La Serenissima

In 1204 Venice sacked Constantinople, and stamped its authority on the civilised world as the supreme maritime power. It was later to reach its political zenith in the early 15th century with the defeat of the Turks 1416.

[Below, an extract of Jacopo de' Barbari's 1500 pictorial map of Venice.]

The subsequent esteem that Venetians held the Republic in, by referring to it as 'the most serene' (considering it inviolate) was a token of the strength of their considered sanctuary, the harmony between man and nature that they regarded as unique. Also however, a notion of a direct descendancy from ancient Rome was crucial to the subsequent mythology evolved by the Republic, where Renaissance artists were principal protagonists of the state 'propaganda'.

Giorgione (1475-1510) was one such artist who painted poetic images (poesia), which were explicitly open to interpretation. In relating his subjects to nature's evolution he was comparing Venice's own existence to nature. In this regard 'The Tempest' defies definitive interpretation. Regardless of its true meaning, if indeed there is one, this painting surmises a potent philosophy of the early 16th century. It shows that at the outset of the artistic Renaissance when the republic was in slow decline, art and the artist were an enigma, part legend and myth; an attempt to establish a sense of the city's position in history.

There was also an inherent artistic interest in the everyday life of the city, and as Burckhardt tells us, Venice recognised itself as "a strange and mysterious creation... the fruit of a higher power than human ingenuity'.

[Pictured Right: Giorgione's "The Tempest" (1503)]

Vittorio Carpaccio (1455-1525) and Gentile Bellini (1429-1527) were early 'genre' painters who considered Venice a worthy subject matter. Their desire to celebrate every aspect of the city in which the Venetians had such pride (with an appreciation of light, colour, and finery), enabled us to obtain the first accurate depictions of the gondola from the 'Miracle of the Cross' paintings (circa 1500).

Despite these gradual shifts in artistic temperament at the beginning of the Renaissance, the boats themselves were not directly affected and were still relatively modest in composition. Unlike modern pieces of design, they were crafted objects that would require a greater duration to respond and develop.

[Pictured Above: Gentile Bellini's "The Miracle of the Cross at San Lorenzo Bridge", painted circa 1500.]

From Bellini's painting, we can derive that the stern of the gondola had a greater overhang than the bow, with both stems protected by a metal band as far as the deck, and fastened to a ring bolt. On the band protecting the stern post were two studs, which would appear to be an embryonic stage of the iron 'ferri', seen after further development in later pictures. These may have had a use, or were merely decorative.

The outside of the hull was completely black above the water line and the bottom was light coloured, possibly from tallow. Despite documents that inform us of multicoloured gondolas, it is likely that those pictured in these religious scenes would have been of the more modest variety. Furthermore the tendency towards coloured gondolas was only really to escalate 50 years later (mid 16^th c.)

Also of note is that forward and aft there was partial decking without camber supported by thwarts and a plank that served both as step and seat and sometimes a second bench to seat further passengers. On the foredeck there are two cross strips of wood to prevent slipping. A cloth tied around the bows covered the deckdown over the step and the floor-boards.

[Pictured Right: A 16th century lmpression of a Renaissance gondola. depicting a simple covering.]

The ancient process of boatbuilding in the "squeri" (Venetian boatyards) was the outcome of one of man's activities most closely bound to tradition, and probably dates back to before the city itself. For example the continuing use of the old units of measure of the Venetian Republic would suggest why changes to the gondola were so gradual, with developments limited to individual generations. (For the construction of the gondola they used "passeto", short paces, divided into 3 "pie", Venetian feet, of which each foot is equivalent to 1.14 English feet. Each pie was then divided into 12 onse, and each onsa into 12 ligne.)

Until the end of the 15th century the gondola had no distinguishing features since its shape and size were determined principally by usage. Nonetheless documents from the 15th and 16th centuries record that techniques had already reached a high level of refinement, with the basic construction the same for all boats (see appendix 3).

This uniformity of method and its continuity to the present day was undoubtedly influenced by the prestigious Arsenale shipyards of the Republic whose meticulous organisation was proverbial and described firsthand by the poet Dante:

"For as at Venice, in the Arsenal

In winter time they boil the gummy pitch

To caulk such ships as need an overhaul,

Now that they cannot sail- instead of which

One builds him a new boat, one toils to plug

Seams strained by many a voyage, others stitch

Canvas to patch a tattered jib or lug,

Hammer at the prow, hammer at the stern, or twine

Ropes, or shave oars, refit and make all snug...":

Alighieri, Dante :Inferno XXI 7-lg (Tr. D.L. Sayers)

Dante visited Venice in 1306, and 1321, as an emissary to Venice from Ravenna and at the height of Venetian prosperity the Arsenale employed 16 000 people. Shipbuilding had been transferred to the Arsenale (under Doge Ordelafo Falier) in 1110 and became a "nationalised" industry of shipwrights, carpenters, sailmakers, ropemakers and blacksmiths it is therefore considered by many as the origin of the production line. It seems likely that there was a constant exchange of information between private 'squerarioli' and Arsenale shipwrights who co-operated in wartime, so that at the beginning of the 16th century the design of the gondola began to acquire its individuality and rich decoration, without any impairing of function.

During the zenith of the Republic there were around 10,000 gondolas in Venice, yet by the mid 1600s at the height of the Renaissance the number had been reduced to around 8500. It is interesting to note that this decrease in numbers also coincided with the elevation of the boat from the nondescript, to an iconographic status, its purpose therefore was no longer merely functional.