OUT & ABOUT A floating
As the Queen of the Adriatic, the snaking canals, maze-like backstreets and plethora of dramatic architecture have long enticed many a visitor to marvel at the floating city of Venice.
None more so than Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, whose work is flooded with an evident love affair of this unique city immersed in history and art. To mark the bicentenary of Ruskin’s birth in 1819, Barnsley’s Cooper Gallery is hosting a new exhibition, ‘Venice: Paradise of Cities’ which will explore the significant structures and landmarks around Venice from which Ruskin and other artists drew much inspiration. From Saturday 14th September until Saturday 30th November, the walls of Cooper Gallery will take a gondola-style journey through the city of water, bridges and canals with paintings by British, Italian and French artists. Ruskin visited Venice many times over several decades where he spent long solitary periods admiring and recording the city’s architecture. From his first visit in 1835 to the one in 1849 joined by his platonic wife, Effie Gray, Ruskin was enthralled by Venice’s unique and grand elements in the face of the physical and logistical
Masterpiece
bustling St Mark’s Square. While linked in bricks and motar, the two towering buildings couldn’t be more different. St Mark’s ornate, Islamic inspired roofline and intricate gold Byzantine interior has gained it the title of Church of Gold and has become a symbol of the Venetian wealth and power. Overlooking the serene lagoon, the Doge’s Palace with its prison and armoury bears an imposing Gothic arched frontage.
limitations of developing a water-based and strictly pedestrianised city.
Ruskin’s admiration of Ca’ D’Oro, Doge’s
Palace and Basilica di San Marco was also juxtaposed with the fear of natural decay and clumsy renovations he saw and his thoughts are written in The Stones of Venice.
The main body of work on display is made up of paintings stretching many centuries and uncovers the developing views and experimentation of artists over that time period, from Canaletto’s 18th century vedute monopoly to the influx of tourists in the 19th century and more modern artists like Gertrude Compton and John Anthony Park from the early 20th century. Eleven of the paintings included in the exhibition are part of the Cooper Gallery collection with one Canaletto from Cannon Hall; the rest have been pooled together from other museums and galleries with loans from Bury Art Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Newstead Abbey and Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery. Set on a lagoon, Venice is made up of 118 small islands separated by canals over which 400 bridges stand. Vehicles are replaced by water taxis and vaporetto buses and the best way to see the sites is by gracing the aptly named Grand Canal which is lined by marble palaces, ornate churches and centuries worth of architectural splendour. One wrong turn through the mystifying streets on dry-land and you could end up in a completely different district.
It is this inimitable charm that has kept Venice
afloat for over 1,000 years and drawn in many an artist to depict the striking skyline and tumultuous waterways.
On display at the Cooper Gallery, see the notable landmarks of Basilica San Marco and the adjoining Doge’s Palace which dominate the
For more information about the exhibition, visit
www.cooper-gallery.com
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk 39 Although St Mark’s is the most famous of
Venice’s many churches, some artists also dredged the winding streets to portray smaller, more muted ecclesiastical settings such as the Church of St Nicolo in the Dorsoduro district named ‘beggars church’ for its initiation as place of worship for fishermen.
While water ripples through many artists’ work, so too does wealth with the depiction of Venice’s flamboyant and majestic mansions such as Palazzo Grimani and Ca’ Rezzonico, once home to some of Venice’s most affluent and powerful families.
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