A Venetian Bestiary

by Jan Morris, Bevis Martin (Illustrator)

A Venetian Bestiary

Genres: Travel, Art, Art History, History

110 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Jan Morris was a British historian, author and travel writer. Morris was educated at Lancing College, West Sussex, and Christ Church, Oxford, but is Welsh by heritage and adoption. Before 1970 Morris published under her assigned birth name, "James ", and is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City, and also wrote about Wales, Spanish history, and culture.

In 1949 Jan Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter. Morris and Tuckniss had five children together, including the poet and musician Twm Morys. One of their children died in infancy. As Morris documented in her memoir Conundrum, she began taking oestrogens to feminise her body in 1964. In 1972, she had sex reassignment surgery in Morocco. Sex reassignment surgeon Georges Burou did the surgery, since doctors in Britain refused to allow the procedure unless Morris and Tuckniss divorced, something Morris was not prepared to do at the time. They divorced later, but remained together and later got a civil union. On May, 14th, 2008, Morris and Tuckniss remarried each other. Morris lived mostly in Wales, where her parents were from.

Reviews

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet but unremarkable

[Bodies in the Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my module feedback for last term’s Natural History Certificate, my tutor said that referencing more artists’ work could elevate my portfolio even further.

Receiving this fee back yesterday while I was literally in the Waterstones Cafe gave me all the excuse I needed to buy A Venetian Bestiary.

This term’s module is on Illustrating Domestic animals, and this small book provides reproductions of some famous pictures of cats, dogs, horses and the other animals in Venice and depicted in the city’s architecture.

The text by the late, great Jan Morris is full of quirky details and interesting facts and I’m really glad I read it. A lot of it speaks to the narratives that the animals fulfil in many of the works of art she discusses.

Very happy with this gem of a resource. I’m sure I’ll be dipping into it for inspiration for many years to come. And who knows - one day we might even have a city break in Venice itself!

[David Nemtzow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, warm hearted, insightful, sweet

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant read with mention of well known Venice attractions and interesting facts.

[Sabra Kurth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a lovely book.

[Kingshuk Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant pocket book filled with the stories of Venice's wonderful beasts who have accompanied the Venetians even in the darkest of times