Albert de Brule and his work: how
long it took; why he did it; how it came to Venice; and so forth. The
date, which applies, I suppose, to the installation of the carvings, is
1598.

The other carvings are by other hands: the S. George and dragon on the
lectern in the choir, and the little courageous boys driving Behemoths
on the stalls.

As one leaves the church by the central aisle the Dogana is seen framed
by the doorway. With each step more of Venice comes into view. The
Campanile is worth climbing for its lovely prospect.

From the little island of S. Giorgio it is but a stone's throw to the
larger island of the Giudecca, with its factories and warehouses and
stevedores, and tiny cafes each with a bowling alley at the back. The
Giudecca, which looks so populous, is however only skin deep; almost
immediately behind the long busy facade of the island are gardens, and
then the shallow lagoon stretching for miles, where fishermen are
mysteriously employed, day and night. The gardens are restful rather
than beautiful--at least that one, open to visitors, on the Rio della
Croce, may be thus described, for it is formal in its parallelograms
divided by gritty paths, and its flowers are crudely coloured. But it
has fine old twisted mulberry trees, and a long walk beside the water,
where lizards dart among the stones on the land side and on the other
crabs may be seen creeping.

On the way to this garden I stopped to watch a family of gossiping
bead-workers. The old woman who sat in the door did not thread the beads
as the girl does in one of Whistler's Venetian etchings, but stabbed a
basketful with a wire, each time gathering a few more.

The great outstanding buildings of the Giudecca are Palladio's massive
Redentore and S. Eufemia, and at the west end the modern Gothic polenta
mill of Signor or Herr Stucky, beyond which is the lagoon once more. In
Turner's picture in the National Gallery entitled "San Benedetto,
looking towards Fusina" there is a ruined tower where Stucky's mill now
stands.

The steps of the Redentore are noble, but within it is vast and cold and
inhuman, and the statues in its niches are painted on the flat.
Tintoretto's "Descent from the Cross" in the church proper is very
vivid. In the sacristy, however, the chilled visitor will be restored to
life by a truly delightful Madonna and Child, with two little celestial
musicians playing a lullaby, said to be by Bellini, but more probably by
Alvise