The Image of Venice: Fialetti's View and Sir Henry Wotton
The city of Venice holds a special place in the global imagination. This book explores the creation of one of its largest surviving depictions, which has remained almost unknown to the wider public since its creation exactly four centuries ago.
Signed and dated 1611, the painting is the work of a notable early seventeenth-century Bolognese artist, Odoardo Fialetti. His huge bird's-eye view of the watery townscape is enlivened by first-hand observation of tiny vignettes of Venetian life. Eight square metres in size, this remarkable painting is a tour-de-force among depictions of cities.
In 1636 the painting was donated to Eton College by the former British ambassador to Venice, Sir Henry Wotton. This beautiful commemorative volume takes a closer look at the picture's remarkable history, set in the context of the rich history of views of Venice from Gentile Bellini to Canaletto.
Deborah Howard and Henrietta McBurney
176 pages, hardback
260 x 216 mm, 100 colour illustrations
ISBN: 978 1 907372 48 3Contributors
Authors include Christy Anderson, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto; Ruth Bubb, conservator of paintings; Andrew Hopkins, Associate Professor of Architectural History at the University of L'Aquila; Deborah Howard, Professor emerita at the University of Cambridge and an expert on Venetian architecture; Daniel McReynolds from the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Henrietta McBurney, formerly Keeper of Fine and Applied Art, Eton College; Allison Sherman from the University of Toronto.
In the press
"A most welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in La Serenissima and all those involved are to be congratulated"—Journal of the History of Collections
"This beautifully produced book is a labor of love on the part of its contributors"—Renaissance Quarterly