venetian architecture 74 7
Sansovino in the 1530s but since forgotten.12 However, archaeology in the
city is still in its infancy because of the problems of waterlogged founda-
tions and the danger of disturbance to existing structures.13
Imago UrbisThe distinctive quality of the townscape fostered an obsession with its
visual representation. Whether in paint, woodcut, or engraving, city
views constituted one of the favorite subjects for artists during the last
four centuries of the life of the Republic. Jacopo de’ Barbari’s remarkable
view, laid out on six sheets each more than 90 cm wide, not only involved
a major surveying operation undertaken from the tops of the city’s
campanili but also exploited innovations in both papermaking and printing
(Fig. 20.1).14 In the same period, the city’s principal confraternities, the six
scuole grandi, commissioned ambitious cycles of narrative paintings on
canvas, many of which adopted city views as their settings. The so-called
“eye-witness style” helped to make their religious themes credible through
the meticulous realism of the architectural backgrounds.15
The age of the Grand Tour in the 18th century swelled the market for
topographical views as souvenirs, leading to a remarkably comprehensive
documentation of the face of the city in works by artists such as Carlevaris,
Canaletto, Visentini, and Guardi.16 The city’s unique equilibrium of uni-
formity and variety conferred an immediately recognizable geographical
identity to these images. Yet, at the same time, the viewer of each print or
painting could savor its particularity in both space and time through the
recognition of landmarks and costume. Utopian qualities apparent at first
12 Gianni Fabbri, “Dal progetto di Sansovino alle catastrofi del moderno” in G. Fabbri,
ed., La Scuola Grande della Misericordia a Venezia: Storia e progetti (Venice, 1999),
pp. 101–43, on pp. 105–09.
13 See, for example, Albert J. Ammerman and Charles E. McClennen, eds., Venice before
San Marco: Recent Studies on the Origins of the City (Hamilton, N.Y., 2001).
14 Juergen Schulz, “Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of Venice: Map Making, City Views and
Moralized Geography before 1500,” Art Bulletin 60 (1978), 425–74; idem, La cartografia
tra scienza e arte: Carte e cartografi nel Rinascimento italiano (Modena, 1990), pp. 13–63;
Howard, “Venice as a Dolphin”; Giandomenico Romanelli, Susanna Biadene, and Camillo
Tonini, eds., A volo d’uccello: Jacopo de’ Barbari e le rappresentazioni di città nell’Europa del
Rinascimento, exh. cat. (Venice, 1999).
15 As defined by Patricia Fortini Brown, Venetian Narrative Painting in the Age of
Carpaccio (New Haven/London, 1988), p. 4.
16 See, for example, Andrew Wilton and Ilaria Bignamini, eds., Grand Tour: The Lure of
Italy in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat. (London, 1996).