Landschap bij maanlicht met brand 1739 - 1740

Giuliano Giampiccoli created this etching, 'Landscape by Moonlight with Fire', in Venice in the first half of the 18th century. It's a landscape with figures and animals, but also, strikingly, a large fire. So how are we to understand this contrast between bucolic imagery and a scene of destruction? Venice in the 1700s was no longer the powerful trading centre of previous centuries, but it remained a hub of artistic production. Giampiccoli was part of a thriving printmaking industry, producing views and landscapes for a growing tourist market. Picturesque scenes of ruins and the countryside appealed to wealthy Europeans on the Grand Tour. But the fire here surely speaks to other social and political factors. Was it intended as a commentary on the decline of Venetian power? Or perhaps on the ever-present threat of social unrest? To understand this work fully, we might want to look more closely at Venetian history and society at this time. Only through attention to such historical context can we hope to grasp the full significance of this dramatic image.