Ca' d' Zan #6

State Dining Room . . . paneled in dark walnut with crimson draperies. Its most startling feature was a wall-sized still life by the Flemish painter Frans Synders depicting the trophies of the hunt. Painted with meticulous realism was a heap of dead animals, including a deer, a swan, peacocks, rabbits, small birds and a great boar sliced down the middle and running with gore. Weak-stomached guests faintly turned their heads away. Uncle John suffered no qualms.