Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more
convincing as an explanation for why the Renaissance in Venice lasted so long.
Passage A
Only in Venice did the Renaissance outlast the middle of the sixteenth century. That republic was ruled by a closed group of aristocratic families, but scholars and artists tended to work in harmony with them, rather than being controlled by them as was the trend elsewhere in Italy at that time. There was also that necessary degree of openness to outside influences and freedom to allow for innovation. The maritime republic escaped foreign domination. Also the Counter-Reformation was limited in its impact there – this is best illustrated in the case of Veronese who was prosecuted for painting the Last Supper as an entertaining, lavish dinner party: he merely changed the title to Feast in the House of Levi and all was well.
It was not just the more creative environment in Venice that helped to prolong the Renaissance there. The city’s artists also had a distinct contribution to make owing to their tradition of colore [colour], expressing much more through colour than through the drawing or disegno which characterised earlier Renaissance art. The leading artist in Venice, and indeed the European art world of his day, was Titian (1489–1576). He painted masterpieces right up to his death at the age of 87.
Adapted from J. Lotherington, Years of Renewal: European History 1470–1600, published in 1999.
Passage B
The most important citizens of Venice, the patricians, were intimately connected with trade. In old feudal societies, like England and France, it was land holding that was prestigious; commercial life was considered somewhat vulgar. This was far from the case in Renaissance Italy. Just as in Florence the leading citizens were involved in cloth manufacture and banking, so in Venice the patricians were deeply immersed in commercial life.
They managed the galley convoys, they acted as governors of important trading posts in the empire, they controlled the warehouses, customs offices and courts which regulated trade. In short, they had a firm grip on the heart of the commercial life of the city and the empire. The wealth of the city of Venice came from trade, but that wealth went essentially to the richest of its private citizens, not to the state… Trade made Venetians rich and gave them employment. True, this allowed them to contribute to public finances, but it was their private wealth that was most significant. These individual fortunes financed much of the scholarly and artistic activity of the Renaissance.
Adapted from: R. Hole, Renaissance Italy (Access to History), published in 1998.
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Answer
