Venice Observed

Venice Observed PDF

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1963

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780156935210

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A penetrating work of reportage on Venice. "Searching observations and astonishing comprehension of the Venetian taste and character" (New York Herald Tribune).

Venice Observed

Venice Observed PDF

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publisher: Warbler Classics

Published: 2020-09-10

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9781735515199

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Mary McCarthy explores the history, art, architecture, religion, and cultural peculiarities of the City of Canals. Mordantly witty and legendarily wry, Venice Observed is a classic travel narrative for the ages.

Venice Observed

Venice Observed PDF

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2013-10-15

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1480441236

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Group takes readers on a captivating journey to one of the world’s most celebrated cities. Mary McCarthy brings her novelist’s unerring eye to a book that blends art, politics, religion, music, and history to create a living portrait of “the world’s loveliest city.” Like a painter capturing the city’s essence on canvas, McCarthy uses words to create stunning visuals that bring both the old and new Venice to enchanting life. From her apartment overlooking the garden of a palazzo, McCarthy takes us into the museums and monasteries of this city of canals and gondolas, Machiavelli and Tintoretto. And she reveals some little-known facts: Venetians love pets, but prefer cats to dogs; during World War II, the Allies captured the city with a fleet of gondolas; and without Napoleon, Venice wouldn’t be what it is today. From the ancient roots of The Merchant of Venice’s pound of flesh to the quotidian details of daily life, it’s all here—the magnificent frescoes, the sublime music of Mozart, the virgins, and the saints. At once a comprehensive travelogue and a powerful piece of reportage, Venice Observed is a testimony of McCarthy’s love affair with the City of Canals. This ebook features superb color reproductions of the works of Giorgione, Veronese, Titian, Canaletto, Guardo, Bellini, and Tiepolo, and an illustrated biography of Mary McCarthy including rare images from the author’s estate.

The Stones of Florence

The Stones of Florence PDF

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2013-10-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1480441244

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A journey through the glorious Italian city’s scenery, history, and culture, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Venice Observed and The Group. Mary McCarthy’s classic celebrates the Italian city often looked upon as the provincial sister to the better-dressed, more “feminine” Venice. To McCarthy, Florence, or Firenze, is a place of ageless enchantment, from the Duomo to the fortressed palaces. The Renaissance began here; art and architecture flourished. From its roots as a center of medieval trade to its transformation into one of the world’s wealthiest cities, McCarthy charts Florence’s rich and turbulent history. She introduces a cast of towering real-life characters. Through her probing writer’s lens, the poetry of Dante and the magnificent artistry of Raphael and Botticelli come vibrantly alive. Along this illuminating journey, McCarthy offers fascinating bits of trivia: There are no ruins in Florence because the Florentines aren’t sentimental about their past; America took its name from a Florentine traveler named Amerigo Vespucci. From Michelangelo to the Medicis to the story behind a statue’s missing head, The Stones of Florence is Mary McCarthy’s hymn to this unique city. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary McCarthy including rare images from the author’s estate.

Venice, the Tourist Maze

Venice, the Tourist Maze PDF

Author: Robert C. Davis

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2004-06-25

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780520937802

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"The tourist Venice is Venice," Mary McCarthy once observed—a sentiment very much in line with what most of the fourteen million tourists who visit the city each year experience, but at the same time a painful reality for the 65,000 Venetians who actually live there. Venice is viewed from a new perspective in this engaging book, which offers a heady, one-city tour of tourism itself. Conducting readers from the beginnings of Venetian tourism in the late Middle Ages to its emergence as a form of mass entertainment in our time, the authors explore what happens when today's "industrial tourism" collides with an ancient and ever-more-fragile culture. Giving equal consideration to those who tour Venice and those who live there, their book affords rare insight into just what it is that the touring and the toured see, experience, and elicit from each other.

Venice Sketchbook

Venice Sketchbook PDF

Author:

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2004-11-11

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 9780312334581

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A pictorial tour of the most significant landmarks of Venice's "La Serenissima" seaport discusses how the city's architecture reflects its history as a center of learning and a regional superpower, providing coverage of such areas as the Basilica di San Marco, the Palazzo Ducale, and the Grand Canal.

An Artist in Venice

An Artist in Venice PDF

Author: Adam Van Doren

Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher

Published: 2013-01-15

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1567924972

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

For the depiction of Venice by artists, it's a high bar that's been set, but Adam Van Doren, grandson of the Pulitzer-prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren, convincingly confronts the competition in this charming memoir, a verbal and visual account of his love affair with the city. His story is personal; like all other artists, he sees the city with and through his own eyes, but he is also well-informed historically. He laces his tour with information, opinion, and citation. With Van Doren as guide, the reader's tour of the city is rich and convincing, filled with the presence of illustrious predecessors. With an informed preface by the scholar Theodore Rabb and a charming foreword by Simon Winchester, with 23 full-color drawings by the author/artist, and even six pages of commendably lucid notes on the personalities and structures discussed, this is a book that will proudly take its place alongside the many others that have celebrated this city for centuries.

Mary McCarthy's Italy

Mary McCarthy's Italy PDF

Author: Mary McCarthy

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2017-08-08

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1504047478

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Captivating portraits of two of the world’s most beguiling cities from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Group. Mary McCarthy blends art, politics, religion, music, and history to create unique living portraits of two of Italy’s most enchanting cities in these enthralling books now available in one volume. The Stones of Florence: The book Library Journal called “Mary McCarthy’s classic” takes readers on a timeless journey to the place where the Renaissance began. From Michelangelo to the Medicis, The Stones of Florence is McCarthy’s hymn to this immortal hub of art and commerce. Venice Observed: McCarthy trains her gaze on the immortal City of Canals. At once a comprehensive travelogue and a powerful piece of reportage, Venice Observed contains “searching observations and astonishing comprehension of the Venetian taste and character” (New York Herald Tribune).

Venetian Colour

Venetian Colour PDF

Author: Paul Hills

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0300081359

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Discusses the relation of Venetian color to social, cultural, and environmental factors

My Venice

My Venice PDF

Author: Donna Leon

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2013-12-03

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0802194036

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A collection of “entertaining . . . unapologetically opinionated” essays from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti novels (The New York Times). Donna Leon has won legions of fans and waves of critical acclaim for her international bestselling mystery series featuring Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti—not only for her intricate plots and gripping narratives, but for her insight into the culture, politics, family-life, and history of Venice. But outside of her mystery novels, Leon has also been writing essays on Venetian life and related topics for years. In My Venice and Other Essays, the best of these essays are collected: more than fifty charming and insightful works ranging in topic from battles over garbage in the canals to the troubles with rehabbing Venetian real estate. Leon shares episodes from her life, explores her love of opera, and recounts tales from in and around her country house in the mountains. With pointed observations and humor, she also explores her family history, her former life in New Jersey, and the idea of the “Italian man.” Sure to please longtime Leon fans as well as anyone who appreciates the wit and wisdom of a master wordsmith, this volume offers “an intriguing glimpse at the strong views of an exceptionally interesting and entertaining novelist” (The Seattle Times).