Art

VENICE ART HISTORY

VENICE DURING THE BYZANTINE TIME

Venice conserves important attestations of the Byzantine period that you can see when visiting the buildings such as the Doge's Palace, the houses and the Pala D'oro, a perfect example of the Byzantine style.
Especially the tradition of glass manufacturing represents a historic confirmation of the Byzantine influx from East, that made Venice worlwide famous.

VENICE DURING THE RENAISSANCE AND MANNERISM

During the Renaissance time Venice became a very important center as well as Florence and Rome.
Art in Venice was mostly representational. Schools during that time were really important: they generally were professional associations dedicated to saints in honour of which artists worked.
Padua replaced Venice in having supremacy in humanistic, scientific and classical culture. Even the noble families such as Vendramin, Contarini, Grimani and Venier were vital in giving a push to art's development.

PAINTING Speaking about Renaissance art in Venice it's like speaking about Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian Veronese and Tintoretto. Venetian Renaissance is different from Florence Renaissance because it extends in a period that, for many art critics, is considered to be high-Renaissance or Mannerism. It's not a chance, in fact, that many Venetian artists took inspiration from Raffaello and Michelangelo, who, according to a specific academic definition, are considered to be high-Renaissance artists.
In addition to the over represented religious images, Venetian paintings gave life to significant art themes such as "the landscape" that, in several ways, is a central theme both in the Vedutismo and in the Romanticism. First of all we have to mention the great importance of the "schools", mutual benefit organization or charitable institutions that supported artists to create their masterpieces. In just one word, schools made for Venice what the Medici family made for Florence, making of it a famous and appreciated town all around the world.
Jacopo Bellini (1428-1515) is the first considerable painting of Venetian Renaissance. Father of Gentile and big brother of Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo was at first a Court painter at Ferrara, before moving to Padua, where he founded his own art studio.
The real remarkable turn to Renaissance art can be seen in the "Madonna col Bambino" (1448, Pinacoteca of Brera), in which the monumental appearance of the human figures emerges clearly.
He was supported by the schools "Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista" and the "Scuola Grande di San Marco". Around 1455 he painted the "Madonna col Bambino Bendedicente e cherubini", conserved in the Accademia Galleries.

Gentile Bellini (1426-1507) was the son of Jacopo. He is especially known for his large paintings made for public buildings' decoration, such as the "Scuola di San Rocco". Also the school "Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista" gave much support to him: it appointed Bellini and other influential painters of that time for the realization of a great narrative cicle.
The most magnificent painting by Gentile definitely is "Miracle" in St. Mark's Square, a painting which has the concept of miracle as a central theme: it deals with a father who implores aid to the jeweled reliquary of St. Mark's Square because of the serious disease from which his son suffers. After such imploration, the son is saved.
Beyond the religious theme, the work is important due to its historical meaning: it represents, in fact, St. Marks's Square before the removing of the old Byzantine mosaics in the XVI° century.
Gentile Bellini is highly regarded for its research on combining of the emotional effect evoked by religious themes with the attention for details.
Giovanni Bellini (1428-1516) is with no doubt one of the most important Renaissance painters, and he is recognized as the most emblematic figure of Venetian Renaissance art peculiarities.
Giovanni Bellini also worked as sculptor, but he's famous especially for his paintings. His own characteristic consisted in developing a new form of landascape, far from the excessive formality of Mantegna, who had great influence on him at a first stage.
The new developed theme gives importance to the connection between Human and Nature. A great example of this style is La pietà, located in the Marciano Museum.
Bellini is known also for the use of the tempera, that allows to make the action of painting easier but without the possibility of modifications.
The use of tempera and color is not only a Bellini's prerogative, but it is a peculiarity of the whole Venetian Renaissance, that distinguishes it from Florentine Renaissance.
Another significant work by Bellini dealing with the "Blessed Virgin" is the "Madonna degli alberi" inside the Academia, in which Bellini represents the human devotion of the Madonna to God.
Giorgione (1477-1510) was Bellini's favorite painter. Under the protection of the school "San Geronimo", Giorgione reverses all the standards and hierarchical rules of the period: in the "Madonna di Castelfranco" the human figures haven't more importance than landscape.
Giorgione developes a theme that was already close to Bellini; the contemporary artist Titian made the same.
Titian is one of the last painters belonging to the high Renaissance movement. His paintings stand out for great expressiveness, likeness to human figures and immediateness.
The "Assunta" in the Frari is a real masterpiece, as well as the "Presentazione della Vergine Maria al tempio" and the "Pietà", situated inside the Accademia.

Tintoretto (1518 - 1594) is considered to be the predecessor of Rembrant because of his constant purposes to create contrasts between dark and light.
Tintoretto's painting are recognized for the dramatic feelings they arouse; they are characterized by brusque lights, luminous half shadows, color's modulations.
Geometry was a basilar element in his works, as he was interested in recreating perfectly the perspective.
He was also greatly influenced by Michelangelo and by its way of representing human figures: humans in Tintoretto's works have the same strong body of the Michelangelo's figures.
His major ability consisted in painting very fast. Schools like "Scuola di San Rocco" were fascinated by Tintoretto's ability to paint.
Venice is full of his works; the most famous ones are the Last Supper and the "Crucifixion".
Veronese (1528–1588) is the last Renaissance artist of Venice. In fact, both his early and mature works have to be considered as Mannerist works. Veronese loved to paint – while giving importance to strong colors and contrasts - Mannerist figures often in contorted poses.
An example of Veronese's Style is the Temptation of St. Anthony in the Cathedral of Mantua.
The mature works mostly consist of frescoes realized for civil buildings and villas in the countryside of Venice, such as Villa Barbaro in Maser.
The fresco made for the villa represents illusory architecture taking inspiration by the style of Palladio who designed the villa.
His very last works presents in a clear way a return to a more classical taste, made of dazzling light, harmonious colours, rigorous compositions. The most remarkable work of that period is the "Triumph of Venice" in the Doges's Palace, in which we can see all the artistic experiences made by Veronese during its activities.

SCULPTURE Alessandro Vittoria is recognized as the greatest Venetian sculptor. He worked with Veronese, Sansovino and Palladio. Alessandro Vittoria was strongly influenced by Michelangelo and Bartolomeo Ammannati.
Vittoria's sculpture was quite different from the one of Sansovino; unlike him Alessandro Vittoria preferred to impress upon his statues a sensation of movement, which had to express rhythm and elegance at the same time.
The most interesting works by Vittoria are mainly bronze relief or little marble statues like the ones for the altar of San Francesco della Vigna, in Venice.

ARCHITECTURE IN VENICE

A great protagonist of Venetian architecture in XIV° century was certainly Jacopo Tatti, called Sansovino.
He studied in Rome, and when he came back to Venice, he worked constantly for 40 years, building schools and civil palaces according to the style of Bramante.
In 1536 he was appointed in order to reorganize St. Mark's Square, where main political, economical and cultural activities were executed.
Sansovino completed the Procuratie Nuove. The most composite part is the Libreria Marciana (1537). It was designed in order to become the most prestigious cultural center.
The aim of Sansovino was to design buildings which were not in contrast with the oldest ones, but he just wanted to balance the contrast between the Classical Roman architecture with the suggestive lagoon space.
In this way an harmonious "communication" between Old and New was created, and the elegance of the whole square was clear.
Michele Sanmicheli dedicated his life to architecture. He was one of the first architects to spread in Veneto the architectural style of middle Italy.
He built both civil and private palaces (such as Palazzi Canossa in Verona) according to the style of Bramante and to the Mannerism of Raphael.

Andrea della Gondola called Palladio (1508-1580) is the most important architect from Veneto during the Mannerism.
Unlike Sansovino and Sanmicheli, Palladio was educated in Veneto by Gian Girolamo Trissino. Palladio worked mostly in Venice and Vicenza, designing many rural palaces for noble families.
Palladio's most representative buildings are in Vicenza, a beautiful small city easily reachable from Venice in a short time.
Palladio's works influenced all European architecture of the XVIII° and XIX° centuries. Great examples of Palladio's style in Venice are the church of San Giorgio Maggiore and the church of the Redentore.
Palladio was in some ways influenced by Vitruvius, but he soon developed his own signature. First of all Palladio was against the Baroque art, that he considered too eccentric and not suitable to the essential rules of architecture.
Although he worked in a period recognized as high-Renaissance/Mannerism from most part of the art critics. Palladio could be defined a Renaissance artist.
To understand Palladio's opinion about Baroque we can mention what the same Ruskin thought about it: for him Baroque was a "grotesque Renaissance", that is to say a kind of art which had lost the original purposes representing the basis of the Renaissance style: essentiality, focus on man, balance, rationality.
Palladio is well recognizable for his constant purpose to apply the typical style of the Greek and Roman temples to his church designs.

ART IN THE XVIII° CENTURY

During the XVIII° century the Serenissima was really tired due to military and economical losses. Venice, step by step, reduced its territories.
Nevertheless, painting had a new formidable flowering. Private funding replaced Government funding. Glorification of nobleness replaced glorification of Republic.
Tiepolo, Longhi, Canaletto, Bellotto and Guardi are considered the most important artists of this period.
Giovan Battista Tiepolo joined at first the Tenebrous artistic movement, clear in some of his works such as the "Martirio di San Bartolomeo" (1722) .
He managed to get the commission for frescoing Venetian churches, palaces and aristocratic villas. Villa Pisani in Stra hosts his most prestigious fresco.
Tiepolo's painting differs from Baroque style because it is more interested in creating contrast between fiction and reality. Tiepolo's representations are dreamlike, far from realistic perception of space.
Pietro Longhi (1702-1785) He is known as the painter of the middle-class. Longhi captured typical usages of middle class and nobleness according to a suave and elegant style. Throughout Longhi's paintings (for example Ritratto di Famiglia) an image of a decadent society clearly emerges.
Works oby Longhi in Venice: Ritratto di Famiglia, 1760-65, hosted in Palazzo Leoni Montanari.
During the XVIII century, Venice also cultivated a different type of art, less spectacular and even less commemorative. A consisting part of this production was based on Vedutismo: a new art style that took inspiration from the big fashionable excursions (from which the modern term "tourism" derives).
Venice knew a splendid flowering of painters devoted to this new art style.
The most representative ones were Canaletto, Bellotto and Guardi.
Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (1697-1768) found in Venice the ideal setting for his paintings.
He created his first open air paintings in Rome; when he came back to Venice he began to elaborate the so called "Capricci", a typical Rococo item based on the free and imaginative assemblage of different elements in a unique setting.
Canaletto is also known for his "vedutisti" paintings that are closely related to a more realistic representation. His favourite settings were urban centres.
At this step Canaletto was interested in a representation of buildings in perspective as well as in a diffused, homogenous light in the whole setting of the painting.
Canaletto arranged his works after a scrupulous study of reality. The representation underwent to geometrical rules, so that to reproduce reality in the most likely way.
His "veduta" works always have two perspectives that go out of the canvas. To set the composition Canaletto also used a "dark room".
Bernardo Bellotto (1720-1780) was the grandson of Canaletto. He advanced Canaletto's studies on Vedutismo looking for a more objective representation.
Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) is considered today one of the greatest painters of the XVIII° century, and he was for a long time a "misunderstood artist". Unlike Canaletto, he was completely ignored by art supporters and lived in poverty.
Guardi differs from Canaletto for having a better artistic temperament; throughout his paintings a more remarkable contrast between dark and light emerges. Sky and water hardly differ themselves in colour. In other words, his paintings give a feeling of infinite, which approaches Guardi to Romanticism.
ARCHITECTURE Venetian architecture of the XVIII° century took inspiration from Andrea Palladio. The new style was born to contrast Baroque and its virtuous forms.
Architecture had to be more functional, essential and based on a serial elegance. In a word it had to be in a classical style.
The most influential spokesman of this new artistic style were Algarotti and Lodoli.
Palazzo Grassi-Stucky is a remarkable example. It's the most important work of Massari. It is based on the traditional concept of the Venetian palace according to a classical taste.

CONTEMPORARY ART IN VENICE

Venice is well known for its ancients works. The epoch of Serenissima is absolutely glorious. Nevertheless the city is also well-known for collecting important works of the XX° century.
Peggy Guggenheim Museum is in fact the most important museum in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the XX° century.
The private collections contain mostly works by Picasso, Braque, Duchamp, Léger, Brancusi, Severini, Balla, Delaunay, Kupka, Picabia, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Klee, Magritte, Dalí, Pollock.