Introduction

The Story of the Dogaressas of Venice,—the Wives of the Doges,—has not hitherto been told in English; but when my many appreciative readers have finished this volume, I am confident they will agree with me that there is much that is very interesting and unique in my narrative.

The influence of good women upon the well-being of Society is undeniable: that eloquent French mot:—“Cherchez la Femme,” has a subtle and impressive meaning. In the election of a Doge of the Most Serene Republic of Venice the personality of his spouse had often as not considerable weight in the decision of the Lords of the Council. My long list of the Ducal wearers of the lesser Corno contains the name of not one who failed to play her magnificent rôle with infinite credit to herself and with conspicuous benefit to the State.

In the compilation of my “Libro d’Oro delle Dogaresse di Venezia,” I have found “La Storia di Venezia” and “La Dogaressa di Venezia,”—the remarkably able works of Signore Pompeo Giovanni Molmenti,—of the greatest service, and I now beg to offer that erudite writer, if he is still alive, my heartiest acknowledgments. Mr W. C. Hazlett’s “Venetian Republic,”—out and away the best English history of Venice,—has been invaluable.

The “Roll” of the Most Serene Dogaressas is unique,—such a complete list has never been published,—it will therefore be exceedingly useful to students of history and lovers of romance.

With respect to illustrations it will be at once remarked how few portraits of Dogaressas I offer. The fact is that Venetian painters, great or small, painted fewer than a dozen of the noble First Ladies of Venice. This is perhaps what might have been expected. Venetian painters excelled all others in the delineation of youthful female beauty,—they were the first to paint “Venus Calva,”—but the middle-aged and the aged did not appeal to them. No, the Dogaressas have nothing for which to thank painters, sculptors, or engravers: such artists were directly under the patronage of the Doges not of their Consorts.

Women of every age and clime care very little about the Fine Arts, so called, they are themselves the finest of the Fine Arts, and their sympathy goes out rather to the artistic Crafts, in search of objects to add, if may be, to their own charms and attractiveness. In Venice the “Fragilie,” or Trade-Guilds, were directly under the patronage of the Dogaressas, and we shall find their personal attributes in the beautiful and fragile glass of Murano, and the delicate and chaste point-lace of Burano, in the lovely and costly ornaments of the goldsmiths, in the superb brocades of silk and velvet and the splendid tissues of gold and silver of the costumiers, and in the endless fascinating adjuncts of the toilet and the table.

Many of my illustrations are characteristic scenes of Venetian life and special features of Venetian fashion, and I think they prove the truth of what Mr G. Howell in his “Familiar Letters” says of Venice:—“A place where is nothing wanting that heart can wish.”