Venetian era. History of the Venetian Republic

The art of Venice represents a special variant of the development of the very principles of artistic culture of the Renaissance and in relation to all other centers of Renaissance art in Italy.

Chronologically, Renaissance art developed in Venice somewhat later than in most other major centers of Italy of that era. It developed, in particular, later than in Florence and in Tuscany in general. The formation of the principles of Renaissance artistic culture in the fine arts of Venice began only in the 15th century. This was by no means determined by the economic backwardness of Venice. On the contrary, Venice, along with Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Milan, was one of the most economically developed centers Italy at that time. It was the early transformation of Venice into a great trading and, moreover, predominantly trading, rather than manufacturing power, which began in the 12th century and was especially accelerated during crusades, is to blame for this delay.

The culture of Venice, this window of Italy and Central Europe, “cut through” to the eastern countries, was closely connected with the magnificent grandeur and solemn luxury of the imperial Byzantine culture, and partly with the refined decorative culture of the Arab world. A rich trading republic already in the 12th century, that is, in the era of domination Romanesque style in Europe, creating art that affirmed its wealth and power, it widely turned to the experience of Byzantium, that is, the richest, most developed Christian medieval power at that time. In essence, the artistic culture of Venice back in the 14th century was a peculiar interweaving of the magnificently festive forms of monumental Byzantine art, enlivened by the influence of the colorful ornamentation of the East and a peculiarly graceful rethinking decorative elements mature gothic art.

A characteristic example of the temporary delay of Venetian culture in its transition to the Renaissance in comparison with other regions of Italy is the architecture of the Doge's Palace (14th century). In painting, the extremely characteristic vitality of medieval traditions is clearly reflected in the late Gothic work of masters of the late 14th century, such as Lorenzo and Stefano Veneziano. They make themselves felt even in the works of such artists of the 15th century, whose art already had a completely Renaissance character. Such are the “Madonnas” of Bartolomeo, Alvise Vivarini, such is the work of Carlo Crivelli, a subtle and graceful master Early Renaissance. In his art, medieval reminiscences are felt much more strongly than in the contemporary artists of Tuscany and Umbria. It is characteristic that the proto-Renaissance tendencies, similar to the art of Cavalini and Giotto, who also worked in the Venetian Republic (one of his best cycles was created for Padua), made themselves felt weakly and sporadically.

Only from about the middle of the 15th century can we say that the inevitable and natural process of the transition of Venetian art to secular positions, characteristic of the entire artistic culture of the Renaissance, finally began to be fully realized. The originality of the Venetian Quattrocento was reflected mainly in the desire for increased festivity of color, for a peculiar combination of subtle realism with decorativeness in composition, in more interest to the landscape background, to the landscape environment surrounding a person; Moreover, it is characteristic that interest in the urban landscape was perhaps even more developed than interest in the natural landscape. It was in the second half of the 15th century that the Renaissance school was formed in Venice as a significant and original phenomenon that occupied an important place in the art of the Italian Renaissance. It was at this time that, along with the art of the archaizing Crivelli, the work of Antonello da Messina took shape, striving for a more holistic, generalized perception of the world, a poetic, decorative and monumental perception. Not much later, a more narrative line of development of the art of Gentile Bellini and Carpaccio emerged.

This is natural. By the middle of the 15th century, Venice reached the highest degree of its commercial and political prosperity. The colonial possessions in the trading post of the “Queen of the Adriatic” covered not only the entire eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, but also spread widely throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, the banner of the Lion of St. Mark flutters. Many of the noble patrician families that make up the ruling elite of the Venetian oligarchy act overseas as rulers of large cities or entire regions. The Venetian fleet firmly holds in its hands almost all transit trade between East and Western Europe.

True, the defeat of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks, which ended with the capture of Constantinople, shook the trade position of Venice. Still, there is no way to talk about the decline of Venice in the second half of the 15th century. The general collapse of Venetian eastern trade came much later. Venetian merchants invested huge funds at that time, partially freed from trade turnover, in the development of crafts and manufactures in Venice, partly in the development of rational farming in their possessions located in the areas of the peninsula adjacent to the lagoon (the so-called terraferma).

Moreover, the republic, rich and still full of vitality, was able in 1509 - 1516, combining the force of arms with flexible diplomacy, to defend its independence in a difficult struggle with a hostile coalition of a number of European powers. The general upsurge due to the outcome of this difficult struggle, which temporarily united all layers of Venetian society, caused that increase in the traits of heroic optimism and monumental festivity that are so characteristic of the art of the High Renaissance in Venice, starting with Titian. The fact that Venice retained its independence and, to a large extent, its wealth, determined the duration of the heyday of High Renaissance art in the Venetian Republic. The turning point towards the late Renaissance began in Venice somewhat later than in Rome and Florence, namely by the mid-40s of the 16th century.

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The period of maturation of the preconditions for the transition to the High Renaissance coincides, as in the rest of Italy, with the end of the 15th century. It was during these years that, in parallel with the narrative art of Gentile Bellini and Carpaccio, the work of a number of masters, so to speak, new artistic direction: Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano. Although they work almost simultaneously with Gentile Bellini and Carpaccio, they represent the next stage in the logic of the development of Venetian Renaissance art. These were the painters in whose art the transition to a new stage in the development of Renaissance culture was most clearly outlined. This was particularly clearly revealed in the work of the mature Giovanni Bellini, at least to a greater extent than even in the paintings of his younger contemporary Cima da Conegliano or his younger brother, Gentile Bellini.

Giovanni Bellini (apparently born after 1425 and before 1429; died in 1516) not only develops and improves the achievements accumulated by his immediate predecessors, but also raises Venetian art and, more broadly, the culture of the Renaissance as a whole to a higher level . The artist is characterized by an amazing sense of the monumental significance of the form, its internal figurative and emotional content. In his paintings, a connection emerges between the mood created by the landscape and the mental state of the characters in the composition, which is one of the remarkable achievements of modern painting in general. At the same time, in the art of Giovanni Bellini - and this is the most important thing - the significance of the moral world of the human personality is revealed with extraordinary force.

On early stage In his work, the characters in the composition are still placed very statically, the drawing is somewhat harsh, the combinations of colors are almost harsh. But the feeling of the inner significance of a person’s spiritual state, the revelation of the beauty of his inner experiences already achieve enormous impressive power during this period. In general, gradually, without external sharp leaps, Giovanni Bellini, organically developing the humanistic basis of his work, frees himself from the narrative aspects of the art of his immediate predecessors and contemporaries. The plot in his compositions relatively rarely receives detailed dramatic development, but all the more powerfully through the emotional sound of color, through the rhythmic expressiveness of the drawing and the clear simplicity of the compositions, the monumental significance of the form and, finally, through the restrained, but full of inner strength, greatness is revealed spiritual world person.

Bellini's interest in the problem of lighting, in the problem of communication human figures with their natural environment also determined his interest in the achievements of the masters of the Dutch Renaissance (a trait generally characteristic of many artists of northern Italian art of the second half of the 15th century). However, the clear plasticity of form, the craving for the monumental significance of the image of a person with all the natural vitality of his interpretation - for example, “Prayer of the Cup” - determine the decisive difference between Bellini as a master of the Italian Renaissance with his heroic humanism from artists Northern Renaissance, although in the earliest period of his work the artist turned to the northerners, more precisely to the Netherlands, in search of sometimes emphatically sharp psychological and narrative character of the image ("Pieta" from Bergamo, c. 1450). The peculiarity of the Venetian’s creative path in comparison with both Mantegna and the masters of the North is manifested very clearly in his “Madonna with Greek inscription"(1470s, Milan, Brera). This vaguely icon-like image of the mournfully pensive Mary, tenderly hugging a sad baby, also speaks of another tradition from which the master starts - the Byzantine tradition and, more broadly, the entire European medieval painting However, the abstract spirituality of the linear rhythms and color chords of the icon is decisively overcome here. The color relationships, restrained and strict in their expressiveness, are vitally concrete. The colors are truthful, the strong sculpting of the three-dimensionally modeled form is very real. The exquisitely clear sadness of the rhythms of the silhouette is inseparable from the restrained vital expressiveness of the movement of the figures themselves, from the living human, and not the abstract spiritualistic expression of Mary's sad, mournful and thoughtful face, from the sad tenderness of the wide-open eyes of the baby... A poetically inspired, deeply human, and not mystically transformed feeling is expressed in this simple and modest-looking composition.

During the 1480s, Giovanni Bellini took a decisive step forward in his work and became one of the founders of the art of the High Renaissance. The originality of the art of the mature Giovanni Bellini is clearly demonstrated when comparing his “Transfiguration” (1480s) with his early “Transfiguration” (Venice, Correr Museum). In the “Transfiguration” of the Correr Museum, the rigidly drawn figures of Christ and the prophets are located on a small rock, reminiscent of both a large pedestal for the monument and an iconic “ladder”. The figures, somewhat angular in their movements, in which the unity of vital character and poetic elevation of gesture have not yet been achieved, are distinguished by their stereoscopic nature. Light and coldly clear, almost flashy colors of three-dimensionally modeled figures are surrounded by a coldly transparent atmosphere. The figures themselves, despite the bold use of colored shadows, are still distinguished by their monochromatic uniformity of lighting and a certain static quality.

The next stage after the art of Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano was the work of Giorgione, the first master of the Venetian school, who belonged entirely to the High Renaissance. Giorgio Barbarelli del Castelfranco (1477/78 - 1510), nicknamed Giorgione, was a younger contemporary and student of Giovanni Bellini. Giorgione, like Leonardo da Vinci, reveals the refined harmony of a spiritually rich and physically perfect person. Just like Leonardo, Giorgione’s work is distinguished by deep intellectualism and seemingly crystalline intelligence. But, unlike Leonardo, the deep lyricism of whose art is very hidden and, as it were, subordinate to the pathos of rational intellectualism, in Giorgione the lyrical principle, in its clear agreement with the rational principle, makes itself felt more directly and with greater force.

In Giorgione's paintings, nature and the natural environment begin to play a more important role than in the works of Bellini and Leonardo.

If we cannot yet say that Giorgione depicts a single air environment that connects the figures and objects of the landscape into a single plein air whole, then we, in any case, have the right to assert that the figurative emotional atmosphere in which both heroes and nature live in Giorgione is The atmosphere is already optically common both for the background and for the characters in the picture. A unique example of the introduction of figures into the natural environment and the remelting of the experience of Bellini and Leonardo into something organically new - “Georgionian”, is his drawing “St. Elizabeth with the Baby John”, in which a special, somewhat crystal clear and cool atmosphere is very subtly conveyed by means of graphics, so inherent in Giorgione’s creations.

Few works by Giorgione himself or his circle have survived to this day. A number of attributions are controversial. It should be noted, however, that the first complete exhibition of works by Giorgione and the “Giorgionesques”, carried out in Venice in 1958, made it possible to introduce not only a number of clarifications into the range of the master’s works, but also to attribute a number of previously controversial works to Giorgione, and helped to more fully and clearly present the character of his creativity in general.

K relatively early works Giorgione, executed before 1505, should include his Adoration of the Shepherds in the Washington Museum and Adoration of the Magi in the National Gallery in London. In “The Adoration of the Magi” (London), despite the well-known fragmentation of the drawing and the overwhelming rigidity of the color, one can already feel the master’s interest in conveying the inner spiritual world of the heroes. The initial period of Giorgione’s work ends with his remarkable composition “Madonna of Castelfranco” (c. 1504, Castelfranco, Cathedral).

In 1505, the artist’s period of creative maturity began, which was soon interrupted by his fatal illness. During this short five years, his main masterpieces were created: “Judith”, “The Thunderstorm”, “Sleeping Venus”, “Concert” and most of the few portraits. It is in these works that the mastery of special coloristic and figuratively expressive capabilities inherent in the great painters of the Venetian school is revealed oil painting. It must be said that the Venetians, who were not the first creators and distributors of oil painting techniques, were in fact among the first to reveal the specific capabilities and features of oil painting.

It should be noted that characteristic features The Venetian school was precisely the predominant development of oil painting and the much weaker development of fresco painting. When moving from medieval system To the Renaissance realistic system of monumental painting, the Venetians, naturally, like most peoples who moved from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance stage of development of artistic culture, almost completely abandoned mosaics. Its increasingly brilliant and decorative color could no longer fully meet the new artistic goals. Of course, the mosaic technique continued to be used, but its role was becoming less and less noticeable. Using the mosaic technique, it was still possible in the Renaissance to achieve results that relatively satisfied the aesthetic demands of the time. But precisely the specific properties of mosaic smalt, its uniquely sonorous radiance, surreal shimmer and at the same time increased decorativeness of the overall effect could not be fully applied under the conditions of the new artistic ideal. True, the increased light radiance of the iridescent flickering mosaic painting, although transformed, indirectly, influenced renaissance painting Venice, which has always gravitated toward sonorous clarity and radiant richness of color. But the very stylistic system with which mosaic was associated, and consequently its technique, had to, with certain exceptions, leave the sphere of great monumental painting. The mosaic technique itself, now more often used for more specific and narrow purposes, rather of a decorative and applied nature, was not completely forgotten by the Venetians. Moreover, the Venetian mosaic workshops were one of those centers that brought the traditions of mosaic techniques, in particular smalt, to our time.

Stained glass painting also retained some significance due to its “luminosity,” although it should be admitted that it never had the same significance either in Venice or in Italy as a whole that it did in the Gothic culture of France and Germany. An idea of ​​the Renaissance plastic rethinking of the visionary radiance of medieval stained glass painting is given by “St. George” (16th century) by Mochetto in the church of San Giovanni e Paolo.

In general, in the art of the Renaissance, the development of monumental painting took place either in the forms of fresco painting, or on the basis of the partial development of tempera, and mainly on the monumental and decorative use of oil painting (wall panels).

Fresco is a technique with which such masterpieces as Masaccio's cycle, Raphael's stanzas and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel paintings were created in the Early and High Renaissance. But in the Venetian climate it showed its instability very early and was not widespread in the 16th century. Thus, the frescoes of the German courtyard “Fondaco dei Tedeschi” (1508), executed by Giorgione with the participation of the young Titian, were almost completely destroyed. Only a few half-faded fragments, spoiled by dampness, have survived, among them a figure of a naked woman made by Giorgione, full of almost Praxitelean charm. Therefore, the place of wall painting, in the proper sense of the word, was taken by a wall panel on canvas, designed for a specific room and performed using the technique of oil painting.

Oil painting received a particularly wide and rich development in Venice, however, not only because it seemed the most convenient for replacing frescoes with another painting technique adapted to the humid climate, but also because the desire to convey the image of a person in close connection with the natural environment around him environment, interest in the realistic embodiment of the tonal and coloristic richness of the visible world could be revealed with particular completeness and flexibility precisely in the technique of oil painting. In this respect, it is pleasing with its large color intensity and clearly shining sonority, but more decorative in character tempera painting on boards in easel compositions should naturally give way to oil, and this process of replacing tempera with oil painting was carried out especially consistently in Venice. We should not forget that for the Venetian painters, a particularly valuable property of oil painting was its ability to more flexibly, compared with tempera, and fresco, too, convey the light-color and spatial shades of the human environment, the ability to softly and sonorously sculpt a form human body. For Giorgione, who worked relatively little in the field of large monumental compositions (his paintings were essentially either easel in nature, or they were monumental in their general sound, but not related to the structure of the surrounding architectural interior compositions), these possibilities inherent in oil painting were especially valuable. It is characteristic that the soft sculpting of the form with chiaroscuro is also inherent in his drawings.

the feeling of the mysterious complexity of a person’s inner spiritual world, hidden behind the seemingly clear transparent beauty of his noble external appearance, finds its expression in the famous “Judith” (before 1504, Leningrad, Hermitage). "Judith" is formally a composition on a biblical theme. Moreover, unlike the paintings of many Quattrocentists, it is a composition on a theme, and not an illustration biblical text. Therefore, the master does not depict any climactic moment from the point of view of the development of the event, as the Quattrocento masters usually did (Judith strikes Holofernes with a sword or carries his severed head with a maid).

Against the backdrop of a calm pre-sunset landscape, under the shade of an oak tree, the slender Judith stands, thoughtfully leaning on the balustrade. The smooth tenderness of her figure is contrasted by the massive trunk of a mighty tree. The clothes are a soft scarlet color and are permeated with a restless, broken rhythm of folds, as if the distant echo of a passing whirlwind. In her hand she holds a large double-edged sword, its tip resting on the ground, the cold shine and straightness of which contrastingly emphasizes the flexibility of the half-naked leg trampling Holofernes’ head. An elusive half-smile slides across Judith’s face. This composition, it would seem, conveys all the charm of the image of a young woman, coldly beautiful, which is echoed, like a kind of musical accompaniment, by the soft clarity of the surrounding peaceful nature. At the same time, the cold cutting blade of the sword, the unexpected cruelty of the motif - a tender naked foot trampling the dead head of Holofernes - introduce a feeling of vague anxiety and restlessness into this seemingly harmonious, almost idyllic in mood picture.

In general, the dominant motive, of course, remains the clear and calm purity of a dreamy mood. However, the juxtaposition of the bliss of the image and the mysterious cruelty of the motif of the sword and the trampled head, the almost rebus-like complexity of this dual mood, can plunge the modern viewer into some confusion.

But Giorgione’s contemporaries were apparently less struck by the cruelty of the contrast (Renaissance humanism was never distinguished by excessive sensitivity) than they were attracted by that subtle transmission of echoes of distant storms and dramatic conflicts, against the background of which the acquisition of refined harmony, the state of serenity of a dreamily dreaming beauty was especially acutely felt human soul.

In literature there is sometimes an attempt to reduce the meaning of Giorgione’s art to the expression of the ideals of only a small, humanistically enlightened patrician elite in Venice at that time. However, this is not entirely true, or rather, not only so. The objective content of Giorgione’s art is immeasurably wider and more universal than the spiritual world of that narrow social stratum with which his work is directly connected. The feeling of the refined nobility of the human soul, the desire for the ideal perfection of a beautiful image of a person living in harmony with the environment, with the surrounding world, also had great overall progressive significance for the development of culture.

As mentioned, interest in portrait sharpness is not characteristic of Giorgione’s work. This does not mean at all that his characters, like the images of the classical ancient art, devoid of any specific individual identity. His Magi in the early “Adoration of the Magi” and the philosophers in “The Three Philosophers” (c. 1508, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) differ from each other not only in age, but also in their appearance, in their character. However, they, and especially the “Three Philosophers,” for all that individual difference images are perceived by us primarily not so much as unique, vividly portrait-characterized individuals, or even more so as an image of three ages (a young man, a mature husband and an old man), but as the embodiment of various sides, various facets of the human spirit. It is not accidental and partly justified that the desire to see in three scientists the embodiment of three aspects of wisdom: the humanistic mysticism of Eastern Averroism (a man in a turban), Aristotelianism (an old man) and contemporary artist humanism (a young man inquisitively peering into the world). It is quite possible that Giorgione also put this meaning into the image he created.

But the human content, the complex richness of the spiritual world of the three heroes of the picture is wider and richer than any one-sided interpretation of them.

Essentially, the first such comparison within the framework of the emerging artistic system of the Renaissance was carried out in the art of Giotto - in his fresco “The Kiss of Judas”. However, there the comparison of Christ and Judas was read very clearly, since it was associated with a universally known religious legend at that time, and this opposition has the character of a deep, irreconcilable conflict of good and evil. The maliciously insidious and hypocritical face of Judas acts as the antipode of the noble, sublime and strict face of Christ. The conflict of these two images, thanks to the clarity of the plot, has enormous directly perceived ethical content. Moral and ethical (more precisely, moral and ethical in their unity) superiority, moreover, the moral victory of Christ over Judas in this conflict is indisputably clear to us.

In Giorgione, the comparison of the outwardly calm, relaxed, aristocratic figure of a noble husband and the figure of a somewhat evil and base character occupying a dependent position in relation to her is not associated with a conflict situation, in any case, with that clear conflicting irreconcilability of the characters and their struggle, which gives such a high tragic meaning in Giotto, brought together by the kiss of the reptile Judas and Christ, beautiful in his calmly austere spirituality ( It is curious that the embrace of Judas, foreshadowing the torture of the cross for the teacher, seems to echo in contrast the compositional motif of the meeting of Mary with Elizabeth, included by Giotto in the general cycle of the life of Christ and broadcasting about the coming birth of the Messiah.).

Clearly contemplative and harmonious in its hidden complexity and mystery, Giorgione’s art is alien to open clashes and struggles of characters. And it is no coincidence that Giorgione does not grasp the dramatic and conflictual possibilities hidden in the motif he depicts.

This is his difference not only from Giotto, but also from his brilliant student Titian, who, during the first flowering of his still heroically cheerful creativity, albeit in a different way than Giotto, grasped in his “Denarius of Caesar,” so to speak, the ethical meaning of the aesthetic contrast of the physical and spiritual nobility of Christ with the base and brute force of character of the Pharisee. At the same time, it is extremely instructive that Titian also turns to a well-known gospel episode, emphatically conflicting in the nature of the plot itself, solving this theme, naturally, in terms of the absolute victory of the rational and harmonious will of man, who here embodies the Renaissance and humanistic ideal over his own opposite.

Turning to Giorgione’s own portrait works, it should be recognized that one of the most characteristic portraits of his mature period of creativity is the wonderful “Portrait of Antonio Brocardo” (c. 1508 - 1510, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts). It certainly accurately conveys the individual portrait features of the noble young man, but they are clearly softened and seem to be woven into the image of a perfect man.

The relaxed, free movement of the young man’s hand, the energy felt in the body, half-hidden under loosely wide robes, the noble beauty of a pale dark face, the restrained naturalness of the head sitting on a strong, slender neck, the beauty of the contour of an elastically outlined mouth, the pensive dreaminess of someone looking into the distance and to the side. from the viewer's gaze - all this creates an image of a man full of noble strength, engulfed in clear, calm and deep thought. The gentle curve of the bay with still waters, the silent mountainous shore with solemnly calm buildings form a landscape backdrop ( Due to the darkened background of the painting, the landscape in the reproductions is indistinguishable.), which, as always with Giorgione, does not unisonly repeat the rhythm and mood of the main figure, but is, as it were, indirectly consonant with this mood.

The softness of the black and white sculpting of the face and hand is somewhat reminiscent of Leonardo's sfumato. Leonardo and Giorgione simultaneously solved the problem of combining the plastically clear architectonics of the forms of the human body with their softened modeling, which makes it possible to convey all the richness of its plastic and light and shade shades - so to speak, the very “breath” of the human body. If in Leonardo it is rather a gradation of light and dark, the finest shading of form, then in Giorgione sfumato has a special character - it is like modeling the volumes of the human body with a wide stream of soft light.

Giorgione's portraits begin a remarkable line of development in Venetian portraiture of the High Renaissance. The features of Giorgione's portrait would be further developed by Titian, who, however, unlike Giorgione, had a much sharper and stronger sense of the individual uniqueness of the depicted human character, and a more dynamic perception of the world.

Giorgione's work ends with two works - "Sleeping Venus" (c. 1508 - 1510, Dresden, Art Gallery) and the Louvre "Concert" (1508). These paintings remained unfinished, and the landscape background was added to them younger friend and Giorgione's student, the great Titian. "Sleeping Venus", in addition, has lost some of its picturesque qualities due to a number of damages and unsuccessful restorations. But, be that as it may, it was in this work that the ideal of the unity of the physical and spiritual beauty of man was revealed with great humanistic completeness and almost ancient clarity.

Immersed in a quiet slumber, the naked Venus is depicted by Giorgione against the backdrop of a rural landscape, the calm, gentle rhythm of the hills is in such harmony with her image. The atmosphere of a cloudy day softens all contours and at the same time preserves the plastic expressiveness of the forms. It is characteristic that here again a specific relationship between figure and background appears, understood as a kind of accompaniment to the spiritual state of the protagonist. It is no coincidence that the intensely calm rhythm of the hills, combined in the landscape with the wide rhythms of meadows and pastures, comes into a peculiarly consonant contrast with the soft, elongated smoothness of the contours of the body, in turn contrastingly emphasized by the restless soft folds of the fabric on which the naked Venus reclines. Although the landscape was completed not by Giorgione himself, but by Titian, the unity of the figurative structure of the picture as a whole is indisputably based on the fact that the landscape is not just in unison with the image of Venus and is not indifferently related to it, but is in that complex relationship in which the line is found in music melodies of the singer and the contrasting choir accompanying him. Giorgione transfers into the sphere of the relationship “man - nature” the principle of decision by which the Greeks classical period used in their statuettes, showing the relationship between the life of the body and the draperies of light clothing thrown over it. There, the rhythm of the draperies was, as it were, an echo, a echo of the life and movement of the human body, obeying in its movement at the same time a different nature of its inert being than the elastic-living nature of the slender human body. So in the game of drapery of statues of the 5th - 4th centuries BC. e. a rhythm was revealed that contrasted the clear, elastically “rounded” plasticity of the body itself.

Like other creations of the High Renaissance, Giorgione's Venus in its perfect beauty is closed and, as it were, “alienated”, and at the same time “mutually related” both to the viewer and to the music of the surrounding nature, consonant with its beauty. It is no coincidence that she is immersed in the lucid dreams of a quiet sleep. The right hand thrown behind the head creates a single rhythmic curve, enveloping the body and closing all forms into a single smooth contour.

A serenely light forehead, calmly arched eyebrows, softly lowered eyelids and a beautiful, stern mouth create an image of transparent purity indescribable in words.

Everything is full of that crystalline transparency, which is achievable only when a clear, unclouded spirit lives in a perfect body.

“The Concert” depicts, against the backdrop of a calmly solemn landscape, two young men in lush clothes and two naked women, forming a relaxed free group. The rounded crowns of the trees, the calmly slow movement of moist clouds are in amazing harmony with the free, wide rhythms of the clothes and movements of the young men, with the luxurious beauty of naked women. The varnish, darkened by time, gave the painting a warm, almost hot golden color. In fact, her painting was initially distinguished by the balance of its overall tone. It was achieved by a precise and subtle harmonious juxtaposition of restrained cold and moderately warm tones. It was this subtle and complex, soft neutrality of the overall tone, acquired through precisely captured contrasts, that not only created Giorgione’s characteristic unity between the refined differentiation of shades and the calm clarity of the coloristic whole, but also somewhat softened that joyfully sensual hymn to the lush beauty and pleasure of life, which is embodied in the picture .

More than other works by Giorgione, the Concerto seems to prepare the appearance of Titian. At the same time, the significance of this late work by Giorgione is not only in its, so to speak, preparatory role, but in the fact that it once again reveals, not repeated by anyone in the future, the peculiar charm of his creative personality. The sensual joy of existence in Titian also sounds like a bright and elated hymn to human happiness, his natural right to pleasure. In Giorgione, the sensual joy of the motif is softened by dreamy contemplation, subordinated to a clear, enlightened, balanced harmony of a holistic view of life.

The power of the Venetian Republic was based on its monopoly of trade with the East, on conquests first in the Aegean Sea, and then in Italy and the Balkans, on a huge navy, on wise philanthropy and on internal political stability. Contemporaries considered the state structure exemplary, since it simultaneously combined monarchies, oligarchies and democracies. Already at the beginning of the Middle Ages in Venice, an aristocratic republic was formed from the communities of individual islands, dominated by representatives of the landed nobility and patriciate, who became rich from the income from trade and land ownership.

Map of the Venetian Republic

In 1172 the highest authority state power in Venice, the Great Council became established, which had legislative power and consisted of 480 citizens (their number changed over time), who were elected for a period of one year. The election of the Doge, the head of the Venetian Republic, from then on was also carried out by the Great Council, and the real executive power in early XIII century passed to the Small Council, consisting of forty people.

In 1315, the so-called “Golden Book” was compiled, and the names of citizens who enjoyed voting rights were entered into it. Executive power practically passed into the hands of the Council of Ten, which was created in 1310. One should also mention the Council of Forty - the supreme court of the Republic. All these authorities monitored each other and the Doge, and this was done so that the latter’s power did not turn into a monarchical one. The government of the state was carried out by the above-mentioned authorities, as well as the Senate, Signoria and colleges.

The Great Council was the supreme body government controlled: it included all Venetian patricians who had reached the age of 25 and were included in the “Golden Book”, which recorded the birth, death and marriages of members of aristocratic families. The Grand Council had supreme rights in all areas of domestic and foreign policy.

When Venice turned into an international center for intermediary trade, and then into a powerful colonial power, this was not accompanied by the rapid development of production, as was the case in other Italian cities. Therefore, in Venice, the general population, artisans and guilds were too weak and could not play a significant role in political life Republic, which made it easier for a small group of patrician families, merchants and bankers to seize power. In the first two decades of the 14th century they carried out the so-called “closure of the Great Council”. If previously its members were elected by the people's assembly, now the right to be elected to its composition was assigned to part of the patricians, and the Great Council, thus, “closed in on itself and turned into an estate assembly of hereditary nobles.” Only 2,000 patrician families (only 8% of the city's population) became full citizens of Venice, and various barriers were subsequently erected to prevent new members from joining the Grand Council.

One of the main functions of the Great Council was the annual appointment to key government positions both in the city itself and in the overseas possessions of Venice, and all any significant positions could only be filled by full-fledged nobles - those who elected and could be elected to the Great Council. Thus, a significant group of former members of the Great Council was removed from the political life of Venice. In the XIV-XV centuries, an aristocratic republic with oligarchic rule established itself in Venice. It was dominated by the merchant elite, and what was taken into account was not so much the nobility of origin (“the old houses” formed only part of the Great Council), but rather the wealth accumulated in maritime trade, in the civil service and in land holdings on Guerraferma.

The group of full-fledged Venetians, pushed out of power, although it was infringed, was able to maintain quite significant positions in foreign and domestic trade, and in terms of its wealth it was not much inferior to the nobility. The people (popolo) - medium and small traders, artisans and numerous working people - were deprived of any rights.

Having taken possession of the state, the nobles had to create a social group (completely dependent on them) on which they could completely entrust the administration of the state, since their time was completely absorbed by political and commercial activities. And they created the class of “citizens,” which gave them the opportunity to neutralize the stratum of society that had been pushed out of power. The "citizens", having become something between the nobility and the people, became the second estate of Venice. Subsequently, the Venetians applied this policy in their overseas possessions. In particular, in Dalmatia they “consciously contributed to the separation of rich popolani into a special social group of “citizens”. And only the people, this silent worker who made up the lower layer of Venetian society, had no rights.

The state cared not only about already existing privileges, but also about the opportunity for each class to use them, and therefore in every possible way supported the closure of each class. All government bodies over which he had the right to control were elected only from the members of the Great Council. However, this very representative body turned out to be extremely cumbersome, as it consisted of more than a thousand members, who were very difficult to assemble, because many of them were members of other commissions, councils, etc.

Legislative functions were performed by Advisory Board, which from the end of the 14th century turned into the Senate. He was elected by the Great Council from among the Venetian patricians who were at least 40 years old. At first, the Senate included only a few dozen people, then the number of its members increased to 120 people. The Senate, as an operational and effective body, resolved issues of war and peace: it concluded truces and trade agreements, established diplomatic relations, and was also in charge of shipping, the army and the navy. Under the Senate there were collegiums that managed internal, financial, maritime and other affairs.

Executive power belonged to the Signoria, and from 1335 the Council of Ten became the controlling body, which over time became the highest tribunal of the Venetian Republic. The members of the Council of Ten were elected for a term of one year; Three heads of the Council were elected from among them for a period of one month, during which they were prohibited from attending public events, taking walks around the city, etc. Over time, the decrees of the Council of Ten were no longer enforced with the same severity. This was because a member of the Council remained in office for no more than a year, so it is not surprising that he feared revenge from the relatives of his victims.

Later, three persons emerged from the Council of Ten, who headed it and were “state inquisitors” who could bring any Venetian to justice for encroaching on public peace. Little by little, they arrogated to themselves the right to conduct independent proceedings: they detained and interrogated those suspected of anything. After some time they formed the Supreme Tribunal. French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote that it was “a bloody tribunal, hated by citizens, striking on the sly and deciding in utter darkness who will die and who will lose their honor.” Before such a tribunal, the accused had no right to defense, and owed his salvation only to the mercy of the judges.

The state system of the Venetian Republic was structured in such a way that the aristocracy retained the monopoly of defense of the fatherland, and trade and industry were in the hands of the subordinate class.

Even at the beginning of the 16th century, Venetian aristocrats were arrogant towards the Florentine magnates, who themselves stood behind the counters of their shops and then came to the Signoria to rule the state. However, it should be noted that they only despised economic “lower” private activity, and different types Their contempt did not extend to government activities.

The word “people” in Venice also had a completely different meaning than in Florence. Despite all the political unrest and coups, Florence remained a democratic state until the moment when the monarchy of the second Medici was imposed on it. In rich and luxurious aristocratic Venice, the word “people” was almost equivalent to the word “patricians”. Throughout the XII-XIV centuries, the population of Venice constantly exceeded 50,000 people, but only a closed hereditary caste actually participated in the governance of the Republic. Members of the rich and noble families who represented the elite of Venice exercised a form of government that became a classic example of oligarchy.

In Venice, access to the state apparatus was especially limited, and all positions in the magistracy and colleges, as indicated above, were held only by members of the Great Council, whose names were included in the Golden Book. Over time, the patricians formed a closed class and secured for themselves all positions in government authorities both in Venice itself and in their mainland and overseas possessions.

The Venetian “people” (i.e., the patricians) in the best times, when the city’s population numbered up to 200,000 people, had only 3,000 people in its ranks. In Venice, where the supremacy of the aristocracy was an immutable fact, origin and family ties played a large role, and therefore all Venetian legislation was aimed at preventing the creation of different political parties.

The family gradually became the only body called upon to play a leading role in public life. Possession of one or more seats on the Great Council became the main condition that allowed the clan to participate in governance. The “first citizens of the city” seized power and, transferring the position to a narrow circle of their heirs, finally turned it into a hereditary one. Only the noble was a “person,” and a man of the people always and everywhere remained a member of the faceless crowd.

City nobles, who were not included in any special category, administered justice, carried out diplomatic functions, were engaged in public improvement, controlled the food supply, etc. The rest of the mass was just a labor force that supplemented the slaves, since slavery flourished with might and main in Venice. Residents of the Republic of St. Mark were servants of the state, to which they owed their “well-being” and “freedom.”

It may seem strange, but in the end the people felt, if not happy, then quite satisfied. The Venetian “fathers of the fatherland” tried to arrange a cheerful and easy life, and public celebrations were seen by them as a means of government. The Senate gave the people the opportunity to spend their lives in laziness and pleasure, and this turned out to be the best way to make them obedient.

Everything that could violate the principles of aristocracy was prudently eliminated, but innocent “unity with the people” was encouraged. The Venetian mob praised the mercy and humanity of their patrons and were very attached to the government, especially since it put on an equal footing with them the continental nobility, who also did not participate in any way in the affairs. In turn, the subjects of Terraferma considered the governance of the Venetian Signoria to be the most gentle and fair, since both the podesta (governors) and the state inquisitors themselves carefully considered the complaints of the people against the nobility.

The marriage of a Venetian patrician with a simple townswoman was unthinkable, but at the most ceremonial festivities of the Doge, anyone could come to his palace. Dressed in a black cloak, he could be among those dressed in purple togas, but with one condition - he had to have a mask on his face.

The Venetian system of government has been called by many the most perfect of all aristocracies; all levels of power in the hands of the nobles balanced each other with amazing harmony. “They ruled here without noise, observing a certain equality, like stars in the silence of the night. The people admire this spectacle, being content with bread and games. The distinction between plebeians and patricians caused less antagonism in Venice than in other countries, because the laws did everything necessary to frighten the nobles and bring them to justice.”

Since 1462, the Venetian Republic began to be called Serenissima, which can be translated not only as “The Most Serene”, but also as “The Calmest”. The new name reflected the officially established idea of ​​Venice as a calm and peaceful state. The word “state” (Stato, Dominio) was written only with a capital letter; the importance of the state was exalted in every possible way, serving it was regarded as a duty and honor, its interests were placed above personal ones and required self-sacrifice. The church and religion were viewed primarily as a force that helped the state instill in its subjects respect for law and authority.

The state also took care of the creation of works that glorified the historical past of Venice. Thus, in 1291, a chronicle written by Doge Andrea Dandolo was approved as a model of historical writing. In the next century, the chronicle became the most widespread genre of patrician literature. The Venetian nobility was very educated: people from patrician families first received a solid education at home, and then usually graduated from some Italian university (most often Padua).

In the second half of the 15th century, by order of the Venetian Republic, Marcantonio Coccio Sabellico compiled the work “The History of Venice from the Foundation of the City” (in 33 books). In the preface to it, the author, not without pride, asserted that in Venice the sanctity of laws, the equality of citizens before them, supplemented by other orders, are in many ways superior to the system of government of the ancient Romans. He attributed the emergence of the city to the end of the 4th century, emphasizing that its founders were “worthy, noble and rich people.”

Already in the first century of its existence, the city developed successfully: the wealthiest citizens were engaged in trade, governed the city, issued laws binding on everyone and ensured that justice made no exceptions for anyone. Wealth did not introduce inequality, since it was not wealth and inexpensive clothes that were valued, but honor and virtue. Modesty and good morals reigned in the city; there were no empty pleasures or depravity of morals: a healthy lifestyle left no room for vices. The Venetians obeyed not kings, but reasonable and fair laws, which were so strictly observed on land and sea that the Republic of St. Mark achieved its unprecedented power and expanded its possessions not so much by force of arms, but thanks to the crafts and industriousness of the inhabitants.

However, in the history of Venice there were naval battles, predatory raids, and seas of blood spilled in the struggle. Fabulous wealth and streams of gold flowed into the Most Serene Republic from all over the world. The surrounded Venice developed in the same way as the walled cities of Italy - due to the influx of people from outside. Those who came here to obtain Venetian citizenship were from different places: Padua, Verona, Florence, Bergamo, Milan, Bologna, from the cities of Germany and so on. But only the “born” were considered Venetians (according to the statute of 1242) - the inhabitants of Rialto, Grado, Chioggia and Cavarzere. All the rest were included in the category of “invitees,” who, in turn, were divided into two groups that had different rights. Those who lived in Venice for 15 years, observing all civic duties, received the right to trade in the city. Newcomers could live in the city, but did not have the right to trade under the Venetian flag. Those who lived in the city for 25 years, also observing all civic obligations, could already conduct trade outside Venice, like the “born” Venetians. Equating them with “Venetians” gave the invitees certain rights, ensured the protection of their interests by the state and provided for the transition of descendants in one of the generations to the number of “born” citizens, which, in turn, guaranteed them the fullness of civil privileges.

Estates of the Venetian Republic

In the 18th century, the entire population of Venice was divided into three classes. Nobles (more often they were called nobles, aristocrats or patricians) are those who, according to a change made to the constitution back in 1297, were ranked among the “lords, by whom they will henceforth be considered both in the city and in the entire state, maritime and land.” . The title of “born citizen” and the numerous rights associated with it were awarded to those who had behind them at least two generations born in Venice and provided that all of them (including the applicant for this title) were legitimate.

The second estate - the Cittadini - represented that part of the population whose “fathers and grandfathers were born in this city, engaged in an honorable craft, gained fame, in a certain way rose to prominence and could be called sons of the fatherland.” They were also enrolled in cittadino upon request, since this title was not hereditary, but was given for certain merits. The popolans included all those who “were engaged in low-lying crafts to support their lives and did not have any power in the city.” These are artisans, servants, beggars, monks and the poor who lived in shelters.

In commercial Venice, every person who built a house was considered the owner of this place, but only its citizens had the right to build a house. Before starting to build the foundation, the Venetian had to present the Doge with deerskin gloves as a sign of his submission to the city. Only after performing this ritual could he begin construction.

In the first centuries of the city's existence, the morals of the Venetians were rude. The coarsening of morals also occurred under the influence of the frantic, ardent and pleasure-hungry strangers who filled the city. In this motley crowd everything was mixed up: pure love went hand in hand with base lust, religious fanaticism side by side with atheism, mercy - with unimaginable stinginess, virtue - with crimes, courage - with cowardice, hypocrisy - with holiness, angelic purity - with the most insidious meanness...

Venice stood on one of the roads along which pilgrims went to the Holy Place. On the canals, streets and market squares of the city one could always see pilgrims (men and women of different ages and status) and adventurers, thieves and preachers, spies and prostitutes.

The poor settled wherever they could, the richer people stayed in hotels and taverns. The German bishop Folger von Ellenbrecht left a vivid description Venetian hotels XIII century: travelers could admire the beautiful marble, but there were no stoves, no sewers - no sanitary facilities at all. The beds (or rather the mattresses) were terrible, and the furniture was all rickety and broken. But hotel owners at the same time “adhered to the delightful custom of decorating their bedrooms with flowers.”

Many Venetians were outraged by the fact that hotels openly offered women of easy virtue to guests. The authorities have passed laws against this more than once, but they turned out to be in vain! As a result, the “city fathers” were forced to admit that “harlots are absolutely necessary on this earth.” Selling women were only forbidden to live in private houses, and they were obliged to settle in special quarters. They could freely wander among the crowds on the Rialto, hang around the taverns, but as soon as the first evening bell rang in St. Mark's Cathedral, they had to retire to their quarters. However, the laws restricting the place of residence of prostitutes were also not implemented, and they settled and practiced their craft in any part of the city.

Weddings in Venice were usually celebrated according to the rituals of the Catholic Church, but often women, not wanting to spend money, did without a church blessing. Subsequently, such marriages could be declared invalid, and many husbands, taking advantage of this, took several wives for themselves. However, lawsuits on this issue also often arose... Since marriage was cheap for the residents of Venice, many citizens took it lightly and easily went to break their marriage ties. In their attitude towards women, the Venetians were not guided by sublime knightly love, but rather followed the Eastern tradition - they looked at a woman only as housewife and a children's teacher. It was believed that when entering into marriage, the wife must be at least 18 years old, and the husband must be at least 21 years old. “A husband cannot be allowed to act on the advice of his wife, because she does not have sound judgment, for her physique is not sound and strong, but frail and weak, and yet the mind by nature corresponds to the physique.”

It should be noted that in those days the slave trade flourished in Venice and there were many female slaves who were also not bound by any moral principles. Their cohabitation with their master was so open and frank that free women, if they wanted to keep their husbands and regain their affection, had to stoop to the level of concubines themselves. Medieval chronicles are full of ominous stories about the intrigues of wives, slaves, concubines, and lovers who poisoned or stabbed each other to death out of revenge. Insanity due to poisoning has become so common that even a special term has appeared - “erberia”. And the Venetian gossips animatedly discussed all this on the city streets and squares.

The decree of the Great Council, issued in March 1315, noted: “A lot of dishonorable and shameful things are happening in the cathedral, the porticoes and in the Piazza San Marco.” And a little later, the patrician Marco Grimani was expelled from the cathedral, who tried to seduce a young girl right in the atrium of the cathedral. He was sentenced to a fine of 300 lire, with a third of the fine going to the girl.

According to many contemporaries, the Venetians in the Middle Ages swore so terribly that the poet Petrarch even complained about them. And the city archives preserve official regulations against swearing and blasphemy. One of them states that any person (male or female) who calls another “vermum canem” (“mangy dog”) will be punished with a fine of 20 soldi.

Gambling became so widespread that the government of the Venetian Republic constantly passed laws to supervise it. Thus, a law was passed prohibiting gambling in the portico of the Cathedral of San Marco, as well as in the Doge's Palace and in its courtyard. Professional players were flogged and branded with irons.

Various crimes were common in Venice, although many laws were also passed to combat them. Moreover, crimes against property were punished much more severely than crimes against the person. Thus, for stealing property worth 20 soldi, a person was flogged and branded with an iron, and for repeated theft, his eyes were torn out. If the value of the stolen goods exceeded 20 soldi, the criminal was hanged. If a thief, caught red-handed, defended himself with a weapon in his hands and wounded someone, his eyes were torn out and his right hand was cut off.

Murderers were beheaded, hanged between columns in the Piazzetta, or burned at the stake. The poisoners, if the victim remained alive, cut off one hand, and sometimes both, or burned the hand with a white-hot iron. Particularly dangerous criminals were stripped to the waist before execution and transported on a boat along Grand Canal- from the Cathedral of San Marco to Santa Croce, cauterizing his body with red-hot tongs. At Santa Croce, the criminal's right hand was cut off, then he was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged through the streets. Dragged to the columns of the Piazzetta, he was beheaded, quartered and exposed to the public.

People who committed lesser crimes (especially clergy) were put in wooden cages, hung from the Campanile of San Marco and left in full view of the jeering crowd. They sometimes sat in such cages for more than a year, receiving only bread and water.

For minor offenses, the Venetian was hung around his neck with a board on which his crimes were listed.

Colonial policy of the Venetian Republic

The history of the formation of the Venetian colonial empire opens with the famous campaign to the shores of Istria and Dalmatia, which was organized by Doge Pietro Orseolo II, and ends with the capture of Constantinople. His close attention to the coast of Istria and Dalmatia, inhabited Slavic tribes, Venice drew to the beginning of the 11th century. Local residents were engaged in agriculture and maritime trades (mining salt, fishing, trading) - that is, the same thing that the Venetians themselves were doing.

The first information about clashes between the Republic of St. Mark and the Dalmatian Slavs dates back to the 9th century, but they could have occurred much earlier, for example, in the 7th century, although Venetian ships then rarely ventured to leave the waters of the Adriatic.

Under Doge Giovanni Partechipachi (829-836), the inhabitants of the city of Nareta concluded a peace treaty with the Venetians, but did not keep it for long. One day they robbed and killed Venetian merchants who were returning home from the shores of southern Italy. The next Doge, Pietro Gradenigo, organized a campaign to the Dalmatian islands, which were occupied by the Narethans, after which a new peace treaty was concluded. However, it also turned out to be fragile. Soon it began new war, and Doge Pietro Gradenigo again headed for the shores of Dalmatia. This time the campaign was unsuccessful: having lost more than a hundred people in the battle, the Doge was forced to return to Venice.

A new campaign against the Dalmatians was undertaken by Doge Orso Particiacci, who, according to the Venetian chronicler, “returned home in glory”, having concluded another peace treaty. However, subsequently, relations between the Venetians and the Dalmatian Slavs became more complicated more than once.

The Istrian cities of Trieste, Kapodistrias, Pirano, Pola and others also became objects of Venetian policy. All of them arose earlier than Venice and played a very significant role even in Roman times. In 932 (or 933), Venice declared a blockade of the entire Istrian coast, the reason for which was the violation by Margrave Walter of the property interests of the Venetian clergy, Venetian merchants and the Doge himself. The Venetian government then severed trade ties with the peninsula, and the Venetian fleet blocked the ports of Istria. The cessation of the salt trade had a particularly painful effect, as the Venetian chronicles narrated as follows: “Not only livestock, but also people suffered from the lack of salt; being deprived of this product, they were depressed to the last degree.”

The margrave was forced to negotiate with the Venetians and pledged to protect their property in Istria. He guaranteed the regular receipt of income and payments that were due to them, and promised that duties would not be levied arbitrarily on Venetian merchants, but in accordance with “ancient custom.” However, this was not enough for the Venetians.

Venice could not impose its will on all of Istria, so it tried to bring individual cities into its sphere of influence. By the end of the 11th century, the Republic of St. Mark already felt strong enough to strengthen its economic position in the Adriatic.

In the spring of 1000, Doge Pietro Orseolo II, after a solemn ceremony, raised his sails and, at the head of a large fleet, sailed to Grado, where he received the blessing of Patriarch Vitalis, the banner of St. Germagora and headed first to Istria, and then to the shores of Dalmatia. Here the Venetian fleet approached the island of Cres, where it was “joyfully” (according to the Venetian chronicles) greeted local residents who came to the celebrations even from remote rural areas.

Having fulfilled his “duty of piety” and heard mass, the Doge went to the city of Zadar, where the local bishop and prior gave him a particularly solemn welcome. The other islands of the archipelago also surrendered without resistance, and only in Belgrade there was a slight hitch. The city did not have time to prepare for the ceremonial meeting, and the Doge had to land on one of the islands located opposite.

Meanwhile, in Belgrade, two parties fought, equally driven by a sense of fear: one was afraid of the Venetian Doge, the other was afraid of the Croatian king. The party supporting the Doge prevailed, and the city recognized his authority over itself.

After Belgrade, the other islands of the archipelago no longer offered resistance, but there were no ceremonial meetings there either. Only in Split was the Doge once again pleased with a ceremonial reception, and then the Venetians had to pave their way by force. Thus, the inhabitants of the island of Hvar were considered desperate pirates, and “Venetians passing by these places were very often deprived of all their property and those stripped completely fled.” However, after a long and hot battle, the Venetians managed to take Hvar.

This was the end of the campaign of Doge Pietro Orseolo II, since his plans for the Narentines were more modest. They managed to capture forty “noble Narentines” returning from Apulia; they were released only after the Narentan leaders refused the tribute they had collected from ships sailing along the Adriatic. And even then, not everyone was released - six were left hostage.

As a result of the campaign of Doge Pietro Orseolo II, the Venetians subjugated - one way or another - up to ten strongholds on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. The Republic of St. Mark and the results of the IV Crusade; under an agreement with the crusaders, she became the owner of half of all the loot, but more important than all the countless riches and treasures, more valuable than the gold and silver that fell to their share, were the exclusive privileges that the Venetians received in the Latin Empire founded by the crusaders. In addition, as a result of the IV Crusade, they captured the most important islands of the Aegean Sea, the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Ionian Islands, the Dalmatian coast, Crete, and the most important trading districts in Constantinople and other Byzantine cities. Venetian trading posts appeared in Crimea, on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov; Republic of St. The March received three-eighths of the territory captured by the crusaders, and the Venetian Doge began to be called “lord of a quarter and one-eighth of the Roman Empire.”

The foundations of the wealth of many Venetian dynasties were laid on the captured islands. Both in the Latin Empire and in the colonies, the Venetians sought to take over all local trade, engaged in usury and oppressed the indigenous inhabitants so mercilessly that one church leader of that era compared Venice to a toad, a sea snake and a frog, and its citizens to sea robbers. The chronicler Salimbene at the end of the 13th century called the Venetians “a gang of greedy and miserly people” who turned the Adriatic into a “den of robbers,” and Giovanni Boccaccio (author of the famous novel “The Decameron”) considered Venice “a repository of all abominations” and spoke contemptuously about the “loyalty of the Venetians.”

The patricians, who became rich on the islands, had relative independence from the Venetian Republic, but were connected with it by family ties and citizenship institutions, so they returned part of their wealth to the metropolis - they invested in family enterprises, built palaces on the islands of the lagoon, etc. It is known that for example, that the Venetians living in the Latin Empire often refused to pay church tithes to the Patriarch of Constantinople. They returned to their homeland to die, and here they left their tithes to the Cathedral of San Marco.

In the middle of the 15th century, events occurred that completely changed the fate of the Venetian Republic - the fall of Constantinople, the opening of the sea route to India by the Portuguese and the beginning of the Italian wars. All this caused very significant damage to Venice’s trade, and to compensate for it, it began extensive conquests in Northern Italy. Having subjugated most of Lombardy with the cities of Bergamo, Brescia, Padua, Verona and others, Venice by the end of the 15th century had become one of the largest mainland states. During its heyday, the Republic of St. Mark (except for half of Northern Italy) also owned Istria, Dalmatia, Morea, Cyprus, Athens and colonies scattered throughout the Levant to Trebizond.

Venice called its mainland possessions Terraferma (“solid ground”). By the beginning of the 16th century, they extended almost to Milan, and to the east it included parts of what are now Croatia and Slovenia. In the conquered lands, Venice pursued exclusively trade goals, caring little about the development of those regions. Thus, in Dalmatia, during the entire period of her rule, she did not build a single road, did not organize a single production for processing local raw materials, did not plant a single olive tree, not a single vine of the best grape variety, and did not take care of improving livestock breeds. Venice constrained local trade so much that the inhabitants of Dalmatia, for example, did not dare to sell their goods anywhere except Venice itself (as well as buy anything). If anyone dared to buy cloth in Dubrovnik, he was fined 500 ducats; The Dalmatians had to have their cloth dyed only in Venice, without having the right to do this at home. Every craft was suppressed in its very bud; only the production of sebaceous and wax candles for home use, and soap and pottery were to be purchased only in Venice.

In fishing, the Dalmatians also suffered all sorts of oppression: for example, until mid-September, herring could only be sold in Venice. And naturally, they paid whatever they wanted for it. The Dalmatians did not have the right to build large ships, since shipping on the Adriatic was a monopoly of the Venetians.

The especially destructive influence of the Republic of St. The Mark had an impact on the Zeta state, pushing it away from the sea and introducing turmoil and discord into its internal life. In his fight against the Turks, Venice played the most insidious role, betraying him to the enemy at every opportunity. When the Zeta state was completely weakened in this struggle, the Venetians began to convert the people to Latinism, take away churches and monasteries from them, and sometimes destroy them with fire and cannons. Monks were expelled and exterminated.

The Venetians were always intriguing against Montenegro, which had become the last refuge of the Serbian people, encroaching on its political independence. By all means they tried to paralyze the power of the Montenegrin ruler, opposing him socialite(“governadura”) from the Montenegrins themselves, which recognized the patronage of the Venetian Republic. His duties included only mediation and trial of cases between Montenegrins and subjects of Venice, but little by little the governors arrogated to themselves the right to influence internal affairs. Over time, supported by strong and wealthy states, they began to compete with the rulers, trying to limit their power only to church affairs. To attract the Montenegrins to its side, the Venetian Republic paid them a certain amount annually (in the form of a salary) for protecting its borders. All this made Montenegro somewhat dependent on Venice, which it, of course, abused.

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Venice became almost the only supplier from the East of luxurious fabrics, brocade, pearls and precious stones (diamonds and emeralds), perfumes and spices. Cyprus, Morea and Candia, which she conquered, served only as transshipment warehouses for these goods, which entered the European market only after paying a high fee to the Venetian customs and only the ships of the Venetian Republic transported them to the ports of Italy, France, England and other countries. And before sailing, foreign ships were required to leave a deposit of 1,000 ducats to ensure that the goods they exported would not be sold within the Venetian seas. This was enough to paralyze dangerous competition. By land, oriental goods were sent to Germany, where they were exchanged for German, Scandinavian and Russian products and products, which were delivered to the famous Nuremberg fair. Venice guarded its monopoly on trade in Western goods in the East even more jealously.

At that time, in the north, the Venetians did not yet have a powerful English fleet in front of them, and only German and Flemish ships competed with them in coastal trade between ports that were part of the famous Hanseatic League. France, busy with endless wars with its eternal rival, England, could only participate in the exchange of its goods for foreign ones through Marseille. Spain was still under pressure from the Moors, and only Barcelona had an open port for selling sheep's wool. Perhaps Naples alone, which had become an Aragonese colony since the time of Alfonso V, could give Venice some competition. In all other respects, circumstances for the Republic of St. Mark could not have been better. Even the seizure of the Crimean peninsula by the Tatars, which constrained the activities of the Genoese trading posts, had a beneficial effect on Venetian trade. Therefore, it is not surprising that before the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, Venice eclipsed all powers with its merchant fleet.

However, with the opening of sea routes to India and America, Venetian trade, and then the industry that began to develop, were squeezed out by the competition of the Spaniards and Portuguese. Over time, they were joined by the formidable rivalry of the Dutch, the English fleet, as well as French and Flanders manufactories, and all this had a very sad effect on the economic and economic activity Venice. And after the victories of the Turkish sultans - first Suleiman the Magnificent, and then Selim II, as a result of which the islands of the Archipelago and Cyprus fell away from the Republic, Venetian trade was dealt a blow from which it could not recover even after the victory over the Turks at Lepanto.

All those goods from the East, which were previously delivered through the Venetians, now went to Europe directly from India and from the American colonies. In addition, these goods were purchased almost for nothing from the natives, who exchanged gold, silver, pearls and gems for trinkets, and paid their taxes with expensive spices. So it was already difficult for Venice to maintain the position of mediator in trade between East and West, which it had been provided with since the IV Crusade and the formation of the Latin Empire.

Venice was the last of the Italian cities, not earlier than the middle of the 15th century, to become imbued with the ideas of the Renaissance. Unlike the rest of Italy, she lived it in her own way. A prosperous city that avoided military conflicts, a center of maritime trade, Venice was self-sufficient. Its masters kept themselves apart to such an extent that when the Florentine Vasari in the middle of the 16th century began to collect material for “Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects,” he was unable to obtain details of the biographies of people who lived a century earlier, and united everyone in one short chapter .


Bellini. "The Miracle of St. Lawrence Bridge." From the point of view of Venetian artists, all the saints lived in Venice and sailed on gondolas.

The masters of Venice did not rush to Rome to study ancient ruins. They liked Byzantium and the Arab East much more, with which the Republic of Venice traded. In addition, they were in no hurry to renounce medieval art. And the two most famous city buildings - St. Mark's Cathedral and the Doge's Palace - represent two beautiful architectural “bouquets”: the first contains motifs of Byzantine art, and the second combines medieval pointed arches and Arabic patterns.

Leonardo da Vinci, the great Florentine, condemned painters who were too carried away by the beauty of color, considering relief to be the main advantage of painting. The Venetians had their own opinion on this matter. They even learned to create the illusion of volume, almost without resorting to color and shadow, but using different shades of the same color. This is how Giorgione's Sleeping Venus was written.

Giorgione. "Storm". The plot of the film remains a mystery. But it is clear that the artist was most interested in the mood, the state of mind of the character at the present, in this case, pre-storm moment.

Artists Early Renaissance They painted paintings and frescoes with tempera, which was invented in ancient times. Oil paints have been known since antiquity, but painters developed a liking for them only in the 15th century. The Dutch masters were the first to perfect the technique of oil painting.

Since Venice was built on islands in the middle of the sea, the frescoes were quickly destroyed due to high humidity. The masters also could not write on boards, as Botticelli wrote his “Adoration of the Magi”: there was a lot of water around, but not enough forest. They painted on canvas with oil paints, and in this they were more like modern painters than other Renaissance painters.

Venetian artists had a cool attitude towards science. They were not distinguished by the versatility of their talents, knowing only one thing - painting. But they were surprisingly cheerful and gladly transferred to the canvases everything that pleased the eye: Venetian architecture, canals, bridges and boats with gondoliers, a stormy landscape. Giovanni Bellini, a famous artist in his time in the city, became interested, according to Vasari, in portrait painting and so infected his fellow citizens with this that every Venetian who achieved any significant position was in a hurry to order his portrait. And his brother Gentile allegedly shook the Turkish Sultan to the core by painting it from life: when he saw his “second self,” the Sultan considered it a miracle. Titian painted many portraits. Living people were more interesting to the artists of Venice than ideal heroes.

The fact that Venice was late with innovations turned out to be opportune. It was she who preserved, as best she could, the achievements of the Italian Renaissance in the years when it had faded away in other cities. The Venetian school of painting became a bridge between the Renaissance and the art that replaced it.

Venice is a city in northern Italy, geographically occupying a group of islands. The climate in Venice is temperate, similar to the climate of Crimea, summers are hot and winters are mild.

The history of Venice is full of ups and downs. Today we will learn how the city on the water came into being.

The name of the city comes from the Veneti tribe, who inhabited the territory of the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea during the times. This territory was captured by the Romans and named Aquileia. Aquileia later became the administrative center of the province of Venetia. In 402 the province was ravaged by the Visigoths. According to legend, Venice was founded by residents of the province who fled from the Goths on March 25, 421. Settlement began with the Rialto Islands and continued during the decline of the Roman Empire. The main source of income for the inhabitants of the islands was fishing, salt mining and coastal navigation.

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While the tribes of the Huns, Lombards and Ostrogoths ravaged the cities of the Western Roman Empire, Venice, thanks to its isolated position and the fact that the inhabitants learned to build houses on stilts and live on the water, avoided the fate of mainland cities. The invasion of militant barbarians led to the resettlement of wealthy mainlanders to the islands.

The result of this was fast growth trade and transportation of goods, since the escaped nobility invested in these industries.

In the 6th century, Venice had the most powerful fleet on the Adriatic, which supported Emperor Justinian in the Eastern Roman Empire's war with the Ostrogoths. In gratitude, Byzantium granted Venice its protection and trading privileges. The Venetians elected their first Doge in 697. For more than 1000 years, Venice had 117 doges in power.

Due to its unique location, Venice was a trade and transport hub through which silk, rice, coffee and spices, which at that time were worth more than gold, reached Europe.

Middle Ages and trade

The competent policy of Doge Pietro Orseolo II, Morganist marriages, and the help Byzantium provided by Venice against the Saracens further increased the privileges of Venetian merchants. The “golden bull” given by Byzantium halved the duty on Venetian ships arriving in Constantinople. During the Crusades, Venice increased its wealth through loans to the crusaders and chartering ships. With varying success, for almost two centuries, Venice waged wars with Genoa, which were based on trade rivalry. In the 12th century, the first banks opened in Venice. Venetian sailors were the first to insure their cargo.

In the XII-XIII centuries, large ships with a displacement of up to 200 tons began to be built in the shipyards of Venice.

To increase its economic power, the Republic of Venice annexed mainland territories called terraferma. In 1494, the Venetian Luca Pacioli systematically described double-entry bookkeeping, which is successfully used in the modern world.

Decline

Since the 15th century, when great geographical discoveries were made, Venice lost its position to Portugal, Spain, Holland and England. By the 18th century, Venice had lost its former power, most of mainland possessions passed to Austria. But the city itself shone with splendor. During this period, gambling and prostitution became widespread in Venice.

On May 1, 1797, Napoleon declared war on Venice. The Great Council decided to fulfill all the demands; on May 12, Doge Ludovico Manin abdicated the throne.

For the first time in more than a thousand years, Venice lost its independence.

The city's economy was undermined by the French continental blockade. But time passed, in 1869 the Suez Canal was opened, a new port was built in Venice, and the city became popular place to begin the journey to the East. The tourism business is developing, annual international art exhibitions are held in Venice, and the Golden Lion international film festival has been held since 1932.

Formed at the end of the seventh century in Europe. The capital was the city of Venice. The republic did not stop in the northeastern territories of modern Italy, forming colonies in the basins of the Marmara, Aegean and Black Seas and the Adriatic. Existed until 1797.

Republican justice

The ministers and the Council of Doges met on the Pianzetta, and there was also a court there. secretariat, even prison. The Venetian Republic executed all criminals publicly, often without any explanation - anyone executed was a traitor to the collective interest.

The proceedings - usually based on denunciations - were carried out by the secret Council of Ten. The last time the townspeople saw a corpse between the columns on Pinzetta was not so long ago - in 1752, to this day there is a sign: walking between the columns is not good.

However, corpses can appear everywhere: in the Doge’s Palace itself, on its upper arcade, where there are red columns, where the quartered remains of participants in the Marino Faliero conspiracy hung, and even in the cathedral, on the corner of which severed heads were displayed. The piece of porphyry that served as a stand for them is still there. From here the laws that the Venetian Republic demanded to be observed were proclaimed. Its history is long and contradictory.

A unique state

Existing from the fifth century until almost the nineteenth, the republic had elected bodies of self-government and, one might say, democracy. Back in 466, the lagoon was united by this ageless idea. Twelve representatives were elected to the Council of the twelve most important islands that made up Venice at that time: Bebbe, Grado, Heraclea, Caorle, Torcello, Jesolo, Rialto, Murano, Poveglia, Malamocco, Chioggia Major and Minor.

The Venetian Republic was forced to fight hard and constantly: Odoacer, the Ostrogoths, the Eastern Roman Empire, repeated invasions of the Lombards... Thus the need for supreme rule was revealed. The first Doge was elected for his entire life, but without inheriting his post in 697. It was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, the head of the Venetian Republic. Although the first absolutely strictly documented election occurred only in 727, when Orseolo became Doge.

Checks and balances

The political system of Venice had an extremely complex system of government. First of all, this was necessary to prevent usurpation of power.

• Grand Council: the highest body that elects the main councils, magistrates and doges. Membership is limited by heredity to entry in the Golden Book. Number of different time from 400 to a thousand people.
• Doge: elected from among the procurators of San Marco - position for life. Eleven stages of elections. I could not make independent decisions, my power was limited. Inability to travel and own property abroad.
• Small Council: six advisers to the doge and three members of the Council of Forty.
• Senate: one hundred and twenty members elected for a year with the right to be re-elected. Another one hundred and forty members without voting rights. The head of the Senate is a panel of sixteen people. The Council discussed and decided all foreign and domestic policies.
• Council of Forty: Supreme Court of the Republic. Compiled by the Great Council.
• Tip of ten: practically an inquisition. Special surveillance of the Doge. Members were elected for a year by the Great Council. Relationships are prohibited. Completely anonymous composition.
• Other institutions of power: professional guilds, religious brotherhoods.

Any Venetian could choose and become elected, but, as always and everywhere, a representative of one of the richest families became the Doge. It was not only the Republic of Venice that had such elections. History repeats itself constantly.

Gaining Power

Formally, the city of Venice was listed for a short time when Charlemagne annexed it to his own, but in fact there was always freemen here. The position is safe and advantageous. The Republic of Venice not only traded very successfully, but also fought victoriously, especially at sea. As a result, the eastern coast of the Adriatic and most of Lower Italy fell under the hand of the Venetian Doge.

Trade ties were especially enriched, and the city of Venice began to prosper, spreading its influence to the Middle East. Competitors in the form of the city-republics of Pisa and Genoa could not compete with the Doge's Republic.

Restriction of Rights

Nevertheless, within the state, the democrats seriously fought with the aristocrats. The desire of some to turn the republic into a hereditary monarchy was not destined to come true. In 1172, the Great Council of elected deputies was convened, which greatly undermined the power of the Doges.

The collegial bodies changed their names and numbers: the Republic of St. Mark, as the Venetian Republic was often called in the Middle Ages, created either the Council of Forty or the Council of Five Hundred, and these bodies took away the powers that belonged to the doges, they also regulated and controlled all the actions of the main manager of the state. They made the republic oligarchic by controlling the elections.

In this photo is the lion of St. Mark, the evangelist, after whom the Cathedral is named and the Council of Ten, of which the Venetian Republic was rightfully proud, acted. The coat of arms is in front of you.

Oligarchy

The most used government program for a long time was war, and the oligarchs provided an inexhaustible source of funding. Loans became forced and concerned the wealthiest part of the population. It was impossible to refuse or ignore the decree that the Venetian Republic had made. History has preserved many names of those who tried to resist, and whose end was inglorious. Nevertheless, the General People's Assembly was gradually abolished and dissolved. Legislation worked only for the benefit of the aristocracy.

After the conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders, Venice received three-eighths of the entire territory of Byzantium and the entire island of Crete. Thus, by the end of the fifteenth century she was rich and did not fear enemies. Among the Venetians there were more people of science and art than in any other state. Both industry and trade flourished. The people quickly grew rich because they were not stifled by taxes.

Changes

Portugal opened a sea route to the East Indies in 1498, and the city of Venice lost all the benefits of eastern trade. The Ottoman Empire took Constantinople and took away from the Venetians almost everything that belonged to them, even Albania and Negropont, and then Cyprus and Candia. Since 1718, the Republic of Venice has practically ceased to participate in world trade.

She still had about two and a half million subjects living in Venice itself, in Dalmatia, Istria and the Ionian Islands. And after the French Revolution, the last independence of the city was lost. Bonaparte declared war on the republic. No negotiations or concessions worked. Venice surrendered to the mercy of the winner in 1797. The territory of the republic was divided between Austria, France and the Kingdom of Italy.

Results

It existed in full blood for more than 1100 years, conquered territories a thousand times larger than itself, had the most massive navy in the Mediterranean, was at enmity with the Turks and Ottoman Empire, The Venetian Republic will remain in the memory of mankind as the first. The fact that it subsequently could not defend not only what it had conquered, but also its capital is also a lesson: a war with its neighbors is no better than a civil one.