1.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
2.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
3.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Luca Carlevaris
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Luca Carlevarijs or Carlevaris was an Italian painter and engraver working mainly in Venice. He pioneered the genre of the cityscapes of Venice, a genre that was widely followed by artists such as Canaletto. He was also known as Luca Casanobrio or Luca di Ca Zenobri and he worked principally in Venice, where he also died. His daughter, Marianna Carlevarijs learned the art of portraiture from Rosalba Carriera. Here he was influenced by the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel, van Wittel was the pioneer of the genre of vedute of Rome. Carlevarijs then started to create vedute of Venice, which are among the earliest Baroque depictions of the city and he painted landscapes, sea-pieces and perspective views. His works included cityscapes with a topological interest as well as imaginary landscapes with ruins and he completed over a hundred etchings of views in Venice, which give an exact representation of the principal places in that city. The painters Canaletto, Francesco Guardi and Antonio Visentini are said to have influenced by his work or even have been his pupils. His paintings and his set of 104 etched views of Venice and he also collaborated with specialist figure painters who added the staffage into his landscapes or cityscapes. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical, york St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell and Sons. Media related to Luca Carlevarijs at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Landscape art
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In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition, detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects. The two main traditions spring from Western painting and Chinese art, going well over a thousand years in both cases. Landscape views in art may be imaginary, or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy. If the primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific place, especially including buildings prominently, within a few decades it was used to describe vistas in poetry, and eventually as a term for real views. However the cognate term landscaef or landskipe for a patch of land had existed in Old English. The earliest pure landscapes with no figures are frescos from Minoan Greece of around 1500 BCE. The frescos from the Tomb of Nebamun, now in the British Museum, are a famous example. These were frequently used, as in the illustrated, to bridge the gap between a foreground scene with figures and a distant panoramic vista, a persistent problem for landscape artists. The Chinese style generally showed only a distant view, or used dead ground or mist to avoid that difficulty, aesthetic theories in both regions gave the highest status to the works seen to require the most imagination from the artist. They were often also poets whose lines and images illustrated each other, a revival in interest in nature initially mainly manifested itself in depictions of small gardens such as the Hortus Conclusus or those in millefleur tapestries. The frescos of figures at work or play in front of a background of trees in the Palace of the Popes. Several frescos of gardens have survived from Roman houses like the Villa of Livia, a particular advance is shown in the less well-known Turin-Milan Hours, now largely destroyed by fire, whose developments were reflected in Early Netherlandish painting for the rest of the century. Landscape backgrounds for various types of painting became prominent and skilful during the 15th century. The Italian development of a system of graphical perspective was now known all over Europe. Indeed, certain styles were so popular that they became formulas that could be copied again and again, after the publication of the Small Landscapes, landscape artists in the Low Countries either continued with the world landscape or followed the new mode presented by the Small Landscapes. The popularity of landscape scenes can be seen in the success of the painter Frans Post. Salvator Rosa gave picturesque excitement to his landscapes by showing wilder Southern Italian country, there are different styles and periods, and subgenres of marine and animal painting, as well as a distinct style of Italianate landscape
6.
Etching
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Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types of material, as a method of printmaking, it is, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints, and remains in wide use today. In a number of variants such as microfabrication etching and photochemical milling it is a crucial technique in much modern technology. In traditional pure etching, a plate is covered with a waxy ground which is resistant to acid. The artist then scratches off the ground with an etching needle where he or she wants a line to appear in the finished piece. The échoppe, a tool with an oval section, is also used for swelling lines. The plate is dipped in a bath of acid, technically called the mordant or etchant. The acid bites into the metal where it is exposed, leaving behind lines sunk into the plate, the remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate. The plate is inked all over, and then the ink wiped off the surface, the plate is then put through a high-pressure printing press together with a sheet of paper. The paper picks up the ink from the lines, making a print. The process can be repeated many times, typically several hundred impressions could be printed before the shows much sign of wear. The work on the plate can also be added to by repeating the whole process, Etching has often been combined with other intaglio techniques such as engraving or aquatint. The process as applied to printmaking is believed to have been invented by Daniel Hopfer of Augsburg, Hopfer was a craftsman who decorated armour in this way, and applied the method to printmaking, using iron plates. Apart from his prints, there are two examples of his work on armour, a shield from 1536 now in the Real Armeria of Madrid. The switch to copper plates was made in Italy. On the other hand, the handling of the ground and acid need skill and experience, prior to 1100 AD, the New World Hohokam independently utilized the technique of acid etching in marine shell designs. Jacques Callot from Nancy in Lorraine made important technical advances in etching technique and he developed the échoppe, a type of etching-needle with a slanting oval section at the end, which enabled etchers to create a swelling line, as engravers were able to do. Callot also appears to have responsible for an improved, harder, recipe for the etching ground
7.
Owen Swiny
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Owen Swiny was an Irish theatre impresario and art dealer active in London. Having attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1694, he was working at the Drury Lane Theatre by spring 1703 with Christopher Rich and he also adapted Molières Lamour médecin as The Quacks, putting it on at the Drury Lane Theatre on 29 March 1705. He was evicted from Drury Lane in 1709 by William Collier, in the meantime, in 1706, he had leased the Queens Theatre in the Haymarket from Sir John Vanbrugh, quarrelled with Rich and poached Colley Cibber from him. After initial success with plays and opera there, Colliers court intrigues against Swiny led to his bankruptcy by January 1713. In around 1733, after about 20 years abroad, Swiny came back to London, benefit nights for him followed in 1735 and 1736, with the Opera of the Nobilitys directors in 1736 considering sending him back to Italy to recruit singers. In 1737 he sat for his portrait from Peter van Bleeck, in around 1749 Swiny made a trip to Paris for John Rich, to arrange the London tour of Jean Monnets troupe, before dying in London in 1754 and being buried in St Martin-in-the-Fields. His estate was left in trust for the actress Margaret Woffington, with his leaving as trustees Robert Maxwell
8.
Italian people
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
9.
Vedute
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A veduta is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often print, of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of vedute are referred to as vedutisti and this genre of landscape originated in Flanders, where artists such as Paul Bril painted vedute as early as the 16th century. In the 17th century Dutch painters made a specialty of detailed and accurate recognizable city, an archetypal example is Johannes Vermeers View of Delft. The Ghent architect, draughtsman and engraver Lieven Cruyl contributed to the development of the vedute during his residence in Rome in the late 17th century, cruyl’s drawings reproduce the topographical aspects of the urban landscape. By the mid-18th century, Venice became renowned as the centre of the vedutisti, the genres greatest practitioners belonged to the Canal and Guardi families of Venice. Some of them went to work as painters in major capitals of Europe, e. g. Canaletto in London and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto in Dresden, in other parts of 18th-century Italy, idiosyncratic varieties of the genre evolved. Giovanni Paolo Pannini was the first veduta artist to concentrate on painting ruins and his collaborators included Hendrik Frans van Lint, who would become one of the leading vedute painters in the first half of the 18th century. In later developments of the vedute, Panninis veduta morphed into the scenes partly or completely imaginary elements, known as capricci, giambattista Piranesi was the foremost master of vedute ideate etchings. His topographical series, Vedute di Roma, went through many printings, in the later 19th century, more personal impressions of cityscapes replaced the desire for topographical accuracy, which was satisfied instead by painted, and later photographed, panoramas. These artists responded to the international market for their city views of Venice and they made such big names for themselves through this genre that they painted nothing. Demand for Federico del Campos views, particularly from English tourists, was so strong, I pittori di vedute in Italia, 1580-1830. Canaletto, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has material on Canalettos contributions to the genre
10.
Capriccio (art)
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It falls under the more general term of landscape painting. The term is used for other artworks with an element of fantasy. These architectural elements gained prominence in 17th century painting to become subjects of easel paintings. Early practitioners of the genre who made the popular in mid-17th century Rome included Alessandro Salucci. The quadratture frescoes of Agostino Tassi and the views of Claude Lorrain and Herman van Swanevelt. This genre was perfected by Marco Ricci but its best-known proponent was the artist Giovanni Paolo Pannini and this style was extended in the 1740s by Canaletto in his etched vedute ideali, and works by Piranesi and his imitators. Later examples include Charles Robert Cockerells A Tribute to Sir Christopher Wren and A Professors Dream, the artist Carl Laubin has painted a number of modern capriccios in homage to these works. The term can be used broadly for other works with a strong element of fantasy. No individual titles help to explain these works, mood and style are everything, a later series was called Scherzi di fantasia – Fantastic Sketches. His son Domenico Tiepolo was among those who imitated these prints and they take Tiepolos format of a group of figures, now drawn from contemporary Spanish life, and are a series of savage satires and comments on its absurdity, only partly explicated by short titles. Media related to Capriccios at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Printmaker
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Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each print produced is not considered a copy but rather is considered an original, a print may be known as an impression. Printmaking is not chosen only for its ability to multiple impressions. Prints are created by transferring ink from a matrix or through a screen to a sheet of paper or other material. Screens made of silk or synthetic fabrics are used for the screenprinting process, other types of matrix substrates and related processes are discussed below. Multiple impressions printed from the matrix form an edition. Prints may also be printed in book form, such as illustrated books or artists books, Printmaking techniques are generally divided into the following basic categories, Relief, where ink is applied to the original surface of the matrix. Relief techniques include woodcut or woodblock as the Asian forms are known, wood engraving. Intaglio, where ink is applied beneath the surface of the matrix. Intaglio techniques include engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, planographic, where the matrix retains its original surface, but is specially prepared and/or inked to allow for the transfer of the image. Planographic techniques include lithography, monotyping, and digital techniques, stencil, where ink or paint is pressed through a prepared screen, including screenprinting and pochoir. Other types of printmaking techniques outside these groups include collagraphy and viscosity printing, collagraphy is a printmaking technique in which textured material is adhered to the printing matrix. This texture is transferred to the paper during the printing process, Contemporary printmaking may include digital printing, photographic mediums, or a combination of digital, photographic, and traditional processes. Many of these techniques can also be combined, especially within the same family, for example, Rembrandts prints are usually referred to as etchings for convenience, but very often include work in engraving and drypoint as well, and sometimes have no etching at all. Woodcut, a type of print, is the earliest printmaking technique. It was probably first developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in Japan, and slightly later in Europe. These are the two areas where woodcut has been most extensively used purely as a process for making images without text, the artist draws a design on a plank of wood, or on paper which is transferred to the wood
12.
Giovanni Paolo Pannini
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Giovanni Paolo Panini or Pannini was a painter and architect, who worked in Rome and is mainly known as one of the vedutisti. As a painter, Panini is best known for his vistas of Rome, among his most famous works are his view of the interior of the Pantheon, and his vedute—paintings of picture galleries containing views of Rome. Most of his works, specially those of ruins, have a fanciful, in this they resemble the capricci of Marco Ricci. Panini also painted portraits, including one of Pope Benedict XIV, as a young man, Panini trained in his native town of Piacenza, under Giuseppe Natali and Andrea Galluzzi, and later the stage designer Francesco Galli-Bibiena. In 1711, he moved to Rome, where he studied drawing with Benedetto Luti, in Rome, Panini became famous as a decorator of palaces, including the Villa Patrizi, the Palazzo de Carolis, and the Seminario Romano. In 1719, Panini was admitted to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon and he taught in Rome at the Accademia di San Luca and the Académie de France, where he influenced Jean-Honoré Fragonard. In 1754, he served as the principal of the Accademia di San Luca, Panini died in Rome on 21 October 1765. Paninis studio included Hubert Robert and his son Francesco Panini, some British landscape painters, such as Marlow, Skelton and Wright of Derby, also imitated his capricci. In addition to being a painter and architect, Panini was a professor of perspective and his masterful use of perspective was later the inspiration for the creation of the Panini Projection, which is instrumental in rendering panoramic views. Death Leap of Marcus Arisi, Ferdinando, gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del 700. Arisi, Ferdinando, Giovanni Paolo Panini 1691-1765, Milano,1993, Horak, Marco, Quellopera prima di Panini gemella del dipinto esposto al Lombardi di Parma, in LUrtiga - Quaderni di cultura Piacentina, Piacenza, n. Horak, Marco, Lopera prima del Panini in una collezione privata, in Panorama Musei, anno XVIII, n.3, dicembre 2013 Horak, Marco, Panini al Fine Art Museum di San Francisco, in Panorama Musei, anno XXI, n
13.
Bucentaur
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The bucentaur was the state barge of the doges of Venice. Scholars believe there were four major barges, the first significant bucentaur having been built in 1311, the last and most magnificent of the historic bucentaurs made its maiden voyage in 1729 in the reign of Doge Alvise III Sebastiano Mocenigo. Depicted in paintings by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi, the ship was 35 m long, a two-deck floating palace, its main salon had a seating capacity of 90. The doges throne was in the stern, and the bore a figurehead representing Justice with sword. The barge was propelled by 168 oarsmen, and another 40 sailors were required to man it, the ship was destroyed in 1798 on Napoleons orders to symbolize his victory in conquering Venice. In February 2008, the Fondazione Bucintoro announced a €20 million project to rebuild the 1729 bucentaur, work started on 15 March 2008 at the Arsenale shipyard and naval dock. The origin of the name bucintoro is obscure, but one possibility is that it is derived from the Venetian burcio, a term for a lagoon vessel. The name may refer to trumpets and horns that were played on board. The term bucintoro was Latinized in the Middle Ages as bucentaurus on the analogy of an alleged Greek word βουκένταυρος meaning ox-centaur, from βους and κένταυρος. The common supposition was that the derived from a creature of a man with the head of an ox. This derivation is, however, fanciful, the word βουκένταυρος is unknown in Greek mythology, the name bucentaur seems, indeed, to have been given to any great and sumptuous Venetian vessels. Du Cange quotes from the chronicle of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, cum uno artificioso et solemni Bucentauro, super quo venit usque ad S. Clementem, quo jam pervenerat principalior et solemnior Bucentaurus cum consiliariis, &c. Before the age of the bucentaurs, it is probable that for ceremonies in the Venetian Lagoon the doge was simply assigned a small galley from the Venetian fleet, as Venices wealth increased due to its naval power, plans were made for a special ship to be built. Historians agree that four major barges were built and this was the first time that Venetian law had provided that the expense of building the bucentaur was to be borne by the public budget. The two-decked bucentaur had a tiemo with two sections, one in purple velvet for the doge, the other in red velvet for Venetian nobles. The historian Marino Sanuto the Younger, in his work De origine, situ et magistratibus urbis Venetae, on 6 May 1401, a law was passed to prohibit the doge from making private use of the bucentaur. Documents mention the construction of another bucentaur in 1449 larger than the 1311 one, the earliest known image of a bucentaur appeared in Jacopo de Barbaris monumental woodcut Pianta di Venezia which was published in 1500. This work pictured a bucentaur afloat in the Arsenale without oars or decoration save for a wooden sculpture of Justice in the bow
14.
Molo (monument)
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A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway between places separated by water. The word comes from Middle French mole, ultimately from Latin mōlēs, meaning a large mass, especially of rock, a mole may have a wooden structure built on top of it that resembles a wooden pier. The defining feature of a mole, however, is that water cannot freely flow underneath it, the oldest known mole is at Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor complex on the Red Sea. By extending the tracks the railroads could get beyond the mud flats. None of the four Bay Area moles survive today, although the causeway portions of each were incorporated into the filling in of large tracts of marshland for harbor and industrial development. The two concrete moles protecting the harbour at Dunkirk played a significant part in the evacuation of British. The harbour had been made unusable by German bombing and it was clear that troops were not going to be taken directly off the beaches fast enough, naval captain W. G. Tennant had been placed ashore to take charge of the navy shore parties and organise the evacuation. Tennant had what proved to be the highly successful idea of using the East Mole to take off troops, the moles had never been designed to dock ships, but despite this, the majority of troops rescued from Dunkirk were taken off in this way. Notable in antiquity was the Heptastadion, a giant mole built in the 3rd century BC in the city of Alexandria, Egypt to join the city to Pharos Island where the Pharos lighthouse stood. The Heptastadion is also believed to have served as an aqueduct while Pharos was inhabited, silting over the years resulted in the former dyke disappearing under several metres of accumulated silt and soil upon which the Ottomans built a town from 1517 onwards. Part of the city of Alexandria is now built on the site. When England acquired the north African city of Tangier as English Tangier in 1661, the English began building a mole to improve the harbour. The mole was planned to be 1,436 feet long and cost £340,000, and the harbour was to be 600 yd long,30 ft deep at low tide. Work began on the mole in August 1663 and continued for years under a succession of Governors. With an improved harbour the town would have played the role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy. A crippling blockade by the Jaysh al-Rifi finally forced the English to withdraw from Tangier in 1683, the King gave secret orders to abandon the city, level the fortifications, destroy the harbour, and evacuate the troops. Samuel Pepys was present at the evacuation and wrote an account of it, stone quaysides are sometimes called moles. A well-known example is the Molo in Venice and it is the site of the Doges Palace and two pillars which form a gateway to the sea
15.
Ascension Day
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The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, also known as Ascension Thursday, Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day, commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the feasts of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the day of Easter. The observance of this feast is of great antiquity, eusebius seems to hint at the celebration of it in the 4th century. At the beginning of the 5th century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, frequent mention of it is made in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles. It may be that prior to the 5th century the fact narrated in the Gospels was commemorated in conjunction with the feast of Easter or Pentecost, representations of the mystery are found in diptychs and frescoes dating as early as the 5th century. The Latin terms used for the feast, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by his own powers, in the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Communion, Holy Thursday is listed as another name for Ascension Day. In Western Christianity, the earliest possible date is April 30, in Roman Catholicism, the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation and in the Anglican Communion, Holy Thursday is a Principal Feast. The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days, and the previous Sunday — the Sixth Sunday of Easter — as Rogation Sunday. Ascension has a vigil and, since the 15th century, an octave, similarly, The United Methodist Church allows the traditional celebration on Holy Thursday to be moved to Sunday. This is in keeping with a trend to move Holy Days of Obligation from weekdays to Sunday, the decision to move a feast is made by the bishops of an ecclesiastical province, i. e. an archbishop and the neighbouring bishops. The U. S. ecclesiastical provinces which retain Thursday observance in 2009 are Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, when celebrated on Sunday, the earliest possible date is May 3, and the latest is June 6. Ascension is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year, the feast is always observed with an All-night vigil. The day before is the Apodosis of Easter, before the Vigil, the Paschal hours are said for the last time and the Paschal greeting is exchanged. The Paroemia at Vespers on the eve of the Feast are Isaiah 2, 2–3, Isaiah 62, 10–63,3,63, 7–9 and it is then put in the place reserved for it. The kontakion is sung, which announces, The megalynarion and irmos from Ode IX of the Canon is, At the Divine Liturgy, special antiphons are sung in place of Psalms 102 and 145 and the Beatitudes. The Epistle is Acts 1, 1–12, and the Gospel is Luke 24, Ascension Thursday also commemorates the Holy Georgian Martyrs of Persia. Ascension has an Afterfeast of eight days, the Sunday after Ascension is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea
16.
Luca Carlevarijs
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Luca Carlevarijs or Carlevaris was an Italian painter and engraver working mainly in Venice. He pioneered the genre of the cityscapes of Venice, a genre that was widely followed by artists such as Canaletto. He was also known as Luca Casanobrio or Luca di Ca Zenobri and he worked principally in Venice, where he also died. His daughter, Marianna Carlevarijs learned the art of portraiture from Rosalba Carriera. Here he was influenced by the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel, van Wittel was the pioneer of the genre of vedute of Rome. Carlevarijs then started to create vedute of Venice, which are among the earliest Baroque depictions of the city and he painted landscapes, sea-pieces and perspective views. His works included cityscapes with a topological interest as well as imaginary landscapes with ruins and he completed over a hundred etchings of views in Venice, which give an exact representation of the principal places in that city. The painters Canaletto, Francesco Guardi and Antonio Visentini are said to have influenced by his work or even have been his pupils. His paintings and his set of 104 etched views of Venice and he also collaborated with specialist figure painters who added the staffage into his landscapes or cityscapes. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical, york St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell and Sons. Media related to Luca Carlevarijs at Wikimedia Commons
17.
Cityscape
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In the visual arts a cityscape is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. It is the equivalent of a landscape. Townscape is roughly synonymous with cityscape, though it implies the same difference in urban size, in urban design the terms refer to the configuration of built forms and interstitial space. From the first century A. D. dates a fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome depicting a birds eye view of an ancient city, in the Middle Ages, cityscapes appeared as a background for portraits and biblical themes. From the 16th up to the 18th century numerous copperplate prints, the function of these prints was to provide a map-like overview. Halfway the 17th century the cityscape became an independent genre in the Netherlands, in his famous View of Delft in 1660-1661 Jan Vermeer painted a quite accurate portrait of the city Delft. Cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague also became subjects for paintings. Painters from other European countries followed the Dutch example, the 18th century was a flourishing period for cityscape painting in Venice. At the end of the 19th century the impressionists focused on the atmosphere, suburban and industrial areas, building sites and railway yards also became subjects for cityscapes. During the 20th century attention became focused on abstract and conceptual art, American painter Edward Hopper, who stayed loyal to figurative painting, created intriguing images of the American scene. With a revival of art at the end of the 20th century comes a revaluation of the cityscape. Well-known living cityscape painters are Rackstraw Downes, Antonio López García, American artist Yvonne Jacquette has made a specialty of aerial cityscapes. Stephen Wiltshire, a London born artist with autism, is known for his panoramic cityscape renderings composed from memory, gordon Cullen Landscape painting List of cities with most skyscrapers Skyline Veduta Media related to Cityscape paintings at Wikimedia Commons
18.
Lobkowicz Palace
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The Lobkowicz Palace is a part of the Prague Castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the privately owned building in the Prague Castle complex and houses the Lobkowicz Collections. The palace was built in the half of the 16th century by the Czech nobleman Jaroslav of Pernštejn and completed by his brother, Vratislav of Pernštejn. It was opened to the public for the first time on 2 April 2007 as the Lobkowicz Palace Museum. Vratislavs wife, Maria Maximiliana Manrique de Lara y Mendoza, brought the Infant Jesus of Prague statue, thought to have healing powers, from her homeland of Spain to the Palace. The statue was given by Vratislav and Maria Maximilianas daughter, Polyxena, to the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague. A replica of the Infant Jesus of Prague is on permanent display in the Lobkowicz Palace Museum, the Palace came into the Lobkowicz family through the marriage of Polyxena to Zdeněk Vojtěch, 1st Prince Lobkowicz. In 1618, Protestant rebels threw the Catholic Imperial Ministers from the windows of the Royal Palace at Prague Castle, surviving the fall, the ministers took refuge in Lobkowicz Palace, where they were protected from further assault by Polyxena. Following the defeat of the Protestant faction at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, Lobkowicz Palace took on a more formal, imperial role and functioned as the Prague residence when the family needed to be present at the seat of Bohemian power for political and ceremonial purposes. With the exception of the 63 years during which the property was confiscated and held by Nazi and then Communist authorities, in 1939, the occupying Nazi forces confiscated the Palace, along with all other Lobkowicz family properties. The Palace was returned in 1945, only to be seized again after the Communist takeover in 1948, for the next forty years, the Palace was used for a variety of purposes, including State offices and as a museum of Czech history. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the fall of the Communist government, President Václav Havel enacted a series of laws that allowed for the restitution of confiscated properties, following a twelve-year restitution process, the palace returned to the ownership of the Lobkowicz family in 2002. The 17th century baroque Concert Hall of the Lobkowicz Palace hosts regular concerts of music. After the Thirty Years War, the Palace underwent a number of significant changes, particularly under Václav Eusebius and he was responsible for the palace’s significant baroque alterations and some of its more lavishly decorated salons. Václav Eusebius redesigned the palace in the Italianate style, additional examples of the Italianate style are the Concert Hall and the Balcony Room, whose ceilings are adorned with elaborate painted stuccowork and frescoes by F. V. The alterations included the addition of the palaces panoramic balconies, despite the various alterations made through the years, remnants of original 16th-century murals and graffito work can still be seen in both of the interior courtyards. In 1907, Max Dvořák, a prominent member of the Vienna School of Art History, after the restitution laws in the early 1990s, the Lobkowicz family was able to reassemble most of the collection, subsequently making it available to the public for the first time. The three most prestigious artworks in the collection are Haymaking by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and two views of London by Canaletto
19.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
20.
Alessandro Marchesini
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Alessandro Marchesini was an Italian painter and art merchant of the late-Baroque and Rococo, active in Northern Italy and Venice. He first trained in Verona with Biagio Falcieri and then with Antonio Calza and he then moved to Bologna, to work in the studio of Carlo Cignani. He is described as gaining fame for his allegories with small figures and he painted in for the church of San Silvestro, Venice, and for the church of San Stefano, Verona. He is also remembered for recommending a young painter, Canaletto, to the Lucchese art collector Stefano Conti, stating that he was like Luca Carlevaris, among his pupils is Carlo Salis. Studi sopra la storia della pittura italiana dei secoli xiv e xv e della scuola pittorica, original from Oxford University Farquhar, Maria. Wornum, ed. Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters, woodfall & Kinder, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London. Media related to Alessandro Marchesini at Wikimedia Commons
21.
The Stonemason's Yard
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The Stonemasons Yard is an early oil painting by Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto. Painted in the mid to late 1720s, it is considered one of Canalettos finest works, several masons are at work shaping and carving stone probably destined for the reconstruction of the nearby church of San Vidal or possibly for the embellishment of a nearby palazzo. The mainly domestic buildings are generally in poor repair, with typical Venetian flared chimney-pots, laundry hangs from many of the windows, and pot plants stand on several balconies. A gondola with canopied cabin passes on the canal, with others moored on either bank, unsigned and undated, the painting is attributed and dated by stylistic clues. The informal scene is thought to have been painted for a Venetian patron, rather than a visitor to Venice. Unlike many views painted by Canaletto and his fellow vedutisti, the location has changed significantly since the 1720s. The view of the bank of the Grand Canal is now blocked by the high arch of the modern wooden Accademia bridge. The campanile fell down in the 1740s, demolishing the houses beside the canal in front, the nave became the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in the 1800s, and the Gallerie dellAccademia is housed in the Scuola. The Campo remains a space, with the well-head at its centre. The domestic building to the right remains standing, the Stonemasons Yard is a very early example of using Prussian blue in oil painting. Canaletto painted The Stonemasons Yard around 1725 while Prussian blue was discovered by Diesbach in 1704, amongst other pigments used by Canaletto in this painting were Naples yellow, lead white and ochres. The Stonemasons Yard was one of the paintings donated to the nation by Sir George Beaumont in 1823 to form the nucleus of the National Gallerys nascent collection and it passed to the National Gallery in 1828, where it continues to be exhibited. Canaletto, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on The Stonemasons Yard Canaletto, The Stonemasons Yard, ColourLex
22.
Camera obscura
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The surroundings of the projected image have to be relatively dark for the image to be clear, so many historical camera obscura experiments were performed in dark rooms. The term camera obscura also refers to constructions or devices that use of the principle within a box. Camerae obscurae with a lens in the opening have been used since the second half of the 16th century, before the term camera obscura was first used in 1604, many other expressions were used including cubiculum obscurum, cubiculum tenebricosum, conclave obscurum and locus obscurus. Rays of light travel in straight lines and change when they are reflected and partly absorbed by an object, retaining information about the color, lit objects reflect rays of light in all directions. The human eye itself works much like a camera obscura with an opening, a biconvex lens, a camera obscura device consists of a box, tent or room with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside, where the scene is reproduced, inverted and reversed. The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be traced to produce an accurate representation. In order to produce a reasonably clear projected image, the aperture has to be about 1/100th the distance to the screen, many camerae obscurae use a lens rather than a pinhole because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness while maintaining focus. As the pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper, with too small a pinhole, however, the sharpness worsens, due to diffraction. Using mirrors, as in an 18th-century overhead version, it is possible to project a right-side-up image, another more portable type is a box with an angled mirror projecting onto tracing paper placed on the glass top, the image being upright as viewed from the back. There are theories that occurrences of camera obscura effects inspired paleolithic cave paintings and it is also suggested that camera obscura projections could have played a role in Neolithic structures. Perforated gnomons projecting an image of the sun were described in the Chinese Zhoubi Suanjing writings. The location of the circle can be measured to tell the time of day. In Arab and European cultures its invention was later attributed to Egyptian astronomer. Some ancient sightings of gods and spirits, especially in worship, are thought to possibly have been conjured up by means of camera obscura projections. In these writings it is explained how the image in a collecting-point or treasure house is inverted by an intersecting point that collected the light. Light coming from the foot of a person would partly be hidden below. Rays from the head would partly be hidden above and partly form the part of the image
23.
Doge's Palace, Venice
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The Doges Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the authority of the former Republic of Venice. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. In 810, Doge Angelo Partecipazio moved the seat of government from the island of Malamocco to the area of the present-day Rialto, when it was decided a palatium duci, a ducal palace, should be built. However, no remains of that 9th-century building as the palace was partially destroyed in the 10th century by a fire. The following reconstruction works were undertaken at the behest of Doge Sebastiano Ziani, a great reformer, he would drastically change the entire layout of the St. The new palace was built out of fortresses, one façade to the Piazzetta, political changes in the mid-13th century led to the need to re-think the palaces structure due to the considerable increase in the number of the Great Councils members. The new Gothic palaces constructions started around 1340, focusing mostly on the side of the building facing the lagoon, in 1483, a violent fire broke out in the side of the palace overlooking the canal, where the Doges Apartments were. Once again, an important reconstruction became necessary and was commissioned from Antonio Rizzo, another huge fire in 1547 destroyed some of the rooms on the second floor, but fortunately without undermining the structure as a whole. However, there are some classical features — for example, since the 16th century, as well as being the ducal residence, the palace housed political institutions of the Republic of Venice until the Napoleonic occupation of the city in 1797, when its role inevitably changed. Venice was subjected first to French rule, then to Austrian, over this period, the palace was occupied by various administrative offices as well as housing the Biblioteca Marciana and other important cultural institutions within the city. In 1923, the Italian State, owner of the building, since 1996, the Doge’s Palace has been part of the Venetian museums network, which has been under the management of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia since 2008. The ground floor arcade and the loggia above are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century capitals, in 1438–1442, Giovanni Bon and Bartolomeo Bon built and adorned the Porta della Carta, which served as the ceremonial entrance to the building. In the space above the cornice, there is a portrait of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the St. This is, however, a 19th-century work by Luigi Ferrari, nowadays, the public entrance to the Doges Palace is via the Porta del Frumento, on the waterfront side of the building. The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and St, mark’s Basilica, which used to be the Doge’s chapel. At the center of the courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century, in 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. Since 1567, the Giants’ Staircase is guarded by Sansovino’s two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represents Venice’s power by land and by sea, members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator’s Courtyard, to the right of the Giants’ Staircase
24.
Impressionism
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Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The Impressionists faced harsh opposition from the art community in France. The development of Impressionism in the arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that became known as impressionist music. Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting and they constructed their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugène Delacroix and J. M. W. Turner. They also painted scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were painted in a studio. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air, the Impressionists, however, developed new techniques specific to the style. The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressionists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the art critics and art establishment disapproved of the new style. In the middle of the 19th century—a time of change, as Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt Paris, the Académie was the preserver of traditional French painting standards of content and style. Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued, landscape, the Académie preferred carefully finished images that looked realistic when examined closely. Paintings in this style were made up of brush strokes carefully blended to hide the artists hand in the work. Colour was restrained and often toned down further by the application of a golden varnish, the Académie had an annual, juried art show, the Salon de Paris, and artists whose work was displayed in the show won prizes, garnered commissions, and enhanced their prestige. The standards of the juries represented the values of the Académie, represented by the works of artists as Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the early 1860s, four young painters—Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and they discovered that they shared an interest in painting landscape and contemporary life rather than historical or mythological scenes. A favourite meeting place for the artists was the Café Guerbois on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, where the discussions were led by Édouard Manet. They were soon joined by Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, during the 1860s, the Salon jury routinely rejected about half of the works submitted by Monet and his friends in favour of works by artists faithful to the approved style. In 1863, the Salon jury rejected Manets The Luncheon on the Grass primarily because it depicted a woman with two clothed men at a picnic. While the Salon jury routinely accepted nudes in historical and allegorical paintings, the jurys severely worded rejection of Manets painting appalled his admirers, and the unusually large number of rejected works that year perturbed many French artists
25.
2012 Nazi loot discovery
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The apartment was rented to Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of celebrated art historian and dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, and grandson of the art historian Cornelius Gurlitt. Some of the paintings were immediately suspected of having been looted by the Nazis during the Second World War, the collection is largely undamaged and of remarkable quality. Although German authorities seized the entire collection, Gurlitt was not detained, not until 3 November 2013 did the magazine Focus report the find. News of this extraordinary discovery provoked a worldwide sensation, Gurlitt initially refused to cooperate with German investigators. He retained several dozen additional suspect paintings, kept not in Munich but in his home in Salzburg, however, Gurlitt died only a month later, on 6 May 2014. In the 1920s and early 1930s, art collector Hildebrand Gurlitt held a number of positions within the German art, in 1930, he was removed as director of the museum in Zwickau because he exhibited contemporary artists. After the Nazis came to power, he was stripped of another job as a museum director because one of his grandmothers was a Jew and he subsequently moved the family to Dresden and built a prosperous business as an art dealer, specializing in modern art. Hildebrand was appointed as a dealer for the Führermuseum in Linz, on instructions from Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring personally appointed a Commission for the Exploitation of Degenerate Art. The Commission in turn appointed a series of dealers approved by the official Nazi confiscation service, four men who had been dealing in modern art for years were chosen, Karl Buchholz, Ferdinand Möller, Bernhard A. Böhmer and Hildebrand Gurlitt. They were instructed to sell these artworks abroad for foreign currency, hildebrands extensive network of European and North American art contacts proved invaluable. Göring used the funds raised to grow his personal art collection, among the works of so-called degenerate art that the Commission sold off were many paintings stolen from noted French art dealer Paul Rosenberg. Hildebrand acquired an additional 115 works of art in the same way in 1941. It is estimated that, at his height, he had a personal trading collection of more than 1,500 art objects. Gurlitt used his position to sell art to domestic collectors, most notably to Bernhard Sprengel and he claimed that most of his collection and all of his records had been destroyed at his home in Kaitzer Straße during the bombing of Dresden in February 1945. Hildebrand was specifically questioned only about the origins of some 200 paintings whose owners had been French and he stated that he had legally acquired them between 1942 and 1944 from a French art dealer in Paris. Hildebrand painted himself as a victim of Nazi persecution due to his Jewish heritage, still suspicious of his story, the U. S. Army investigated further, but nonetheless returned 206 items to Gurlitt on 15 December 1950. These included Max Liebermanns Two Riders On The Beach, Otto Dixs self-portrait, a painting by Marc Chagall,112 further paintings,19 drawings. Hildebrand Gurlitt continued trading artworks until his death in a car crash in 1956, since the reporting limit is €10,000, the sum in Gurlitts possession was perfectly legal
26.
Northumberland House
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It stood at the far western end of the Strand from around 1605 until demolished in 1874. In its later years it overlooked Trafalgar Square, in the 16th century the Strand, which connects the City of London with the royal centre of Westminster, was lined with the mansions of some of Englands richest prelates and noblemen. Most of the grandest houses were on the side of the road and had gardens stretching down to the River Thames. In around 1605 Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton cleared a site at Charing Cross on the site of a convent and built himself a mansion, the Strand facade was 162 feet wide and the depth of the house was marginally greater. It had a central courtyard and turrets in each corner. Many of these apartments were reached from external doors in the courtyard in the manner still seen at Oxbridge colleges, the exterior was embellished with classical ornament in the loose way of ambitious Jacobean buildings. The most striking feature was the elaborate four storey carved stone gateway fronting the Strand. The garden was 160 feet wide and over 300 feet long, regular alterations were made over the next two centuries in response to changes in fashion and to make the layout more convenient for the lifestyle of the day. John Webb was employed from 1657 to 1660 to relocate the familys living accommodation from the Strand front to the garden front, in the 1740s and 1750s the Strand front was largely reconstructed and two wings were added which projected from the ends of the garden front at right angles. These were over 100 feet long and contained a ballroom and a picture gallery, the style of the new interiors was late palladian and the architects were Daniel Garrett until his death in 1753, and then the better known James Paine. In the mid-1760s Robert Mylne was employed to reface the courtyard in stone, in the 1770s Robert Adam was commissioned to redecorate the state rooms on the garden front. The Glass Drawing Room at Northumberland House was one of his most celebrated interiors, part of the Strand front had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1780. In 1819 Thomas Cundy rebuilt the front five feet further south as the wall was unstable. By the mid 19th century all of the mansions on the Strand had been demolished. The area was largely commercial and was not a place to live. After a fire, which caused damage, the Duke eventually accepted an offer of £500,000 in 1866. Northumberland House was demolished and Northumberland Avenue was constructed in its place, one of the largest buildings on Northumberland Avenue was a 500 bedroom hotel called the Victoria Hotel. During the Second World War, it was taken over by the Government for use by the Ministry of Defence and this new Northumberland House was left empty for several years until it was purchased by the Wellcome Trust
27.
Grand Tour
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The custom flourished from about 1660, until the advent of large-scale rail transport in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as a rite of passage. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills, in addition, it provided the only opportunity to view specific works of art, and possibly the only chance to hear certain music. A Grand Tour could last from months to several years. It was commonly undertaken in the company of a Cicerone, a guide or tutor. The legacy of the Grand Tour lives on to the day and is still evident in works of travel. In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholars pilgrimage nor a one, though a pleasurable stay in Venice. Catholic Grand Tourists followed the routes as Protestant Whigs. Pompeo Batoni made a career of painting English milordi posed with graceful ease among Roman antiquities, many continued on to Naples, where they viewed Herculaneum and Pompeii, but few ventured far into southern Italy or Malta, and fewer still to Greece, still under Turkish rule. Rome for many centuries had been the goal of pilgrims, especially during Jubilee when they visited the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. This is partly because he asked Inigo Jones, not yet established as an architect but already known as a traveller and masque designer. Larger numbers of tourists began their tours after the Peace of Münster in 1648, lasselss introduction listed four areas in which travel furnished an accomplished, consummate Traveller, the intellectual, the social, the ethical, and the political. The idea of travelling for the sake of curiosity and learning was an idea in the 17th century. Thus, one could use up the environment, taking from it all it offers, travel, therefore, was necessary for one to develop the mind and expand knowledge of the world. Consciously adapted for intellectual self-improvement, Gibbon was revisiting the Continent on a larger and more liberal plan, the typical 18th-century sentiment was that of the studious observer travelling through foreign lands reporting his findings on human nature for those unfortunate enough to have stayed home. Recounting ones observations to society at large to increase its welfare was considered an obligation, the Grand Tour offered a liberal education, and the opportunity to acquire things otherwise unavailable at home, lending an air of accomplishment and prestige to the traveller. The trappings of the Grand Tour, especially portraits of the traveller painted in iconic continental settings, became the obligatory emblems of worldliness, gravitas, the less well-off could return with an album of Piranesi etchings. The perhaps in Gibbons opening remark cast a shadow over his resounding statement
28.
Getty Museum
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The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in California housed on two campuses, the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and is the location of the museum. The collection features Western art from the Middle Ages to the present and its estimated 1.3 million visitors annually make it one of the most visited museums in the United States. The museums second location, the Getty Villa, is in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and displays art from ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. In 1974, J. Paul Getty opened a museum in a re-creation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum on his property in Pacific Palisades, in 1982, the museum became the richest in the world when it inherited US$1.2 billion. In 1997, the moved to its current location in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Detailed information about the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collections is provided on GettyGuide, at the GettyGuide stations in the Museum, visitors can get information about exhibitions, interact with a timeline, watch videos on art-making techniques, and more. Also available at the Museum, the GettyGuide multimedia player features commentary from curators and conservators on many works of art, with GettyGuide on the Web, one may browse the Museum’s collection and bookmark works of art to create a customized tour and printable map. In 1984, Frel was demoted, and in 1986, he resigned, the Getty is involved in a controversy regarding proper title to some of the artwork in its collection. The museums previous curator of antiquities, Marion True, was indicted in Italy in 2005 on criminal charges relating to trafficking in stolen antiquities, similar charges have been addressed by the Greek authorities. The primary evidence in the case came from the 1995 raid of a Geneva, Switzerland, in 2005 True was forced to tender her resignation by the Board of Trustees, which announced her early retirement. Italy allowed the statute of limitations of the charges filed against her to expire in October 2010, True is currently under investigation by Greek authorities over the acquisition of a 2, 500-year-old funerary wreath. The wreath, along with a 6th-century BC statue of a woman, have returned to Greece and are exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The Getty Museum resisted the requests of the Italian government for two decades, only to admit later that there might be problems attached to the acquisition. In 2006, Italian senior cultural official Giuseppe Proietti said, The negotiations havent made a step forward. Only after he suggested the Italian government to take cultural sanctions against the Getty, suspending all cultural cooperation, in another unrelated case in 1999, the Getty Museum had to hand over three antiquities to Italy after determining they were stolen. A Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum was published in 2001, indeed, some discrete works are provided with annotations, e. g. In 2016, the head of the Greek god Hades was returned to Sicily
29.
Westminster Bridge
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Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted green, the same colour as the leather seats in the House of Commons which is on the side of the Palace of Westminster nearest to the bridge. This is in contrast to Lambeth Bridge, which is red, in 2005–2007, it underwent a complete refurbishment, including replacing the iron fascias and repainting the whole bridge. It links the Palace of Westminster on the west side of the river with County Hall, the next bridge downstream is the Hungerford footbridge and upstream is Lambeth Bridge. Westminster Bridge was designated a Grade II* listed structure in 1981, for over 600 years, the nearest bridge to London Bridge was at Kingston. A bridge at Westminster was proposed in 1664, but opposed by the Corporation of London, despite further opposition in 1722, and after a new timber bridge was built at Putney in 1729, the scheme received parliamentary approval in 1736. Financed by private capital, lotteries and grants, Westminster Bridge was built between 1739–1750, under the supervision of the Swiss engineer Charles Labelye, the City of London responded to Westminster Bridge by removing the buildings on London Bridge and widening it in 1760–63. The City also commenced work on the Blackfriars Bridge, which opened in 1769, other bridges from that time include Kew Bridge, Battersea Bridge, and Richmond Bridge. The bridge was required for traffic from the expanding West End to the developing South London as well as to south coast ports, without the bridge, traffic from the West End would have to negotiate the congested routes to London Bridge such as the Strand and New Oxford Street. Roads south of the river were also improved, including the junction at the Elephant & Castle in Southwark, by the mid–19th century the bridge was subsiding badly and expensive to maintain. The current bridge was designed by Thomas Page and opened on 24 May 1862, with a length of 820 feet and a width of 85 feet, it is a seven-arch, cast-iron bridge with Gothic detailing by Charles Barry. It is the oldest road bridge across the Thames in central London, on 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack started on the bridge and continued into Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard. Five people - three pedestrians, one officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. A colleague of the officer was armed and shot the attacker, more than 50 people were injured. An investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police, in the 2002 British horror film 28 Days Later, the protagonist awakes from a coma to find London deserted and walks over an eerily empty Westminster Bridge whilst looking for signs of life. Westminster Bridge is the start and finish point for the Bridges Handicap Race, william Wordsworth wrote the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3,1802. In the finale of the 24th James Bond film Spectre, Blofelds helicopter crashes into Westminster Bridge, Westminster Bridge at Structurae Westminster Bridge at Structurae Interactive Panorama, Westminster Bridge
30.
War of the Austrian Succession
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The War of the Austrian Succession involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresas succession to the Habsburg Monarchy. The war included King Georges War in British America, the War of Jenkins Ear, the First Carnatic War in India, the Jacobite rising of 1745 in Scotland, and the First and Second Silesian Wars. Austria was supported by Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, the enemies of France, as well as the Kingdom of Sardinia. France and Prussia were allied with the Electorate of Bavaria, the war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, by which Maria Theresa was confirmed as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, but Prussia retained control of Silesia. But the peace was soon to be shattered, when Austrias desire to recapture Silesia intertwined with the political changes in Europe. In 1740, after the death of her father, Charles VI, Maria Theresa succeeded him as Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria and Duchess of Parma. The complications involved in a female Habsburg ruler had been long foreseen, problems began when King Frederick II of Prussia violated the Pragmatic Sanction and invaded Silesia on 16 December 1740, using the 1537 Treaty of Brieg as a pretext. For much of the century, France approached its wars in the same way. It would let its colonies defend themselves, or would offer only minimal help, similarly, several long land borders made an effective domestic army imperative for any ruler of France. At the end of the war, France gave back its European conquests, the British—by inclination as well as for pragmatic reasons—had tended to avoid large-scale commitments of troops on the Continent. For the War of the Austrian Succession, the British were allied with Austria, by the time of the Seven Years War, they were allied with its enemy, Prussia. In marked contrast to France, Britain strove to prosecute the war in the colonies once it became involved in the war. The British pursued a strategy of naval blockade and bombardment of enemy ports. They would harass enemy shipping and attack enemy outposts, frequently using colonists from nearby British colonies in the effort and this plan worked better in North America than in Europe, but set the stage for the Seven Years War. Prince Frederick had been only 28 years of age on 31 May 1740 when his father, Frederick William I died, neither Frederick nor his father had ever been fond of Austria and its various snubs against Prussia. Emperor Charles VI had made provision for the succession of his daughter, in support of his invasion of Silesia, Frederick also used a questionable interpretation of a treaty between the Hohenzollerns and the Piasts of Brieg as pretext. In particular, Frederick feared that Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was preparing to seize Silesia for himself to unite Saxony and Poland. The only recent combat experience of the Prussian Army was their participation in the War of the Polish Succession, accordingly, the Prussian Army had an uninspiring reputation and was counted as one of the many minor armies of the Holy Roman Empire
31.
Capriccio (painting)
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It falls under the more general term of landscape painting. The term is used for other artworks with an element of fantasy. These architectural elements gained prominence in 17th century painting to become subjects of easel paintings. Early practitioners of the genre who made the popular in mid-17th century Rome included Alessandro Salucci. The quadratture frescoes of Agostino Tassi and the views of Claude Lorrain and Herman van Swanevelt. This genre was perfected by Marco Ricci but its best-known proponent was the artist Giovanni Paolo Pannini and this style was extended in the 1740s by Canaletto in his etched vedute ideali, and works by Piranesi and his imitators. Later examples include Charles Robert Cockerells A Tribute to Sir Christopher Wren and A Professors Dream, the artist Carl Laubin has painted a number of modern capriccios in homage to these works. The term can be used broadly for other works with a strong element of fantasy. No individual titles help to explain these works, mood and style are everything, a later series was called Scherzi di fantasia – Fantastic Sketches. His son Domenico Tiepolo was among those who imitated these prints and they take Tiepolos format of a group of figures, now drawn from contemporary Spanish life, and are a series of savage satires and comments on its absurdity, only partly explicated by short titles. Media related to Capriccios at Wikimedia Commons
32.
Old Walton Bridge
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Old Walton Bridge is the name given to the first Walton Bridge built across the River Thames between Walton-on-Thames and Shepperton in Surrey, England. The wooden bridge was completed in 1750, was painted by Canaletto and stood until 1783 when, in decay, it was dismantled to make way for a stone-clad brickwork replacement, later painted by Turner. Construction of the bridge by a Mr White of Weybridge was started in 1748 and was completed in 1750, the construction was paid for by Samuel Dicker who was the MP for Plymouth and owned property in Walton on Thames. By paying for its construction Dicker also obtained the right to collect tolls from users of the bridge under the statute, first constructed between 1749 and 1750, this bridge still stands, although it has been rebuilt twice, most recently in 1905. The Old Walton Bridge was supported by four stone piers connected by three arches built of wooden beams and joists. The span of the arch was 130 feet, at the time the widest unsupported span in England. The other two arches were each 44 feet, though Dicker later suggested that the design would have allowed for side spans of 70 ft or more. Away from the water were five further small brickwork arches on each side of the river, on the strength of their success with Walton Bridge Etheridge and Dicker put forward two proposals for a bridge at Blackfriars, one for building in stone and the other in timber. The stone-built proposal was accepted but several changes to Etheridges design lead to him leaving the project before it was completed, although considered an impressive feat of engineering at the time of its construction, the bridge stood for only 33 years. Dicker died in London in 1760 and his estates in the area were sold, the bridge passed to his nephew, Michael Dicker Sanders, but he found it difficult to meet the costs of its upkeep. Canaletto spent time in England between 1746 and 1755, mostly in London, but at some time after 1750 he travelled out to Walton to produce a painting of the bridge. He had previously depicted one of Etherbridges constructions in 1747 as the span of The City Seen Through an Arch of Westminster Bridge. Normally the figures populating his landscapes were anonymous, but his painting of the bridge is unusual because the identities of several of the figures are known. It is likely that Hollis selected the image from a sketch in Canalettos portfolio, to Hollis right is Thomas Brand, his lifelong friend and heir. Further to the right, dressed in livery, is Hollis servant, Francesco Giovannini. Seated a little distance from the group on the left is an artist thought to be Canaletto himself. In the river a ship is lowering its sail in order to pass under the bridge, the painting is normally kept by the Dulwich Picture Gallery. A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, conservation of Bridges, A Guide to Good Practice
33.
Westminster Abbey
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It is one of the United Kingdoms most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral, since 1560, however, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England Royal Peculiar—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the abbey church. According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site in the 7th century, at the time of Mellitus, construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have held in Westminster Abbey. There have been at least 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100, two were of reigning monarchs, although, before 1919, there had been none for some 500 years. The first reports of the abbey are based on a tradition claiming that a young fisherman called Aldrich on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the gifts of salmon from Thames fishermen that the abbey received in later years, in the present was, the Fishmongers Company still gives a salmon every year. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peters Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style, the building was completed around 1090 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edwards death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church, and, nine years later and his successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. The only extant depiction of Edwards abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry, construction of the present church was begun in 1245 by Henry III who selected the site for his burial. The abbot and monks, in proximity to the royal Palace of Westminster, the abbot often was employed on royal service and in due course took his place in the House of Lords as of right. The abbey built shops and dwellings on the west side, encroaching upon the sanctuary, the abbey became the coronation site of Norman kings. The Confessors shrine subsequently played a part in his canonisation. The work continued between 1245 and 1517 and was finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of Richard II. Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar, Henry VII added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503. Much of the came from Caen, in France, the Isle of Portland
34.
Knights of the Bath
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The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for appointing a knight. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath, George I erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order. Prior to 1815, the order had only a class, Knight Companion. Recipients of the Order are now usually senior officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the Queen and foreign nationals may be made Honorary Members, in the Middle Ages, knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the taking a bath during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry, clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel where he spent the night in a vigil. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until it was fully daylight, in the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661. From at least 1625, and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria iuncta in uno, and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval. These were both adopted by the Order of the Bath, a similar design of badge is still worn by members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not entirely clear, the three joined in one may be a reference to the kingdoms of England, Scotland and either France or Ireland, which were held by English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge, another explanation of the motto is that it refers to the Holy Trinity. The prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, the Court remained the centre of the political world. The King was limited in that he had to choose Ministers who could command a majority in Parliament, the leader of an administration still had to command the Kings personal confidence and approval. A strong following in Parliament depended on being able to supply places, pensions, the attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political position
35.
George Vertue
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George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martins-in-the-Fields, London, his father, perhaps a tailor, at the age of 13, he was apprenticed to a prominent heraldic engraver of French origin who became bankrupt and returned to France. Vertue worked seven years under Michael Vandergucht, before operating independently and he was amongst the first members of Godfrey Knellers London Academy of Painting, who had employed him to engrave portraits. It was there that he became a pupil of Thomas Gibson, Vertue had a deep interest in antiquarian research, and much of his labour was given to this subject. From 1713 on, Vertue was a researcher on details of the history of British art. He was a member of the Rose and Crown Club, with William Hogarth, Peter Tillemans and other artists and connoisseurs and his travels to sites across England, with enthusiasts such as Edward Harley, Lord Coleraine and others, were recorded in Vertues highly detailed drawings and notes. In 1717 he was appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. Most of the illustrations in Vetusta Monumenta, up to his date of death, are his work, after the death of the Earl of Oxford in 1741, Vertue was patronised by the Duchess of Portland and others. The Duke of Norfolk commissioned a work after Van Dyck of the Earl of Arundel and he produced a catalogue detailing the collections of the royal family, at the request of Frederick, Prince of Wales, an avid buyer of the engravers work. A portrait of Vertue was painted in 1715 by Gibson, his widow donated this to The Society of Antiquaries, Vertue had produced an engraving of this. A later painting, of the artist aged around 50, by Jonathan Richardson was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, another self-portrait, with his wife on their wedding-day, was etched by William Humphrey. Richardson also drew the profile used in James Basires plate in Nicholss Literary Anecdotes, Vertue died in London on 24 July 1756 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Vertues brother James was an artist in Bath who produced the view of the abbey that was engraved by him. The second of his three brothers, Peter, was a master of Chelmsford. Approximately five hundred portraits are attributed to Vertue, a number of published plates were devoted to antiquarian subjects. Many of the portraits were printed as frontispieces, most are regarded as accurate representations of the subject, twelve Heads of Poets, set of plates issued 1730 Rapins History of England, Knapton Brothers edition,1736. A task that took three years, the same publisher commissioned plates for Thomas Birchs Heads of Illustrious Persons, though his contribution is submerged by the popularity of Houbrakens brilliant but less truthful productions. The copperplates of these were acquired by the Society of Antiquaries and his publications include A Description of the Works of Wenceslaus Hollar,1745, and Medals, Coins, Great Seals, Impressions from the Works of Thomas Simon,1753
36.
Venetian Academy
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The Gallerie dellAccademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the bank of the Grand Canal. The two institutions remained in the building until 2004, when the art school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili. The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded on 24 September 1750, the first director was Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Gianbattista Tiepolo became the first president after his return from Würzburg. It was one of the first institutions to study art restoration starting in 1777 with Pietro Edwards, in 1807 the academy was re-founded by Napoleonic decree. The collections of the Accademia were first opened to the public on 10 August 1817, the Gallerie dellAccademia became independent from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in 1879. Like other state museums in Italy, it falls under the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Napoleonic administration had disbanded many institutions in Venice including some churches, convents and Scuole. The Scuola della Carità, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi and the church of Santa Maria della Carità thus became the home of the Accademia. The Scuola della Carità was the oldest of the six Scuole Grandi, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi was started in 1561 by Andrea Palladio, though it was never fully completed. The facade of Santa Maria della Carità was completed in 1441 by Bartolomeo Bon, the Gallerie dell’Accademia contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic displays are evident. Media related to Gallerie dellAccademia at Wikimedia Commons
37.
Venetian Arsenal
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The Venetian Arsenal is a complex of former shipyards and armories clustered together in the city of Venice in northern Italy. Owned by the state, the Arsenal was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republics naval power during the part of the second millennium AD. It was one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprises in history, construction of the Arsenal began around 1104, during Venices republican era. It became the largest industrial complex in Europe before the Industrial Revolution, spanning an area of about 45 hectares, surrounded by a 2-mile rampart, laborers and shipbuilders regularly worked within the Arsenal, building ships that sailed from the citys port. These parts could then be assembled into a ship in as little as one day, an exclusive forest owned by the Arsenal navy, in the Montello hills area of Veneto, provided the Arsenals wood supply. It is located in the Castello district of Venice, and it is now owned by the state and it definitely existed by the early 13th century. Initially the state dockyard worked merely to maintain privately built naval ships and it enabled all the states navy and the larger merchant ships to be both constructed and maintained in one place. The Arsenal incidentally became an important center for manufacture. Venice developed methods of mass-producing warships in the Arsenal, including the frame-first system to replace the Roman hull-first practice and this new system was much faster and required less wood. The muzzle velocity of handguns was improved beyond that of the crossbow, the Arsenals main gate, the Porta Magna, was built around 1460 and was the first Classical revival structure built in Venice. It was perhaps built by Antonio Gambello from a design by Jacopo Bellini, two lions taken from Greece situated beside it were added in 1687. One of the lions, known as the Piraeus Lion, has runic defacements carved in it by invading Scandinavian mercenaries during the 11th century, in the late 16th century, the Arsenals designers experimented with larger ships as platforms for heavy naval guns. The largest was the galleass, already used at the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Turks and it was huge, propelled by both sails and oars, with guns mounted on wheeled carriages along the sides in the modern fashion. It was slow and unwieldy in battle, however, and few were ever built, the galleon, also developed at the Arsenal, was an armed sailing ship, a slimmer version of the merchant round ship. It was useful in naval battles, but not in the small bays. Significant parts of the Arsenal were destroyed under Napoleonic rule, and it is also used as a research center and an exhibition venue during the Venice Biennale, and is home to a historic boat preservation center. The Arsenal was something different, a harbinger of future times, the Venetian Arsenal was not the mass production facility that it was to be until about 1320 with the creation of the Arsenale Nuovo. The Arsenale Nuovo was simply a larger and more efficient version of the original, prior to this time the Arsenal had served mainly as a place to maintain privately built ships
38.
Bernardo Bellotto
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Bernardo Bellotto, also called Canaletto, was an Italian urban landscape painter or vedutista, and printmaker in etching famous for his vedute of European cities. He was the pupil and nephew of Canaletto and sometimes used the latters illustrious name, in Germany and Poland, Bellotto called himself by his uncles name, Canaletto. Bellottos style was characterized by elaborate representation of architectural and natural vistas and it is plausible that Bellotto, and other Venetian masters of vedute, may have used the camera obscura in order to achieve superior precision of urban views. Bellotto was born in Venice, the son of Lorenzo Antonio Bellotto and Fiorenza Canal, sister of the famous Canaletto, in 1742 he moved to Rome, where he produced vedute of that city. In 1744 and 1745 he traveled northern Italy, again depicting vedute of each city, among others, he worked for Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy. From 1747 to 1758 he moved to Dresden, following an invitation from King August III of Poland and he created paintings of the cities Dresden and Pirna and their surroundings. Today these paintings preserve a memory of Dresdens former beauty, which was destroyed by bombing during World War II and his international reputation grew, and in 1758 he accepted an invitation from Empress Maria Theresa to come to Vienna, where he painted views of the citys monuments. In 1761 Bellotto left Vienna for Munich, where he spent almost a year, in a letter to her cousin Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Empress Maria Theresia had praised Bellottos artistic achievements at the Viennese court. Logically, he was commissioned works by the family of Bavaria. He painted a view of Munich and two vedute of Nymphenburg Palace for the elector of Bavaria. At the end of 1761, Bellotto returned to Dresden, when King August III of Poland, also an Elector of Saxony, who usually lived in Dresden, died in 1763, Bellottos work became less important in Dresden. As a consequence, he left Dresden to seek employment in Saint Petersburg at the court of Catherine II of Russia. On his way to Saint Petersburg, however, Bellotto accepted an invitation in 1764 from Polands newly elected King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski to become his court painter in Warsaw from 1768, Maria Maggiore and in private collections. His colouring is colder and characterized by a steely grey, Bellotto created a school of painting which was later continued and developed by Zygmunt Vogel and Marcin Zaleski. Bernardo Bellotto died in Warsaw in 1780 and was buried in Capuchin Church at Miodowa Street and his younger brother was named Pietro Bellotto and after collaborating with Canaletto and his brother, moved to France, where he was known as le Sieur Canalety and Pietro Bellotti di Caneletty. The brother was also referred to as Belloti, Belloty, Beloty, Bernardo Bellotto and His Circle in Italy. Part I, Not Canaletto but Bellotto, belotto Bernardo, zwany Canaletto, Encyklopedia Polski, p.42. STEPHANE LOIRE, HANNA MALACHOWICZ, KRZYSTOF POMIAN, ANDRZEJ ROTTERMUND, Bernardo Bellotto, Un pittore veneziano a Varsavia
39.
Francesco Guardi
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Francesco Lazzaro Guardi was an Italian painter of veduta, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, in the early part of his career he collaborated with his older brother Gian Antonio in the production of religious paintings. After Gian Antonios death in 1760, Francesco concentrated on veduta, the earliest of these show the influence of Canaletto, but he gradually adopted a looser style characterized by spirited brush-strokes and freely imagined architecture. Francesco Guardi was born in Venice into a family of nobility from Trentino and his father Domenico and his brothers Niccolò and Gian Antonio were also painters, later inheriting the family workshop after the fathers death in 1716. They probably all contributed as a team to some of the larger commissions later attributed to Francesco and his sister Maria Cecilia married the pre-eminent Veneto-European painter of his epoch, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. In 1735, Guardi moved to the workshop of Michele Marieschi and his first certain works are from 1738, for a parish at Vigo dAnuania, in Trentino. In this period he worked alongside his brother, Gian Antonio. The first work signed by Francesco is a Saint Adoring the Eucarist and his works in this period included both landscapes and figure compositions. His early vedutas show influence both from Canaletto and Luca Carlevarijs, on February 15,1757, he married Maria Mattea Pagani, the daughter of painter Matteo Pagani. In 1760 his brother Gian Antonio died and his first son and his second son, Giacomo, was born in 1764. In 1763 he worked in Murano, in the church of San Pietro Martire, Francesco Guardis most important later works include the Doges Feasts, a series of twelve canvases celebrating the ceremonies held in 1763 for the election of Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo. In his later years, Canalettos influence on his art diminished, in circa 1778, he painted the severe Holy Trinity Appearing to Sts. Peter and Paul in the church of Roncegno. In 1782 Guardi was commissioned by the Venetian government six canvases to celebrate the visit of the Russian Archdukes in the city, on September 12 of that year he was admitted to the Fine Art Academy of Venice. A stronger attention to colours is present in works such as the Concerto of 80 Orphans of 1782, now in Munich. Guardi died at Campiello de la Madona in Cannaregio in 1793, to quote from the Web Gallery of Art, Perspective, organized aerial space, the Palladian solidity of Tiepolo. Are exchanged for a style of coloured handwriting - now brilliantly calligraphic. Guardis painterly style is known as pittura di tocco for its small dotting and this looser style of painting had been used by Giovanni Piazzetta and Sebastiano Ricci, and recalls, in some religious themes, the sweetened sfumato of Baroccis Bolognese style
40.
Michele Marieschi
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Michele Marieschi or Michele Giovanni Marieschi, also Michiel, also known as Michiel, was an Italian painter and engraver. He is mainly known for his landscapes and cityscapes, or views and he also created architectural paintings, which reveal his interest in stage design. Marieschi was born in Venice in 1710 as the son of a woodcarver, according to his biography in Pellegrino Antonio Orlandis Abecedario Pittorico, published in Venice in 1753, he spent some time in Germany, where he may have worked as a stage designer. He returned to Venice in about 1735, under the influence of Marco Ricci and Luca Carlevarijs and encouraged by the success of Canaletto in the genre, he started to create capricci and vedute. Between 1735 and 1741 he was registered in the Venetian Fraglia de Pittori, one of Marieschis sponsors at his wedding in 1737 was Gaspare Diziani. Although he initially produced capricci, he painted more topographically accurate vedute. One of his patrons was the noted collector Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, michael Levey contrasts Marieschis style with Canalettos, noting that Marieschis use of paint is livelier and fresher. Links, J. G. Canaletto and his Patrons, Michiel Marieschi with Catalogue of the Etchings. Media related to Michele Marieschi at Wikimedia Commons www. artistarchive. com A catalogue of the 21 plates from Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus, Canaletto, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Marieschi
41.
Giuseppe Moretti
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Giuseppe Moretti was an Italian émigré sculptor who became known in America for his public monuments in bronze and marble. Most notable among his works is Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama, on a personal level, Moretti was known for his eclectic personality and for always wearing a green tie, but professionally, is claimed to be the first man to use aluminum in art. Moretti enjoyed some celebrity in his lifetime, and was a friend of famed Italian tenor Enrico Caruso and it is even reported that the singer repeatedly praised Morettis voice. Giuseppe Moretti was born in Siena, Italy, on 3 February 1857, the nephew of Vincenzo Cardinal Moretti, a noted art patron. He began studying marble sculpting at the age of 9 with the monks of San Domenico and with sculptor Tito Serrochi, Morettis precocious nature is emphasized in an anecdote about his early fascination with becoming an artist. Apparently aware that distant Florence was the nexus of Italian art, an alert neighbor returned the would-be runaway, and soon after, Moretti was placed under the tutelage of Serrochi. Moretti later studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, intrigued by the medium of marble, Moretti moved to Carrara to perfect his skill. In about 1879, a Dalmatian sculptor, Ivan Rendić, who saw his work was impressed and invited Moretti to assist him in his studio in Zagreb, Moretti set up shop in Zagreb and made several important commissions before a large earthquake devastated the area. Morettis next residence was in Budapest, Hungary, where he executed works to commemorate the citys history. Moretti arrived in New York City and opened a studio, soon, Moretti was working on his first commission in America, sculpture for Marble House, the seasonal residence of William K. and Alva Vanderbilt in Newport, Rhode Island. After working on the Vanderbilt estate, Moretti became well known in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Edward Bigelow, Pittsburghs director of public works commissioned Moretti in 1885 for works in Schenley Park. Moretti immediately recognized the potential of Pittsburghs rugged terrain for such a vast project, arthur Hamerschlag, the first president of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, also did much to popularize Morettis work in Pittsburgh. When Bigelow failed to get reelected, Morettis commission was discarded by the new city officers, however, in two years the company collapsed and Pivo withdrew support. Yet Bertelli bought out Morettis share, reorganized the business, despite his financial misdealings, Moretti retained his reputation as an artist, and soon won his most famous commission from James A. MacKnight, secretary of Birmingham, Alabamas Commercial Club. Moretti agreed to charge only $6,000 for the plaster model of Vulcan. Moretti created the model in New York City and moved to Alabama to work on the sculpture in 1904, in 1907, he took Geneva Mercer of Alabama on as an apprentice. She served as his apprentice until 1909, after which she stayed on as his assistant until his death in 1935, having discovered Alabamas rich marble deposits, Moretti made it a personal goal to institute proper mining procedures for the material. Circa 1911–14, Moretti and Mercer worked together on their greatest achievement, Moretti moved around east of the Mississippi frequently after 1916, returning to Pittsburgh, where he established a permanent residence and studio on Bigelow Boulevard
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Giuseppe Bernardino Bison
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Giuseppe Bernardino Bison was an itinerant Italian painter of frescoes, landscapes, vedute, capriccios and some religious works. When he was still a boy, his family moved to Brescia, later, his family moved again, to Venice, and he began his studies with Anton Maria Zanetti, then enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, where he worked with Costantino Cedini. While there, he became friends with the architect Gian Antonio Selva, shortly after, he was in Padua, working as a set designer for the Obizzi family and, in 1790, was commissioned to do decorations for the Castello del Catajo. From 1798 to 1800, he collaborated with Selva on decorations at the Palazzo Dolfin Manin in Venice, moving on to Trieste, he collaborated with Matteo Pertsch and the sculptor Antonio Bosa to provide decorations for the Palazzo Carciotti and the stock exchange building. In 1811, he was in Zara, working at the Palazzo del Governatore and this was followed by decorative work at the theaters in Vipacco and Gorizia. His canvases were expensive, but also very large
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George III of the United Kingdom
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He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britains American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence, further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In the later part of his life, George III had recurrent, although it has since been suggested that he had the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, on George IIIs death, the Prince Regent succeeded his father as George IV. Historical analysis of George IIIs life has gone through a kaleidoscope of changing views that have depended heavily on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them. Until it was reassessed in the half of the 20th century, his reputation in the United States was one of a tyrant. George was born in London at Norfolk House and he was the grandson of King George II, and the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. As Prince George was born two months prematurely and he was unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker. One month later, he was baptised at Norfolk House. His godparents were the King of Sweden, his uncle the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, George grew into a healthy but reserved and shy child. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York, Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight. He was the first British monarch to study science systematically and his religious education was wholly Anglican. At age 10 George took part in a production of Joseph Addisons play Cato and said in the new prologue, What. It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated. Georges grandfather, King George II, disliked the Prince of Wales, however, in 1751 the Prince of Wales died unexpectedly from a lung injury, and George became heir apparent to the throne. He inherited one of his fathers titles and became the Duke of Edinburgh, now more interested in his grandson, three weeks later the King created George Prince of Wales. Georges mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her moral values
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Royal Collection
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The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and the largest private art collection in the world. The Queen owns some objects in the collection in right of the Crown, the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is an art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a collector of Italian paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria, in particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as Royal. The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, there have been significant additions to the collection through purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime. The Royal Collection is privately owned, although some of the works are displayed in areas of palaces, some of the collection is owned by the monarch personally, and everything else is described as being held in trust by the monarch in right of the Crown. All works of art acquired by monarchs up to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are heirlooms which fall into the latter category. Items the British royal family acquired later, including official gifts, ambiguity surrounds the status of objects that have come into Queen Elizabeth IIs possession during her reign. The Royal Collection Trust has confirmed that all pieces left to the Queen by the Queen Mother belong to her personally, non-personal items are said to be inalienable as they can only be willed to the monarchs successor. The legal accuracy of this claim has never been substantiated in court, in a 2000 television interview, the Duke of Edinburgh said that the Queen was technically, perfectly at liberty to sell them. In 1995, Iain Sproat, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, a registered charity, the Royal Collection Trust was set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire with a mandate to conserve the works and enhance the publics appreciation and understanding of art. It employs around 500 staff and is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, buildings do not come under its remit
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"Canale, Antonio". Encyclopædia Britannica. 5 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 172.
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