Event created by Village Books
In this special evening, Martin Gayford, renowned art critic, will be discussing the history of Venice through its most important legacy: pictures.
Venice was a major centre of art in the Renaissance: the city where the medium of oil on canvas became the norm. The achievements of the Bellini brothers, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese are a key part of this story. Venetian views were a speciality of native artists such as Canaletto and Guardi, but the city has also been represented by outsiders: J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Howard Hodgkin, and many more.
Gayford also explores how in the 19th century writers such as Henry James, George Eliot and John Ruskin, and the composer Richard Wagner, were deeply affected by the paintings and buildings of Venice. Since the advent of the Venice Biennale in the 1890s, and the arrival of pioneering modern art collector Peggy Guggenheim in the late 1940s, the city has become a shop window for the contemporary art of the whole world, and it remains the site of important artistic events.
In this elegant volume, Gayford – who has visited Venice countless times since the 1970s, covered every Biennale since 1990, and even had portraits of himself exhibited there on several occasions – takes us on a visual journey through the past five centuries of the city known ‘La Serenissima’, the Most Serene. It is a unique and compelling portrait of Venice that will delight lovers of the city and lovers of its art.
Martin Gayford is a writer and art critic. His books include Michelangelo: His Epic Life (Penguin) as well as multiple publications on art and artists for Thames & Hudson, including books co-authored with David Hockney, Antony Gormley and David Dawson.
Tickets:
Book & ticket: £40 (includes a copy of Venice: City of Pictures, book RRP £30, special pre-order price of £25)
Standard ticket: £15
Concession ticket: £12
Book tickets HERE
Edited by Village Books
new ticket link