Saturday May 25th

We started the day by walking along to a church near where we are staying. Its consecrated name is Santa Maria Assunta, but it is usually known as the Gesuiti, having been built by the Jesuits. The Jesuits were never popular in Venice and had been expelled in 1606, but were allowed back to what was then a remote location in 1657 because Venice needed money. They acquired a church which had occupied the spot since 1155 but had been rebuilt a number of times after a succession of fires. The Jesuits had this church demolished in 1715 and instead built a rather overblown baroque church, perhaps hoping to demonstrate their power or their wealth. 

This isn’t my photo - mine is squint, as usual. But it certainly shows the style.

The interior is even more amazing. The walls seem to be covered in what looks like the wallpaper in a traditional Indian restaurant - though it’s green, not red. But it's all marble inlay made to look like fabric - swags and all. Almost every surface is decorated - there's even marble carved and inlaid to look like carpet in front of the high altar. And of course the entire ceiling is painted.

I’d need a separate photo to show the detail of the pulpit on the left; you would swear it was draped in swags of heavy fabric but it’s all marble. One writer has described this interior as having ‘a harshness indescribably table-clothy’ - a description on which I cannot possibly improve!

There’s a Titian painting, The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, which I find an extremely unpleasant subject (he’s being grilled over a very hot fire), and a Tintoretto Assumption of the virgin which is extremely badly lit and almost impossible to photograph so I preferred this by Jacopo Palma

One of the reasons Paul likes this photo is the mummy of a monk in a glass case which you might just be able to see under the painting.

After this, we set off to visit the Ca’ d’Oro, often considered to be the finest example of Venetian Gothic architecture in the city.

It was once a Palazzo for a wealthy family, built in 1420, but it has suffered many changes of fortune. It has been remodelled a number of times, became almost derelict in the 18th century, and was eventually restored and bequeathed to the state in 1915. It now houses the Giorgio Franchetti collection of art, and currently includes some modern artworks as part of the Biennale. 

There were a number of lovely Madonnas from the 15th and 16th centuries, but I always find the Madonna beautiful and the baby awful. I’m not sure whether this is because male painters are unacquainted with babies or whether it is the difficulty of trying to portray God as a baby and not make Him too babylike.

This is one I like, from the workshop of Bellini, but the baby looks like a tiny little man.

I particularly appreciated this beautiful Titian paining ‘Venus at the mirror’

But it was hard to photograph because of the modern art installation in the room. There were groups of mirrors standing upright on the floor, each approximately the size of this iPad, and they were set up to turn and move with the people in the room; this was disconcerting, as well as being pretty difficult not to trip over them while viewing the pictures.

Another thing I enjoyed was the view over the balcony of this Palazzo.

There are beautiful buildings wherever you look.

The families never lived in the lowest floor of a Palazzo because it was so often flooded, and this one had some delightful downstairs space - as long as you ignored the strange modern art which looked like a series of punch bags hanging from a scaffolding. You can just see one at the top of my photo on the left.

Sometimes this lowest floor was used for storage, but the flooring here and in the adjoining hall is so beautiful I wonder if it wasn’t used for recreation; it seemed such a pity to hide it under piles of things.

After a late lunch, we set out to go back to Salute in the hopes of seeing the paintings in the sacristy which had closed early on the day we visited. So we took the number 1 vaporetto (which is very slow) down to Salute, only to find the sacristy was closed again. So we still haven’t seen the paintings! 

The we had to catch the slow number 1 again (it’s the only one that stops at Salute) to another stop where we caught a second vaporetto back in the opposite direction along the Giudecca to the south to visit the church of San Sebastiano, which has a number of pictures by Veronese. When we got there, that was closed too. So we gave up, got back on the boat, and returned home where we consoled ourselves with Italian ice cream.

On the way to the supermarket for supplies, we need to pass the hospital. Just as in any hospital, the ambulances are lined up outside.

And this is what one looks like, rushing past with siren sounding loudly, speeding to an emergency. It isn't my photo I’m afraid, it had to be emailed to me by Paul, my camera was too slow moving the zoom and all I got was the back of the boat - it moves at some speed!