Today has not been exactly successful. I had a very bad night, keeping the whole house awake with loud coughing. I didn’t sleep until after 4, then woke at 6 with severe hip pain, necessitating paracetamol. When I finally woke it was well after 10 and it became clear I had, yet again, developed a very nasty cold or something similar. After a leisurely brunch, and a shower and hair wash, I found it was once again lunch time by the time we left. I was anxious to have another go at getting into the church of San Stae, and Paul wanted to visit the Accademia.
The only boat which stops at San Stae is the very slow number 1, so we took a very long slow trip as it zigzagged up the Grand Canal. At least it gave us time to look at all the buildings and the river traffic.
It being Sunday, there were crowds of people, and the gondolas were busy. It was cold though, you can see everybody was well wrapped up. I do love the views down all the little side canals. How nice it would be to live along one and have a little speedboat instead of a car to get around!
The number 1 boat is always very crowded, and quite a crowd of us got off at San Stae, having been seduced by information on the internet that it would open at 2.30. This was a lie! It didn’t open at all, so we were all disappointed. Paul and I just got back on the boat going the other way and went back to the Accademia.
We visited the Accademia in 2019, and there were some differences this time, in that some pictures we had previously seen were no longer there, and we saw things we hadn’t seen before. The first room was substantially the same, but this time, I focused on the room itself, which is stunning if you are able to stop looking at the paintings and take it in.
I find it surprising that I was previously able to look at the paintings without taking much notice of the ceiling and the floor! This is the most stunning room in the gallery, and is devoted to very early paintings. After that, further very plain rooms pass on to Bellini, a particular favourite of mine. It’s just as well the rooms are plain, then you can concentrate on the paintings. I find I have photographed at least 6 by Bellini, all of which I love, though I’m only posting one here.
This one is the Annunciation, painted in 1490. It’s definitely one of my favourites.
After the Bellinis, including a monumental one entitled Martyrdom of Saint Mark, we passed on to Titian, but one was missing as it had been lent to an exhibition somewhere. The one I really like, Tobias and the Angel, has been posted by me before on an earlier visit, so I’ll pass on to another favourite of mine, Georgione. There are quite a few of these, but the one below is new to me.
It’s supposed to be of the painter’s elderly mother, and it was painted in 1502.
We passed on to Veronese and Tintoretto, neither of them being favourites of mine. This is Veronese’s version of the Annunciation.
This was painted in 1578. I can see that’s it’s more spectacular than Bellini’s version, but I still prefer the Bellini.
The most spectacular Tintoretto I think is this one, called St Mark Saves the Slave from Torture. It was painted in 1547, so it’s an early work, and one of his first commissions.
It refers to the legend of a Christian slave or captive who was to be tortured for some act of devotion to St Mark (incidentally, the patron saint of Venice). He was saved by the miraculous intervention of the long dead evangelist, who shattered the instruments of torture - you can see them broken at the bottom of the painting. I found this one remarkable for its theatrically, and for the strange and rather compelling appearance of the evangelist swooping in from above. Many of Tintoretto’s paintings exhibit this mastery of perspective.
As we passed on down a loggia with rooms behind devoted to other painters, I was very taken with this one, The Adoration of the Shepherds
It’s by Jacopo da Ponte, known as Bassano, and was painted in 1548. Actually, I prefer this style of painting to that of Tintoretto, it seems more accessible to me, more rooted in reality, and I love the faces of the people who you would not be surprised to meet in the street today.
Downstairs, we saw groups of plaster casts of antique Greek and Roman statues which were used for the teaching of art. I particularly liked the Horse of St Mark
We passed on to Tiepolo, a wonderful picture of 1730 or so, but a rather strange concept.
It’s called St Joseph with the Infant Jesus, and Saint Francis of Paola, St Anne, St Anthony, and Saint Peter of Alcantara. It has always seemed a very odd concept to me to paint people together who were not alive at the same time and never knew one another. The baby is very ugly too.
The next one I liked was for years attributed to Caravaggio. It’s called The Chess Players.
Apparently it is not now thought to be by Caravaggio, but by one of his followers. I still like it though.
The gallery ends with some ceiling paintings, which, fortunately for the viewer, are not displayed on the ceiling, so one is not obliged to lie on the floor to view them. This one is by Tiepolo.
It’s called The Feast of the Cross, which I find another strange idea.
By the time we had got to the end of the gallery, we had been there for a couple of hours and it was becoming clear to me that I was far from well. My throat was sore, I was both coughing and sneezing and longing for my bed. So we caught the slow number 1 back to Arsenale and walked back to the flat - or stumbled, in my case. Actually I am far from sure how I managed to write this as I just want to be asleep! I hope to be able to sleep tonight, rather than spending the entire night coughing and keeping everybody awake.
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