CHAPTER IX

_Via Cappello_--_San Fermo_--_Museo Civico and Picture Gallery_

From out the active stirring Piazza delle Erbe runs the narrow quiet street of the Via Cappello. The tramway which traverses all Verona from the Porta Nuova to the Porta Vescovo passes at a foot’s pace along it, and almost touches an old mediæval house that tradition points out as the house of the Capulets, and where Juliet is said to have lived and loved. A tablet[48] over the door records the legend, though no romance attaches to the use to which the house is now put--a stable for carriers and their vans--and probably few who pass under the archway ever think of the ill-starred lovers or consider their story as aught but a myth.

A little further down the street and on the same side stands the Biblioteca Comunale, where precious volumes and manuscripts are stored in laudable order, and where the kindness and courtesy of the officials makes it a pleasure to study and hunt among the treasures so freely placed at one’s disposal. Close beside it is the disused church of St Sebastian; and but a short way further on is the Arco dei Leoni, a Roman ruin, said to have been part of Gallienus’s wall, and worthy of a better place and surrounding. A tinsmith’s shop is all around it, and zinc baths and tin wares and utensils hang beside the fine columns and architraves that are lost in so incongruous a setting. That this grand old ruin was once one of the gateways into the town seems probable; but archæologists are divided as to its exact origin and purpose, and only agree in claiming for it without hesitation a very remote antiquity. Other houses in this street, now called Via Leoni, have traces of Roman architecture, often stowed away in inner courtyards, and evidently proving of more interest to the passing prying stranger than to the owner and inhabitant.

The church of S. Fermo Maggiore is close at hand; one of the four finest churches of Verona, and beautiful from whichever side we approach it. It is another example of the blending of brick and marble peculiar to Verona; and while studying the harmonious fusion of these materials it is interesting to observe the different periods of building and the different dates that have left their mark on the construction of this noble edifice. The façade, the presbytery, and the belfry are fine examples of the Lombard-Gothic style; and the approach to the principal entrance up a flight of stairs, with tombs, niches, windows around, and a deep portal above is very impressive. To the left of the entrance is the tomb of Aventino Fracastoro, the physician of Cangrande (1350). This monument, of great beauty, consists in true Veronese fashion of the sarcophagus supported on brackets, placed under a canopy. On the other side is another canopy, looking as though intended for a tomb, but of smaller dimensions than the one above-mentioned, and placed there

for no reason that has yet been discovered. The actual church of S. Fermo dates from about the year 1065, but the oldest part of it is the crypt which boasts of a very great antiquity. From the archæologist’s and historian’s point of view the chief interest attaching to S. Fermo centres round this crypt, and they ascribe some portions of it to at least the second half of the eighth century. The different styles of architecture and of fresco-painting in this subterranean church are of all-engrossing matter; and hours might be spent here pondering over the ascendancy of Greek, Roman, Lombard, and Christian art, and deciphering the unmistakable signs that tell how, even in the ninth century, this lower church was decorated with the crude and primitive paintings then coming into vogue. The carvings representing in rude outline the cross in various shape, the fish, and other allegorical symbols point, as far as date is concerned, to a very early period of Christianity, and confirm the generally accepted belief that the crypt was the work of the very first Christians, and built at the moment of the suppression of paganism.

To return however to the church. The interior is striking and beautiful. It consists of a single nave; no aisles are included in the plan, and it is crowned by a magnificent roof made of larch, and shaped like the ribbing of a ship, with paintings and carvings introduced at every possible coign of vantage. The church was first built for the Benedictines in the eleventh century as has been said. Two hundred years later it was transferred to the Franciscans, and it underwent considerable additions and alterations both at their hands, and again in the early part of the fourteenth century. These works were largely helped on by the piety and generosity of Daniele Gusman, the prior of S. Fermo, and by Guglielmo da Castelbarco who, as has been seen, did so much for St Anastasia, and whose tomb standing outside that church has already been described. Here too his memory has been perpetuated in a fresco over the archway to the right and left of the high altar, where he on one side, and Prior Gusman on the other are represented “offering willingly to the Lord.” The doubt as to who is the author of these frescoes is still unsolved. For a long time they were attributed to Giotto; and though Crowe and Cavalcaselle say that none of his work done in S. Fermo is left, they admit that the fresco of Castelbarco presenting the church of S. Fermo is by a different hand to the other frescoes in the church--these latter being all by Veronese masters.

Over the doorway of the main entrance--a door by the way very rarely opened, and to get into the church one must go to the one on the left hand side--is a fresco of the Crucifixion, ascribed first to Cimabue, then to Giotto, and though by neither of them, is at the same time the work of some very early master. To the left of this entrance, and above an ugly mausoleum to the Brenzoni family, is a most beautiful fresco by Vittore Pisanello, and according to Layard, his only fresco-painting, besides the one at St Anastasia, yet remaining in Verona. The subject is the Annunciation, very gracefully and effectively treated, and with some very beautiful architectural drawing around the Madonna. Further on are more frescoes of the fourteenth century, which have not been long discovered, among them being a striking one of the Crucifixion. Close by is the Chapel of the Sacrament, where hangs the masterpiece of Gian Francesco Caroto. It is described as follows by Layard:--“His (Caroto’s) best existing work is an altarpiece in the church of S. Fermo Maggiore (Verona), representing the Virgin and Child and St Anne in glory, with four saints

beneath, signed and dated 1528. It is grandly conceived, powerful in colour, giving the impression that he had seen and been influenced by Bernardino Luini; the Madonna is a beautiful woman with a tender and gentle expression; the Child less pleasing; the heads of SS. Roch and John are especially fine.”[49]

The fresco over a small door leading into the Torriani chapel is by Francesco Bonsignori, signed and dated 1484; and inside the chapel is the tomb raised by Girolamo della Torre, and said to be one of the most precious works of art preserved in S. Fermo. This may doubtless be so for those who first of all are fortunate enough to find some means whereby they can obtain sufficient light to view this treasure; and who secondly are content to be put off with copies of the original. For the bronze bas-reliefs which once decorated this tomb were carried off to Paris, where they are still preserved at the Louvre, and copies supplement the place they once filled. What is left is however pronounced by all who have seen it to be of great merit, and worthy of the designer and artist, Andrea Riccio of Padua.

Several interesting examples of the Veronese school are to be found in this church. In the chapel after that of the Delia Torre family is a good “Adoration” by Orbetto, fine in tone and colour, though the grouping is a little confused and overcrowded. In the chapel dedicated to St Anthony is a picture by Liberale of “St Anthony in Glory,” showing, according to Mr Selwyn Brinton, the improvement gained by him after he came “under the influence of the mighty Mantegna, when a greater conception of art seems to strike him.”[50] In one of the chapels beside the high altar is a fine Crucifixion by Domenico Brusasorci. The Alighieri chapel is more or less on the lines of the Arco de’ Gavi, and was erected by Francesco, the last lineal male descendant of Dante, who with two or three other members of the family, is buried here. The picture over the altar is by Battista del Moro.

A fact that is of botanic interest is to be met with here in the epigraph below the organ to Francesco Calceolari. He was the first botanist who ever made his mark in Verona, and his name at all events suggests some connection with the flower whose gaudy colours were once in such request for the bedding-out garden.

Immediately below the sacristy is the marble sarcophagus erected by the citizens of Verona to the memory of Torello Saraina, who, as has been said, wrote the first printed history of the town, and whose opinion and authority on Veronese antiquities and monuments is of great weight and value. The Saraina chapel standing beside the tomb was erected by the historian himself, and dedicated by him to the Trinity, to the Virgin, and to the Archangel Raphael. It contains a fine painting by Torbido over the altar, a Madonna and Child in the clouds, with the Archangel and Tobias below. According to Morelli, this work makes Torbido worthy to be compared with the elder Bonifazio. The coffin containing the ashes of Saraina was probably removed to the side (where it stands resting on two turrets of marble) when the chapel was arranged for the celebration of the Mass. Saraina died May 8, 1550. That he was a patron of art as well as a man of letters is proved by the fact that not only did he order the fine picture painted by Torbido for the Saraina chapel, but that the house he inhabited in the Via della Stella was also by his desire decorated with frescoes by the same master.

The pulpit is a beautiful bit of fourteenth century work. It is rich in marbles, and has many good designs surmounted with frescoes that for many years were supposed to be the work of Stefano da Zevio. Recent investigations, however, have proved them to be by Martini, whose signature upon them has also come to light.

The patron saint of the church is S. Fermo, who together with S. Rustico, suffered martyrdom early in the fourth century. Their bodies first buried in the crypt were afterwards placed under the high altar in the church, where they were at all events safe from those inundations of the Adige that so often wrought havoc to the town, and that in their impetuosity respected neither saint nor sanctuary. The festival of the martyred saints is held on the 9th of August.

The beautiful exterior of the apse and belfry can be well seen and studied on the way to the Palazzo Pompei. This palace contains the Museo Civico and the Picture Gallery, and stands on the other side of the Adige. The way to it lies across the Ponte delle Navi, a modern bridge built to replace the one set up in 1373 by Cansignorio, which was swept away in the inundation of 1757.

It must seem ungracious on the part of a visitor, and of one too who has received much kindness and courtesy in the town, to complain of the arrangements and methods customary in the public buildings of Verona. But the way in which the works of art are kept and treated is lamentable in the extreme, and the disregard and indifference as to those treasures cannot but evoke feelings of surprise, indignation, and regret. The Palazzo Pompei, a fine Doric building designed by San Micheli, was bequeathed by its late owner to the city for a picture gallery; and that it was never built or intended for the purpose to which it is now put may perhaps serve as some excuse for its total inadequacy. The rooms are small; the windows so placed that a great deal of light falls on some pictures leaving others in darkness, and threatening besides to ruin paintings exposed for hours on bright days to a flood of unmitigated and uncurtained sunshine.

The ground-floor consists of a collection of the most varied kind: there are Etruscan and Roman remains; prehistoric antiquities from the Lake of Garda; marble vases and sculptures, coins, utensils belonging to the prehistoric, bronze, and iron ages; mediæval statues in stone and in bronze; a large array of capitals, columns, and fragments of buildings and fortifications that have been dug up at recent excavations and brought here, and casts of modern works. The great inundation of the Adige in 1882, which is answerable for so much damage in Verona is also held responsible for the state of disorder to which this heterogeneous mass is reduced. The flood disarranged the Museum; and time and money do not yet seem to have been found wherewith to repair the mischief then caused.

The pictures are on the first floor, and are for the most part the works of Veronese masters. The first room, known as the Sala Bernasconi, has a fine but faded picture by Paolo Farinato (No. 13) of Christ shown to the multitude. No. 32 is an early but graceful work by Titian of the Madonna and Child and St John. No. 34, a Madonna and Child, and St John the Baptist with two angels, is said to be by Perugino; and much of it probably is by him, the rest by one of his pupils.

Room II. has several good pictures, though not all are by the artists to whom they are ascribed. No. 86, for instance, is a lovely Presentation in the Temple, with a forged signature of Gian Bellini. No. 88 is a Holy Family by Andrea del Sarto, but so cleaned as

to leave little of the original. No. 90 is a Madonna and Child that from its likeness to the fresco in S. Fermo is said to be by Pisanello. No. 92 a Madonna, Francesco Caroto, restored and hard. No. 97, a powerful and authentic portrait by Antonio Moro. No. 120, a Madonna and Child with St Joseph by Perugino. No. 121, a graceful Annunciation by Garofolo. No. 155, a Madonna and Child with two Saints by Francia; a picture full of the charm that this Bolognese master rarely fails to exercise. Nos. 112, 108, and 154, are all by Caroto, though in his earlier rather than in his best and later manner. Other pictures in this room are by good masters but hung so high that all effort to judge of them is vain.

Room III. has no work in it which demands especial attention.

Room IV., No. 240, a Madonna by Giolfino; a hard and somewhat cold picture though not lacking in expression. No. 243, a Madonna enthroned, with saints and angels; an early work by Paolo Veronese. No. 244, a Madonna and Saints by Antonio Badile; a good picture though hung too high. No. 250, Christ washing the disciples’ feet by Bonifazio; a picture full of the rich warm colouring of this master, and lacking--as is often the case with him--in all sense of religious feeling. No. 252, a Madonna enthroned with SS. Roch and Sebastian, by Girolamo dai Libri; and also by him No. 253, the Baptism of Christ. No. 267, a portrait by Paolo Veronese; the only really fine portrait to be found in Verona by Verona’s greatest painter, and representing one of the Guarienti family attired as a warrior. No. 271, a Madonna by Bonsignori.

Room V. This is the most interesting room in the gallery. No. 290 is a Holy Family by Girolamo dai Libri, known as “la Vergine dei Conigli,” or “of the rabbits.” Though somewhat faded and hung too high it is a charming picture representing the Madonna, with St Joseph, St Jerome, and St John the Baptist worshipping the Babe. The landscape is glowing with colour and with rich detail, and the rabbits seated with due solemnity give a humorous touch to the whole scene. There are several important paintings in this room by Paolo Morando surnamed Cavazzola, of whose works in this collection Mr Selwyn Brinton speaks as follows: “In visiting Verona, I found the Public Gallery rich in his paintings; the earnestness of his style, and his power in drawing and colour find illustration in the series of five subjects from the Passion in that gallery (brought there from S. Bernardino). Most of all among them I gave my admiration to the most striking ‘Descent from the Cross,’ powerful, of great pathos, brilliant, and yet cold in colour.”[51]

Of the power of Cavazzola’s painting, and of the decorative value of his work there can be no doubt, but he strikes one as being careful to attain a correct form in his figures rather than to convey depth of devotion, and to be merely affected when he would fain be pathetic. His work at times though very hard and formal is yet often full of expression; his backgrounds are interesting and to be liked; and his vivid colouring is nearly always to be admired. A fine work of his, the last he ever painted, and perhaps his masterpiece, is No. 335 in this room. It is an altarpiece, showing the Madonna in glory with angels, saints, and the donor, the Contessa di Sacco, at the bottom of the picture. Nos. 292, 293, 294, 295 are the series alluded to above; No. 298 is St Thomas questioning our Lord’s resurrection by him. Nos. 302 and 303

are also by him; and so too are Nos. 306 and 308. No. 329 is a pleasant portrait by Domenico Brusasorci of himself as a musician. No. 330, the Trinity by Francesco Morone. No. 333, a Madonna and Child with St Andrew and St Peter, by Girolamo dai Libri. No. 334, a very fine Madonna and Child with two saints by Cima da Conegliano. No. 339 is again by Girolamo dai Libri, showing a lovely landscape with an enthroned Madonna, the Child, St Joseph, Tobias, and the angel all in rich glowing colour, and altogether delightful. There are also three pictures by Caroto in this room: one of the three archangels with Tobias over the door is particularly good. It is signed and is very worthy of notice. On the wall coming into this room is a collection of fragments of miniatures from liturgical books by Liberale, and Girolamo dai Libri. They are all framed, and form as choice and rich a collection of such works of art as exists anywhere.

Room VI. (No. 351), a fine picture of the Madonna and cherubs by Carlo Crivelli showing the influence of the Paduan school. No. 355 is a painting on wood in several compartments by one Turone in a frame of the same date (fourteenth century) and representing divers saints. This picture, dated 1360, is cited by Crowe and Cavalcaselle as a proof of how the Veronese school held aloof from all Giottesque influence. Such independence does not meet with the approval of the two art critics, who refuse to see in this course of action an individuality which declined to borrow even from a superior source--an attitude of originality that was indulged in at a possible loss of increased technique and drawing, but that is worthy all the same of respect.

No. 359 is a painting on wood by Stefano da Zevio: a youthful work, signed and dated 1363, of the Madonna and St Catherine in a garden of roses. No. 362, the Crucifixion by Jacopo Bellini, a grand solemn picture even if somewhat retouched. Nos. 368 and 369 are small altar-pieces by Girolamo Benaglio, in frames characteristic of the period (fifteenth century) and in good taste. No. 376, the Resurrection, attributed to Squarcione, and possibly containing some of his work. No. 377, a Deposition by Liberale, but hung too high to be seen well. Nos. 390, 392, 394, are far and away the gems of this room, and are all fine works by Cavazzola. They represent Gethsemane, the Deposition, the Bearing of the Cross. The Deposition is the most famous of this series, which, as shown by the inscription, was painted in 1517, and in it is to be seen the artist’s portrait to the left of the cross, while in the background stand out the heights of Verona with the castle of San Pietro and the Adige below.

Few of the other rooms have anything of interest or merit in them, though in No. IX.--when not closed--are to be seen some of the medals of Vittore Pisanello; and a fresco by Cavazzola, brought here from the church of SS. Nazzaro and Celso. There is also a fine fresco in Room XII. by Francesco Morone, of the Madonna with saints, that shows great power of grouping. This was originally on the exterior of a house near the Ponte delle Navi, and was brought here for preservation. Layard says: “A charming specimen of his (Morone’s), warm, rich colouring, and delicate and graceful sentiment was, until recently, to be seen in a fresco of the Virgin and Child and saints, on the façade of a house near the Ponte delle Navi at Verona, dated 1515, which added much to the picturesque beauty of the site. It has unfortunately been transferred to canvas, suffering irreparably in the process and by clumsy restoration, and is now a mere wreck in the public gallery.”[52]

Here, too, are some frescoes by Martino da Verona, by Giolfino, and by Caroto, and with a glance at them the visit to the picture gallery may be brought to a close.