Ah . . . the way art, and reading, should be approached, and savored. Thanks! ( )

First, a shameful metaphor: imagine your favorite food in the whole world. Now imagine a single, perfect, delicious bite of that food, mouth-watering in appearance. You gaze at it; finally you consume it—not too quickly---not too slowly. It tastes better than you even imagined. It
was a mere bite, but it was enough.

It was amazing!

That is exactly what Mark Doty's Essay Seeing Venice: Bellotto's Grand Canal was for me.

This tiny (15.5 x 14 x 1.5 cm) book puts giant coffee-table style formats to shame, making it perfect for apartment living, tucking into your luggage after seeing the real painting at the Getty Museum, and making a 'statement' in favor of a greener planet. The cover of the book, carefully shrouded in a vellum fog, unfolds to reveal Bellottos' masterpiece in its entirety. The pages of the book focus on details of the painting.

Doty's elegant, lean prose is all about the painting and not about showing off his own magnificent talent with words. He manages to evoke rich sensory appreciation of the smells, textures, people's lives, the uniqueness of Venice in the world.

I'll fight an urge to quote many lines in favor of just one about "Water":
" An odd hardness about it, a flat, impermeable look, Glassy, impenetrable, as if it strove to be part of the world of pavement."

In my utterly pedestrian life, prior to reading this book I had no desire to visit Venice, examine Bellotto's Grand Canal, nor read Doty's poetry. Now, however, I hope to do all three! (Well, if I can't make it to Venice, at least I can go to the Getty Museum).

With copious thanks to Getty Publications for this promotional reading copy.

"Reading….it's ALL personal." ( )

Seeing Venice is an absolutely beautiful little book. It's subject is one particular painting called View of the Grand Canal by Bernardo Bellotto, and it features an essay by poet Mark Doty, followed by several pages of images showing details of the painting.

The first step is to remove the dust jacket and unfold it to reveal the entire painting. You see a serene, panoramic view of a day's events unfolding along the Grand Canal. But it's only when you open the book and begin to read that you realize how much you missed by just looking at the painting. Between Doty's lyrical text and the other images, you are invited into the painting and your eye is drawn to every little detail: the faded decorative artwork on the walls of the buildings, the figures on the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, the expressions on the faces of the people. You are encouraged to wonder who the people in the painting are and what they are thinking and doing.

The only thing that threw me off with this book were the mentions of New York, including a whole section about the wall that Doty sees outside his apartment window. Though I understand his idea about the past overlapping with the present, these NY references didn't quite seem to flow with the rest of the essay.

Other than that though, I really enjoyed the writing, with its insightful observations and evocative language. It took me back to my own trip to Venice, and reminded me what a rich, beautiful city it is.

This nice little book (about 5 1/2" x 6") contains an essay written by Mark Doty. He has done a nice job of looking closely at this beautiful painting and writing about different things within the picture. The pictures within the book are very nice, and the dust jacket unfolds to become a complete picture of the famous painting. This would be a great coffee/end table book, as well as a nice office or hostess gift. This would also be great for the art enthusiast!

Extended:
The book is made up of a nice essay that follows the progression of pieces of the painting View of the Grand Canal by Bernardo Bellotto. I enjoyed viewing the pictures as I read the essay.

Content: The essay and included pictures take a closer look at this famous painting.

Format: The book starts with an essay by Mark Doty, then spotlights different parts of the painting in over 40 pictures. The book ends with a page about the artist. Special Note: The dust jacket unfolds to become a picture of the entire painting.

Readability: Very easy to read, with clear pictures that help the reader to focus on different parts of the painting.

Overall: A great book for an art enthusiast. Also great for the coffee table or office end-table. ( )

One of the most popular paintings in the Getty Museum is View of the Grand Canal by Bernardo Belloto. It is a huge painting (53¼ x 91¼ inches) and it depicts a typical day in the Venice of 1740. Seeing Venice: Bellotto's Grand Canal is a small book (both in size and length) dedicated to this beautiful painting. It contains an essay by Mark Doty and close-up views of sections of the canvas. Mark Doty is a poet and memoirist and he does a wonderful job of analyzing and describing the painting. He says:

"And so this must be one of the few three-hundred-year-old canvases in the world which one could place exactly in the spot where it was painted and see, in essence the same space."

Since there isn't a picture of the whole painting in the book, the dust jacket folds out to reveal the entire thing. Reading the essay and seeing the painting makes me want to go to Venice so I would recommend this charming book to lovers of art and Italy. ( )