La Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice
Baldesare Longhena[1598-1682]
1631-87
Completed by Antonio Gaspari after Longhena's death.
The 125 statues that adorn the exterior of Salute form a sharp contrast to the austere interior.
Photograph George P. Landow, October 2000
We have been treated to it again and again, of course, even if we have never stirred from home; but that is only a reason the more for catching at any freshness that may be left in the world of photography. It is in Venice above all that we hear the small buzz of this vulgarising voice of the familiar; yet perhaps it is in Venice too that the picturesque fact has best mastered the pious secret of how to wait for us. Even the classic Salute waits like some great lady on the threshold of her saloon. She is more ample and serene, more seated at her door, than all the copyists have told us, with her domes and scrolls, her scolloped buttresses and statues forming a pompous crown, and her wide steps disposed on the ground like the train of a robe. This fine air of the woman of the world is carried out by the well-bred assurance with which she looks in the direction of her old- fashioned Byzantine neighbour; and the juxtaposition of two churches so distinguished and so different, each splendid in its sort, is a sufficient mark of the scale and range of Venice. — Henry James, Italian Hours
References
The beautiful Everyman Guide to Venice (1993), which is based on an earlier Gallimard publication (Paris, 1992), has a magnificent cutaway illustration of Salute and some beautiful details (318-19).
James, Henry. Italian Hours. Etext prepared by Richard Farris (rf7211@hotmail.com) and proofread by the online team at Distributed Proofreaders. Web. 12 April 2012.
Last modified 12 April 2012