BON, Giovanni
(b. ca. 1355, Bergamo, d. ca. 1443, Venezia)

Porta della Carta

1438-42
Istrian stone, marble, gilding and paint
Palazzo Ducale, Venice

The Porta della Carta with its crowning figure of Justice is the entrance to the court of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. It was executed by Bartolomeo and Giovanni Bon.

The Porta has a simple and effective iconographic program, with the statue of Justice at the apex. Four other virtues - Fortitude, Temperance, Charity, and Prudence - occupy the niches at either side, a bust of St Mark occupies the roundel in the tympanum, and a portrait of Doge Foscari, removed in the Napoleonic period and now replaced by a replica, kneels before the lion of St Mark over the door. The window traceries are as ornate as any to be seen in Venice.