VENER. 49 VENETIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. by two outjutting peninsulas. Its greatest length from northeast to southwest is 90 miles, its great- est breadth 45 miles, and its area 2309 square miles. Its greatest depth is 295 feet. The coasts are irregular, in the north high, steep and rocky, or forcst-covcred, and the lake contains a number of islands, which are chielly grouped between the two peninsulas. Lake Vcner is fed by several streams of considerable size, the largest being the Klar Elf, the upper course of the GiJta Elf (q.v.). Its outlet to the southwest is the lower Gota Elf, discharging into the Cattcgat. The lake is an important aveiuu' of commerce. It is connected by the Giita Canal with Lake Vetter, and thence with the lialtic Sea on the east, while access through the TiJita Elf is afforded by a canal around the Trollhiitta Rapids. Another canal connects the lake with Frederikshald in Norway. VENEREAL DISEASE. See Gonorbhosa; Sypiiius. VENESECTION (from Lat. vena, blood- vessel -f- sectio. a cutting, from secare, to cut), PiiLEnoTOMY, Blooiii.ettino, Or Bleeding. An incision into a vein, for the abstraction of blood. Although the operation may be performed on many of the superficial veins, it is usually re- stricted to the median basilic vein at the bend of the elbow. The patient being placed in a sitting position, a bandage must be tied .suffi- ciently tight around the middle of the arm to arrest the venous circulation without materially affecting the pulse at the wrist. The forearm having been allowed to hang down till the veins are tense, the operator must make his selection, and taking the blade of the lancet between the forefinger and tlmmb of the right hand, should fix the vein by pressing his left thumb upon it just below the part he is about to open. He should then steadily intrcKluce the point of the lancet obliquely until the interior of the vessel is reached, and the blood is seen rising. Without penetrating deeper, he should thrust the instru- ment forw'ard, so as to open the vein longitudi- nally to a sufficient extent. On removing the thumb, the blood should emerge in a full jet. When a sufficient quantity of blood has been ab- stracted, the thumb of the left hand should be placed on the woimd, and the bandage loosened; a small pad of gauze should then be placed over the orifice, the surrounding parts should be cleaned of blood, and the pad of gauze compressed against the arm by the tape or narrow bandage, applied in the figure-of-eight form, with the crossing of the tape lying on the pad. After the operation the arm should be carried in a sling for a day or two. These are the details of venesection as ex- tensively practiced everywhere up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The operation is now practicall}' obsolete, though there has been a ten- dency to revive its application in a few diseases and conditions. VENETIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING. One of the most in]|)iirt;nit and certainly tlic most widely appreciated of the Italian schools. Its chief note is color. Bright without being gaudy, always harmonious, and with full allowance for all the subtle effects of light and shade, Venetian color has never been surpassed. All other qualities, such as form, ideas, illustration, were subordi- nated. The Venetian dealt with the beautiful only as it appealed to the eye, with the fullness of material life, with ])urely jiictorial effects. He tended to avoid dranuitic action and to por- tray restful subjects, fraught with the joy of living. Even his religious subjects were worldly, the figures being Venetian noblemen and women. He especially delighted in the pageantry of the powerful Venetian State and in mythological rep- resentations. He also brought the landscape, though used primarily as a background, to high perfection. The color note in Venetian painting is chiefly due to its Bj'zantine origin, and was promoted by the gorgeous play of natural color in the island city, l-'ntil far into the fifteenth century the Byzantine style of painting with gold back- grounds and stiff hieratic figures i)revailed in Venice. The first painters to show emancipation from this maimer lived on the outlying island of Murano. The earliest representative of this school was Antonio da Murano (c.1435), who worked in common with a German, .Johannes Alemannus. A greater influence than the Ger- man was e.xercised by the ITmljrian painter Gentile da Fabriano upon ilurano and its eliief representatives, the Vivarini J'amily. The most prominent figures in early Venetian art belonged to the Bellini family, .Jacopo (d.147'0), a pupil of Gentile da Fabriano, his sons Gentile and especially Giovanni (d.lolO). through whom the Paduan infiuence came to Venice. Adopting the oil technique, introduced by Antonello da iles- sina, (iiovanni Bellini laid the foundation of the greatness of the Venetian school. Of his pupils, tiiorgione (d. loll ) evolved the High Renaissance in Venice, and Titian brought it to its most per- fect development. Other important pupils of Bellini were C'iraa da Conegliano, Marco Basaiti, and Vincenzo Catena, who may all be classed with the Early Renaissance, and Palma Vecchio; Lorenzo Lotto was influenced by him. Among (iiorgione's many pupils was Sebastiano del Piombo, among Titian's Paris Bordone. among Palma's Bonifazio Veronese and Rocco Marconi. .Jacopo Bassano (d.l591), a pupil of Bonifazio. developed genre and landscape to a high per- fection. The Renaissance lasted longer in Venice than elsewhere. During the second half of the fif- teenth century it produced, besides some of those mentioned above, such artists as Tintoretto, the dramatic talent of the school, and Veronese, the principal decorator. Even in the declining Re- naissance its artists like Padovanino and Palma Giovane were better than those elsewhere, and during the eighteenth century Venice produced good painters of its own life and scenery in Longhi, Canaletto, and Guardi, and one master of the first ranlv in Tiepolo. Its influence extended to Venetian possessions on the mainland, where in the sixteenth century appeared men like Por- denone, and helped to form the schools of Brescia and Vicenza. It twice exercised determinative influence upon Spanish painting, upon the Flem- ish through Rul^ens in the seventeenth, and upon the English through Reynolds in the eighteenth. For a more detailed account of the history see Painting, .section on TIic Iieiiaiss(i)icc : see also the names of the individual artists mentioned. Consult: Berenson, Venetian Painters of the Renaissance (New York. 1894); Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Northen
