On 24th January 2002 the Venetian Local Government, Comune di Venezia, bought a statue of Napoleon at the New York branch of the auction-house Sotheby’s for 353,750 Euros, a price nearly triple its initial value (US$ 120.000 to 160.000); the funds came from a Venetian bank, Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, and from the French Committee for the Protection of Venice. The intention is to bring the statue to the Correr Museum at Saint Mark’s in order to venerate this person as if he were the most representative of Venetian history. The work is in marble, in “Roman style”, and hardly bears a likeness to the Corsican dictator. It is presumed to be the work of the Veronese artist Domenico Banti, who can just about be considered as a minor sculptor of the beginning of the nineteenth century. The statue was exhibited in 1811 in Piazzetta S. Marco, in front of the Doge’s Palace, in order to further humiliate the already tormented city and in contempt of the tradition according to which that space always remained inviolate. At the end of the Italic reign of Napoleon (1806-1814) the Austrians returned to occupy Venice and ordered the removal of the monument. According to the account of Emanuele Cicogna in his handwritten Diarii, however, the fury of the Venetians was unleashed, for they had never in all their history known a tyrannical government: the railings were uprooted, all of the Napoleonic coats-of-arms were removed and a group of policemen protected by the canons of the French Admiral Duperne had to escort the statue under cover of darkness to the nearby island of S. Giorgio... Subsequently the monument gradually fell into oblivion.
In 1793, at the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars, the Venetian Republic had decided on a strategy of total neutrality. After a short time the fighting advanced into the Po valley and the Austrian and French armies started performing manoeuvres on the boundaries of Venetian lands; the Venetian authorities protested at an international level, but did not respond with any act of hostility. In 1796 Bonapart won several battles in Lombardy (Montenotte, Millesimo, Lodi), and the Austrians were granted permission by the Venetians to retreat through Veronese territory: taking advantage of this pretext, Napoleon directly occupied the fortress of Peschiera and besieged Verona. Following the incursion of French troups into Venetian territory, the Venetian parliament (Maggior Consiglio) as well as the Doge abdicated on the 12th May 1797 in favour of a citizens’ government favoured by the French: this was the condition imposed by them if the city were to be saved from destruction and retain a minimum of autonomy. This was only the first of many deceptions: in fact on the 17th April of the same year, the preliminary Franco – Austrian accord, which had been ratified in great secret in the castle of Leuben (Graz), had already provided for the cessation of Venice to Austria (this accordingly took place only a few months later, following the treaty of Campoformido). But in 1806 new military victories enabled France to take charge once again of the lagoon city. During the much-hated French dominion the following items were in one way or another plundered or destroyed: at least thirty thousand works of art originating from churches, convents, schools of arts and crafts, and headquarters of the Venetian magistrature; twenty five thousand pictures, amongst which masterpieces such as entire cycles of works by Carpaccio, Tiziano, Veronese, Pordenone, Mantegna and others; an incalculable number of wood and stone sculptures, amongst which that of Saint Mark; works of art in gold and silver; furnishings, altars, ornaments, decorated well fittings... The greater part of the Treasure of Saint Mark - sacred to Venetians - was melted down to pay a colossal war indemnity for a war which Venice in fact never either declared or fought; the Doge’s coats of arms and the Golden Book of the Elders of the Venetian Republic (Patrizi) were burned in Saint Mark’s Square; so were the wooden pews and rostrums which had been constructed for the Doge and the Magistrates in the chambers of the Doge’s Palace; also thousands of ancient manuscripts, early printed books and other printed documents, books of paintings, drawings, musical manuscripts; and some extremely rare codices originating from the library of Saint Mark’s, from private Venetian collections or from monasteries; and candlesticks, spears, staffs, lamps, crucifixes, basins, all of gold and silver; pearls, diamonds and other precious stones; and very large numbers of relics and reliquaries of Saints. Statues with the lion of Saint Mark were destroyed in nearly all Venetian towns. The Bucintoro – the ceremonial ship representing the Venetian State, which was decorated with allegorical figures – was first hacked to pieces then burned in order to melt down the parts that were made of gold.
Furthermore the city experienced radical changes in urban planning and architecture, such as: the demolition of seventy churches and over sixty other buildings, amongst which the grain storage warehouses (Magazzini di Frumento), in order to create the “Royal Gardens” (giardini reali); the demolition of the Church of S. Giminiano by Sansovino, situated in Saint Mark’s Square, and of the adjacent parts of the Procuratie Vecchie e Nuove, in order to construct the “Napoleonic Wing” (ala napoleonica); radical changes to the Scuola Grande della Carita and of the monastery within in order to convert these buildings into the Academy of Fine Art (Accademia di Belle Arti) and its picture galleries; the alteration of the entire neighbourhood of Castello following the demolition of three churches, a monastery and other buildings so as to make way for the “public gardens” (giardini pubblici); the covering up of the waterway Rio di S. Anna in order to create the “Via Eugenia”, which was to bring an end to the insularity of Venice by linking her to the mainland through the Isola di S. Erasmo and the Cavallino coast; the profanation and transformation of numerous places of worship into barracks, gunpowder magazines and pill-boxes; the transformation into barracks of the following islands: S. Francesco del Deserto, S. Secondo, S. Spirito, S. Giorgio in Alga, Lazzareti Vecchio e Nuovo, Le Grazie, S. Andrea, S. Giacomo in Paluo; the destruction of most of the houses of Malamocco and the Lido in order to increase visibility for the cannons at the Lido fort; drainage of the lagoon and transformation of the island of S. Cristoforo into a cemetery; the theft of the symbols of the Venetian people, namely the horses and the lion of Saint Mark, the latter taken from the column of Saint Mark. Remaining churches and belfries were robbed of everything including fixtures in copper and lead.
The arsenal was meticulously devastated, along with three hundred warships with their weaponry, fixtures and canons - many of which were genuine works of military art – together with naval equipment of all kind and the treasures brought back from many glorious naval victories. The fleet of the merchant navy was destroyed. The taxes imposed by the French in the social and economic sectors caused ruin and irreversible damage. Let us remember in this context: the suppression of over four hundred schools of arts and crafts and about fifty monasteries and the cruel taxation on milling and grinding: taxes were so high that dozens of residences were brought to the ground by their owners who were no longer able to honour the new duties. Also, the confiscation of the currency deposits belonging to the State and to its citizens, and of the contents of the public mint, following the suppression the State bank (Banco Giro); and the claiming of forty million lire in gold coins. Commerce was reduced to a standstill on account of the continental blockade and even primary foodstuffs came to be lacking. The last items of Venetian wealth were extorted by force from their owners in order to pay for the enormous costs of the war waged by France against the whole of Europe (5 million dead). Mandatory military conscription was introduced, as was the death penalty for anyone who shouted “long live Saint Mark” or distributed anti-government literature or spoke in a critical way about the French... At the end of the Napoleonic era, the number of poor people rose above 44,000 in Venice alone; the total number of inhabitants, which in 1797 had been 141,000, declined to 100,000; one of the richest states in the world was in ruins. Alvise Zorzi writes: “The second French domination left Venice in such a condition that she would never make a full recovery”. Almost as if wanting to cancel its history, the entire archive of the Venetian State was packed up and transported to France.
Such plunder cannot be explained in terms of war reparations, given that – as already indicated – the Venetian Republic was not involved at all in fighting: in fact the Doge with the High Council (Maggior Consiglio) had changed the constitution in order to safeguard the property of the State and the physical integrity of its citizens. This had been a rather distressing decision for a people who had always been used to placing honour over and above their own life; it was explicable only in terms of a sudden consciousness that a glorious era had come to an end and that another era was about to begin: one in which the Venetian tradition, linked to ideals of peace and human values, might hopefully have found a new lease of life.
Associazione “Europa Veneta”
Calle de la Racchetta, 3774
Cannaregio - 30121 Venezia