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.
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
3.
Canaletto
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Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, was an Italian painter of city views or vedute, of Venice. He also painted views, although the demarcation in his works between the real and the imaginary is never quite clearcut. He was further an important printmaker using the etching technique, in the period from 1746 to 1756 he worked in England where he created many sights of London. He was highly successful in England, thanks to the British merchant and connoisseur Joseph Smith and he was born in Venice as the son of the painter Bernardo Canal, hence his mononym Canaletto, and Artemisia Barbieri. Canaletto served his apprenticeship with his father and his brother and he began in his fathers occupation, that of a theatrical scene painter. Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista Giovanni Paolo Pannini, and started painting the life of the city. After returning from Rome in 1719, he began painting in his topographical style and his first known signed and dated work is Architectural Capriccio. Studying with the older Luca Carlevarijs, a painter of urban cityscapes. It is like Carlevaris, but you can see the sun shining in it, much of Canalettos early artwork was painted from nature, differing from the then customary practice of completing paintings in the studio. However, his paintings are notable for their accuracy, he recorded the seasonal submerging of Venice in water. Canalettos early works remain his most coveted and, according to many authorities, one of his early pieces is The Stonemasons Yard which depicts a humble working area of the city. It is regarded one of his finest works and was presented by Sir George Beaumont in 1823/8, later Canaletto painted grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doges Palace. His large-scale landscapes portrayed the citys pageantry and waning traditions, making use of atmospheric effects. For these qualities, his works may be said to have anticipated Impressionism and his graphic print S. A Giustina in Prà della Vale was found in the 2012 Nazi loot discovery. Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on their Grand Tour and it was Smith who acted as an agent for Canaletto, first in requesting paintings of Venice from the painter in the early 1720s and helping him to sell his paintings to other Englishmen. In the 1740s Canalettos market was disrupted when the War of the Austrian Succession led to a reduction in the number of British visitors to Venice and he remained in England until 1755, producing views of London and of his patrons castles and houses. His 1754 painting of Old Walton Bridge includes an image of Canaletto himself and he was often expected to paint England in the fashion with which he had painted his native city. Historian Michael Levey described his work from this period as inhibited, the artist was compelled to give public painting demonstrations in order to refute this claim, however, his reputation never fully recovered in his lifetime
4.
Gaspare Diziani
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Gaspare Diziani was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Roccoco period, active mainly in the Veneto but also in Dresden and Munich. His earliest training was in his town of Belluno with Antonio Lazzarini. He then moved to Venice, to the studio of Gregorio Lazzarini and his career largely overlapped with Lazzarini and Riccis fellow pupil, Giambattista Tiepolo, who was seven years his elder. Between 1710-1720, he painted a group of eight pictures that included the Mary Magdalene for the church of Santo Stefano in Belluno and he also painted three frescoes on the Life of Saint Helena in the Scuola del Vin next to the church of San Silvestro. Diziani’s celerity and technical assurance are evident from preparatory oil sketches and he also worked as a scenery painter for the theater and opera in Venice, Munich, and later in Dresden, in conjunction with Alessandro Mauro. Diziani was invited to Rome by Cardinal Ottoboni in 1726, to paint a magnificent decoration for the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso and this work is now known only through an engraving by Claude Vasconi. The Sala dei Pastelli in Ca Rezzonico has a sotto in su allegorical ceiling fresco of The Triumph of Poetry, Diziani does show the influence of Tiepolo, although not the lightness of coloration that the latter had gained from the frescoes of Luca Giordano. His pupils included Pietro Edwards and Jacopo Marieschi and his son, Antonio Diziani, painted interior and exterior vedute of mainly Venice. Artnet biography from Grove encyclopedia Bryan, Michael, dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. York St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell, domenico Sedini, Gaspare Diziani, online catalogue Artgate by Fondazione Cariplo,2010, CC BY-SA. Italian Paintings, Venetian School, a catalog containing information about Diziani. Media related to Gaspare Diziani at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Marco Ricci
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Marco Ricci was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was born at Belluno and received his first instruction in art from his uncle, Sebastiano Ricci and he left for Venice with his uncle in 1696, but had to flee the city after killing a gondolier. He visited Rome, where he was for some time occupied in painting perspective views, in 1706–7, he worked with his uncle on the decoration of the Sala dErcole in the Palazzo Fenzi, located in Florence. In England, he collaborated with the artist Pellegrini in the staging of Italian works at the Queens Theatre in Haymarket. With Pellegrini, he executed six large canvases for Burlington House. Ricci returned to Venice in 1711, but came back to England with his uncle Sebastiano the following year, during his time in England, Marco Ricci also painted several landscapes, capriccios, and the wry painting Opera Rehearsal for Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle. His production as a landscapist can be divided into four categories, alpine views or pastorals, violent country storms, ruins, while the medium of many of his works was oil on canvas, about half of his output, smaller in dimension, was tempera applied to goatskin. Marco Ricci returned to Venice in 1716, living with his uncle there until his death, riccis output in the 1720s was prodigious, and his production encompassed landscapes, capriccios, gouaches on vellum, drawings of stage designs and caricatures. He collaborated with Sebastiano on monumental figurative paintings, important patrons of Ricci in Venice were Consul Smith and Zanetti the Elder. Marco Ricci can be regarded as the initiator of a new Venetian landscape style and he died in Venice in 1730. Among his pupils were Domenico and Giuseppe Valeriani, in, The glory of Venice, Art in the Eighteenth Century. Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robinson, eds, yale University Press, New Haven and London. A biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers, with a list of ciphers, monograms, in, The glory of Venice, Art in the Eighteenth Century. Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robinson, eds, yale University Press, New Haven and London. An Introduction to 18th-Century Venetian Art, in, The glory of Venice, Art in the Eighteenth Century. Martineau, Jane, and Andrew Robinson, eds, yale University Press, New Haven and London. Visions of Venice, Paintings of the 18th Century, tauris Parke Books, London and New York. Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750, The Late Baroque, a biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers, with a list of ciphers, monograms, and marks
6.
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
7.
Rialto Bridge
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The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the line for the districts of San Marco. The first dry crossing of the Grand Canal was a bridge built in 1181 by Nicolò Barattieri. It was called the Ponte della Moneta, presumably because of the mint that stood near its eastern entrance, the development and importance of the Rialto market on the eastern bank increased traffic on the floating bridge, so it was replaced in 1255 by a wooden bridge. This structure had two inclined ramps meeting at a central section, that could be raised to allow the passage of tall ships. The connection with the market led to a change of name for the bridge. During the first half of the 15th century, two rows of shops were built along the sides of the bridge, the rents brought an income to the State Treasury, which helped maintain the bridge. Maintenance was vital for the timber bridge and it was partly burnt in the revolt led by Bajamonte Tiepolo in 1310. In 1444, it collapsed under the weight of a crowd watching a boat parade, the idea of rebuilding the bridge in stone was first proposed in 1503. Several projects were considered over the following decades, in 1551, the authorities requested proposals for the renewal of the Rialto Bridge, among other things. Plans were offered by famous architects, such as Jacopo Sansovino, Palladio and Vignola, but all involved a Classical approach with several arches, michelangelo also was considered as designer of the bridge. The present stone bridge, a single designed by Antonio da Ponte, was finally completed in 1591. It is similar to the bridge it succeeded. Two inclined ramps lead up to a central portico, on either side of the portico, the covered ramps carry rows of shops. The engineering of the bridge was considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin, the bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons of Venice. Today, the Bridge is one of the top attractions in Vence. In 2017 police arrested Fisnik Bekaj, Dake Haziraj, and Arian Babaj and it was called Shylocks bridge in Robert Brownings poem A Toccata of Galuppis. Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto Rialto Bridge at Structurae Satellite image from Google Maps
8.
Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg
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His sister was Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal. His father was Gustavus Adolphus Baron von der Schulenburg, Schulenburg was born in Emden near Magdeburg. Between 1687 and 1688 Schulenburg fought with the Imperial troops against the Turks in Hungary, on his return he rose in the ranks of the army of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1699 he became a Colonel in the German regiment in the service of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, and was severely wounded in 1701. In 1702 he joined the Saxon Army and fought in the Great Northern War against Charles XII of Sweden and suffered defeats in the Battle of Klissow and the Battle of Fraustadt. In 1707 he returned to Western Europe and fought under Prince Eugene at the Battle of Oudenaarde, the latter service brought him to the attention of Venice. A Vivaldi opera, Juditha triumphans, was commissioned in celebration of the victory, in his retirement in Venice from 1718, Schulenburg proved a remarkable collector of art while residing in the Palazzo Loredan on the Grand Canal of Venice. In addition Schulenburg had access to royal families, including the Hanoverians, Bourbons, and Habsburgs. Schulenburg supported Gian Antonio Guardi with a salary, 1730–36. Francesco Simonini was commissioned to produce a series of paintings commemorating Schulenburgs battles, canaletto painted a view of Corfu, the site of his victories. He also employed Giambattista Pittoni, 1733–38, for history paintings, Schulenburgs paintings were mainly Italian works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with some Flemish and Dutch paintings. He owned six paintings by Giacomo Ceruti, many of his works were transferred to his estates in Germany, like Emden, Hehlen and Beetzendorf. A distinguished customer was Frederick II of Prussia, a group of 150 were sold at auction in London in April 1775. Schulenburg, Leben und Denkwürdigkeiten des Johann Matthias v. d, Schulenburg, Der König von Korfu 1950. A novelistic account of the siege of Corfu. Roman über die Verteidigung Korfus gegen die Türken),1950, patrons and Painters, Art and Society in Baroque Italy
9.
Veduta
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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.
National Library of the Czech Republic
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The National Library of the Czech Republic is the central library of the Czech Republic. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture, the librarys main building is located in the historical Clementinum building in Prague, where approximately half of its books are kept. The other half of the collection is stored in the district of Hostivař, the National Library is the biggest library in the Czech Republic, in its funds there are around 6 million documents. The library has around 60,000 registered readers, as well as Czech texts, the library also stores older material from Turkey, Iran and India. The library also houses books for Charles University in Prague, the library won international recognition in 2005 as it received the inaugural Jikji Prize from UNESCO via the Memory of the World Programme for its efforts in digitising old texts. The project, which commenced in 1992, involved the digitisation of 1,700 documents in its first 13 years, the most precious medieval manuscripts preserved in the National Library are the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde. In 2006 the Czech parliament approved funding for the construction of a new building on Letna plain. In March 2007, following a request for tender, Czech architect Jan Kaplický was selected by a jury to undertake the project, later in 2007 the project was delayed following objections regarding its proposed location from government officials including Prague Mayor Pavel Bém and President Václav Klaus. Later in 2008, Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička announced the end of the project, the library was affected by the 2002 European floods, with some documents moved to upper levels to avoid the excess water. Over 4,000 books were removed from the library in July 2011 following flooding in parts of the main building, there was a fire at the library in December 2012, but nobody was injured in the event. List of national and state libraries Official website
11.
Sequin (coin)
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The sequin is a gold coin weighing 3.5 grams of.986 gold, minted by the Republic of Venice from the 13th century onwards. The design of the Venetian gold ducat, or zecchino, remained unchanged for over 500 years, no other coin design has ever been produced over such a long historical period. The 500-year run of the zecchino is unique in history, the reverse bears a motto in Latin hexameter, Sit tibi, Christe, datus // quem tū regis, iste ducātus. The name of the mint ultimately derives from Arabic, سكّة, following the Venetian model, similar coins were used for centuries throughout the Mediterranean. After two hundred years of continuous production, the Byzantine Empire imitated with the basilikon. In 1478, the Ottoman Empire introduced a similar unit, in 1535, the Knights Hospitaller of Malta did so. The Ottoman and the Maltese coins were also gold, coin collectors often try to accumulate a complete set of zecchini of all the Doges
Media related to Michele Marieschi at Wikimedia Commons
