Italian art: Venetian Painting

Venice was comparatively unaffected by the elegant, tortuous forms of mannerism. At the beginning of the 16th cent. two superlative Venetian masters, the mysterious, short-lived Giorgione and the long-lived, prolific Titian, continued the tradition established by Giovanni Bellini of sumptuous, poetic coloring. They created sensuous figures whose contours melted into luminous, atmospheric landscapes. Their stylistic effects influenced the works of Palma Vecchio, Pordenone, the Bassano family, the Ferrarese Dosso Dossi, and the lavish banquet scenes of Paolo Veronese. Only Tintoretto veered away from the harmonious canvases that were typical of the Venetians. He created instead twisted, dramatic, elongated forms, related to those of the mannerists but more vigorously conceived.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Modern Italian Art
• The Rococo Period
• The Baroque Period
• Venetian Painting
• Mannerism
• The High Renaissance
• The Quattrocento
• The Beginnings of Italian Renaissance Art
• The Medieval Period
• Bibliography

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