Representing the Republic in Seventeenth-Century Venice

Abstract

Allegorical representations and personifications of Venice, designed to perpetuate and update the myth of Venice, occupy a prominent place in seventeenth-century publishing. Editorial vignettes, frontispieces and engravings promote an image of the Republic anchored in the tradition and myth of the foundation of the city, but attentive to the evolution of the historical situation. As in the past, this image is polysemic and combines mainly the figures of Justice and the Virgin. A new dimension opens up in the context of the wars against the Ottoman Empire that occupy the second half of the century. A particularly significant example to document this historical evolution is the church of Santa Maria della Salute which, born as a votive Marian temple during the plague of 1630, is transformed into a monument dedicated to the war. On the lantern of the church’s dome, the figure of the Virgin takes on the appearance of a supreme commander of the navy.