Venice has always been a city that richly inspires the artistic imagination. Amanda Hodges looks at a new exhibition celebrating 20 important drawings from the era
IN HIS FIRST VISIT IN 1818, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley would swoon at the sights of Venice, celebrating its enchanting beauty and declaring “its temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven.” Although the city’s status as a pre-eminent maritime trading power had dwindled by the 18th century, Venice remained fertile ground for artists, retaining its unassailable position as one of the great European cultural capitals.
London’s Courtauld Gallery is now staging a new exhibition showcasing around 20 pivotal drawings, all capturing the dynamic creativity of the city in this era. The show’s curator Ketty Gottardo describes Venice’s specific appeal as a subject: “The decision to focus on this theme stems from the richness of the Courtauld Gallery’s collection and the high standard of 18th-century Venetian draughtsmanship.” Amongst the significant archive, “the Venetian school is represented by around 200 drawings; more than two thirds are of the 18th century, so choosing only 25 works was not an easy task.”
And why stage the exhibition now? Gottardo explains that it was a simply a matter of timing: “The most outstanding Venetian 18th-century drawings came into the collection through the bequest of Count Antoine Seilern in 1978.” The last exhibition on this topic took place in 1982. “So, we thought it was time that some of these great works were once again shared with the public.”
Venice in the 18th century was a vibrant, cosmopolitan hub, “a city that almost never slept,” as Gottardo vividly evokes it. She speaks of it enjoying a “peace and relative prosperity that fostered new commissions: private residences and new churches were built and these buildings necessitated artists to decorate interiors. The famous Carnival and other festivities around the canals and squares provided a stage for its inhabitants to celebrate their shared history and the city’s architectural splendour.”
Contemporary visitors often discovered Venice as part of the ‘Grand Tour’ – usually undertaken by aesthetically minded and affluent young men – and from this evolved a lucrative art market catering for the burgeoning tourist industry, as the curator
