BOOKS: Paradise of Cities, Venice in the 19th Century

Doge's Palace, Venice

Venice has always fascinated me. Seems I am in good company. In the 1800’s Venice was only a shadow of its former self. Conquered by Napoleon, its glory was gone. Yet it still continued to fascinate, to draw people, especially the European upper classes to its shores. It became part of every educated European’s cultural “grand tour, ‘ a must to complete their education, to make them cultured. Why? What is it about this city that so inspired and still does? In Paradise of Cities, Venice in the 19^th Century, John Julis Norwich tries to approach the question through the eyes of some of the city’s most famous 19^th century visitors. Norwich sets out his purpose: “Venice in the nineteenth century was a poor, sad shadow of what she had been in the eighteenth; how, then, could the story of that century best be told?" Does Norwich succeed? Mostly. A few of his chapters get off the beaten path and concentrate more on the person than the city, but overall Norwich’s vignettes of each authors encounter with Venice gives the reader today a sense of its allure. Who are these characters? Napoleon for one, Norwich says, “the city's enduring beauty seems to have been lost on him,” other distractions, perhaps? Then there was Henry James, whose cultural education, Norwich claims, was polished and then finished by the influence of the city. However, you can get a much better sense of James’ love of Venice by reading James’ 1888 novel, The Aspern Papers. Norwich would be remiss if he didn’t include John Ruskin. And he does well with this chapter elegantly describing Ruskin’s passion for the city’s art and architecture. He does less well with Lord Byron. This chapter is mainly a litany of Byron’s love affairs. I guess the reader is suppose to infer that Byron drew his Romantic inspirations from the city. But Byron was romantic wherever he went. A similar rendering is the chapter on Robert Browning, Here the chapter has more to do about Browning’s concern for the restoration of one of the Grand Canal’s great palaces by Browning’s son than with Browning’s own feelings about the city. The chapters on John Singer Sargent and Baron Corvo hit the mark and end the book nicely. Both chapters accurately describe how the city inspired these artists. Should you read this book? Yes, despite its shortcomings, Paradise of Cities, Venice in the 19^th Century is written elegantly and persuasively by one of the most knowledgeable writers on Venetian history.