Art Museums we loved in Europe and Asia – Padua & Venice, Italy

During our 55 years of International travel my wife and I visited many art museums in Europe and Asia. This week we recall those in Padua & Venice, Italy, where churches have priceless paintings and sculpture in such number they can be considered galleries of art. To balance the church art are the collections of non-Church art in the museums of Venice, including the paintings and sculptures in Peggy Guggenheim’s former Venice home, now an outstanding museum.

Padua

In Italy, it’s Padova, capital of Padua province and the economic and communications hub of the area. Located on the Bacchiglione River, Padua is just 40 km west of Venice, which is why the two cities are often combined in tour packages. Padua is home to an almost 800 year old University, famous for among other things, having had Galileo among its early lecturers. Today’s population is about 250,000.

With its many arcaded streets, Padua is a picturesque city with the streets going into the city hub expanding into a large communal piazze. Shakespeare used the city as setting for The Taming of the Shrew.

The Cathedral first built in 313, is now in its 3^rd resurrection. That original church was destroyed by an earthquake, as was the second. The current church, designed by Michaelangelo was begun in 1551 and except for the unfinished facade, was declared completed in 1753. Today, the Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is seat for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Padua. In appearance, the Cathedral resembles a typical Romanesque Medieval church, depicted in Giusto de' Menabuoi’s frescoes.

The interior has numerous funerary monuments, some of noteworthy artistic value. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament (Cappella del Santissimo Sacramento), in the right aisle features broad bands of polychrome with carved Gothic details including an atmospheric mosaic that represents the Holy Spirit, with rays of golden light that descend against a background of intensely blue sky. This theatrical work was created between 1927 - 36 by Lodovico Pogliaghi.

Relics of St Anthony have been placed in the ornate baroque Treasury Chapel. There decorations and high reliefs are attributed to Tullio Lombardo with late-16th century statues by Tiziano Aspetti

The church has several important Madonna images, a 1396 sculpted Madonna Mora by the French sculptor Rainaldino di Puy-l'Evéque and Madonna del Pilastro, a mid-14th century fresco by Stefano da Ferrara,

Other magnificent works are the Easter candelabrum in the Apse by Andrea Briosco and considered his masterwork. Most famous striking features in the high altar area include a bronze Madonna with Child and 6 statues of Saints by Donatello, who also completed 4 reliefs with episodes from the of life of St. Anthony.

To the right side of the nave, in elegant Gothic style, are frescoed walls depicting the Stories of St. James, plus the Crucifixion by Altichiero da Zevio, one of the 14^th centuries most significant paintings.

A relatively new sculpture is that of Saint Anthony done by Anthony Quinn’s son, Lorenzo. Blessed by Pope John before 35, 000 people in Saint Peter's square, we saw it in the Padua Cathedral’s Basilica.

Padua has such number of important art in it’s churches, plus a delightful play of statuary gracing the city’s river banks that we spent a week there yet did not see all we wanted all. But Venice beckoned.

Venice

In Italy, Venezia. Venice is the capital of the Veneto region with a population just short of 300,000, except in summer when Tourists often double that number. The city’s name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti who have inhabited the region since the 10th century B.C. Some names the city has born are "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". Luigi Barzini in a New York Times article described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". Venice is also considered one of Europe's most romantic cities.

Stretching across 117 small islands to a saltwater lagoon that runs into the Rivers Po (south) and the Piave (north), during the middle ages and the Renaissance period, the Republic of Venice was a major maritime power and staging area for the Crusades battles as well as being an important center of commerce. From the 13^th to 17^th centuries, Venice was a major port for ships carrying silk, grain, spices and Art to both the East and West, which made Venice wealthy throughout its history.

Several important art movements began there, especially during the Renaissance period. Birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi Venice also played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music.

The Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Oriental Art

Housed in a 17^th century building known as Ca’ Pesaro, itself a true example of Venetian Baroqe style designed in 1628 by Baldassare Longhena. The most interesting paintings and sculptures are on the first floor mainly by 17th and 20^th century artists: Kilmt, Chagall, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, Moore, Mirò, Morandi, De Chirico, Rodin. The upper floor contains some 30,000 objects, mainly from Japan. armory, inros, netsukes, paintings by Koryusai, Harunobu, Hokusai, but also from China and Indonesia. This collection of oriental objects was brought back from a stay in Asia by the 19^th century Prince Henry of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi and bequeathed to the Italian state. picture from Modern Art

The Peggy Guggenheim Museum

Dorsoduro, 704

Adults: €12, Seniors over 65 yrs.: €10, Students under 26 yrs.: €7
Children under 10 and members: free

The Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, located on the Grand Canal, was earlier the Venice home of the American Heiress. Now it houses paintings by many artists who Peggy sponsored, including Picasso, Chagall, Mondrian, Kandinski and Dali. The museum is considered one of the most important in Italy for European and American art from the first half of the 20th century, including masterpieces from the Gianni Mattioli Collection and the Nasher Sculpture Garden.

The Correr Museum.

…offers the both Art and Venice historical documents. The collection was donated to the city in 1830 by Teodoro Correr. Since then the Museum has grown through gifts, acquisitions and donations. It’s splendid Neo-classical Rooms were originally called the Napoleon Wing which after the Republic’s fall had a name change to the Venetian Royal Palace of the French.

The Correr is associated with The the XVIIIth Century at Caà Rezzonico, the Gallery of Modern Art at Caà Pesaro, the Glass Museum on Murano, the Museum of Natural History, the Fortuny Museum, the Research Centre on the History of Textiles and Costume at Palazzo Mocenigo, Casa Goldoni, the Lace Museum on Burano and the city the Archives. Paintings by Carpaccio and Lotto’s Young Man and 2 Venetian ladies, are alone worth a visit.

The Accademia Gallery of Venice

Galleria dell'Accademia
Sestiere Dorsoduro, 1050, 30123

This gallery is famous for 14th & 15th century paintings by Titian, Tintoetto and Canaletto.  Also, it holds the enormous "Last Supper" (5.55M high and 13.10M wide), by Veronese. This painting raised such a fuss when it was first seen to have the artist hauled in front of the Inquisitors who questioned its religious “truth” and came close to ordering it destroyed.

While walking the museums, take time to include the beautiful Church of Santa Lucia with its precious frescoes by Giotto and his pupil Taddeo Gaddi. In its cloister is the Renaissance architectural masterpiece, Brunelleschi’s Cappella de’ Pazzi.

As your day winds down, you have a chance to see Venice as art itself. Take yourself to the terrace bar atop the Hotel Daniella for a sun downer. From there, as the golden hour heightens, Venice becomes a panorama of visual perfection, especially the Santa Maria dell Cathedral across the canal which becomes a crystal Cathedral. From below you can hear early evening gondoliers, working to build tourist business with offerings of “Ol’ Sole Mio, contributing to Venezia’s image as a city of romance. Who’s to say different?

Next week, we ride the Silk Road to ancient Samarkand, an important early Muslim city going back to the 700’s. Samarkand became a key trading post between China and the West. In the 1400’s, it served as capital for Genghis Khan’s kin, the despot Timerlaine. His tomb with its multitudes of riches, is itself a museum.