New-York daily tribune., 1844-04-16

.,hers in thc alrnos. supernatural brilliancy and
:,h,es, of its coloring. To this merit Titan,
T;,,oretto, and its other great masters add those
Il Grand conceptions and great power Of express
.;,n and all these qualities unite to produce
r,odgies of art which even the unearncd can
samire with all the warmth, ii not the dlscrimi-
r,,;on of connoisseur, The best paintings Of
Venice are found scattered through its churches
and palaces, but many of the finest are assembled
IN the Academia, or public Gallery of the Fine
Arts.
At one end of It's principal saloon is the great
e1po d'opera of TITAN, his Assumption Of the
Virgin" The Madonna is seen rapidly carried
uD to Heaven by groups Of angels of must cx-
ouisitc beauty. The Father is looking down
from above to welcome her to glory, and from
Him proceeds food Of golden light in which
the upper half of the picture seems TO be bathed.
II fades out as it descends 10 the lower part,
where is most life like group of Apostles, who
have come to the tomb of the Virgin, and found
il filled only with flowers, and who are now
watching her ascent with eager and solemn
gestures. These legends of the Roman Catholic
church are very poetical, and supplied the old
painters with many striking subjects of which
they ere deprived in our more sceptcal age. The
Assumption is favorite topic, and has been
many times treated by every great painter, but
nome have been able to equal this work of Titan.
It's history is rather curious. 1t iorned the altar
piece of the church OF the Frdri, but was so
backcned with the smoke of candles and incense
as to show nothing Of its value, which was how
ever suspected by Count Cicognara, who cleaned
corner Of it, discovered its beauty, and offered
to the Priests Of the church new and bright
painting in exchange for this old one-vcry much
as Aladdin's enemy offered a new lamp for his
magical old one. The offer was readily accepted,
and the Count cleaned the picture by the slow
but effective process of washing it with flakes of
cotton dipped in weak alkaline solution. Several
bales of cotton were thus used TO the benefit Of
our panters) and the result is the most brilliant
picture in the world.
Opposite to it is 7intOretto's masterpiece,
representing Saint Mark, the patron of Venice,
delivering Venetian slave, whom his barbarian
captors had just bound to the stake. The
Saint, wonderfully forcshortened, is rushing down
through the air, and his miraculous power has
rent in fragments the stake, struck the execu-
) TONER to the ground, and freed the captive, while
the Judges and surrounding multitude submit
in awe.struck astonishment The power and
energy displayed in the picture arc absolutely
terrible-it has been called can awful work Of
&, art"-and though inferior TO Titlan's Assump-
ton in the element of color, in the higher quail.
ties of conception, composition end expression,
it must be ranked far above even that master
piece.
Among the many other fine pictures in this
saloon is Paris BOrdons's gorgeous representa-
ton Of the fisherman presenting to the Doge Of
Venice the ring with which the Dogc had eS-
poused the Adriatc and which st. Mark after
stilling the tempest had given to tEa fisherman
as a pledge of his favor to Venice. Beside it is
Bonifas,O's spirited picture of the Alteration Of
the Magi. Farther on is Pador aniao'S marriage
feast at Cana; opposite is Bassanos Raising of
Of paintings arc as uninterest:ng to those who
have never seen them as they are exciting to
those wins have enjoyed their beauties
The academia contains a number of other
rooms filled with fine pictures, and in of them
are the first and the last works of Titan hanging
against the same wall, though seventy years in
tervened between their execution by this patri-
arch Of painters. Upon his {" last work" a dead
Christ, is the inscription byihis friend and scholar
Palma" What Titan left commenced, Palma
with reverence has finished and has dedicated
to God" Another room of the Academy con-
tains fine collection Of statues and another a
porphyry vase in which is the right hand of
Canova with his chisel above useless relics TO
the modern scuiptors of Venice, unless with them
they could unite the genius by which they were
inspired
The CHURCHES ofVenice are remarkable chiefly
for their monuments and paintings In the
venerable church Of the Ffari is the tomb of the
Doge Foscan, whose name has been made so
familiar to English readers by the tragedy Of
Lord Byron Opposite 10 it is the monument Of
the Dogc Tron, with front like that of an ord-
nary church, fifty feet wide and seventy high,
with SIX stories, and twenty fullength statues
but occupying only corner in this vast cdifice
In another part is the tomb of Doge Pesaro, more
curious than beautiful. Its second story is sup
ported by four colossal Negroes with bodies of
black marble, covered with white marble drapery
but their black knees and elbows are made to
come through the rents in their white jackets and
trowsers! In the centre sits the Dege trying in
vain to look digni6ed between his ragged and
grinning black giants ofsupporcrs
San Sebastiano is the burial place of Paolo
Veronese, and it is filled with his best paintings !;
the spirited martyrdom of Saint Sebastian,
the dellcately sweet group OF the three Marys at
the foot of the Cross; and the whole history Of
Esther upon the roof. His bust is over his tomb,
but to see his finest monument, you have only to