Skip to main content
Incubator Gallery

A Portrait of Venice: Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of 1500

Faculty Curated Exhibition

September 07 – December 31, 2017
Jacopo de’ Barbari, Italian (Venice), c. 1460/70–before 1516, View of Venice, 1500. Woodcut from six blocks on six sheets of paper, 52 1/4 x 109 1/4 in. (132.72 x 277.5 cm) (sheet). Minneapolis Institute of Art. The John R. Van Derlip Fund. 2010.88. Photo courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The Nasher Museum presented a multi-media exhibition that brought to life the city of Venice through Jacopo de’ Barbari’s iconic View. Printed in 1500, this mural-sized woodcut portrays a bird’s eye view of the city that was instantly recognized as a technological and artistic masterpiece, a portrait of an urban marvel. No other city view rivaled its grandeur, ambition, or detail. With staggering precision, the View of Venice visually describes the dense fabric of the city—thousands of buildings, hundreds of bridges, and a complex network of islands, canals, narrow streets, squares, and wellheads. The original print was on loan from the Minneapolis Institute of Art for this exhibition.

For the first time, this exhibition animated the View of Venice with interactive displays that told stories of one of the wealthiest, most powerful and greatly admired cities in the early modern world. Touchscreens revealed the production of this extraordinary print as well as the historical and social themes that emerge from the image: the celebrated uniqueness of Venice, detailed city views, women and men, the state, religious life, collections and lost treasures. An augmented reality highlights the stunning continuities and remarkable transformations to the city in the more than 500 years following the View’s publication in Venice.

This exhibition was curated by Kristin L. Huffman, Instructor of Art History in Duke University’s Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies. The project, part of the Visualizing Venice initiative, is the result of multi-disciplinary and collaborative research developed over three years in the Wired! Lab at Duke.

 

Featured Featured Articles

Behind the Scenes: Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View of Venice

This multimedia, interactive exhibition was three years in the making. Led by Duke art history instructor Kristin L. Huffman, undergraduate and graduate students have formed part of the working team in the Wired! Lab at Du...

Published

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter