View, Italy, Venice, Venetia, Braun and Hogenberg, Antique Print

Georg Braun (1541-1622) and Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590)
Venetia [Venice]
from Civitates Orbis Terrarum
Cologne: 1572-1617
Hand-colored engraving
13 x 18.75 inches, platemark
15.75 x 21 inches, overall
$3,750

Bird’s-eye view of Venice, from Civitates Orbis Terrarum, an important 16th-century series of city and town views. The detailed engraving captures the city when it already had become an important Italian cultural center, documenting its buildings and extensive network of bridges and canals. The view shows important landmarks. Among them are the Piazza San Marco, with its famous basilica, Campanile (bell tower) and tall columns supporting statues of the Lion of Venice and St. Theodore. The many small islands surrounding the city are also depicted and labeled, such as the Island of San Giorgio with its Palladian church and monastery as well as Murano, where glass-making workshops were located. Ships, boats and gondolas traverse the waterways. Below the view, a vignette illustrates a procession of the doge of Venice (chief magistrate and government official) accompanied by other officials, each labeled with their title or role. On either side of the vignette, a numbered key corresponding to numbers on the view lists 35 principal canals and over 125 palaces, churches, convents, monasteries, bridges, hospitals and another important structures. These include the Arsenal, the bridge over the Rialto Canal and the location of the Jewish ghetto.

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