Venice: City of Haunting Dreams

by Simon Marsden

To many people, Venice is quite simply the most beautiful city in the world. It is a city of many contradictions—something grand but faded, magical yet ghostly, beautiful but with a dark, sinister undercurrent running through its canals.Featuring over 100 beautiful duotone and color photographs, Simon Marsden's City of Haunting Dreams allows the reader to sense the silence and spirituality of the great cathedrals and churches, feel the aura of the once mighty Venetian Empire and the decadence of its fall from grace.

Genres: Photography

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2002

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to visit Venice and after reading Marsden's book, I would love to go there even more. It's a coffee table book filled with mostly black and white photos. The photos depict carvings of beings - some are people and some are fantastical beings. Interspersed among the photos are writings by novelists such as Charles Dickens and poets including Edger Allen Poe about their experiences of time spent in Venice.
The photos and writings evince the mystery and history of Venice. This is not a book of pictures for a tourist to take home and relive the tourist traps. It shows the hidden back alleys and palazzos of the city. Places a tourist might never see in the quick "doing" of Venice. There is a sadness and darkness in the pages - a feeling of loss of power but the vestiges of its beauty remain.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mooi, maar somber stemmend boek met vooral zwart-wit foto’s van Venetië. En dan op eens een knallende kleurenfoto. Toelichtende teksten zijn citaten van 19e eeuwse (beroemde) bezoekers. Vrijwel altijd passend bij de foto’s.

Heeft verantwoording van de plaatsen en de citaten.