VENICE & PADUA

In line with the motto of Mr. Foletti – at least one field trip per semester – we set off for Venice and Padua in the spring term. Early Friday morning, Francesco Lovino, a fellow art historian from the university of Padua, picked us up at the Venice train station of Santa Lucia. He then guided us throughout our stay in Venice.

Since this year’s winter was quite long, we were all looking forward to sunny weather in Venice – unfortunately, this wish didn’t come true, and we had to deal with pretty rainy weather. Luckily, most of our itinerary took place inside churches, so we weren’t too dependent on the weather. Our first stop was San Marco Church in San Marco square, which we reached with the guidance of Francesco and found completely flooded – the water almost reaching our knees.

We started our “lecture” outside San Marco, because the footbridges for tourists made the process of getting inside much slower. We learned about the creation and history of the church and political and historical context of the Republic of Venice as a link between Eastern and Western Europe. We spent around 6 hours in the church, closely observing its mosaic decoration, as well as the golden altar and treasures in the local treasury. I believe that we will all keep the images and objects we saw that day in our minds forever.

We took a ferry from Venice to the island of Torcello. This used to be inhabited, but today is almost empty. Our destination, Santa Maria Assunta church, didn’t disappoint. We were impressed by its golden mosaics resembling Byzantium and its monumental architecture. There, we could really see the intertwining of the West and the East, oriental workshop and western tradition.

Dr. Valentina Cantone, from the Università degli Studi di Padova, kindly agreed to be our guide in Padua. We were also honoured by the visit of Dr. Elisabetha Scirocco from Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence (both cooperate with the Department of Art History in Brno: in 2012 Dr. Scirocco presented a lecture “Royal tomb sculpture in late medieval France, Naples and Bohemia: Iconographical programs, liturgical functions, political meaning” and Dr. Cantone “The heritage of ancient art in byzantine illuminated manuscripts: techniques, style and iconography” in 2013).

One of our most significant stops in Padua was Capella degli Scrovegni – a monument built in brick with its interior completely covered in frescoes by Giotto. These depict scenes from both the Old and New Testament, along with virtues and vices. We also admired fake marble, painted in such an excellent way that it seemed convincing even from up close. An extraordinary thing about the fresco cycle is, among others, the way it was executed. Giotto worked with illusive space and paid special attention to details, thus demanding a close observation of each fresco.

A warning: even though we bought the regular 15-minute tickets twice, this wasn’t enough to properly see all the frescoes. We tried at least to imagine and understand the relationship between the space, the paintings and the original purpose of the building.

The few days we spent in Venice and Padua were unforgettable. It was fascinating to finally visit all those places that were so familiar to us from photos, because visiting and observing monuments, objects and places is an extremely important element for us, art history students.