Art in Venice, 1400–16001Wolfgang Woltersin art history, the period from 1400 to 1600 is characterized by paradigm
shifts. Works created before 1450/60 are usually subsumed under the
term “Gothic,” while the subsequent period that lasted until 1600 is
rarely designated tout court as “renaissance.” thus, a “manneristic crisis”
(c.1540–50) is delineated, and after the council of trent, one speaks of art
in the Age of the counter-reformation (or the catholic reform).2 Venetian
artists, like their colleagues in important cities such as Siena, had their
own way to react or not to react at all to what had been developed at the
beginning of the 15th century in Florence. in Florence, Michelozzo built
important ecclesiastical buildings in the gothic style decades after the first
works of tuscan renaissance were created. One of the results of a tusco-
centric art history is to measure local phenomena in cities such as Venice
against what was done in Florence. in Venice, gothic palaces were built
for political reasons and as a bold “statement” of their owners, until the
end of the 15th century. Style had become a political statement.
Sculpturethe usual separation between “sculpture” and “architecture,” or art
history and architectural history, only seldom corresponds with reality.
in their capacities as both architects and sculptors, Bartolomeo Buon
(c.1400–c.1464/67) and Antonio rizzo (c.1440–after 1499), as well as
Jacopo Sansovino (1486–1570) and Girolamo campagna (1549–1626),
1 the author feels very much indebted to catherine Framm (Berlin) for the perfect
translation.
2 the obvious purpose of a historical handbook is to highlight the questions related
to the various fields of research which the book introduces. Although the concentration
solely on Venice, the metropolis, is unavoidable due to limited space, certainly Venice was
far more than what one today simply calls the centro storico. the art in the major cities of
the mainland from Brescia to treviso and in the stato da mar would be another complex
and fascinating topic. Local artistic traditions and Venetian “export” of artists and works
of art coexisted in the cities of the Venetian dominions, as did local pride (and traditions)
and political reality (the “Venetian liberty”) shown by the presence and the palazzi of
Venetian capitani and rettori and their sculptural and pictorial decorations.