(Top left) Jacopo Bellini, Virgin and Child, c. 1441, 60x40 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris. (Top right) Da Messina, Saint Jerome in His Study, c. 1474, 45x63.5 cm, National Gallery, London. (Bottom left) Titian, Portrait of a Man, 1515, 81x60 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Bottom right) Veronese, Beautiful Nani, 1558-1560, 119x103 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris.

The historical and spatial context of the sixteenth-century Venetian Renaissance:

  1. Threatened by the Ottoman Empire.
  2. Influenced by invasions from France and the Holy Roman Empire: (In the 1520s/1530s, the French kingdom launched a major invasion of northern Italy); (In 1529, the Holy Roman Empire sacked Rome and occupied southern Italy).
  3. Amidst religious consciousness crises caused by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation: Venice maintained religious independence, with St. Mark as its patron saint, operating independently under papal control.
  4. Benefiting from a strategic geographic location (a corridor between Eastern and Western Europe), it became Europe’s largest commercial metropolis. Economic prosperity, openness, and dynamic vitality made it the center of humanism at the time.

A brief history of Venice: Located at the northeastern tip of Italy on a series of low-lying muddy shores in the Adriatic Sea, subject to periodic flooding threats. After barbarian invasions from the north led to the fall of the Roman Empire and Europe entered a dark age, people settled on these islands to avoid invaders. In 697, the first Doge of Venice was elected. In 821, they strongly resisted the invasion by Charlemagne’s son; in 828, they built the striking St. Mark’s Basilica to protect St. Mark’s relics. Between 900 and 1100, they built their first warships to defeat the Normans and guard Constantinople. In 1082, Venice became the most important economic partner of the Eastern Roman Byzantine Kingdom, monopolizing trade with Eastern countries. The victory of the Crusades in 1204 brought wealth and power, expanding its influence throughout the Mediterranean and even to Constantinople. Art and architecture fill the city today, celebrating its immense wealth.

From 1257 to 1270, Venice fought Genoa. In 1271, Marco Polo traveled to the East. In 1366, the sale of black slaves was banned in the Rialto market. From 1402 to 1470, Venice expanded; in 1465, it became Europe’s printing center, and Italian was established (created by the Venetian Aldo Manuce). By 1470, it was the largest city in the Renaissance era (with 150,000 inhabitants), making the Venetian Republic the wealthiest state in Europe. In 1479, the Venetian Republic signed a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire; Gentile Bellini painted the portrait of the Ottoman Sultan. In 1497, Vasco da Gama opened the spice route to India, ending Venice’s monopoly on spices. In 1498, Venetian musician Petrucci created sheet music; painters Carpaccio and the Bellini brothers decorated the Doge’s Palace. From 1503 to 1509, European powers allied against Venice. In 1554, corn was planted on Venetian lagoon islands.

In 1570, the Venetian Republic joined European forces to attack the Ottoman Empire. In 1588, the Rialto Bridge was built; in 1600, the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs); in 1609, Galileo invented the telescope to study celestial movements. In 1630, the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute was built. In 1637, the first public opera house in Venice opened. In 1640, the Ottoman Empire threatened Venice. The first café appeared in Venice in 1680; by 1720, there were two hundred cafés. Painter Tiepolo was born in 1696. From 1720 to 1750, Vivaldi and Albinoni composed symphonies. Potatoes were introduced to Venice in 1760. In 1796, Napoleon occupied Venice and deposed the last Doge. In 1805, Napoleon unified Italy, making Venice a province. In 1815, after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, Venice became part of the Austrian Kingdom. Railways connected it in 1846. In 1866, Venice returned to Italy.