Venetia riflessa sull'acqua: ipotesi e nuove ricerche

The essay aims to investigate for the first time in a systematic way the plan of Venice (Venetia) by Gian Battista Arzenti, a canvas painted in oil, collected at the Correr Museum and recently dated to 1621-26 (by Gianmario Guidarelli 2015). The plan depicts the city as a very compact and homogeneous body, at a time in its urban history when part of the great transformations designed by Cristoforo Sabbadino in the previous century have now come to an end. The painter's gaze offers an almost isotropic view of the city, where the Marciana area (which has a central role in previous depictions, such as that of Jacopo de 'Barbari, 1500) is only one of the celebratory fulcrums of the city, together with the Grand Canal (with its parade of patrician palaces) and the Arsenate. In this visual reworking of Venice, the rote of monasteries and convents is central, but not predominant compared to the other elements of the city. The marble facades of the Benedictine churches of San Zaccaria and San ...