Venice Observed Mary McCarthy Vintage 1950s Italian Catholic Art Book

Description: This vintage 1950s book titled "Venice Observed" by Mary McCarthy is a must-have for anyone interested in Catholicism and Italian art. With its beautiful descriptions and insightful analysis, this book is a true gem for collectors and enthusiasts alike. The author's keen eye for detail and her deep appreciation for the beauty of Venice make this book a wonderful addition to any collection. Whether you're a fan of Mary McCarthy or simply interested in Italian art and culture, this book is sure to delight. With its stunning imagery and informative text, it's a great choice for anyone looking to expand their knowledge on the subject. So don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to own a piece of history. All items are sold used and as is. A few pages have come off the binding. It seems like it is all here but there could be a few pages missing. Please see photos for condition and feel free to message me with any questions. Check out the other stuff in my store! I’m always willing to make a deal on multiple items & combine shipping! Venice (/ˈvɛnɪs/ VEN-iss; Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsja] ⓘ; Venetian: Venesia [veˈnɛsja], formerly Venexia [veˈnɛzja]) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 126 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 472 bridges.[3] The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile). In 2020, around 258,685 people resided in greater Venice or the Comune di Venezia, of whom around 51,000 live in the historical island city of Venice (centro storico) and the rest on the mainland (terraferma). Together with the cities of Padua and Treviso, Venice is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC.[5][6] The city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice for almost a millennium, from 810 to 1797. It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important centre of commerce—especially silk, grain, and spice, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th. The city-state of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial centre, emerging in the 9th century and reaching its greatest prominence in the 14th century.[7] This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history.[8] For centuries Venice possessed numerous territories along the Adriatic Sea and within the Italian peninsula, leaving a significant impact on the architecture and culture that can still be seen today.[9][10] The Venetian Arsenal is considered by several historians to be the first factory in history, and was the base of Venice's naval power.[11] The sovereignty of Venice came to an end in 1797, at the hands of Napoleon. Subsequently, in 1866, the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy.[12] Venice has been known as "La Dominante", "La Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". The lagoon and the historic parts of the city within the lagoon were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, covering an area of 70,176.4 hectares (173,410 acres).[13] Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, and artwork.[13] Venice is known for several important artistic movements – especially during the Renaissance period – and has played an important role in the history of instrumental and operatic music; it is the birthplace of Baroque composers Tomaso Albinoni and Antonio Vivaldi.[14] In the 21st century, Venice remains a very popular tourist destination, a major cultural centre, and has often been ranked one of the most beautiful cities in the world.[15][16] It has been described by The Times as one of Europe's most romantic cities[17] and by The New York Times as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man".[18] However, the city faces challenges including an excessive number of tourists, pollution, tide peaks and cruise ships sailing too close to buildings.[19][20][21] In light of the fact that Venice and its lagoon are under constant threat in terms of their ecology and the safeguarding of the cultural heritage, Venice's UNESCO listing has been under constant examination by UNESCO. Venice has long been a source of inspiration for authors, playwrights, and poets, and at the forefront of the technological development of printing and publishing. Two of the most noted Venetian writers were Marco Polo in the Middle Ages and, later, Giacomo Casanova. Polo (1254–1324) was a merchant who voyaged to the Orient. His series of books, co-written with Rustichello da Pisa and titled Il Milione provided important knowledge of the lands east of Europe, from the Middle East to China, Japan, and Russia. Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) was a prolific writer and adventurer best remembered for his autobiography, Histoire De Ma Vie (Story of My Life), which links his colourful lifestyle to the city of Venice. Venetian playwrights followed the old Italian theatre tradition of commedia dell'arte. Ruzante (1502–1542), Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), and Carlo Gozzi (1720–1806) used the Venetian dialect extensively in their comedies. Venice has also inspired writers from abroad. Shakespeare set Othello and The Merchant of Venice in the city, as did Thomas Mann his novel, Death in Venice (1912). The French writer Philippe Sollers spent most of his life in Venice and published A Dictionary For Lovers of Venice in 2004. The city features prominently in Henry James's The Aspern Papers and The Wings of the Dove. It is also visited in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Perhaps the best-known children's book set in Venice is The Thief Lord, written by the German author Cornelia Funke. Venice is described in Goethe's Italian Journey, 1786–1788. He describes the architecture, including a church by Palladio and also attends the opera. He visits the shipbuilding yards at the Arsenal. He is fascinated by the street life of Venice, which he describes as a kind of performance. The poet Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827), born in Zante, an island that at the time belonged to the Republic of Venice, was also a revolutionary who wanted to see a free republic established in Venice following its fall to Napoleon. Venice also inspired the poetry of Ezra Pound, who wrote his first literary work in the city. Pound died in 1972, and his remains are buried in Venice's cemetery island of San Michele. Venice is also linked to the technological aspects of writing. The city was the location of one of Italy's earliest printing presses called Aldine Press, established by Aldus Manutius in 1494.[169] From this beginning Venice developed as an important typographic centre. Around fifteen percent of all printing of the fifteenth century came from Venice,[170] and even as late as the 18th century was responsible for printing half of Italy's published books.[citation needed] In literature and adapted works edit The city is a particularly popular setting for essays, novels, and other works of fictional or non-fictional literature. Examples of these include: Aretino's works (1492–1556) Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (c. 1596–1598) and Othello (1603). Ben Jonson's Volpone (1605–6). Casanova's autobiographical History of My Life c. 1789–1797. Voltaire's Candide (1759). Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote poetry for two pictures of Venice; one for The Embarkation, drawn by Clarkson Stanfield for The Amulet, 1833, the other for Santa Salute, drawn by Charles Bentley for the Literary Souvenir, 1835. Ernest Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees (1950). Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (1972). Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven (1982). Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti crime fiction series and cookbook, and the German television series based on the novels (1992–2019). Philippe Sollers' Watteau in Venice (1994). Michael Dibdin's Dead Lagoon (1994), one in a series of novels featuring Venice-born policeman Aurelio Zen. Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Chosen (2002), an historical fantasy or alternate history of Venice – complete with masquerades, canals, and a doge – taking place in a city known as La Serenissima. John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels (2005) Additionally, Thomas Mann's novella, Death in Venice (1912), was the basis for Benjamin Britten's eponymous opera (1973). Foreign words of Venetian origin edit Some English words with a Venetian etymology include arsenal, ciao, ghetto, gondola, imbroglio, lagoon, lazaret, lido, Montenegro, and regatta.[171] Printing edit By the end of the 15th century, Venice had become the European capital of printing, having 417 printers by 1500, and being one of the first cities in Italy (after Subiaco and Rome) to have a printing press, after those established in Germany. The most important printing office was the Aldine Press of Aldus Manutius; which in 1497 issued the first printed work of Aristotle; in 1499 printed the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, considered the most beautiful book of the Renaissance; and established modern punctuation, page format, and italic type. Painting edit Main articles: Venetian painting and List of painters and architects of Venice An 18th-century view of Venice by Venetian artist Canaletto Venice, especially during the Renaissance, and Baroque periods, was a major centre of art and developed a unique style known as the Venetian painting. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Venice, along with Florence and Rome, became one of the most important centres of art in Europe, and numerous wealthy Venetians became patrons of the arts. Venice at the time was a rich and prosperous Maritime Republic, which controlled a vast sea and trade empire.[172] In the 16th century, Venetian painting was developed through influences from the Paduan School and Antonello da Messina, who introduced the oil painting technique of the Van Eyck brothers. It is signified by a warm colour scale and a picturesque use of colour. Early masters were the Bellini and Vivarini families, followed by Giorgione and Titian, then Tintoretto and Veronese. In the early 16th century, there was rivalry in Venetian painting between the disegno and colorito techniques.[173] Canvases (the common painting surface) originated in Venice during the early Renaissance. In the 18th century, Venetian painting had a revival with Tiepolo's decorative painting and Canaletto's and Guardi's panoramic views. Venetian painting was a major force in Italian Renaissance painting and beyond. Beginning with the work of Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516) and his brother Gentile Bellini (c. 1429–1507) and their workshops, the major artists of the Venetian school included Giorgione (c. 1477–1510), Titian (c. 1489–1576), Tintoretto (1518–1594), Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) and Jacopo Bassano (1510–1592) and his sons. Considered to give primacy to colour over line,[1] the tradition of the Venetian school contrasted with the Mannerism prevalent in the rest of Italy. The Venetian style exerted great influence upon the subsequent development of Western painting. By chance, the main phases of Venetian painting fit rather neatly into the centuries. The glories of the 16th century were followed by a great fall-off in the 17th, but an unexpected revival in the 18th,[3] when Venetian painters enjoyed great success around Europe, as Baroque painting turned to Rococo. This had ended completely by the extinction of the Republic of Venice in 1797 and since then, though much painted by others, Venice has not had a continuing style or tradition of its own.[4] Though a long decline in the political and economic power of the Republic began before 1500, Venice at that date remained "the richest, most powerful, and most populous Italian city"[5] and controlled significant territories on the mainland, known as the terraferma, which included several small cities who contributed artists to the Venetian school, in particular Padua, Brescia and Verona. The Republic's territories also included Istria, Dalmatia and the islands now off the Croatian coast, who also contributed. Indeed, "the major Venetian painters of the sixteenth century were rarely natives of the city" itself,[6] and some mostly worked in the Republic's other territories, or further afield. The rest of Italy tended to ignore or underestimate Venetian painting; Giorgio Vasari's neglect of the school in the first edition of his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects in 1550 was so conspicuous that he realized he needed to visit Venice for extra material in his second edition of 1568.[8] In contrast, foreigners, for whom Venice was often the first major Italian city visited, always had a great appreciation for it and, after Venice itself, the best collections are now in the large European museums rather than other Italian cities. At the top, princely, level, Venetian artists tended to be the most sought-after for commissions abroad, from Titian onwards, and in the 18th century most of the best painters spent significant periods abroad, generally with great success.

Price: 40 USD

Location: Salem, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-11-24T21:21:53.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8.38 USD