Venetian View 1742

Editor: This is Fabio Berardi's "Venetian View," from the 18th century. It has such a calm, almost melancholic feel. What strikes you most about this print? Curator: It's like a memory, isn't it? Berardi captures Venice not as a sparkling tourist postcard, but as a place where people lived and worked. The figures seem caught between eras, the classical ruin and the everyday life. Did you notice the inscription in the lower part? Editor: I did! "Se col sudor si acquista è dolce il pane"—"Bread tastes sweet if earned with sweat." It speaks to the dignity of labor. Curator: Exactly! It is as if Berardi were reflecting on the beauty found in the ordinary. Editor: I never thought I would find so much poetry in just one view! Curator: Me neither. Makes you wonder what kind of stories those buildings could tell.