FROM THE PAINTING BY TINTORETTO
_In the Doges' Palace_]

The Sala del Collegio itself, leading from this room, is full of Doges
in all the magnificence of paint, above the tawdriest of wainscotting.
Tintoretto gives us Doge Andrea Gritti praying to the Virgin, Doge
Francesco Donato witnessing as an honoured guest the nuptials of S.
Catherine, Doge Niccolo da Ponte surveying the Virgin in glory, and Doge
Alvise Mocenigo condescending to adore his Saviour. Paul Veronese
depicts an allegory of the battle of Lepanto in 1571, at which Venice
temporarily overcame the Turks. The kneeling white-bearded warrior
beside S. Giustina is the victor, afterwards Doge Sebastiano Venier, and
Christ looks on in approval. Tintoretto also painted for the Palace a
picture of this battle, but it perished in the fire of 1576. It is
Veronese who painted the virtues and attributes on the ceiling, one of
his most famous works being the woman with a web, who is sometimes
called "Industry" and sometimes "Dialectics," so flexible is symbolism.
"Fidelity" has a dog with a fine trustful head. To my weary eye the
finest of the groups is that of Mars and Neptune, with flying cherubs,
which is superbly drawn and coloured. Nothing but a chaise-longue on
which to lie supine, at ease, can make the study of these wonderful
ceilings anything but a distressing source of fatigue.

The next room is the Sala del Senato, and here again we find a blend of
heaven and Venice, with Doges as a common denominator. A "Descent from
the Cross" (by Tintoretto) is witnessed by Doge Pietro Lando and Doge
Marcantonio Trevisan; and the same hand gives us Pietro Loredan
imploring the aid of the Virgin. In the centre ceiling painting
Tintoretto depicts Venice as Queen of the Sea. The other artist here is
Palma the younger, whose principal picture represents Doge Leonardo
Loredan presiding over an attack by a lion on a bull, typifying the
position of the Republic when Pope Julius launched the League of Cambray
against it in 1508. The Doge does not look dismayed, but Venice never
recovered from the blow.

The room on the right of the throne leads to the chapel, which has
several small pictures. A Giovanni Bellini is over the altar, but it is
not one of his best. During his long life in Venice Bellini saw ten
Doges, and in his capacity as ducal painter painted four of them.

Returning to the Sala delle Quattro Porte (by way of the "Bacchus and
Ariadne" room, if we are wise),