San Zaccaria in Venice

This is a view this afternoon of the church of San Zaccaria,, with a magnificent altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini. (I know it's more of a guidebook image than my first two Venice blips, but I'll take it.)

For my money, Bellini is the artistic star of Venice.  His paintings are in a fair number of churches, and at least the two most important museums (Correr and Accademia). He was Titian's teacher--Titian went on with his competitor Tintoretto to win many more commissions in the city, but Bellini has a precision and delicacy that I adore.

Full disclosure:  I'm unabashedly plagiarizing a magnificent photograph by Thomas Struth , a leading contemporary German photographer. I saw the photo (it's very large) in the Met for the first time a few years ago, and have had the notion of emulating it in the back of my mind ever since. (Last summer the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown had an exhibition of Struth's large-scale photographs.)

Our other wonderful stops today: Basilica of the Frari, in the morning, with another great Bellini, two large Titians, and much more--the Frari is the most significant church in Venice after San Marco itself. In the afternoon, before San Zaccaria we visited the nearby  Scuola di San Giorgio Schiavone, which has a cycle of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio from 1502-1508, still in place in a marvelous, dimly lit small space. Among the images is Carpaccio's St. George killing the Dragon, an iconic Venetian image.

My journal reached 100,000 views last night. Thanks so much to everyone who has participated.  Next milestone is two years (730 views), next February.