Description
Antique photograph from a book, circa 1892.
To enhance and protect the page we have commissioned in a bespoke frame and mount.
The frame has an overall size of 370mm x 400mm. Also available with a Gold frame option, your choice.
Entitled: COURTYARD OF THE DUCAL PALACE, VENICE.
Beneath the photograph an inscription reads: In another illustration the
exterior of this wonderful building is portrayed, as it fronts upon the
Piazzetta. We are here looking on a portion of its inner courtyard,
around which rise the marble walls of the Palace, magnificently
decorated with stone carving and statuary in bronze and marble. In
the foreground is one of two elaborate bronze well-curbs here, the
work of Venetian artists 350 years ago. Upon their marble steps
Venetian women often sit to rest themselves before returning home-
ward with their pails of water, gossiping gaily of to-day, unmindful of
the history with which each stone in this old building seems at times so
eloquent. In the distance we perceive the marble steps, known as the
“Giants’ Staircase,” because of the colossal statues of Mars and
Neptune which decorate its summit. This is more than 400 years old,
and for centuries at the head of its steps the Doges of Venice
were crowned. Byron in his tragedy of “Marino Faliero” makes this
the place of that sovereign’s execution, and the concluding line of
his drama is, “The gory head rolls down the Giants” Steps.”
Unfortunately, Marino Faliero was decapitated before this stairway
had been built, but it is a fact that he was beheaded in this palace.
Just beyond the “Giants’ Steps” is a flight of stairs leading to the
upper story, called the “Scala d’Oro,” or the “Golden Staircase,”
from the magnificence of its ornamentation.
Page size circa 250mm x 280mm
Please see our shop for other similar framed photographs and prints. All our prints and
photographs are original, not a copy.
If you buy an item and then see it relisted this is because we occassionally have more than one available
Thank you for looking
