Italian Renaissance Research Paper

The Italian Renaissance was a momentous time period for all things to do with the arts

and culture. Art was branching into other avenues far from just being expressionism. It became

a “statement” whether it be political, social, or economical, there was a message to be

conveyed to a particular party. In a sense “Italian Renaissance” is to broad of a term in a

historically and culturally. Each region and city-state within Italy experienced the Renaissance is

different ways. Moreover, the same could be said about the state of affairs in Renaissance

Venice. In contrast to other city-states within Italy, Venice was an independent state; it was

most importantly a maritime empire.

The Venetian Renaissance bore a group of fine artists,
A copious amount of artwork that is original to the period was found. Two paintings that

were applicable to the topic were both crafted by Giovanni Bellini. The first being, The Doge

Leonardo Loredan and Portrait of a Young Man in Senator’s Garb.

The Commonwealth and Government of Venice by Cardinal Galper Contareno and

translated into English by Lewes Lewkenor Elquire will be not only useful as a firsthand account

of Venice at the time, but also a wealth of knowledge about the governing bodies therein.

Horatio Brown edited a collection of documents and correspondence pertaining to Venice and

English Affairs in Venice. His collection, State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to

English Affairs Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice and in Other Libraries of

Northern Italy, can give a unique perspective from someone from a foreign land.

A diverse pool of secondary sources will be used to analyze the research question

through the perspective of other historians. Various monographs and other books will be

important in fleshing out major themes in this time period and about this subject. Monographs

like, The Art of Renaissance Venice: Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, 1460-1590,
Some of these

monographs include Edward Muir’s Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice and Representing

Justice: Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms by Judith

Resnik and Dennis Curtis.

Ample scholarly articles will be used to examine more specific issues. Stanley

Chojnacki’s “Social Identity in Renaissance Venice: The Second Serrata”, Elizabeth

Horodowich’s “Civic Identity and the Control of Blasphemy in Sixteenth Century Venice” and

Claire Judde De Larivière’s “The ‘Public’ and the ‘Private’ in the Sixteenth-Century Venice” will

be essential in the discussion of social class in Venice, specifically, in differentiating who was

depicted in these portraits, more importantly who was not and furthermore, who was able to

view this lavish artwork and architecture. The most important scholarly article that will be

utilized in terms of power and authority in imagery is Edward Muir’s “Images of Power: Art and

Pageantry in Renaissance Venice”, seeing as the research question is implying that these

“images” paintings, sculptures and architecture are all displayed as descriptions of