VEnice through the ages

La Serenissima: a maritime empire that, at its height, stretched throughout the Adriatic to the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Middle East and north Africa. A political and social system that lasted 500 years. Artists and styles that continue to influence Western art, from the humanity of the Bellini family to the brio of Titian and Tintoretto, and the enduring impact of the Venice Biennale on contemporary art.

While Venice is a city that we feel that we know and understand, it has long excelled at creating its own reputation, from the so-called Myth of Venice to the modern tourist mecca. Venice in peril, the death of Venice, the eternal party of Carnival, Venice and the creation of the ‘view’, Venice and the struggle against thoughtless mass tourism.

In this six-part lecture series, go beyond the clichés and tropes to understand how a group of fifth-century refugees could found one of Europe’s greatest super powers, and how the sometimes-troubled future of Venice will be informed and invigorated by its complex past.

Course content

Lecture 1: Venice before the Crusades

A settlement of wattle-and-daub huts on stilts over marshy ground: the fifth-century origins of Venice were hardly auspicious, but over the centuries riverine trade, Adriatic sorties and the refinement of a Byzantine political and naval system laid the groundwork for an astonishing success story.

Lecture 2: Medieval empire

Silks, spices, slaves, silver: the sheer range of medieval commodities in which Venice traded is dazzling, and understanding the geographical reach and regulation of trade in La Serenissima explains the dominant trends in the glittering and elegant ‘bower bird’ aesthetic of medieval Venetian art.

Lecture 3: Venice during the Renaissance

When we think of the Italian Renaissance, we think of Florence and Rome and their great artists. But what of Antonello da Messina, the Bellini family and Giorgione, who revolutionised Italian painting by exploring the potential of oils and canvas, or the energy and power of Titian and Tintoretto?

Lecture 4: The advent of the Ottomans and Baroque Venice

As Ottoman influence in the Mediterranean grew, Venice’s power waned. Yet the Baroque city retained its reputation for innovation, with Tiepolo frescoes, Rosalba Carriera’s pastels and innovative genres of music, along with strategies for survival from diplomacy to nascent tourism.

Lecture 5: The Grand Tour

By the eighteenth century, Europeans clamoured to spend a season enjoying Venice’s parties, gambling dens and Carnival - all with a serve of cultural tourism. And yet a contradictory way of viewing Venice also grew in this period, from her moral decline (Goethe) to death (Mann) and folly (Browning).

Lecture 6: Art and Venice’s modern revival

If Venice’s decline was all but confirmed at the fin-de-siècle, why did the Marchesa Luisa Casati, Peggy Guggenheim and, more recently, Edward de Bono, Miuccia Prada and Anish Kapoor all take up residence there? From the Venice Biennale’s shaping role in the contemporary art world to the arrival of giant cruise ships, we conclude by considering what Venice’s modern revival indicates for its future.

Lecturer

Dr Kathleen Olive is well known to Italian enthusiasts for her lectures and seminars, including popular short courses at the WEA, Sydney, and national lectures for the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Association (ADFAS). She has worked as a cultural tour leader for over 15 years, with deep expertise in Italy, and in France, Spain and Japan. Her published research on a Renaissance Italian manuscript, the so-called Codex Rustici, was presented to Pope Francis I in 2015 as the official gift of the Florentine Curia.

Course structure

6 x 90-minute recorded lectures

Course dates

Recorded lectures become available weekly on Fridays from 20 May, and can be watched on demand thereafter.

REQUIREMENTS

This course does not require any assumed knowledge, only a willingness to learn and an interest in history, culture and art. Sessions require access to Zoom (which is free) and an internet connection.