Tradition and Invention in the Art of Renaissance Venice

Tom Nichols, Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. This lecture by Tom Nichols, held on December 9, 2016, at the National Gallery of Art, celebrates the publication of Renaissance Art in Venice: From Tradition to Individualism. Nichols describes how the spread of Renaissance values led to the development of artistic invention in Venice. However, this inventiveness continued to relate to ideas of more traditional corporate and public ideal of “Venetian-ness.” Nichols also discusses some of the choices raised by writing a history of Renaissance art in Venice and how these were resolved.