Venice of lights and spectacles
Venice, Serenissima and captivating
Don’t miss the ‘Venice in Celebration’ exhibition at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. It closes on 13 January.
It would be a shame to miss the splendours of the Serenissima, as recounted in this exhibition devoted to the City of the Doges.
The festivities held in the 18th century set the pace for life in Venice, in a final breath of the city’s last hours of glory before its capture by Napoleon in 1797.
Venice dazzled us with its regattas, theatres, ballets and many other performances that attracted the whole of Europe.
These are the last glimmers of glory that the ‘Venice in Festivity’ exhibition brings to life, thanks to a partnership between Madrid’s Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Gulbenkian Foundation.
A treasure trove for the masters of Venetian painting
Baroque painters offer us an immersion in the Serenissima. They could limit themselves to presenting a world bathed in idleness.
But this was not the case: they portrayed the political and religious life of Venice.
The painters incorporated this desire into their sumptuously decorated paintings, giving pride of place to the city’s most symbolic landmarks.
Saint Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal and the Doge’s Palace featured prominently, as did the Bucentaurus, a sort of richly decorated parade galley so dear to the Venetians.
The greatest painters of the Baroque period are also present: Canaletto, Guardi, Bellotto and Tiepolo.
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The 3 times of Venice celebration
The exhibition is organised around three themes.
The festes, celebrations specific to the city, the vedute, panoramic views of a given place, and the capricci, unreal architectures born of the artists’ imagination.
The tour is both astonishingly realistic, with descriptions of the festivities bursting with detail. And just as far-fetched, with the capricci, unreal architectures born of artists’ imaginations.
In the 18th century, the city of the Doges was the epicentre of a genre of painting known as Venetian veduta, even though it had originated in northern Europe.
This style was characterised by the perspective of urban landscapes dominated by water. Tiepolo, Canaleto and Guardi are the masters of festivities that have disappeared forever.
A shimmering, liquid world, tinged with nostalgia, reminds us how beautiful the festivities were.
Venice informed
Venice in Celebration’ exhibition at the Gulbenkian Foundation Museum
Until 13 January.
10:00 – 18:00. Closed on Tuesdays
Av. de Berna, 45A, 1067-001 Lisboa
Free admission on Sundays