Renaissance Art in Venice: From Tradition to Individualism

by Tom Nichols

Art and architecture have always been central to Venice but in the Renaissance period, between c.1440 and 1600, they reached a kind of apotheosis when many of the city's new buildings, sculpture, and paintings took on distinctive and original qualities. The spread of Renaissance values provided leading artists such as Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Palladio, Titian, and Tintoretto with a licence for artistic invention. This inventiveness however also needs to be understood in relation to the artists and artworks that still conformed to the more traditional, corporate, and public values of "Venetianness"' (Venezianità).

By adopting a chronological approach, with each chapter covering a successive twenty-five year period, and focusing attention on the artists, Tom Nichols presents a vivid and easily navigable study of Venetian Renaissance art. Through close visual analyses of specific works from architecture to illuminated manuscripts, he puts the formative power of art back at the heart of this remarkable story.

Genres: Art, Italy, Art History, Travel, Nonfiction, Renaissance

224 pages, Hardcover

Published August 30, 2016

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I was in Venice years ago. I did not get to go to a large number of churches and museums in the city. After having read this Brea lent book on the Renaissance in Venice which was different and worked differently than mainland Italy. Because Venice was its own city-state and had a different history. After reading this book really wont to head back to Venice again and see the painting and buildings again for real. The book is that engaging.

[Goldenivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant overview of Venetian Renaissance art and its history, with beautiful images of the art being spoken of located in close relation to where they are brought up in the text.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb introduction to the work of Titian and Tintoretto.

Beautifully produced volume which I wish I’d read before visiting Venice as its an invaluable guide to the city’s artistic history.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He painted a further cycle of eight wall paintings between 1581 and 1586, showing episodes from the life of the Virgin and the infancy of Christ. The choice of such core universal Christian subjects was itself a departure from the more locally derived subjects featured in many earlier Scuole cycles in Venice, and must again reflect the wider impact of the Counter-Reformation" (Nichols: 284)
"The depiction of Old Testament scenes on the ceilings of religious buildings had important precedents in Central Italy (including the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo in Rome), but was a relatively recent development in Venice" (Nichols: 245)
"classical elements were finally absorbed into a more traditional ethos of stylistic diversity which prioritized the Republic of Venice itself" (Nichols: 92)

This book describes Venetian Art during the Renaissance period and it shows how particular this Art was from the (courtly) art being produced in other parts of Italy during the same period of time. The book combines painting, sculpture and architecture but the author discusses painting for the most part, thus writing an unbalanced book.

The book shows how Venetian Art evolved during the Renaissance and the consequences the plague or the Counter-Reformation had upon painting and architecture. It shows how Venetian Art moved from tradition to individualism and then from individualism to tradition again (and also no-tradition). It also shows how Venice became popular amongst artists, but more on this should have been included. There is no acknowledgement of sources (at least in the ebook version), so I wonder which theories/arguments/points of view are really owned by the author.

The book is a good introduction to Renaissance Art in Venice, covering also the art being produced on mainland, although this is done marginally. I wish the book had been larger to accommodate far more artists and artworks.