RUBENS SANTORO (Mongrassano 1859 – Turin 1942)
A Gondola in Front of the Palazzo Cavalli – Franchetti and Palazzi Barboro, Venice
signed Rubens Santoro in the lower right
oil on canvas
13 x 9 1⁄2 inches (34.29 x 24.13 cm.)
VENICE OF THE NORTH
You may have heard terms like ‘Paris of the South’ or ‘New York of Asia.’ These expressions are usually intended to endear the reader to another place and evoke the feeling that one might have in one city with another city – the atmosphere, style, and character. Sometimes it is the architecture and style, in another is it the buzz of the city and the often-related industries. It could be argued that none of these have as many direct parallels as Amsterdam and Venice in terms of history, artistic inspiration and wanderlust.
The obvious comparisons are easy. The domination of water and the canals throughout the two cities makes them appear as mirrors immediately. But scratching a bit of the surface, history shows us that Venice’s decline was Amsterdam’s big break. In the 11th and 12th century, Venice became a trading powerhouse, while Amsterdam was yet to be established. As the Venetians started to build their trading empire, art and culture arrived in the city. Was this due to the money from wealthy patrons or the global culture that was available by the extensive travels of the citizens? Likely a combination of both, much of the same can be said of Amsterdam.
In 1420 Venice’s doge claimed Venice had reached its zenith. However, Amsterdam was only just now stepping into the light. In 1489, Amsterdam was granted an official coat of arms and started to become an important commercial city in Europe. By the start of the 1500’s Venice was in decline. Through greed and war, the Venetians lost much of their power and many of their trade routes. Not only was the Eastern market lost, but the discovery of new lands in the West and new trade routes to the East released Europe from dependence on Venetian merchants. Venice ceased to be a Mediterranean power, and, as a European power, it lacked the advantage that the Atlantic countries had of direct access to the New World.
Venice’s decline gave rise to the Amsterdammer! It is as if the two cities played a game of tag. Venice’s loss was Amsterdam’s gain. In 1585, after the downfall of Antwerp, Amsterdam experienced a huge influx of migrants who had many of the skills that helped Antwerp to becoming a major trade and shipping hub. These ship builders, merchants and bankers followed by a large Jewish influx from Portugal offered Amsterdam a chance to become a big city. In 1612 the three-canal plan was established and Amsterdam entered into its own glory days of art, culture and wealth, much as the Venetians had done 500 years earlier.
This briefly mirrored history of these two iconic cities of wealth, cultural and power are not so uncommon. What is highly unusual is that both these cities are built on stilts, established themselves through extensive trade and, at the height of their power, became iconic and incomparable points in the history of art. Their architecture of giant water-facing facades, best accessed by boat is admittedly very unusual for such grand cities. Their unmistakable parallels in drawing artists, architects and writers to them can only be reflected in a few other cities. Artists looking for inspiration found it in these two cities, which is why throughout history the cityscapes themselves have been repeatedly painted by artists and coveted by collectors. Not just because they are beautiful buildings, feats of architectural prowess, but because they help the viewer conjure up the exotic, inspirational wanderlust that built them.
Obviously, there is much more to these two cities histories – many books have been written about each. Venice and Amsterdam are not the same city and yes, one history followed the other, which is likely why it is ‘Venice of the North’ instead of ‘Amsterdam of the South’, but there is no doubt that these two cities’ histories parallel each other, just a couple of hundred years apart. So, again we circle back to one of our favorite themes, the repetition of history.
9 September 2021