Venice and the Two Romes: Byzantium and Rome as a Double Heritage in Venetian Cultural Politics Author(s): Debra Pincus Source: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 13, No. 26 (1992), pp. 101-114 Published by: IRSA s.c. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483433 . Accessed: 20/09/2014 23:09

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This content downloaded from 146.201.208.22 on Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:09:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DEBRA PINCUS

Venice and the Two Romes: Byzantium and Rome as a Double Heritage in Venetian Cultural Politics

The issue in these remarks is the relationship between Venetian legends, the story of the meeting of FrederickBar- Rome and that other durable power center of , Venice.1 barossa and Alexander Ill,the hints of which already appear in Moreover,two Romes are involved:Old Rome,the Imperialcity Da Canal. A putative event of the twelfth century-but fully of emperors and popes, developed by Augustus as caputmun- developed over a period extending from the second half of the di-still today exerting its power in cultural and religious thirteenth into the fourteenth century-the legend presents a terms-and that other Rome to which Constantine gave his script of power politics that has Venice, in the person of its name, founded as a Christian capital and having its own dis- doge, as the trusted and honored supporter of the Roman tinct Imperialtraditions of a quite different character.2 Church, making peace between Frederick and Alexander, Alone among the Italianstates, Venice developed strong emerging as a figure of high authority.3 and complex ties to both Romes, drawing on the authority of The use of Byzantium and Rome as reference points in the imperium to legitimize its economic and political ambi- Venetian cultural politics has received increasing attention tions. The thirteenth century saw the concept of the two-fold from scholars in recent years. Otto Demus has made the case heritage of Venice laid down in its essential components. Hav- for the policy that is played out in art and politics in thirteenth- ing consolidated its position in the East as a result of the impre- century Venice to promote Venice as the successor to the se- sa of 1204, Venice proceeded to overlay its civic center with cond Rome, Byzantium.4Cultural historians, in particularBar- Byzantine spoils, even manufacturing new ones when it bara Marxand DavidChambers, have seen the early Byzantine wished. At the same time, close ties to Old Rome were being phase as supplanted--beginning in the fifteenth century and introduced into Venice's creative reconstruction of its past. then more decisively in the sixteenth-by a Western Roman One of the importantthemes of the thirteenth-century chroni- stance.5 Most recently, another line of scholarship, of which cle of Martinda Canal is the special relationship between the ManfredoTafuri is a leading exponent, has been emphasizing pope and Venice that is threaded through the text. This rela- the revival of the Byzantine reference in the fifteenth centu- tionship took concrete expression in one of the most cherished ry.6 However the attention to two currents remains compart-

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1) ((The Lion of Saint Mark,, original parts shaded. From: Ward Perkins, Antiquity XXI (1947).

mentalized. What needs to be brought to the fore is the way in Western saint, Mark,produced out of the body of an Eastern which the two are intertwined in a consistent and rich duality bronze chimera;the Easternsaint, Theodore, inserted into the through much of Venice's long history. Using a selected group armorof a Western Romanmilitary leader. The Lionof St. Mark of monuments, I wish to discuss, in the form of an overview, adds wings, a Gospel book, and an extended tail to a sixth- or the continuous elaboration of Venice's double heritage over seventh-century B.C. hollow-cast bronze from the Eastern several centuries. The thrust of my comments is towards an Mediterranean,probably Anatolia [Fig. 1].7 The St. Theodore, emphasis on a continuing interplay-a surviving, vigorous wildly creative in its minglingand melding of diverse elements, East-West interplay-as opposed to a series of revivals. The uses a Roman Imperialcuirass decorated with sophisticated balance in the mix varies. Venice can pit one piece of the Roman Imperial imagery-winged victories flanking a heritage against the other when it serves the moment. We are trophaeum as the main attaches a head of Greek motif--and dealing here with a flexible heritage, which has its life because provenance. The whole is knitted together, with a few touches it can serve shifting and momentaryneeds. The intertwiningof of medieval armor, by a local sculptor during the early four- references has, over and beyond the function of establishing teenth century [Fig. 2].8 These two pieces placed at the Venice as a city with a pedigree, the very practicalvalue of rein- ceremonial entrance to the religious and political center of forcing specific political and economic policies. Venice serve as a graphicdemonstration of the intertwiningof I take as the emblems of my discussion the statues at the East and West that is at the heart of Venice's political and artis- sea entrance to Venice -the Lionof St. Mark,representing the tic policy.9

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2) (cSt. Theodore), from column in Piazzetta, as seen during period of temporary display in court- yard of Palazzo Ducale. Photo: Soprintendenza per i Beni Ambientali e Architettonici di Venezia.

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3) Gold of Doge Giovanni Dandolo, 1284. Photo: Ameri- 4) Electrum trachea of Emperor Manuel I, 1143-80. Photo: can Numismatic Society Photographic Services, New York. Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington, D.C.

The centrality of the thirteenth century, the century of authenticated by a reference to respected Byzantine coinage, mythogenesis in Venice as Demus has characterized it, in es- utilizing the image of the consignment of the banner to the rul- tablishing the themes that Venice later reworked and refined is er, the canonical image of Byzantine gold coinage [Fig. 4]. The becoming more and more evident. 10 The horses of San Marco, Byzantine image of sacral power merges with the Western con- brought back from by the triumphantly victori- cept of feudal obeisance, as used early and prominently in the ous Venetians in 1204, stand as one of the earliest and most sphere of papal iconography. Within Leo Ill's late-eighth-century striking examples of the East-West intermingling. Taken out of decoration program for the Lateran Palace in Rome, this feudal Imperial Rome, as many scholars now believe, the horses were image received an early and influential statement. Drawings brought to Constantinople, perhaps by Constantine himself, after the lost mosaic of c. 798-99 from the triclinium of Leo Ill as a sign of power transfer to the New Rome. The horses were [Fig. 5] show St. Peter investing the kneeling figures of Leo then brought back to the West by the conquering Venetians as and Charlemagne with emblems of rule, an image of the dele- a potent symbol of both Romes, and set up on the facade of the gation of power that was to become well established in papal church of San Marco probably shortly after the middle of the imagery. 12 thirteenth century." Less celebrated but fully as eloquent is In the fourteenth century the double heritage of East and the example of intertwining presented towards the end of the West was carefully nurtured as Venice's political power base thirteenth century by the imagery devised for the ducat [Fig. expanded onto the mainland. A key figure in the orchestration 3]. First minted in 1284, the gold ducat was explicitly designed of the two currents in the fourteenth century was the scholar- to make Venice the equal of Florence in international trade. It doge , far-reaching in his sense of history and was to be, as the Senate decree of 1284 specified, "as good in his ambitions for Venice. Dandolo played a central role in and as fine as the florin." At the same time, the coin was Venice during the first half of the fourteenth century as holder

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6) Tomb of St. Isidore, Chapel of San Isidore, San Marco, Venice. From: Wolters, Scultura veneziana gotica.

Venice by Antenor, the Trojan hero who escaped the destruc- tion of Troyto establish a new lineage in the West. In one of the variants, the story makes Venice even better than Rome, presenting a history in which Venice is founded by the migrat- ing Trojan before Rome.14 It is also in the fourteenth centu- ry-and notably, in Andrea Dandolo's Chronica extensa-that a bonding of Venice to the West is written into Venetian history, with Venice receiving privileges directly from Charlemagne and becoming a province under the jurisdiction of the Western Empire - "ajurisdicione occidentalis imperii," as Dandolo une- 5) St. Peter investing Pope Leo III with the pallium and quivocally puts it.15 Through the agency of Dandolo, the Charlemagne with the vexillum, drawing executed for Panvinio presence of Eastern military saints was brought to the fore. The after the mosaic decorations, triclinium of Leo Ill. From: C. body of the Eastern military saint Isidore was rediscovered Walter, Cahiers archeologique XX (1970). and put on prominent display in San Marco. A magnificent bar- rel-vaulted tomb chapel, encrusted with a full narrative mosaic cycle and with an elaborately sculpted tomb of the saint under an arcosolium arch, was set up at the end of the north transept. of one of the influential posts of procuratore of the church of It stands as one of the most elaborate saint commemorations San Marco from 1328, and then as doge, elected at the un- of the fourteenth century [Fig. 6].16 The Pala d'Oro-usually usually young age of 36 and occupying the office from 1343 considered an emblem of the Byzantine roots of Venice-was until his death in 1354.13 With Dandolo as an active propo- given, again through the specific agency of Andrea Dandolo, a nent, Venice in the fourteenth century began publicizing a primary place within this skein of East-West orchestrations foundation story that created parallels with Old Rome. Into the [Fig. 7]. Under Dandolo's auspices, a core group of Middle history of the city was inserted the story of the founding of Byzantine enamels was brought together with newly-made

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7) View of the Palad'Oro in place on the high altar of San Mar- co, engraving after a drawing by Antonio Visentini. From: Hahnloser, ed., Pala d'Oro.

pseudo-Byzantine enamels by sophisticated Venetian crafts- men, glossed with a long historicizing inscription, and given a painted- partly narrative,partly iconic - reverse. It became in this form a work totally unlike anything seen in Byzantine art, a work that took as its frame of reference the great fourteenth- century altarpieces of Italy.The great altarpiece of St. Peter's, the Stefaneschi altarpiece, now in the Vatican Pinacoteca, presents itself as one relevant reference point [Fig. 8].17 Pioneering work now being done by art historians in the areas of both style and iconographyallows us to see how vivid- 8) View of Stefaneschi altarpiece showing altarpiece with ly the Byzantine tradition interfaces in the fifteenth century originalframe, detail from Stefaneschi altarpiece, Pinacoteca with the Roman-orientedvisual language coming out of Flor- Vaticana. From: M. Caemmerer-George, Die Rahmung der ence. The Renaissance in Venice has always been seen to have toskanischen Alterblilderim Trecento, Strasbourg, 1966. a particularcharacter. A realizationthat this character stems in large part from a highly deliberate courting of both Eastern and Western references is just now coming to the fore and be- GiovanniCrisostomo, convincingly discussed by SarahWilk as ing explored. The double frame becomes particularlyactive in a Renaissance Byzantine recapitulation.19 Giovanni Bellini the second half of the fifteenth century and the early years of could as easily produce a Byzantine Madonna and Child as a the sixteenth century. This is the period in which CardinalBes- Western one, playing havoc with our attempts to impose a sarion, in his letter of May 31, 1468, addressed to Doge Vasarian chronology on him [Figs. 9-10].20 Churches were CristoforoMoro and to the Venetian Senate, officially donated remodeled using Byzantine architecturaltypes.21 And, at the his collection of Greek manuscripts to the Republicof Venice same time, one after the other, variations of Romantriumphal and characterized Venice as "almost another Byzantium."18 arches were used for the tombs of the doges [Fig. 11].22 Majoraltarpieces were done in an updated Byzantine style, as, Implicit in all of this is the concept of Venice carefully for example, TullioLombardo's Coronation of the Virginin San managing its history: selecting and knitting different strands

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9) Giovanni Bellini, ((Virgin and Child)) ("Madonna greca"), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Photo: Sovr. Beni Artistici e Storici.

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10) GiovanniBellini, and (DavisMadonna), The MetropolitanMuseum ,Virgin Child)) of Art (Theodore Davis Coll.), New York.Photo: museum.

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This content downloaded from 146.201.208.22 on Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:09:31 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VENICEAND THETWO ROMES together. What was almost certainly the real story-the un- glamorous reality of poor settlers fleeing the mainland from Lombardinvaders into an uninhabited lagoon, building rude huts, eking out a problematicalliving - was shunted aside. The idea of a rough, rude early Venice-origini selvaggi, to use Antonio Carile's words23-as indicated in Byzantine ac- counts, and that receives some currency in early Venetian chronicles, is quickly dropped in order to connect Venice to well-established power structures. Inthe last thirtyyears or so, historians have compressed the activity of the managing of Venetian history and the goals of that activity into a single phrase: the "Myth of Venice"--meaning, at heart, Venice's ability to construct a glorified past for itself--a past that has the qualityof myth. GinaFasoli's ground-breakingessay of the late 1950s-almost an obligatory citation for any discussion of Venetian myth-making--laid out the phenomenon in the terms in which it is still discussed: a glorious Venice adorned with all the virtues, promoting itself, and the equally mythic side, advanced by Venice's adversaries, of the bad, land- grabbing Venice, "semper con la bocha aperta per acquistar Signoria"as Francesco Sforza put it in the mid-fifteenth centu- ry writing to a correspondent in Rome.24 Recent studies of Venice's chronicle tradition have gotten us very close to the stage-managing in literaryterms. When studied minutely, as Antonio Carile has done, the very rich tradition of Venetian chronicle writing presents a picture of constant adjustments and fine tuning to bring one or another emphasis to the fore. Thanks to EdwardMuir's work on Venetian ritual, we can see processions and both liturgicaland secular feasts as powerful manoeuvres in what literallybecomes a theatrical layingout of history.25 Not to say that the managing of a historical past is unique to Venice. Venice, Florence, Milan, Padua-to name a number of centers-all become "Second Romes."The concept of the Second Rome is a topos for the city states of Italy as they develop political self-sufficiency and search for individual identity. What is particularabout Venice is the distinctiveness of the two strands that make up its image and the stage- managing. Only in the sixteenth century can we referto this historical management as a fully conceived, mature entity. By the time of the sixteenth century,the strands have been so suavely knit- ted together as to give the impression of a seamless picture. GasparoContarini, in his influentialDe magistratibus etrepub- lica Venetorum,expounds the heritage of both Sparta and an- cient Rome in the lineage of the Venetian government, Venice profitingfrom both and correcting the errors of both.26 Again in the sixteenth century, the Statuario Pubblico is set up in 11) Tombof Doge Nicolb Tron,Santa MariaGloriosa dei Frari, the ante-chamber of the Biblioteca Marcianaas a new cultural Venice. Photo: Alinari.

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emblem of the state, providing a carefully arranged museum of When Titian incorporates the orant Virgin, the Venetian state prize antiquities, Greek and Roman art comfortably coexisting Virgin type, into his representation of the Assunta in the for the glory of Venice.27 Frari,28he gives his audience a work that maintains the vener- The importance of the double line continues into the six- able Byzantine forms within the new style of Rome-and teenth century and beyond, creating a continuous Venetian shows himself to be deeply imbued with the concept of a tradition and giving the Venetian vision its particular stamp. specific Venetian stylistic identity.

2 1 The themes presented in briefhere are ones that I am develop- No modern historianhas done more to clarifyour sense of the ing in my book on the tombs of the medievaldoges of Venice. In the stages throughwhich Romehas passed than the dean of Romanstudies, preparationof these remarksI have benefited from discussions with a Dr.Richard Krautheimer. Particularly relevant in terms of the discussion numberof individuals.I am gratefulto MichaelJacoff for his assistance presentedhere is that greattriumvirate of Krautheimerpublications, Rome: on the complex "originsof Venice"issue, for manypertinent bibliograph- Profile of a City, 312-1308, Princeton, N.J., 1980, Three Christian Capi- ic references, and for sharing his own researches with me. In dealing tals: TopographyandPolitics, Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1983, and The Rome with the Romanmaterial, Jack Freiberg,as always, provedinvaluable. of Alexander VII, 1655- 1667, Princeton, 1985, the last detailing the pas- The encouragementof CliffordM. Brownhas been appreciatedin the de- sage of Romefrom politicalto culturalcapital. It is with deep gratitude velopment of these remarks.The final product has greatly benefited that I acknowledge the model set for me by RichardKrautheimer in con- from the editorialacumen of Joseph Pincus. sideringthe particulardevelopment of the Venetiansituation.

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3 The chronicle of Martinda Canal, written between 1267 and of additions made to the piece, includingthe extensive restorationsun- 1275, is the earliest known source for the AlexanderIII legend; see A. dertakenin 1815 by the Venetiansculptor Bartolommeo Ferrari, is provid- Pertusi, "Lapresunta concessione di alcune insegne regali al Doge di ed by G. Boni,"II leone di San Marco,"Archivio storico dell'arte5 (1892), Venezia da parte del Papa Alessandro III,", n.s., XIV pp. 301 -20. The use of the winged lionas the politicalemblem of Venice (1977), pp. 133-55, esp. pp. 136 ff. The propagandisticnature of da does not appearto go back furtherthan the late thirteenthcentury. The Canal'stext has been stressed by G. Fasoli,"La Chronique des Veniciens earliest knowndocumentary reference to the Lionof St. Markis a resolu- di Martinoda Canale,"Studi medievali, ser. 3, 2 [fasc. 1] (1961), pp. tion passed by the MaggiorConsiglio on May 14, 1293 that authorizes 42-74, esp. pp. 53-61 forthe papalemphasis. The scene of the presen- the expenditureof money for the restorationof "quodLeo, qui est supra tation of the umbrella mobile,"as Pertusihas termedit - columpnam,"cited by Boni,p. 307. Fora fulltreatment of the historyand captures the intimacy--"baldacchinoof the relationship between Pope and Doge that archaeology of the Lionof St. Mark,see The Lionof Venice, ed. B. M. da Canalsets up. It is the Pope's own umbrellathat is given over, as the Scarfi, Munich, 1990. Pope declares, "because I have found no son of the Holy Churchother 8 L.Sartorio, "S. Teodoro,statua composita,"Arte veneta 1(1947), than you, I want you to carrythe umbrellaas I do" (Martinda Canal,Les pp. 132-34; L. Polacco, "Un ritratto da Cirene e I'espressionismo Estoiresde Venise,ed. A. Limentani[Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Centro di ellenistico," Atti dell'lstituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti 113 Culturae Civilth,Civilta veneziana, Fontie testi, ser. Ill,no. 3], Florence, (1954-55), pp. 223-47. G. Mariacher,"Postilla al S. Teodoro,statua 1972, p. 40: "Porcequeje ne trovaiautre fil de sainte Yglisefors que toi, composita,"Arte veneta 1(1947), pp. 230-31, suggests that the present veulje que tu portes onbreleenci conje fais.")As Fasoliand others have head of the S. Teodorois a product of the early fifteenth century, a pointed out, the legend evolves into its fully developed form duringthe proposal rejected by W. Wolters, La scultura veneziana gotica first half of the fourteenth century.The fabricof the AlexanderIII sto- (1300- 1460), Venice, 1976, vol. I, p. 20, n. 13. See the recent charac- ry-with its many ramificationsand its pivotalrole in the development terizationin M. Muraro,La vita nelle pietre, Venice, 1985, p. 14: "Nel of what has come to be called the "mythof Venice"--deserves a full- cuore della citta, la testa greca del San Teodoroe la matricedell'ellenis- scale moderntreatment. In the meantimesee the valuablediscussion by mo perenne di Venezia." Pertusi,cited above;the treatmentby E.Muir, Civic Ritualin Renaissance The columns on which the Markand the Theodorerest-grey Egyp- Venice, Princeton, 1981, pp. 103-19; and the excellent synthesis and tian granitefor the Mark,red Egyptiangranite for the Theodore-were analysis of source materialprovided by P. FortiniBrown, "Paintingand apparentlyalready in place at the end of the twelfth century.According Historyin Renaissance Venice,"Art History7 (1984), pp. 263-94, esp. to tradition,they were broughtfrom the East by Doge VitaleII Michiel in pp. 266 ff., and, withinthe largerframe of the developmentof Venetian 1172 and set up on the Piazzettain 1177. narrativepainting, P FortiniBrown, VenetianNarrative Painting in the An early statement regardingthe complementarycharacter of the Age of Carpaccio,New Haven-London,1988, pp. 37 ff., and Catalogue two saints appears in the Cronaca Magno: "et fo terminatuor quello II,pp. 259 ff. [Saint Mark]per confalon et San Todoroper protectoret fo del 800," as 4 The thesis has been brilliantlyworked out by Otto Demus in a cited by A. Galante,"Per la storia giuridicadella Basilicadi S. Marco," series of studies, finding its definitive statement in his Churchof San Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftungfir Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Marco, part one, "History,the Saint, the Church, and the State," pp. AbteilungXXXIII (1912), pp. 283-98, esp. p. 286. Fortheactive renewal 1-60. Particularlyto be noted within Demus' earliertreatments of the of St. Theodoredevotion in the fifteenth century,see Demus, Churchof theme are "Orientee occidente nell'arteveneta del Duecento,"in Lacivil- San Marco, p. 22, n. 74. Thereis an intriguingpicture of fine-tuningwi- tJ venezianadel secolo di MarcoPolo, ed. V. Branca,Florence, 1955, pp. thin the patternof Venice'sattention to Markand Theodorethat, as De- 105-126 (reprintedin the composite edition, Storiadella civiltJ venezi- mus has emphasized, admirablyfits the needs of particularpolitical ana, Florence,1979, vol. I, pp. 399-406), and "ARenascence of Early moments. ChristianArt in ThirteenthCentury Venice," in K. Weitzmann,ed., Late 9 Allof this, of course, presupposes style consciousness of a con- Classicaland MediaevalStudies in Honorof A. M. Friend,Jr., Princeton, siderable degree of sophistication in thirteenth-centuryVenice. It is a 1955, pp. 348-361. style consciousness that could embrace not only variationsof highly- 5 B. Marx, "Venedig-'Altera Roma.' Transformationeneines worked modes, but also the evocative power of rough, crudely-worked Mythos,"Quellen und Forschungenaus italienischenArchiven und Bib- presentations. The accumulatingevidence supports this recognition, liotheken 60 (1980), pp. 325-73; D. S. Chambers,The ImperialAge of which seems likelyto become one of the themes of future researchon Venice, 1380- 1580, London,1970. Suggestive comments regardinga the artistic vision of thirteenth-centuryVenice. A corroborationin the Venetianartistic policy that was aware of and manipulatedboth Byzan- currentliterature is providedby Otto Demus' monumentalwork on the tine and Romanreferences are made by E. Muir,"Images of Power:Art mosaics of San Marco,as well as frommore focused studies such as the and Pageantry in Renaissance Venice,"American Historical Review analysisof the operationof the thirteenth-centuryworkshop of San Mar- LXXXIV(1979), pp. 16-52, esp. pp. 21 ff., with the emphasis here co in the repairing,recapitulation, and reprisalsof Easternand Western placed on the Romantradition of the Renaissance. marbles(F. W. Deichmann,ed., Corpusder Kapitelleder Kirchevon San 6 M. Tafuri,"Giorgio Spavento e TullioLombardo nella Chiesa di S. Marcozu Venedig,with the assistance of J. Kramer,U. Peschlow,Wies- Salvador,"Ricerche di storia dell'arteXIX (1983), pp. 5-36; idem, "La baden, 1981 [Forschungenzur Kunstgeschichte und christlichen Ar- 'nuova Costantinopolo'. La rappresentazione della 'renovatio' nella chaeologie, XII). J. Richardson,The Byzantine Element in the Architec- Venezia dell'Umanesimo (1450-1509)," Rassegna IX (1982), pp. tureandArchitectural Sculpture of Venice,1063- 1140, diss., Princeton 25-38. University,1988, shows the beginningsof this style consciousness ac- 7 Foran analysis of the style and date of the hollow-cast bronze tively developed alreadyin the late eleventh and earlytwelfth centuries. "monster-lion"that was converted into the Lionof St. Mark,see J. B. 10 Demus, Churchof San Marco,p. 15. Ihave dealt with thirteenth- WardPerkins, "The Bronze Lion of St. Markat Venice,"Antiquity 21 century Venice in terms of self-promotion and the consolidation of (1947), pp. 23-41. WardPerkins sees the piece as a work coming from myths in "ChristianRelics and the Body Politic:A Thirteenth-Century EasternAnatolia, produced there underAssyrian influence.A detailing ReliefPlaque in the Churchof San Marco,"in Interpretazioniveneziane.

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Studi di storia dell'arte in onore di Michelangelo Muraro,ed. D. Ro- pipstlichen Programmkunst,"Frihmittelalterliche Studien 12 (1978), sand, Venice, 1984, pp. 39-57. pp. 55-83, and "Imosaici dell'AulaLeonina come testimonianza della 11 Demus, Churchof San Marco, pp. 113 f., has noted the refer- prima'renovatio' nell'arte medievale di Roma,"in Romae I'eta carolin- ence to the triumphalarches of ImperialRome in the placement of the gia. Atti delle giornate di studio 3-8 maggio 1976 a cura dello Istituto horses on the facade of San Marco.A double reference to both ancient di storia dell'arte dell'Universitadi Roma, Rome, 1976, pp. 167-82. Rome and medieval Byzantiumis being developed by MichaelJacoff, The complicated history of the tricliniummosaics is concisely laidout who is preparinga study that includes an examinationof several layers by R. Krautheimer,Rome: Profile of a City, 312- 1308, pp. 115 f. The of allusion present in the placement of the four bronze horses on the importanceof LeoI Ill's triclinium investiture mosaic for Venetianinves- facade of San Marco, sometime around the middle of the thirteenth titure imagery has been signalled by Agostino Pertusiin his discussion century.An interimreport on his findings, entitled "The Horses of San of the imagery of the bolle, as cited above. Marcoand their Place inthe FacadeProgram," was given in the Sympo- 13 Forthe career of Andrea Dandolo, see the opening pages of sium on the Treasuryof San Marco,The MetropolitanMuseum of Art, Ester Pastorello's introduction to her edition of the Dandolo chroni- New YorkCity, May 9-10, 1985. A more general analysis of the facade cles, Rerumitalicarumscriptores, 2nd ed., XII,pt. I,Bologna, 1938 [In- program,entitled "Legacyof Empire:Some Aspects of the Role of Re- troduction, pp. i-lxxvii]. Pastorello's researches supplant the date of used Roman Sculpture in the thirteenth-century Facade Programof 1331 given in the earlierliterature as the date of Dandolo's holding of San Marco," was presented in the session "Venice and the Two the office of procuratore(see E. Simonsfeld, "AndreaDandolo e le sue Romes" at the conference itself in Rome. Prof. Jacoff is currently opere storiche,"Archivio veneto 14, pt. 1 [1877], pp. 1-101, esp. p. 3 preparingthis materialfor a longer publication. Foran analysis of the [transl. by Benedetto Morossi of Simonsfeld's Andreas Dandolo und problemsconnected with the horses and a survey of the literature,see seine Geschichtswerke, Munich, 1876]). Probingdiscussions of Dan- V. Galliazzo,I cavalli di San Marco, Treviso,1981, as well as the lively dolo's work as a historianare given by Craccoand Arnaldi(as in n. 15). account by M. Perry,"Saint Mark's Trophies:Legend, Superstition, While there is an ample literatureon Dandolo as a writer of history, and Archaeology in Renaissance Venice,"Journal of the Warburgand there is relatively little on himas a patronof the arts. Onthe latter,see CourtauldInstitutes 40 (1977), pp. 27-49, esp. pp. 27-39. R. Polac- Buchthal (as in n. 14), and the recent dissertation by Ranee Katzen- co, "San Marcoe le sue sculture nel Duecento,"Interpretazioni venezi- stein, Three Liturgical Manuscripts from San Marco: Art and ane, pp. 59-75, has discussed the place of the horses in the facade Patronagein Mid-TrecentoVenice (Harvard, 1987), in particularChap- program. ter 5, "AndreaDandolo and the Cult of San Marco."I have dealt with The issue of the mix of Eastern and Western style references in aspects of Dandolo's artistic patronage in "Doge Andrea Dandoloand thirteenth-century Venetian sculpture is another part of the double Visual History: The San Marco Projects," in Art and Politics in Late line of reference. The mix of styles needs to be seen not so much as Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy: 1250- 1500, ed. Charles M. a curiosity within the unrollingpicture of pre-Renaissance sculpture, Rosenberg, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1990, pp. 191-206. nor as a way-stage within Venice's specific sculpturaldevelopment-- 14 For the development of the Antenor legend in fourteenth- but in positive terms, as something courted by Venice in orderto keep century Venice,see H. Buchthal,Historia troiana. Studies in the Histo- a numberof artistic references in play at a single moment. Fora survey ry of MediaevalSecular Illustration[Studies of the WarburgInstitute, of the issues currentlyunder discussion in Venetianthirteenth-centu- vol. 32], London and Leiden, 1971, esp. pp. 58 ff. Buchthal argues that ry sculpture, with relevant bibliography,see 0. Demus, "Die Sculptu- a relatively minorlate-thirteenth-century text, Guido delle Colonne's ren von San Marcoin Venedig,"in W. Wolters,ed., Die Skulpturenvon Historia destructionis Troiae, was picked up in fourteenth-century San Marcoin Venedig[Centro Tedeschi di Studi Veneziani,Studien I1ll], Venice and given spectacular treatment in the form of a number of Munich-Berlin,1979, pp. 1-15, and for an evocative overview of key handsome illustratedversions, one of which takes its place among the pieces, Muraro,La vita nelle pietre. masterpieces of Venetian Trecento painting. This outstanding 12 For the decree of 1284, see N. PapadopoliAldobrandini, Le manuscript,now in Madrid,is judged by Buchthalto have been execut- monete di Venezia,Venice, 1893-1919 (reprintedMilan and Bologna, ed around the middle of the fourteenth century, very likely with the 1967), vol. I, p. 123. The implications and motivations behind the direct interventionof Doge Andrea Dandolo.The fact that the text in- minting of the ducat are discussed by R. Cessi, Problemi monetari cludes within its listings a reference to the colonization of the city of veneziani fino a tutto ilsecolo XlV, Padua, 1937, p. XL(pp. 40 f. [Doc. Venice by Antenor- Veneciarumurbem inhabitaverit ille TroyanusAn- 36] for publication in full of the 1284 decree), and by J. G. Da Silva, thenor-appears to have been the raison d'etre for the Venetian in- "Lapolitique monetaire a Venise: motifs techniques et motifs econo- terest in the text. Particularlystriking in the Madridmanuscript is the miques,"Studi veneziani 11 (1969), pp. 57-74. The Byzantine image archaizing/historicizingstyle adapted for the cycle of illustrations, a of the transfer of the banner, presenting two standing figures of pari- style that gives the manuscript the flavor of "a venerable early ty-one divine, the other temporal- had been broughtvirtually intact manuscript from the Christian East" (Buchthal, p. 61). As Buchthal to Venetiancoinage under EnricoDandolo in the silver grosso of 1194, notes, the first reference to the foundation of Venice by Antenor in a a coin that provideda kindof rehearsalfor the ducat in both economic Venetianchronicle is in the Chronicaextensa of Andrea Dandolo.The and imagistic terms. The Byzantine image of investiture as used on development of the Antenor legend is, of course, open to a variety of coinage is discussed by Demus, Churchof San Marco, p. 26, in terms interpretations. Buchthal (building on Demus' presentation of this of EnricoDandolo's grosso and A. Pertusi, "Quedamregalia insignia. idea as a thirteenth-century topos) has seen as the core component Ricerche sulle insegne del potere ducale a Venezia durante il medioe- Venice's effort to establish a lineage coming out of the East; Marx(as vo,"Studi veneziani7 (1965), pp. 3-123, esp. pp. 19-37, in terms of in n. 5, p. 332) has seen in operation an anti-Romanor anti-Imperial Venetian bolle. stance. Also of interest is the critique of Buchthalby S. Ozoeze Collo- The political implicationsof the investiture image in the triclinium do, Archivio storico italiano 130 (1972), pp. 553-61. Foradditional of Leo IIIhave been discussed in full in two articles by H. Belting, "Die discussion regardingthe traditionof the Trojanfoundation of Venice beiden Palastsaulen Leos Ill. im Lateran und die Entstehung einer and the historiographicaltraditions that Dandolo knits together, see

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A. Carile,"Le origini di Venezianella tradizionestoriografica," in Storia tion of the separate issues is presented by W. F. Volbach, A. Pertusi, della cultura veneta, vol. I, Dalle originial Trecento,Vicenza, 1978, pp. B. Bischoff, H. R. Hahnloser,and G. Fiocco, in H. R. Hahnloser,ed., // 135-166. Tesorodi San Marco,vol. I,La Pala d'oro, Florence, 1965. A good over- It is useful to rememberthat Venice's active development in the view of the unresolved problems and contrasting opinions is given fourteenth century of putative antique origins is part of a largerculti- by K. Wessel, Byzantine Enamels, Greenwich, Conn., 1967, pp. vation of an antique past that characterizesthe new city states of Italy, 131-53. The East-Westcombine in the Palad'Oro has been signaled as has been discussed by N. Rubinstein, "The Beginnings of Political from one particularpoint of combining of Latincraftsman- Thought in Florence:A Study in Medieval Historiography,"Journal of ship with Greek knowledge view--theand skill-by H. R. Hahnloser,"Magister the Warburgand CourtauldInstitutes 5 (1942), pp. 198-227, esp. pp. latinitas und peritia greca," in G. von der Osten and G. Kauffmann, 207 ff. It is in the fourteenth century that Padua gives physical eds., Festschrift ffr Herbert von Einem, Berlin, 1965, pp. 77-93. presence to the traditionof its own founding by Antenor-a tradition The emergence of the great, space-dominating altarpiece of four- that goes back to Virgil- by means of the discovery and re-erection of teenth-century Italyhas been the subject of a certain amount of recent what Paduans claim as the originaltomb of Antenor. investigation, with the Stefaneschi altarpiece for St. Peter's and Duc- The legend of the founding of Venice by Antenor developed in the cio's Maestb for the Duomoof Siena as focal images. The stages in the fourteenth century is complemented by later foundation myths that process of development have been laiddown by H. Hager,DieAnfinge give Venice even more aggressively Roman origins, a tradition of des italienischen Altarbildes, Munich, 1962. Forthe Stefaneschi altar- Romanizationthat, as Demus, Churchof San Marco, p. 19, n. 67, has work that has its own skein of J. Gardner, pointed out has continued into this century. "Thepiece--a Stefaneschi Altarpiece:A Reconsideration,"controversy--seeJournal of the War- 15 Andreae Danduli Chronica per extensum descripta, ed. E. burg and CourtauldInstitutes 37 (1974), pp. 57-103, and more re- Pastorello (as in n. 10), p. 128. The link set up in Dandolo's text be- cently, Bram Kempers and Sible De Blaauw, "Jacopo Stefaneschi, tween Charlemagne and Venice also served to establish a venerable Patronand Liturgist.A New Hypothesis Regardingthe Date, Iconogra- tradition for Venetian claims to sovereignty over the cities of the phy, Authorshipand Functionof His Altarpiece for Old Saint Peter's," Dalmatian coast. W. Lenel, Die Entstehung der VorherrschaftVene- Mededelingen vanhet Nederlands Institutte Rome, n.s. 12, 47 (1987), digs an derAdria, Strassburg, 1897, esp. pp. 85-103, "ZurKritik An- pp. 83-113; pls. 13-28. An examinationof the creative approaches to drea Dandolos," presents a strong statement regarding Dandolo's the altarpiece developed in Siena, includinga detailed examinationof manipulatingand "enrichment"of source materials in order to make Duccio's Maesta, is given by H. W. van Os, Sienese Altarpieces past events serve the immediate political needs of fourteenth-century 1215- 1460, Groningen,1984. Discussion of specific issues connect- Venice. A viewing of Dandolo's Chronicaextensa as a highly nuanced, ed with altarpiece productionare to be found in H.W. van Os, Lapittura carefully focused presentation of the history of Venice is a theme of nel XlV e XVsecolo: IIcontributo dell'analisi technica alla Storia del- currentstudies on Dandolo;see G. Cracco,Societ e stato nelmedioe- I'arte,A tti del XXI/VCongresso internazionale di Storia dell'arte,Bolo- vo veneziano (secoli XII-XIV),Florence, 1967 [Fondazione Giorgio gna, 1979, Bologna, 1983, of which the papers by J. Gardnerand C. Cini,Centro di Culturae Civilth,Studi, no. 22], and G. Arnaldi,"Andrea Gardnervon Teuffel are particularlyto be noted. Dandolo Doge-Cronista,"in A. Pertusi, ed., Lastoriografia veneziana 18 Cited by Marx(as in n. 5), pp. 333 f., in the context of the esca- fino al secolo XVI, Florence, 1970, pp. 127-268. lation of a Greekidentity for Venice in the wake of the Fallof Constan- As G. Fasoli, "Nascita di un mito,"in Studistoriciin onore diGioac- tinople in 1453. For the full text of the letter, see L. chino Volpe, Florence, 1958, vol. I, pp. 445-79, has emphasized, the Labowsky,Bessarion's Libraryand the .Six Early insertion of a Western affiliationinto the history of Venice helps coun- Inventories, Rome, 1979, pp. 147-49. ter Venice's real history as a dependency of the East. Ultimately,this 19 S. Wilk, The Sculpture of TullioLombardo: Studies in Sources is part of a largertheme, going back to the eleventh century, that sees and Meaning (Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts), New York, Venice as eternally free, in thrallto no power. 1978, Chapter 5, The BernabbChapel in San GiovanniCrisostomo, 16 Forthe mosaics of the chapel it is still necessary to go to the Venice, pp. 85-144. older sources, e.g., S. Bettini, Mosaici antichi di San Marcoa Venezia, 20 The range of stylistic approaches that were used, virtually Bergamo, 1944, pp. 27 ff., pls. CXIV-CXIX.(The fourteenth-century contemporaneously, by GiovanniBellini and his shop in creating what mosaic campaigns of the Baptistery and the S. Isidore chapel, both the author terms "the Western equivalent of the icons of the East" due to the initiativeof AndreaDandolo, were not included in the recent emerges fromthe revealingdiscussion by R. Goffen, "Iconand Vision: monumentalstudy by O. Demus, TheMosaics of San Marcoin Venice, GiovanniBellini's Half-Length Madonnas," The Art Bulletin57 (1975), Chicago and London,1984, on the grounds that they "representan en- pp. 487-518. A careful discussion of the melding of Roman and tirely new and separate chapter in the decoration of the church" Byzantine elements in a single work, Giovanni's Bellini's San Giobbe [Preface,pp. xi f.].) Forthe tomb of Isidore,see Wolters (as in n. 8), pp. altarpiece, is given by J. Richardson, "Hodegetria"and "Venetia vir- 189 f. It may well be that the Chapel of S. Isidoreoccupies the site of go": GiovanniBellini's San GiobbeAltarpiece, M. A. thesis, University the originalchurch of S. Theodore (Demus, Churchof San Marco, pp. of BritishColumbia, 1979. 21 f., 73). The interest in giving a more visible presence to Venice's 21 J. McAndrew, "Sant'Andrea della Certosa," Art Bulletin 51 heritage of Eastern military saints may, in fact, be initiated by the (1969), pp. 15-28; R. Lieberman, "Venetian Church Architecture placement of the composite figure of Saint Theodore on the western Around 1500," Bollettino del Centro Internazionale di Studi di Ar- column of the Piazzetta, which takes place in 1329, when AndreaDan- chitetturaAndrea Palladio 19 (1977), pp. 35-48. The opening section dolo is one of the procuratorsof San Marco(for the Saint Theodore on of Lieberman's article provides a useful discussion of the mix of the column in the Piazzetta, see above, n. 8). styles-Gothic, Byzantine, and a classicizing Renaissance style- 17 Ina city characterizedby numerous difficult and controversial seen in Venice in a selected group of Renaissance churches, part of objects, the Palad'Oro remains, in spite of a large scholarly literature, what the author sees as "a search for a local Renaissance style" perhaps the most difficult and controversialof all. A detailed examina- (p. 39).

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22 I have dealt with the romanitas of one of the first of the ducal Venetianhistorical moment has been a powerfulfactor in the develop- triumphalarch tombs of Renaissance Venice in "The Tombof Doge ment of a new wave of Venetianhistory writing. Particularlyto be cited Nicol6 Tronand Venetian Renaissance RulerImagery," in M. Barasch in this regard,although they approachthe materialfrom very different and L. F. Sandler, eds., Art the Ape of Nature, New York, 1981, pp. points of view, is the workof GiorgioCracco (SocietMe Stato nelmedi- 127-50. oevo veneziano, Florence, 1967) and Antonio Carile(e.g., the studies 23 A. Carile,"Le origini di Venezia nella tradizione storiografia," cited n. 23); this line of investigation in Venetian studies is well in Storia della cultura veneta, vol. I, Dalle originial treceto, Vicenza, demonstrated in the stimulating collection of essays contained in A. 1976, pp. 135-66, esp. pp. 146 ff. The establishing of an antique Pertusi, ed., La storiografia veneziana fino al secolo XVI, Florence, past, as discussed above, n. 14, is partof the glamorizingprocess that 1970. A massive, tour de force of a review of the ways in which the goes on in the fourteenth century, when the eighth and ninth century "myth of Venice"was generated by Venice itself, as well as the ways settlements that are Venice's foundation are converted into a founda- in which the city's creative constructs have set the terms for the work tion myth that canonizes A. D. 421 as the year of Venice's foundation. of modern historians, is provided by J. S. Grubb,"When Myths Lose The gradual emergence of 421 as the canonical year is one of the Power:Four Decades of Venetian Historiography,"Journal of Modern threads of thirteenth and fourteenth century history writing analyzed History 58 (1986), pp. 43-94. by A. Carile, "Aspetti della cronachistica veneziana nei secoli XIIIe Francesco Sforza's negative characterizationof the Venetians, in XIV,"in A. Pertusi, ed., Lastoriografia veneziana fino al secolo XV/. a letterof 1451 aimed at a Romanaudience, is quoted by N. Rubinstein, Aspetti e problemi, Florence, 1970, pp. 75-126. The fourteenth- "ItalianReactions to TerrafermaExpansion in the Fifteenth Century," century effort to present 421 as a date based on documentary evi- in J. R. Hale, ed., Renaissance Venice, London, 1973, pp. 197-217, dence is discussed by V. Lazzarini,"II preteso documento della fon- esp. p. 205 and n. 65. 25 dazione di Venezia e la cronaca del medico Jacopo Dondi,"Atti del- E. Muir,Civic Ritualin Renaissance Venice, Princeton, 1981. I'Istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti 75 (1915-16), pt. II, pp. 26 As discussed by M. Gilmore,"Myth and Reality in Venetian 1263-81 (reprintedin Lazzarini,Scritti di paleografia e diplomatica, Political Theory," in Hale, Renaissance Venice (as in n. 23), pp. Padua, 1969, pp. 99-116) 431-44, esp. p. 432. 24 G. Fasoli, "Nascita di un mito," in Scritti storici in onore di 27 M. Perry,"The Statuario Pubblico,"Saggie memorie distoria Gioacchino Volpe, Florence, 1958, 1,pp. 445-79 (reprintedin Fasoli, dell'arte 8 (1972), pp. 75-150. Scritti di storia medievale, Bologna, 1974, pp. 445-72). Fasoli's 28 I have discussed this aspect of Titian'sAssunta in: "Issues of work-as seen here and throughout her writings (see above, n. 3)--in Methodology: the Venetian Ducal Tomb-and a Note on Titian'sAs- approachingthe chronicles not from the standpoint of "rightness" or sunta," in Steven Bule, et al., eds., Verrocchioand Late Quattrocento "wrongness," but in order to illuminatethe mind-set of a particular ItalianSculpture, Florence, 1992, pp. 349-53.

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