Five years of research were needed to conceive this exceptional guide, which will allow all lovers of Venice and the Venetians themselves to start exploring the most extraordinary city in the world, away from the beaten path.
KEYNOTE: Featuring ffty masterworks by Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, this stunning book examines the brilliant painters who transformed the art of Renaisssance Venice. Featuring fifty masterworks by Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, this stunning book examines the brilliant painters who transformed the art of Renaissance Venice. Among the singular moments in the evolution of Western art, the Venetian Renaissance forged an artistic vocabulary of dazzling virtuosity. Celebrating the poetic potential of color and beauty observed in nature, Venetian painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries transcended the spatial, textural, and emotional realism of their predecessors to create works unsurpassed in their sensual depictions, velvety surfaces, and unique and glorious treatment of light. Focusing on canonical works from Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum (one of the world's four great imperial museums, along with the Hermitage, the Louvre, and the Prado), this book's lavish illustrations and illuminating essays offer a rich introduction to the treasures of the Venetian Renaissance. Among the spectacular artworks are Mantegna's tortured Saint Sebastian, Titian's enigmatic Bravo (The Assassin) and sumptuous Danäe, and a rare group of paintings by the elusive Giorgione, including Portrait of a Young Woman (Laura) and The Three philosophers. The book also includes exemplary works by Veronese, Palma ecchio, Bordone, and Bassano, among others, revealing the full range of Venetian accomplishment in the Renaissance era. AUTHOR: Sylvia Ferino is director of the Gemaldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and an expert on Italian painting. Lynn Federle Orr is curator in charge of European art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Among her recent publications is The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 100 colour illustrations
- An homage to the most sensual city on earth, illustrated with vintage photographs, prints, and ephemera - Available in English for the first time This love letter in photographs to the unique beauty and mystery of Venice is an evocative compilation of vintage photographs, prints, and ephemera. It is a tactile ode to the sensuality of the city, filled to the brim with all manner of Venetian memorabilia: 19th century photographs, engravings, hand-colored magic lantern slides, vintage postcards, old luggage labels, keys from long-lost luxury hotels, golden ducats from the 18th century, Carnival ball invitations. With gilt-edged pages and antique Venetian lettering, it is not a travel or walking guide, but an atmospheric pilgrimage that pays homage to this ever-fascinating city. Serge Simonat's engaging commentary on Venetian history and culture introduces each subject with affection and insight. "Every day, a nervous traveler visiting the City of Doges for the first time asks the best way to get to their hotel. 'The shortest or the most beautiful?', I once heard the concierge at Hotel Des Bains ask. The tourist who opted for the most beautiful route is still wandering around the city. This is a unique photobook in which to wander and lose oneself." - Serge Simonart
A comprehensive work on Venice, which highlights the inseparable relationship between the historical, political, social and artistic events that have characterised its millenary history.