“This intriguing book guides the reader on a compelling journey around the physical and social milieu of Renaissance Venice. Its magisterial essays invite the viewer to take an imaginary walk through the city’s empty streets, as seen in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s celebrated bird's-eye view of 1500. The book guides us step-by-step from the map’s stunning artistic virtuosity into the cosmopolitan lives of the people who inhabited the fabric of the city.”
- Deborah Howard, Professor Emerita, University of Cambridge,
“<i>A View of Venice</i> offers an engaging consideration of the ideation, creation, historical significance, idiosyncrasies, and scholarly potential of Jacopo de’ Barbari’s <i>View</i>. A fascinating and valuable collection of research and analysis of de' Barbari’s remarkable print and of the Venice in which he lived and worked, this volume will greatly interest general readers and specialists alike.”
- Gary M. Radke, Professor Emeritus of Art History, Syracuse University,
"One of the most remarkable Venice books in decades, the kind of thorough and detailed study of a city caught in time that scholars can only dream about for most other hinge-points in history. De’ Barbari’s <i>View </i>cost the hefty sum of three florins, and as these scholars make clear, there were plenty of buyers for something that must have seemed borderline miraculous in an era before photography. <i>A View of Venice</i> is the definitive anatomy of that miracle."
- Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review
"Offering meaningful insights about the artists, residents, and visitors who interacted with one another and left indelible marks on the city, the research covers many aspects of the cultural, sociopolitical, and economic history of Venice. The studies in this collection make a compelling argument that the View encompassed reality and myth and that both facets affected art, architecture, and experience in Venice during the early modern period. Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals."<br />
- D. H. Cibelli, Choice
"This book uses one specific and incomparable work of art to open up vistas on a wide range of topics about Renaissance Venice. It is intended for scholars, but the brevity of the essays and the accessibility of de’ Barbari’s image make it suitable for undergraduates, too."
- Christopher Carlsmith, Comitatus
Contributors. Karen-edis Barzman, Andrea Bellieni, Patricia Fortini Brown, Valeria Cafà, Stanley Chojnacki, Tracy E. Cooper, Giada Damen, Julia A. DeLancey, Piero Falchetta, Ludovica Galeazzo, Maartje van Gelder, Jonathan Glixon, Richard Goy, Anna Christine Swartwood House, Kristin Love Huffman, Holly Hurlburt, Claire Judde de Larivière, Blake de Maria, Martina Massaro, Cosimo Monteleone, Monique O’Connell, Mary Pardo, Giorgio Tagliaferro, Saundra Weddle, Bronwen Wilson, Rangsook Yoon
Abbreviations xvii
Acknowledgments xix
Prologue. Story of the Edited Volume / Kristin Love Huffman and Andrea Bellieni xxiii
Plates xxvii
Introduction. The View as an Urban Portrait / Kristin Love Huffman 1
I. The View as a Printed Cartographic and Artistic Visualization
1. The View of Venice in a Genealogy of City Views and Government Mapping / Karen-edis Barzman 25
2. A City as a World: Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View in 1500 / Piero Falchetta 40
3. A Perspectival Investigation of Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of Venice / Cosimo Monteleone 50
4. An Artist’s Address Book: Notes on Venice’s Artistic Geography / Giorgio Tagliaferro 62
5. Beyond Venice: At the Margins of the View / Anna Christine Swartwood House 75
6. Vessels of Political Communication / Monique O’Connell 86
7. Navigating the Business of Print in Venice with Jacopo de’ Barbari / Bronwen Wilson 96
8. On the Collection History of the View’s Matrices / Valeria Cafá 107
9. The Graphic Inventions of Jacopo de’ Barbari / Kristin Love Huffman 119
10. Revisiting “lontani et altra fantaxia”: An Eyckian Perspective on Giovanni Bellini and Jacopo de’ Barbari / Mary Pardo 136
11. Jacopo de’ Barbari, a Wandering Court Artist in the North: Changing Perspectives on His Role in Northern Renaissance Art / Rangsook Yoon 150
II. The View as a Reflection of Venice and Venetian Life
12. Toward the Perfect City: Urban Development in the Quattrocento / Richard Goy 163
13. The Wellhead as an Amenity of Venetian Urban Space / Patricia Fortini Brown 176
14. Hidden in Plain Sight (and Hearing): Venetian Bells and Their Towers / Jonathan Glixon 189
15. Santa Lucia and Corpus Domini at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century: The View and Urban Patterns / Saundra Weddle 199
16. Monastic and Convent Life as a City Phenomenon / Ludovica Galeazzo 212
17. Gendered Space(s) and the View / Holly Hurlburt 226
18. Wifely Mobility in Renaissance Venice / Stanley Chojnacki 238
19. Two Palaces, a Chapel, and an Art Collection on the Grand Canal: The World of Domenico di Piero in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of Venice / Giada Damen 250
20. Luxury Goods in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s Venice / Blake de Maria 260
21. “Both by Sea and Land”: Venetian Trade and Retail in the View / Julia A. DeLancey 273
22. Imagining Social and Political Relations in the View: From Piazza San Marco to Murano / Maartje van Gelder and Claire Judde de Larivière
23. Cosmopolitanism in Venice and State Strategies / Martina Massaro 295
Epilogue. Venice Lost, and Found / Tracy E. Cooper 307
Appendix 1. The View and Its Relevance Today: Venice Then and Now / Kristen Love Huffman 315
Appendix 2. Anton Kolb’s Copyright Permission and Export License Request for the View of Venice 336
Appendix 3. Will of Anton Kolb, October 12, 1541 338
Bibliography 341
Contributors 381
Index 391
Image Credits 409