which is gained purely by accident, with its church
in the midst and a vast trattoria close by, and beautiful vistas beneath
this sottoportico and that. There are the two ancient chimneys seen from
the lagoon on a house behind Danieli's. There is the lovely Gothic
palace with a doorway and garden seen from the Ponte dell'Erbe--the
Palazzo Van Axel. There is the red palace seen from the Fondamenta
dell'Osmarin next the Ponte del Diavolo. There is in the little calle
leading from the Campo Daniele Manin to the lovely piece of architecture
known as the staircase dal Bovolo--a bovolo being a snail--from its
convolutions. This staircase, which is a remnant of the Contarini palace
and might be a distant relative of the tower of Pisa, is a shining
reproach to the adjacent architecture, some of which is quite new. It is
a miracle of delicacy and charm, and should certainly be sought for. And
above all there is the dancing reflection of the rippling water in the
sun on the under sides of bridges seen from the gondola; and of all the
bridges that give one this effect of gentle restless radiancy none is
better than the Ponte S. Polo.

CHAPTER XXVIII

GIORGIONE

The Palazzo Giovanelli--A lovely picture--A superb innovator--Pictures
for houses--_The Tempest_--Byron's criticism--Giorgione and the
experts--Vasari's estimate--Leonardo da Vinci--The Giorgionesque fire--A
visit to Castel Franco--The besieging children--The Sacristan--A
beautiful altar-piece--Pictures at Padua--Giorgiones still to be
discovered.

It will happen now and then that you will be in your gondola, with the
afternoon before you, and will not have made up your mind where to go.
It is then that I would have you remember the Palazzo Giovanelli. "The
Palazzo Giovanelli, Rio di Noale," say to your gondolier; because this
palace is not only open to the public but it contains the most
sensuously beautiful picture in Venice--Giorgione's "Tempest".
Giorgione, as I have said, is the one transcendentally great Venetian
painter whom it is impossible, for certain, to find in any public
gallery or church in the city of his adoption. There is a romantic scene
at the Seminario next the Salute, an altar-piece in S. Rocco, another
altar-piece in S. Giovanni Crisostomo, in each of which he may have had
a hand. But none of these is Giorgione essential. For the one true work
of this wistful beauty-adoring master we must seek the Palazzo
Giovanelli.

You can enter the p