The Venetian school of painting is a phenomenon no less unique than the Queen of the Adriatic herself, with her matchless architecture rising amidst natural scenery of singular beauty. During the period from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth, Venetian painting traversed a long evolutionary path. Painters of the Venetian school had a particular colouristic vision which stimulated untiring exploration of problems of colouring and colour harmonies. A strong interest in landscape and a subtle poetic mood were also characteristic features of their art. The Venetian school made a significant contribution to the development of Western European painting.
The Hermitage owns one of the richest and most representative collections of Venetian paintings. Assembled over nearly 275 years, it has come to include examples of the work of the best Venetian painters - Giorgione, Titian, Lorenzo Lotto, Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, Sebastiano Ricci, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Francesco Guardi. The present edition contains reproductions of 120 pieces from this remarkable collection, selected in such a way as to illustrate the evolution of Venetian painting over the course of four centuries. Several of the canvases included here have been but recently identified as works from the brush of one or another of Venice"s great artists. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Hermitage, Leningrad: Venetian Painting 15th to 18th Century / Эрмитаж. Ленинград. Венецианская живопись XV-XVIII веков