A View of Venice

“This intriguing book guides the reader on a compelling journey around the physical and social milieu of Renaissance Venice. Its magisterial essays invite the viewer to take an imaginary walk through the city’s empty streets, as seen in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s celebrated bird's-eye view of 1500. The book guides us step-by-step from the map’s stunning artistic virtuosity into the cosmopolitan lives of the people who inhabited the fabric of the city.” - Deborah Howard, Professor Emerita, University of Cambridge

“A View of Venice offers an engaging consideration of the ideation, creation, historical significance, idiosyncrasies, and scholarly potential of Jacopo de’ Barbari’s View. A fascinating and valuable collection of research and analysis of de' Barbari’s remarkable print and of the Venice in which he lived and worked, this volume will greatly interest general readers and specialists alike.” - Gary M. Radke, Professor Emeritus of Art History, Syracuse University

"One of the most remarkable Venice books in decades, the kind of thorough and detailed study of a city caught in time that scholars can only dream about for most other hinge-points in history. De’ Barbari’s View cost the hefty sum of three florins, and as these scholars make clear, there were plenty of buyers for something that must have seemed borderline miraculous in an era before photography. A View of Venice is the definitive anatomy of that miracle." - Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review

"Offering meaningful insights about the artists, residents, and visitors who interacted with one another and left indelible marks on the city, the research covers many aspects of the cultural, sociopolitical, and economic history of Venice. The studies in this collection make a compelling argument that the View encompassed reality and myth and that both facets affected art, architecture, and experience in Venice during the early modern period. Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals."
  - D. H. Cibelli, Choice

"This book uses one specific and incomparable work of art to open up vistas on a wide range of topics about Renaissance Venice. It is intended for scholars, but the brevity of the essays and the accessibility of de’ Barbari’s image make it suitable for undergraduates, too." - Christopher Carlsmith, Comitatus

"Those who are unfamiliar with the map, or who are new to the history of Venice, will find this collection (and the beautiful production of the book) wonderful. These essays model the ways in which savvy scholars can see new things, even in texts and objects—like the de’ Barbari View—that have regularly drawn our attention for hundreds of years." - Liz Horodowich, Sixteenth Century Journal

"Huffman and the contributors achieve a volume likely to become the standard reference text for Barbari’s print and are to be applauded for the energy they bring to such an oft-reproduced image." - James R. Jewitt, CAA Reviews