Entrance Ticket to the Scuola di San Rocco. October 2000. [Scan by Aloysius Tay Wee Kok.] This splendid ticket, which depcits San Rocco, suggests the gap between Ruskin's Venice and Venice of today — and for once the beginning of the twenty-first century doesn't look all that bad in comparison to Venice of the 1840s or 1870s.
When Ruskin first visited the Scuola, it was virtually in ruins, unlit, and not open to the general public. Today, more than a century after the beginning of the museum movement, which made works of art available to the general public, the building is appreciated by the Venetian authorities — as it clearly wasn't in Ruskin's time. In the past few years, the Scuola has seen a wonderful restoration, which reveals the magnificent carved wooden walls, and Tintoretto's magnificent series of paintings are finally visible.
Last modified October 2000