PART I.—HISTORY.

Although the numerous marshy islands of the lagoons extending along the north-western shores of the Adriatic between Altinum and Adria are known to have been largely used from the beginning of the 5th century by the inhabitants of Venetia (compare vol. xiii. p. 447)—one of the twenty-nine provinces into which Italy was divided by Constantine—as temporary retreats from successive barbarian invasions, the first permanent settlement on the site of the present city of Venice—the Rivo Alto (Rialto) and its numerous adjacent islets—cannot with certainty be traced further back than to the beginning of the 9th century. The physical conditions with which the earliest inhabitants had to deal were such as might seem singularly unpropitious to the growth of a large and prosperous city. Their untillable and salt-encrusted soil possessed no kind of mineral wealtji; the thickets which here and there diversified the surface of the barren marshes produced no serviceable timber; and even drinkable water was hardly obtainable; yet it was here that the Venetians by their inventiveness, their energy, their industry, and their genius for commerce succeeded in establishing themselves on a firm soil and maintaining their independence, in making their neighbours their tributaries, in sending their fleets to distant shores, in controlling the destiny of empires, and consolidating a naval power that is unique in the history of the world. Maritime The Venetian form of government—that of an aristo-tribunes. cratic republic—had its first beginnings at a very early period. Originally all power had been delegated to magistrates known as tribuni maritimi or maritime tri-bunes ; but in 697, in order to give greater strength to the supreme power and more unity to the popular representa-Doge. tion, a doge or duke was chosen, who had his residence in the little town of Heraclea. The first to bear this title
I C E
was Paulucio Anafesto; the assembly by which he was elected consisted of the entire body of the inhabitants, not only of the towns on the mainland, which were constantly under fear of renewed barbarian devastations, but also those of the islets of the lagoons. Although all had equal electoral privileges, there were gradations of social rank, the citizens being divided into three classes—the maggiori, the mediocri, and the minori. The new arrangement lasted only forty years, when a general assembly resolved by ac-clamation on the abolition of the ducal power, for which was substituted that of the maestri delta milizia, whose term of office was to last only for a year. The inconveni-ences of the new system, however, soon became apparent, and five years later (742) the assembly demanded the restoration of a single popular representative with life tenure, who again bore the title of doge. On this occasion the newly elected doge transferred his residence from Heraclea to Malamocco. The practical risks involved in the new experiment are obvious. In the succession of doges some were almost sure to show themselves unfit for the supreme power, others to disregard the authority of the auxiliary magistrates associated with them for purposes of control, and some even to aim at the establishment of an hereditary tyranny. Consequently the next sixty years witnessed a succession of bloody revolts, in the course of which three doges were put to death, one deposed and exiled, and several others condemned to lose their eyes. Nor was the incapacity or the ambition of individuals the sole cause of such revolutions : new circumstances as they arose sometimes compelled the doges by the very law of their existence to seek support outside the limits of the state, at one time from the Greek empire, whose frontier extended to their very doors, at another time from the Lombards, the latest invaders of Italy, who had permanently established themselves there and were daily acquiring new influence. Foreigners who. in connexion with the interests

of commerce, had entered into close relations with the
Venetians took advantage of these to stir up troubles, and
sought to conciliate the doges with a view to the enlarge-
ment of their trading privileges or the concession of mono-
War polies. Between 712 and 810 various struggles arose
with which called for the intervention in the lagoons of the
Pippm. generais 0f Pippin and his son Charlemagne. Doge Obe-
lerio, a declared partisan of the Franks, allowed a war to
break out between the Venetians and the Lombards, in the
course of which Pippin seized Grado, the see of the patri-
arch, burnt Caorle, Jesolo, and Heraclea, encamped in
Albiola, and, forcing his way into the lagoon, threatened
Malamocco itself (see map, p. 157 below). Peace was
afterwards concluded, and the danger to which the last
refuge of the fugitives from the mainland had been exposed
led to their increased security. For, whether from the
instinct of self-preservation or from a growing conscious-
ness of the idea of fatherland, these fishermen became
drawn together more closely than ever for purposes of
common defence, and found themselves possessed of a
power hitherto unsuspected, so that they were able to com-
pel their enemies to respect their independence and enter
Founda- into commercial relations with them. The year 810 was
tion of one 0{ most important in the annals of Venice : it was
the city. ^.ne pe0pie finaiiy abandoned the mainland in
order to make the Bivo Alto with its surrounding islets the permanent seat of their government. The same year witnessed the beginnings of the basilica of St Mark. Angelo Partecipazio, who had proposed the migration to the Bialto, was chosen doge, and the town of Venice may be said to have been then founded. Early From 811 to 1026 there was a succession of eighteen doges, doges, of whom no fewer than fifteen were selected out of three leading families, political power thus plainly tend-ing to become hereditary. It was no uncommon thing, however, for the people again to dismiss those whom they had thus placed in power. Murder, exile, cruel punishments, closed the career of more than one of the doges who had been called to the supreme authority by a unani-mous vote ; whole families connected with rulers who had been deposed or put to death were compelled to quit the islands, and sought the help of the emperor Otho II. That emperor was preparing an expedition against Venice at the very moment of his death; and now once more the Venetians found safety in the very greatness of the danger which had threatened them, for the peril itself indicated to them the future at which they ought to aim if they would live and rule. Suppres- From the necessities of its geographical position the si°n.of, new state was bound to become a maritime power and to
pirates.0 look t0 tlle East Towards tlle end of tlle 10tn century the doge Fietro Orseolo by a vigorous effort cleared the sea of pirates, who dwelt on the eastern coast of the Adri-atic and seriously harassed the Venetian commerce, and pursued them into the recesses of Quarnero and the islands of Istria. On 20th May 998, having advanced as far as Dalmatia, he came upon them in their apparently inac-cessible retreats, and inflicted upon them a great slaughter. Having thus given full security to trade, he constituted himself protector of the sea from Trieste to Albania, re-ceiving in consequence the title of duke of Dalmatia. It was to symbolize this dominion that Venice instituted the superb ceremonial of the espousals of the doge with the Adriatic, which was annually observed on Ascension Day. Period of The republic began henceforward to undertake the busi-crusades. ness 0f transporting to the East the successive armies of crusaders, to whom she lent on hire the fleets which were built in her arsenals; and these bold enterprises, at once religious, commercial, and military, procured for her in exchange important stations on the east of th.3 Adi;atic
and in the islands, as well as colonies and factories advan-tageous for her commerce. The whole littoral from Trieste to Albania became in this way a sort of prolongation of the Venetian coast. The Byzantine emperors could hardly fail to become jealous of this great though pacific influence, and of the wealth thus created under their eyes and at their expense; and in the spring of 1171 Manuel I. ordered the sequestration of all Venetian goods and of all Venetians who had settled within the empire. Such a high-handed act at once called forth an outburst of enthu-siasm, and the doge, Vitale Michieli II., sent out against Constantinople an imposing fleet to avenge the cause of the Venetian colonists. An outbreak of plague, however, on board the fleet compelled him to return to port; in so doing he brought the scourge to the town itself,—a dis-aster which led to his death at the hands of the infuriated populace. Even this catastrophe was not without its uses, for it led to the introduction of reforms fitted to give greater internal stability to the state.
Under Sebastiano Ziani, Michieli's successor, the con-Consti-stitution underwent a further modification. The citizens, tution of already divided into quarters (sestieri), nominated twelvethe state" electors, who in their turn made choice of forty picked citizens in each of the divisions of the city. The 480 thus chosen constituted the great council, a body possessing at once deliberative and executive functions. Before this period certain intimate councillors, two of them perma-nent, had been summoned to act as advisers of the doge in matters of importance; but now their number was in-creased and they were requested (hence the name pregato) to assist the head of the state in all circumstances. The two permanent councillors of the doge, increased to six and conjoined with the supreme magistrates on whom the administration of justice had always devolved, formed the lesser council, which afterwards came to be known as La Signoria. If we add, finally, to the powers already enumerated the council of ten, which was instituted later, and also take into account the increasing body of secretaries and the magistracies which were gradually created as need arose, we shall have an adequate conception of the per-fected instrument of government by which the republic was controlled from the 13th century until its fall. While the political organization was thus rapidly developing, the change which was also passing over its democratic spirit must not be overlooked : the simple citizen gradually lost his privileges, and the increasing restrictions laid upon freedom ultimately made the government essentially aris-tocratic. Towards the end of the 13th century (1297) the important measure known as the " Shutting of the Great Council" (compare vol. xvii. p. 527), and subsequently the inscription in the Golden Book of the names of all branches of the noble houses, for ever shut against plebeians every avenue to power. For a long time before this the right of electing the doge had been restricted to certain care-fully-selected citizens,—a constitutional change of capital importance, which had caused much discontent and raised such a ferment in the mind of the masses that the first doge who was thus chosen, realizing the danger of the situation, refused to accept the dignity. The number of the electors was consequently increased and the election made subject to a number of ballots intended to safeguard the integrity of the vote; but it remained none the less true that to the people had been left nothing more than the illusory right of approving by acclamation in the basilica of St Mark each new doge after his election. The aristocracy, as it felt its growing force, proceeded to en-large its powers, and did not fail to guard them down to the fall of Venice by constantly increased restrictions. It was not long, it is true, before the danger attaching to so great a power separated from the living forces of the nation

was perceived, and there came to be instituted special kinds of magistrates, such as the "correctors of the ducal engagement," whose function was to revise the charter to which he was to swear, and who steadily exercised it in the way of restricting his freedom in such a manner that about the 16th century his lot was little better than that of a prisoner of state. Then there were the " examiners of the deceased doge," instituted in 1501,—posthumous judges whose ver-dicts on each departed doge on behalf of posterity still further conspired to neutralize the dangers arising from personal power.
Period of The history of Venice was officially written by contem-greatest porary chroniclers. The records they have left are of course prosper- exceedingiy valuable; but, as they were subjected to a rigorous censorship, the element of criticism is quite ab-sent. Modern investigators, viewing the events from the outside, have been much more successful in forming a true judgment upon them and in tracing effects to their actual causes. Those Venetians who, since the fall of their re-public, have endeavoured to investigate its annals in an independent spirit have come to the conclusion that it was between the 12th and the 15th century that the state reached its highest prosperity and power. In point of fact, the republic had at the beginning of the 13th century become so powerful that the Byzantine empire fell into its hands through the conquest of Constantinople by the doge Enrico Dandolo (1204). The Venetians even sought to raise a Latin empire upon its ruins, but the attempt was frustrated by the jealousy of the rival republic of Genoa, which re-established the Greeks in 1261. The period be-tween 1172, the date of the election of Sebastiano Ziani, and 1300, that of the election of Pietro Gradenigo, is one of the most brilliant in the history of Venice. The union that prevailed among all the citizens, the common effort of all classes, the military energy of the Government, the supple flexibility of its policy, had given them Constanti-nople ; and the peace which they made with Palseologus on his restoration to the Byzantine throne brought them many splendid advantages. It was in virtue of these successes and in the midst of the internal peace which they had secured that Pietro Gradenigo proposed the " Shutting of the Great Council," a measure the importance of which can be traced throughout the subsequent history of the stated Its effect was to exclude from political power all who had not been members of that assembly during the previous four years; in a word, it constituted an heredi-tary legislature. Grave as the measure was, alternately accepted, rejected, modified, and never unopposed, it was finally carried. The new body enacted new laws and pro-vided administrative heads for the ten departments of government,—justice, legislation, worship, finance, com-merce, education, war, marine, public health, and city ad-ministration. The powerful and wealthy republic now found the honour of its alliance sought by emperors and popes; the standard of St Mark was a familiar sight all over the Mediterranean ; and ultimately Venice entered the "European concert." Now, too, she began to show that devotion to architecture and the fine arts generally of which the basilica of St Mark's and the ducal palace are the most striking monuments. Relations Grown wealthy by commerce, and having acquired by with the tne force of arms considerable territory on the east of the Adriatic, the Venetians now cast their eyes towards Asia. Their adventurous travellers had penetrated to the central regions of that continent, and Marco Polo on his return dazzled the populace by his wondrous tales and excited the cupidity of the merchants with visions of the riches of the East. New commercial enterprises were entered on; samples of Oriental industry with all their splendour of colour and delicacy of pattern were brought home : glass, enamels, tapestries, silks, served as models to the deft artisans, who drew from them new inspiration and, re-dis-covering the secrets of the smith's and potter's and glass-blower's art, reproduced the artistic triumphs of their Oriental masters. Nor were letters neglected : rich and ancient manuscripts were brought from Greece ; a friendly asylum was offered to exiled men of genius and learning; and freedom of thought and intellectual independence be-gan to be exercised.
If Venice in the course of its history was able at one Com-period or another to show its superiority in every field of marcial activity, if at the same time it was able to show enduring y™- °' stability in its institutions and a wealth and political power tians. quite out of proportion to the smallness of its territory and the number of its subjects, it owed these in the first instance to its genius for commerce and to its maritime ascendency. This commercial genius led in the first place to the de-velopment of Venetian shipping, the growth of the arsenals, and large advances in the art of naval construction, and ultimately resulted in indisputable naval supremacy. The beginning of its fortune was in the salt trade, of which it had the monopoly throughout central Europe. Besides working the sources of salt which they had within their own territory, the Venetians rented those of their neigh-bours the Bolognese, and found access to the rock-salt deposits of Austria and Hungary; and in every instance where a treaty was made with a foreign power a clause was introduced reserving to Venice, whether as victor or as vanquished, the exclusive privilege of supplying this commodity. The arsenal of Venice, which still exists, was The ar-its palladium ; the high organization of this establishment, senaL the technical skill of its workmen, the specially selected body of the "arsenalotti," to whom the republic entrusted the duty of guarding the senate and great council, and its admirable discipline were for centuries the envy of other European powers. The enemies of the republic frequently made special efforts to destroy it by espionage and treach-ery. At the most critical period in its history, when it was engaged in its great struggle with the Turks towards the end of the 16th century, the arsenal regularly sent forth a fully equipped galley each morning for a hundred successive days. The power or decadence of the republic at each period may be measured by the extent of its build-ing-yards and by the number of its workmen and seamen. Where an ambassador had once seen an imposing force of 200 galleys all fully equipped for sea, another two centuries later saw only 20 ships of war, 16 galleys, and 2 galeasses. At the acme of its prosperity the arsenal employed 16,000 workmen; but a little more than a century afterwards, even at a time of war, that number had fallen to 2000, still further diminished in peace to 500.
The 14th century is remarkable for a series of con-Conspi-spiracies, which the official historians have attributed to racies of mere turbulence and malignity, but which no doubt had ^ ^cen' their main cause much deeper, in the position to which the masses had been brought by the political changes of preceding centuries. The conspiracy of Marino Bocconio in 1300, that of Bajamonte Tiepolo ten years later, a third in 1328, and finally that associated with the name of Marino Faliero (1355), without actually imperilling the existence of the state, compelled the great council to take measures against the recurrence of such movements, and resulted in the creation of the " council of the ten," that Council powerful and mysterious body the significance of which of to"* still continues to exercise the ingenuity of the modern historian. Of these four conspiracies the first three were certainly aimed at the restoration of popular rights; the fourth, on the other hand, arose out of an ambitious attempt to seize personal power. The legend of Marino Faliero is well known (see FALIERO). It would be difficult

to describe exactly the functions of the council of the ten. Appointed merely provisionally in 1300 at the time of the conspiracy, to act as an inquisition, it was made a perma-nent body in 1335. Twenty years later the importance of the process against Marino Faliero led to an increase in the number of its members {la zonta), and thencefor-ward the ten, under the presidency of the doge (il con-siglio), took cognizance of all matters, and their action extended over every department of government. It is a mistake to suppose that the council was merely an exten-sion of the power of the aristocracy. It acted, on the contrary, as a check on the encroachments of the latter; and, if it occasionally fell into culpable excesses, if some-times it employed what might be called "stage" machin-ery, allying itself with informers, rewarding traitors, surrounding its deliberations with an air of mystery only too favourable to private revenge and too threatening to public security, and in fact becoming at one time plainly the instrument of tyranny, nevertheless its constant watchful-ness over the interests of the state was not without advan-tages and compensations. Contest As invariably happens, the threatenings of danger from with without gave pause to internal sedition and served to unite Genoa. more ci0sely together the aristocracy, the people, and the middle classes. The Genoese could but ill endure the supremacy of their rivals in the Adriatic. Leaving out of account a few years of truce, from 1298, the year of the defeat of the Venetians by their rivals at Curzola, to 1379, when after various changes of fortune the complete destruc-tion of their fleet by the Genoese at Pola allowed the latter _to force a passage to the very heart of the lagoons, the struggle between the two maritime republics had gone on uninterruptedly. Never had Venice been nearer total destruction than after the disaster at Pola, but never also had the patriotism of her citizens expressed itself more clearly and unmistakably. The community of interest be-tween all classes was fully realized : old men, women, and children flew to arms; all classes liberally contributed to the replenishment of the empty treasury; the precious things that had been brought from the East found their way into the melting pot, and even the altars were stripped. Doge Andrea Contarini, an old man of eighty, claimed the honour of leading an improvised fleet against the enemy, and Victor Pisani, a distinguished captain who had fallen under the suspicions of the ten, was brought up from his dungeon amid the acclamations of the whole people, who sacrificed every resentment to the ardour of their patriot-ism. Along with Carlo Zeno, just returned from the wars in the East, he gave spirit to the combatants, and drove the Genoese from Chioggia (on which they had seized). Venice was saved, and, grateful for the services rendered by certain families of the middle class who had ably assisted Pisani and Zeno, the great council added to its numbers thirty new members selected from those who had most distinguished themselves in the struggle. Con- The large extension of its territory on the mainland in quests on the 14th century marks an important stage in the history lancTam" °^ ^eniCe- From being essentially a naval power, the republic now began to be an important continental one; and henceforward down to the 17th century it threw its sword into the balance on every occasion on which Italy was made the battle-ground of Europe. The fall of the Lombard kingdom, the struggles of the Ghibellines and Guelphs, and the personal exploits of the condottieri all urged Venice to take her part in the great movement, to widen her sphere of action, while fortifying herself against the dangers of her immediate neighbourhood, and to issue from her lagoons and establish herself as a state on terra firma. Venice made herself mistress of Vicenza, Feltre, and Bassano in 1388 ; and with the help of Carmagnola,
Gattamelata, and afterwards Alviano and Colleoni, Padua and Verona were added in 1405, Udine and Friuli in 1420, Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1427, Crema in 1449, Bovigo in 1484, and Cremona in 1499, and podestas were set over each of these provinces.
Meanwhile a new danger was arising to Venice out of Danger the Turkish advance in Europe. The republic was com-from the pelled to live continually, so to speak, on the qui vive, Turks-perpetually on the defensive. Mohammed II. became master of Constantinople in 1453; in the following year the Venetians attempted to exorcise the plague by means of a commercial treaty ; but not many years passed before hostilities broke out. The Turks were destined to become the hereditary and implacable enemies of the republic, and their attitude of hostility to cease only with the fall of the latter. And, except for one united effort towards the end of the 16th century by Spain, Venice, and the pope, which resulted in the victory of Lepanto (1571), the banner of St Mark was almost invariably unsupported in its contest with the crescent. At Negropont (1470), Smyrna, and Scutari (1474) Erizzo, Mocenigo, and Loredano valiantly maintained the honour of their flag; but after a struggle of several years the Venetian possessions in the archipelago were lost and the proud city was compelled to cede Scutari (1479), Negropont, and Modone. Nor was this all; the geographical discoveries of the Portuguese and the Span-iards were about to inflict an irreparable blow on the maritime supremacy of Venice. Although the bold feats of Columbus and Vasco da Gama deeply stirred her enthu-siasm, yet times had changed. New cares and new duties called her attention elsewhere; Venice could no longer concentrate all her energies upon her navy; having now become a territorial power, she had to watch her frontiers on every side, threatened by troublesome neighbours, now by the Malatestas, now by the Estes, the Bentivoglios, and the Borgias.
Having entered into treaty relations with Florence, Conti-Milan, and the Vatican, she found herself continually in- cental volved in ceaseless struggles, which demanded the presence struSgles> of her mercenaries now in the plains of Lombardy, now in the Bomagna, sometimes even in the kingdom of Naples. At the close of the 15th century, after a forty years' dispute over the fragments of the Lombard kingdom, which had fallen into the hands of the condottieri, the Italians saw the Alps twice crossed by the French and their country turned into a European battlefield. The efforts of the Venetians to extend their possessions on terra firma along the Italian shore of the Adriatic and inwards towards Bergamo provoked the Italian captains who had founded hereditary dynasties to unite with the pope and the king * of France in opposing their further progress. Thus arose the League of Cambrai, which brought the republic to the League of verge of extinction. Defeated at Gera D'Adda (Agnadello) Cambrai. in 1509, she was compelled to withdraw her armies, not only from the recently conquered territories, but also from those in which she had been established for more than a century, and she had even to release her own subjects from their oath of allegiance. She had passed through no such peril since the day of Chioggia in the struggle with Genoa, for she was now face to face with three formidable enemies, —the king of France, the emperor Maximilian, and the pope,—not to speak of numerous petty powers, her Mantuan and Ferrarese neighbours, who hoped for a share in the spoil. At this juncture the senate displayed all its adroit suppleness and all its energy; it recognized how necessary it was on such an occasion to show pliancy, to temporize, and be humble. A new league, formed against the very power which had initiated the first, proved the salvation of Venice : the king of France fell under the suspicion of I his allies, who accordingly turned against him. The battle

of Bavenna in 1512 and that of Marignano in 1515 changed the whole aspect of affairs ; new combinations were formed; and the treaty of Noyon restored to the republic all the continental territory she had lost. War with Nevertheless the commonwealth was not allowed to rest, the but was compelled henceforth to live constantly on the Turks, defensive, on the one hand against the Turks, who were a standing menace, and on the other, watching every move-ment and enterprise of the Italian princes, who would not suffer her to remain neutral in their incessant conflicts. Neither under Pius V. nor under Philip II. was the com-bined assistance of the pope and the Catholic king of much assistance to Venice against Islam. From the peace of Noyon (1516) to the year 1571, the date of the battle of Lepanto, the republic was never able for a single moment to lay down her arms, but was constantly driven to renewed efforts, which could not fail to exhaust her more and more. One by one she lost all her' colonies : at one time it was Corfu, at another the islands of the iEgean, at another Nauplia and Malvasia. Her podestas, proveditori, and ambassadors in their several departments displayed an energy and a patriotism to which there are few parallels in history: the names of Bragadin and of Marc Antonio Barbaro remain as abiding examples of disinterestedness and patriotic self-sacrifice. Born for the service of the state, her nobles were held bound to devote their energies to the republic from early manhood, and to give her the benefit of their strength and experience to their latest breath. About 1570 the Turks threatened the fleets of the Christian powers which ventured into the Adriatic; and the pirates of the Barbary coasts boarded the Christian galleys and carried their crews into captivity, where they were held at heavy ransom. The Spaniards, whose sway then extended to the African coast of the Mediterranean, were determined to put an end to these incursions; the popes for their part were always ready to do battle with the infidel and to league themselves against the enemies of Christendom ; and Venice, who saw her colonial pos-sessions falling from her one by one, could not refuse an alliance which seemed to promise the possibility of strik-ing a grand blow by which her supremacy might be re-stored. On 13th May 1571 the treaty of alliance between the three powers was signed; the league against the Otto-mans was to be perpetual, and its avowed object was to destroy their influence. Philip II. agreed to pay half the expenses of the expedition; the republic supplied galleys to the pope ; Spain contributed her fleets and demanded in return the chief command of the expedition. The total naval force numbered no less than 300 vessels, while the troops embarked were reckoned at 50,000 foot soldiers and 5000 horse. Don John of Austria represented Spain in the command; the papal forces were entrusted to Marc Antonio Colonna; while the Venetian senate nominated Sebastian Battle ofVenieri to be its admiral. The result of the battle of Lepanto. Lepanto, 7th October 1571 (see vol. xiii. p. 717), was ap-parently the complete destruction of Turkey's naval forces. But the mutual jealousies of the allied powers served to counteract the effects of the victory, and the peace which followed, instead of being advantageous to the victors, turned out much to their prejudice. The action at Lepanto had taken place in the beginning of winter; it was impos-sible, therefore, to undertake anything further before the spring of the following year (1572), and each of the powers believed its fleets secure in the ports where they had taken refuge, when, on the following May, the tidings reached Venice that the Turkish fleet which had been supposed annihilated was once more afloat. Don John had wintered at Messina; Colonna had returned to Civita Vecchia; while the Venetian fleet had cast anchor off Corfu. Before the scattered allies could reunite sixty Turkish galleys ad-vanced through the archipelago and devastated the Venetian! colonies. The Spaniards at Messina awaited the decision of Philip II. before they could set sail; the knights of Malta and the duke of Savoy, less hesitating, consented to join the Venetian galleys, and to go to meet the Moslems, whom they encountered at Cerigo. A battle of doubtful issue was-about to be engaged in, when a message from Don John announced the co-operation of the Spanish fleet, but at Corfu, whither the Venetian admiral was requested to-repair in order to concert a new plan of attack. The Venetians did not feel certain enough of success to warrant them in commencing hostilities without their ally, and, sailing for Corfu, they once more entrusted the supreme direction of affairs to Don John. But it is easy to understand how disastrous in their results such vacillation and hesitancy must necessarily be. It was not till the end of August that the allied forces, once more brought together to the number of more than 250 vessels, set sail in search of the Turkish fleet. The latter, being lighter, gave way before the enemy, and, avoiding a pitched battle, did not give opportunity even for a skirmish or the capture of a stray prize. Meanwhile the winter was approaching o navigation was becoming dangerous; the Spaniards were indisposed for action; and Don John, alleging the gravity of his responsibilities, returned to his anchorage at Messina. Thus a whole year had been lost, giving to the enemy daily opportunities of recuperation. Every day new differences and mutual recriminations arose among the allies, and at length the idea of a peace with the Turks began to-be broached in the councils of the republic. Such a pro-posal, however unlooked for, was suggested by considera-tions of the most practical kind, and by a just appreciation of the resources of the Ottoman empire; and the resulting negotiations, which were secretly conducted, led to a treaty being signed on 15th March 1573. By that treaty twenty years of peace were guaranteed to the republic; but it reversed the position of parties, and the vanquished of Lepanto now figured as victors. The Turks in fact were audaciously exacting, but their negotiations were ably con-ducted and were completely successful. The one place which they had lost, Sopoto, was restored to them, and Venice also consented to the definitive cession of Cyprus, which had temporarily fallen into her hands before Lepanto. Nor was this all: it was not forgotten that Venice was tributary to the sultan; her dues were doubled and a war indemnity of 300,000 ducats was stipulated for. On the other hand, the commercial privileges hitherto enjoyed by the republic were confirmed, and the freedom of the seas was guaranteed.
The epoch of Lepanto is, however, the most brilliant in Venetian history as regards the efflorescence of the arts and of literature; it was at this time that the artistic glory of the city was seemingly most brilliant and most developed, and exercised the greatest attraction for strangers. More closely viewed, the 15th century had attained in Venice and the subject cities of the mainland a higher degree of culture; architecture, painting, sculpture, and the minor arts were inspired by a sentiment deeper, more sincere, more elevated both in form and in i'lea; but the artists who arose between the middle of the 15th and the close of the 16th century had a natural disposition, with a touch of the sensual, better corresponding with the tastes of the people and with its artistic ideal, which aroused a greater enthusiasm and made their names more famous.
In literature and art Venice was the link between Italy Arts and and Greece. Its Eastern colonists learned the Greek litera-tongue ; and the fall of the Greek empire brought to themtule-its banished men of science and letters, who taught in their university and introduced to the Venetians the works of the ancients. Guarino of Verona opened to them Xeno-

phon, Strabo, Lucian, Orpheus, Arrian, Dio, Procopius, Diodorus of Sicily, and Plato. At the same time they made Oriental architecture their own, impressing on it the stamp of their special needs and national genius. The Arabs gave them the manufacture of gunpowder and glass, and taught them decorative art; and from Persia they learned to weave costly tissues; while their plastic arts retained a reflexion of the sunny lands which, for geo-graphical reasons, were the source of their riches and the chief object of their preoccupation. The architecture, the painting, and the sculpture of Venice are separately treated (see below). Nor must it be forgotten that the city wel-comed from the first the art of printing, and stamped it with its own individuality. Venice, more than any other town, has the credit of having rescued from oblivion, by editions and translations, the masterpieces of Greek litera-ture. The work of the elder Aldus in this direction from 1495 to 1515 has been spoken of in the article MANUTIUS (q.v.). The literary talent of Venice did not shine in works of imagination j but on the utilitarian side it was really great and original. In Venice history was written to order, and so is open to suspicion. In poetry, if we may cite Pietro Bembo, Molza, Berni, Lodovico Dolce, Doni, Niccolo Franco, Bucellai, Sperone Speroni, and L. Aretino, whom his contemporaries called II Divino, as all Venetians or refugees claiming the greater freedom of thought which Venice then afforded, we must yet admit the lack of a name of world-wide significance, a Dante or a Moliere. But the library of St Mark's shows the respect of the republic for letters; the building that housed the MS. collections bequeathed by Petrarch and Cardinal Bessarion is, perhaps, the most perfect model of 16th-century architecture; and the librarian of the Marciana was, in virtue of his office, so high a personage that he had a title to be voted on by the senate and the great council for the ducal crown. Condi- Such was Venice at the close of the 16th century, when tion at some clearness of vision was still needed to foretell the 16th°f approaching decay. She still had colonies, but their pre-century. servation became more difficult with the declining resources of the state. The customs were less productive, and the senate vainly sought to improve them by instituting at this period the "consuls of the merchants," the "provisors of commerce," the five " experts in exchanges." Manners, too, were degenerating into indolence and luxury, and the courtesans of Venice were more famous than those of Borne. The proveditori (die pompe were designed to check the dilapidations of young patricians on the wealth their ancestors had gained by trade, and the like wastefulness of plain citizens, who consoled themselves for their exclusion from public charges and honours by squandering in idle profusion the money gained by trading commissions and illicit pursuits.
If the old senators who had known austerer times were privately exercised by the perils approaching the state, they were careful in public to conceal its weakness and dazzle strangers by the splendour of their pomps and receptions, and the Oriental gorgeousness of their palaces, churches, and processions, as was seen in the magnificent fetes given in 1574 to Henry III. on his way to assume the throne of France. They desired to make the king an ally as well as a guest, and some time later favourably en-tertained his proposal for a loan of 100,000 crowns of gold. In 1575 the city wTas visited by the plague, the almost inevitable consequence of such constant communi-cation with the East. Forty thousand Venetians fell, and the scourge passed on to the mainland, which it ravaged for four months. Next year the doge Mocenigo died, and the election fell to the old sea-lion Sebastian Venieri, the hero of Lepanto, who already reckoned three " most serene princes " in his family. He ruled but two years, and his last days were marred by the conflagration of the ducal palace. His successor was Nicolo da Ponte, a greybeard of eighty-eight years, whose age showed that in the doge the Venetians sought rather the symbol than the reality of authority. Yet he reigned for seven years, full of peace and useful public works : the ducal palace rose from its ruins; the procurazie or offices for the guardians of noble orphans were completed; Palladio fulfilled the vow of the senate on the occasion of the late plague by erect-ing the marble bridge of the Bialto to replace the old wooden structure, and began the church of the Redeemer; and Corfu and the Friulian frontier were fortified.
The peace of Italy had been mainly due to the religious wars of France; but the senate had wisely sought and maintained the friendship of Henry III., and after his death in 1589 had been sagacious enough to be the first of European powers to recognize Henry of Navarre, thus securing a vigorous ally against Spain, which had turned against the republic since the battle of Lepanto. The French alliance proved durable; Henry IV. mediated be-tween Venice and the duke of Savoy, and on his marriage with Mary de' Medici his name was inscribed in the Book of Gold.
The doge Pasquale Cicogna, elected in 1585, was sue-Rivalry ceeded in 1595 by Marino Grimani, whose rule was marked between by grave dissensions between the senate and the Vatican, ^j ^he The house of Este came to an end in 1597, Pope Clement p0p6i VIII. declaring Caesar d'Este, the nephew of Alphonso II., duke of Ferrara, incapable of succeeding him. But Venice supported his claims and was ready to enforce them by war, when he ceded Ferrara to the pope, contenting him-self with the dukedom of Modena and Reggio. This solution brought the Vatican into a permanent rivalry with Venice,—a grave matter, since at the beginning of the century Csesar Borgia had seized the Romagna in the name of Alexander VI., and Julius II. had occupied Bologna, so that the Estates of the Church bordered on those of the republic. There were other causes of dis-sension also : Venice had never been on cordial terms with the Papacy; the recognition of Henry of Navarre had given umbrage at Rome; and, though peace was made for a time, the quarrel recommenced, and in 1606 Paul V. launched an interdict at the republic. Venice affected the greatest formal respect for the holy see; the legate sat by the side of the doge and took precedence of princes as well as ambassadors; but under all the forms of respect the extravagant pretensions of the popes were constantly repelled with inflexible firmness and energy. The ambassadors of Venice at Rome were always chosen from the most ex-perienced and active men of affairs, and, though the pope had nearer relations with Venice than any other friendly sovereign, churchmen were constantly excluded from all political and civil posts in the republic. A man, it was held, could not serve two masters. Nay, in all discussions bearing on relations with Rome, whether in the senate or the great council, the usher's call " Fuori i Papalisti" ex-cluded from the deliberations, not only patricians whose ties of family or interest bound them to the sacred see, but all who even held what would now be called ultramontane opinions. The Venetian clergy made no contribution to public burdens; the tithes required in time of war could be raised only by a special papal brief, and this privilege the senate claimed the right to suppress. To this Sixtus V. had consented; but his successor was less complaisant. In face of the new pretensions of the Vatican the Venetians multiplied restrictive measures against the clergy, and the conflict grew hotter on both sides, till Paul V. laid the republic under the interdict,—a step that still struck terror

into nations. The hostile Spaniards were not without their share in this measure. But the supple Venetians made no appeal to temporal arms : they left the negotiation of the difficulty to theologians, and Paolo Sarpi made peace between Bome and the senate.
Scarcely was this trouble appeased when the Uskok pirates of the Adriatic coast and the Quarnero Islands recommenced their hostilities, and for ten years (1607-17) no merchant fleet could sail eastward without a convoy. The pirates were supported by Austria, which coveted Istria and Dalmatia, and the conflict was ended in 1617 by the Conflict treaty of Madrid between Venice and that power. Next witl? year the Spanish conspiracy, originated by the Spanish sPain- ambassador, the marquis of Bedmar, broke out in the city itself, but was detected in time by the vigilance of the ten. The Spaniards meant to seize the arsenal by the help of some of the most influential senators. In 1622 Antonio Foscarini was disgraced because he was suspected of plotting with the Spanish ambassador ; the Catholic king carried on his intrigues everywhere. But the republic on its part was not inactive and had stirred up against Spain a formidable enemy, the duke of Savoy, to whom in one year (1617) it lent more than a million crowns of gold. From 1627 to 1631 the two enemies were again face to face in the war of the Mantuan succession; but this time it was the duke of Savoy who made a peace to which Venice merely assented. Loss of Peace was unbroken from 1631 to 1645. But in the Crete to iatter year the Turks suddenly fell on the island of Crete ; Turkey. an(j £Qr twenty-four years the whole forces of the republic, and every thought of the people and the nobles, were con-centrated on the preservation of this colony, which had been purchased from the marquis of Montferrat at the date of the fifth crusade, and in course of time had become a place of the first importance both as a trading station and a naval port. Surprised by the suddenness of the attack, the senate appealed to Europe for aid, and the Vatican, Florence, Naples, and the knights of Malta came to their succour; but after an alliance of thirty-seven days all the helpers regained their ships and left the Venetians to con-front the enemy alone. The struggle was valiantly main-tained and cost Venice, between 1645 and 1669, no less than 4,392,000 ducats. The siege of Candia alone lasted twenty-two years, and for three successive years the combats were continual. At length, on 6th September 1669, the Turks were masters of the island. Europe had looked on impassively at a struggle which, disastrous as was the issue, bore the highest testimony to the valour and patriotism of the generals of the republic. Biagio Giuliani, Tommaso Morosini, Jacopo Riva, Alvisio and Lázaro Mocenigo, Giuseppe Dolfin, and Lorenzo Marcello surpassed one another in exploits worthy of the heroes of antiquity. Between May and September 1667 thirty-two assaults were delivered and repulsed before Candia, and seventeen sorties were made by the besieged. The glory of such a resist-ance did not compensate for the disaster, which reduced the public treasure of Venice from 6,000,000 sequins to 500,000. (See also GREECE, vol. xi. p. 121.)
The troubles excited all over Europe by the ambition of Louis XIV. gave an interval of rest and recovery to the republic, which knew how to preserve its neutrality ; and the years from 1674 to 1684 were a period of profound peace. But the enmity of the Turk still counted on the visible weakness of his rival, and imposed on her humiliations which her isolation and the exhaustion of her finances com-pelled her to submit to. Venice was only saved by the diversion produced by the siege of Vienna and the intervention of John Sobieski; but even then their repulse in central Europe sent back the Turks more determined than ever to be done with Venice and strip her of her whole possessions. At this crisis the senate called Francesco Moro-Morosini to the command of the fleet, a post in which he sini's covered himself with glory by his bold offensive operations ^g^11* in the Peloponnesus. For fourteen years the contest was cam-bravely maintained on both sides, but the fortune of war paigns. was against the Turks. The Venetians occupied the Morea and laid siege to Athens, Morosini bombarding the Parthe-non, which had been made a powder magazine. The cam-paigns, renewed every spring, were marked by a series of victories: Prevesa, Navarino, Modone, Argos, Lepanto, Corinth, all added glory to the name of Morosini " il Pelo-ponesiaco." He failed, however, in his attack on Negro-pont, after he had been raised (1688) to the dignity of doge. Coraro, who followed him in the command of the fleet, died suddenly; and thenDomenico Mocenigo, the new commander, formed the bold project of retaking Crete, and was already before the port of Canea when the news of a Turkish attack on the Morea—really no more than a feeble diversion—induced him to raise the siege and lose his opportunity. The error cost him dear : he was removed from his command, and the old doge Morosini again took the field in spite of his seventy-five years, but soon suc-cumbed to fatigue (1694), when Sylvester Valieri succeeded to the ducal throne. The war continued under the leader-ship of Antonio Zeno. Scio was taken and lost again ; re-verses followed on victories ; and the stern senate removed the captain and the proveditori. But the peace of Carlowitz (1699) between Austria and the Porte brought with it the end of the war between Venice and the sultan, and the Turks, whose humiliation dates from this epoch, were com-pelled, besides their concessions to Austria, Poland, and Russia, to recognize the authority of Venice in the Morea and in Dalmatia as far as the Bosnian frontier.
The first thirteen years of the 18th century, when almost Tlie 18th all Europe was involved in the War of the Spanish Succes- century, sion, were a time of repose for Venice, which remained neu-tral ; but hardly was the peace of Utrecht concluded when the Turks resumed the offensive against the republic, which now had no allies. One after the other the islands and colonies ceded by the peace of Carlowitz were retaken; the Morea again became Turkish ; Dalmatia was saved only by the interposition of Austria, which had need of the friendship of Venice to checkmate the projects of Philip of Spain against the Italian duchies. But soon the emperor found it necessary, in view of the struggle with Spain, to come to terms with the sultan; and his allies, the Venetians, were included in the peace of Passarowitz signed between Austria and Turkey on 21st July 1718. From this mo-ment Venice ceased to have any influence on European politics : she had no more wars, if she still had enemies, signed no more treaties, and, in a word, had abdicated her place in Europe. Not even the dispute of 1731 as to the succession to the duchy of Parma, which brought France, Austria, Spain, and Savoy into conflict at her very doors, stirred her to action; she was indeed no longer a useful ally. Her navy had fallen behind the times; her commerce had been in decadence since the way to the East by the Cape of Good Hope was opened ; she could scarcely repulse the Barbary pirates from her shores ; and she had to treat with Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco to put an end to their inroads, daily repeated from 1760 to 1774. Yet, the Tunisians failing in their engagements, she decided on a war with them, which was closed by a fresh treaty.
The government meanwhile went on in the old form. Consti-The successive doges were still tied by the restrictive law
; tutioual reforms.
which made them crowned prisoners ; but rivalries spran up between the great powers of the state : the senate attacked the institution of the savii, the ministers dele-gated to each branch of the administration, and in turn the magistrates known as the quarantie proposed to reform

the senate, while, lastly, the council of ten was threatened by the great council. In the midst of these reforms, which were calculated to make a great change in the institutions of Venice, the French Revolution broke out. Ludovico Manin had just become doge (1788), but was a mere cipher in the councils of the state. No heed was paid to the information supplied by the ambassadors of Venice at the court of France; nothing was foreseen, nothing decided on, for neither senate nor council understood the Napole- vast sweep of the new movement in Europe. Soon the onic Venetians were called on to recognize the French republic; period. j_ney jgfnggd^ 'bnt did not j0in the coalition against it. When Bonaparte was at the gates of Mantua, they at length decided to treat with him ; but it was too late. Mantua capitulated on 2d February 1797 ; the Venetian envoys presented themselves before Bonaparte on 25th March; and on 18th April the Austrians signed the peace of Leoben, which left Venice without an ally at the feet of the victori-ous invaders of Italy. On 8th May the great council decided to offer no resistance to the French; the doge abdicated on the 12th; and Napoleon entered the city on the 16th, and proclaimed the end of the republic. On 17th October following Bonaparte, by the treaty of Campo Formio, abandoned the territory of Venice to Austria. Venice was buffeted to and fro between France and Austria from 1798 to 1814, when the new coalition assigned her to Austria. Till 1866 Venice remained Austrian, save for a few hours in the insurrections of 1848-49; but her people never acknowledged the rights of those who had bought and sold them like a flock of sheep. The war between Austria and the allied Prussians and Italians in 1866 gave Venice her freedom, and the unity of Italy was at length accomplished under the sceptre of the house of Savoy (see ITALY, vol. xiii. p. 490). (c. Y.)

PART II.—ART.
Architecture.

For some centuries Venice must have consisted mainly of a few groups of wooden huts scattered among the many small grassy islets that lay off the coast of Venetia. At first the main occupa-tions of the inhabitants were fishing and preparing salt by evapora-tion. But, as they grew richer, especially through the possession of large numbers of coasting vessels, in which they transported the merchandise or troops of foreign races at what were frequently very remunerative rates,' they became exposed to the inroads of Dal-matian pirates ; and strongly defended castle-like houses began to be built in stone or brick, with towers at the angles and battlements all along the walls. Though no example exists of these early Venetian castles, a very interesting survival of their general form is still to be traced in the 11th and 12th century palaces, of which a considerable number are yet to be seen (see fig. 5 below). As the city increased in size and importance, great changes were made in the form of the islands on which it stands and in the network of salt-water channels which divided the smaller islands from one another. In the 13th and 14th centuries many decrees of the great council provided for the deepening of existing canals, for filling up others, for draining marshes and forming dry ground by bring-ing shiploads of soil from neighbouring islands, and for driving piles to form securer ground for building. The shallow salt lagoons which surround the islands of Venice form a long band, 4 to 8 miles wide, once reaching to the Roman cities of Ravenna on the south and Aquileia on the north. These waters, averaging only 1 to 4 feet in depth, are separated from the deep sea by a series of long, sandy island bars. Those which form the natural breakwater to Venice are called Malamocco and Lido. Bridges. The early bridges of Venice were wooden structures ; even that over the Rialto was of no more durable material till the present bridge was built in 1591. Many were mere planks nailed on boats. One of the earliest built in stone was that by the south-east angle of the ducal palace, called the Ponte della Paglia, which was founded in 1360. Its name ("the bridge of straw") appears to be due to the fact that it was built with money from the tax on straw, large quantities of which were used to thatch the early houses of Venice. Till about the middle of the 19th century the Rialto was the only bridge across the Grand Canal.
According to tradition, the first church built in Venice was S. Early Giacomo del Rialto (founded in 432). The legendary history of churches, the founding of some other early churches is given in the Chronicle of Andrea Dandolo, written c. 1350. In the 5th century St Magnus, bishop of Altinum, who included in his see the Rialto and adjacent islands, had the following series of visions. (1) St Peter appeared and bade him found a church on that island where he should find oxen and sheep grazing ; and on the little island of Olivolo, at the extreme east of Venice, he accordingly built the church of S. Pietro di Castello, which from 1091 till 1807 was the cathedral church of the Venetian patriarch. (2) The church of S. Raffaello in dorso-duro was founded in obedience to the archangel, who bade St Magnus build a church at the place where he should see a large flock of birds. (3) St Salvador was founded at the place where Christ told the bishop he would see a red cloud rest. (4) S. Maria Formosa was erected at the command of the Virgin, at the place where St Magnus saw a white cloud resting. (5) S. Giovanni in Bragola (or Bragora) and S. Zaccaria were built in obedience to the Baptist, wdio told the bishop to raise churches to himself and his father. (6) The twelve apostles ordered a church to be built at the place where Bishop Magnus should see a flight of twelve cranes. (7) S. Giustina, in the last vision, bade the bishop build a church in her honour at the place where he should see vines laden with grapes. Other early churches were those of S. Gemini-ano and St Theodore, both on the island of Rialto (see below, "St Mark's church").
Architectural Styles.—Owing to its isolated position on the verge Architec-of Italy, and its constant intercourse with the eastern shores and tural islands of the Mediterranean, Venetian architecture was an inde- styles, pendent development, though with many Oriental characteristics, having a character of its own quite unlike the styles employed in other Western countries. It was a very complex growth, in which the most diverse styles were absorbed and blended together in a very beautiful way. The various strands which, woven, as it were, together, combined to form the magnificent web of Venetian archi-tecture were chiefly these,—(1) the Byzantine, itself a most complex mixture of older styles, blended together and vivified with new life in the hands of the skilful builders and craftsmen of Justinian's time ; (2) the Moslem as developed in the gorgeous mosques and palaces of Persia, Syria, and Egypt; (3) the Gothic of northern Europe, and especially of France, with a secondary strain of Floren-tine influence, which, however, was more marked in the sculpture than in the architecture.
In the 11th and 12th centuries the Byzantine style was univer- Byzan-sally employed by the Venetians. The arches of this period are tine, semicircular, usually much stilted. The sculptured ornament is of very great beauty, and is applied freely round arches, along string-courses, and in panels, with which the external facades were often thickly studded. According to the peculiar Venetian system of decoration, the walls were built in solid brick-work and then covered with thin slabs of rich and costly marbles. The columns, with their capitals and bases, were, as a rule, the only places where solid blocks were placed. This constant method of facing with thin slabs necessitated the use of special forms of mouldings and carv-ings, and thus, except in the solid capitals, no deep cutting could be employed ; therefore the mouldings of this period consist of small rolls, cavettos, or flutings contrived to enrich the surface with the least amount of cutting into the thin marble. In the same way the sculptured bands are shallow in treatment, but full of the most vigorous grace, combined with the utmost spirit, in every line and curve, and rich, with an extreme delicacy, in all the details. Flowing scroll-work of semi-conventional foliage, mingled with grotesque animals, birds, or dragons, is most commonly used. As purely decorative sculpture, nothing could surpass the beauty of these early bands and panels. The round or arch-shaped or rect-angular sculptured panels, used to stud the facades like rows of jewels, are of peculiar beauty and interest. Many of the designs are derived from the far East, and appear to be of Sasanian origin ; favourite motives are eagles or dragons devouring hares or other animals, and peacocks treated in a conventionally decorative way, with their spreading tails forming a halo-like background to the body of the bird. Many of these panels are derived from the very ancient Assyrian subject of the sacred tree between two guardian beasts or birds; a common variety of this has two peacocks face to face drinking from a cup placed on a tall, pillar-like object, which recalls that on the lion-gate of Mycenae. Many of these reliefs, closely resemble the sculptured

tury in Ravenna, and are probably of the same date, though used to decorate buildings not earlier than the 12th century. The church of St Mark, especially, is a rich storehouse of these examples oof early sculpture. Others of exactly similar style, which exist in the churches of Thessalonica and other Eastern cities, bear witness to the unity of early Byzantine art and its wide geographical range until the downfall of the Eastern empire. One striking feature in Venetian architecture of all dates down to the lath century is the constant use of the dentil moulding. This consists of a simple series of notchings, at once the easiest and the most eifective way of enriching the thin facing-slabs when their edges were allowed to appear, as, for example, in those which lined the soffits of arches. Moslem. The influence of Moslem art is seen in the occasional use of the horse-shoe arch, in the very common ogee form which was almost universal in Venice from the 13th to the 15th century, and still more clearly in the fantastic rows of battlements, formed of thin pointed slabs of marble set on edge, wdiich crowned the walls of nearly.all the chief palaces of Venice in the 14th and the 15th century.
Cothtc The 13th century was the time of transition from the round arched Byzantine style to the pointed arch with tracery, which in some cases was derived directly from the Gothic of northern countries. This is seen especially in the two great churches of the Dominican and Franciscan friars, SS. Giovanni e Paolo and S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. These two stately churches resemble those built by the friars in other places in Italy,1 and have little of the dis-tinctively Venetian character of the contemporary domestic build-ings. In the 14th and 15th centuries one peculiarity of Venetian Gothic is the way in which tracery is used to fill rectangular and not arched openings. The result of this is that the tracery itself has to support the mass of wall above it, whereas in the Gothic of other countries the tracery is merely, as it were, a pierced screen filling in a constructional arch, which carries the whole weight of the superimposed wall and roof. Hence the Venetian tracery, of which that in the upper story of the ducal palace is a typical ex-ample, is much thicker and heavier in construction. Early In the latter part of the 15th century Venetian architecture began Eeuais- to lose its distinctively local character, though very beautiful ex-sance. amples of Early Renaissance were built by the Lombardi family and other architects, largely under the influence of Fra Giocondo (see VERONA).
oClassic. In the 16th century, under the later development of the Renais-sance, the Pseudo-Classic style was paramount in Venice, and Sanso-vino, Palladio, and others designed many costly buildings which had nothing specially Venetian in their style. This magnificent but dull and scholastic form of architecture reached its highest development in Venice, where it was later in degenerating into tasteless decadence than was generally the case elsewhere. Even in the 17th century good models of the Revived Classic style were built, especially by Longhena (see p. 155 below). After that the degradation of architecture and sculpture took place with great rapidity.
The periods of these styles may be roughly tabulated thus :—(i.) Byzantine, 7th to end of 13th century ; (ii.) Gothic, middle of 13th to c. 1460 ; (iii.) Early Renaissance, c. 1450-1520 ; (iv.) Classic, c. 1520-1620 ; (v.) Extreme Decadence, c. 1600 downwards. Founda- Materials and Methods of Construction.—In spite of its position "tior.s. on a number of small sandy islands in the lagoons, Venice was built upon firm and solid foundations, so that very few houses have suffered seriously from settlement. At a depth of 10 to 16 feet there is a firm bed of very stiff clay, and below this a bed of sand and gravel, and then a thin layer of peat. Recent borings for Artesian wells to a depth of about 1500 feet have shown a regular succession of these beds—clay, gravel, and peat—repeated again and again as far down as the borings have reached. The process implied in this geological formation seems still very slowly to be going on, and the present level of the square of St Mark has been raised artificially about 20 inches above the old brick paving shown in Gentile Bellini's picture of 1496. A good example of the old method of forming foundations is shown in that of the great cam-panile of St Mark, c. 900 (see fig. 1). Here the builders dug down to the bed of stiff clay, and over the whole area of the footings of the tower drove in piles of wdiite poplar, 10 to 11 inches in diameter, nearly touching one another. On the top of these a level platform was formed by two layers of oak trees (Quercus robur), each roughly squared, the upper layer being laid crosswise upon the lower one. The oak and poplar both grew along the shores close to Venice ; in later times, wdien the Venetian territory was extended, the red larch (Pinus Larix) of Cadore and the Euganean Hills was largely used, as, for example, in the foundations of the ducal palace. In 1885 the foundations of the campanile were examined, and both the oak and the poplar were found to be perfectly sound.2 On the wooden platform massive footings are laid, consisting of five courses

of large blocks of trachyte and other granitic or porphyritic rocks from the Euganean Hills. Above these are six courses of similar stone arranged in step-like offsets, forming a base or plinth to the


tower ; owing to the raising of the pavement level only two and a half of these offsets are now visible. Another way of forming foundations, which was used in rather later times, was to omit the piles altogether and build footings with a wider spread. Fig. 1, which also shows the foundations of the ducal palace, dating from the 14th century, is a typical example of this second method, in which the oak platform is laid immediately on the stiff clay. The use of trachyte for foundations was soon superseded by that of Istrian limestone, a very beautiful cream-coloured stone, extremely fine and close in texture and capable of receiving a very high polish. Though not crystalline in grain, and, technically speaking, not a true marble, this Istrian stone has for most architectural purposes all the beauty of the finest white marble, and receives from age a beautiful golden-russet patina, very much like that assumed by Pentelic marble. From the 11th century onwards it was used very largely for plinths, angle quoins, string-courses, window tracery, and other decorative purposes. It occurs, for example, in all the magnificent series of arcades in the ducal palace. Its extreme fine-ness of grain allows it to be worked with an ivory-like delicacy and minuteness of detail.
Throughout the Middle Ages the main walling of Venetian build- Main ings was always of fine brick, usually a rich red in colour, made and walls, fired in the kilns of Murano. In spite of its beautiful colour the brick-work was seldom left visible, the whole wall-surface being lined with thin slabs of marble in the more magnificent buildings, or else coated with stucco, on which diapers and other decorative patterns were painted.
Before 1405 the mortar used in Venice was made of the white Mortar, lime from the Istrian limestone, which possessed no hydraulic qualities, and was consequently very perishable. But after that year, when the Venetians conquered Padua, they were able to get supplies of a strong hydraulic dark lime from Albettone, which formed a very durable cement or mortar, able to resist salt water and the destructive sea air.
One of the chief glories of Venice depends on its extensive use of Marbles, the most beautiful and costly marbles and porphyries, which give a wealth of magnificent colour such as is to be seen in no other city in the world. In early times none of these seem to have been obtained direct from the quarries, but from older buildings, either of Roman or early Byzantine date. Immense quantities of rich marbles were brought from the ruined cities of Heraclea, Ravenna, Altinum, and especially Aquileia. Under the Roman empire Aquileia contained great numbers of magnificent buildings, deco-rated with marbles and porphyries from Greece, Numidia, Egypt, and Arabia. The gorgeous churches and palaces of the Byzantine emperors, enriched with rare marbles stolen from Greek and Roman buildings of classic times, were in their turn stripped of their costly columns and wall-linings by the victorious Venetians. Thus Venice became a magnificent storehouse in which were heaped
FIG. 1.—Two methods of forming foundations, one with piles, the other with wider footings and no piles, as exemplified in the campanile and the ducal palace. A. 10-inch piles of wdiite poplar, close driven into the stiff clay, B,B. Double layers of oak planks, the same in both. C. Rough footings of campanile, made of trachyte and other volcanic stones. D. Similar footings under pillars of ducal palace. E. Stylobate of three steps, under lower loggia of palace, now hidden by raised level of modern pavement. F. One of the Istrian stone pillars of the palace. G. Paving of loggia, now flush with that outside.


the rich treasures accumulated throughout many previous centuries by various peoples. The principal varieties used in the palaces of Venice are—the red porphyry of Egypt and the green

porphyry of Mount Taygetus, red and grey Egyptian granites, the beautiful lapis Atraeius (verde antico), Oriental alabaster from Numidia and Arabia, the Phrygian pavonazzetto with its purple mottlings, cipollino from Carystus, and, in great quantities, the alabaster dike Proconnesian marble with bluish and amber-coloured striations. Till the 14th or 15th century the wiiite marbles used in Venice were from Greek quarries—Parian or Pentelic—being all (like the coloured marbles) stolen from older buildings, while in later times the native marble of Carrara was imported. Large quan tities of red Verona marble were used to form moulded frames round panels of white sculptured marble. The greater part of these costly marbles seems to have been imported in the form of columns, immense numbers of which were sawn up lengthways into long thin slabs for use as wall-facings. Other columns, usually those of the most precious marbles, were sawn across, and thus the roundels were produced which stud like jewels the facades of many of the palaces (see fig. 6). Thin slices sawn from the same column were reversed and placed side by side, so that the natural mottlings formed a regular sort of pattern. Very rich and complicated designs were produced by placing four slabs together to form one large pattern, repeating from one centre. The whole interior of St Mark's is decorated in this magnificent way, very large areas being covered with the same pattern recurring again and again. Thus no attempt was made to disguise the fact that the marble was only a thin surface decoration of no constructional importance. The fact that many slabs had been cut from one block was frankly acknowledged by the formation of these " cut and reversed " patterns, nor is there any attempt to conceal the bronze clamps which hold the slabs in their places.
Gold and The facades of the chief palaces of Venice down to the end of colour the 15th century were wholly covered with these magnificently decora- coloured marbles. But that was not all; a still greater splendour tiou. of effect was given by the lavish use of gold and colour, especially the costly ultramarine blue. Very frequently the wdiole of the sculpture, whether on capitals, archivolts, or frieze-like bands, was thickly covered with gold leaf, the flat grounds being coloured a deep ultramarine so as to throw the reliefs into brilliant prominence. The less magnificent palaces were decorated in a simpler way. The brick surfaces between the windows and other arches were covered with fine hard stucco, made, like that of the ancient Romans, of a mixture of lime and marble dust. The whole of this was then decorated with minute diapers or other geometrical ornament dn two or three earth colours, especially red, yellow, and brown ochres. Very few examples of this form of decoration still remain, owing to the corrosive action of the sea air. One notable example, dating from the 14th or 15th century, has a rich pattern formed by a series of adjacent quatrefoils, with half-figures of cherubs in the intermediate spaces, covering the whole Hat surface of the wall. A few faded patches are now all that is left.
With the early years of the 16th century and the later develop-
ment of the Renaissance totally different methods of architectural
decoration superseded the use of precious marbles and delicate
repeated ornament in colour. The Pseudo-Classic buildings of
Sansovino, Palladio, and their schools were either built of white
stone or marble, quite unrelieved by colour, or else stuccoed facades
Frescos, were treated simply as a ground on which to paint large frescos
with figure subjects, not designed with any sense of the true prin-
ciples of architectural decoration. These frescos, which covered
the otherwise unornamental facades of many of the 16th-century
palaces, were often the work of the greatest painters, from Giorgione
to Tintoretto ; but the pictures, though no doubt beautiful in
themselves, were obviously quite out of place on the facade of a
house : the colossal groups dwarfed the building they were painted
on, and were far inferior in decorative effect to the simpler patterns
of earlier times. These, too, have mostly perished: on the fondaco
of the Germans, once covered with frescos painted jointly by Titian
and Giorgione, only traces of two figures now remain. One of the
best-preserved series of these exterior frescos is that inside the
cloister of S. Stefano, painted by Pordenone, which has naturally
suffered less than the very exposed facades on the Grand Canal.
St Church of St Mark.—This church stands quite alone among the
Mark's, buildings of the world in respect of its unequalled richness of material and decoration, and also from the fact that it has been constructed with the spoils of countless other buildings, and there-fore forms a museum of sculpture of the most varied kind, nearly every century from the 4th down to the latest Renaissance being represented in some carved panel or capital, if not more largely.
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During the early years of Venetian history the site of the present Site, church and square of St Mark was a large grassy field,with rows of trees, divided by a canal (which no longer exists), and containing two churches. One of these, dedicated to St Theodore, the old patron saint of Venice, stood on the site of the present church of St Mark. The other, that of S. Geminiano, was a little to the north-west of the great campanile. Fig. 3 (below) shows its position, and also the site on which it was rebuilt by Sebastiano Ziani (1173-79), when he pulled down the original church in order to extend the square westwards. In the 16th century it was again rebuilt by Cristoforo del Legname and Sansovino, and was destroyed in 1805 by Napoleon I., to make room for a new block to unite the two palaces of the procurators. The grassy campo where these churches stood was the property of the abbey of S. Zaccaria. At its eastern extremity a small palace was built for the doge about 810, when Venice first became the chief ducal place of residence under Angelo Partecipazio.

According to the chief early chronicles, the body of St Mark was Original secretly brought away from Alexandria and carried to Venice in chapel. 828, the church where he was buried having been pulled down by the Moslems in order to build with its materials a palace at " Babylon," as old Cairo was then called. After the arrival of his relics, St Mark became the patron saint of Venice in place of St Theodore, and his bones were laid in the "confessio" of the small private chapel of the ducal palace. This chapel, however, soon lost its private character and became the chief church of Venice, though not the cathedral church of the patriarch. The small ducal Older chapel of St Mark was burnt in 976, together with the rest of the church, palace, during the insurrection against Doge Candiano IV. : it was rebuilt on a larger scale by his successor, Pietro Orseolo, and the

Flo. 2.—Plan of St Mark's; the black shows its older form, the shading it* later development. 1. High altar, containing body of St Mark. 2. North apsidal chapel of St Peter. 8. South chapel of St Clement. 4. 15th-century sacristy. 5. Rood-screen. 6. North ambo and patriarch's throne. 7. South ambo. 8. Altar of S. Maria dei Mascoli. 9. Altar of St Leonard. 10. Chapel of S. Isidore, added in 1853-55. 11. Chapel of St John the Evangelist. 12. Ante-room to treasury. 13. Treasury, formerly a tower of ducal palace. 14. Baptistery. 15. Chapel of Cardinal Zeno. 16. Western atrium. 17. North-ern atrium. IS. North door. 10. Altar against a pier of the nave. 20. Porta della Carta. 21. Loggia of ducal palace. 22. Doge's ante-room. 23. Grand staircase of palace. 24. 16th-century part of ducal palace. 25. Canal, Rio del Palazzo.

following doges, the work being carried on for about a century. An inscription now lost recorded its completion in 1071, but it was not consecrated till 1085, in the reign of Vitale Faliero (1084-1096), when it was dedicated "to God, the glorious Virgin Annun-

ciate, and to the protector St Mark." The form of the church as then completed was quite different from its present aspect, both in extent of plan and in absence of rich decoration. Fig. 2 shows the size of the older church, which was originally of the simple basilica form with three eastern apses and no transepts. One very interest-ing relic of the old ducal palace still exists, namely, the lower part of one of its towers, with walls 11 feet thick ; this was made into the treasury of St Mark when the church was enlarged so as to include it in its plan, at the west corner of the south transept. Recent processes of "restoration" have shown the external design of this early church, which was of plain red brick, undecorated by marble or mosaics, and only relieved by very simple blank arcading, with round arches, not unlike those on some early Norman build-ings in England.
By degrees the church was enlarged : first of all transepts were added, then the baptistery on the south and the atrium extending along the west and north of the nave, about 1150-1200. Next chapels were added north and south of the two transepts : that of St Isidore was built and finished in 1354 by Andrea Dandolo. In 'the 15th century the sacristy at the east end was added, the altar of St Peter iu the north apso being removed to make a passage to it; another way to the sacristy for the use of the clergy was cut through the massive wall of the main apse. During the long period from its dedication in 1085 till the overthrow of the Venetian re-public by Napoleon every doge's reign saw some addition to the rich decorations of the church—mosaics, sculpture, wall linings, or columns of precious marbles. By degrees the whole walls inside and outside were completely faced either with glass mosaics on gold grounds or with precious coloured marbles and porphyries, plain white marble being only used for sculpture, and then thickly covered witli gold. It is impossible here to give an adequate notion of the splendour of the whole effect; nothing short of the eloquence of Mr Ruskin can do justice to the subject. Unfortunately the whole wall surface of the interior is so stained and caked with dirt that much of the gorgeous effect of the marbles is lost. Decora- The general scheme of decoration is the following. The whole tion. of the domes and vaults, and the upper part of the walls down to the level of the floor of the triforium, are completely covered with mosaics of brilliant glass tesseras, the ground being in most cases of gold. Below this every inch of the surface of the walls and arches is covered with richly coloured marbles, porphyries, and alabaster, relieved by pure white marble, sculptured in panels, string courses, and the like. The various marbles are arranged in broad upright bands, alternating so that one colour enhances the effect of that next to it. Eor example, the nave wall in the north aisle is faced thus,—(1) verde antico, (2) Proconnesian, (3) red broc-catello of Verona, (4) Proconnesian, (5) magnificent Oriental ala-baster, (6) Proconnesian, and (7) verde antico; below these is a narrow band of red Verona marble, and then a plinth-moulding of Athenian white marble, which rests on the seat of panelled red marble that runs all round the interior of the nave and transepts. The large columns between the brick piers, six in the nave and eight in the transepts (see fig. 2), are monoliths of fine Proconnesian marble, veined with greyish blue and amber, and the great brick piers are faced with thin slabs of the same material. This facing and most of that throughout the church are made of ancient columns sawn into slices.
of folio plates, most of them exquisitely drawn by Mr Ruskin himself, was
is one of the noblest monographs on any architectural subject that has ever been written.
Crypts. The eastern crypt or confessio extends under the wdiole of the choir behind the rood-screen, and has three apses like the upper church. The body of St Mark was originally placed here, but is now within the high altar of the upper church. Below the nave is an older crypt, the existence of which has only recently been discovered ; it is not accessible, having been filled in with earth and rubbish at a very early period. Choir The choir, which is raised about 4 feet above the nave, is sepa-and rated from it by a marble rood-screen, formed of ancient columns, rood- bearing a straight architrave surmounted by fourteen statues, viz., screen. St Mark, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the twelve apostles. It extends across the aisles, forming a north apsidal chapel of St Peter and a southern one to St Clement. The rood-screen is signed
151
as the work of the Venetians Jacobello and Pietro Paolo, sons of Antonio delle Masegne, 1394-97. The rood itself is of silver, dated 1394 and signed "Jacobus Magistri Marci Benato de Veuetiis." The workmanship both of the silver crucifix and of the fourteen statues is of no great excellence. In front of the screen stand two very large ambones or pulpits, one of porphyry and the other of verde antico. In the northern ambo is a lofty patriarch's throne under a metal domed canopy, curiously like a pulpit in a Moslem mosque. There are fine marble baldacchini, supported on columns of precious marbles, over the high altar, two in the transepts, and one on the north side of the nave. No less than five hundred columns of porphyry and costly marbles are used to decorate the church, especially on the west front. Some of those inside the atrium have no constructional use, but are only set against the wall for the sake of their beauty and value.
A wdiole volume might be written on the sculptured capitals, Columns panels, screens, and other features of the church. A great part of and these are the spoils of other churches, especially from the East; capitals, much of the sculpture, as, e.g., the parapets along the triforium gallery, dates from the 6th century or even earlier. In the richly carved capitals

capitals every style from the 4th to the 12th century is represented, many of them being marvels of delicacy combined with extreme spirit of execution. Some of the larger caps are partially covered with a rich basket-work pattern completely under-cut with great technical skill; others have vine or acanthus foliage treated with vigorous realism ; and a large number have the revived Byzan-tine treatment of the classic Corinthian or Ionic capitals, with variations showing the richest power of invention and originality. In addition to the elaborate sculpture, some of the capitals are de-corated with inlaid patterns ; and many of the mouldings, such as the capping of the triforium screen, are also ornamented in the same way. This use of inlay is almost peculiar to St Mark's, as is also the method of enriching sculptured reliefs with backgrounds of brilliant gold and coloured glass mosaics, producing an effect of extraordinary magnificence.
The exterior is no less magnificent than the inside, the whole Exterior facades being covered with sculpture, mosaic, or slabs of rich marble. The west facade especially is a marvel of lavish expenditure both of labour and of costly material. The design consists of two main stages, the lower one being formed by the atrium, a 12th-century addition, in front of the older facade. Each stage is divided into five great arches, decorated with richly sculptured archivolts and with tympana filled iu with mosaic pictures. Only one of the original mosaics now exists on this front; all the rest have been destroyed and replaced by others of very inferior style in the 17th and 18th centuries. The one original mosaic is over the northern-most of the four doorways into the western atrium ; its date is about or soon after 1220. It is of great decorative beauty, and its subject—the translation into the church of the body of St Mark— is of great interest from its careful representation of the west facade of the church as it was at the beginning of the 13th century. It shows the original form of the upper part of the facade before the . addition in the 14th century of the large ogee gables with elaborate crockets, alternating with statues, and intermediate pinnacled canopies placed between the five great arches of the upper story. It also shows the marble screen-work wdiich once filled the great central west window, the wdiole of wdiich is now missing, only the columns which supported it being left. Similar fillirig-in still exists in some of the large side windows. The lower or atrium story is enriched with a wonderful collection of columns of precious marbles and porphyries arranged in two tiers. The sculptured archivolts, with foliage mixed with figures or subjects in relief, are of great beauty and variety. They are all carved in fine white Athenian marble, and were once gilt, as appears to have been the case with nearly all the sculptured ornaments of St Mark's. This extensive use of gold is clearly shown in Gentile Bellini's picture. The top of the atrium forms a wide upper gallery communicating with the interior at the triforium level. In the centre of this gallery stand the four colossal bronze horses, from some Grasco-Roman triumphal quadriga, wdiich were brought to Venice after the conquest of Constantinople by Enrico Dandolo in 1204."

added by Jac. Sansovino in the 16th century. The round-headed windows in the drums were once filled in with pierced screen-work of marble, some examples of which still exist in the western atrium, —an interesting relic of the method of filling windows employed at a time when glass was but little used. Mosaics. The mosaics in the interior are among the finest and, from their variety of date, the most interesting series in the world ; those dating from the 12th and 13th centuries are of special beauty. The earliest appear to be those on the five great domes, probably executed before 1150. On the nave dome the subject is the Descent of the Holy Spirit: tongues of fire radiate upon colossal figures of the apostles, and below them, on the drum of the dome, is a second series of figures representing the various nations of the world who were converted through the inspired teaching of the apostles. On the dome over the crossing is the Ascension of Christ, with bands of large figures of the Apostles, and below them the Virtues. On the choir dome are a half figure of Christ and a series of the Prophets. In the main apse is Christ in Majesty. The transept domes have series of Saints and Doctors of the Church. All have explanatory inscriptions. The whole of the rest of the vaults and the upper portion of the walls are covered with mosaic pictures, of which a mere catalogue would occupy many pages. In the atrium the sub-jects are taken from the Old Testament; these date from c. 1200-1300. In the baptistery are the life of St John the Baptist and scenes from the life of Christ; on the first dome (westwards) is Christ in Majesty over a series of baptismal scenes and the Greek Doctors ; on the second dome, Christ surrounded by Angels. On the barrel vault of the chapel of St Isidore is a very beautiful series of mosaics, with scenes from the saint's life and other subjects, exe-cuted in 1355, soon after the completion of the chapel. In the sacristy is a fine series of 15th-century mosaics, and in other parts of the church there are mosaics of still later date, some of them from cartoons by Tintoretto and other Venetian painters of the decadence. These later mosaics are not designed with any real sense of the special necessities of mosaic work, and are all very in-ferior in decorative effect to the simple Byzantine style from the 12th to the 14th century.
Most of the existing mosaics of the earlier periods have suffered very seriously from "restoration," a process which is still going on, with most fatal results to the interest and real value of the mosaics. The exterior marble facing and much of the sculpture have within recent years been completely renewed in the most tasteless way,— the fine slabs of rich Oriental marbles having been largely replaced by cheap greyish Carrara marble of the worst quality, quite devoid of the line colours and rich veinings of the original slabs. The Pave- same fate now threatens the magnificent mosaic pavement of St ment. Mark's, the surface of which has sunk into a succession of wavy hollows, owing to the settlement of the vaulting of the crypt below on which the nave paving rests. The original part of the mosaic floor probably dates from about the middle of the 12th century. The nave pavement of the cathedral at Murano, wdiich is exactly similar in style, materials, and workmanship, has an inscription dated 1140. The pavement of St Mark's consists partly of opus Alexandrinum of red and green porphyry mixed with some marble, and partly of tesselated work, made both of glass and of marble tessera. The two methods are obviously of the same date, as in some cases both processes are used in the same design. The opus Alexandrinum is very similar in style to that in some of the basilicas of Thessalonica, and also those in Rome, most of wdiich are of about the same date, the 12th century. The designs executed in mosaic tesserae are of several different styles, some being taken from the mosaics of Roman classical times, wdiile others, with large panels of peacocks on each side of a vase, eagles or lions devouring their prey, and the like, are copied from Byzantine reliefs of much earlier date than the 12th century. The originals of many of these are to be seen in the sculptured roundels which stud the facades of Byzantine palaces in Venice. A great part of the pavement of St Mark's has been repaired and renewed at various times, from the 14th century down to the present time ; consequently a great variety of styles and materials occurs mixed with the original parts. The pave-ment in the north aisle was renewed in the most clumsy and spiritless fashion about twenty years ago, and it is much to be feared that a similar fate awaits the rest of these priceless mosaics. Retable One of the great glories of St Mark's is the most magnificent gold or Pala retable in the world, most sumptuously decorated with jewels and d'Oro. enamels, usually known as the Pala d'Oro. It was originally (according to the Venetian chronicles) ordered in Constantinople by Doge Pietro Orseolo I. in 976 ; and an inscription in enamelled letters added in 1345 records that it was brought to Venice and partly renewed by Doge Ordelafo Falieri in 1105 ; in 1209 it was
ICE [ART.
again repaired and enlarged by Doge Pietro Ziani; and finally in 1345 Andrea Dandolo reset the enamels in new framework, and added some minute gold canopies and other decoration of Gothic style. In the 19th century it was thoroughly repaired and the stolen gems replaced by new ones, easily distinguishable from the original jewels by being cut in facets, not "en cabochon" after the old fashion. This marvellous retable is made up of an immense number of microscopically minute gold cloisonne enamel pictures, of the utmost splendour in colour and detail. The enamels are partly translucent, allowing the brilliant gold backing to shine through the coloured enamel. The subjects are Christ in Majesty, figures of Archangels and Angels, and a very large number of single figures of Prophets and Saints, as well as many scenes from the life of Christ and of St Mark. No description can do justice to the splendour of effect produced by this gleaming mass of gold, jewels, and enamels ; the delicacy of workmanship of the latter is only equalled by two Textus covers, also in gold cloisonne, now pre-served in the treasury of St Mark, which also possesses a magni-ficent collection of church plate of all sorts, such as large chalices and patens in crystal and agate, reliquaries, candlesticks, altar frontals, and other kinds of church furniture, all of the most precious materials and workmanship. Two silver frontals of the 14th century, now used for the high altar of St Mark, originally belonged to the cathedral of Venice, S. Pietro di Castello.

FIG. 3.—Square of St Mark and surrounding buildings. The original campo was bounded on the west by the canal B, with the 6th-century church of S. Geminiano, C, on its west bank. The first enlargement of the square was effected by Doge Sebastiano Ziani in 1176, when he filled up the canal and rebuilt the church on a new site at D, thus nearly doubling the size of the square. Lastly, the square was extended southwards in the 16th century, when the new palace of the procurators, K, was built by Scamozzi. Gentile Bellini's picture shows a line of houses along FF, reaching up to the great campanile, A. Napoleon I. in 1805-10 pulled down the church of S. Gemi-niano and built a new block at the west end of the square, L. The dates of the various parts of the existing ducal palace are indicated on the plan ; the rebuilding was carried on in the following order, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V. At Z is the treasury of St Mark, which was originally one of the towers belonging to the old ducal palace; E, site of old houses; G, clock-tower; H, old palace of procurators; J, old library; M, two columns; N, Ponte della Paglia; O, Bridge of Sighs; W, Giants' Staircase; X, sacristy of St Mark; Y, Piazzetta.
The Ducal Palace. —The original doge's palace, probably a small Ducal strongly fortified castle, was built early in the 9th century, soon palace, after the transference of the seat of government from the island of Malamocco to that of Rialto. In the early troublous period of Early Venetian history the ducal palace was frequently destroyed and re- history, built. It was burnt in 976, and again in 1106 ; by 1116 it had been rebuilt. At the end of the 12th century Sebastiano Ziani (1173-79) restored and enlarged it. Of his work the only fragments now in existence are some richly sculptured bands in relief, built in at intervals along the 14th-century Rio facade, by the south-east angle of the palace (see P on fig. 3). The present magnificent palace was a slow growth extending over nearly three centuries, the older building of Ziani being gradually pulled down as room was required for the new work.

_west .angle), winch is carved with baskets of different kinds of fruit (R on fig. 3). At this point the work seems to have remained sta-tionary for some years, and a considerable portion of Ziani's palace was still in existence; this was called the old palace to distinguish it from the 14th-century new palace. The Venetian council had _decreed that a fine of 1000 gold ducats should be imposed on any _of its members who proposed that the remaining part of the old palace should be rebuilt; in spite of this, in 1422, Doge Tomaso Mocenigo did propose and carried a resolution that the new palace should be extended over the site of Ziani's building. The doge paid the fine, and it was spent as a contribution towards the re-"building, which was begun in 1424 ; in a few years the remainder of the external facade was completed up to the north-west angle, by the church of St Mark (S on fig. 3). The magnificent gateway which unites the palace to the church, called the Porta della Carta1 (T on fig. 3), was added in 1439-42 ; it was the work of the sculptor Bartolomeo Bon and his "son. Soon after the great balconied windows, which break the regularity of both fronts of the palace, were inserted in the upper story. The internal block in the great court joining the Porta della Carta to the Rio front was built by Doge Cristoforo Moro about 1462. In 1479 a fire consumed part of the 14th-century buildings along the Rio, and this part was then rebuilt, mostly between 1480 and 1550. On the southern part of this block are the arms of Doge Agostino Barbavigo, 1482 (U on fig. 3).


Fio. 4.—Section through sea-front of ducal palace (see P, Q in fig. 3). A. Lower loggia towards sea. B. Upper loggia towards sea. C, D. Loggie towards inner court. E. Private apartments of doge. F. Offices. G. Modern level of pavement which hides the old stylobate of three steps (see Jig. 1).

Facades. The two main facades, those towards the sea and the Piazzotta, consist of a repetition of the same design, that which was begun in the early years of the 14th century. The name of the architect who began the work and thus fixed the design of the whole is not certainly known, but it must have been a man of an earlier genera-tion than that of Filippo Calendario, who is often stated to have been the chief architect of the older portion. Calendario was an accomplice in the conspiracy of Marino Faliero and was executed together with the doge in 1355. It appears probable that a Vene-tian architect and sculptor named Pietro Baseggio was the chief master-builder in the first half of the 14th century.2 The design of these facades is very striking, ami unlike that of any other building in the world. It consists of two stories with open colonnades, form-ing a long loggia on the ground and first floors, with seventeen arches on the sea front (see fig. 4) and eighteen on the other facade. Above this is a lofty third story, pierced with a few large windows, with pointed arches once filled with tracery, which is now lost. The columns of the middle story support heavy tracery of the char-acteristic Venetian form, which was copied with more or less modification in a very large num-ber of private palaces built in Venice during the 14th and 15th centuries. The ground story has boldly moulded pointed arches, the spandrels of which were in-tended to be decorated with geo-metrical patterns in thin pieces of marble inlay. Only two of these were, however, completed. The main walls are wdiolly of brick ; but none was left visible. The whole surface of the upper story is faced with small blocks of fine Istrian and red Verona marbles, arranged so as to make a large diaper pattern, wuth, in the centre of each lozenge, a cross made of verde antico and other costly marbles. The colonnades, string-courses, and other decorative features are built in solid Istrian stone. Very beautiful sculpture, executed with an ivory-like minuteness of finish, is used to decorate the whole building with wonderful profusion. At each of the three free angles is a large group immediately over the lower column. At the south-east angle is the Drunkenness of _ Noah, at the south-west the Fall of Man, and at the north-west the Judgment of Solomon. Over each at a much higher level is a colossal figure of an archangel,—Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel. The sculpture of all the capitals, especially of those on the thirty-six lower columns, is very beautiful and elaborate, a great variety of subjects being introduced among the decorative foliage, such as the virtues, vices, months of the year, age of man, occupations, sciences, animals, nations of the world, and the like.3 On the wdrole the sculpture of the 14th-century part is finer than that of the later part near St Mark's. In many eases the 15th-century sculptors have simply copied the older capitals. A strong Florentine influence is apparent in all this sculpture, a great part of wdiich was probably the work of Florentines.4 Unhappily within recent years about half the old capitals have been removed and replaced by copies, which in some cases are not even accurate reproductions of the originals. A very wholesale and needless "restoration" is still in progress, not only of the sculpture, but also of the columns, arches, and traceries, which in many cases have been wholly renewed without any excuse whatever.
The great internal court is surrounded with arcading of very Internal similar style ; even in the 16th-century portion the same main out- court, line has been followed, though the detail is different. From the interior of the court access is given to the upper loggia by a very beautiful staircase of early Renaissance style, built in the middle of the 15th century by the Venetian architect Antonio Ricci. Two colossal statues of Neptune and Mars at the top of these stairs were executed by Fran. Sansovino in 1554—hence the name "giants' staircase " ; they are very clumsy and badly designed. Owing to a fire which gutted a great part of the palace in 1574, the in-ternal appearance of the rooms was completely changed, and the fine series of early Paduan and Venetian paintings which decorated the walls of the chief rooms was lost.5 At present the magnificent council chambers for the different legislative bodies of the Venetian republic and the state apartments of the doges are richly decor-ated with gilt carving and panelling in the style of the Later Renais-sance. On the walls of the chief council chambers are a magnificent series of oil paintings by Tintoretto and other less able Venetians,— among them Tintoretto's masterpiece — Bacchus and Ariadne— and his enormous picture of Paradise, the largest oil painting in the world. All have suffered much from restoration. Some of the scenes of important Venetian naval victories are of great historical interest, though of little merit as works of art.
In the 16th century the state prisons, which till then were on State the ground floor of the ducal palace, were removed to a new building prisons, on the opposite side of the narrow canal on the east of the Rio del Palazzo (see fig. 3). A bridge, usually known as the Bridge of Sighs, was built to connect the two buildings. This bridge and the new-prisons 6 were designed by a Venetian, wdio also built the Rialto bridge in 1588-91, and hence was nicknamed Antonio da Ponte.
Owing to the raising of the level of the Piazzetta and the Riva degli Schiavoni, the ducal palace has lost its stylobate, consisting of three steps, the level of the pavement outside being now the same as that of the lower loggia of the palace ; and thus a serious injury has been done to the architectural beauty of the facades (see figs. 1 and 4). As the columns of the lower story have no bases, a stylobate is specially needed.
By the side of the sea in the Piazzetta, on to which the west Piazzetta facade of the ducal palace faces, stand two ancient columns of columns. Egyptian granite, one red and the other grey (see M, fig. 3). These great monoliths were brought as trophies to Venice by Doge Domenico Michieli in 1126, after his victories in Syria. In 1180 they were set up with their present fine capitals and bases by a Lombard engineer, Niccolo de' BarattierL The grey column is surmounted by a line bronze lion7 of Byzantine style, cast in Venice for Doge Ziani about 1178 ; and in 1329 a marble statue of St Theodore, standing upon a crocodile, was placed on the other column.8
The great campanile (see A, fig. 3) of St Mark in the square at the Campa-west of the church was founded about 900 by Doge Pietro Tribuno nile. and finished in 1131 or soon after. It is a very massive square tower of brick, 325 feet high by 42 square, on a stone base, simply decorated with slight pilasters. The ascent to the top is made by a series of inclined planes instead of stairs. The upper part, an open lantern with a pyramidal roof, was added in the 16th century ; on the apex is a fine colossal statue of an angel, formed of plates of gilt bronze on a wooden core,—a work of the end of the 15th century.
Other Churches.—The ancient cathedral church of S. Pietro di Cathe-Castello was wholly rebuilt during the latter part of the 16th cen- dral fury, probably from designs by Palladio. It is a well-proportioned church, but uninteresting structure of the usual Pseudo-Classical Palladian style ; it is now seldom used.
After St Mark's the two finest churches in Venice are those of Churches
the Dominican and Franciscan friars, SS. Giovanni e Paolo and S. of SS.
Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Both are built on the same plan as that Giovanni
of other important friars' churches, such as S. Maria Novella and e Paolo
S. Croce in Florence, with a large nave, aisles, transepts, and two and the
j^rari.

or more chapels opening from the east of each transept. In the A7enetian examples the choir and all the transept chapels have apsidal terminations. Both churches are built of brick, with rich marble traceried windows, and simple vaulting throughout. The details of the interior are plain, but the scale is large and the general design very noble and effective, showing a strong infusion of northern Gothic influence, which is one of the characteristics of the friars' churches throughout Italy. The Dominican church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo was used as the chief burial place of the doges and other chief members of the Venetian republic; it was built about the middle of the 13th century. There is no foundation for Vasari's statement that Niccola Pisano was the architect of this or of any other building in Venice, although the influence of the Pisano school of sculpture was certainly very strong during the 14th cen-tury. The magnificent collection of tombs in this church, of all dates from the 13th century downwards, is one of the finest in the world. Some of the recumbent effigies of the 14th century, and the reliefs and statuettes on the sarcophagi, are works of very great beauty, distinctly Florentine in character. The later monuments of the 16th and 17th centuries are in many cases very large, costly, and pretentious, of the worst possible taste, in striking contrast to the quiet simplicity of the 14th-century tombs. A remarkable feature in the Franciscan church is its fine marble rood-screen of the 14th century, one of the very few which still exist in Italy ; it is surmounted by two ambones or pulpits. The choir stalls, which extend rather more than one bay westwards of the crossing, are richly decorated with reliefs and tarsia work, executed in the later years of the 15th century. This church is the largest in Venice, even exceeding St Mark's in size ; it also contains a number of line tombs, some of them with large equestrian statues of Venetian generals. The tomb of Doge Francesco Dandolo in this church, now mutilated and removed from its place, is a very noble example of 14th-century sculpture. The sacristy, on the south of the south transept, still possesses over its altar one of Giovanni Bellini's finest pictures, signed and dated 1485, representing the Madonna En-throned between Standing Figures of Saints, a picture of most ex-traordinary beauty and perfect preservation, in its original richly carved retable-frame. This church, though very similar in style, was built about half a century later than that of the Dominicans, and was not completed till after 1300. Church The influence of the chief orders of friars in the style of ecclesi-of S.Stef- astical architecture is strongly shown in many other churches, such ano, &c. as that of S. Stefano, especially in the frequent use of the apse as a termination both for choirs and side chapels. This church, built about 1360 by a monastery of Austin friars, has a rich west front, decorated with very delicate terra-cotta ornaments. The eastern apse extends over a small canal and is supported on a wide bridge-like arch. Of the same type are the church of S. Gregorio and that of S. Maria della Carita, both now desecrated. S. Gregorio has a very beautiful cloister, dated 1342, the columns of which support, not a series of arches, but flat wooden lintels. On the capita] of each column rests a moulded wooden corbel to diminish the bear-ing of the lintel; this is a very characteristic Venetian mode of con-struction, used, not only for cloisters, but also for ground floors of houses, upper loggias, and other places, especially during the 14th and 15th centuries. S. Gia- One of the most interesting early churches is that of S. Giacomo como dall' Orio, built in the early part of the 13th century, with a com-dall' plicated many-columned plan, the aisles being carried along the Orio. transepts as well as the nave. The roof is a very good example of the wooden coved type, of which the finest are at VERONA (q.v.). One of the columns in the south transept is a monolith of the precious verde antico, of wonderful size and beauty, probably brought from some Byzantine church. S. Maria Venice contains some very beautiful ecclesiastical architecture of dei Mir- the Early Renaissance, about 1450 to 1500, with very delicate and acoli. refined detail, such as was designed by Fra Giocondo of Verona and various members of the Venetian Lombardo family. The most perfect example of this style is the little church of S. Maria dei Miracoli, so called because it was built to contain a miraculous picture of the Madonna. Very rich and varied marbles were used in its construction, and it is lavishly decorated with sculpture of wonderful refinement and beauty of detail; it was built in 1481-89 from the designs of Pietro Lombardo. The court of the guild of St John the Evangelist is another fine example of the same style. Later Re- In the 16th century and even later some very stately churches naissance of the Later Renaissance style were built in Venice by Jacopo churches. Sansovino, Andrea Palladio, and their school. One of Sansovino's best works, the church of S. Geminiano, was destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century in order to complete the west side of the square of St Mark (see fig. 3). The large church of S. Giorgio Maggiore, on an island opposite the ducal palace, was built by Palladio, and is a good example of the faults and merits of his style. S. Maria della Salute, built by Baldassare Longhena in 1632, as a thank-offering of the Venetian senate for the cessation of the great plague in 1630, is one of the most conspicuous churches in Venice owing to its magnificent site near the mouth of the Grand Canal. Though dull and heavy in detail, it has a well-designed dome, and the general mass of the building is very skilfully arranged. Most of the 17th and 18th century churches in Venice are in the worst possible taste, and extravagantly pretentious in style. A large number still possess fine campanili,—lofty square brick towrers, in general form not unlike the 12th-century campanili of Rome. These in Venice range from the 11th to the 16th century, those of the 14th century being specially beautiful.
Palaces.—In the beauty and interest of its domestic architecture Palaces. Venice ranks before any other city in the world. Fine examples of all dates from the 12th century downwards still exist, and many even of the earlier palaces are still externally in a very perfect state of preservation. The most notable specimens of 12th-century 12thcen-Byzantine palaces are those of Loredano (now municipal offices), tury By-Farsetti, and Da Mosto, all on the Grand Canal. The fmidaco of zantine the Turks (now the Correr Museum) was once the finest of this date, palaces, but it has been ruined first by neglect and then by wholesale restora-tion. The general design of these Byzantine palaces appears to have been very similar in all cases ; fig. 5 shows a typical example.
1LARGE HALL.
TOWER. T TOWER. I
PORCH. « » I » o * o o »>!oo*
CANAL- [I' CANAL. J" H K.
|WV]

Fir.. 5.—Typical facade and plan of a 12th-century Byzantine palace, with a tower at each end. No perfect example now exists, owing to the rebuilding of tile upper stories with central part equal in height to the ends ; but in many cases traces of this arrangement can be distinguished.?
The canal facade usually had a tower at each end, with a row of arches in the centre opening into a long vestibule or porch, behind which was a large hall. Along the first floor a long range of window arches extended from end to end, forming a continuous arcade ; in the fondaco of the Turks this upper range consisted of no less than twenty-six arches. Very beautiful sculpture was used to decorate all these arches, which were of stilted semicircular form, and also the capitals on which they rested. Mr Ruskin has shown how these round arches developed into other forms, first a simple pointed ogee, and then a cusped ogee of several different varieties.
7 Mr Ruskin has shown (in Stones of Venice, vol. ii.) that in these Byzantine palaces there are subtle variations in the width of the arches, forming a regular gradation of sizes, hardly perceptible without actual measurement.
In the 13th century the introduction of window - tracery led Venetian gradually to the development of a special form of architecture, Gothic usually called Venetian Gothic, which was unrivalled for combined palaces, magnificence of material and design. The design of about the year 1300 adopted for the facade of the ducal palace had a very exten-sive and prolonged influence on the private palaces of Venice. A very large number of these, built in the 14th and first half of the 15th century, still exist and are among the most beautiful and well-preserved examples of mediaeval architecture which can any-where be seen. The climax of this magnificent style was towards the end of the 14th century, to which date belongs the wonderful Ca' d'Oro or "golden house," as it is usually called, from the pro-fusion of gilding which once covered its sculptures and mouldings.

Ca' No words can describe the magnificence of this palace on the Grand d'Oro. Canal, its whole facade faced with the most costly variegated Oriental marbles, once picked out with gold, vermilion, and ultramarine, the walls pierced with elaborate traceried windows and enriched with bands and panels of delicate carving,—in combined richness of form and wealth of colour giving an effect of almost dazzling splendour.
Early Renaissance palaces.
Some of the 15th-century palaces of Early Renaissance or, as Mr Ruskin calls it, Giocondesque style are scarcely inferior in beauty to those of the Gothic period. Fra Giocondo, the Lombardi, and other architects of this era (1460-1510) still used with great skill and effect the rich Oriental marbles, which were wholly neglected by the architects of the Pseudo-Classic revival. On the Grand Canal the Corner-Spinelli, Trevisan, and Dario Palaces are specially beautiful examples of the style; the richest of all is, however, the small Guisetti Palace in the narrow Rio della Fava, faced with purple Phrygian pavonazzetto and other coloured marbles, and lavishly decorated with delicately sculptured pilasters, friezes, and corbels of the most exquisite design and workmanship. This architectural gem is now quite neglected, and used as a mere warehouse.
Among the 16th-century palaces of later style are many of great size and magnificence, though designed in a somewhat dull and scholastic fashion. The influence of these Venetian buildings on the 19th-century architecture of Europe generally has been very great.
Later Renaissance.
In most of the Venetian palaces of the Later Renaissance, such as the magnificent Grimani Palace by Sammichele, and in the library of St Mark by Sansovino, the main motive of the facade is taken from the arcading with entablature over engaged columns which was universally used for the theatres and amphitheatres of ancient Rome. In many cases the entire facade of the palace consisted of a series of columns, arches, and cornices, so that no plain wall surface was left at any part of the front, and the whole effect is too laboured and restless, and far less pleasing than the rather earlier examples of the same style, such as the Vendramini Palace on the Grand Canal and the Camerlenghi near the Rial to bridge, finished in 1525, in which some Gothic feeling still survives. One of the noblest palaces of the Later Renaissance is that of Pesaro, on the Grand Canal, built by Longhena, one of the chief Venetian architects of the 17th century, who in this case has followed the style of Sansovino or other architects of the previous century, using the Colosseum arcade for the two upper stories. In general toass and in the proportions of the parts this palace is a work of great merit, far superior to the usually degraded style of the 17th century.
Guilds.
Other Public Buildings.—Much of the splendour of Venice in her days of greatest glory was due to the wealth and religious zeal of the various trade guilds or confraternities, called scuole by the Venetians. The members of each guild were united for both secular and religious purposes ; their meeting places and chapels were often buildings of the greatest architectural magnificence, and were decorated with sculpture and painting by the chief artists of the
time. The scuola of St Mark, near the great Dominican church, has a magnificent facade designed in 1485 by Pietro Lombardo. A beautiful series of pictures by Vittore Carpaccio was painted for the Slavonian guild, and still exists in their chapel dedicated to St George and St Tryphonius. The scuola, of St Rocco pos-sesses a wonderful collection of noble pictures by Tinto-retto, and the other chief guilds, such as those of St Ursula, Della Misericordia, Delia Carita, and St John the Evangelist, possessed very beautiful and richly decorated buildings.
Arsenal.
One of the most import-ant public buildings of Venice was the arsenal, including large docks and yards for building ships (see p. 143, above). The en-trance gateway is an elaborate work, built in 1460 by the Lombardi ; and in
front of it stand four ancient marble lions, brought as trophies from the Pira>us in 1687. The arsenal is still an important naval depot, and contains a museum of historically interesting objects.
Public buildings
round St
Mark's
Square.
A stately series of public buildings surrounds the square of St Mark (see fig. 3). The north side is occupied by the old palacj of the procurators, designed by Bart. Bon towards the end of the 15th century. Near it to the east stands an elaborate clock-tower built by Pietro Lombardo in 1496. On the south of the square is the newer palace of the procurators, designed in 1584 by Scamozzi, now used as part of the royal palace. The west end is occupied by an extension of the public offices built by Napoleon I. in 1805-10, partly over the site of the church of S. Geminiano. The adjoining Piazzetta is bounded on the east by the ducal palace and on the west by the magnificent library of St Mark, built by Jacopo Sanso-vino in 1536. The mint occupies part of the same block. The facade of the library is shown in fig. 7.
In front of the west facade of St Mark's are three large flagstaffs, originally used to display the gorgeous silk and gold banners of the subject kingdoms of the Morea, Cyprus, and Candia. Their elaborate bronze sockets were cast in 1505 by the Venetian sculptor, Alessandro Leopardi, wdio has inserted fine medallion portraits of the reigning doge Lorenzo Loredano.
Museums and galleries.
The academy of fine arts, now in the Della Carita guild-house, contains a very large and valuable collection of pictures of the Venetian school. With one exception, Carlo Crivelli, all the chief Venetians are well represented here, and in many cases far better than in any other collection in the world. Venetian art, in fact, can only be completely studied in Venice. The academy is very rich in elaborately carved retables of the early Venetian painters, works of great decorative splendour, though not equal in drawing or composition to the work of the 14th and early 15th century painters of Florence or Siena. The Vivarini family, the Bellini, with Carpaccio and others of the Bellini school, Cima da Conegliano, Titian, Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese are all represented by a large number of their finest works. The Correr Museum, now moved from the Correr palace to the fondaco of the Turks, is the property of the city. It contains some fine Venetian pictures, and an inter-esting collection of early majolica and other mediaeval works of art. The Giovanelli Palace in the Rio S. Felice possesses a fine specimen of Giorgione, the rarest of Venetian masters : it is a noble woody landscape with two figures in the foreground. The portraits by Titian and Tintoretto in the same collection are very fine.
The churches of Venice are still marvellously rich in pictures by the chief Venetian painters of all dates. Almost every church contains some notable painting ; and some of them, such as S. Sebas-tiano, S. Giovanni in Bragora, and S. Giorgio Maggiore, possess a very great number of important works. Many private palaces contain fine collections of pictures ; but great numbers of these were sold to foreign purchasers during the 19th century.
Painting.
For an account of Venetian painting the reader is referred to Painting, the separate articles on the various painters and to SCHOOLS OF PAINTING.

Sculpture.
Sculp- Till the 14th century Venice continued to adhere to the old ture. Byzantine style of sculpture, which, though often delicate in exe-cution and decorative in effect, slowly lost spirit and vigour, and from continually copying older forms gradually degenerated into a dull and mechanical formalism. Early in that century the influ-ence of Niceola Pisano and his school began to awaken a new artistic life among the archaistic sculptors of Venice ; but the progress of this renaissance was very slow, and in much of the Venetian sculp-ture the degenerate Byzantine formalism survived till nearly the close of the 14th century. Other works of the same period were executed with much of the grace and almost realistic beauty for which the contemporary Florentines were so famous, and thus one may see in Venice, and in Venice only, two reliefs of the same date of wdiich one is several centuries earlier in style than the other.-This want of originality was probably partly caused by the immense quantity of older sculptured reliefs wdiich was imported to adorn the walls of the churches. In the early part of the 14th century Florentine influence rapidly gained ground, and many sculptors from Florence came to work on the richly carved capitals of the ducal palace and other places, and especially produced a large number of very beautiful tombs with recumbent effigies. One very graceful type, the general motive of which was first used by Arnolfo del Cambio (see ORVIETO), was frequently repeated: at the head and foot of the effigy an angel is represented drawing a curtain so as to expose the figure of the dead man. The sarcophagus, on which the effigy lies, has reliefs of the Virgin and the Angel of the Annunciation, with the Crucifixion or some other sacred subject be-tween. In later times these subjects were usually replaced by allegorical figures of the virtues, and the simple curtain drawn by angels gradually became a large tent-like canopy, of rather clumsy and tasteless form. In most churches the sculptured decoration, apart from that on the tombs, was concentrated on the west facade, the tympanum of the central doorway being often filled with a very fine relief, such as that from the church of the guild Delia Miseri-cordia, now in the South Kensington Museum.
In domestic architecture sculpture was but little used after the Byzantine period, the splendour of the facades depending mostly on their rich coloured marbles, and on moulded tracery and string-courses. Nevertheless, even as late as the 15th century it was not uncommon to insert 11th or 12th century pieces of sculpture in new work ; many examples of this practice are still to be seen. The sculpture of the Early Renaissance is very abundant and extremely delicate and refined, especially that of the Giocondo and Lombardi schools; S. Maria dei Miracoli contains some of the most beauti-ful examples.
Though not the work of a Venetian, Venice possesses what is perhaps the most magnificent equestrian statue in the world, the colossal bronze portrait of the Venetian commander-in-chief, Barto-lomeo Colleoni (figured in vol. xxi. p. 568, fig. 18), wdiich stands in the square at the west end of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. It was modelled by the Florentine VERROCCHIO (q.v.), and was cast after his death by Alessandro Leopardi, wdio also designed the pedestal ; the whole was completed in 1495.
With the later development of the Renaissance, sculpture rapidly declined : in domestic architecture it was but little used, except for the deep frieze under the top cornice, and with the Palladian school it became still rarer, and very mechanical in style. In the 17th century it was again used in the most lavish way as archi-tectural decoration, but was coarse in execution and violently awkward in outline. As Venice in her best days had produced some of the finest decorative sculpture in the world, so in her ex-treme decadence an almost unequalled depth of degradation was reached, and this continued till the fall of the republic. The Venetian sculptor Canova was, on the whole, superior to his immediate predecessors, and was one of the leaders of the revival of classic sculpture which flourished during the first half of the 19th century.
Minor Arts.
Metal- During the early part of the mediaeval period the Venetians had _work. no great skill in metal-work. Some of the bronze doors in the west facade of St Mark's are importations from Byzantium. That on the right, which has rude figures of saints inlaid in silver, was brought to Venice in 1204; another with a Latin inscription appears to be native work of about the year 1112 ; both are very rude in design and execution. The open bronze grills of the west atrium doorways, which are signed as the work of a Venetian goldsmith, Bertuccius, in 1300, show no increase of technical skill. Nor was the silver-work any better: the large silver rood in St Mark's is a very coarse piece of work. The silver altar frontals from the old cathedral, now in St Mark's, with sacred subjects and figures of saints repousse in each panel, made in the 14th century, are no less rude in design and feeble in execution. As in the case of marble sculp-ture, Venice was chiefly dependent on foreign importations for its rich stores of treasures in the precious metals. In the latter part of the 15th century Venetian skill in bronze-work had greatly in-creased. Leopardi, who cast Verrocchio's statue of Colleoni, was a bronze-worker of great eminence ; and in the following century the bronze doors and the font cover in St Mark's by Jacopo Sansovino are models of technical excellence, though showing some decadence of taste in their design. The great bronze lion on the west fa9ade of St Mark's, cast by Gaetano Ferrari in the first half of the 19th century, is a really fine work. A great deal of beauti-ful metal-work, especially in copper and bronze, such as large salvers, ewers, and the like, was made during the 15th and 16th centuries, partly by Moslem workmen and partly by native Vene-tians who adopted Oriental designs. A large colony of Moslem craftsmen seem to have settled in Venice, and had much influence on the designs used in many of the minor arts.
Moslem influence was especially strong in the case of woven Textiles stuffs, for wdiich Venice became very celebrated in the 15th century. Its damasks and other silk stuffs with patterns of extraordinary beauty surpassed in variety and splendour those of the other chief centres of silk weaving, such as Florence and Genoa. Fig. 7 in the article TEXTILES (vol. xxiii. p. 209) gives a beautiful example of 15th-century Venetian silk designed tinder Oriental influence. In addition to the native stuffs, an immense quantity of costly Oriental carpets, wall-hangings, and other textiles was imported into Venice, partly for its own use, and partly for export throughout western Europe. Thus in wealth of gorgeous stuffs and embroideries Venice surpassed all other cities, and on occasions of festivals or pageants the balconies, the bridges, the boats, and even the facades of the houses were hung with rich Eastern carpets or patterned textiles in gold and coloured silk. The glass manufactory of MURANO (q.v.), Glass-a small island about 1J miles to the north of Venice, was a great-working, source of revenue to the republic ; the glass-workers enjoyed special privileges and great pains were taken to preserve the secrets of the craft. Glass drinking cups and ornamental vessels, some decorated with enamel painting, and "silvered" mirrors were produced in great quantities from the 14th century downwards, and exported to other European countries, where they were sold for high prices. Much beautiful glass-work is still produced in Murano, but the workmen have lost all power of original design, and do little but copy the forms invented in the 15th or 16th century. Like many other arts in Venice, that of glass-making appears to have been imported from Moslem countries, and the influence of Oriental design can be traced in much of the Venetian glass. The art of making stained glass windows was not practised by the Venetians ; almost the only fine glass in Venice is that in a south transept window in the Dominican church, which, though designed by able Venetian painters, is obviously the work of foreigners.
LITERATURE.—(1) General Worlcs.—Sabellicus, Be Venetm Urbis Situ, Venice, 1492 ; Beinbo, Hist. Venetw, 1551; Sansovino, Venezia Descritta, Venice, 1604; Daru, Hist, de Ven., Brussels, 1S38 ; Galliciolli, Delle Mem. Ven., Venice, 1795; Miehieli, Origine delle Feste Ven., Milan, 1829 ; Zendrini, Le Isole di Ven., Venice, 1829 ; Id., Mem. Stor. sullo Stato delle Laqune, Venice, 1811; Fougasses, Generall Historic of the Magnificent State of Venice (Englished by W. Shute), London, 1612 ; Mutinelli, Annali Urbani di Venezia, Venice, 1841; Cicogna, Inscrizioni Veneziane, Venice, 1824; Filiasi, Memorie Storiche dei Veneti, Padua, 1811; Carrer, Venezia e la sua Storia, Venice, 1S38 ; St Didier, La Ville et la Republiquc de Venise, Paris, 1S5S ; Yriarte, Histoirc de Venise, Paris, 1878 (Eng. ed., 1880); Anon., AssediodiVenezianellS/i9, Venice, 1S55; Foscarini, Letteratura Veneziana, and its continuation by Moschini, Lett. Ven. dal Secolo 18™, Venice, 1S06-8; Corner, Notizie Storiche delle Chiese di Venezia, Padua, 1758; Hardy, Report on the Documents in the Archives of Venice, London, 1866; Temanza, Antica Flanta di Venezia, Venice, 1780. Much valuable matter has been published in the Archivio Veneto, which is still in progress. (2) Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture.—Ruskin, Stones of Venice, reprint 1886, and St Mark's Rest, 1880; Selvatico, Architetlura e Scultura in Venezia, 1847 ; Cicognara, Fabbriclte di Venezia, 1S15-20; Id., Monumenti di Venezia, 1838-40; Cadorin, Pareri di 15 ArchUetti, Venice, 1S38 ; Diedo and Zanotto, Monumenti di Venezia, Milan, 1839; Fontana, Fabbriche di Venezia; Temanza, Vite degli Scultori Veneziaui, 1778; Perkins, Italian Sculpture, London, 1883, pp. 195-217; Ridolfi, Maraviglie dell' Arte Ven,., 164S; Zanetti, Pittura Veneziana, 1771; Boschini, La Carta del Navegar Pittoresco, Venice, 1660, a curious poem in the Venetian dialect about the pictures and painters of Venice. (3) Ducal Palace.—Sansovino, Lettera vn-torno at Pal. Ducale, printed in 1829 ; Bettio, Lettera Discorsiva del Pal. Ducale, Venice, 1S37 ; Zanotto, II Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1853-58, a fine well-illustrated work; Ruskin, op. cit.; Burges and Didron, Iconographie des Chapitoux du Palais Ducal a Venise, Paris, 1S57. (4) St Mark's Basilica.—Meschinello, La Chiesa di S. Marco, 1S30 ; Anon., L'Augusta Ducale Basilica, Venice, 1761, usually called "Del Foscarini" from its dedication ; Richter, "Sculpture of St Mark's," in Macmillan's Magazine, June 1S80; Kreutz and Ongania, La Basilica di S. Marco, 1S81-86, one of the most magnificent and costly works ever published, consisting of a large series of photographs and chromo-lithographs ; II Tesoro di S. Marco, 1SS5, a set of fine chromo-lithographs of the gold, silver, enamel, crystal, and jewelled treasures of St Mark's, also published by Ongania; and Documenti per la Storia delta Bas. di S. Marco, IX.-XVIII. Sec, 1885, a valuable collection of hitherto unpublished MSS. Views of Venice.—Thirty-eight engrav-ings from pictures by Canalctto, entitled Urbis Venctiarum Prospectus, Venice, 1735-51, and its companion, Marieschi, Pros. Urbis Ven., 1743 ; Carlevariis, Fabrichc e Vedute di Ven., 1703; Price, Views of Ven., London, 1843. A large

number of 18th-century pictures by the Canaletti and by Guardi represent canal views. Tlie fine woodcut bird's-eye view of the city in 14!)7, engraved by Jacobo de' Barbari, is about to be published in facsimile with descriptive text by Giacomo Boni.



PART III.—MODERN CITY.
The modern city stands on 117 islands, separated by 150 canals [no) and united by 380 bridges ; all the main traffic passes along the canals. The usual range of tide-level is about 20 inches ; but under exceptional circumstances there is a difference of nearly 6 feet between lowest and highest water. The name " gondola " givei to the passenger boats does not occur earlier than the 14th century. As shown in Carpaceio's and Gentile Bellini's pictures (e. 1500), the gondola of that date was quite unlike the present boat with its heavy black cabin and absence of any colouring: the older form had an awning of rich stuffs or gold embroideries, supported on a light arched framework open at both ends. The peculiar method of rowing with one oar at the stern is the same now as it was in the 15th century, and probably much earlier. Since 1880 " omnibus " steamers have been introduced on the Grand Canal, which has also

Map of the islands of Venice.

been disfigured in the 19th century by the addition of two hideous iron bridges, over one of which passes the railway that connects Venice with the mainland. Before the Venetian republic was suppressed by Napoleon I. the population amounted to nearly 200,000 ; in 1830 it had sunk to about 100,000 ; but since then it has in-creased, and in 1881 amounted to 132,826 (commune 145,637). The city has grown rapidly in prosperity since its restoration to the kingdom of Italy, and it is now second only to Trieste among the seaports of the Adriatic. The climate is mild but some-what rainy, owing to the water-surrounded site. The principal manufactures of the city remain what they were in the Middle
Ages, namely, gold and silver work, glass, and velvet and silk,
to which must now be added cotton, in all of which, as well as in
grain, oils, wdne and spirits, fruits, drugs, fish, and hides and
leather an active trade is carried on. In 1886 the total value of
the exports from Venice to foreign countries amounted to £7,239,479
and that of the imports to £8,788,012. During the same year
there entered 2595 vessels of 714,642 tons (Italian 1565 vessels of
222,217 tons) and cleared 2597 of 724,740 tons (Italian 1565 vessels
of 227,021 tons). (J. H. M.)



Footnotes

The commemorative inscription can still he read on the threshold of the Hall of Giants.

1 There are many curious analogies between Venice in the early part of its career and the Phoenician city of Tyre in the Sth and 7th centuries _._, in the position of the two cities, their mercantile habits, their custom of acting as carriers for other races, and their both being in their habits of life and in their artistic productions links between the East and West.

Vitruvius (i. 4) speaks of the lagoon cities of Aquileia, Altinum, and Ra-venna as being healthy sites in spite of their position. Aquileia and Altinum, which wore wealthy cities, were both destroyed by Attila.
In the same way old London Bridge was paid for by the wool duty.
The word " Rialto " appears to have been applied, first to this deep channel of salt water, and secondly to the large adjacent island, that on which St Mark's and the ducal palace are built.
See E. A. Freeman, Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice.
See sections of mouldings illustrated by Mr Ruskin in Stones of Venice. vol. hi., ols. v.-xi.

1 Comp. S. Maria Novella and S. Croce in Florence and S. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
2 An interesting account of this and other foundations in Venice is given by -Giacomo Boni in the Archivio Veneto, ser. ii., vol. xxix., pt. ii., 1885.

Early in the 15th century the Venetians began to work the rich quarries of red marble near Verona; but with this exception the decorative marble3 seem to have been taken from older buildings elsewhere.

The splendid columns of St Mark's, which Mr Ruskin in the Stories of Venice speaks of as being of alabaster, really are of Proconnesian marble, and are so described by various early Byzantine writers. According to Vitruvius (ii. 8), the magnificent palaces of Crcesus of Lydia and Mausolus of Halicarnassus were chiefly adorned with Proconnesian marble.
The word fondaco, of Arab provenance, from the Greek TavSoxetov, applied to several of the largest Venetian palaces, denotes the mercantile head-quarters of a foreign trailing nation. The fondachi of the Turks and of the Germans still exist, though much modernized. An analogous establishment
j "was the hellenium of the trading Greeks at Naucratis in the Egyptian delta,
remains of which have recently been discovered by Mr Flinders Petrie(see Pro-ceedings of the Egypt. Explor. Soc., 18S6).

3 There is much analogy between the relationship of the church of St Mark to the ducal palace and that of the abbey church to the royal palace at West-minster: both were originally built in connexion with royal palaces and both ' possessed special privileges as "royal peculiars."

T. G. Jackson, in his work on Dalmatia and Istria (Oxford, 18S7), vol. iii., gives an interesting account and valuable illustrations of the early churches at Parenzo, Grado, and Aquileia, which in their sculptured capitals, mosaics, and other details closely resembled the early portions of St Mark's. Large quantities of the sculpture and rich marbles used in Venice were brought from Grado, Aquileia, and other cities in the same district, the buildings of which were to a great extent the prototypes of those built in Venice before the 13th century. In later times the flood of influence passed in the opposite direction, and during the 14th and 15th centuries an immense number of palaces and churches were built in the Venetian style, by architects from Venice, all along the eastern shores of the Adriatic. The result is that in these Istrian cities examples are to be seen of what appears to be the architecture of Venice during its whole course of development from the 12th to the 15th century.
The exterior of the church of St Demetrius at Thessalonica is covered with simple brick arcading, very like that which still exists in many places behind the marble lining of St Mark's.
The first edition of the Stones of Venice, together with an unfinished series
T. G. Jackson, in his work on Dalmatia and Istria (Oxford, 18S7), vol. iii., gives an interesting account and valuable illustrations of the early churches at Parenzo, Grado, and Aquileia, which in their sculptured capitals, mosaics, and other details closely resembled the early portions of St Mark's. Large quantities of the sculpture and rich marbles used in Venice were brought from Grado, Aquileia, and other cities in the same district, the buildings of which were to a great extent the prototypes of those built in Venice before the 13th century. In later times the flood of influence passed in the opposite direction, and during the 14th and 15th centuries an immense number of palaces and churches were built in the Venetian style, by architects from Venice, all along the eastern shores of the Adriatic. The result is that in these Istrian cities examples are to be seen of what appears to be the architecture of Venice during its whole course of development from the 12th to the 15th century.
published in 1852 ; a carefully executed reprint of both was issued in 1886. This
by Napoleon in 1797 ; they were restored to their place in 1815 by Francis of Austria, as is recorded in a large inscription on the arch below them.


4 The church of St Demetrius at Thessalonica contains many sculptured panels and other decorations exactly similar in style to those of St Mark's; and other churches in Thessalonica and Trebizond have mosaic paving and glass wall-mosaics closely resembling those in St Mark's. Even the plan 01 the Venetian basilica is Oriental in origin.
5 The most notable examples are over the doorways of the western atrium.
6 This tracery, or rather screen-work, was removed before 1496, when Gentile Bellini painted his picture of the Piazza and West Front of St Mark's. This very interesting picture shows the lost mosaics, the subjects of which appear to have been the same as those now existing.
7 These bronze horses were carried off to Paris, with many other art treasures,
The roofs, including the five great external domes over the nave, Roofer choir, transepts, and crossing, are all covered with thick sheets of lead. The internal domes, like the rest of the vaults, are of brick, the external domes being of wood. The drums on which the outer domes rest are bound round with strong iron bands, which were

of folio plates, most of them exquisitely drawn by Mr Ruskin himself, was
is one of the noblest monographs on any architectural subject that has ever been written.


A complete list of the subjects of the mosaics in the baptistery is given by Mr Buskin in his St Marie's Best, 18S4, p. 129 sq.
There is no ground whatever for the notion that the wavy surface of the pavement was produced intentionally. Its lines of depression simply follow the "cells" in the crypt vaulting, the loose filiing-in of which allows more settlement than the rigid crowns of the vaults.
It is interesting to note that a 0th or 7th century marble relief with the
vase and peacocks, which forms part of the external facing of the treasury of St Mark, has been copied exactly in one of the mosaics of the south aisle.

4 At the end of the ISth century the rich treasures of St Mark's were sacked by the French, and much wras then dispersed and lost, including many antique engraved gems and cameos from the Pala d'Oro.
The existing palace was begun in 1300-1 by Doge Pietro Gradenigo, Present who built the facade (P on fig. 3) along the Rio, in which are in- palace, serted the 12th-century friezes of Ziani. About 1309 the arcaded facade along the sea front was begun at the south-east angle by the Ponte della Paglia (N on fig. 3), and the design which was then adopted was accurately followed along the whole external facade, the building of which occupied about a century and a half. Towards the end of the 14th century the facade had been carried along the Piazzetta side as far as the tenth capital (counting from the sonth-

1 So named because public decrees and other papers were affixed to it.
2 The edict for further rebuilding in 1422 names Baseggio as being the original designer of the 14th-century portion of the palace.
3 An excellent account of these sculptured capitals is given by Mr Ruskin in his Stones of Venice, vol. ii. A treatise on the same subject was written by Didron and Burges, L'Iconographie du Palais Ducale, Paris, 1857, but the authors failed to recognize the true dates of the different parts of the palace.


4 According to Zanotti, the capital at the north-west angle was signed " Duo Soci Florentini" ; but this inscription is not now visible.
5 Considerable remains of these paintings by Altichiero and other 15th-cen-tury masters still exist, though completely hidden by the later pictures on canvas.
6 Many distinguished prisoners have suffered from violent heat in the piombi or roof cells, anil from damp and cold in the pozzi or cellars, of these prisons.
r This lion, carried off to Paris, together with the four bronze horses and
other Venetian spoils, by Napoleon I., was sent back in a very fragmentary con-
dition; the lion's tail, the wings, and the book under its paws were added after
its return to Venice in 1S1G. Originally the wings were much larger, and there
was no book. 8 See Ruskin, St Mark's Rest, chap. ii.

Andrea Dandolo, whose tomb is in the baptistery, date 1355, was the last doge buried in St Mark's, which up to that time had been the usual ducal burying-place.
It was founded about 1234, but not completed till some years later.
Mr Ruskin, Shrine of the Slaves, p. 3S, calls this one of the two finest pictures in 1he world, the second being another Madonna by Gian. Bellini in the church of S. Zaccaria in Venice.
A fine loggia of this class exists in the ducal palace, opening on to the upper loggia of the Piazzetta fagade.
For others of his works in Venice, see SANSOVINO.
A very beautiful fragment of an early palace in the Rio Foscari has been well illustrated by Mr Ruskin in his plates to Stones of Venice, lS8ti.

J.H.K.
Fir.. 5.—Typical facade and plan of a 12th-century Byzantine palace, with a tower at each end. No perfect example now exists, owing to the rebuilding of tile upper stories with central part equal in height to the ends ; but in many cases traces of this arrangement can be distinguished.?
The canal facade usually had a tower at each end, with a row of arches in the centre opening into a long vestibule or porch, behind which was a large hall. Along the first floor a long range of window arches extended from end to end, forming a continuous arcade ; in the fondaco of the Turks this upper range consisted of no less than twenty-six arches. Very beautiful sculpture was used to decorate all these arches, which were of stilted semicircular form, and also the capitals on which they rested. Mr Ruskin has shown how these round arches developed into other forms, first a simple pointed ogee, and then a cusped ogee of several different varieties.
7 Mr Ruskin has shown (in Stones of Venice, vol. ii.) that in these Byzantine palaces there are subtle variations in the width of the arches, forming a regular gradation of sizes, hardly perceptible without actual measurement.

Signor Giacomo Boni has given, in Proc. Inst. Brit. Arch, for February 1887, a very interesting account of the decorations of this palace, and of the addition of its elaborate cornice (now destroyed) in 1424 by Bart. Bon, who was paid 210 gold ducats for his work.
In London the facades of many of the principal public buildings have been copied with but little alteration from Venetian originals, as, e.g., the Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall from Jac. Sansovino's Cornaro Palace (1532), with the omission of the middle story, and the Piccadilly School of Mines from the inner court of the doge's palace.
Dante, Infer., xxi. 7-15, describes the various operations in the arsenal at Venice.
On the largest of these lions is cut a runic inscription recording a success-ful attack on the Pireeus in the 11th century by a party of Norse warriors of the Varangian guard, under Harold Hardrada, who afterwards (in 1047) became king of Norway (see Arch. Journ., xvi. pp. 188-192).
This library contains about 65,000 volumes, with 5000 MSS., among which are some very valuable and artistically magnificent codices

Some of the early doges are buried in sculptured sarcophagi of the 5th or 6th centuries brought from elsewhere.
The tomb of Andrea Dandolo in St Mark's (c. 1350) is one of the earliest in which this motive is used.
The 14th-century tomb of the Florentine ambassador, Duccio degli Alberti, is the first in Venice which has representations of the virtues.
This is usually attributed to Sansovino ; but, accordingto Moschini, a docu-ment among the archives of St Mark's records that it was made by Desiderio of Florence and Tiziano of Padua.
This is usually attributed to Sansovino ; but, accordingto Moschini, a docu-ment among the archives of St Mark's records that it was made by Desiderio of Florence and Tiziano of Padua.

2 As, for example, the reliefs over the doorway of the cloister of the scuola Delia Carita, both of the 14th century.
5 See Vasari's Life of Verrocchio.

The use of black was made compulsory by a sumptuary edict of the great council in the 16th century.