The Mentor, No. 27,
Venice, the Island City

The Mentor

“A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”

VENICE, THE ISLAND CITY

A Trip Around the World with
DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF, Lecturer and Traveler.

“The Pearl of the Adriatic,” she has been called. “Queen
of the Sea” is another of the poetic terms applied to her. If all
the expressions that have been used by admirers to pay tribute
to the beauty of Venice were gathered together, they would make a glossary
of eulogy of considerable size. It was inevitable from the beginning
that Venice should receive such homage; for she has a beauty that distinguishes
her from all other cities. She is absolutely unique in picturesque
attraction and in romantic interest. There are many cities that draw the
admiration of the traveler: there is but one Venice, and anyone who has
been there and felt her spell cannot wonder at the worshipful admiration
that she has received from the time of her birth in the sea.

The fascination of Venice for the traveler is such that ordinary terms
of appreciation are insufficient. The city takes complete possession of
one, and visitors who have surrendered to her charms are referred to as
having the “Venice fever.” All who love beauty have had more or less
violent attacks—the artist is most susceptible to it.

THE GRAND CANAL DURING A FÊTE

This is the main artery of traffic in Venice. It is nearly two miles long, and varies from 100 to 200 feet in width.
It is adorned with about two hundred magnificent old patrician palaces.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

Venice is built on a group of little islands. At a depth of from ten
to fifteen feet there is a firm bed of clay; below that a bed of sand or
gravel, and then a layer of peat. Artesian wells dug to the depth of
sixteen hundred feet have shown a regular succession of these beds. On
this base, piles, where they have been used for the foundation, have become
petrified. So the city may be described actually as having been built up
from the bed of the sea. In its physical aspect it may be summed up
by saying that Venice
stands on 117 small
islands formed by something
like 150 canals and
joined together by 378
bridges.

THE GRAND CANAL BY MOONLIGHT

There is but little in
the way of sidewalks.
Occasional narrow paths
of stone skirt the canals;
but in many places the
water laps the very walls
of the buildings, and
transportation is to be
had only by boat. Of
course there are many
lanes and passages among the houses; but the general effect is such as
would make an impression on the traveler of a city set in the sea, and
the people live, move, and have their being on either stone or water.
They are strangers to groves, shady lanes, and country places. Some of
the inhabitants of Venice have never seen a horse or a cow.

A GONDOLA

These black-painted craft take the place of cabs in Venice. They
are propelled by a gondolier, who stands at the rear.

The city is divided into two parts by the Grand Canal, which is
nearly two miles in length and varies from 100 to 200 feet in width. It
makes a fine curve like the letter S, and by this it displays to advantage
the magnificent residences that line it. There on its gleaming surface are
to be seen the brilliant pageants of the city,—gondolas and autoboats
in great number, gay parties, chatting and laughing and tossing flowers,
and the whole stretch a blaze of intoxicating color. Some of the most
attractive views of Venice are to be had not from within the canal, but
from some point out in the lagoon. Your map of Venice will show you
the city not literally situated
in the Adriatic Sea, but
located within the lagoon
and protected from the outer
sea by long sand hills
strengthened by bulwarks of
masonry. From the strip to
the mainland, across the
lagoon, where Venice is situated,
the distance is about
five miles, and in this stretch of water you will see many striped posts
called “pali.” These mark the navigable channels about the city.

VENICE AND THE ADRIATIC SEA

A panorama of the beautiful “Island City.”

ST. MARK’S

It is not the physical conditions alone that make Venice unique.
In the beauty and interest of its domestic architecture it ranks before
any city in the world. The mosaics of Venice have been famous for centuries,
and are today the marvel of all who see them. The spot where
Venice has massed the gems of her beauty is St. Mark’s Place.

A VENETIAN CANAL

One of the smaller and narrower canals of Venice.

ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL

The remains of St. Mark, the tutelary saint of Venice, are said to have been brought
from Alexandria in 829, and to have been buried here.

The view of Venice most familiar to stay-at-home bodies is the one
to be had from across the water looking at St. Mark’s Place, and including,
besides the cathedral of St. Mark, the Doge’s (doje) Palace and
Campanile (cam-pa-nee´-le) Tower, and in some cases a glimpse of the
Bridge of Sighs. The Piazza of St. Mark is called the “Heart of
Venice.” All the life of the city surges there at certain times, then
sweeps from there through its various channels. It is gayest on summer
evenings, when the population turns out to enjoy the fresh air and listen
to the military band. At
that time the piazza is brilliant
with fashionable people.
Go there on a moonlight
night, and you will find it a
dream of beauty. You must
see, of course, the pigeons of
St. Mark’s. Flocks of them
circle about the square or
gather in groups on the
pavement, wherever food is
to be found. The pigeons
of St. Mark’s used to be fed
at public expense. It is not
necessary now: there are
always plenty of travelers
that will pay them this
pleasant toll for the sake of being photographed in their company. St.
Mark’s Place is 191 yards in length, and in width 61 yards on one side and
90 on the other.
The beautiful effect
of it can hardly
be expressed.
It is paved with
trachyte and marble,
and surrounded
by buildings
that are not
only important
historically but
most interesting
architecturally.

THE RECONSTRUCTED CAMPANILE OF ST. MARK’S

The Church of
St. Mark, now a
cathedral, was begun
in 830. The
year before that
the bones of St.
Mark, the saint
of Venice, were
brought from
Alexandria, and they now lie buried in the church. This marvelous
building is Romanesque in style. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries
it was remodeled and decorated with most lavish magnificence. In
the fifteenth century it received some Gothic additions which enhanced
its effect. In such short space as this it is impossible to do justice to the
beauty of St. Mark’s. It is best by far to rest on what Ruskin has said
in his “Stones of Venice”:

“The effects of St. Mark’s depend not only upon the most delicate
sculpture in every part, but eminently on its color also, and that the most
subtle, variable, inexpressible
color in the
world,—the color of
glass, of transparent
alabaster, of polished
marble, and lustrous
gold.”

AMERICANS FEEDING THE DOVES OF
ST. MARK’S

The building is in
the form of a Greek
cross, with mosaics
covering more than
4,500 square feet. Over
the upper entrance are
four horses in gilded
bronze, counted among
the finest of ancient
bronzes. They may
have adorned the triumphal
arch of Nero
or that of Trajan in Rome. The Emperor Constantine sent them to
Constantinople, and from there they were brought by the Doge Dandolo
to Venice in 1204. These horses were taken to Paris by Napoleon in
1797, and for awhile crowned a triumphal arch in that city. After
Napoleon’s downfall, in 1815, the bronzes were restored to their original
place at Venice.

PALACE AND CAMPANILE

Close beside the cathedral of St. Mark stands the square Campanile,
the most prominent feature in all Venetian views. Standing 325 feet
high, the Campanile always dominated the picturesque low stretch of
Venice’s skyline and gave a peculiar distinction to the whole scene. It
seemed indeed to many Venetians and to lovers of Venice all over the
world that the city had lost its crowning
feature when, in 1902, the Campanile collapsed.
It was originally erected in 900
and rebuilt in 1329. After it had fallen
Venice seemed maimed, and the hearts of
thousands felt the depression until the
tower was rebuilt and the city could once
again hold up its beautiful head. A new
tower was built by Piacentini (pee´-ah-chen-tee´-nee)
during the years 1905 to
1911, and on completion
it was consecrated
with most
impressive ceremonies.

LION OF ST. MARK’S

The Doge’s Palace
was originally
founded about 800;
but was destroyed
by fire five times,
and each time rebuilt
on a grander
scale. The older part of the present edifice was
built in 1309; while the west wing, facing on the
piazzetta, was built between 1424 and 1438 by
the celebrated architects Buon, father and son.

In gazing at
the Doge’s Palace
the eye is first caught by the upper
arcade. From there the sentences of
the “Council of Ten” were pronounced—listened
to by the assembled
people in silence and in awe.

THE BRONZE HORSES OF ST. MARK’S

These horses are among the finest of ancient bronzes.
They probably once adorned the triumphal arch of
Nero, emperor of Rome.

The columns of this arcade are
most beautiful, and have been pointed
to with pride for years. Ruskin describes
the detail of the sculptured
columns, and declares that they are
the finest of their kind in Europe. The
interior of the Doge’s Palace is wonderful.
Tintoretto’s painting of
“Paradise” is there, a
marvel in size and in detail.
The residence of the
Doges and the apartment
in which the authorities
held their meetings are
there, revealing still much
of their ancient glory.
The palace is virtually a
museum, and it shows a
great display of fine paintings,
containing, among
others, notably works of
Tintoretto, Paul Veronese,
(vay-ro-nay´-seh)
and Palma Giovane
(jo-vah´-neh). Days could
be spent profitably wandering
through these
halls, studying the treasures
of art and history to
be found there.

THE PALACE OF THE DOGES

The Doge’s Palace is said to have been founded beside the church of St.
Theodore about 800 for the first Doge of Venice. It has been rebuilt and
altered many times.

SCALA DEI GIGANTI, DOGE’S PALACE

The Stairway of the Giants, so called from the colossal statues of Mars
and Neptune at the top, leads to the Palace of the Doges. On the
highest landing of these steps, in the later days of the Republic, the
Doges were crowned.

BRIDGE OF SIGHS

HALL OF THE GRAND COUNCIL, DOGE’S PALACE

This was the assembly hall of the great council, which consisted
of all members of the nobility over twenty.

In one room you will
find yourself gazing from
a window at a sight that
will be familiar to you;
though you may never
have traveled before. You
will exclaim when you see
it, “The Bridge of Sighs!”
A corridor nearby leads
you to the bridge. You
will take it, and find that it
conducts you across from
the Palace of the Doges
to the prison, where are to
be seen the gloomy walls
as well as the torture
chamber and the place of execution of former days. The Bridge of Sighs
is best known in Venice, and the reason for it is chiefly sentimental. The
Council of Ten of the Middle Ages is supposed to have sent doomed state
prisoners across this bridge to their execution. We gather that these
unfortunates saw the light of day for the last time when crossing the
bridge. The thought is
enough to seize upon the
imagination of visitors, and
many of them indulge themselves
in sympathetic reveries
when there. The interior of
the Bridge of Sighs is gloomy
enough to start creepy feelings;
but there is no need of
wasting too much sentiment
on it. W. D. Howells calls it a
“pathetic swindle.” As a matter
of fact, there is no evidence
that any great number of prisoners,
or any prisoner of importance,
ever crossed there.

BRONZE WELL, DOGE’S PALACE

Aside from any sentimental
reason, however, the Bridge of
Sighs is most interesting architecturally.
It was built in
1600. It is attractive in design, and it makes
a good picture, connecting with fine lines the
two grim buildings on each side and bridging
over the long, narrow canal beneath.

PICTURESQUE WATERWAYS

The canals of Venice are of varying
width, and as they wind through the city
they offer picturesque nooks and corners
that have from the earliest times captivated
the eye of the artist. F. Hopkinson Smith,
a long-time devotee of Venice, has painted several hundred pictures,
and at that has drawn but lightly on the possibilities of the subject.

Little canals in deep shadows, wider canals in sunlight, some straight,
some curved, and at various points picturesquely bridged, supply effects
in light and color that the eye greets with delight.

THE GRAND CANAL

THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE

Erected in 1641-56 in commemoration of the removal of the plague
in 1630. The interior contains excellent paintings by Titian.

It is trite and ineffective simply to say that the Grand Canal is the
great artery and thoroughfare of Venice. It is so much more than that:
it is a magnificent show course adorned with two hundred or more magnificent
palaces dating from
the fourteenth to the eighteenth
centuries, and beautiful
churches and interesting
public buildings. A
sightseeing trip in a gondola
affords the visitor an
object of architectural
beauty and historic interest
at every rod. The historic
interest of some of these
houses is double,—the interest
attached to them by
virtue of the original patrician
owners, and a new
interest acquired through
the residence in them of
notable men of later time. Drift slowly
along this splendid waterway. Marble steps
lead down from the noble residences to the
water’s edge. Tall posts bearing the colors
of the family serve as hitching posts for the boats. Your guide will tell
you the stories, poetic and dramatic, of the families whose names are set
down in the great roll of the nobility of Venice entitled “The Book of
Gold.” Then you will be told of the later associations that enhance the
interest of some of the palaces.
That handsome mansion
over there is where Desdemona
lived. Nearby it is
the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi,
(ven-drah´-min cahl-ehr´-gee)
in which Richard
Wagner (vahg´-ner) died in
1883. That stately palace
over there was for a time
the home of Robert Browning;
he died there in 1889,
and there is a memorial tablet
on the wall. Look at
those three palaces close
together. The one in the
center was occupied by Lord
Byron in 1818. Nearby is
the Browning home, a Gothic building, in which W. D. Howells wrote his
“Venetian Life.” In another palace George Sand had residence for a
time. The great painter Titian (tish´-an) lived in one of these buildings.

PALAZZO VENDRAMIN-CALERGI

Richard Wagner, the composer, died in this
house in 1883.

Each structure has its interest. Each bend of the canal reveals new
beauties. Across the beautiful waterway are three bridges—the name of
one is familiar the world over.

THE BRIDGE OF THE RIALTO

For many years this was the only bridge across the Grand Canal,
and it stands for much of the past glory of Venice. It is made of marble,
and is over 150 feet long. It was built between the years 1588 and 1592,
and is today, as it was in early times, a place of shops. Here Shylocks
have bargained and Bassanios have met their friends these many years.
More literally speaking, it was not the Bridge of the Rialto that Shylock
refers to in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” but the district nearby.

It is difficult for anyone who has visited Venice to select single
points for comment or description. The city appeals to him as a whole,
and each object of beauty in it is a part of the wonderful whole. The
essence of Venice is a dreamy, poetic charm,—a charm of light, color, and
form, not of sound. Mrs. Oliphant writes:

“Venice has long borne in the imagination of the world a distinctive position,
something of the character of a great enchantress, a magician of the
seas.… She is all wonder, enchantment, the brightness and glory of a dream.”

THE GRAND CANAL

Looking across the canal we see here an example of the beautiful
palaces which line this famous thoroughfare.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Studies in the History of Venice	H. R. F. Brown
Venice	H. R. F. Brown
Makers of Venice	Mrs. Oliphant
The Venetian Republic (two volumes)	W. C. Hazlitt
Venetian Life	W. D. Howells
St. Mark’s Rest	John Ruskin
The Stones of Venice	John Ruskin
Gondola Days	F. Hopkinson Smith
Literary Landmarks of Venice	Laurence Hutton
Pen Sketches	Finley Archer

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Subscribers desiring further information concerning this
subject can obtain it by writing to

The Mentor Association

381 Fourth Avenue, New York City

ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL, VENICE

ONE

The Church of St. Mark’s is unequaled in the whole
world for richness of material and construction. It
was originally the private chapel of the Doge or
ruler of Venice. One reason for its being so richly
adorned is that there was a law in Venice which required every
merchant trading with the East to bring back some material
for the decoration of the church. Thus it
became the final resting place of the adornments
from countless other buildings, both
in the East and in Italy. The building has
been compared to the treasure den of a band
of pirates. It forms a museum of sculpture
of the most varied kind, from the fourth
century down to the latest Renaissance.

In 828 a little wooden church was built
to receive the relics of the Apostle Mark.
The Moslems had pulled down the church
where he was buried in Alexandria; so his
remains were brought to Venice, and Saint
Mark became the patron saint of the city
in place of Saint Theodore. In 976 this
wooden church was burned, along with the
ducal palace, in the insurrection against
Doge Canadiano IV. The church was rebuilt
on a larger scale by Pietro Orseolo and
his successors. It was a very simple church,
in the form of a Greek cross, built of brick
in the Romanesque style. It was adorned
with lines of colored brick, and brick set in
patterns here and there. On it were five
low cupolas. St. Mark’s grew in wealth as
Venice became rich and important.

Doge Contarini remodeled the cathedral
in 1063. Byzantine and Lombard
workmen were employed, and the two
styles of architecture were joined. The
low brick cupolas were covered by high
domes of wood roofed with metal. Parts
of the walls were sheathed with slabs of
alabaster. Incrusted marbles and mosaics
were used further to decorate the outside.
Then in the fifteenth century the
Gothic pinnacles and other florid adornments
of the exterior were added. The
final result is the finest piece of many-colored
architecture in Europe.

The Cathedral of St. Mark is in its
present form a Greek cross, surmounted
by a dome at each end and one in the center.
The west front has five great porches
opening upon the Piazza di San Marco.
The church contains five hundred columns,
mostly in oriental style, with richly ornamented
capitals.

The top of the narthex (that part of the
church nearest the main entrance) forms
a wide gallery, in the center of which
stand the four great bronze horses which
are said to have belonged to some Greco-Roman
triumphal quadriga, and to have
been brought to Venice by Doge Enrico
Dandolo after the fall of Constantinople
in 1204. In 1797 Napoleon carried them
to Paris; but they were restored by Francis
of Austria in 1815.

The pala d’oro, or retable of the high
altar, is one of the chief glories of St.
Mark’s, and is one of the most magnificent
specimens of goldsmiths’ and jewelers’
work in existence. The famous treasury of
St. Mark’s contains a precious collection
of church plate, jeweled book bindings,
and other artistic treasures of the early
Middle Ages.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE CAMPANILE AND DOGE’S PALACE, VENICE

TWO

On July 14, 1902, the Campanile or bell tower of St.
Mark’s Cathedral fell to earth with a crash. Earthquakes
and a rotting foundation at length worked
its ruin. But its reconstruction was begun in 1905,
and the new tower was completed in 1911, nine years after
the fall. The Campanile stands, as is usually the case in
Italy, detached from the church. The
first bell tower on this site was built in 900.
The one that fell in 1992 was probably
erected in 1329.

The Campanile signified to the Venetians
the greatness of Venice. It was used
as a watch tower before the year 1000.
Then in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
it became a bell tower also. Its
bells rang out at the first hint of danger
to warn the citizens of the republic. During
later times these bells announced the
taking of Constantinople by Dandolo to a
waiting and expectant crowd; the victory
of Lepanto, which made Venice master of
the East; the establishment of her fights
of sovereignty against Rome. They
clanged when Martin Paliero, the traitor
Doge, was beheaded. They tolled a dirge
when the peace of Campoformio ended the
Venetian republic forever. When the
lagoons were united to the Italian mainland
they rang out in announcement.

When the Campanile fell the Venetians
were shocked and broken-hearted. There
was some question as to whether it could
be reconstructed; but the Italians were
determined that it should be. In its fall
the bell tower inclined toward the north
and open piazza. If it had fallen in any
other direction, either the Library of Sansovino,
or the Doge’s Palace and St.
Mark’s Cathedral, or the royal palace
would have been destroyed. In fact, some
of the debris fell very near St. Mark’s; but
did not disfigure it in the least.

The old foundations of the Campanile
were used as a nucleus for the new. The
shaft outside is a perfect model of the
old bell tower; but by modifying the
inside the weight has been reduced 20,000
tons.

The nucleus of the first Venice, before it
was made the seat of government of the
republic, is said to have been the little district
about the great bridge over the Grand
Canal, which still retains the name Rialto.
But as soon as the island group of Rivo
Alto became the capital of the Venetian
republic a palace for the Doge was erected
near the open mouth, on the site that
its successor still occupies. This earliest
palace was probably built about the
year 800. It was burned down in 976 and
again in 1106. The present magnificent
building was a slow growth over three
centuries.

As a whole, the Doge’s Palace as it now
stands may be regarded externally as the
characteristic typical example of fully developed
Venetian Gothic. It is built of
brick, and is lined or incrusted with small
lozenge-like slabs of variously colored
marble.

The interior of the Doge’s Palace is of
much later date than is the exterior. On
the walls of the chief council chambers are
oil paintings by many Venetians, among
them Tintoretto’s masterpiece “Bacchus
and Ariadne,” and the huge picture of
Paradise, the largest oil painting in the
world.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE

THREE

Everyone probably has heard of the Ponte de
Sospiri or Bridge of Sighs. It is said that over this
bridge walked political prisoners in the days of
Venice’s greatness, and these men were never seen
again. This bridge, however, is, as W. D. Howells says, “A
pathetic swindle.” The Bridge of Sighs dates only from the
sixteenth century, and since that time
there has been only a single instance (Antonio
Foscarini) of political imprisonment.
The bridge led from the criminal courts in
the palace to the criminal prisons on the
other side of the Rio Canal.

The prisons really used for political
offenders were the Pozzi, often wrongly
described as being beneath the level of the
canal. A thick wooden casing to the walls
protected the inmates from damp, and
the romantic accounts of the horrors of
these prisons are probably all imaginary.
The best known is that of Charles
Dickens:

“I descended from the cheerful day into
two ranges, one below another, of dismal,
awful, horrible stone cells. They were
quite dark. Each had a loophole in its
massive wall, where, in the old time, every
day a torch was placed, to light the prisoners
within, for half an hour. The captives,
by the glimmering of these brief rays, had
cut and scratched inscriptions in the blackened
vaults. I saw them; for their labor
with the rusty nail’s point had outlived
their agony and them through many generations.
One cell I saw in which no man
remained for more than twenty-four hours;
being marked for dead before he entered it.
Hard by, another, and a dismal one,
whereto at midnight the confessor came,—a
monk brown-robed and hooded,—ghastly
in the day and free, bright air, but
in the midnight of the murky prison Hope’s
extinguisher and Murder’s herald. I had
my foot upon the spot where at the same
dread hour the shriven prisoner was strangled;
and struck my hand upon the guilty
door—low-browed and stealthy—through
which the lumpish sack was carried out
into a boat and rowed away, and drowned
where it was death to cast a net.”

The Council of Ten which ruled Venice
for many years had its place of assembly
during the sixteenth century in one of the
smaller apartments of the ducal palace on
the second floor, a circular room with large
windows, looking on the canal spanned by
the Bridge of Sighs. This council had absolute
power in administering justice and
in governing the Venetian State.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE

FOUR

The Grand Canal, or Canalazzo, the street of the
nobles in Venice, is one of the deeper channels in
the lagoon. It is the original Rivo Alto, or deep
stream, that created Venice, and up which the commerce
of all countries was able to reach the city in the days
of her splendor. Let us step into a gondola, and, telling our
gondolier to keep to the left side till we
reach the railway station, ascend the canal.
That long, low building flanking the exact
end of the canal, looking seaward, is the
Dogana di Mare. It was erected in 1676
by Benoni. There on the summit are two
Atlases bearing a gilded globe. A bronze
Fortuna surmounts this, serving as a
weather vane. And over there stands the
Church of Santa Maria della Salute. During
the plague of 1630 the republic vowed
to give a church to Our Lady of Deliverance
if the pestilence was removed, and
the building was begun in 1631.

Passing along the canal we now come to
a large, new palace, the Palazza Genovese,
erected in 1898, an imitation of the earlier
Gothic buildings.

After this we float by many houses and
palaces until we finally reach the mouth of
the Rio San Barnaba, where we see the
huge and lofty Rezzonico, which was
formerly the home of the poet Robert
Browning. We float on and on by many
more palaces and canals until we reach the
Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto). We go
under this strikingly picturesque bridge,
past the fish market, and finally reach the
Fondaco dei Turchi (Warehouse of the
Turks). This is a large palace, and got its
name in the seventeenth century, when it
was let out to the Turkish merchants in
Venice. It is representative of the Byzantine
period.

Here we are at the railway station.
Now we turn and go down the other bank.
We pass the broad mouth of the Cannaregio,
and come to the gigantic Palazzo
Vendramin-Calergi. Wagner, the great
composer, died here. At the entrance to
the Rio della Maddalena the canal makes
an angle, and after passing many buildings
and the mouth of the Rio di Noale we
come to the Ca’ d’Oro. This is a very
ornate building. Its name, the House of
Gold, came from the fact that it was once
gilded. Then we go by many palaces, and
come to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, or
Guild of the German Merchants in Venice.
An earlier Teutonic guild hall existed here
from the thirteenth century. Venice imported
oriental goods and passed them on
to Germany. All the quarter round the
Rialto Bridge was the business district,
the Wall Street of Venice.

We pass under the Ponte di Rialto
again, and after a little while arrive at the
Palazzo Loredan, the most beautiful
house on the Grand Canal. It is a
Byzantine-Romanesque Venetian palace,
with a distinct oriental feeling. Finally
we come to a dainty little house, which the
gondolier tells us is Desdemona’s Palace.
This palace is named the Contarini-Fasan.

The rest of the canal is mainly occupied
by hotels. Beyond the Hotel de l’Europe
we come to the gardens of the Royal Palace.
Our trip ends at the Bridge of Sighs.

The palaces on the Grand Canal bear
witness to the early peace and civilization
of Venice. Her houses were built for
beauty and pleasure, when the nations of
the earth were still building castles for
defense.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

THE RIALTO BRIDGE, VENICE

FIVE

The Ponte di Rialto, or Rialto Bridge, gets its name
from the part of Venice it is in. This locality was
the ancient city of Venice, and derives its name,
Rialto, from Rivo Alto, as the land on the left of
the canal was called. Even after the city expanded it continued
to be the center of commerce and trade, the business
heart of Venice. In this quarter were the
Fabriche, or warehouses and custom
houses, and many of the handsomest
buildings, such as the Fondaco dei Turchi
(Warehouse of the Turks) and the Fondaco
dei Tedeschi (Warehouse of the Germans).
It is this part of the city that
Shakespeare means, when Shylock says:

The first Bridge of Rialto was built by
an engineer named Barattieri in 1180. Up
to this time a bridge of boats had been
used. Barattieri’s bridge may be seen in
the great picture of Carpaccio in the Accademia.
In the sixteenth century there
was a great competition for the honor of
designing the new bridge. Fra Giocondo,
Sansovino, Palladio, Vignola, and even
Michelangelo himself contended. Antonio
da Ponte obtained the coveted prize,
and he began the present Ponte di Rialto
in 1588 under Doge Pasquale Cicogna. At
its completion it was very much criticized.
Soon, however, this criticism was silenced,
and on the engravings of the time it is
called “Il Famoso Ponte” (The Famous
Bridge). The span of the Rialto Bridge is
91 feet; its height is 24½ feet; its width,
72 feet.

The Annunciation on the bridge is by
Girolamo Campagna. The angel is at one
end of the span, and the Madonna is at the
other end. The dove, flying toward the
Madonna, forms the keystone of the
bridge.

Along the footway of the bridge is a long
line of shops.

Close to the Rialto Bridge is the Church
of St. Giacomo di Rialto. This church is
said to date from the foundation of the
town. It possesses no remains of its antiquity.
The campanile of the Church of
St. Giacomo is a fine example. Built almost
altogether of brick, the long lines of
its arcades give an effect of great height.
The details are good. Their character is
Gothic.

Facing the church a statue of a hunchback,
“Il Gobbo di Rialto,” supports a
pillar. From the back of this statue the
laws of the republic were proclaimed, and
this was the center of business life in
Venice.

And as we gaze upon all these relics of
the past we agree with Lawrence Hutton:

“So strange and so strong is the power
of fiction over truth, in Venice, as everywhere
else, that Portia and Emilia, Cassio,
Antonio, and Iago appear to have been
more real here than are the women and
men in real life. We see, on the Rialto,
Shylock first, and then its history and associations;
and the Council Chamber of the
Palace of the Doges is chiefly interesting
as being the scene of Othello’s eloquent
defense of himself.”

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27

A TYPICAL VENETIAN CANAL, VENICE

SIX

In Venice one takes a gondola as in America he takes
a taxicab: with one difference,—after the gondola
ride he still has some money left. A gondola is a
long black skiff, with graceful lines and a swanlike
prow sweeping up from the water. It is typically Venetian.
It is admirably adapted to the work it has to do. There are
only two points in all Venice where a gondola
may not go even at low water,—one
near the great theater of the Fenice, and
the other near the Palazza Mocenigo at
San Stae.

Two is the best number of passengers
for a gondola. The rower is out of sight,
behind. All is ideal. There is no noise,
no dust, not even the feeling of motion,
except the ripple of water past the bow.

The wood of which a gondola is built
must be well seasoned and without knots.
All gondolas turned out of one workshop
are the same length. A new gondola is
left unpainted for the first year. This is
to prove its newness to any possible buyer.
An unpainted gondola can easily be examined
for knots. As soon as it is painted its
value decreases.

The gondoliers become very attached
to their own boats. They learn their peculiarities;
for a gondola, like a person,
has a character of its own.

Since the earliest days of Venice gondolas
have been in use. Their present
form has resulted from gradual development.
The earliest authentic document
relating to Venice mentions the light boats
that were to the Venetians “as horses tied
to the doors of their houses.” At first
these boats were simple in construction;
but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
the gondolas became very sumptuous.
Finally, so luxurious did they become
that they had to be regulated by
law. Now they are longer and speedier,
and are usually painted black.

There are about twenty ferries operating
across the Grand Canal and the Giudecca.
They resemble our cab service. The gondoliers
also have guilds or unions. The
police license the gondolas; but the real
laws of the gondolier are those of his guild.
Each guild has its own meeting place,
where all questions of hours of work and
choice of station are settled. If one member
of the union becomes sick, he is cared
for out of the public purse, and if he dies
he is carried to the grave by his fellow
members. These guilds are probably the
last survivors of the old medieval crafts of
Venice.

The skill of the average Venetian gondolier
is marvelous. Rare indeed are collisions.
These gondoliers are not the romantic
heroes one may imagine them to
be. They do not float in the moonlight
singing serenades beneath their sweethearts’
windows. They are hardy fellows,
thrifty, sober, and laborious, good husbands
and fathers, matter-of-fact money
makers.

One dollar and forty cents a day is the
charge for a gondola and its gondolier in
the season; at other times the price is
forty cents less. A gondolier earns on an
average sixty cents a day. This does not
seem very much; but the gondoliers live
fairly well, and even put money into the
bank.

All the gondoliers of Venice are divided
into two factions, the Nicolotti and the
Castellani. The rivalry between these two
is intense, and the question of supremacy
was formerly settled by the knife. Nowadays,
however, more peaceable but exciting
races are the means. The Nicolotti
wear a black sash and cap, and the Castellani
wear red. There are four principal
races a year. The first is rowed in May for
a banner of red and gold; in August two
pennons are rowed for, the white and gold,
and the green; the blue banner is the
prize in October.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27