Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant -- February 2016 meeting

The Redentore Feast is a deeply felt celebration in Venice as it combines religion with entertainment, thanks to the Saturday night phantasmagorical fireworks’ display attracting thousands of visitors: a kaleidoscope of shades, from a game of light and colours on the inimitable setting in St. Mark’s Basin, lights up the spires, domes and bell towers of the city. At dusk, plenty of boats traditionally decked out with flower festoons, colourful balloons and brightly Chinese lamps begin to flock into both St. Mark’s Basin and the Giudecca Canal. Awaiting for the firework display, which starts at 11.30 p.m. and lasts late into the night, people enjoy a sumptuous dinner of traditional Venetian specialities.

Brief history
This tradition dates back to 1577, right at the end of a terrible plague. The Redentore Feast was first held to celebrate the construction of the Palladio’s Redentore Church (i.e. Redeemer Church), built on the Giudecca Island to give thanks for being freed from that plague. Celebrations include the Holy Mass presided by the Bishop and the religious procession to the Palladian basilica, which can be done via an impressive 330 metre pontoon bridge. The weekend finishes with the ‘Regata su gondole’, a gondola race organised as part of the Voga alla Veneta rowing season.

- See more at: http://events.veneziaunica.it/content/festa-del-redentore-0#sthash.yfC7Smls.dpuf

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History of Venetian Carnival Masks - Venetian Masks Shop

www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm

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camacana.com/bauta-mask-facts

One could argue that, especially during the 18th century, not wearing a mask would have looked weird, in Venice. Among the various masks made by the maschereri, though, one was worn in every season, by men, women, the rich and the poor, and it can indeed be considered as the most effective disguise: its name is Bauta or Bautta.

Bauta mask facts: the building blocks of this disguise

A Bauta is no mere mask, but rather a whole costume, aimed not only at hiding one’s face, but his, or her, social status, as well. “Wear me”, it said, “and you can be whoever you want to be”. This Venetian love for this disguise dates back as far as the 13th century, when the first document quoting its name was written. Although the etymology is not certain, the name “Bauta” may come from the same root as the German behüten, “to protect”, that is exactly what this costume does: protecting one’s identity, by means of a black hooded cape, trimmed with lace for nobles, and a black or white mask, the Volto, whose shape was unique.

The beak-like projection of its lower part allowed people wearing the Volto not only to eat and drink without taking it off, but to modify their own voice, too. This mask was made of plaster, papier-mâché or leather. Cape and mask were held together by a usually black tricorn hat, which women too put on.

Not only Casanova’s mask: a mask worn by everyone

The Bauta is well known even today, thanks to movies such as Casanova, directed by Lasse Hallström (2005), where it is worn only by the main characters, belonging to the upper class. One of the most peculiar features of the Bauta, though, is its widespread and varied use: it could indeed be put on by everyone, i.e. both by nobles and by common people. Thus members of the lower classes were also offered a chance for mixing up with the upper class, especially at their parties. This is proven by the fact that every Bautta had to be greeted, since it was impossible to know who was wearing it.

The Bauta is therefore an extremely adequate disguise: maybe this is the reason why it was shown more tolerance than other masks. Venetians were, indeed, allowed to wear it even on Saint Mark’s day (April, 25th), on the Ascension Day and during the elections of doges and procurators of the Serenissima Republic.

Tags: Bauta, Venetian Life

The intrigue of silence: all the secrets of the Moretta

November 6, 2013

Imagine a city whose women were not shy at all, nor afraid to show their bodies: such was Venice in the 16th and 17th century. That could seem hard to believe, given that almost all the rest of the world had to cope with Puritanism and the strictness which followed the Counter-Reformation. Venice, though, has always played an exceptional role in such matters, and the freedom Venetian women enjoyed is well represented by a mask which was not aimed at hiding the wearer’s face, but rather at drawing someone’s attention: the Moretta, or Muta.

A means of enticement: the meaning of the Moretta mask

Muta means “mute”: women wearing this mask were, indeed, unspeaking, since it could only be held to the face by gripping one’s teeth on the button placed inside it. Only when she wanted to finally give an answer and some peace to the man who was addressing her, she put the mask down and revealed herself and her feelings.

The Moretta is therefore a way for women – who were, indeed, the only ones wearing this mask – to create an aura of mystery and to become intriguing, in a city where they could not simply rely on their bodies to be attractive in the eyes of men. Meaningful features of this mask are its colour and its size, as well: as the name itself reveals, the Moretta was black, though it did not completely hide a woman’s face, being a small oval covering her face only up to the eyes and down to the mouth.

Together with this mask, women often wore a long taffeta cloth, the xendal, which was originally used by ladies to cover their head and shoulders. Interestingly, this garment, which was later developed into a closed cloth wholly made of lace, was also used as the lace trim for the Bauta cape.

The ideals the Moretta is based on are not so outdated as it appears at a first sight, they are in effect quite modern in their attempt at making women more captivating by turning them into inscrutable creatures, rather than showing off their bodies. Moreover, the Moretta granted them a great degree of independence in deciding who they wanted to talk to and to start a relationship with.

The old tradition of disguise: a brief history of Venetian masks

When thinking about Venetian masks, the images coming to one’s mind are the motley photos of Venice Carnival, with all their feathers, fancy hats and extravagant patterns. In effect, the world of Venetian masks is far more complex than one usually imagines. Ancient Venetians, indeed, did not put on their masks solely during the Carnival period, but rather during most of the year, at least as long as the Venetian Serenissima Republic lasted, i.e. until 1797.

In many of his paintings of the middle of the 18th century, the Venetian painter Pietro Longhi provides some pieces of evidence for such tradition and for the reason why using masks was so popular among Venetian nobles. In a painting such as Il ridotto, showing the state gambling hall, various masked and unmasked figures can be seen, some wearing a white volto, some others wearing a black moretta, among the most ancient Venetian masks. By putting those masks, Venetian nobles could turn into whoever they wanted to be, and to make their life an adventure on, just as risky as their work as merchants.

October 15, 2013

The medieval origin of Carnival

Carnival is said to date back as far as 1162, when Doge Vitale Michieli 2nd defeated Ulrich 2nd of Treven, Patriarch of Aquileia. In order to commemorate this victory, Venetians used to gather in Saint Mark’s square and slaughter a bull and 12 pigs around Shrove Thursday. But the tradition of mask-wearing is quite old, as well, since the first written source bearing witness to such usage dates back to May 2nd, 1268: this document forbade masked men, the so-called mattaccini, to throw eggs filled with rose water against ladies walking in the streets.

Masks in Venice were therefore a symbol of freedom, a way to get rid of social rules and to conceal the masked person’s identity and social status, not only during Carnival, but also in the everyday life.

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www.telegraph.co.uk › Culture › Books

Trysts in a Venice winter

Miranda Seymour reviews A Venetian Affair by Andrea Di Robila

"My love, you govern my every action. I do not think, I do not feel, I do not see anything but my Giustiniana. Everything else is meaningless to me."

Andrea Memmo was writing to his beloved in Venice in 1755. She was the illegitimate daughter of an English knight. He was a member of an illustrious and fiercely conventional Venetian family. The city-republic's social laws decreed that Memmo must marry one of his own kind. Hypocrisy winked, and said they could have as passionate a relationship as they wished, so long as Giustiniana Wynne was the wife or widow of another man. The problem, as Memmo slowly came to realise, was that the city's cynical attitude, second nature to him, was entirely foreign to Miss Wynne. She was too strong and too wilful to play the role expected of her.

Many of Giustiniana's spirited, dramatic letters have already been published. Andrea di Robilant's book adds to these his own sensitive reading of an enthralling love story and, better still, the lost letters of Andrea Memmo. These were discovered in his own family's Venetian home by di Robilant's father, Memmo's direct descendant. Alvise di Robilant was murdered in 1997; in life, one of his greatest pleasures had been to relate the story of the lovers and to show off the fragile letters, many written in secret cipher. The sense of Andrea di Robilant's affectionate commitment to his father's subject adds indefinable poignancy to his evocation of an impossible relationship.

One of the book's most attractive features is the setting and the graceful way in which di Robilant marries it to the subject. We first meet the lovers at Palazzo Balbi, where the kindly, fussy English resident Joseph Smith held court. Memmo was a bright and ambitious young man whose friendship with Casanova meant that he was already well used to affairs; Giustiniana was captivatingly pretty and unusually well-read (as a young girl, she had been given the keys to her father's library and told to enjoy it). Flirtation developed into love, and strengthened as it was driven into secrecy by disapproving parents. The letters reveal all the excitement of a clandestine relationship, in which Memmo would loiter in the rooms of his friends at Cà Tiepolo, waiting for the moment when Miss Wynne would show herself on a balcony and signal their next meeting on the Piazza San Marco or at the fashionable gaming tables of the Ridotto. More daringly, the couple spent long hours together at carefully chosen hideaways.

Passion has seldom seemed so intense and yet so calculated. If Giustiniana flinched at Memmo's readiness to help arrange a marriage for her that would suit his own plans, she was enchanted by the patience with which he devised a secret code for their letters and with which, banished from her home, he huddled below her window for long hours during one of Venice's most bitter winters. It is not clear that she reacted with quite such pleasure to the "sticky packets" that arrived as testimonies of his physical devotion, and for which he requested a similar response.

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Gold Sequin

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When one thinks of gold sequins nowadays, it is immediately assumed to be shiny circular rounds of a metallic material sewn on clothes and head-scarves. However, prior to its use as a decorative element, the sequin was originally a type of gold coin (one of the most popular and lasting ones, in fact) that was issued as a standard form of currency in the Republic of Venice. Then at the height of its power and glory, known throughout the whole of the West as the Serenissima – Venice issued a gold coin composed of 3.5 grams of gold at .986 to .997 fineness; known as the zecchino from which the word 'sequin' derives. [1] The sequin was a very popular Venetian coin minted in 1284 under the rule of the Doge Giovanni Dandolo (1280 – 1289). Then known as the ducato due to the fact that it bore the image of the doge on the obverse side of the coin, it became the standard currency of Venice, not only due to the ease in making it (gold of such fineness was relatively soft and mints left a lasting and aesthetically pleasing impression on it), but due to its value. [2] The sequin became a highly popular coin that would remain virtually unchanged for over 500 years since its production – a reputation solely unique to the Venetian sequin alone. [3]

The sequin, or ducat (Italian ducato) as it was then called (referring to the Doge, or Duke), was de facto currency for all trade and transactions in Venice and throughout the whole of Europe, even going so far so to spawn fractions of varying denominations made with silver or gold. It was only later referred to as a sequin from around 1543, when Venice also began minting silver ducats, and a need to differentiate the gold one from the silver one arose. The name zecchino became the new moniker for the gold ducat, derived from the Venetian mint, known as the zecca. [4] The popularity of the coin went beyond the borders of the Venetian Republic, and since they were primarily a nation which valued trade and commerce, the use of the sequin for various transactions became commonplace along with the use of the lesser denominations minted in silver.

The most startling aspect of the ducat or sequin is its relatively unchanged standard form, with only the obverse and reverse design of the coin being changed after the election of another Doge, while the obverse maintained its standard legend of 'Sit tibi, Christe, datus || quem tu Regis, iste ducatus' (Christ, let this duchy that you rule be given to you, a reference to Matt. 22: 19 – 21), a legend that became the motto of all Venetian currency since the time of its first usage by Roger II of Sicily's mint in 1140. Because Venice had its run of numerable Doges, the sequin came in a vast proliferation of faces, which is of great value to collectors who are even daunted by the task of collecting every known sequin from bearing the face of each of the Doges of Venice from the time of its first issue (1140 – 1284, Doges Roger II and Giovanni Dandolo) to its last (1796, Doge Ludovico Manin). Due to the number of sequins issued since its first run, it came to be used in many Eastern European countries as ornaments due to its highly aesthetically pleasing appearance and was sewn on clothes and headdresses (by then a considerably 'common' and 'ancient' custom) – a practice that would also remain to this day in the use of sequins. [5]

Now, sequins or ducats are still produced by the Venetian mint using old patterns for both bullion and numismatic purposes. [6] The value of the sequin / ducat is still somewhat of a mystery to many historians as there is no written record of its exact worth in other denominations, although Webster did imply in 1913 that it was equivalent to 'nine shillings and four pence', roughly two dollars at the time. The sequin or ducat remained a highly popular coin even after the reign of the final Doge of Venice was through, with many imitations being made (i. e. the basilikon of Byzantium) owing to its common nature, great worth, and relative popularity.

http://www.coinandbullionpages.com/gold-coins/gold-sequin.html

Gold Sequin - References:

[1] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=sequin&searchmode=none
[2] http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it
[3] http://books.google.it/books?id=M5gAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA237
[4] http://www.treasurerealm.com/coinpapers/dictionary/dictionary.html
[5] http://www.artfact.com/subcollection/zecchino-oihbo3bw8y
[6] http://www.muenzeoesterreich.at/eng?l=en//The

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Giustiniano as author:

Nancy Isenberg

Giustiniana Wynne and the invention of Eastern Europe

Abstract

The Anglo-Venetian writer Giustiniana Wynne has been the subject of three papers delivered at WWIH meetings. Two of these papers examined her anthropological novel Les Morlaques (1788), one identifying it as an early (possibly the earliest) novel written by a woman in Italy (Irene Zanini-Cordi, Bochum 2009); the other discussing it as an early example of feminist sensitivity in literary writing in French (Véronique Church-Duplessis, Bochum, 2009). 

This paper looks at Les Morlaques – a story of love, family bonds, and vengeful violence in a ‘primitive’ society - from the perspective of the initially Italian and then, more generally Western European Enlightenment’s invention of the ‘Eastern European’ Other. It considers the central place Wynne thus ocupies in the larger pan-European cultural context of writers that heralded the Romantic Movement’s demi-orientalism with their Rousseauian works about neighbouring peoples to the East, and more specifically, her role as a prime mover of the phenomenon of ‘Morlacchimania’ (a recently coined term), alongside Fortis, Goethe, Herder, Madame de Staël, Nodier, Mérimée. These writers collectively created an outsiders’ folkloric portrait of Slave society, mores and customs – a sentimental portrait that lived on well into the 20th century, conditioning the ‘Western’ popular imagination. Wynne’s work distinguishes itself for the special attention it pays to the condition of women in both Eastern and Western European societies. My contribution to the workshop will consider ways of visually organizing the information I have been gathering on my topic to track the development of the phenomena I am studying.

Les Morlaques, well received in its time, circulated not only in French but also in Italian and two different German translations. Its influence on other writers’ works (in Western Europe) and the critical attention it has been attracting among scholars in more recent times (in Eastern and Western Europe) are also among the aspects of my research that I will discuss in terms of how I need to visualize (i.e., map) my materials. 

AsK, September 2012
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pdf (4 MB), English, Pages 275

hrcak.srce.hr/file/65714

by C Pavlović - ‎1998

the idyllic novel Paul et Virginie, the plot of which takes place on the island of ... the novel The Morlacchi (Les Morlaques) appears in Venice by an author. 256 ...

                   

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from Barbara