All art located in Venice, Italy
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Rock crystal ewer, San Marco
This rock crystal ewer, found today in the Treasury of the Church of San Marco in Venice, is a unique testament to the height of rock crystal production at the court of the Fatimid caliphs in 11th-century Cairo.
Icon of the Archangel Michael
An exceptional example of Byzantine craftsmanship, this shimmering icon was taken from Constantinople to Venice during the Crusades
Mobility and reuse: the Romanos chalices and the chalice with hares
Three chalices show the important roles that materiality, ornament, and craftsmanship could play in an object’s cross-cultural mobility, reuse, and preservation through the centuries.
Vittore Carpaccio, Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Rialto Bridge
A painting shows life on the Grand Canal of Venice, including Black gondoliers
Byzantine Art and the Fourth Crusade
Crusaders sacked Constantinople and brought looted treasures back to Venice before the Byzantines recaptured their capital city.
The Renaissance Synagogues of Venice
The original Ghetto, on a small Venetian island, hides Renaissance era synagogues of startling beauty
Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello
fresco, mosaic, and marble threatened by a rising sea and the salt it leaves behind
Venice’s San Marco, a mosaic of spiritual treasure
Nearly everything in medieval and Renaissance Venice was stolen or imported—and the Venetians advertised that on the facade of the Cathedral.
Venice’s San Marco, a mosaic of spiritual treasure
Acts of sacred theft, Venice as a mosaic of treasures from afar
Giorgione, The Tempest
In the distance, lightning strikes. What does it mean? Poetic and evocative, this painting invites interpretation.
Devotional confraternities (scuole) in Renaissance Venice
Brotherhoods lent stability to religious and civic life. These wealthy institutions also commissioned paintings.
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