VENICE Italy DOGE'S DUCAL PALACE ~ 1841 Baroque Architecture Art Print Engraving

Description: HALL OF THE COUNCIL, DOGE'S PALACE, VENICE. Artist: J. Franklin ____________ Engraver: E. Challis Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE 19th CENTURY ANTIQUE PRINTS LIKE THIS ONE!! PRINT DATE: This engraving was printed in 1841; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 7 1/2 inches by 10 inches including white borders which are not shown in the scan above, the actual scene is 5 inches by 7 1/2 inches. PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock paper. SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular air mail unless otherwise asked for. We take a variety of payment options, more payment details will be in our email after auction close. We pack properly to protect your item! FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: "Statues of glass- all shiver'd-the long file' Of her dead doges are declined to dust; But where they dwelt, the vast and sumptuous pile Bespeaks the pageant of their splendid trust." BYRON. The stern and gloomy semblance of the Ducal Palace is no bad emblem of the severe character of the ancient government, and of the dark deeds that were done within this great and costly edifice. Its air and aspect are aristocratical, its history a series of tales of terror; nor has change of government, or loss of splendour, even yet succeeded in obliterating the feelings of horror with which it is contemplated. Had the omens been recorded upon the foundation of this place of tyranny, they would, undoubtedly, have augured ill for generations then unborn. Marino Faliero, the doge who commenced the building, was beheaded on a charge of treason ', and Filippo Calendario, the architect, was hung as a conspirator:-every circumstance connected with its history is romantic, mysterious, extraordinary. "A palace, and a prison on each hand," it is a most unnatural combination,-it is the association of pleasure with pain, of happiness with misery, of life with death. The ceremonial apartments are numerous, richly decorated with carvings and stuccoed work, and adorned with noble specimens of art. In the Hall of the Pregadi, surrounded by emblems of wealth and civilization, a council of two hundred and thirty members held their meetings, and exercised the prerogative of royalty, by decreeing peace or war. It is remarkable that the excitement and opportunity afforded in this council of prince-merchants, never succeeded in producing a single orator of eminence. The subjects discussed were of the most stirring and important character, there was no restriction imposed upon the speakers within the walls of the Ducal Palace; and, that the art of oratory was admired, and its greatest professors held in high esteem at Venice, would appear from the pictorial ornaments of this noble apartment, which included portraits, in camaieu, of Demosthenes and Cicero-the former crowned, the latter speaking-both from the hand of Giambattista Tiepolo. The freedom of modern republics does not seem favourable to the growth of eloquence. The aristocratic liberty of Venice, the democratic license of Florence, never produced an instance similar to those great spirits of antiquity, who "could put such a tongue in each dumb wound of Caesar, as would make the stones of Rome to rise and mutiny." Republics degenerate into oligarchies, the ambitious members of which exclude the people from a share in the government, and to whose actions silence is better suited than publicity; there oratory, as an art, finds no encouragement from the great. The people also, in such governments, sink into carelessness, indifference, neglect, setting little value upon patriotism, and becoming unconscious of the advantages of senatorial eloquence. This grand and ancient council-hall contains some of the noblest and most famous paintings in Venice; the seats or stalls of the senators are here in perfect preservation, and a tablet placed over the doge's seat, contains the following admonition to the members of the council, and to the aristocracy of the republic: "Qui patriae pericula sue periculo expellunt, hi sapientes putandi sunt, cum et eum quern debent honorem reipub. reddunt, et pro multis perire malunt quam cum multis. Etenim, vehementer est iniquum vitam quam, a natura acceptam propter patriam conservaverimus, naturse, cum cogat, reddere, patrise, cum rogat, non dare. Sapientes igitur aestimandi sunt qui nullum pro salute patrice periculam vitant. Hoc vinculum est hujus diguitatis qua fruimur in repub. hoc fundamentum libertatis. Hie tons equitatis mens et animus et consilium et sententia civitatis posita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine mente, sic civitas sine lege. Legum ministri magistratus. Legum interpretes judices, denique idcirco omnes servi sumus, ut liberi esse possimus." Had the noble principles here recommended to the adoption of the senators, been embraced, and adhered to with true patriotism, previous to the French invasion, Venice would not probably have been blotted from the list of European kingdoms. The principal paintings that decorate this hall, are-an Allegory of the Mint at Venice, by Marco Vecellio, the nephew and pupil of Titian, the League of Cambrai, and the Doges, Lorenzo and Geronimo Priuli, adoring the Saviour, by the younger Palma; besides several others, either scriptural, or relating to Venetian history, by Tintoretto. The subjects of these great works have been selected with equivocal taste; and this defect has given the advantage to other cities of Italy, as schools for study, while the colouring and execution of the great works at Venice are nowhere exceeded. The author of Letters from the Continent in 1841, thus describes the effect produced upon him by the paintings in Venice generally;-" The endless succession of brilliant, gorgeous colours, though striking at first, soon palls upon us, and. becomes fatiguing: and it is mere colouring ", you look in vain for anything addressed to the intellect or imagination; expression, character, sentiment, and all that constitutes the poetry of painting, are wanting, and in their stead, you have rich velvet hangings, embroidered robes, and sumptuous ornaments. The spirit of the Venetian school appears to me very similar to that of ancient sculpture in its declining days. In each case the general character is sensual: the works address themselves to the senses rather than to the imagination-only in the one case, form and outline; in the other, colour-is the medium through which it is sought to convey gratification to the eye." Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, etching, aquatint, lithograph, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, and NOT blocks of steel or wood or any other material. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were created by the intaglio process of etching the negative of the image into a block of steel, copper, wood etc, and then when inked and pressed onto paper, a print image was created. These prints or engravings were usually inserted into books, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone lithographs. They often had a tissue guard or onion skin frontis to protect them from transferring their ink to the opposite page and were usually on much thicker quality woven rag stock paper than the regular prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. A RARE FIND! AND GREAT DECORATION FOR YOUR OFFICE OR HOME WALL.

Price: 9.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2025-01-24T21:59:00.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD