The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-09-22

ly misery of fellow criminal, whose good
fortune he might well envy Close by the ex-
ecutioner's block is the hole in the floor.
through which the human blood trickled in
to the canal, and the little door out of which
the poor body, released from pain, was
plunged into floating black maria, which
was waiting to bear it to regions unknown.
One cell was arranged with grated window,
before which a priest could raise crucifx
and implore the sinner to confess his crime
and receive absolution from guilt before en-
tering the eternal world.
But these things were too horrible to dwell
upon, and we were glad when we had
done the dungeons and we could go up stairs
to the grand council chamber, one side of
which is filled with Tintoretto's Paradise,
the largest painted canvas in the world. 1t
is one hundred and twenty-four feet long by
eighty high, and contains seven hundred
figures. 1t is the vast amount of work, rath-
er than the beauty of these mammoth pic
lures that impresses the visitor. After see
ing the other rooms filled with pictures COM
memorating many memorable events in the
history of Venice, we left the Doge's Palace
and continued in our course around the
square, stopping next at the Cathedral.
Since every book on Italy has one lsng
chapter ON the sublimities of st. Mark, and
every traveller expatiates on the beauty of
its gems and its mosaics, it is useless to try to
eXtoll its charms in trite phrases. Two sides
of the Square are filed with shops where are
displayed the beads, jewelry and laces made
by the Venetians. Here the Venetians saun-
ter through the brilliant arcades during their
long summer evenings, and regale themselves
with creams and wine. If you chance to
need rest and refreshment in the early af-
ternoon while you are in Venice, be sure to
seek one of the cafes in the square, and take
with you pennys worth of corn to feed the
pigeons who will answer the stroke of the
clock on the tower, at two, as promptly as do
the hungry boys and girls of the proyerbial
boarding school. They fairly darken the
air with the futtering of their wings, and
will often hover around your head and eat
from your hand. The feeding of these doves,
like the care of the pet animals in other
places, is one of the endowed institutions of
Europe.
By this time we had seen about forty
thousand pictures, and we knew so much
about art that our heads ached, and we felt
relieved when we turned over the last page
of a catalogue. Pictures of ordinary merit
would have failed to induce us to undertake
another hard days work in a gallery; how
ever, we went to the Academia deli Arti,
and there we found quite a new world of art,
of which we had not dreamed One visit
would never satisfy any one here. After he
has seen the works of Tintoretto, little dy-
er by name, but great colorist in art Belli-
nj, Paris, Bardone, and many more, he will
want one whole day to study the matchless
paintings of Titan. His Assumption rivets
the attention of the visitor for a long time ON
entering the hail. and then he turns with in
terest to two pictures which hang side by
side. These are the first and last efforts of
this great master, which show the beginning
and GROWING work of eighty-ive years of an
industrious life. His first picture of Eliza
beths visit of salutation to Mary, is said to
have been painted at fourteen years of age.
We are ready to believe he began the picture
then, but it is impossible that youth could
put such finish and strength ON to the can
vas as we see here. The scene is in IT,
tian's native village, where the aged matron
and the timid virgin meet before cottage
door. His last picture is the preparing of
Jesus for the tomb. His biographers relate
that he worked perseveringly on this, being
encouraged by his friends that he might put
on the last touch before he was called hence;
but one day, when he lacked but one short
year to complete his centennial, his brush
fell from his hand, and his friend, Charles
v, standing by picked it up and handed it
to his pupil, Palma Giovanni. 1t seemed
singular coincidence that he should have be-
gun his life work with the first intimation of
the Saviour's mission, and ended it with the
burial of the Lords humanity.
One of Titian's pictures fascinated us so
we were never ready to leave it. 1t was one
of the few scriptural and wholly imaginative
pictures that satisfies, the presentation of
Mary as child in the temple. 1t is an i'm
mense picture in which the figures are life
size. The scene is On the porch of Solomon's
Temple. In the background there is group
of naughty Levites, in front of whom stands
the high priest, whose stern and cold ex-
preston would repel any ordinary child but
Mary, little maiden with golden hair and
dressed in a simple blue frock, ascends the
stairs with that childlike faith that knows
no fear, to receive the blessing of him, whose
eye alone can bear the glory of the Shechi-
nah, while he offers her artless petition to
the great Jehovah. At the foot of the flight
the Jewish women draw back in holy awe at
the child's presumption.
The churches are full of the paintings of
the wonderful doings of ST. Mark. One illus !.
trates the famous legend of the fisherman.
AT one time a shoemaker sold his soul to the
devil, who in his triumph stirred up dread
full storm at sea. In the midst of the tunlult
poor stranger asked a fisherman to row him
over to st. George. The fisherman was afraid
to undertake the job, but after much per-
ger to protect him from the tempestuous ele-
ments, the fisherman pat off his boat, when
in trice they were blown safely over to the
beach at st. George; here second stranger
shook hands with his passenger, and the
fisherman found he had st. Mark and st.
George for companions They were not sat-
isfed and wanted to try the stormy deep
once more. By this time the fsherman's
courage rose, and he set sail for Ida; here
they were joined by st. Nicholas. The three
saints then insisted upon his embarking for
mid ocean. 1t was accomplished, and by the
magic power of the three saints, the sea was
quieted and Venice was saved. But Mark
refused to pay the fisherman for his services,
saying he was poor. Finally, to quiet his
Importantly, Mark gave the fisherman his
ring and told him to take it to the senate and
they would reward him. The senate refused
to believe the story until Marks coffin was
opened and he was there all safe and sound
but the ring was missing. Of course the
Doge made prince of the sailor
IL. G. PB.