The decoration of the facades

The exterior of St. Mark’s Basilica is characterized at the top by the profile of raised domes, wooden structures covered with lead sheets, placed over the brick domes in the 13th century. The façades are crowned by Gothic cornices, featuring aedicules, statues, and floral decorations, created between the 14th and 15th centuries by Nicolò and Pietro Lamberti with other Tuscan artists.

The lower body of the basilica, initially intended to remain in exposed brick, was clad in marble along the sides, where the three façades open: north, west, and south. This occurred after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, thanks to the large quantity of precious oriental marbles, columns, capitals, and reliefs arriving from the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which inspired the Venetians to choose the exquisite cladding for the three façades. The three façades of St. Mark’s—north, west, and south—the apse on the east was incorporated into the Doge’s Palace—were conceived very differently in terms of their functions and therefore also in terms of their decoration.

The western façade is punctuated by four large 12th-century portals and the window of the Zen chapel; each of these has a corresponding lunette in the upper register. The most important is undoubtedly the main portal, a masterpiece of 13th-century sculpture. The marble facing is inset with several sculpted Byzantine slabs: Saint George and Saint Demetrius, the Annunciation, and the Labors of Hercules.

The southern façade once housed the “porta da mar,” a large portal that led directly from the pier to the western atrium. Since the 16th century, this opening has been closed by a marble transenna for the construction of the Zen chapel inside. The marble and column cladding, with numerous fragments of 13th-century decoration, also envelops the architecture of the Treasury, between the basilica and the Ducal Palace. Fixed to the corner is the porphyry sculpture of the Tetrarchs, while in front of the baptistery door are two richly decorated pillars known as Acritan but originally from Constantinople.

The northern façade overlooks the Piazzetta dei Leoncini, following the same layout as the other two. Although less richly decorated, it retains some beautiful 13th-century panels (Christ and the Four Evangelists) near the Porta dei Fiori, which is in turn surmounted by an elegant sculpture depicting the Nativity scene.

The northern façade, overlooking Piazzetta dei Leoncini, has an intimate and private character, in contrast to the official and representative role played by those facing the square and the sea.
In addition to the recent tomb of Daniele Manin (1875), which occupies the large niche at the head of the transept, and a three-light window opened in the fourteenth century in the arch to the right of the Porta dei Fiori, the plastic decoration has also been significantly enriched, clearly transforming the original programme.

The additions include, first of all, the beautiful 13th-century slabs depicting Christ and the Four Evangelists near the Flower Gate. The latter is surmounted by an elegant sculpture depicting the Nativity scene, bordered by two sub-arches sculpted with angels and prophets, and a procession of half-length figures including Christ, Mary, and saints, depicted individually or in groups of three, flanked by angels and crosses. The Gothic crowning continues at the top with floral decorations, figures of virtues, and church fathers.
The two icons sculpted for the altar of Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Leonard, placed in their current location only in the 17th century, should also be considered later additions. The large and clearly visible relief of Saint Christopher on the transept buttress, however, belongs to the original program.
Most of the sculptures consist of ornamental elements, ambo plutei, paterae, and other reliefs depicting animals, pieces arranged in a more or less decorative manner. In most cases, no attempt is made to give them a specific meaning; other icons instead acquire a new function as part of a program. Among these are: the Virgin in Prayer with Angels ; the full-length representations of the Evangelists John and Mark on the architrave of the Flower Gate, which in a certain sense constitute an external counterpart to the figures of “guardian” saints on the Gate of the Madonna, inside the atrium; and two Archangels with sword and spear. All these sculpted figures form a group of icons intended for prayer, which also includes the personification of Fortune in the eastern arch of the Flower Gate.

In addition to these icons and ornamental elements, which find a different location here than they were originally intended, the north façade features two iconographically coherent decorative complexes: the figurative program of the Flower Gate, and a sort of procession of half-length figures described above. All these figures were undoubtedly sculpted specifically for their current location.

The profile of the basilica’s facades is surrounded at the top by a veritable crown of white marble, which gives the building an airy and fragile late Gothic conclusion.
The Byzantine-style extrados vaults are framed by inflected arches (the resulting spandrels hold busts of saints), which on the outside feature large, jagged leaves blowing in the wind, alternating with busts of Prophets. At the top of each of these arches stands the statue of a saint venerated in Venice or the personification of a Virtue.

At the center of the main façade is a wider arch, surmounted by a more slender external profile. In the intermediate space, within a starry sky, is the Lion of Saint Mark, a 19th-century cast iron reproduction of the original destroyed in 1797. This more significant spire is surmounted by a statue of the evangelist to whom the church is dedicated, while six adoring angels with golden wings line its profile.
Between one arch and the next are tall Gothic aedicules (the one in the north-west corner, which also contains a bell, is dated 1384 and marks the beginning of the work on this part of the church). Each of the aedicules contains a statue: at the two ends of the west façade are the Announcing Angel and the Annunciation Virgin , repeating the arrangement of the relief slabs in the lower part of the façade, in allusion to the Venetian New Year and the mythical origin of the city on 25 March 421; in the four aedicules on the west façade are the four Evangelists; in those on the north side are the Fathers of the Church; and to the south are two saints (Anthony Abbot and Paul the Hermit).

Beneath the four central aedicules on the west side and those on the north side are robust human figures holding wineskins, confined within the narrow space of the niches carved into the spandrels: these are the so-called gargoyles or ‘gargoyles’, which once must have conveyed rainwater from the roofs behind them, evoking the concept of the Rivers of Paradise (four other Rivers, now reduced to two, were found in the lower, thirteenth-century part of the west façade). The high reliefs on the arch around the central window, behind the horses, also belong to the same phase: the intrados contains the four Patriarchs of the Old Testament and the four Evangelists within canopies, while on the front, events from the Old Testament are depicted within hexagonal panels alternating with racemes.

The bulk of the sculptural decoration – which also features Carrara marble – must have occurred in conjunction with the two documented supplies of marble from Lucca in 1414 and 1419, which also inform us of the names of the artists probably in charge of the undertaking, namely Paolo and Jacobello dalle Masegne in 1414 and Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti from Florence in 1419.

The statues in the aedicules date back to the first phase of the work—Venetian; the Saint Mark at the center of the west façade and, above all, the reliefs on the central arch, full of Ghiberti references, date back to the second—Tuscan—phase. Among the Tuscan sculptors who worked here was Nanni di Bartolo, to whom three of the gargoyles on the north façade have been attributed, while it cannot be confirmed that Jacopo della Quercia worked on them, as has been suggested.
Four figures of saints (Constantine, Demetrius, George, Theodosius) fallen in an earthquake in 1511 were replaced in 1618 by Giorgio Albanese.

The southern facade, which faces the sea, is rich in triumphal accents:

– the pillars called Acritan but coming from Constantinople;
– the porphyry group of the Tetrarchs;
– the Pietra del Bando, on which, according to ancient chronicles, the severed heads of the traitors of the Republic were placed, by order of the Serenissima, and remained there for three days and three nights, along with the trophies on the southern wall of the Treasury.

All this is destined to dazzle those arriving by sea, foreigners, and those returning from afar with the power and splendor of Venice. This façade, however, underwent far more profound transformations than the other two during the 14th century, when a section of the atrium was adapted as a baptistery, and finally at the beginning of the 16th century, when the southern atrium with the Porta da Mar was transformed into a sepulchral chapel for Cardinal Giovanni Battista Zen (Cappella Zen). The Porta da Mar , of which no images exist, allowed Venetians to reach the church from the southern end of the atrium directly from the sea, since the perimeter of the current Doge’s Palace was once surrounded by the waters of the lagoon via a wide canal.
The remaining elements of the ancient portal are two lions and four prophets, later placed in the Zen Chapel, and two griffins.

The arch of the late 13th-century portal is bordered by clusters of trees inhabited by the heads (protomes) of ten prophets and two holy bishops. The top of the arch is crowned by the figure of the Pantocrator. This mixture of prophets and saints is curious and virtually unheard of elsewhere. This juxtaposition can be considered specifically Venetian, as in Venice the veneration of prophets is equated with that of the saints of the Church. Today, however, interpreting the arch’s original message is difficult, as only four names (Moses, Simeon, Habakkuk, and Daniel) can be identified with certainty.

The Treasury complex constitutes a decorative unit in its own right, on whose southern façade numerous Byzantine reliefs have been placed, purely for ornamental purposes and without any iconographic significance; a later addition, from the 14th century, is the plinth of this façade with its zoophoric relief and the ‘Venetian’ inscription, which constitutes an absolute linguistic rarity.

The western façade is dominated by content, in accordance with the façade’s official function on the square, that is, as a frontispiece to the text which is extensively formulated in the mosaics inside.
A frontispiece that not only summarises the contents, but also establishes claims, invokes protection, insists on the possession of the relics of Saint Mark, speaks of triumph, dominion, and wealth, and admonishes the faithful to follow the ethical-religious virtues (personifications of the virtues) and the ideals and norms of civil coexistence (representations of the months and professions). The main and central depiction is that of the Last Judgement , whose terrible severity is mitigated by the reference to redemption in the Passion , Death , and Resurrection of Christ in the lunettes at the sides. The History of the Relics of Saint Mark , the Mysteries relating to the life of Christ , and the Last Judgement are depicted in mosaic; the other parts of the program consist of sculptural cycles.

The façade is divided into two orders by the terrace overlooking the copy of the quadriga of St. Mark, now preserved inside the Museum of San Marco.
In each of the two orders there are five large arches which in the lower part correspond to the four entrances to the atrium (starting from the left: Porta di Sant’Alipio, Porta di San Pietro, Portale Maggiore, Porta di San Clemente) and to the window of the Zen chapel.
The 13th-century marble paneling contains several sculpted Byzantine panels, which should be read as a pair on either side of the main portal, which features two warrior saints: Saint George and Saint Demetrius, defending against evil. The next panel on the right, depicting the Archangel Gabriel, is accompanied by that of the Virgin on the left to form the Annunciation, which alludes to the legendary founding of Venice on March 25, 421 (the day of the Annunciation).

Finally, the two panels depicting the Labors of Hercules at the ends of the façade are an example of how pagan themes transformed into Christian ones during the Middle Ages: the mythological tale of Hercules victorious over animal strength becomes an allegory of Christian salvation. Hercules with the Erymanthian Boar, the Angel Gabriel, and Saint Demetrius are Byzantine imports from the 5th, 12th, and 11th centuries, while the other reliefs are Venetian works from the 13th century.
The second group of works on the west façade is also specifically Venetian, consisting of the reliefs, half ornamental and half figurative, that frame the four side portals. Here, the bas-relief, which itself derives from Byzantine forms, is complemented by a gold mosaic background; however, the content of this decorative frame does not appear very significant, especially now that only a small portion of the texts on the scrolls of the Prophets are legible. In particular, the heads of the angels on the right portals appear as purely ornamental fillers.

As a separate nucleus, the sculptures of the three sub-arches surrounding the main portal should be considered, a masterpiece by 13th-century Venetian artists trained in the Byzantine school and gradually open to Western Po Valley-French influences.

This decoration preserves some remnants of a previous façade arrangement from the 11th or early 12th century, isolated pieces that seem almost lost or forgotten. Others, however, have acquired a new iconographic value, such as the sculptural group of the Dream of Saint Mark , which originally depicts Joseph’s dream on the eve of the flight into Egypt . It was moved to its current location at the end of the 19th century, thus acquiring a new and central significance, as a representation of the dream in which Saint Mark learns from an angel that Venice would one day welcome his relics.
In addition to the sculptural elements inherited from the older façade, we have the spolia pieces that were integrated into the thirteenth-century decorative program and which have blended so well with the sculpted works for the western façade that they almost no longer seem unrelated.
The ‘ornamental trophies’ constitute a small part of the sculptural decoration, among the most significant we find the porphyry head of a Byzantine emperor, later considered to be the head of Carmagnola.

The main portal of the basilica has a complex structure: it is made up of three arches, arranged in a staggered fashion, each decorated with bas-reliefs on the intrados and front.
Most recent scholarship believes the whole complex was designed at a single time and completed in a relatively short time: about a decade around the mid-13th century. Formal and stylistic discrepancies are attributable to the fact that multiple hands worked on the portal’s decoration.

Intrados of the first arch

The relief on the innermost intrados depicts two crouching figures, identifiable as Satan and Lust, a common pairing in Romanesque iconography. From them emerges a vine branch interspersed with a pomegranate, surrounding simple depictions: animals, battles, fables (the fox and the grapes), and Samson fighting the lion . In the archivolt of the first inner arch, we also see motifs of animal battles flanked by hunting scenes; in some cases, it is not even possible to determine the actions of the figures (children, men, women, a centaur), and therefore their meaning. Many figures simply bend, break, and tear the branches surrounding them. The Devil, Lust and the beasts allude to the evil that dominates the world. The archivolt exemplifies the vicious behaviors set in the ‘dark forest’ that for medieval man is life, both through the allegory of the hunt and through the representation of ignoble actions.

The months, the virtues and the beatitudes

The reliefs of the next arch depict allegories of the human and religious principles that govern the Christian world, on the intrados the allegories of the twelve months accompanied by the signs of the Zodiac, on the archivolt seventeen personifications of Virtues and Beatitudes.
The combination of images of the months and those of the signs of the Zodiac is widespread in both the East and the West. The iconography of the individual depictions—the typical activities of the various months of the year—presents more Byzantine than Western characteristics. Typically Byzantine are the images of March as an armed warrior and April as a shepherd with a lamb on his shoulders. Seen as a whole, the San Marco cycle is not identical to any other, nor can it be traced back to any other.
The cycle of Virtues and Beatitudes on the front of the arch is the work of various artists, as are all the subsequent sections of the portal. It is always noticeable how the reliefs on the lower two panels were entrusted to the most expert hands of the masters, while in the upper section, furthest from view, the quality declines due to intervention by the workshop. The model for the Virtues cycle is the mosaic in the central dome, dating to the late 12th century, where a theme of Western origin is translated into a vaguely Byzantine style; conversely, here the mosaic source is retranslated into a Western idiom.

Venetian crafts

The interior decoration of the third arch, which frames the mosaic of the Last Judgement, is the most Venetian of the entire decorative program of the façades of St. Mark’s. The liberal arts of French cathedrals have been replaced here by depictions of Venetian crafts.
In San Marco, the representations of the Trades constitute one of the main elements of the figurative decoration of the façade.
The connection between the depiction of the Last Judgement and the reliefs of the Trades that frame it remains rather vague, even if we were to interpret these realistic and entirely unallegorical images as examples of good conduct. In reality, they are more of an expression of civic pride and self-celebration by the Venetian people . Here, too, we find references to the mosaics in the atrium.

Compared to the vigorous realism of the Crafts cycle, the decoration of the archivolt of the same arch represents a clear drop in tone, not formally, but thematically. It consists of one of the many series of Prophets of San Marco (including the mosaics of the interior; there are nine series of Prophets). Here, however, the figures are almost suffocated by the voluminous foliage that frames them; furthermore, the total lack of inscriptions that were certainly once found on the cartouches makes it impossible to interpret the individual figures and their prophecies. It can, however, be assumed that the latter were related to the Last Judgement .

The work in which the virtuoso talent of the cathedral-level craftsmanship of San Marco reaches its pinnacle, the relief of the archivolt of the external arch of the portal, is also the one most damaged by atmospheric agents.

It’s difficult to distinguish the hands. However, it’s certain that, in addition to the Master of the Crafts, the Master of Hercules or one of his best collaborators was also active here: especially the physiognomies show close affinities with the works of his circle.
The Arch of the Prophets is the latest and most mature work among the sculptures on the west façade; it is purely Venetian art. One can at least assume with some certainty that this grandiose work was created relatively late, roughly between 1250 and 1275, but in any case very early compared to the striking modernity, for example, of the vine shoots twisting through the space. In these elements, the evolution of Venetian ornamental art seems to anticipate the advent of Flamboyant Gothic.

The shining gilded bronze quadriga arrived in Venice with the rich spoils of war collected by the Venetians, led by Doge Enrico Dandolo, after the conquest of Constantinople at the end of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, together with other priceless works, many of which are still preserved today in the Basilica’s Treasury.
The arrangement of the horses on the facade of the basilica probably took place under the doge Ranieri Zeno (1253-1268)

The mosaic that decorates the lunette on the portal of Sant’Alipio, dating back to around 1265, already shows us the horses hoisted on the façade in the position that they will maintain over the centuries and which will be celebrated in the images of many Venetian artists starting from the large canvas by Gentile Bellini with the solemn Procession in Piazza San Marco (1496).
Francesco Petrarca was the first to question their origins; however, it was only during the Renaissance that attempts were made to attribute a paternity to horses, linking them to the names of the great Greek sculptors, Phidias, Praxiteles, and finally Lysippus.

A more careful reading of the sources and the various aspects of the group occurred only in the 18th century, promoted primarily by G.G. Winckelmann, the founder of modern archaeology. It was also suggested that it may not be a Greek work, but a Roman one, and the dispute over this attribution continued into the 19th century and up to the present day.
In December 1797, for the first time in over five centuries, the four horses left the façade of San Marco at the behest of Napoleon, who had them moved to Paris. The quadriga, intended to decorate the crown of the Carrousel triumphal arch, underwent various additions. With the fall of Napoleon, Antonio Canova was entrusted with the recovery and transport of the stolen works to Italy.
On December 13, 1815, in the presence of Francis I of Austria, the new ruler of Venice, the horses were returned to the façade of St. Mark’s. The precious gilded bronze quadriga, the only surviving example from antiquity, had suffered considerable damage, so before being returned, it was taken to the Arsenal for restoration. Further work would be necessary in the years to come, and the quadriga was twice lowered from the St. Mark’s Arch to find a safe haven during the last two world wars.

Around the 1960s, the horses were subjected to a series of technical investigations by the Central Institute of Restoration, which confirmed their precarious condition. However, valuable data on the history and morphology of these sculptures was collected. However, it seemed essential for their future conservation to house the horses within the St. Mark’s Museum and to place copies outside on the arch.