Venice from above

The artwork

On the Grand Canal, just to the left of the center, there is a bridge numbered 150, and the legend at the bottom right indicates that it is the Rialto Bridge: made of wood, with shops on top, and opening in two. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, with a handmade frame.

It was a drawbridge: the central part rose to let ships with masts pass. It had been built in wood around 1250, and in the 15th century, the shops were added. In 1444, it collapsed under the crowd that had gathered to see the wedding procession of the Marquis of Ferrara, and it fell again in 1524. To rebuild it in stone, designs were submitted by Palladio and Sansovino, but Antonio da Ponte won with a single arch: the Rialto we cross today was completed in 1591, about twenty years after this view.

The print comes from the Civitates orbis terrarum, the first atlas of cities, six volumes published in Cologne between 1572 and 1617: Georg Braun, a canon, wrote the texts, and Frans Hogenberg engraved the copper plates of the first volumes. Venice had been included since the first volume in 1572, taken from the view printed by Paolo Forlani in 1566. At the bottom, among the columns of the legend, 15 entries written in Italian show the Doge's procession: the Serenissimo walks under the umbrella, preceded by those carrying the cushion and the chair. The reproduced copy, uncolored, is in the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Hanging in a living room or above a sofa, it is a gift for those who return to Venice as soon as they can and for those born there. And on the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge is still made of wood, ready to open in two.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 40 x 60 cm
With frame: 42 x 62 cm
Material: artwork printed on the finest handmade Amalfi paper with deckle edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass