In mediaeval times Venice merely meant to the Northerner a great and wealthy commercial power aid a very cunning and crafty enemy. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries the rise of Humanism brought about a change in the German attitude towards Venice. The most beautiful editions of the Greek and Latin classics were printed by Aldo Manuccio in Venice, so that, for the German scholar at least, Venice began to embody one ideal, that of the city of origin of beautiful books. From this period onwards there is a growth in the symbolic value of Italy, and of Venice in. particular, for the Northerner. During the seventeenth century Italian literature became the symbol for the highest possible achievement in this field, With Mignon's songs in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister there begins the more abstract and intangible symbolic value of Venice as the land of complete happiness. For the Romantics Italy was the land of the Kunstlerreise, The German artist had too cold a nature to produce great works of art until he was thawed by the sensuous South.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:244188 |
| Date | January 1936 |
| Creators | Hall, D. M. |
| Publisher | Birkbeck (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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