Description
Wall sconce from the Falier collection handcrafted by Murano masters, rediscovering the history of the Venetian traditions of glass art with the precision and attention to detail that sets us apart.
Each wall sconce is shipped with included replacement parts and assembly instructions for quick and easy assembly.
Delivery is in 30-40 days by 100% insured express courier.
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The Doge Marin Falier
As for damnatio memoriae, the Venetians of the 1300s were certainly not second to the ancient Romans. After carrying out the death sentence on Doge Marin Falier, the Council of Ten ordered that the bell rung to announce to the citizenry that justice had been done be stripped of its clapper and never used again. In short, not even a din-don-dan had to remember that traitor Falier.
Marin Falier no longer has a face, but in return he will become one of the best-known doges of the Venetian Republic, despite the doggedness of the Council of Ten. For the events of the traitorous doge have spanned the centuries and inspired various artists of the 1800s: the romantic Lord Byron dedicated a tragedy to him, Gaetano Doninzetti an opera (both pro-Falier), while a few painters depicted his beheading.
What had Marin Falier – the only doge in the history of the Venetian Republic to be executed – done that was so serious as to merit a death sentence and damnatio memoriae?
In 1355 he hatched a conspiracy (or otherwise participated) to overthrow the Republic and become “lord” of Venice. What is still causing discussion after so many centuries is the motivation: what could have prompted the incumbent doge, a person of great personal and family prestige, extremely wealthy and advanced in years, to get involved in such an affair? Personal reasons apparently, insulting phrases addressed by some boys of the nobility to the Dogaressa, the beautiful young Alcuina Gradenigo.
During a ball at the Ducal Palace, some aristocratic scions misbehave and are turned away. The boys do not digest this and so, just for fun, they write some appreciation of the Doge’s wife. Ragazzas, for which the perpetrators are sentenced to very light penalties. The leader of the small group, Michele Steno (future doge) got off with ten days in jail (one month according to some sources), and perhaps a few lashes.
Is the honor of the Doge worth so little? He doesn’t think so, and so he hatched the conspiracy that was supposed to make him “Mr. Wand,” the master of the city, with the not inconsiderable advantage of securing his family’s rule over Venice.
This is a far more plausible motive: power for himself and his descendants, in this case his grandson Fantino.
The historical context of those years justifies the latter hypothesis. In the rest of Italy many municipalities became seignories, while the Republic of Venice suffered conflict with rival Genoa for years. The defeats suffered during the war caused economic instability and sank trade, the city’s main resource. So here Falier rides the wave of popular discontent, particularly that of the wealthy bourgeoisie, and hatches a conspiracy that plans to get rid of the incapable Venetian aristocracy. Get rid of in the bloodiest sense of the word: on the night of April 15, the conspirators allegedly killed all the members of the aristocracy lured to St. Mark’s Square by the tolling of the bell, rung by the Doge himself with false news of an attack by the Genoese.
Nobles who remained in their homes would be tracked down and killed soon after.
