La Bella Figura in La Serenissima: Visual Culture and Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice Through the Eyes of Marin Sanudo

Venice is a captivating city with a fascinating history, and its distinctiveness is something that is visually obvious the moment one steps foot in the labyrinthine lagooned city. Home to one of the longest-running republics... [ view full abstract ]

Venice is a captivating city with a fascinating history, and its distinctiveness is something that is visually obvious the moment one steps foot in the labyrinthine lagooned city. Home to one of the longest-running republics in history, Venice produced some of the greatest art and culture the West has ever known, but particularly in the renaissance period. Marin Sanudo, a diarist and patrician, witnessed and wrote about renaissance Venice during the High Renaissance in 58 volumes of diaries. These diaries served as the basis of this research, providing an authentic contemporary perspective on both daily life and important events between 1496-1533. My research’s dedication to Sanudo and his perspective makes this endeavor unique. Sanudo has been victim to both contemporary and modern neglect. During his career, he was passed over for official historian of Venice several times, and to this day only one English-language translation of his diaries exists. This paper includes an assortment of images from Cesare Vecellio’s Renaissance Costume Book, an important primary source that illustrated the clothing and costume that Sanudo described. Beyond simply looking at these elements of Venetian culture, I have given significant consideration to Sanudo as a writer and as a participant in Venetian society. The writings of Sanudo’s rival, Pietro Bembo, have also found their place as an important source in discovering the agenda of the Republic of Venice in the age of humanism. In summary, I have found that Venetian society was, as a result of its precocious economic environment, stratified and class-based, with codified norms of behavior and dress assigned to specific members of society. Despite being so economically advanced, Venetian patricians were keen on enforcing their status against the nouveau riche, resulting in a self-regulated aristocracy and narrowing channels for social mobility. Among other things, Venice’s desire to promote the Myth of Venice lost Marin Sanudo the position of official historian whose Thucydidean attempt at unveiling the history of Venice did not align with the mythical concepts of gallant mercenaries, powerful merchants, loquacious politicians, and pious clergy that are present at the core of the Official Histories…and even contemporary examinations.