Live from Venice

In the eighteenth century, Venice was a dazzling stage of rituals, festivals and everyday spectacle. The exhibition Bella la vita a Venezia at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia (until April 12) highlights this world through sixty-nine paintings by Gabriel Bella, paired with eighteenth‑century engravings by Gaetano Zompini and archival films from the Istituto Luce (1929–1956). Bella (Venice, 1730?–1799) moved through the city like a proto‑photographer, isolating scenes of markets, ceremonies, and popular celebrations with an eye that anticipated documentary vision. His lively, seemingly naïve style reveals a society structured by solemn rituals and civic pride. The Luce films echo Bella’s canvases: religious processions, regattas, even a circus crossing bridges with elephants mirror the same theatrical vitality captured two centuries earlier. Together, painted memory and filmed memory show Venice not as a static icon but as a living organism: restless, vibrant, and perpetually performing itself.

Featured image: Gabriel Bella, Il nuovo ridotto, Fondazione Querini Stampalia