Feelings of the Day: Reaching for something is laudable, but reaching too far and too fast isn’t. Sometimes you have to give room for the next person or group to take over and achieve what you could not. It's not a failure, though, but sliding back is. Those who strive for something better prepare the way for others to follow more easily. We need to show the new generations to continue doing better than us. To do anything else is unwise.
Full Day's Events: Time for more bridges of Venice and exploring new areas. First though, a visit to Calle Corner Piscopia O Loredan. I read about this small strip of street with five bridges across it, but they are not the ones you expect. These ones are up in the air 1, 2, and 3 stories up! Very cool to see.
Now off to the South for the Dorsoduro district. I went by the Accademia and turned East, past the Guggenheim, to tootle in this area. There were lovely green spaces and a robust community rose garden.
I passed by Basilica Santa Maria della Salute and went in to visit this church, built after the early 1600’s plague ended in 1687. You see it from across the water from San Marco square and it is undergoing some renovations. I like the multi sided shape of the interior and the mosaics on the floor. I had been here 14 years ago and it was nice to revisit the Tizano, tapestries, and sculptures again.
I continued walking for another 30 minutes, past interesting streets and sights. The tennis court and club were odd existing in this crowded city and the gondola repair facility interested me enough to linger a bit. A sizeable greenspace, above a cistern, was a good place to hear the birds sing while standing in the cool shade of a tree.
My wanderings near these places brought me to my destination, Ca’Rezzonico Palace. Originally two buildings, they were combined and began to be remodelled, but had to be stopped due to death and lack of funds in the late 1600’s. This became an ongoing theme as a succession of owners and renters turned the building into a revolving door of tenants, after the Rezzonico family line died out in 1810. Notable renters were poet Robert Browning and singer-songwriter Cole Porter. It was bought by the city of Venice in 1935 and turned into a museum of Venetian art within a year. By the way, the cafeteria is reasonably priced and has good sandwiches and coffee.
The major draw to this museum was not only the art but the building itself. Being able to walk around a “newer” palace in Venice, with lots of wonderful original ceilings and period furniture, was a unique experience. One odd thing was inside: A Venetian pharmacy, open for 250 years, was bought and installed here in 1908.
Some of the period furniture that may have been here when this place was first remodelled, because just about everything was sold before renters came to live here.
The majority of works by Venetian artists in this museum were fantastic, but four persons stood out in this place: painter and pastel portrait maker Rosalba Carriera, painter and etchist Canaletto, sculpturist Antonio Corradini, and the casual side of painter Giandomenico Tiepolo.
Rosalba Carriera, 1673-1757, was THE most successful female artist of all time. Seeing her works I 200% agree. Starting with portraits on snuff boxes of ivory she moved to using pastel portraits on canvas and soon was in high demand. When in Paris, her work for the royal family changed French tastes and she travelled for more commissions until her sister’s death. Her own blindness led to a forgotten end until she was acknowledged for her contribution to art in recent decades.
Antonio Canal aka Canaletto, 1697-1768, was famous for his wonderful views of Venice and other landscapes on big canvases. Here, his “View of the Grand Canal” and “Rio dei Mendicanti” are magisterially on display. These two are in a series of four and I saw the other two in the Thyssen in Madrid. It's nice to see his four Venetian ones, in a two-year span, and it was a joy to see his etchings.
Antonio Corradini, 1688-1752, loves sculpting veiled people, especially women, and he was definitely one of the best at it. In this museum they have the “Allegory of Purity”. He also did the “Veiled Woman/Vestal Virgin Tuccia” that I took a picture of in Rome, at the Palazzo Barberini. I cannot imagine the skill required to have done what he did.
Tiepolo’s family villa frescoes were delightful to see. They were stripped from the walls of his villa to sell, by the person who owned it in 1906. Venice purchased them and moved them here in small rooms, as they would have been seen in the villa. Painted from 1759 to 1797, they were made for his family to enjoy and for fun with his son's help. The joy shows, in his Punchinello (Venetian clowns) series, mythological little scenes, and “New World” large fresco where you only see the backs of every class of person gawking at the images displayed by a magic lantern: an anti-portrait.
This is a great counterpoint to the beautifully done, but traditional, ceilings Tiepolo was commissioned to do in this palace and was helped by his sons.
Here are some of the other great items seen at Ca'Rezzonico:
-I love the frame, by an unknown carver, with its intricate detail in painted wood.. The painting is by Bernardino Castelli and is a portrait of Pietro Barbarigo.
-Cesare Ripa's allegory of old age.
-Ceiling ovals by Francesco Maffei.
-Tintoretto's "The Discovery of Fire"
-Bernardino Licinio's "Portrait of a Gentlewoman"
-The pharmacy.
I walked around Venice for another hour before heading back to my place for writing, rest, supper, and sleep. 10.4km, 15 flights, 13 previously crossed bridges, and 30 new bridges walked.
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