De gondelier 1775

Giovanni David created this drawing of a gondolier in pen and ink, sometime in the late eighteenth century. Venice, as you might know, was once a powerful city-state built on maritime trade, and gondolas were the city’s lifeblood. The gondolier, therefore, was not merely a cab driver, but a symbol of Venetian identity. This character’s dress conforms to period stereotypes, but his somewhat ungainly physique perhaps pokes fun at the gondolier’s inflated status. We might consider this work, then, as a product of the enlightenment: a movement that questioned traditional hierarchies. To understand the image better, one could investigate the complex class structure of Venice at this time, and the institutions that maintained it. We can study the art of the past to learn about the ever-changing social and institutional forces that shape our world.