Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State [Hardcover]

David Rosand (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art History | Publication Date: September 17, 2001

Rosand explores the imagery that the Republic of Venice developed to represent itself as the ideal, serene state, founded with holy purpose and protected by divine favor. He argues that, Venice--more than any other political entity of the early modern period--shaped the visual imagination of political thought. This visualization of political ideals, and its reciprocal effect on the civic imagination, is the larger theme of the book. Time period: early modern period, esp. 13th-16th centuries.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Venice has inspired both Wills (St. Augustine) and Rosand (Painting in Sixteenth Century Venice) to write remarkably laudatory works on the artistic legacy generated by the Renaissance mythmakers and propagandists of that city. Both authors emphasize the importance Venetians placed on creating a historical identity that would set them apart from other Italians and other nations. Venice was unique in Italy for being a city created after the fall of the Roman Empire. The mythical date for the foundation of Venice, March 25, is also the date of the Annunciation and of Christ's crucifixion significant, as Venetians saw it, in giving a unique spiritual flavor to their city. Wills and Rosand look at the paintings, sculpture, and architecture in Venice with the aim of examining how these works illustrated and glorified incidents in the history or myth that the Venetians created for themselves and the wider world. Rosand stresses the importance of English writers in propagating the myth of Venice as a unique state possessing an exemplary political constitution and so ensuring the city a literary immortality in the English-speaking world. Wills's more anecdotal book covers Venetian literature and politics to a greater degree, showing how various social and political factors were crucial to the formation of Renaissance Venice. But both stress the importance that art played in the creation of the city's sense of identity, and both are highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [Wills's book was previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/01.] Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., M.
- Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Rosand's Myths of Venice provide[s] expert guidance through the intricacies of this more private Venetian artistic symbolism, revealing its underlying sense much as a good map will reveal the basic rationality behind the city's complex web of islands, paths, and waterways. (New York Review of Books)"

"[This book] helps us better understand just why this beguiling city has, for so many centuries, fascinated the world. (Washington Post Book World)"

Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. (Library Journal)

"The scholarship in back of this deceptively straightforward presentation is what we have come to expect of Rosand as one of the leading scholars of Venetian Renaissance art. (Patricia Fortini Brown, Professor of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (September 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807826413
• ISBN-13: 978-0807826416
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,003,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Iconography of the Venetian State, March 23, 2002

By 

"krchicago" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State (Hardcover)

Functioning modern states have their own myths, stories (historical or otherwise) that illustrate the shared communal values that the state is believed to embody and wishes to project (to citizens and foreigners alike). For Renaissance Venice, the myth was that of the Most Serene Republic, built on a perfect foundation of justice, peace and the rule of law, established as the Christian heir to pagan Rome and protected by the saints. In this brief, elegant book, David Rosand shows how richly that political myth was embodied in the public art of the Venetian state, focusing on the paintings and sculpture of the Doge's Palace, the Loggetta of the Campanile, the Libreria di San Marco, and various of the scuola grande. Rosand does a superb job of teasing out all of the multi-layered mythological meanings and allusions present in individual works and in the relationship of one work (or even one building) to another. He also shows that these meanings, although not transparent to most visitors today, were easily understood by educated Venetians and foreigners (and recorded in their diaries and descriptions of the city) throughout the Renaissance. I saw many things that I had not seen before, and will go back to these works with a new appreciation of their meaning and function.

This is not art criticism or art appreciation (there is barely a mention of anyone's technique or of aesthetic issues), it's real art history. Rosand's goal is to show how the artwork he considers functioned to both present the Venetian state's self-image and to persuade viewers to accept that image. Given Venice's important role as an early example of a modern state (one that viewed the state itself as an abstract concept, separate from the ruler, who is himself subject to the rule of law), we can still learn much from the methods that Venice used to envision and market itself.

Rosand writes for an educated audience, but is readily accessible to non-scholars. He assumes a fair degree of familiarity with Venice -- if you do not know the Piazza from the the Piazzetta, or which facade of the Palace is the south one, you will occasionally find yourself confused. Nor does he stop to explain in any detail the Venetian constitution or the organization of Venetian society. This is a book to take with you on your second or third trip to Venice, or to read while planning such a trip. It does not pretend to be comprehensive, but will give you a real insight into one of the many beautiful threads that make up this complex city.

5.0 out of 5 stars About the Hardback Edition, October 23, 2010

By 

Theseus "theseus" (US of A) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Myths of Venice: The Figuration of a State (Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art History) (Paperback)

A handsome book from the University of North Carolina: hardback with dustjacket, navy linen cloth over boards with silver print, 188 pp.

About 200 illustrations, including a section of color plates.

Introduction, Index, and 25 pp of bibliographic information.