The Wykehamist
making it one of the most grand buildings in the city, which was already crowded with such grandeur. It was produced from 1577 to 1592 to thank God for the deliverance of Venice from a major outbreak of plague, and so no costs were spared, a feature of production the church certainly still reflects. Having taken the vaporetto back to the main island we made our way to San Zaccaria and its altarpiece. REJF’ s explanation of what made this painting so wonderful and revered, helped give an insight as to why Giovanni Bellini is such a great artist, highlighting in particular the way he deals with cloth and texture. Dinner, today, was up to us so we were released into the dark of Venice at night. In a group of twelve, we descended on a pasta restaurant by the Grand Canal that offered us each a [ REDACTED ] of [ REDACTED ] at the end. Unfortunately for us, this was a ploy to butter us up in an attempt to make us pay his extortionate service charge, for some passable carbonara. It was all a learning curve for the next days and made for a fitting conclusion to such an eventful first day.
Jad Darkazally( D, 2021-): The next morning, we took a break from the chocolateliqueur city and toured some of the other islands in the Veneto. A long and somewhat grey vaporetto ride ferried us to Torcello – often cited as the earliest inhabited island of the region. The sun broke on us as soon as we reached the pier. Immediately, Torcello’ s greenery, remoteness and emptiness( I don’ t recall seeing a single person who wasn’ t in our group) created a vastly different tone in comparison with Venice. REJF shepherded us across the island, and we eventually reached a lovely cluster of rustic buildings, which looked half-Tuscan, half-Gothic. We first looked at the Chiesa di Santa Fosca- a circular brick-and-pastel martyrium accented by Romanesque porticos. In comparison, the interior was wonderfully sombre: exposed bricks, wooden beams, simple forms and a modest altar. One couldn’ t help but notice that the stripped back, unadorned, humble church had a profound impact on her Wykehamist pilgrims; a unanimously contemplative and reflective state of mind was adopted across the group. From the Chiesa we moved into Torcello Cathedral – a truly remarkable early example of the Venetian Gothic style. The basilica’ s modest, imposing façade radiated the aura of age; the fact that it had been built in 639 AD was as unsurprising as it is impressive. The sense that this building has been a place of
worship for well over a thousand years was only heightened upon entering the basilica. At the east end, a Byzantine mosaic of the Virgin and Child commanded adoration and praise. Against the brilliance of the gold tiles which flooded the apse like some divine light, the figures of Mary and Christ seemed to levitate in front of our eyes. On the other end, another mosaic of profound scale and intricacy absorbed us deeper into the world of 11 th-century monks. The detail, complexity and grandeur evoked comparisons with later monumental works we’ d been seeing throughout the trip – namely, those in the Padua Baptistry and the Scrovegni Chapel. Long before we could fully absorb it all, we were ushered back outside to the sight of the artistically-inclined drawing inspiration from the silence and the surroundings. The next of many vaporetto rides that day took us to Murano – home to the world-famous glassmakers. A quick stop at San Pietro Martire introduced us to yet another Bellini altarpiece – this one a sacra conversazione featuring a kneeling doge and a wonderful Italian landscape in the background. We soon dispersed for lunch before making our merry way to the glass museum. Common consensus suggested this wasn’ t exactly a highlight of the trip, though the surrounding gift-shops offered convenient souvenirs for the fee-payers waiting back home. The next
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