Venice: Lion City - The Religion of Empire

by Garry Wills

Garry Wills's Lion City is a tour de force -- a rich, colorful, and provocative history of the world's most fascinating city in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when it was at the peak of its glory. This was not the city of decadence, carnival, and nostalgia familiar to us from later centuries. It was a ruthless imperial city, with a shrewd commercial base, like ancient Athens, which it resembles in its combination of art and sea empire. The structure of Venetian society was based on its distinctive practice of Venice elected its priests, defied the authority of papal Rome, and organized its liturgy around a lay leader (the doge). Lion City presents a new way of relating the history of the city through its art and, in turn, illuminates the art through the city's history. In their culture, their governing structures, and their social life, the Venetians themselves speak to us with extraordinary immediacy, whether at work, warfare, prayer, or acting out their victories, celebrations, and petitions in the colorful festivals that punctuated the year. Lion City is illustrated with more than 130 works of art, 30 in full color. Garry Wills gives us a unique view of Venice's rulers, merchants, clerics, and laborers, its Jews, and its women as they created a city that is the greatest art museum in the world, a city that continues to lure an endless stream of visitors. Like Simon Schama's The Embarrassment of Riches, on the Dutch culture in the Golden Age, Lion City will take its place as a classic work of history and criticism.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction, Art, Travel, Renaissance, Cities

415 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Garry Wills is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.

Reviews

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a quick and easy book to read but a very interesting one. I'm not entirely sure that Wills' plan to relay & interpret the history of Venice through its art worked -- book needed more illustraions, particularly larger, color ones.
Points that I'll remember . . . Venice didn't lose its empire because of decadence -- the decline in morality came after its empire was already gone and it lose focus and pride. Religon played a large role in Venice but Venice tried to stay apart from the Pope and to manage the affairs of its church locally, to suit its own needs and ideas.
Lots of things to think about with this book. Wills' knowledge of church history shows. Venice is a city we're familiar with through novels and movies but I had no sense of its history before this.

[Linda Howe Steiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned, well written, documented, and utterly fascinating is Gary Wills' the history of Venice through its art and architecture. I read it almost to the end before making a serious visit to this wonderful city, then upon coming home, kept picking it up for another look at various topical chapters that rouse curiosity as I edit my photos. Reading after the trip deepens and "sets" the experience, and Wills is a good one for this, particularly when it comes to explaining the importance of some of the great religious/political works like those in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Wills is particularly helpful I think regarding what he nicknames Venice's "piety-polity" that is the intersection, if not integration, between religion and public life during the Renaissance. Why for instance the importance of red, seen in so many paintings of religious and politic subjects here? Why so many annunciation paintings? And why such focus on relics--a hard one for a modern visitor to really fathom. Well, he tells you. It goes on and on; I shall have difficulty saying I'm really "done" with it (I tend to go back and back to various chapters, re-reading as I sort my pictures and think about all we saw), though I decided to put it on the "read" list. I suppose it classifies most closely with art history, but there is also sufficient emphasis on politics and society, which are of course all woven together. Focus as might be expected is on the height of Venetian power during the Renaissance. Very good book, scholarly yet accessible to the general reader. Indexed, many illustrations including color plates. I take many marginal notes as I read.

[Mike Violano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Venice: Lion City focuses on the history and people of Venice in the 15th-16th centuries as depicted and reflected in mostly religious art and architecture. It's an interesting treatment of the imperial age of Venice through the works and lives of its Renaissance artists including Titian, the Bellinis, Veronese, Tintoretto, Carpaccio and Lotto. Palaces and churches of master architects Palladio, Sansovino and Codussi are also vividly described and assessed. Far less attention is paid to sculpture.
This illustrated history of select color plates and about 100 not so finely reproduced black and white photos of art and architecture shows the prolific output of the Venetian artists and their studios that adorn many of the churches in the city as well as preserved in such local museums as the Accademia and other museums around the world.
The classes of Venice, each with codes of conduct, have their own chapters from the Doge to the merchants, nobles, privileged youth, Jews and women. Warrior saints and plague saints and churches of the period are also featured.
This is a deeply researched but highly individualistic cultural/art history of imperial Venice that ends with the Great Plague that decimated half the the population and led to the gradual end of the Venetian empire.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a learned book, which is not surprising given the author, but it is a difficult read at times. For the most part the book is a guide to the iconography of the Venetian empire in its heyday which is then used to tell the story of the various power-wielding groups and individuals of Venice. There is a major emphasis on painting and other types of predominately interior adornments, less on architecture and sculpture. There is of course much history interwoven throughout, and very little about Venice beyond the 17th century. I found that a little disappointing since the city is still alive and not merely of antiquarian interest. The basic thesis of the book, that Venice is much more like ancient Athens in its imperial aspirations and self-image than it is like Florence, Genoa, or even Rome, is the skeleton on which the meat and skin of the details are stretched and hung. The biggest flaw in the book is many of the black and white images in the text proper are difficult and at times impossible to make out in detail, and so Wills' detailed descriptions of their contents is sometimes frustrating because the intended illustration does not reveal itself. On the happy side, the color plates in the center of the book are exquisite.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book that took me most of 2024 to read. Every page was fascinating and I couldn't wait to be done reading them.

This history of Venice ties the art to the city in minute detail, and it really is amazing to read people who know their stuff tie together the symbolism, composition, history and politics of paintings and sculpture in minute detail. It's impressive. But I also have a bit of a tin eye, and even if I can appreciate paintings when I see them most of that is a pretty crude "I like it." I tried to stop and look up the paintings being discussed to stay engage, but I've learned more about depictions of the Annunciation than I ever expected to know.

I savored the preliminary parts of chapters that gave background on the office of the Doge or the scuole without commenting directly on the art they sponsored, but was beginning to wonder if I'd just lost the ability to read serious work over the years since college. Then I got to the last two chapters, which covered literature and scholarship, and breezed through them, so my confidence isn't completely shattered.

[David Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garry Wills a national treasure; some gleanings:
Athens and Venice were republics built by Naval forces callies rowed by free men who all could fight; not slaves who needed to be guarded and subdued, Venetian empire was first secured in their deceitful betrayal of Constantinople in 1204-
Their innovations needed to navigate their surrounding lagoons were responsible for their naval superiority - their galleys won at Lepanto 1390 - they were an empire of commerce
The original ghetto - (foundary -in Italian) housed the Jewish residents- they were better treated here than elsewhere in Europe because of the need to keep in good relations with the Turks
While nominally a republic they were an oligarchy

Wills' sum up is masterful -a unique empire not to be replicated because it was individual built on a state religion

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a linear history of Venice in the Renaissance, but rather a series of themes explored through the lens of art and religion. The book shows Venetian "exceptionalism," from the city's political structure to its unique relationship with religion to its art. Unfortunately the illustrations are often too small to see the points the author is describing.

[cee · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'd say this probably rates around a 3.5—nothing really groundbreaking but a fun art-historical analysis of venice at its imperial peak

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven work that would have been better as a straightforward history of Venice. Instead he mixes art criticism, theology, and personal philosophy in with Venetian history.

[Cory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fascinating takeaways, and I must confess to being a long-time Willis fan, but he meanders a lot into paths that sometimes seem unnecessary.

[Matthew Brundage · Rating 3 out of 5]

P good but too much art, but not enough pictures

[Al Maki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Gary Wills: thorough, intelligent, ruminative. He looks at how art was used to promulgate (not a word I use everyday but accurate here) the mythology that supported Venice’s empire. Much Venetian art is about the special relationship between its rulers and the Holy Family and its patron saints; an early, but not the last occurence of this pattern in the West. The first half looks at aspects of the society, for example the guilds, through how they are depicted in works of art; the second looks at specific works in detail.

[Loraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally--I've finished this ambitious history of Venice, a mighty city-state with its vast empire scattered across the waters! I struggled to get through Venice: Lion City but acknowledge I am glad I kept coming back to Wills' study of The Religion of Empire, because I learned a lot of history.

I initially chose to read this history as a result of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series--I decided I should know something more of Venice, given that it is such a canvas for her. Really, Venice is one of her main characters. Perhaps I chose a rather intense history with which to learn more of Leon's, and hence Brunetti's, Venice.

I would not recommend this to anyone who hasn't at least taken a survey course in The History of Western Art. Perhaps a study of Italian Renaissance art would be even more useful to forming an appreciation of the complicated analysis Wills offers of Venetian Empire through its public art and architecture, particularly that of Renaissance Venice. I'm not sure that he was completely successful in his goal, because his narrative descriptions of paintings and mosaics seemed at times diffuse. But then, what a vast amount of history, really of histories/biographies of individual artists and their guilds, embedded within the political, religious and economic history of this amazing city.

The symbolic content of all the artwork he discussed can seem rather arcane to us. But it is foundational to understanding the paintings, sculptures, mosaics and architecture with its aesthetic roots in Medieval thinking. As Wills said of one element of this world: "It is hard for a modern tourist to understand the devotion to relics. Of all the superstitions we find registered in the history, politics, and art of the Middle Ages, relics can seem the most unconvincing, even the most absurd. It takes some historical imagination to re-enter the value system that structured communities around these sacred items."

But . . . I finished the book!

[Alex Telander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little is known of Venice, the city of islands; few know of the tenacious, powerful grasp it once held over all of Italy, including the Papacy. Venice: Lion City makes light of this, focusing on the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when Venice was at its cultural highpoint.

Gary Wills reveals a unique viewpoint here, taken the reader through Venice’s history through the many works of art of the period. Art and painting very much became a way of life for Venetians of this period, and art has an effect on everyday life. As the telling of the history moves along, there are more than a hundred illustrated works of art throughout the book, in black and white, along with thirty color plates.

Venice: Lion City is a book that will delight anyone who has an interest in the period and the place, also serving as a general reading book for anyone who wishes to learn more about Venice and its past, and add this book to their collection.

Originally published on December 3rd 2001.

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[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history of renaissance Venice is beautifully written by Garry Wills. It is quick history of Venice's empire, but more a history of the 15th & 16th century art and politics. Wills compares Venice to Athens in the Golden Age--when Athens reigned supreme over the Mediterranean and thought itself superior to land-based Sparta (much as Venice thought itself superior to Rome).

Wills spends a good deal of time writing about the architecture, painting, and sculpture of the time and is quite fascinating. I just wish the illustrations were better.

If you love Venice (which I do), you'll want to read this.

[Schmacko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a neat way to relay a city's history, totally through the art. I will say that the pictures themselves are mostly dark black-and-white; the few color photos are splendid. I did appreciate that Wills tried to take a more conversational approach, but his gimmick (relaying history through art) requires loads of reference that kill that idea completely. This would be excellent as a reference, but overall, this book lacks the skill of a storyteller. It often sounds like commentary about art by a knowledgeable, detail-fixated tour guide. (The voice I imagine is John Houseman's.)

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for the Venice-bound; describes the Byzantine and Renaissance history of this unique city through its extraordinary art and architecture and explains the contemporary references of the depictions of the saints e.g. portrayals San Rocco and San Sebastian in wounds in the thigh are actually appeals to ward off the plague.

[Meredith Small · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. Venetians might to might not agree with his thesis that their art reflects the ever present need to make a cooperative State, but Wills support this thesis beautifully. I have seen most of the paintings and sculpture he wrote about, but now I will see them in a different light.

[J.C. Paulk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps this isn't Wills's specialty, but it is more likely that I had different expectations. I was thinking it was more of a history book or perhaps a contemporary account. Instead, it is a jumble of art commentary that isn't coherent. The texts value lies in its reference potential.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

One chapter stands out head and shoulders above the rest.

"Chapter Seven: The Doge."

I am sorry but you are going to have to accept this as fact. "The Doge" is perhaps the most thrilling thing I have ever read.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Venetian Renaissance painting, this is a great way to learn about the city at that time. I read it in preparation for a trip there, and found it informed my visit considerably. You need to really like seeking out the paintings, though.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty interesting, Wills was all about comparing Venice to Athens, and he did it well. But perhaps not the best "introduction" to Venetian history.

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip this if you're looking for a history of Venice. Maybe read it if you're looking for descriptions of religious art in Venice. Maybe.

[Jim Colombo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed look into the corners of the Venetian empire and what made it such a powerful force in its day.

[Arthur Sperry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting information on Venice and its history. A lot of Art History thrown in as well, since it is hard to talk about Venice without going into some detail on its famous works of Art.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag. Wills looks not so much at the history of Venice as what made it different: it's enthusiasm for commerce (it ignored Papal bans on books because that would have cut into the printing business), the city's perception of itself as uniquely blessed by both St. Mark and the Virgin Mary, how it winnowed the upper class when electing leaders so that they wouldn't be corrupt. But he combines this with art history showing how various paintings reflect the city's outlook. That stuff I mostly skipped over (better illustrations would have hurt).