ABSTRACT
At last we are to have good photographs of the great pictures at Venice. Those who care for Venetian art will rejoice to hear that two of the best photographers in Italy, Alinari Brothers of Florence and Domenico Anderson of Rome, have been hard at work all the summer and autumn photographing the most interesting pictures in Venice and neighboring towns. The difficulties in the way are immense, and they are not usually understood by any but the initiated. In the first place, many of the finest pictures left upon the altars for which they were painted are practically invisible. Even at the hours at which Baedeker advises or the local guide takes you to see them, they are often mere dim outlines, hidden in the gloom of overhanging arches or deep cornices. Or else the restorer's brush has converted them into sparkling mirrors of dusty varnish which are far more tantalizing than enjoyable. Every one will remember the impossibility of getting a good look at the great Bellini in San Zaccaria, and the Titian in the Gesuiti, the miseries of dazzling lights and obscuring shadows that make a visit to the Scuola di San Rocco a mingled cup of delight and discomfort, and the disappointments that attend the attempt to peer through the darkness that hides such pictures as the Bellini at San Francesco della Vigna, or the Sebastianos in San Bartolommeo in Rialto. The splendid series of Tiepolos in San Polo is absolutely invisible except by candlelight. The Bellini of the Frari, Tintoretto's “Marriage in Cana” in the Salute, and a hundred others that it would be tedious to enumerate, are placed directly in front of windows, so that the glare of light practically blinds the eye to the details of the picture.
