Muta Poesis: The Chorus - Silence
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CHAPTER III
Muta Poesis: The Chorus
Silence
The Abbé Dinouart wrote his treatise on the art of silence as a re-
action to what he called the fury of talking and writing about relig-
ion and government. 1 It is like an epidemic, he says, that has in-
fected not only the ignorant and the fools, but also the most
enlightened philosophers.2 Dinouart’s apprehension about the lo-
quatiousness of his time is informed by the pre-revolution spirit of
eighteenth-century France and the encyclopedists’ zeal to describe
and classify both objects and thought. His discourse is written like
a medical treatise, analyzing the illness of verbosity and prescribing
remedies for those who talk too much while knowing too little. In
the course of his argument, the art of silence takes on many guises,
from talking less while knowing more to remaining entirely mute.
He refers to the Old Testament and King David, who prayed to
1 “Mai l’uomo è padrone di se stesso come nel momento in cui è in silenzio:
al di là di questo momento, egli sembra effondersi, per così dire, fuori di
sé e dissiparsi nel discorso, al punto che sembra appartenere agli altri più
che a se stesso” (DINOUART 1771, p. 4; see also the original French text,
DINOUART 1987).
2 “Il furore di parlare, e di scrivere sulla Religione, e sul Governo, è, come
un male epidemico, di cui è tra noi al presente infetto un gran numero di
persone. Gli sciocchi, e gli ignoranti, ugualmente che i Filosofi più illumi-
nati sono dominati da questa specie di delirio, e di frenesìa. [...] La licenza
è ora giunta a tal segno, che quegli soltanto, il quale parla, o scrive contra
la Religione, i costumi, o il Governo, può passare per Filosofo, o per bello
ingegno” (DINOUART 1771, “Preface,” no pagination).
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204 Sacred Eloquence
God and asked for a door that could be opened and closed in or-
der to cure the defects of his tongue, that is his language.3 Di-
nouart explains the different types of silence: prudent silence,
complacent silence, witty silence, and stupid silence; the silence of
approval and the silence of contempt; silence that is motivated by
a specific goal or strategy, as in diplomacy; and the silence that is
simply a mood or a caprice. But complying with his thesis, the
Abbé holds his tongue about the advantages of silence; everybody
knows them very well. 4
Dinouart’s treatise demonstrates that “eloquent silence” is not
an oxymoron, that taciturnity can be a deliberate statement. Analo-
gously, Vico, in his Institutiones oratoriae, had stated that eloquence is
“the art of speaking or being silent, whichever is just.”5 Silent be-
havior has ancient roots going back to the stoics and early Christi-
anity.6 It is one of the essential elements in all religions and can be
communal or personal. What the silence of a pagan rite, the silence
in church, the elected silence of monks, and a mental prayer have
in common is respect for a deity. It is a technique for opening the
inner ear and an expression of the inadequacy of words to describe
spiritual realities.7 But beside the customary silence associated with
specific religious practices, there is what the Italian language de-
scribes as “tacere,” best translated as “to withhold one’s word.” It is
3 DINOUART 1771, p. 97.
4 DINOUART 1771, pp. 6–7.
5 “Vitae enim probitas quamòurimum oratori conciliat gravitatis: et sapien-
tiam, quae agendorum, et fugiendorum regula est, facile eloquentia, quae
est dicendorum, et tacendorum solertia, tamquam pedissequa, comitatur”
(VICO, 1865, vol. 7, p. 6).
6 COURTINE and HAROCHE 1992, p. 138. The literature on silence and the
rhetoric of silence has grown in the last decades. In addition to the texts
by Courtine and Haroche, the most illuminating recent works include:
VALESIO 1986; BURKE 1993, Chapter 5: “Notes for a Social History of Si-
lence in Early Modern Europe”; AUGIERI 1994; BLOCK DE BEHAR 1995;
DE AGOSTINI and MONTANI 1999.
7 MC CUMFREY 1987, cited in BURKE 1993, p. 127. See also MAZZEO 1962.
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Muta Poesis: The Chorus 205
not the compliance with a prescribed form of collective behavior,
but an individual, intentional act. To respond with nothing to a
question or a previously uttered enunciation implies determination
and the act of withholding one’s word is charged with meaning. The
negation of response thus is a primary sign.8 It functions as a linguis-
tic hieroglyph that needs to be interpreted in the context of previ-
ously given signs. Silence is not just a convention or a mechanical
effect; it is dialogic and has an autonomous rhetorical status.
The question of a muta eloquentia in pictures is a complex issue,
for painting is already a silent form of art. “Poetry is said to be
speaking painting, and painting silent poetry,” Giambattista Marino
said in his first Dicerie sacre of 1614.9 The concept originated in an-
tiquity with Plutarch and persisted into the eighteenth century.
Francesco Algarotti, in his Saggio sopra la pittura of 1762, also af-
firms that painting is mute poetry: “[…] many other things, such as
invention, are the same in painting and poetry, which truly can be
labeled sister arts. Just as painting was called mute poetry, poetry
was called speaking painting.”10
Algarotti initially confirms the traditional intimacy of the sis-
ter arts, but then points out a significant divergence, a difference
that affords painting one possibility to become vocal. Constructing
8 See PETRILLI 1994.
9 “La poesia è detta pittura parlante, la pittura poesia taciturna; dell’una è
propria una mutola facundia, dell’altro un eloquente silenzio; questa tace
in quella e quella ragiona in questa, onde scambioandosi alle volte recipro-
camente la proprietà delle voci, la poesia dicesi dipingere, e la pittura de-
scrivere” (MARINO 1960, p. 151, cited in FUMAROLI 1994b, p. 149). On
the history of the concept, see, LEE 1967; CLEMENS 1960; BUCH 1972.
10 “Oltre al comporre insieme in una azione quanto vi ha di più scelto e di
più bello, in moltissime altre cose vanno del pari, quanto alla invenzione,
la pittura e la poesia, che ben meritano il titolo di arti sorelle. Tantoché
una muta poesia fu denominata la pittura e una pittura parlante la poesia”
(Algarotti refers to Plutarch’s De gloria Atheniensium, ALGAROTTI 1969d, p.
381). See also HAGSTRUM 1958; VICKERS 1989, Chapter 7: “Rhetoric and
the Sister Arts.”
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206 Sacred Eloquence
his fable in a linear manner, a poet focuses his reader’s attention
on one issue at a time. As the pages unfold, the plot is constructed.
The story of a painting, however, is presented synchronically. In a
single moment a painter presents a number of objects in front of a
viewer’s eye; a moment that is rich in beautiful accessories accom-
panying the action; a moment that is equivalent to the successive
work of the poet. Describing the richness of Raphael’s tapestry
cartoon featuring the Sacrifice at Listra, Algarotti asserts that “no
tongue can remain mute in front of Raphael’s work.”11
Algarotti’s voice illustrating Raphael’s picture speaks in the
tradition of ekphrasis, the poetic description of paintings, practiced
continuously from antiquity to the eighteenth century.12 However,
to reduce the discussion of silence in painting to declaring it a si-
lent form of art that becomes vociferous through the beholder’s
description means to deny painting its intrinsic rhetoric. The Abbé
says that the voices of silence are many; so are its manifestations in
painting. In a night scene silence is as all-encompassing as in medi-
tation or monastic silence. And just as the denial of response comes
11 “In un punto però differiscono [poetry and painting] di non lieve impor-
tanza; ed è questo, che il poeta, rappresentando la sua favola, racconta
quello che è avvenuto innanzi, prepara quello che è per avvenire dipoi,
trapassa per tutti i gradi dell’azione; e si vale, ad operar nell’uditore i più
grandi effetti, della successione del tempo; e il pittore, all’incontro, privo di
tanti aiuti, trovasi confinato nel rappresentar la sua favola ad un momento
solo dell’azione. Se non che, qual momento non è cotesto? Momento in
cui può recare dinanzi all’occhio dello spettatore mille obbietti in una vol-
ta, momento, ricco delle più belle circostanze che accompagnano l’azione,
momento equivalente al successivo lavoro del poeta. Fanno di ciò pienis-
sima fede le opere de’ più grandi maestri che può ciascuno aver vedute; il
sacrificio, tra le altre, offerto dal popolo di Listra a S. Paolo, opera di Raf-
faello di cui niuna lingua in tal proposito può tenersi muta” (ALGAROTTI
1969d, p. 381).
12 On ekphrasis, see, among others: ALPERS 1960; LAND 1986; ROSAND 1987;
WANGER 1996; BOEHM and PFOTENHAUER 1995; WEBB 1999; MCMINN
2002; BULST 2003.
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Muta Poesis: The Chorus 207
as an interruption in a spoken dialogue, a painted figure can cause a
similar effect of surprise within the pictorial frame of exchanges.
The entire human expressive apparatus makes up a very lo-
quacious and vocal form of eloquence that serves the painter as
one of the most powerful tools in the construction of his narrative.
Regarding the notion of silence, a figure placing a finger over his
lips is a direct representation of silence. But the body can also
choose to remain mute through the absence of physical gestures or
facial expressions. The withholding of sorrow or joy is a conscious
act of concealment; in the deliberate veiling of emotion we find
one of the most powerful moments of silence in pictures.13
Remaining within the ekphrastic tradition, the origin of this
mute eloquence is found in Timanthes’ depiction of the Sacrifice
of Iphigenia. After Timanthes had rendered the emotional expres-
sions of the sacrifice’s witnesses in an ascending scale he could
find no adequate expression for the grief of Agamemnon and so
veiled the father’s face. Thus the ultimate declaration of pain and
distress is stated through a gesture of restraint, or, in other words,
an act of silence.
To be silent is to refuse to speak, and yet to speak still. Silence
in this sense becomes a voluntary and deliberate statement, a pow-
erful form of eloquence. For it to become a rhetorical tool, silence
depends on the alternation of speech and its interruption. There
can be no speech without silence, nor can there be silence without
speech. Speaking and silence engage in a symbiotic exchange; they
are dialectically dependent on each other.14 The absence of enun-
ciation is only meaningful when it can be foreseen. If the discourse
has not been anticipated, the relational contrast is lost, and silence
lacks significance because it does not enter into the dialogue. 15 Af-
ter seeing the grieving figures that witness the execution of Iphi-
genia, the observer of Timanthes’ picture would have expected to
13 VALESIO 1986, pp. 313–315.
14 ERHARDT 1999, p. 527.
15 BLOCK DE BEHAR 1995, p. 7.
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208 Sacred Eloquence
find a similar but still stronger response on Agamemnon’s face.
His veiled face thus thwarts this anticipation and comes as a sur-
prise. It is necessary that silence, for it to be eloquent, be presented
as an event, with a context and a horizon. Only then does silence
develop its complete rhetorical potential, which essentially is the
solicitation of interpretation. Whatever is being withheld needs to
be completed by the receiver’s imagination.
The mute face as an eloquent statement is at the center of this
chapter. It deals with Tiepolo’s pictorial bystanders in martyrdom
scenes, most prominently exemplified in the Crowning with Thorns
executed for the presbytery of the Venetian church of Sant’Alvise.
According to Renaissance rhetorical tradition, as articulated in
Leon Battista Alberti’s On Painting, the spectator in the picture was
to function as our guide to the image. He was to show us an ap-
propriate emotional response to the event we both witness. Thus
we are supposed to laugh with the joyful and mourn with the grief-
stricken. Tiepolo, however, breaks with this convention. He pre-
sents us with a chorus of pictorial spectators, generally composed
of three Oriental elders with a young boy, who show no emotional
response to the gruesome spectacle they witness. Their bodies are
static and their facial expressions are frozen.
The regular appearance of this disparate chorus in martyrdom
scenes, regardless of their historic location or context, suggests
that Tiepolo conceived of the mute face as an eloquent statement.
It is an instance of muta eloquentia within the pictorial framework,
one that stimulates the beholder’s imagination. As we have no af-
fective guide to the image, we are to conclude an appropriate re-
sponse for ourselves. The taciturn spectators are emblematic of
Tiepolo’s beholder-oriented rhetoric. The abbreviated signs in the
Paduan Rest on the Flight into Egypt invite us to complete the missing
information of the truncated sign. Whereas the abbreviated sign is
ambiguous, the mute face is decidedly indeterminate.
In their power to stimulate our reception, Tiepolo’s silent
spectators not only stand adjacent to Vico’s theory of the ipsum
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Muta Poesis: The Chorus 209
verum factum, that one can only know what he has made; they also
participate in the active devotional life at Sant’Alvise, specifically in
the practice of the silenziosa orazione mentale.
The Sant’Alvise Triad
Around 1735, Tiepolo painted three scenes from the Passion cycle
for the church of Sant’Alvise in Venice. The Flagellation (plate 7)
and the Crowning with Thorns (plate 8) are tall and narrow canvases,
depicting the key events preceding Christ’s Crucifixion. The Way to
Calvary (plate 9) is a large painting of almost horizontal format,
representing Christ’s ascent to Mount Golgotha.16 Contemporaries
and writers up the early twentieth century lauded them as some of
Tiepolo’s masterpieces. 17 In fact, Francesco Zanotto, in his 1868
guide to the most praiseworthy paintings in Venetian churches,
suggests that in order to appreciate Tiepolo “the great composer,
learned draftsman, magical colorist, wise historian and profound
16 On the three canvases in Sant’Alvise, see: ALBRIZZI 1740, p. 171; ALBRIZ-
ZI 1792, p. 239; ZANETTI 1771, p. 468; DRIUZZO 1845, p. 17, n.1; ZA-
NOTTO 1858, no. 43; RUSKIN 1887, p. 30; MOLMENTI 1909, p. 66; SACK
1910, pp. 79–80, 157; FOGOLARI 1913, p. 22; GALLO 1939; MORASSI
1943, p. 23; MORASSI 1955a, pp. 16–17; PALLUCCHINI 1968, no. 104;
BRUNEL 1991, pp. 117–19; LEVEY 1986, pp. 90–91; BARCHAM 1989, pp.
192, 229; BARCHAM 1992, p. 76; GEMIN and PEDROCCO 1993, nos.234–
236; ALPERS and BAXANDALL 1994, p. 171; CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, no. 31,
pp. 112, 127, 192–93, 208–13, 234, 278, 317; PEDROCCO 2002, no. 140,
pp. 1–3; GALLO 2003, pp. 24–32; FASSL 2003; FASSL 2004, Chapter 3:
“Muta Poesis: The Chorus.”
17 During his visit to Venice with Fragonard, Bergeret de Grancourt was
struck by the apt expression of emotion in the Way to Calvary and wrote
that one could not compose anything better: “On ne peut rien de mieux
composer, de mieux grouper; l’expression est juste partout” (quoted in
TORNÉZY 1895, p. 388).
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Plate 7: Giambattista Tiepolo, The Flagellation, ca. 1736, Sant’Alvise, Venice.
Photo: Böhm.
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via free accessPlate 8: Giambattista Tiepolo, The Crowning with Thorns, ca. 1736, Sant’Alvise,
Venice. Photo: Böhm.
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via free accessPlate 9: Giambattista Tiepolo, The Way to Calvary, 1735-36, Sant’Alvise, Venice.
Photo: Böhm.
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judge of the passions” one must go to Sant’Alvise.18 Only modern
eyes, often, have lost the sensibility to appreciate and experience
the deeply serious religiousness of the Sant’Alvise paintings. They
have been labeled as “excessive” and lacking in spiritual depth.19
Tiepolo also has been accused of having “contrived a tremendous
emotional assault on the spectator.”20
Traditionally, it has been believed that the works were do-
nated by Alvise Corner, a member of the Venetian noble family,
who had been Tiepolo’s long-standing patron. Alvise may very
well have had a special devotion to the Passion of Christ, for in
1749 Tiepolo’s son Giandomenico dedicated his series of etchings
of his Via Crucis in San Polo to Corner. A number of recent inves-
tigations, however, propose a different patronage for Tiepolo’s
altarpieces. By the end of the 1730s, the Augustinian nuns in
Sant’Alvise had developed an independent veneration for the
theme and, in fact, commissioned the large Way to Calvary. The
name Corner appears, but it looks like it refers to the Venetian
senator and ecclesiastical historian Flaminio Corner, who most
likely was involved in the donation of the Flagellation and the
Crowning with Thorns.21
By 1456, the monastery of Sant’Alvise possessed three pre-
cious relics from Christ’s Flagellation: a fragment of the column to
which Christ was tied, a segment of the stone on which He sat,
and a piece of the purple mantle put on His shoulders after the
18 ZANOTTO 1858, no. 34.
19 PALLUCCHINI 1968, p. 104.
20 LEVEY 1986, p. 90.
21 At the very beginning of his career, around 1716, Tiepolo worked for
Alvise’s father, the Doge Giovanni Corner, painting his portrait and that
of Doge Marco Corner; both works today are in private collections
(CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, nos. 3a and 3b, p. 57). Alvise Corner, however, has
always been merely assumed as the patron, without ever conducting a spe-
cific investigation into the commission. On the Corner portraits, see RO-
MANELLI 1998.
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mocking.22 Furthermore, in 1591 additional relics from the Passion
came to Sant’Alvise when the Scuola della Santissima Corona di
Spine transferred itself to the church. From the extant documents
it appears that the Scuola devoted to the Crown of Thorns con-
sisted of Venetian noblewomen. In 1591, they petitioned to trans-
fer their location from the church of San Marcuola to Sant’Alvise.
The patriarch granted the request and also ordered that “le Robbe
di detta Corona et la S:ma Spina” remain in possession of the no-
blewomen.23 In 1595, the confraternity was given the altar to the
left of the presbytery, which previously had been dedicated to
Saint Augustine. The altar was re-consecrated to the Crown of
Thorns and the St. Jerome altar to the right of the presbytery was
re-dedicated to Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine jointly.24 The
church of Sant’Alvise also allowed the confraternity to carry their
Sacred Thorns in the Easter processions, and to display them not
only on the particular feast day (the third Sunday after Pentecost),
but on any other day of the year as it pleased the sisters.25 The
Scuola’s inventories of 1714 and 1780 list a special baldachin for
the exhibition of the precious relics of the Sacred Thorns. The re-
22 ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.42. On the Agostinian monastery of Sant’Alvise, see
also PEDANI 1985.
23 ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.1.
24 On the occasion of the new altar the noblewomen from the Scuola della
Santissima Corona di Spine were given permission to adorn the altar with
a new pala, commissioned at their own expense. From the documents it
appears that a certain Antonio da Ferrara painted an altarpiece depicting
the Crowning with Thorns, for which he received the final payment on 1
June 1596 (ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.1).
25 ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.1. Flaminio Corner also mentions the thorns: “La chie-
sa, in cui si solennizza l’annua memoria di sua consecrazione nel giorno V.
d’Aprile, fu in diversi tempi arricchita di molte, e riguardevoli Sacre Reli-
quie, fra le quali sono le più venerabili due sacre Spine della Corona del
Nostro Redentore, ed in esse tuttavia appariscono i contrassegni di quel
prezioso Sangue, che le consacrò; conservandosi eziandio antica tradizione
fra le Monache, che siansi più d’una volta nel Venerdì Santo vedute ros-
seggiare di vivo sangue” (CORNER 1758, p. 332).
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cords also enumerate incised copper plates with the image of the
Crown of Thorns, as well as a plate depicting Sant’Alvise and Saint
Anne with the Sacred Thorns.26
In 1622, the nuns from the monastery placed an image of the
Santissima Vergine dei Sette Dolori on the altar of the Crown of
Thorns. The picture had been venerated in a capitello, a type of tab-
ernacle, in a nearby “calle longa.” In 1635, the Scuola della SS.
Vergine dei Sette Dolori was founded, and by 1664 the confrater-
nity had been given the Saints Jerome and Augustine altar on the
right.27 These inventories, shifts, and re-consecrations reveal a de-
votional dynamic within the church and monastery of Sant’Alvise
that promoted the cult of the Crown of Thorns. Ever since the
Scuola della Santissima Corona di Spine entered the church in
1591, the devotion to both Augustine and Jerome diminished, and
by the later seventeenth century the Passion of Christ emerges as
the main cult in Sant’Alvise.28
The new piety for the suffering of Christ became most poign-
antly reflected in the paintings of the presbytery that were ordered
in the first half of the eighteenth century.29 Angelo Trevisan was
26 ASV, Scuole Piccole, B. 310. The relic today is in the Rothschild collection at
the Louvre (v.s.89).
27 Gallo mentions 1666 as the date when the confraternity was given the altar
(GALLO 2003, p. 21). Marco Boschini, however, already identifies it as be-
longing to the Madonna dei Sette dolori, and records a depiction of the
Crowning of Thorns by Antonio Foler adorning it (BOSCHINI 1664, p. 455).
28 A booklet of 1773 compiles and transcribes various documents pertaining
to the relics in the possession of the monastery of Sant’Alvise. There is an
interesting development that highlights the importance of the attention
given to the relics of the two thorns coming from the Crown of Thorns.
Although the 1456 inventory lists the passion relics, pieces of Christ’s
mantle, of the stone on which he was flagellated, and of the column to
which he was tied, the inventory of 1729 mentions only the piece of the
column and the two thorns (that came to Sant’Alvise with the Scuola);
there is no reference to the mantle or the stone. ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.42.
29 Martinioni, in his addition to Francesco Sansovino’s Venetia città nobilissima,
and Pacifico, in his Cronaca Veneta, record a depiction of the Holy Spirit on
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commissioned by the monastery to paint the Christ in the Garden of
Gethsemane, and Tiepolo contributed the three canvases of the Pas-
sion. Trevisan’s picture and Tiepolo’s works were finished in 1736,
most likely in relation to an important event in the devotional life
of the monastery. In 1736, the Passion relics, which for a while
had been kept in an oratory within the monastery, returned to the
church to remain there permanently; although previously the sis-
ters had been allowed to exhibit the relics whenever they wanted,
they were placed in the monastery. It is also most probable that for
this event Flaminio Corner compiled and composed the texts for
the new liturgical Ufficio e Messa della Sacra Spina.30
From the payment records, it is clear that the monastery of
Sant’Alvise paid for both of the large canvases adorning the pres-
bytery; Trevisan was compensated for his Christ in the Garden of
Gethsemane in June of 1735 and Tiepolo for his Way to Calvary in
January of 1736. The Badessa Maria Candida Canal paid for Tre-
visan’s picture herself, whereas Tiepolo’s salary came from the
general fund of the monastery. 31 In addition the name “Corner”
appears in conjunction with the Way to Calvary; as he is not further
specified, it can be assumed that it is Flaminio Corner, who is al-
ready in the service of Sant’Alvise. On 10 October 1725, Flaminio
the high altar. Boschini attributes it to Domenico Tintoretto, whereas
both Martinioni and Pacifico name “Gio:Bono” as its author. There is no
record of paintings adorning the lateral walls of the presbytery (BOSCHINI
1664, p. 455; MARTINIONI and SANSOVINO 1663, p. 175; PACIFICO 1697,
pp. 346–347).
30 The Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti concilii tridentini restitutum, S. PII V.
Pontificis Maximi Jussu Editum, Clementis VIII et Urbani VIII. Auctoritate recog-
nitum, Et Missis Sanctorum Novissimis adauctum of 1792 lists the “IN FESTO
SACRATISSIMAE Spineae Coronae D.N. Jesu Christi. Introitus. Cant.3.”
There is no documentary evidence, however, that this particular mass was
composed by Flaminio Corner.
31 ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.35; see Appendix 1, and Appendix 2.
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Corner approved a number of new relics in the monastery;32 and
between July and October of 1735 he is recorded as working on
the texts of the new liturgical office and mass, which eventually is
approved in January of 1736. In the same July, Tiepolo appears to
be working on the Way to Calvary in Flamino Corner’s palazzo.33
32 ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.42; see Appendix 3. Flaminio Corner mentions the
relics as having been brought from Constantinople in 1456 and donated
by the Venetian merchant Niccolò Carpentario (CORNER 1758, p. 332).
33 In the Giornale e Libro di cassa 1732–1745, for the 18 July 1735, six lira and
ten soldi are registered for the payment “per trasportar l’imprimidura del
quadro che lavora il Tiepoletto dal Corner.” Six days later Tiepolo re-
ceived an advance payment of twenty zecchini on the account of “un
quadro da farsi in cappella.” In August, Trevisan’s Christ in the Garden of
Gethsemane arrives and is hung on the left wall of the presbytery. In January
of 1736 “il signor Tiepoletto” receives the saldo of 400 ducats for the
“quadro grande di cappella [the Way to Calvary].” From the booklet it ap-
pears that the prioress Maria Candida Canal donated 354 ducats for Tre-
visan’s picture and that the monastery paid for Tiepolo’s Way to Calvary. In
October of 1735 the nuns spent 224 ducats on the gilding of the “due
grandi quadri di Cap.a.” In the payment records also the name of Flaminio
Corner can be read. Between July and October 1735 Corner compiled the
“Ufficio Nuovo e Messa della Sacra Spina” and took care of its approval
for printing. In November of the same year he is paid the 33.15 ducats for
the printing of the text, and in January of 1736, 42 ducats occur as “spese
di Palazzo ed Licenza per lo Ufficio della Santa Spina con la Messa.” Thus
the expense that occurred for the delivery of the canvas for the painting
that Tiepolo worked “dal Corner” may very well refer to the transport of
the canvas from Flaminio Corner’s house to the monastery, where it was
subsequently finished. Tiepolo originally may have discussed the bozzetto
of the Way to Calvary (formerly in the collection of Francesco Algarotti and
today in the Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin) with Corner and
may have afterwards decided to paint the large work in the monastery.
There is also a record that could pertain to the two tall and narrow can-
vases. In January of 1736 the nuns spent 102 ducats on canvas, gilding,
and colors of the paintings in the “capela.” While the large works are al-
ways referred to as the “grandi quadri,” the payment pertains to the “quadri
in capela.” It may very well be that the nuns paid for the “raw material” of
the Flagellation and the Crowning with Thorns, and that Flaminio Corner, in
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Recent literature has always referred to the three pictures as a
triptych, with the Way to Calvary in the center, flanked by the Crown-
ing of Thorns on the left and the Flagellation on the right.34 Both the
commission documents and the account of an eighteenth-century
observer, however, indicate that the pictures never hung side by
side. The Way to Calvary was always placed on the right wall of the
presbytery opposite Trevisan’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. In
the payment records, both canvases are always referred to as the
“quadri grandi in cappella”; they are still in their original locations.
The narrow pictures of the Crowning and the Flagellation have a
rather complex placement history. In the earliest printed record of
Tiepolo’s engagement in Sant’Alvise, Albrizzi’s Forastiero illuminato
of 1740, the painter is mentioned as generally contributing to the
decorations of Sant’Alvise.35 In the 1771 edition of Della pittura
veneziana, Anton Maria Zanetti specifically lists and identifies all
three works by title. Zanetti states that Tiepolo painted two works
for Sant’Alvise, recording the Way to Calvary in the choir and the
two narrow paintings as joined and displayed on the left lateral wall
in the nave of the church.36
Most illuminating is Domenico Farsetti’s commentary on
Zanetti’s text. Farsetti notes that the arrangement of the two tall
light of his engagement in the religious life in Sant’Alvise, may have paid
for Tiepolo’s workmanship. ASV, Sant’Alvise, B.35; see Appendix 1.
34 Catherine Whistler specifies the pictures as such in her entry on the Crown-
ing of Thorns, in the 1996 exhibition catalogue; although Gemin and Ped-
rocco do not hypothesize a precise location, they refer to the three can-
vases as a triptych that may already have been taken apart in 1740
(CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 208; GEMIN and PEDROCCO 1993, pp. 330–331).
35 “Cinque sono gli altari, con diverse pitture di Dom. Tintoretto, del Paoluzzi,
di Alessio Milanese, della Scuola di Paolo, e di quella del Bonifazio, del Fol-
ler, del Piazzetta, del Tiepoletto, e di Fontebasso” (ALBRIZZI 1740, p. 171).
36 “In Sant’Alvise due quadri dipinse il Tiepolo. Il primo sta nella cappella
maggiore, e rappresenta Cristo che va al monte Calvario. Il secondo ha la
flagellazione e la coronazione di spine, e sta sulla parete alla sinistra” (ZA-
NETTI 1771, p. 468).
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and narrow canvases side by side on the left lateral wall in the nave
was made when a new organ was installed in 1760. Previously
Farsetti had seen the Flagellation and the Crowning placed on either
side of the high altar, adorned by a depiction of the Holy Spirit,
which Farsetti (citing Boschini) attributes to Domenico Tintoretto.
Farsetti comments that the “good Mothers” had sewn the two
canvases together in order for them to become one. This is rather
odd, he states, as one can still see that they are two separate paint-
ings, for the pictorial illumination in one canvas is from the right,
and in the other from the left.37 Farsetti certainly is a trustworthy
source, given that he came from a family of great connoisseurs and
patrons and that in 1763 he was elected Provveditor di Commune
by the Maggior Consiglio. His remarks confirm that the three
works – although iconographically connected – originally were not
a triptych per se.
Subsequently, the Flagellation and the Crowning of Thorns were
separated again, although it is not clear when; neither do we know
37 “Il quadro con la Flagellazione e la Coronzione di spine di Giambattista
Tiepolo, che ora sta sulla parete a sinistra da un lato del finestrone, si co-
me scrive il Zanetti era poch’anni sono, due quadri bislunghi et io li ho
veduti, et erano collocati uno per parte dell’antico maggior altare. Ma es-
sendosi questo levato (cioè tutto il cornicione dov’era la tavola del Tinto-
retto) e la Tavola pure, per porvi il nuovo organo in iscambio del vecchio,
ch’era sopra del finestrone, con pitture della scuola di Bonifazio, dal Bo-
schini lodate; e lasciato l’altare isolato, sì come ora si vede, dato di bianco
alla Cappella che era tutta a fresco dipinta, quelle buone Madri ne hanno
rappezzato, e fatto diventar uno, e postolo dove ora si vede. Ma il buono
si è che di questi l’uno ha il lume alla dritta, e l’altro alla sinistra parte, sì
che ognuno, che un poco vi attenda, si avvede ch’erano due” (GALLO
1939, pp. 253–54). In the middle of the nineteenth century Driuzzo con-
firms Farsetti’s observations in his notes on Sant’Alvise: “Di questo artista
[Tiepolo] si conservano nella nostra chiesa altri due quadri, La Flagellazio-
ne, e La Coronazione di spine, ch’erano separati, ed ora si veggono con
mal gusto congiunti, e racchiusi da una sola cornice, sebben abbiano di-
verso effetto di luce” (DRIUZZO 1845, p. 17, n.1).
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how they were hung in the church.38 Today, they are joined anew
on the right wall of the nave just off the presbytery. Although they
are not sewn together as in the late eighteenth century, they are
virtually attached to each other – the Crowning on the left and the
Flagellation on the right. This unfortunate arrangement depreciates
the power of each individual image and most likely is also contrary
to the original sequence of placement.
The succession of the narrative events of the Passion would
suggest that the Flagellation had been placed to the left of the high
altar and the Crowning with Thorns to the right; Farsetti had cited
them in that order. In the New Testament the Flagellation (Matt.
27:26; Mark 15:15, Luke 23:16 and 22; John 19:1) immediately pre-
cedes the Crowning with Thorns. The Evangelists limit themselves
to mention that Pilate had Jesus flogged; immediately afterwards,
Christ is dressed in purple (or scarlet) and the Crown of Thorns is
placed on His head (Matthew 27:27–31, Mark 15:16–20, John
19:2–3). These are two of the last episodes of the Trial of Christ
before He is led away to be crucified on Mount Calvary.
Apart from the narrative chronology, the pictorial structure of
the two narrow canvases points to an arrangement with the Flagel-
lation on the left and the Crowning on the right of the high altar. In
both pictures Tiepolo constructed an architectural setting appro-
priate to the subject. He opted for a low viewpoint with steps lead-
ing up to the figure of Christ in the forefront. In the Flagellation,
the arches open up to a sunlit, colonnaded background screen, a
motif often found in Paolo Veronese’s work. The architecture in
the Crowning is closed, weighty and oppressive, articulated through
a single arch, which is interrupted by a column in the middle
ground. The column terminates the picture on the right, and, when
considered in conjunction with the Flagellation, also counterbal-
ances the pilaster on the left of the Flagellation. In this manner, the
38 Sack only mentions that the joining of the two canvases was undone at a
later date. He does not say when or how they were hung once separated,
only that he had seen them as two individual canvases (SACK 1910, p. 79).
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central figures of Christ and His tormentors are framed through a
rhythmic network of pilasters, columns and arches, creating a stage
for the tragic events to take place. In both pictures, Tiepolo de-
picts the body of Christ leaning inwards in the direction of the
high altar; the movements of His executioners follow this inclina-
tion. Through this figural structure Tiepolo also maneuvers the
column to which Christ is tied, the slab on which he sits, and the
Crown of Thorns in direction of the high altar. This is by no
means accidental, for precisely pieces from these elements – frag-
ments of the column, the stone, the mantle, and two thorns from
the Crown of Thorns – were the most precious and revered relics
in the church of Sant’Alvise.
Orientals
Tintoretto, Titian and Rubens have often been cited as sources of
inspiration in the conception of the Sant’Alvise pictures. 39 Tintor-
etto’s powerful orchestration of religious drama in the Passion
scenes in the Sala dell’Albergo of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco
certainly resonates in Tiepolo’s works, particularly in the Way to
Calvary. For the Crowning with Thorns, on the other hand, scholars
have proposed Titian’s visualization of the same subject as a pos-
sible model, painted about 1541 for the Confraternity of the Holy
Crown at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan and now in the Louvre
(fig. 25).40 Like the church of Sant’Alvise the Milanese confrater-
nity treasured a relic from the Crown of Thorns, and Tiepolo may
very well have studied Titian’s work while in Milan in 1730–31 and
1740, working in the Archinto, Dugnani, and Clerici palaces. Tie-
polo creates a similar stage set for the scene with the rising steps in
39 LEVEY 1988, p. 90; CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 208; MORASSI 1943, p. 23.
40 MORASSI 1943, p. 23.
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via free accessFigure 25: Titian, The Crowning with Thorns, ca. 1541, Louvre, Paris. Photo: Scala
Archives.
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the foreground and the heavy rustication and closed arch of the
background architecture. Also a bust, recalling the one of Tiberius
that presides over Titian’s scene, appears in Tiepolo’s picture and
the muscularity of Christ’s tormentors connects both works.
According to Mark (15:16–20) “the soldiers took Him inside
the courtyard [of Pilate’s house] and called together the whole com-
pany. They dressed Him in purple, and having plaited a crown of
thorns, placed it on His head. Then they began to salute Him with,
‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They beat Him about the head with a cane
and spat upon Him, and then knelt and paid mock homage to
Him.”
In the approach to the narrative Tiepolo differs significantly
from Titian. Whereas the Cinquecento master painted his Crowning
as a narrative picture, in the sense of depicting a specific and tem-
porally delineated action in a unified spatial framework, stasis and
detachment mark Tiepolo’s image. Titian depicts the moment in
which two soldiers with canes behind Christ press the Crown of
Thorns onto His head. The scene is characterized by a powerful
dynamism, created by the variety of vigorous gestures performed
by the muscular figures. The soldier on the left steps up in order for
his cane to reach Christ’s head; the one on the right, directly under
the arch, raises his arms in a direct assault. The figure in the front is
already kneeling, while his arm pulls down his companion to follow
the mocking gesture. Christ’s body is at the center of these forceful
actions, twisted and contorted under the pain of the torment.
In Tiepolo’s picture, Christ silently sits on a stone sarcopha-
gus and passively holds the reed scepter in His left hand. His body
is closest to the picture plane and His body is slightly turned so
that His torso and face directly confront the viewer; His eyes are
closed. Analogously to the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, Tiepolo chose
to depict the moment when the torment is over. Behind Christ one
soldier has shoved the Crown of Thorns onto Christ’s head; the
other has just punched Him with his fist. Rather than being raised,
both executioners’ hands “repose” on Christ’s head. The cruel
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protagonists have completed their action, but what is most re-
markable about the moment is the lack of response to the torment.
Despite the gruesome physical and mental torture, Christ’s face
shows none of the overt pain of Titian’s: head down, eyes and
mouth closed. Rather than openly displayed, His reaction is taking
place internally. In contrast to Titian’s tumultuous spectacle, the
tragedy in Tiepolo’s image is entirely silent.
One of the most powerful moments in this silent drama is
found in the pictorial spectators. Whereas Titian’s image is com-
posed exclusively of Christ and His tormentors, in Tiepolo’s pic-
ture a chorus of disparate bystanders watches the scene from be-
hind. The group consists of three elders in Oriental garb, accom-
panied by a young boy lifting his garment. The ensemble is rather
peculiar and has been identified as a group of contemporary spec-
tators;41 or as bizarre onlookers from the Roman-Oriental world.42
The figures have also been interpreted as a key element that con-
nects the three Sant’Alvise pictures. As Tiepolo needed to establish
a continuity of narrative across the separate canvases, he replaced
some of Titian’s torturers with contemporary onlookers.43 In this
manner the figures have been considered as an element from Tie-
polo’s repertoire of general motifs, including trees, poles, and
dogs, their exoticism being one of the “local pleasures” inherent in
the painter’s leitmotifs.44
Besides connecting the three individual canvases, Tiepolo’s
Orientals also contribute to the choreography and theatricality of
the individual scenes.45 In the sense of spectacle, the figures act as a
stimulus for our historical imagination, for their sumptuousness and
exoticism are supposed to transport us into the ancient world of the
Orient. In the case of the Way to Calvary, the two elegantly dressed
41 CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 213.
42 LEVEY 1988, p. 90.
43 CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 213.
44 ALPERS and BAXANDALL 1994, p. 171.
45 FOGOLARI 1913, p. 22.
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men with the turban-like headgear have been identified as Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus who have come to assist Christ.46 In the
Flagellation and the Crowning with Thorns, however, the same types
could also represent rabbinical figures, Jews rejecting Christ.
It is very tempting to accept Tiepolo’s exotic characters as a
type of geographic indicator, as a simple means to transport our
imagination to a different time and place. The first complication,
however, already presents itself in the youth that accompanies the
group of elders in the Crowning of Thorns. The boy lifts his dress,
exposing his bare skin, but, at the same time, an ominous shadow,
falling across his forehead, casts part of his face in darkness.
Nudity is a complex issue. The eulogy of the female body in
the Song of Songs is contrary to the generally prevailing sentiment of
the ancient Hebrews, as expressed in Jeremiah (13:26): “So I my-
self have stripped off your skirts and laid bare your shame.” The
tender age of the youth in Tiepolo’s image, however, may point
towards an interpretation of nuditas virtualis, meaning to be without
sin in daily life, akin to the nakedness of Truth. Besides the tradi-
tional female nude, portrayed with the sun in the right hand and an
open book and a palm leaf in the left, Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia also
lists a “fanciulla ignuda” for the personification of truth. The latter
has “some white veils around her,” acting as a reminder that she
has to be uncovered.47 It is the boy’s gesture of lifting his dress
that recalls this act of unveiling.
The shadow across his forehead, a sign of doom, however,
stands in contrast to the purity of the bare skin. Ripa explains that
Truth holds the sun in her right hand, “for the truth is the friend
of light, or better, truth is the bright sun for it shows what it is.”48
46 ZANOTTO 1858, no. 34.
47 RIPA and CARATINO CASTELLINI 1630, pp. 168–170.
48 “Tiene il sole, per significare, che la Verità è amica della luce; anzi ella è
luce chiarissima, che dimostra quel che è” (RIPA and CARATINO CASTEL-
LINI 1630, p. 169).
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The youth thus remains ambiguous, for what should be hidden is
exposed, and what is expected to be revealed is concealed.
This double status is by no means accidental and is confirmed
in the group of elders and their prominent position in the pictorial
framework. Standing directly in front of the column, the three eld-
ers and the youth occupy the entire right half of the pictorial stage.
Furthermore, they are illuminated by a different source of light that
comes from behind Christ and the tormentors. Bathed in bright
daylight, the luminous ochres and umbers of the figures sharply
contrast with the dark tones of the heavy architecture and the chia-
roscuro of the torturers. What is most significant about them, how-
ever, is that the expressions on the faces of these characters seem
to be frozen, indeterminable, as if wearing a type of soft, anthro-
pomorphic mask (plate 10). Such absence of expression is a mo-
ment of pictorial muteness, turning the drama into a silent one.
The complexity of Tiepolo’s bystanders is already apparent in
a single picture. Their intricacy becomes clear by extending the
investigation of Tiepolo’s pictorial spectators into other religious
commissions and by taking the analysis out of the sacred realm
altogether. It results that there is neither geographic nor ethno-
graphic rationale to Tiepolo’s pictorial bystanders. A chorus com-
posed of three Oriental elders, often turbaned, accompanied by a
youth regularly appears in his scenes of martyrdom and bloodshed,
regardless of the geographic location of the scene. What is most
peculiar about the group is that in every instance the figures wit-
ness the grim spectacle without emotional response.
This absence of affect presents itself most vividly in the altar-
piece of the Last Communion of Saint Lucy in the Venetian church of
Santi Apostoli (plate 11).49 Between 1748 and 1750, just before de-
parting for Würzburg, Tiepolo received the commission to paint a
new work for the altar of the Cornaro funerary chapel in Santi
49 Regarding the commission and the altarpiece itself, see GEMIN and PED-
ROCCO 1993, no. 385; CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, no. 36. For an iconographi-
cal reading, see NIERO 1999.
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via free accessPlate 10: Giambattista Tiepolo, The Crowning with Thorns, ca. 1736, Sant’Alvise,
Venice. Detail. Photo: Böhm.
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via free accessPlate 11: Giambattista Tiepolo, The Last Communion of Saint Lucy, ca. 1748-49,
Santi Apostoli, Venice. Photo: Böhm.
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via free accessPlate 12: Giambattista Tiepolo, Martyrdom of Saint Lucy, ca. 1748, Pinacoteca del
Castello Sforzesco, Milan. Photo: Böhm.
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via free accessPlate 13: Giambattista Tiepolo, Death of Hyacinth, ca. 1753, Fundación Colecci-
ón Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Photo: Böhm.
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Apostoli. Saint Lucy was one of the titular saints of the church and
the Cornaro family had a particular veneration for the martyr
whose relics were held in Venice in the church of Santa Lucia.50
Tiepolo’s altarpiece depicting the Last Communion of Saint Lucy
substituted a picture by Benedetto Diana, representing Saint Lucy
with two other saints.51 Engaging in his typical working procedure,
Tiepolo first made a modello that he presented to the Cornaro for
approval (plate 12).52 It is in the shift from oil sketch to finished
altarpiece that the role of Tiepolo’s pictorial spectators is most
poignantly manifest.
Although the focal scene of administering the communion
remains consistent, significant alterations occur between the two
pictures. The most notable difference is the placement and appear-
ance of the pictorial spectators. In the modello, we find the typical
chorus watching the dying saint receiving the Host. The three eld-
ers stand behind Lucy, whereas this time the young boy is placed
in front of her. The group is almost identical to the bystanders in
the Crowning with Thorns, except that they are wearing typical Otto-
man headgear. In the altarpiece the ensemble has all but disap-
peared; only the central spectator remains and he has removed his
headdress in a gesture of respect before the enactment of the Sac-
50 Lucy’s body was brought to Venice from Constantinople in 1204 and bur-
ied on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. After the flood on 13 Decem-
ber 1279, which had caused the drowning of many pilgrims, it was decided
to move the body into a location that was more accessible. The choice was
the church dedicated to the saint, which had been erected in the eleventh
century. On 18 January 1280 her relics were moved with great festivities.
In 1444 the church was given to the Dominicans of the Corpus Domini
(CORNER 1749, VIII, 338–339). For the transportation of Lucy’s body to
Venice, see the BNM manuscript: ms. marciano cl.VII, X, 15b, quoted in
NIERO and TRAMONTIN 1965, p. 199
51 “Nella Cappella di Casa Cornara, la Tavola con S. Lucia, e due altri Santi”
(BOSCHINI 1664, p. 21). The painting was still in situ in 1740, as it is men-
tioned in ALBRIZZI 1740, p. 160; see also CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 226.
52 GEMIN and PEDROCCO 1993, no. 385a; CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, no. 36a.
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rament. Scholars have attributed the alteration of the bystanders to
the taller and narrower format of the altarpiece, forcing Tiepolo to
eliminate two figures in the background and the red-clad boy in
front.53 But the matter may be far more complex than the change
in the size of the canvas.
Taking a closer look, we see that not only the backdrop, but
also the subject matter itself is different from the oil sketch to the
altarpiece. In the modello, the saint is shown immediately after being
martyred. A dagger pierces her neck and the straight position of
the knife indicates that she has just been executed. In the altarpiece
the dagger is removed from Lucy’s neck – only a barely visible,
fine, red line indicates its former presence. The dagger is now a
symbol on the lower platform, beside the saint’s eyes on the plate.
Thus the oil sketch features both the Martyrdom and the Last
Communion of Saint Lucy, whereas the altarpiece focuses on the
Last Communion. The change in subject matter explains the dif-
ferent composition of the bystanders in each picture. Comparing
the severe, authoritarian figure behind Lucy in the two images, two
individual types emerge – a fact that becomes clear by comparing
their headgear. In the altarpiece the figure has not only removed
his hat, but the headdress itself is entirely different. While in the
modello he represents an Ottoman, wearing the typical white turban
wound around a red cap, in the altarpiece he has changed his guise,
holding an olive-green, fur-lined cap in his left hand. The Ottoman
actually does appear in the altarpiece, but now as a distant specta-
tor, relegated to the upper balustrade in the background, still ac-
companied by the two companions. The martyrdom is accom-
plished, and so the group has left the stage, making room for a line
of communion recipients.
In 1737, Tiepolo delivered the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha (plate
6) for the Buzzacarini Chapel in the basilica of Sant’Antonio in
Padua, and, about twenty years later, he painted another version
53 CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, p. 226.
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for the Benedictine nuns at Lendinara (plate 5).54 In these two pic-
tures we are confronted with an analogous situation as in the Saint
Lucy modello. This time the place of martyrdom is Catania, and, es-
sentially, there is no geographic rationale for the inclusion of Ot-
tomans. Nonetheless, in both images we find turbaned men and
figures wearing the typical Janissary börk, a type of white, broad felt
flap, rising at the front and folding over to fall loosely behind,
comparable to a stocking. And, yet again, the boy is present; in the
Padua picture he stands beside Saint Agatha, and in the later image
only part of his head is visible directly behind the martyred saint.
The Saint Lucy and the two Saint Agatha altarpieces are just
three examples of a long list of religious pictures in which the typi-
cal chorus of Oriental men accompanied by a young boy observes
the slaying of an early Christian martyr. In a strictly historical
sense, none of the scenes calls for the presence of Ottomans. This
lack of geographic rationale is fully confirmed by taking the analy-
sis outside the religious context altogether. Proof is found in one
of the most moving of Tiepolo’s mythological images, the Death of
Hyacinth, painted during the Würzburg years (plate 13).55 Having
accidentally killed his playmate, Apollo mourns the loss in a rhe-
torical gesture of lamentation. Behind this expression of sorrow
the anomalous and disparate chorus stands and watches the scene,
again composed of the three Oriental elders, clothed in bizarre
garb, and the boy lifting his dress – precisely in the same way as
they are present in the Crowning with Thorns.
Tiepolo painted the Death of Hyacinth twelve years after the
Sant’Alvise pictures, and it becomes clear just how he employs the
choral group as an affective motif. The ensemble appears regularly
in scenes of both religious and secular martyrdoms; in fact, our rec-
54 GEMIN and PEDROCCO 1993, no. 215. The picture, originally painted for
the nuns at Lendinara, is now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and fully
discussed in Chapter II.
55 GEMIN and PEDROCCO 1993, no. 423; CHRISTIANSEN 1996a, no. 23. See
also NYKJÆR 1992; FEHL 1992, p. 340.
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ognition of the figures from the Christian martyrdoms transforms a
mythological image, such as the Death of Hyacinth, into a kind of
secular altarpiece. What is most striking, however, is the affective
potential of this group. Although placed as spectators before a tragic
scene of slaying and torment, the figures’ faces remain mute.
Excursus: The Transformation of the Ottoman
By the time Tiepolo painted his Oriental chorus, the play with ex-
otically dressed figures had a longstanding tradition. Following the
fanciful “eye-witness” painters of the late Quattrocento, Titian,
Tintoretto, and Veronese freely included Orientals in their reli-
gious works, often without historical accuracy.56 In Veronese’s pic-
tures, Germans were sharply individualized, whereas Moslems,
Jews, and Eastern Christians are often difficult to distinguish. The
latter group was part of that Levantine world in which Venice had
a major commercial and political interest.
Although Veronese was hardly an ethnologist and could often
be vague in his depiction of his non-Venetians, foreigners do not
simply function as extravagant accessories. In his Martyrdom of
Santa Giustina, painted in 1573, the executioner of the saint is a
black Moslem;57 his visualization of the Last Communion of Saint
Lucy, executed around 1585 for the church of Santa Croce in Bel-
luno, features a single Islamic figure standing directly behind the
Catholic priest, a position that most likely indicates the dividing
line between Christian and Muslim faith.58 The most impressive
56 On the “eye-witness” painters, see FORTINI BROWN 1994. For discussions
of the Oriental figure in the Cinquecento painters, see GOULD 1980; MU-
RARO 1981; RABY 1982; KAPLAN 1985a; KAPLAN 1985b.
57 PIGNATI and PEDROCCO 1991, no. 118.
58 PIGNATI and PEDROCCO 1991, no. 253.
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