An artwork on Galleree from Cleveland Museum of Art.
About the artwork
View of Venice1500
Jacopo de' Barbari
By the end of the 1400s, Venice had emerged as the major printing center in Europe, where books were printed in various languages to be shipped around the world. The city also became the great emporium for prints, and the woodcut developed beyond its humble origins as a popular art for devotional imagery, playing cards, and later for book illustration. <em>View of Venice</em> epitomizes this new ambitious scope for the woodcut, and is a landmark in the history of printmaking. This monumental print can be compared in scale only to a mural decoration and presumably served as a less expensive surrogate for paintings. The six sheets that make up the design would have been pasted either onto a canvas or the wall itself, resulting in the survival of only 12 impressions of the original edition like this one, and only three in America. The goal of the print was to depict Venice as seen from above. No single vantage point would have been sufficient, so Jacopo de' Barbari and a team of surveyors climbed various towers and tall buildings to record small sections of the city. These individual views were combined to form the map which follows a single, though inconsistent, system of perspective. Unprecedented for its exactness of detail and difficulty of execution, <em>View of Venice</em> represents the first attempt to render the image of a city according to the laws of geometry. The view also highlights the seafaring trade activities of Venice, depicting Mercury, god of commerce, presiding over the city, while Neptune, god of the seas, keeps watch over the entrance to the city's Grand Canal.
Before the conveniences of airplanes, photography, or even a hot air balloon this monumental bird's-eye view map of Venice made in 1500 documents every building, canal, alleyway, and square in the city.
woodcut from six blocks on six sheets of paper
Overall: 132.7 x 277.5 cm (52 1/4 x 109 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
In the warm embrace of the late 1400s, as the sun cast golden rays over its shimmering canals, Venice was emerging as a beacon of knowledge and culture. It was a city that whispered secrets of history and innovation, becoming the heart of printing in Europe. Books, adorned with thoughts and ideas, were crafted in a tapestry of languages and dispatched across the globe, sailing like dreams on the Venetian waters.
In this vibrant landscape, a new chapter unfurled for the age-old technique of woodcut. Once relegated to simple images for devotion or engrossing games, woodcut began to evolve, transforming into a grand medium for majestic illustrations, and even evolving as a fixture in books. Among these burgeoning artistic endeavors, an extraordinary print emerged, one that would forever alter the course of printmaking: the monumental <em>View of Venice</em>.
Imagine the print, sprawling across six sheets, a magnificent homage akin to mural frescoes, capturing the essence of the city from a bird's eye perspective. With around only twelve impressions of this masterpiece known to exist today, and merely three gracing the shores of America, its rarity only adds to its allure.
To craft this visual symphony, Jacopo de' Barbari, alongside a dedicated team of surveyors, embarked on a daring journey. They climbed high towers, gazing out over the expanse of the labyrinthine city. Each vantage point unveiled a fragment of Venice, which they meticulously amalgamated into a singular vision, following an innovative, albeit distinctive, perspective that had never before graced the art of mapping.
As the details came to life, <em>View of Venice</em> stood as a magnificent testimony to human ambition intertwined with mathematical precision. It wasn’t just a representation but rather an attempt to bind the city together under the rules of geometry—each building, bridge, and canal echoing the spirit of Venice itself.
In the heart of this print, the gods watched over the city, their presence immortalizing the trade that thrived on the waters. Mercury, adorned as the god of commerce, reigns above, while Neptune, guardian of the seas, keeps a vigilant watch over the grand entrance to the iconic Grand Canal—a harbor of dreams and endeavors.
This work is more than mere ink and wood; it is a tale of Venice, a place where the past and the future coalesce, a stunning reminder that from humble beginnings, great stories—and indeed, great art—can rise, capturing the infinite beauty of human expression.
About the artist
Creating transformative experiences through art “for the benefit of all the people forever.”The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The artworks shared on this platform are sourced from the museum's Open Access data under the CC0 license. No endorsement is implied.Address: 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH, USA 44106
The best place to view Cleveland Museum of Art‘s artwork is on Galleree. Hear the story behind this work, interact with the image, discuss with people, curate your own playlists, and discover so much more from great artists and institutions alike.