Dear List Members,

I am looking for an image of the "Dogaressa" in the Valier Tomb d. 1656 in
San Giovanni e Paolo Venice. This is a Baroque sculpture that was discussed
by John Ruskin. This sculpture is also discussed in Tombs Of The Doges -
Venice (Originally Published 1900s) availabe online at URL:
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles07/venice-34.shtml. Ruskin scholar Paul
Sawyer has also discussed this image in Paul Sawyer, Ruskin's Poetic
Argument: The Design of the Major Works, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 1985, p. 121. This sculpture is discussed in John Ruskin's Stones of
Venice vol 3 (Complete Works 11, p. 113). The passage where this tomb is
discussed is as follows:

From before this rude and solemn sepulchre let us pass to the southern aisle
of the church of St. John and Paul; and there, towering from the pavement to
the vaulting of the church, behold a mass of marble, sixty or seventy feet
in height, of mingled yellow and white, the yellow carved into the form of
an enormous curtain, with ropes, fringes, and tassels, sustained by cherubs;
in front of which, in the now usual stage attitudes, advance the statues of
the Doge Bertuccio Valier, his son the Doge Silvester Valier, and his son's
wife, Elisabeth.1 The statues of the Doges, though mean and Polonius-like,
are partly redeemed by the Ducal robes; but that of the Dogaressa is a
consummation of grossness, vanity, and ugliness,‹the figure of a large and
wrinkled woman, with elaborate curls in stiff projection round her face,
covered from her shoulders to her feet with ruffs, furs, lace, jewels, and
embroidery...

Can someone provide some clues.

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Anu

--
Anuradha Chatterjee
Doctoral Candidate
Faculty of Built Environment,
University of New South Wales
AUSTRALIA
email: a.chatterjeestudent.unsw.edu.au