Venice, Italy in the 1700's; Originally the population of Venice consisted largely of refugee escapees from wars in neighbouring countries, they were very self-reliant due to their separation from the Roman Empire. Whereas these days Venice is hugely supported by its large tourist base, famous for its stunning art and architecture.
Before and during the 1700’s Venice was a hugely influential country in terms of art, architecture and literature. Unfortunately the majority of this culture was lost after Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice in 1797. What followed was a swarm of battles for the countries ownership until 1866 where it officially became a part of Italy, as it has remained to this day.
Fashion
In seventeenth century Italy the men of highest status were expected to wear white wigs. Those of a lower class often powdered their own hair, trying to imitate the look of the wealthy. The seventeen to eighteen hundreds were the times when corsets were still hugely in style, used to create the ‘ideal figure’. Another article of clothing used to procure this look was the dome skirt; a round piece of plastic closely resembling a hula-hoop which had the purpose of creating seemingly larger hips, which were considered hugely desirable at the time. There was a separation of clothing in the 17th century. The formal attire included full-length gowns and men in ‘suits’ with knee high socks (which ironically become popular in the 21st century except for teenage girls). While the everyday attire, although still including dresses/skirts, was more casual and become increasingly more so over the years until it made its transition to the kind of fashion we see today. |
Art
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Dance
Reigning from the age of four, king Louis XIV created a huge outlet for artists of all creeds, adoring vast works such as operas, plays and concertos but most especially, ballet. Asides from the kind of ballet we see today (which was also prevalent in the 1700’s) there were two other main forms; comedie-ballet and opera-ballet. Comedie-ballet was a spoken play with comical aspects and interludes of music between dances while opera-ballet was more detached, usually containing a multitude of singular scenes, which were structured around the same theme. Dance in Venice today is far more widespread with many styles common around the world such as jazz, contemporary and salsa. |
ArcitectureIn the 1700’s, Italy’s view on architecture was heavily influenced by religion, the most important buildings being the ‘houses of god’. Domes & columns remained one of the most ubiquitous architectural techniques of the baroque period & were often included in the building of churches & cathedrals. A lot of these features as well as the common embellishments are still seen on many churches in 21st century Italy.
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