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Entering the Basilica
After the preparation and the expectations created by the atrium mosaics,
entering the church is a symbolic arrival in the 'promised land' of Abraham
and the ancient patriarchs.
Around the portal in niches of various sizes are the mosaic figures of
the Virgin and Child between eight apostles (upper register) and the 4
evangelists (lower register). These are part of the oldest mosaics, dating
perhaps to the late 11th century when the great portal was the external
entrance to the church, before the atrium was built. They are held to
be the work of the "Greek" mosaicists recorded in ancient Venetian chronicles,
a term that referred generically to those originating from the Byzantine
area.
On crossing the portal and entering the sacred space of the basilica,
the most striking aspect is certainly the golden mosaics covering the
upper part of the architecture: this is due to the unity they give to
the interior and to their oriental reference to the symbolic meaning of
gold, the colour of the Divine.
The lunette above the main door immediately suggests a further and more
precise interpretative key to this space.
The three figures recall the classical plan of a Deesis, the prayer of
intercession which, in eastern iconography, depicts Christ Pantocrator
between the Virgin Mother and John the Baptist, humanity's two greatest
intercessors. Here the Deesis is freely interpreted: the Baptist is replaced
by St. Mark, patron of the church and city. The words from chapter 10
of the Gospel of St. John in the book held open by Jesus: "Ego sum ostium
per me si quis introierit salvabitur et pasqua inveniet - I am the gate
- whomsoever enters through me shall attain the pastures of salvation
", leads us to the recovery of forgotten meanings and values: the actual
"gate" that leads to salvation is Christ himself, his Word communicated
to us by means of his life.
The overall mosaics of the cupolas, the vaults and the walls should be read
precisely as an illuminated manuscript of the gospel. The central nucleus,
which tells the story of Christian salvation, ranges from Messianic prophecies
to the second coming - Christ the Judge at the end of the world - and
its focal points are in the three domes of the nave.
The orientation of the basilica, with the presbytery facing East and the
main door to the West in accordance with tradition, indicates the axis,
the course of the sun along which the main nucleus of ancient mosaics
should be followed. This itinerary allows us to read the story of salvation
brought to man by Jesus, a sun that never sets.
The Cupola of the Prophets
The story of salvation begins in the cupola of the Prophets with announcement
of the Messiah by the prophets who, around the Virgin, display their prophecies.
On the apse bowl-vault the great Christ Pantocrator, lord of the universe,
is a 1506 reworking of the original Byzantine type image by a renaissance
master mosaicist.
The Pantocrator, from the apse bowl-vault, sends his Son into the world.
He appears at the centre of the cupola amid myriads of stars with the
scroll of the laws in his hands. In the concave interior, the Virgin and
prophets. At the bottom the Virgin, in sumptuous oriental garments and
her hands outstretched while awaiting the Word to descend upon her from
the centre of the cupola is aligned with the thirteen prophets Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, Obadiah, Habakkuk Hosea, Jonah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi, Solomon and David. Each one bears a scroll alluding to the Incarnation
and Resurrection of Christ and to the Last Judgement. In a central position
and in an attitude of prayer Isaiah, pointing at the beardless youth in
the middle of the cupola, pronounces the words: "Behold, the Virgin shall
conceive and give birth to a son who shall be called Emanuel, God with
us" and David, head of the royal dynasty of Israel, dressed in the sumptuous
garments of the Byzantine emperor, proclaims the royal nature of the child
to be born to her: "the fruit of your loins shall I place on my throne
".
At the base of the cupola on the four spandrels beneath are the symbols
of the four Evangelists: the lion (St. Mark), the ox (St. Luke), the angel
(St. Matthew) and the eagle (St. John).
The meaning of their presence is made clear by the accompanying inscription
("what was said of Christ through obscure allusions (by the prophets)
was to be made clear by the Evangelists, and through them God made himself
known to humanity ")
The same iconographic theme of the presbytery is repeated on the walls
of the nave: ten mosaics set in precious marbles, splendid 13th century
creations. On the right wall the "pinakes" portray the Virgin and on the
left Christ Emanuel, surrounded respectively by four prophets. If the
linearity and thrust of the individual figures are still lacking there
is a new aspect in the plastic significance taken on by the individual
personages due precisely to the line and draping of their clothes which
instead of dematerialising their volumes actually exploit them.
A logical and liturgical succession is seen in the Epiphany cycle on
the arch above the iconostasis, functioning as a link between the presbytery
and the central Ascension dome.
Here prophecies begin to come true with scenes illustrating the Angel's
Annunciation to Mary, the Adoration of the Magi. The Presentation at the
Temple, the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan and the Transfiguration.
These mosaics were redone to cartoons by Jacopo Tintoretto at the end
of the 16th century. There is another mediaeval version of the Baptism
of Jesus in the baptistery, reminiscent of the great richness of Byzantine
icon modules .
The Transept
On the walls and vaults of the two transepts there are numerous images
of Christ's actions in comforting the sick, the suffering and sinners.
The gospel stories of Christ regarding the Sundays after Epiphany are
more or less complete in the mosaics at the two sides of the north transept:
The Marriage in Cana, The Profaners of the Temple, The Ten Lepers, Christ
and the Adulteress, The Storm Calmed, The Lame Man Healed at the Sacrificial
Pool, The Centurion Before Christ, The Woman Touching the Hem of His Garment,
The Healing of the Dropsical Man, The Healing of the Leper, The Miraculous
Catch of Fish in the Lake of Genezareth, The Resurrection of Nain's Widow's
Son, Christ and the Canaanite Woman. On the sides of the south (or left)
transept, there are the Multiplying of the Loaves, Christ and the Samaritan
Woman at the Well, Christ Healing the Man Blind from Birth, Christ and
Zaccheus, Christ Healing the Lame Man on his Bed, St. Peter Walking on
the Water, The Second Multiplying of the Loaves, Christ Healing Peter's
Mother-in-Law, Christ Transferring Demons to the Gadarene Swine, Christ
Healing the Hunchbacked Woman.
Many of these scenes were redone in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Continuing to the central cupola there are the concluding events of the
life of Christ with the rites of Holy Week on the south vault: the Temptations
of Christ, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper (mosaics dating to
the first half of the 12th century and among the best preserved) and the
Washing of Feet. On the west vault there are Judas' Kiss and the Verdict
of Pilate, the Crucifixion, the Women at the Sepulchre, the Descent into
Limbo, the Meeting with the Women and the Meeting with Thomas.
On the wall of the right aisle there is a great panel of the Prayer in
the Garden of Olives. It is a 13th century addition and one of the masterpieces
of the entire mosaic complex. The hands of three masters are recognisable.
To each is attributed one of the three scenes, dominated by a rocky landscape
featuring flowers and trees of extraordinary beauty, narrating Christ's
painful and solitary prayer while the indifference of his friends is expressed
in the sleeping group to the left.
The Ascension Cupola
In the centre of the basilica, at the intersection with the transept,
the dome celebrates the concluding mystery of the life of Jesus: his Ascension
to heaven.
The decoration of the Ascension cupola, dating to the second half of the
12th century, is the mosaic masterpiece of St. Mark's and the heart of
the church's spiritual message. It is considered to be the best mosaic
expression in the whole church for structure, quality and preservation.
In the starry circle of the centre Christ, seated on a rainbow, is drawn
heavenwards by four flying angels. Below, in a great concentric circle,
the Virgin between two angels and the 12 apostles are gazing upwards,
alternated by plants of various forms and sizes, suggesting the messianic
environment of the mount of olives where Luke situates the episode of
the Ascension. Farther below, between the windows, there are sixteen female
figures in a dancing sequence personifying the Virtues and Beatitudes:
Hope, Faith, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, Humility, Gentleness,
Contrition, Abstinence, Mercy, Patience, Chastity, Modesty, Constancy
and Charity, this last crowned and in royal garments, "mother of all the
virtues" as suggested by the inscription surrounding her.
Here we have the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity),
the four moral virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance) and
then another nine virtues that are an integral part, in accordance with
the mediaeval concept, of the four moral virtues. If the Ascension scene
has an illustrious Byzantine precedent in the cupola of St. Sophia's in
Salonika (11th century) the setting of the sixteen Virtues is absolutely
Venetian.
On the spandrels the four Evangelists are writing the beginning of their
Gospels: each one is schematised from the side in his study and the four
symbols already seen in the presbytery cupola spandrels are lacking. The
two cupolas are correlated inasmuch as in the presbytery the Evangelists
merely outline salvation whereas in the Ascension cupola it is openly
manifested. Each Evangelist holds his own Gospel open at the first words.
Beneath, the four biblical rivers - Gihon, Pison, Tigris, Euphrates -
pour their waters on the community of the faithful, here too with clear
baptismal symbology.
The Greek master who, with his assistants, created this cycle has been
defined as the "agitato style" master. There could be no more suitable
definition of this mosaicist who, in the creation of these scenes of the
Death, Resurrection and Ascent, expresses all the dramatic tension and
renewal of humanity and the universe. He manipulates the line in a myriad
of curves that delineate the faces and create highly complicated folds
that wind in broad spirals, spreading out into elegant fan-shaped drapery
and extending in an extremely harmonious fluttering that recalls Hellenic
solutions.
The colours used are the most precious, all obtained by mixing the vitreous
paste with lapis lazuli, copper, gold, silver or iron; and when the chromatic
element and the luminosity of the enamels were not enough to render immaterial
and transfigure an image, highlighting was carried out with gold, silver
and whites. While the human faces of the apostles are highlighted in black,
those of Christ, the Virgin and the angels have bright highlighting that
gives the impression of a divine light emanating from the faces themselves.
The Pentecost Cupola
The next cupola, the Pentecost, celebrates and glorifies the descent
of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. On the two vaults at the
sides, the martyrdoms of the apostles: the one on the right is still intact
in the mediaeval version while the one on the left was redone during the
17th century. These and other replacements were made necessary by the
mosaics falling off as a result of various causes documented in ancient
chronicles (dampness, fires, earthquakes).
While the setting of the Ascension cupola resolves into a unity of motifs
converging towards Christ who rises to heaven at the peak, the Pentecost
cupola is resolved in an emanation of twelve rays of silver light from
the dove of the Holy Spirit above the throne. The rays fall in the form
of a red flame on the heads of the twelve apostles who are seated on chairs.
Between the sixteen windows below are depictions of the peoples among
whom the apostles, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, spread the word of
Christ.
On the four spandrels beneath the cupola there are four angels of unparalleled
beauty: the elegance of their highly stylised forms, created by a complex
play of lines, and their chromatic delicacy, are typical features of the
most refined Greek masters.
The apostles stand out for their monumentality, for the expressionism
of their faces (accentuated by the play of lines already noted in the
presbytery cupola prophets and the central cupola apostles), for the variants
of their positions on the thrones, for the decorative richness of the
drapery and for the alternation of colours on their tunics and cloaks
.
The Pentecost, which with the descent of the Holy Spirit completes the
Trinity after the Father (Prophets) and Son (Ascension), is the masterpiece
of another great artist working in St. Mark's in the fourth and fifth
decades of the 12th century. Notwithstanding the 15th and 19th century
restorations the beauty of this cycle remains unaltered in the preciousness
of its mosaic materials (gold, silver, and masterfully cut and laid stone
tesserae) and in the originality of its compositional layout which is
absolutely coherent with that of the other two: in the first, the prophets
awaiting the advent of the Son; in the second the convergent motion of
the apostles towards Christ ascending at the peak, and then the motion
outwards from the centre in which the Holy Spirit radiates its light on
the apostles.
Absolute iconographic and compositional unity then, over a space of time
estimable at three to, at the most, four decades for completion of a grandiose
programme, fruit of cooperation between three main masters - with the
collaboration of a highly skilled team - who developed different aspects
of their Greco-Byzantine culture in accordance with the opportunity presented
by the iconographic theme to which they had to give representational form.
The Ascension offered a springboard for the display of special skill in
giving movement to the figures, all of them outstretched and almost levitating
towards Christ ascending to heaven. The Pentecost gave the chance to create
light effects (silver rays on a gold background) of great impact and preciousness,
while the awaiting of the Son was an opportunity to create figures in
all their majestic prophetic intelligence.
The 12th century mosaicists were Greek, but in the 13th there was collaboration
between Constantinople masters and those who had been trained in Venice.
The Venetian conquest of Constantinople with the Crusades in 1204 meant
that the Lords had to bring the splendour of the ducal chapel into line
with the new role of ruler of a quarter and a half of the Empire .
The
Apocalypse and Last Judgement Vault
Above the entrance the Apocalypse and Last Judgement vaults, the latter
also visible from the atrium through the "well" opening, with renaissance
mosaics largely redone in the 19th century, represent the point of arrival
of the spiritual message contained in the mosaics with scenes from John's
apocalyptic visions and with the Last Judgement.
The two vaults, together with other zones, were subject to considerable
structural intervention involving difficult restoration work that continued
over almost a century, from the first half of the 19th to the 30's of
the 20th .
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