New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-10-29
Venice Letter.

! Venice Letter.
Irregular Correspondence
| Venice, October 3rd, 1879.
That American tourist who pro.
nounced Rome to be very fine city,
but complained that the public build.
ings were sadly out of repair, should
have been twin brother to the gen.
tleman who, on making the ascent of
the Acropolis at Athens to survey
the ruins of the Parthenon, remark.
ed that they might we'll call the place
a Metropolis, for he had never seen
so many tombstones in his life. Ac-
cording, however, to the we'll known
''virtuose,' Mr.. J. C. Robinson,
who has addressed to a contemporary
an interesting communication on
the destruction and preservation of
works of art in Italy, things archae.
illogical in the domiuions of King
Humbert have reached pass in
which ocular comment is no longer
appropriate, and which calls for very
serious consideration indeed. Mr.
Ruskin, in days gone by, used to go
about Europe, acting now as Il set
ter-up of craven images, ard now as
an iconoclast; but Mr.. Robinson's
peculiar vocation seems to be main
ly and sensibly confined to taking
beautiful things as he finds them,
and doing his best to keep them as
they are. His warnings and remon-
strances sufficed to check great
deal of Vandalism in Spain, and now
he has, not for the first time, taken
the Italian Peninsula in hand. The
grievances of which he has to COM
plain are numerous and weighty.
In the first place, the abundant art
wealth Of Italy has made it the ia.
vorite hunting ground Of dealers,
spectators, and collectors, to whom
nothing is sacred. The very ''stones
Of Venice" according to Mr.. Robin.
son, as we'll Of many other artistic
centres, are being carried away
piecemeal, since nothing is too big
or too heavy to be moved nova.
days." The critic doubts whether
this merciless and mercenary system
has brought any artistic gain to the
rest Of Europe, while he is certain
that the result has been most disas.
trous to Italy herself. At the same
time he is enabled to note with
satisfaction that Italy has not the
wealth of England, since, were tt e
Italians rich, instead of selling their
art treasurers to foreigners, they
might be bitten with mania for
restoring their ancient monu.
ments, and such mania, "the worst
of all forms Of destruction, would
practically transform or blot out
every genuine relic Of the pasr.''
What Mr.. j. c. Robinson has said
Of the ':stones of Venice suggests
reflections Of even graver import
than possibly have occurred to the
writer himself. Only to a very few
and deeply observant archaeologists
is the lamentable condition of the
Queen Of the Adriatic generally
known. Rome, for all the outcry
that has been lately raised touchin g
the cutting of the Theirs banks and
the dissertation of the Baths of Dio.
cletian, is tolerably free from dan.
ger. The great monuments of anti.
guilty in the Eternal City are the
property of the State; the munci.
pality of Rome is wealthy and intel
ligent; the treasures of the Vatican
are in the guardianship Of the Pope,
through the muni6cense of whose
predecessors in the Holy See those
treasures were collected; and Rome
is, moreover, the continuous resor,
of the most eminent scholars ano
archaeologists in Europe, who mar
rowly and jealous watch every move
ment on the part Of every Vandali,
architect and builder, aud cry s'Ha
ro'' whenever relic of antiquity il
tempered with. But the ''stones Q,
4 Venice" are in much sorer peril
That wonderful mass of brickwcrl
the Campanile, is sound enough; thu
Ducal Palace, the Patriarchate, tn,
Bridge of Signs, and the Prison ar,
in tolerable repair; but the superb
s Basilica of St. Mark is getting int
a shockingly ruinous condition, 81
far as the pavement Of the interio
and the mosaic decorations are con
cerned, and portions OF the arcade
both in the Procuratie Nuove an,
the Procuratie Ferchie in the Piaz
"a San Marco are structurally any
thing but what should be desired
J, Nor is this the worst. italy abound
in private palaces and in churche
E and converts Of secondary order
The monasteries, fallen into disuse
;. have been converted to all kinds Q
base purposes; some Of the SINAI
churches are slowly sinking int,
J, disintegrat ton through eMux Of time
neglect, and the poverty Of the en-
dowment of their fabrics, while
!. has been the fate, Of the non.histori
I palaces, and even some Of the histo1
J, ic ones, comprising as they do man,
}, exquisite examples Of Italian an
Byzantine Gothic, Of Cinque.C Cent
and Of Palladin Architecture, to b
successfully degraded INTO magazine
y Tor Austrian mmissariat stores
J, into bakeries, counting ,houses, an
police Offices, into hotels, 6 pen
4 sions, 3 and old curiosity shops. I'll