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A short thread on Venice, starting with my favorite description of the city: Joseph Brodsky 'Watermark', 1992.
This is an excerpt from his marvelous meditation on curtains, mirrors & dust of a Venetian palazzo where each room accentuates self-nonexistence.
This is an excerpt from his marvelous meditation on curtains, mirrors & dust of a Venetian palazzo where each room accentuates self-nonexistence.
The Venetian palazzo Brodsky visited is not named but perhaps was the palazzo Ca' Rezzonico before its restoration. In this 1860's photograph by Carlo Ponti, the palazzo is seen on the canal with a gondola docked out front of the entryway's two stone columns.
Brodsky's description of the craving dust in the palazzo as "the flesh of time"could fit Palazzo Dario considered to be cursed & haunted, built in 1479 by Giovanni Dario as seen here [1870's] overlooking the Grand Canal with its mix of floral Venetian Gothic & Renaissance styles.
Perhaps Palazzo Dario's curse is due to its construction over an ancient Templar cemetery, though still solid the settling of the palazzo's foundation is visibly tilted to the right. [1]
Venetian Palazzos painted by Claude Monet during his 1908 visit to La Serenissima. The artist's eye seemed to have captured the Venetian light through Murano glass, transfiguring the floating palazzos on turquoise waters into the melancholic haziness of a late afternoon reverie.
Venetian Palazzos painted by Claude Monet in 1908:
1- Palazzo Ducale
2-Palazzo da Mula
3-Palazzo Contarini
4-Palazzo Dario
1- Palazzo Ducale
2-Palazzo da Mula
3-Palazzo Contarini
4-Palazzo Dario
Venezia
Her soft sinking
of unfinished outlines
mirror
our half-buried expectations
of self-oblivion
resurrected on
each golden hour.
Claude Monet-San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk-1908
Her soft sinking
of unfinished outlines
mirror
our half-buried expectations
of self-oblivion
resurrected on
each golden hour.
Claude Monet-San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk-1908
A spectacular bird's eye view of San Giorgio Maggiore island with her rising belltower and gleaming marble Greco-Roman facade of San Giorgio Maggiore Church designed by Andrea Palladio [completed in 1610 by Simone Sorella]-photograph by Carlo Ponti, 1860-70.
Liszt's sonata in B minor La Lugubre Gondola [1882] was composed while visiting Wagner at the Palazzo Vendramin, eerily foreshadowing Wagner's death a few months later Feb. 13, 1883 Wagner's body was carried in a funeral gondola through the Venetian canals
This interpretation of Liszt sonata 'La Lugubre Gondola' is wonderfully played by the maestro Maurizio Pollini.
The photograph of the gondola was taken by Carlo Naya around 1880, contemporary with Wagner & Liszt stay in Venice. [1]
The photograph of the gondola was taken by Carlo Naya around 1880, contemporary with Wagner & Liszt stay in Venice. [1]
‘Tis a long cover’d boat that’s common here,
Carved at the prow,built lightly, but compactly;
Row’d by two rowers, each call’d ‘Gondolier,’
It glides along the water looking blackly,
Just like a coffin clapt in a canoe,
Where none can make out what you say or do
Lord Byron, 1817
Carved at the prow,built lightly, but compactly;
Row’d by two rowers, each call’d ‘Gondolier,’
It glides along the water looking blackly,
Just like a coffin clapt in a canoe,
Where none can make out what you say or do
Lord Byron, 1817
The above excerpt comes from 'Beppo: A Venetian Story' , a lengthy poem by Lord Byron, written in Venice in 1817.
The photograph of the gondola by Ponte_di_Rialto, Venezia was taken in 1875 by Carlo_Naya [1]
The photograph of the gondola by Ponte_di_Rialto, Venezia was taken in 1875 by Carlo_Naya [1]
"so, o'er the lagune
We glided; and from that funereal bark
I lean'd, and saw the city, and could mark
How from their many isles, in evening's gleam,
Its temples and its palaces did seem
Like fabrics of enchantment pil'd to Heaven."
P.B. Shelley, Julian & Maddalo 1818–19
We glided; and from that funereal bark
I lean'd, and saw the city, and could mark
How from their many isles, in evening's gleam,
Its temples and its palaces did seem
Like fabrics of enchantment pil'd to Heaven."
P.B. Shelley, Julian & Maddalo 1818–19
In the above poem excerpt, Percy Bysshe Shelley ominously describes the gondola as a “funeral bark” as he glided through the Venetian lagoon.
JMW Turner-Venice, a storm; rain clouds over the city at left, a gondola near the foreground, watercolour [1840] [1]
JMW Turner-Venice, a storm; rain clouds over the city at left, a gondola near the foreground, watercolour [1840] [1]
A wonderful panoramic view of the Piazzetta di S. Marco con veduta dell'Isola di S. Giorgio, Venezia- photograph taken around 1890's by Fratelli Alinari.
An exquisite view of the top of St Mark's Clocktower [1497], Venice: Torre dell'Ologio. I Mori che battono le ore or The “Moors” striking the hours at the top of the Torre dell’Orologio-photograph taken around 1890's by Fratelli Alinari.
The two bronze figures striking the bell on top of St Mark's Clocktower are said to be shepherds (they're wearing sheepskins) however they are known as "the Moors" because of the dark patina acquired by the bronze [1]
Finishing this thread about Venice with the 1st part of a wonderful 4-part documentary titled "Francesco's Venice", hosted by Francesco Da Mosto aired by BBC 2 in 2004-Enjoy!
