L 'Artigiani – The Craftsmen

The highly individual nature of the city resulted in a variety of gondolas where size and shape were dependent upon purpose. However most have ceased to exist since the introduction of mechanical propulsion. (Refer to the appendix).

Gondolas were built according to an ancient oral tradition. The builder, unlike his modern counterpart, did not utilise working drawings but relied on an inherited knowledge of all the features of the boat from the experience of previously built craft and an expected performance. He was therefore free to adjust and improve the design at will during construction, with every variation within the bounds of evolution, so that if it didn't prove satisfactory then the general functionality was not impaired.

With the general decline of the city, it became more usual at the end of the 19th century to employ one gondolier rather than two, as John Ruskin remarked in the Stones of Venice, "a gondola is rowed by only one man, standing at the stem; those of the upper classes having two or more boatmen, for greater speed and magnificence".

It is very likely that the modern longitudinally asymmetrical form of the gondola was developed for this reason and even in plans by Admiral Fincati in 1882 there were signs of only a slight asymmetry. An ingenious system whereby the port side of the boat is bellled out to help counteract the thrust of the oar (see Appendix) as the gondola sidles forward, with the fore-and-aft axis at an angle to the actual course.

A favour accorded to modern theory in improving designs in a competitive society has often made us lose sight of the real reasons objects were made in one form or other. So we no longer even know what the objectives were in the past, or how they were reached. What was logical and necessary therefore may appear senseless, or even quite wrong. Modern ignorance in this respect has recently resulted in "improvements" being made to the gondola which have marred a centuries-old perfection, without achieving the desired result.

The rowlock device the forcola is made of walnut, and the form, that of a bent arm, is the result of gradual modifications aimed at providing a single flexible support for the oar wherever it needs to be whilst avoiding a rapid erosion of both the support and oar. It is attached to the hull through the 'nerva' and can be removed, rendering the boat useless and can therefore be likened to the 'keys' to the boat. The modern, almost abstract sculptural form is very different to those depicted by Bellini and Carpaccio that were merely flat pieces of wood with two notches, the lower one used when there was only one oarsman.