Gondolas, Masks, and Aqua!

March 2

Usual meeting place, usual early hour, and then we were on the train to Venice! Our first stop (by private boat, nonetheless) was the island of Murano, which is famous for its glassware. We were treated to a glassblowing demonstration, during which the artisan created a vase and a horse figurine—each in under five minutes. Apparently, you need fifteen years of apprenticeship in order to achieve this level of skill, but all of those years are worth it. Especially if you get to live on this island with such a gorgeous view!

After we checked into the hotel, the professors lead our group through the maze of canals to San Marco. The cathedral is so different from every other church we have seen due to the Islamic influences. Oh, and the gold. The entire basilica, inside and out, glitters with mosaics that, if spread out all at once, could cover over an acre. A lot of the gold has changed hands multiple times, plundered from the Romans, stolen by Napoleon, the usual story. After walking along the façade, we toured Palazzo Ducale, the home of the Doge (Duke). Frescoes cannot survive because of the environment, so this palace houses some of the largest canvas paintings ever in existence.

In order to get out of the palazzo, Jodie had to take us to jail. We crossed over the Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners caught their last glimpse of Venice before being tossed into prison. Also, these cells were supposedly an improvement because they were the most humane in existence (if this was considered livable, then I cannot imagine the terrible conditions that existed before). Free time was consumed with gelato eating and naptime (why do all of the museums and churches have to close at five?).

March 3

After breakfast, we plunged back into the maze of canals and alleyways to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the Franciscan church of Venice. And home of Titian’s Assumption (two years, 22 feet by 16 feet) and Pesaro Madonna (seven years, sixteen feet by almost nine feet). He knew where his paintings would be beforehand, matched the architectural fixtures to those already in the building, and used the natural light from the stain glass windows to enhance the colors and drama. Plus, the wall tombs in the Frari were huge and magnificent (floor tombs were virtually nonexistent for obvious reasons).

After visiting the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Tintoretto is probably one of my new favorite painters. He painted all of the walls and ceilings of the confraternity’s building between 1564 and 1567, an impressive feat. His subject is the same religious cycle as any other, yet the way he represents the story, through his use of light and drama, is simply captivating.

During our free time, I joined in on an excursion to find a proper Venetian mask. We visited several shops before I finally settled on a feathered purple and silver mask (which I haven’t unwrapped yet). Visiting the shops is like visiting a small museum because there is so much to see! We ate lunch at Ristorante San Travaso, where I tried a bite of spaghetti al nero di seppia—squid ink! It tasted kind of fishy…

Jodie offered a tour of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, which is the museum that owns Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, but of course, it’s never on display. But I did get to see Giorgione’s La Tempesta and Paolo Veronese’s The Feast in the House of Levi. And some more Titian’s, which is enough to make any art geek happy. Afterwards, I wandered through Santa Maria della Salute and around the exterior of Palazzo Grassi, just admiring the beauty of the canals.

March 4

In a completely out of character move, I opted out of the optional tour to San Giorgio degli Schiavoni and San Giovanni e Paolo. Instead, Amy, Stephanie and I took a short (thirty second) and inexpensive (.50 cent) gondola ride across the Canale della Giudecca, then headed across the city to Ca’Pesaro, a modern art museum with 19th and 20th century works (this is what I’m going to be studying back at Knox in a few weeks! I’m so excited!). The museum’s most famous artworks are paintings by Klimit (Judith II), Kandinsky (White Zig Zags), and Chagall (Rabbi No. 2). While it was wonderful to see such masters in person, I was even more fascinated by the lesser-known artists (especially since tour groups were clustered around the others—so that’s what it’s like to be on the other side). I love discovering the unexpected in the art museums. So imagine by surprise when I walked around the corner of a single artist (Gennaro Favai) exhibit and right THERE was Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker.

After a short recovery period, I took off on my own to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (it is now my goal in life to visit every Guggenheim museum—one down, eight or nine to go!). This collection has a lot of famous names: Ernest, Magritte, Jackson, Pollock, Duchamp, Picasso, Braque, Dali, Ray, Chagall, and these are just the names that I recognized from previous studies. I filled up half of my travel notebook with names of artists and their works so that when I have some free time (ha…hahahaha) I can go back and look them up. Also, Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree was in the garden, which was cute and touristy and I loved it anyway.

After dragging myself away from the collection, I started searching for the churches on my pass. The only problem with this endeavor is that they were closed. Bad timing. So I had some gelato and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out along the canals with my friends. I’m just happy that I got my museum fix, hopefully that will tide me over for…well, a while.