I call the
Sea, was called "the Grand Canal" by the Venetians, as well as the great
water street of the city; but I prefer calling it "the Sea," in order to
distinguish between that street and the broad water in front of the
Ducal Palace, which, interrupted only by the island of San Giorgio,
stretches for many miles to the south, and for more than two to the
boundary of the Lido. It was the deeper channel, just in front of the
Ducal Palace, continuing the line of the great water street itself which
the Venetians spoke of as "the Grand Canal." The words of Sansovino are:
"Fu cominciato dove si vede, vicino al ponte della paglia, et
rispondente sul canal grande." Filiasi says simply: "The palace was
built where it now is." "Il palazio fu fatto dove ora pure
esiste."--Vol. iii. chap. 27. The Savina Chronicle, already quoted,
says: "in the place called the Bruolo (or Broglio), that is to say on
the Piazzetta."]

We know, however, positively, that it was somewhere upon the site of the
existing palace; and that it had an important front towards the
Piazzetta, with which, as we shall see hereafter, the present palace at
one period was incorporated. We know, also, that it was a pile of some
magnificence, from the account given by Sagornino of the visit paid by
the Emperor Otho the Great, to the Doge Pietro Orseolo II. The
chronicler says that the Emperor "beheld carefully all the beauty of the
palace;" [Footnote: "Omni decoritate illius perlustrata."--Sagornino,
quoted by Cadorin and Temanza.] and the Venetian historians express
pride in the buildings being worthy of an emperor's examination. This
was after the palace had been much injured by fire in the revolt against
Candiano IV., [Footnote: There is an interesting account of this revolt
in Monaci, p. 68. Some historians speak of the palace as having been
destroyed entirely; but, that it did not even need important
restorations, appears from Sagornino's expression, quoted by Cadorin and
Temanza. Speaking of the Doge Participazio, he says: "Qui Palatii
hucusque manentis fuerit fabricator." The reparations of the palace are
usually attributed to the successor of Candiano, Pietro Orseolo I.; but
the legend, under the picture of that Doge in the Council Chamber,
speaks only of his rebuilding St. Mark's, and "performing many
miracles." His whole mind seems to have been occupied with
ecclesiastical affairs; and his piety was finally manifested in a way
somewhat startling to the state, by absconding with a French priest to
St. Michael's in Gascony, and there becoming a monk. What repairs,
therefore, were necessary to the Ducal Palace, were left to be
undertaken by his son, Orseolo II., above named.] and just repaired, and
richly adorned by Orseolo himself, who is spoken of by Sagornino as
having also "adorned the chapel of the Ducal Palace" (St. Mark's) with
ornaments of marble and gold. [Footnote: "Quam non modo marmoreo, verum
aureo compsit ornamento."--_Temanza_] There can be no doubt
whatever that the palace at this period resembled and impressed the
other Byzantine edifices of the city, such as the Fondaco de Turchi,
&c., whose remains have been already described; and that, like them, it
was covered with sculpture, and richly adorned with gold and color.

SECTION XI. In the year 1106, it was for the second time injured by
fire, [Footnote: "L'anno 1106, uscito fuoco d'una casa privata, arse
parte del palazzo."--_Sansovino_. Of the beneficial effect of these
fires, vide Cadorin.] but repaired before 1116, when it received another
emperor, Henry V. (of Germany), and was again honored by imperial
praise. [Footnote: "Urbis situm, aedificiorum decorem, et regiminis
sequitatem multipliciter commendavit."--_Cronaca Dandolo_, quoted
by Cadorin.]

Between 1173 and the close of the century, it seems to have been again
repaired and much enlarged by the Doge Sebastian Ziani. Sansovino says
that this Doge not only repaired it, but "enlarged it in every
direction;" [Footnote: "Non solamente rinovo il palazzo, ma lo aggrandi
per ogni verso."--_Sansovino_. Zanotto quotes the Altinat Chronicle
for account of these repairs.] and, after this enlargement, the palace
seems to have remained untouched for a hundred years, until, in the
commencement of the fourteenth century, the works of the Gothic Palace
were begun. As, therefore, the old Byzantine building was, at the time
when those works first interfered with it, in the form given to it by
Ziani, I shall hereafter always speak of it as the _Ziani_ Palace; and
this the rather, because the only chronicler whose words are perfectly
clear respecting the existence of part of this palace so late as the year
1422, speaks of it as built by Ziani. The old "palace of which half
remains to this day, was built, as we now see it, by Sebastian Ziani."
[Footnote: "El palazzo che anco di mezzo se vede vecchio, per M.
Sebastian Ziani fu fatto compir, come el se vede."--_Chronicle of Pietro
Dolfino_, Cod. Ven. p. 47. This Chronicle is spoken of by Sansovino as
"molto particolare, e distinta."--_Sansovino, Venezia descritta_, p.
593.--It terminates in the year 1422.]

So far, then, of the Byzantine Palace.

SECTION XII. 2nd. The GOTHIC PALACE. The reader, doubtless, recollects
that the important change in the Venetian government which gave
stability to the aristocratic power took place about the year 1297,
[Footnote: See Vol. I. Appendix 3, Stones of Venice.] under the Doge
Pietro Gradenigo, a man thus characterized by Sansovino:--"A prompt and
prudent man, of unconquerable determination and great eloquence, who
laid, so to speak, the foundations of the eternity of this republic, by
the admirable regulations which he introduced into the government."

We may now, with some reason, doubt of their admirableness; but their
importance, and the vigorous will and intellect of the Doge, are not to
be disputed. Venice was in the zenith of her strength, and the heroism
of her citizens was displaying itself in every quarter of the world.
[Footnote: Vide Sansovino's enumeration of those who flourished in the
reign of Gradenigo, p. 564.] The acquiescence in the secure
establishment of the aristocratic power was an expression, by the
people, of respect for the families which had been chiefly instrumental
in raising the commonwealth to such a height of prosperity.

The Serrar del Consiglio fixed the numbers of the Senate within certain
limits, and it conferred upon them a dignity greater than they had ever
before possessed. It was natural that the alteration in the character of
the assembly should be attended by some change in the size, arrangement,
or decoration of the chamber in which they sat.

We accordingly find it recorded by Sansovino, that "in 1301 another
saloon was begun on the Rio del Palazzo, _under the Doge
Gradenigo_, and finished in 1309, _in which year the Grand Council
first sat in it_." [Footnote: Sansovino, 324, I.] In the first year,
therefore, of the fourteenth century, the Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice
was begun; and as the Byzantine Palace was, in its foundation, coeval
with that of the state, so the Gothic Palace was, in its foundation,
coeval with that of the aristocratic power. Considered as the principal
representation of the Venetian school of architecture, the Ducal Palace
is the Parthenon of Venice, and Gradenigo its Pericles.

SECTION XIII. Sansovino, with a caution very frequent among Venetian
historians, when alluding to events connected with the Serrar del
Consiglio, does not specially mention the cause for the requirement of
the new chamber; but the Sivos Chronicle is a little more distinct in
expression. "In 1301, it was determined to build a great saloon _for
the assembling_ of the Great Council, and the room was built which is
_now_ called the Sala del Scrutinio." [Footnote: "1301 fu presa
parte di fare una sala grande per la riduzione del gran consiglio, e fu
fatta quella che ora si chiama dello Scrutinio."--_Cronaca Sivos_,
quoted by Cadorin. There is another most interesting entry in the
Chronicle of Magno, relating to this event; but the passage is so ill
written, that I am not sure if I have deciphered it correctly:--"Del
1301 fu preso de fabrichar la sala fo ruina e fu fata (fatta) quella se
adoperava a far e pregadi e fu adopera per far el Gran Consegio fin
1423, che fu anni 122." This last sentence, which is of great
importance, is luckily unmistakable:--"The room was used for the
meetings of the Great Council until 1423, that is to say, for 122
years."--_Cod. Ven._ tom. i. p. 126. The Chronicle extends from
1253 to 1454.

Abstract 1301 to 1309; Gradenigo's room--1340-42, page 295-1419. New
proposals, p. 298.] _Now_, that is to say, at the time when the
Sivos Chronicle was written; the room has long ago been destroyed, and
its name given to another chamber on the opposite side of the palace:
but I wish the reader to remember the date 1301, as marking the
commencement of a great architectural epoch, in which took place the
first appliance of the energy of the aristocratic power, and of the
Gothic style, to the works of the Ducal Palace. The operations then
begun were continued, with hardly an interruption, during the whole
period of the prosperity of Venice. We shall see the new buildings
consume, and take the place of, the Ziani Palace, piece by piece: and
when the Ziani Palace was destroyed, they fed upon themselves; being
continued round the square, until, in the sixteenth century, they
reached the point where they had been begun in the fourteenth, and
pursued the track they had then followed some distance beyond the
junction; destroying or hiding their own commencement, as the serpent,
which is the type of eternity, conceals its tail in its jaws.

SECTION XIV. We cannot, therefore, _see_ the extremity, wherein lay
the sting and force of the whole creature,--the chamber, namely, built
by the Doge Gradenigo; but the reader must keep that commencement and
the date of it carefully in his mind. The body of the Palace Serpent
will soon become visible to us.

The Gradenigo Chamber was somewhere on the Rio Façade, behind the
present position of the Bridge of Sighs; i.e. about the point marked on
the roof by the dotted lines in the woodcut; it is not known whether low
or high, but probably on a first story. The great façade of the Ziani
Palace being, as above mentioned, on the Piazzetta, this chamber was as
far back and out of the way as possible; secrecy and security being
obviously the points first considered.

SECTION XV. But the newly constituted Senate had need of other additions
to the ancient palace besides the Council Chamber. A short, but most
significant, sentence is added to Sansovino's account of the construction
of that room. "There were, _near it_," he says, "the Cancellaria, and the
_Gheba_ or _Gabbia_, afterwards called the Little Tower." [Footnote: "Vi
era appresso la Cancellarla, e la Gheba o Gabbia, iniamata poi
Torresella,"---P. 324. A small square tower is seen above the Vine angle
in the view of Venice dated 1500, and attributed to Albert Durer. It
appears about 25 feet square, and is very probably the Torresella in
question.]

Gabbia means a "cage;" and there can be no question that certain
apartments were at this time added at the top of the palace and on the
Rio Façade, which were to be used as prisons. Whether any portion of the
old Torresella still remains is a doubtful question; but the apartments
at the top of the palace, in its fourth story, were still used for
prisons as late as the beginning of the seventeenth century. [Footnote:
Vide Bettio, Lettera, p. 23.] I wish the reader especially to notice
that a separate tower or range of apartments was built for this purpose,
in order to clear the government of the accusations so constantly made
against them, by ignorant or partial historians, of wanton cruelty to
prisoners. The stories commonly told respecting the "piombi" of the
Ducal Palace are utterly false. Instead of being, as usually reported,
small furnaces under the leads of the palace, they were comfortable
rooms, with good flat roofs of larch, and carefully ventilated.
[Footnote: Bettio, Lettera, p. 20. "Those who wrote without having seen
them described them as covered with lead; and those who have seen them
know that, between their flat timber roofs and the sloping leaden roof
of the palace the interval is five metres where it is least, and nine
where it is greatest."] The new chamber, then, and the prisons, being
built, the Great Council first sat in their retired chamber on the Rio
in the year 1309.

SECTION XVI. Now, observe the significant progress of events. They had
no sooner thus established themselves in power than they were disturbed
by the conspiracy of the Tiepolos, in the year 1310. In consequence of
that conspiracy the Council of Ten was created, still under the Doge
Gradenigo; who, having finished his work and left the aristocracy of
Venice armed with this terrible power, died in the year 1312, some say
by poison. He was succeeded by the Doge Marino Giorgio, who reigned only
one year; and then followed the prosperous government of John Soranzo.
There is no mention of any additions to the Ducal Palace during his
reign, but he was succeeded by that Francesco Dandolo, the sculptures on
whose tomb, still existing in the cloisters of the Salute, may be
compared by any traveller with those of the Ducal Palace. Of him it is
recorded in the Savina Chronicle: "This Doge also had the great gate
built which is at the entry of the palace, above which is his statue
kneeling, with the gonfalon in hand, before the feet of the Lion of St.
Mark's." [Footnote: "Questo Dose anche fese far la porta granda che se
al intrar del Pallazzo, in su la qual vi e la sua statua che sta in
zenocchioni con lo confalon in man, davanti li pie de lo Lion S.
Marco."--_Savin Chronicle_, Cod. Ven. p. 120.]

SECTION XVII. It appears, then, that after the Senate had completed
their Council Chamber and the prisons, they required a nobler door than
that of the old Ziani Palace for their Magnificences to enter by. This
door is twice spoken of in the government accounts of expenses, which
are fortunately preserved, [Footnote: These documents I have not
examined myself, being satisfied of the accuracy of Cadorin, from whom I
take the passages quoted.] in the following terms:--

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