Almighty, and abide bound under the
anathema of the 318 Fathers; and farthermore he shall forfeit to my
Trustees aforesaid five pounds of gold;[21] and so let this my Testament
abide in force. The signature of the above named Messer Marco Paulo who
gave instructions for this deed.
"* I Peter Grifon, Priest, Witness.
"* I Humfrey Barberi, Witness.
"* I John Giustiniani, Priest of S. Proculo, and Notary, have completed
and authenticated (this testament)."[22]
We do not know, as has been said, how long Marco survived the making of
this will, but we know, from a scanty series of documents commencing in
June of the following year (1325), that he had then been some time
dead.[23]
[Sidenote: Place of Sepulture. Professed Portraits of Polo.]
48. He was buried, no doubt, according to his declared wish, in the Church
of S. Lorenzo; and indeed Sansovino bears testimony to the fact in a
confused notice of our Traveller.[24] But there does not seem to have been
any monument to Marco, though the sarcophagus which had been erected to
his father Nicolo, by his own filial care, existed till near the end of
the 16th century in the porch or corridor leading to the old Church of S.
Lorenzo, and bore the inscription: "SEPULTURA DOMINI NICOLAI PAULO DE
CONTRATA S. IOANNIS GRISOSTEMI." The church was renewed from its
foundations in 1592, and then, probably, the sarcophagus was cast aside
and lost, and with it all certainty as to the position of the tomb.[25]
[Illustration: Pavement in front of San Lorenzo, Venice.]
[Illustration: S. Lorenzo as it was in the 15th century]
There is no portrait of Marco Polo in existence with any claim to
authenticity. The quaint figure which we give in the Bibliography, vol.
ii. p. 555, extracted from the earliest printed edition of his book, can
certainly make no such pretension. The oldest one after this is probably a
picture in the collection of Monsignor Badia at Rome, of which I am now
able, by the owner's courtesy, to give a copy. It is set down in the
catalogue to Titian, but is probably a work of 1600, or thereabouts, to
which the aspect and costume belong. It is inscribed "Marcus Polvs
Venetvs Totivs Orbis et Indie Peregrator Primus." Its history
unfortunately cannot be traced, but I believe it came from a collection at
Urbino. A marble statue was erected in his honour by a family at Venice in
the 17th century, and is still to be seen in the Palazzo Morosini-
Gattemburg in the Campo S. Stefano in that city. The medallion portrait on
the wall of the Sala dello Scudo in the ducal palace, and which was
engraved in Bettom's "Collection of Portraits of Illustrious Italians," is
a work of imagination painted by Francesco Griselini in 1761.[26] From
this, however, was taken the medal by Fabris, which was struck in 1847 in
honour of the last meeting of the Italian Congresso Scientifico; and from
the medal again is copied, I believe, the elegant woodcut which adorns the
introduction to M. Pauthier's edition, though without any information as
to its history.
