the Grand Canal and, in spite of his recent degradation, was
given a Doge's funeral.

The other Doge here, who has the more ambitious tomb, is Niccolo Tron
(1471-1473) who was before all a successful merchant. Foscari, it will
be noticed, is clean shaven; Tron bearded; and to this beard belongs a
story, for on losing a dearly loved son he refused ever after to have it
cut and carried it to the grave as a sign of his grief.

The Sacristy is, of course, chiefly the casket that contains the Bellini
jewel, but it has other possessions, including the "Stations of the
Cross" by Tiepolo, which the sacristan is far more eager to display: a
brilliant but fatiguing series. Here, too, are a "Crucifixion" and
"Deposition" by Canova. A nice ciborium by the door and a quaint wooden
block remain in my memory.

[Illustration: THE MADONNA TRIPTYCH
BY GIOVANNI BELLINI
_In the Church of the Frari_]

For the rest, I recall a gaunt Baptist in wood, said to be by Donatello,
on one of the altars to the left of the choir; and the bronze Baptist in
the Baptistery, less realistic, by Sansovino; the pretty figures of
Innocence and S. Anthony of Padua on the holy water basins just inside
the main door; and the corners of delectable medieval cities in
intarsia work on the stalls.

And, after the details and before them, there is always the great
pleasant church, with its coloured beams and noble spaces.

CHAPTER XXIV

SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO

A noble statue--Bartolommeo Colleoni--Verrocchio--A Dominican
church--Mocenigo Doges--The tortured Bragadino--The Valier
monument--Leonardo Loredano--Sebastian Venier--The Chapel of the
Rosary--Sansovino--An American eulogy--Michele Steno--Tommaso
Mocenigo--A brave re-builder--The Scuola di S. Marco.

It is important to reach SS. Giovanni e Paolo by gondola, because the
canals are particularly fascinating between this point and, say, the
Molo. If one embarks at the Molo (which is the habit of most visitors),
the gondolier takes you up the Rio Palazzo, under the Ponte di Paglia
and the Bridge of Sighs, past the superb side walls of the Ducal Palace;
then to the right, with relics of fine architecture on either side, up
the winding Rio di S. Maria Formosa, and then to the right again into
the Rio di S. Marina and the Rio dei Mendicanti (where a dyer makes the
water all kinds of colours). A few yards up this canal you pass the
Fondamenta Dandolo on the right, at the corner of which the most