Architecture, Art and Identity in Venice and its Territories, 1450-1750

Culture is a dynamic and open-ended process rather than a repertoire of buildings, works and objects, particularly when seen through a city as forceful and splendid as Venice. It involves a vast array of historically determined yet contingent forms and practices entangled in identity formations. Brought together to celebrate Professor Deborah Howard's leading role in fostering a historically grounded and interdisciplinary approach to the art and architecture of Venice, the essays in this volume examine the connections and rapports between these two notions - art and identity - through the discussion of patronage, space (domestic and ecclesiastical), and dissemination of architectural knowledge as well as models within Venice, its territories and beyond. Based on hitherto untapped archives and primary sources, the essays gathered here address the notion of identity in its diversity, including as self-representation, spatial strategy, visual and semantic discourses or imperial aspirations. Employing interdisciplinary modes of interpretation, these studies offer ground-breaking analysis of canonical sites, works of art and architects such as Jacopo Sansovino and Andrea Palladio, as well as bringing to attention a new set of art patrons. They also offer innovative insights into architectural theory and practice linked to cross-cultural exchanges. In so doing these studies draw together citizens and nobles, past and present, the real and the symbolic, space and sound, the city and its parts, Venice and Stato da Mar, the Serrenissimo and the Sublime Port.