User:Venice Art/Carnival of Venice

Origins

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, and is renowned around the world for its elaborate costumes and masks. The carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), which is the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

The Venetian carnival tradition is most famous for its distinctive masks.

The carnival traces its origins to the Middle Ages, existing for several centuries until it was abolished in 1797. The tradition was revived in 1979, and the modern event now attracts approximately 3 million visitors annually.

This Article will further explore the history and artistic values of the Carnival of Venice.

History

According to legend, the Carnival of Venice began after the military victory of the Venetian Republic over the Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico di Treven in the year 1162. In honor of this victory, the people started to dance and gather in St Mark's Square. Apparently, this festival started in that period and became official during the Renaissance. In the 17th century, the Baroque carnival preserved the prestigious image of Venice in the world. It was very famous during the 18th century. It encouraged license and pleasure, but it was also used to protect Venetians from present and future anguish. However, under the rule of the Holy Roman Emperor and later Emperor of Austria, Francis II, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. It reappeared gradually in the 19th century, but only for short periods and above all for private feasts, where it became an occasion for artistic creations.

After a long absence, the Carnival returned in 1979. The Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of its efforts. The redevelopment of the masks began as the pursuit of some Venetian college students for the tourist trade. Since then, approximately 3 million visitors have been coming to Venice every year for the Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for la maschera più bella ("the most beautiful mask"), which is judged by a panel of international costume and fashion designers.

Carnival in Venice, by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, 1750

Carnival of Venice Paintings

The painting to the right by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo depicts the revelry involved in the Carnival of Venice. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo is the son of Giambattista, and often displays popular venetian festivities such as carnivals in his paintings. This painting is known as The Minuet, and it is one of his first endeavors in that field. It takes place on a platform, and in the background there is the sea, evidenced by the flying birds and waves in the distance. It has been painted with an oil medium over a canvas. There are people wearing long hats to accentuate their costumes, and women with painted faces and flowing dresses to show their joy. To the right there is someone sitting and communicating with the person next to them, while watching the women dancing in the robes. There are also many variations of masks seen in the painting. One such mask is the Pantalone, which is recognizable by the long beak shaped nose and is worn by the man in the middle with the long cylindrical hat. Another common mask is the moretta, which is commonly worn by women and is black in color, oval-shaped, and covers most of the female's face. There is one women wearing it behind the dancing lady dressed in golden robes.

Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, painted this piece of the Carnival in Venice in 1740

This painting by Canaletto showcases scenes from the Carnival of Venice. The arms of the Doge Alvise Pisani, are represented on the 'macchina della regatta' (floating pavilion) on the left. The canals of Venice offer an accessible way of transportation to different festivities around the city via boat. The many buildings along the canal, also show how accessible it is to view the festivities. There are also regattas, or boat races, conducted throughout the Carnival seen in this painting. This canal is specifically known as the Grand Canal , where these boat races take place. The boats are traditionally known as gondolas, a black flat-bottomed venetian rowing vessel. There are many people dressed in period costumes both in the boats and on the platforms to the side.

Carnival Thursday on the Piazzetta, 1766 - 1770

The painting on the right is a work by Francesco Guardi. He is a Venetian artist, who is thought to be one of the last classical painters of Venice in his generation. Many of his paintings depict the famous architecture of Venice, such as the Bacino di San Marco, and the Doge's palace. His painting Carnival Thursday on the Piazzetta takes place in the Piazza san Marco, and displays the Doge's Palace to the left. The large columned building was the official residence of the Doge of Venice. The Piazzeta is surrounded by the Doge's Palace and the Biblioteca Marciana. Although not fully shown, the building on the right is likely the famous Biblioteca Marciana (St. Mark's library). The painting represents the famous tradition done on Thursday during the Carnival known as the Flight of the Angel. The Flight of the Angel used to be a tradition where the winner of the 'The Festa Delle Marie' uses a rope to launch herself from St. Mark's Campanile to the Doge's Palace, but was later replaced by a wooden dove. The many people strolling around is a common scene found during the Carnival of Venice, where people are reveling in the symbolic representation of an angel flying. Some famous architecture missing in this painting that is also found in Piazza san Marco, are the St. Mark's Clocktower, St. Mark's basilica, and the Campanile.

Carnival Masks and Disguises

Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) and the end of the carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday (movable, but during February or early March). As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large portion of the year in disguise.

Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild, with their own statute dated 10 April 1436. Mascherari belonged to the fringe of painters and were helped in their task by sign-painters who drew faces onto plaster in a range of different shapes and paying extreme attention to detail.

Pietro Longhi, The Perfume Seller, (detail), c. 1750 – 1752, Oil on canvas, Venice, Ca’ Rezzonico

Venetian masks can be made of leather or porcelain, or by using the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most Italian masks are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.^{[citation needed]} However, this makes them rather expensive when compared to the widespread, low-quality masks produced mainly by American factories.^{[citation needed]} This competition accelerates the decline of this historical craftsmanship particular to the city of Venice.

Several distinct styles of mask are worn in the Venice Carnival, some with identifying names. People with different occupations wore different masks.

The traditional symbol of the Carnival was the mask, which originated in the theater. Masks add intrigue and ambiguity to social interaction by disguising the person behind it. In the 17th - 18th centuries in Venice, the Carnival season is represented by the the union of a mask with a black cape and a tricorn hat. Pietro Longhi's painting, The Perfume Seller, depicts this scene. Longhi painted this scene with oil on canvas, a common technique at that time among Venetian painters.The black cloak and hat offer a striking contrast to the white robes worn by the people. Although the focus of the painting is on the two tricorn hat wearing people, he also depicted a woman in the background wearing an oval black mask, which increases the mystery about her true appearance. Masks were not only worn for celebration during Carnival in Venice. They were also donned at social gatherings, theater performances, and evening outings. However, they were most popularized during the festive season.

In Venice, masks hold a multifaceted significance that goes beyond mere identity concealment and imitation. In a society marked by a stringent social hierarchy, masks served as a means to break free from strict societal norms, offering a deeper sense of liberation by bridging social gaps. Wearing masks facilitated more seamless interactions among individuals from different social classes, granted women the ability to venture out without a chaperone, and allowed beggars to evade feelings of shame, creating an atmosphere of anonymity and intrigue during celebrations. However, this anonymity was somewhat relative, as a nobleman's status remained evident due to his servants in proximity. Masks varied in types and qualities, with the bautta mask reserved for the nobility and upper middle class during official ceremonies, while the black moretta, a distinct oval mask fastened to the face by a button between the teeth, was exclusively worn by patrician women.

Moretta/servetta muta

Woman wearing a moretta, and another holding one, in Pietro Longhi's The Rhinoceros

Closer view, in a 1745 portrait

The moretta ("dark one" in English) or servetta muta ("mute servant woman" in English) was a small strapless black velvet oval mask with wide eyeholes and no lips or mouth worn by patrician women. It derived from the visard mask invented in France in the sixteenth century, but differed in not having a hole to speak through. The mask was only just large enough to conceal a woman's identity and was held in place by the wearer biting on a button or bit (the women wearing this mask were unable to speak, hence muta) and was often finished off with a veil. The Rhinoceros by Pietro Longhi, sometimes called Clara the rhinoceros, depicts this mask in use in 1751. It fell into disuse about 1760. The mask was easily removable, and is thought to be a symbol of a women's mysteriousness. It can be removed easily so that the women can interact with someone she is interested in. However, if she is not interested, she would keep silent using the excuse that the button on the mask makes it impossible to talk.

Pantalone

Another classic character from the Italian stage, Pantalone, possibly stemming from the Italian pianta il leone referencing the conquests of Venice and the origin of this character, is usually represented as a sad old man with an oversized nose like the beak of a crow with high brows and slanted eyes (meant to signify intelligence on the stage). Like other commedia masks, Pantalone is also a half mask. This mask is almost exclusively worn by men, although its popularity at the modern festival has declined. The mask is known as Pantalone, as it embodies a beloved character of Venice, and it represents the traditions and culture of the city.

Bauta

Simple bauta mask with black zendale and tricorne; in background, Zanni or Pantalone mask

Woman of the Bautta, by Alessandro Longhi, circa. late 1700s. She is not actually wearing a mask.

Conversation of the masks, by Pietro Longhi, detail. A man and a woman, both wearing bauta: bauta masks, black tricorn hats, grey tabarros, and black zendales.

A man and a woman in bauta masks. The women's mouth is just visible under the beak of the mask.

The bauta (sometimes referred as baùtta) is a mask, today often heavily gilded though originally simple stark white, which is designed to comfortably cover the entire face; this traditional grotesque piece of art was characterized by the inclusion of an over-prominent nose, a thick supraorbital ridge, a projecting "chin line", and no mouth. The mask's beak-like chin is designed to enable the wearer to talk, eat, and drink without having to remove it, thereby preserving the wearer's anonymity. The bauta was often accompanied by a red or black cape and a tricorn.

In the 18th century, together with a black circular or semicircular clasped cape called a tabarro (and zendale hood), the bauta had become a standardized society mask and disguise regulated by the Venetian government. It was obligatory to wear it at certain political decision-making events when all citizens were required to act anonymously as peers. Only citizens (i.e., men) had the right to use the bauta. Its role was similar to the anonymizing processes invented to guarantee general, direct, free, equal and secret ballots in modern democracies. Also, the bearing of weapons along with the mask was specifically prohibited by law and enforceable by the Venetian police.

Given this history and its grotesque design elements, the bauta was usually worn by men, but many paintings done in the 18th century also depict women wearing this mask and tricorn hat.The Ridotto and The Perfume Seller by Pietro Longhi are two examples of this from the 1750s.

In culture

The short story The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is set in Venice during the carnival.

Venetian masks feature prominently in the films Eyes Wide Shut and Marco Bellocchio's The Witches' Sabbath. Stores that supplied the masks include both Ca' Macana and Il Canovaccio in Venice.

The Carnival of Venice was mentioned as a festival of joy and debauchery in Zofloya, written by Charlotte Dacre. The character known as Victoria experiences her first Carnival, and was enamored by the many gondolas and dancing people.

External Links

• Official website
• Carnivalofvenice.com: History, photos and videos since 1998
• Carnival of Venice