364 VENETIAN INDEX

that they have been “Barbaramente sfigurati da mani imperite che pretendevano ristaurarli.” Otherwise the church is of no importance.¹

BASSO, CHURCH OF ST. Of no importance.

BATTAGLIA, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. Of no importance.

BECCHERIE. See QUERINI

BEMBO, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal, next the Casa Manin. A noble Gothic pile, circa 1400,² which, before it was painted by the modern Venetians with the two most valuable colours of Tintoret, Bianco e Nero,³ by being whitewashed above, and turned into a coal warehouse below, must have been among the most noble in effect on the whole Grand Canal. It still forms a beautiful group with the Rialto, some large shipping being generally anchored at its quay. Its sea story and entresol are of earlier date, I believe, than the rest; the doors of the former are Byzantine (see above, Final Appendix, under head “Jambs” [p. 270]); and above the entresol is a beautiful Byzantine cornice, built into the wall, and harmonising well with the Gothic work.

BEMBO, PALAZZO, in the Calle Magno, at the Campo de’ due Pozzi, close to the Arsenal. Noticed by Lazari and Selvatico as having a very interesting staircase. It is early Gothic, circa 1330, but not a whit more interesting than many others of similar date and design. See “Contarini Porta de Ferro,” “Morosini,” “Sanudo,” and “Minelli.”

BENEDETTO, CAMPO OF ST. Do not fail to see the superb, though partially ruinous, Gothic palace fronting this little square. It is very late Gothic, just passing into Renaissance; unique in Venice, in masculine character, united with the delicacy of the incipient style. Observe especially the brackets of the balconies, the flower-work on the cornices, and the arabesques on the angles of the balconies themselves.

BENEDETTO, CHURCH OF ST. Of no importance.

BERNARDO, PALAZZO, on the Grand Canal. A very noble pile of early fifteenth century Gothic, founded on the Ducal Palace. The traceries in its lateral windows are both rich and unusual.

BERNARDO, PALAZZO, at St. Polo. A glorious palace, on a narrow canal, in a part of Venice now inhabited by the lower orders only. It is rather late central Gothic, circa 1380-1400, but of the finest kind, and superb in its effect of colour when seen from the side. A capital in the interior court is much praised by Selvatico and Lazari, because its “foglie d’ acanto” (anything, by the bye, but acanthus), “quasi agitate da vento si attorcigliano d’ intorno alla campana, concetto non indegno della bell’ epoca greca!” Does this mean “epoca Bisantina”? The capital is simply a translation into Gothic sculpture of the Byzantine ones of St. Mark’s and the Fondaco de’ Turchi (see Plate 8, Vol. IX., fig. 14), and is far inferior to either. But, taken as a whole, I think that, after the Ducal Palace, this is the noblest in effect of all in Venice.

BRENTA, Banks of the, IX. 412. Villas on the, IX. 413.

BUSINELLO, CASA, X. 453.

¹ [This sentence is omitted in the “Travellers’ Edition.”]

² [The date “1400” was substituted in the “Travellers’ Edition” for “1350-1380” in the editions of the complete work.]

³ [See, for other references to this saying of Tintoret’s, Vol. X. p. xxxv., and Modern Painters, vol. iii. ch. xvi. § 42.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]