ADEMIA. II: THE SANTA CROCE MIRACLES AND CARPACCIO

The Holy Cross--Gentile Bellini's Venice--The empty windows--Carpaccio's
Venice--The story of S. Ursula--Gay pageantry--A famous
bedroom--Carpaccio's life--Ruskin's eulogy.

In Room XV are the Santa Croce miracles. The Holy Cross was brought by
Filippo da Massaro and presented to the Scuola di S. Giovanni
Evangelista. Every year it was carried in solemn procession through
Venice and something remarkable was expected of it.

The great picture by Gentile Bellini, which shows the progress of the
Holy Cross procession across the Piazza in 1496, is historically of much
interest. One sees many changes and much that is still familiar. The
only mosaic on the facade of S. Mark's which still remains is that in
the arch over the left door; and that also is the only arch which has
been left concave. The three flagstaffs are there, but they have wooden
pediments and no lions on the top, as now. The Merceria clock tower is
not yet, and the south arcade comes flush with the campanile's north
wall; but I doubt if that was so. The miracle of that year was the
healing of a youth who had been fatally injured in the head; his father
may be seen kneeling just behind the relic.

The next most noticeable picture, also Gentile Bellini's, records a
miracle of 1500. The procession was on its way to S. Lorenzo, near the
Arsenal, from the Piazza, when the sacred emblem fell into the canal.
Straightway in jumped Andrea Vendramin, the chief of the Scuola, to save
it, and was supernaturally buoyed up by his sanctified burden. The
picture has a religious basis, but heaven is not likely, I think, to be
seriously affronted if one smiles a little at these aquatic sports.
Legend has it that the little kneeling group on the right is Gentile's
own family, and the kneeling lady on the left, with a nun behind her, is
Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus.

Bellini has made the scene vivid, but it is odd that he should have put
not a soul at a window. When we turn to Carpaccio's "Miracle" of 1494,
representing the healing of a man possessed of a devil, who may be seen
in the loggia at the left, we find a slightly richer sense of history,
for three or four women look from the windows; but Mansueti, although a
far inferior artist, is the only one to be really thorough and Venetian
in this respect.

One very interesting detail of Carpaccio's "Miracle" picture is the
Rialto bridge of his time. It was of wood,