he reaction from
the florid which took place in the Empire period, many of them gave
place to whitewash and stucco. In the Ducal Palace, side by side with
the masterpieces of the Renaissance, are to be found the overcrowded
canvases of Vicentino, Giovanni Contarini, Pietro Liberi, Celesti, and
others like them. Some of the poor and meretricious mosaics in St.
Mark's are from designs by Palma Giovine and Fumiani. Carlo Ridolfi, who
was a painter himself, as well as the painter's chronicler, has an
"Adoration of the Magi" in S. Giovanni Elemosinario, poor enough in
invention and execution. Two pictures by obscure artists disfigure a
corner of the Scuola di San Rocco. The Museo Civico has a large canvas
by Vicentino, a "Coronation of a Dogaressa," which once adorned Palazzo
Grimani. We hear of a school opened by Antonio Balestra, who was the
master of Rosalba Carriera and Pietro Longhi, and the names of others
have come down to us in numbers too numerous to be quoted. Towards the
end of the seventeenth century more light and novelty sparkles in the
painting of the Bellunese, Battista Ricci, and assures us that he was no
mere copyist; and, as the eighteenth century opens, we become aware of
the strong and daring brush of Gianbattista Piazetta. Piazetta studied
the works of the Carracci for some time in Bologna, and especially those
of Guercino, whose style, with its bold contrasts of light and shade,
has served above all as his model. He paints very darkly, and his
figures often blend with and disappear into the profound tones of his
backgrounds. Charles Blanc calls him "a Venetian Caravaggio"; and he has
something of the strength and even the brutality of the Bolognese. A
fine decorative and imaginative example of his work is the "Madonna
appearing to S. Philip Neri" in the Church of S. Fava. The erect form of
the Madonna is relieved in striking chiaroscuro against the mantle,
upheld by _putti_. Radiant clouds light up the background and illumine
the form of the old saint, a refined and spirited figure, gazing at
the vision in an ecstasy of devotion. Piazetta is a bold realist, and
many of his small pictures are strong and forcible. Sebastiano Ricci,
Battista's son, is described as "a fine intelligence," and attracts
our notice as having forged special links with England. Hampton Court
possesses a long array of his paintings. In the chapel of Chelsea
Hospital the plaster semi-dome is painted by him, in oils, with very
good