The Doge's Palace

It has now been a week and a half since I arrived in Venezia. I cannot even begin to explain how much I have already learned in such a short amount of time. There are so many things that I have experienced and could elaborate on, but there just simply isn’t time to share them all. I barely have a free minute to catch my breath! I’ve had the opportunity to partake in some of the more well known Venetian things such as a gondola ride and walking across the Rialto Bridge, however, I’ve also had the opportunity to delve deeper into the city as well. I’ve been able to shop at the local grocery store, and to even attend mass at St. Mark’s Basilica instead of simply touring it. I’ve had the opportunity (as I already wrote about) to look deeper into the architecture of the buildings and to begin to appreciate Venice for what it is.

In so many of our activities, I feel like I am able to focus and participate in a more meaningful way then I would have been able to even two weeks ago. Earlier this week we took a private class tour of the Doge’s Palace and I was so captured by all of the artwork throughout the building. There were paintings covering the walls and ceilings and each one was filled with so much. From one painting that was solely one woman to a whole wall that was filled with thousands of faces. Art is something that I have a hard time appreciating. I feel as though I normally don’t connect with pieces of art as others sometimes do, but for some reason this tour gave me a whole new perspective.

I was especially aware of the significance and prevalence of women throughout the different works. Our guide gave us an excellent explanation of so many women that were portrayed throughout the palace. Some women represented seasons of the year while other represented values such as peace or justice. There were two women that particularly stuck out to me. One symbolized Venice and one was the mother Mary.

Venice was portrayed as a queen in the one painting. She was sitting up higher than the other ladies in the picture and was wearing a crown. I thought it was simply because of the beauty of the city that caused Venice to be represented as a woman but today in class we also learned that it was because of the fragility of the city.

The reason that I noticed Mary was because of the sheer number of times she was painted. She was in nearly every painting and really represented the religious aspect of the city. Venice is known as being sort of rebellious against the Catholic Church and more relaxed in their religious ways. One example of this is that the piazzas are campi in order to make them seem more like public spaces instead of sacred places. Seeing Mary made me curious to learn more about their relationship with the Catholic Church. In class we discussed how some people see paintings and truly want to go back and hear the story behind them and the life of the artist and this is one of those instances in my life. As Ruskin believes, I feel that the work and the spirit of the artist are intertwined. 

I hope to learn more about these pieces of art and more about the true relationship with religion that they represent.  I will be keeping my eyes and ears open as I continue to explore the city.  Perhaps I will have more to post about it in my future blogs!

Ciao!