island of S. Giorgio it is almost necessary to
take a gondola; for although there is the Giudecca steamer every half
hour, it is an erratic boat, and you may be left stranded too long
waiting to return. The island is military, save for the church, and that
is chiefly a show-place to-day. It is large and light, but it has no
charm, for that was not Palladio's gift. That he was a great man, every
visitor to Vicenza knows; but it is both easy and permissible to dislike
the architecture to which he gives his name. Not that any fault can be
found with S. Giorgio Maggiore as a detail in the landscape: to me it
will always be the perfect disposition of buildings in the perfect
place; but then, on the other hand, the campanile was not Palladio's,
nor was the facade, while the principal attraction of his dome is its
green copper. The church of the Redentore, on the Giudecca, is much more
thoroughly Palladian.

Andrea Palladio was born in Vicenza in 1518. In Venice he built S.
Giorgio Maggiore (all but the facade), the facade of S. Francesco della
Vigna, the Redentore, Le Zitelle and S. Lucia. Such was Palladio's
influence that for centuries he practically governed European
architecture. Our own St. Paul's would be very different but for him. He
died in 1580 and was buried at Vicenza. By the merest chance, but very
fortunately, he was prevented from bedevilling the Ducal Palace after
the fire in 1576. He had the plans all ready, but a wiser than he, one
Da Ponte, undertook to make the structure good without rebuilding, and
carried out his word. Terrible to think of what the Vicenza classicist
would have done with that gentle, gay, and human facade!

[Illustration: TRAGHETTO OF S. ZOBENIGO, GRAND CANAL]

S. Giorgio has a few pictures, chief of which are the two great
Tintorettos in the choir. These are, however, very difficult to see. My
own efforts once led me myself to open the gates and enter, so that I
might be nearer and in better light: a proceeding which turned the
sacristan from a servant of God into an ugly brawler. A gift of money,
however, returned him to his rightful status; but he is a churlish
fellow. I mention the circumstance because it is isolated in my
Venetian wanderings. No other sacristan ever suggested that the whole
church was not equally free or resented any unaccompanied exploration.

The Tintorettos belong to his most spacious and dramatic style. One,
"The Last Supper," is a busy scene of convivia