Picture of Venetian canal in sunlight

A large proportion of my time in 1995-99 was consumed by an art history dissertation whose foundation is the historical geography and urban fabric of the city of Venice. I would like to show you some of the results: architectural details, oddities of local transport, processional routes, the ways in which the city fits together, and, above all, the visual and kinesthetic experiences of a person moving through that city on an everyday basis in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

This site contains two chapters from my dissertation, The City as Practice: Urban Topography, Pictorial Construction and Liminality in Venetian Renaissance Painting, 1495-1595, that are related to Venetian physical space and its perception and use. I also present a collection of guided and annotated tours through Venice.

Viewing requirements: for the dissertation chapters, a frames-capable browser; for the "Atmospherics and Sounds" subsection of the photo tours, RealPlayer G2 (I provide a link for you to download this if required). I recommend that you enable automatic loading of images throughout.


Venetian Maze Annotated Photo Tours Dissertation Excerpts Design and Credits Joann Zimmerman's Home Page

jzimm@bellereti.com

last updated 3 April 2001