Venice: a city marked by genius

Paul Millward describes the effects that the religious art of Venice had on him

San Marco | Photo: Photo: tiseb/flickr CC:BY

Legend has it that saint Mark was once shipwrecked upon an island in the Venetian lagoon. An angel came to him saying: ‘Peace be with thee, O Mark, my evangelist’, whereupon the angel predicted that on this very spot would arise the most beautiful city the world would see. Cynics may dismiss the legend as shameless self-promotion but there is no denying that Venice remains the most sublime city on earth. Venice has been described as the greatest work of art ever created so it is fitting that Venice has produced some of the world‘s greatest painters – Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Canaletto to name but a few.

Venice today is physically exactly as it was centuries ago when these old masters were alive: their spiritual hand-prints are ingrained within the fabric of the ancient stone all around. Inside the churches of Venice I have unexpectedly found myself connecting spiritually to these artists through their paintings, which have hung in the same churches for hundreds of years.

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