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The Mascoli Chapel
The Chapel of the Madonna del Mascoli is beyond the end of the Transept
where the entrance to the Chapel of St. Isadore is situated. Since 1618
it has belonged to a Confraternity of exclusively male worshippers established
in St. Mark's in the 12th century and based first in the crypt, then at
the altar of St. John, now of the Nicopeia Virgin.
There is an important mosaic cycle on the chapel vault, begun in the first
half of the 15th century by the Venetian Michele Giambono. The decoration
was inspired by the chapel's original dedication to the Virgin.
In fact the canonical episodes of her life are illustrated in a sequence
starting from the left side: the Birth, the Presentation at the Temple,
the Annunciation, the Visitation and the Death (or Dormitio Virginis).
The Annunciation in the large lunette at the back evinces a typically
Gothic grace and gentleness with a corresponding loveliness in sign and
colour. The Birth of the Virgin and the Presentation at the Temple are
dominated by two Gothic architectures of crystalline beauty while the
figures are characterised by soft modelling and delicate colours. The
Visitation on the right wall of the chapel seems to belong to the late
Gothic period, at least in the lower part, whereas above the visible "cut"
the architectonic grouping is dominated by a humanistic setting and strikingly
renaissance schemes. In the Dormitio only the Apostles on the right belong
to the Gothic decoration while the other Apostles, the Virgin and the
architecture are configured in the most typical language of Andrea del
Castagno: this may be seen not only in the expressionism of the faces
and the plastic modelling of the figures wrapped in swollen drapery and
with cutting profiles, but also in the red Thessaly marble slabs covering
the pillars of the immense and spacious arch of "classical" taste that
acts as background to the figures of the Apostles who are rigorously detached
from it.
The Zen Chapel
Entry to the Zen Chapel is from the Baptistery or the atrium where there
is a very fine bronze arched gate of antique execution (5th - 6th century),
brought to Venice from Constantinople.
This south-west corner was once the vestibule of the sea gate. When Cardinal
Giambattista Zen died in 1501 the Lords agreed that a funerary chapel
be built in his honour.
The 13th century vault mosaics and the older ones above the portal document
the original function of an important entrance. The vault has two orders
with 12 scenes of Events in the Life of St. Mark. In the semi-dome above
the portal is the Virgin with Child between Two Angels in veneration.
This mosaic was completely redone in the 19th century on the old Byzantine
traces. Farther down there are eight prophets, four beautiful marble sculptures
and four mosaics.
The Chapel of St. Isadore
The remains of this Greek saint were brought to Venice from Chios in
1125 at the behest of the doge Domenico Michiel whose devotion to him
recalls his devotion to St. Mark. The small chapel dedicated to the saint
is accessed from the north transept. These mosaics are an important cycle
of Venetian art that has come down to us almost immune to restoration.
In the simplicity of execution there is a notable narrative expression
full of the character proper to the Venetian school of painting.
The vault mosaics narrate, in two orders one above the other, episodes
from the life of St. Isadore on the Island of Chios and the transportation
of the saint's body to Venice.
On the lunette above the altar: Christ between St. Mark and St. Isadore;
on that of the opposite wall the Virgin between St. John The Baptist and
St. Nicholas.
The two lunette mosaics are linked more to the Byzantine iconographic
tradition, whereas the realistic narrations of the stories of St. Isadore
were more open to western influences.
These very precious mosaics date to the mid 14th century when the doge
Andrea Dandolo wanted to create, together with the Baptistery, this chapel
in the saint's honour.
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