Wednesday May 29

I unfortunately woke up with a stinking cold and a slightly sore throat, so I hope it won’t get any worse. It has made my last day much less pleasant than otherwise though - my body has a strong desire to stay in bed with hot honey and lemon drinks and sleep! The whole thing has not been helped by unexpectedly cold and rainy weather today.

We had been staying very close to Fondamente Nove in Cannaregio, a quiet and non-tourist area. The quay (fondamente) was built in the1580s, before which it was a very desirable residential area with gardens sloping down to the lagoon. One of these residents was Titian, who lived from 1531 to his death in 1576 in a house in Calle Larga de Botteri, just about 100 yards and round the corner from the street where we are staying. His house is now demolished, but a plaque marks the spot.

Having located this, we set off to walk to Santi Giovanni e Paulo, a great gothic church near the hospital, and also very close to where we are staying. It was built during the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and is known as the Pantheon of Venice because it houses the tombs of 25 doges. It is vast inside, the vaults held by wooden beams and supported by massive stone columns, a bit like the Frari. 

It doesn’t have many paintings by well known painters though. There’s a polyptych by Giovanni Bellini, an early work, but my photo isn’t a good one because of light reflections. And a Lorenzo Lotto is so dark my photograph is just a black rectangle. So here is the tomb of one of the Doges instead.

This is the tomb of Andrea Vendramin. It is By Pietro Lombardo, dated 1476 - 8 and I chose it because of an amusing story about it. It originally had two nude figures at the sides, but these were considered unsuitable so they had to be replaced. They are now a suitably clothed St Catherine and St Mary Magdalen.

There are various side chapels with paintings, some by Paizetta and some by Veronese. In default of any labels anywhere, I assume these to be by the former.

After pausing outside to admire the marble facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco next door, we walked back towards the lagoon and stopped off at San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti. The name of this church comes from the Mendicant Friars who founded the Hospice of Saint Lazarus here in1601. We walked through the cloisters of the hospice, but not for long, there is a great deal of restoration work going on, with lots of scaffolding and many parts closed off. There was obviously some very heavy gardening going on in the centre too, as the cloister gardens were very overgrown and one part behind some screening was being approached by a man in overalls with a chain saw!

The church itself is reached through a tiled hallway which is slightly disconcerting and makes you wonder where the church is, or if you’ve made a mistake. The interior of the church is a rather dark nave with no aisles.

At one side there is a Crucifixion which is possibly by Veronese, and has been restored. Opposite it it is this, by Jacopo Tintoretto.

Its called The Arrival of Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins at Cologne. I understand (thanks to Wikipedia) that there is some doubt whether it was 11000 virgins or just 11 who were martyred at Cologne but I have no real idea who that is floating at the top of the painting. 

One interesting fact I had not previously realised was that this was one of 4 institutions in Venice which took in abandoned girls and thought them music and singing. Vivaldi’s father taught violin here from 1689 to 1693.

After this visit, we walked back to the vaporetto stop at Ospedali and caught two different boats to the Accademia area, where we had a very expensive sandwich lunch! Then we went to the Accademia, where, thanks to the fact there are quite a lot of seats, I was able to spend 3 hours. 

The Accademia houses the largest collection of Venetian art in existence, in what was three former religious buildings. The basis of the collection was the Accademia di Belle Arti, founded in 1750. In1807 Napoleon moved the collection to the current buildings and the collection was greatly enlarged by the works of art from monasteries and churches he suppressed.

The gallery has been reorganised, owing to many paintings being away for restoration at present, so there were things we hoped to see which weren’t available. On the other hand, we saw things we didn’t expect, like several by Hieronomous Bosch.

The gallery starts with the oldest paintings.

This is a polyptych painted by Paulo Veneziano in 1325. It shows a central figure of the Virgin Mary surrounded by different religious scenes, including episodes from the life of St. Francis.

I find I have taken nearly enough photos to be able to publish a catalogue, but will only include a few here which are ones I particularly liked.

This is a particularly beautiful Annunciation by Giovanni Bellini. I have found it difficult to choose between the many beautiful paintings here Bellini, many of them Madonna and child which seem to have been particular favourites - obviously everybody wanted one.

I have chosen a Madonna, but not by Bellini.

This one is by Giorgione, and is called Madonna with Baby, Saint Catherine, and Saint John the Baptist.

There are few Titians in the gallery, and the very large and famous one, The Presentation of the Virgin is particularly hard to photograph, so I have chosen this one instead.

It’s called Tobias and the Archangel Raphael.

Lastly, I have chosen a Veronese, Madonna and Child Enthroned, with the usual collection of assorted saints.

It was getting close to closing time so we made our way back, the rain having thankfully stopped for a while. After a final supper, there was packing and bed before a very early start.