Venice, Italy: San Marco: Royal Palace of Venice: Correr Museum: Picture Gallery: Two Venetian Gentlewomen
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Authors
Sheppard, Beth M.
Issue Date
May 24, 2017
Type
Image
Language
Keywords
Italy , Venice , Venezia , San Marco , Piazza di San Marco , Royal Palace of Venice , Palazzo Reale di Venezia , Correr Museum , Museo Correr , Teodoro Correr , Procuratorie Nuove , Venetian Paintings , Venetian Women in Art , Gentlewomen in Art , Vittore Carpaccio
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Abstract
Description
The photo was taken in the Royal Palace of Venice (in Italian: Il Palazzo Reale) in the San Marco district on the island of Venice, Italy. Venice (Venezia) is a city in northeastern Italy that is built on a group of 126 islands separated by open water and canals, linked through 472 bridges. The historical island city is home to only 51K people, but a very popular tourist destination with about 60K tourists per day. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is renowned for its beauty, architecture, and artwork. The landmark of St. Mark's Square (Piazza di San Marco) is the basilica dedicated to Saint Mark the Evangelist and contains his relics. The church is sited on the eastern end of the square, the former center of the Republic of Venice, and is attached to the Doge's Palace. There are other important landmarks around this square, such as the Royal Palace of Venice, which is a complex that consists of the Marciana Library, the Archaeological Museum, and the Correr Museum. This photo was taken in the Picture Gallery on the second floor of the Correr Museum (Museo Correr), which is located in the Procuratorie Nuove building. The museum's items originated with Teodoro Correr, a passionate collector who bequeathed his collection to the city of Venice in 1830. The painting is "Two Venetian Gentlewomen" by Vittore Carpaccio and is one of his most famous works. According to the website of the Museo Correr: "In the past, Romantic art criticism had given this painting the title The Two Courtesans, but the sitters are clearly two gentlewomen, whose elegant garments and hairstyles clearly denote their wealth, their status � and their honesty. With regard to this last point, the virtue of the two ladies is underlined by various symbolic details: the pearls around the neck of the younger woman indicate rigorous respect of marriage vows (as well as social status), whilst the snow-white kerchief is a sure sign of purity. Similarly, the doves, the peahen and the dogs are, respectively, symbolic of modesty, marital concord, fidelity and vigilance (the last further guaranteed by the presence of the older woman, perhaps the mother or elder sister of her companion, whom she resembles) What is more, the vase of myrtle and the orange were plant motifs that were traditional associated with the Virgin Mary (and the coat-of-arms on the vase is clearly that of an old Venetian family, the Preli). Details of costume make it possible to date this exceptional painting around 1490-95."
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License
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0