From their inception, cities have arisen through geographical and social concentrations of surplus product. Urbanization has always been, therefore, a class phenomenon, since surpluses are extracted from somewhere and from somebody, while control of their disbursement typically lies in a few hands. This general situation persists under capitalism, of course; but since urbanization depends on the mobilisation of surplus product, an intimate connection emerges between the development of capitalism and urbanization.
The ‘intimate connection’ that Harvey refers to is the primary interest of Italian architect and historian Manfredo Tafuri. Tafuri’s book Venice and the Renaissance investigates the tension that was created around the notions of mediocritas, the traditional Venetian idea of modesty in architecture, and novitas, the new style introduced to Venice following the sack of Rome in1527. This clash of ideologies happens at a particularly fruitful time for Venice, under the dogeship of Andrea Gritti, igniting his renovatio urbis or renewal of the city. The history and atmosphere that surrounds the famous city suggests itself to Tafuri’s method of juxtaposing conflicting positions. It is a city proud of its republican origins, its principles derived from the great Roman republic of antiquity and yet proud of its individuality and independence. Jacob Burkhardt attests to this independence as an extreme, almost a siege mentality, ‘The Keynote of Venetian character was, consequently, a spirit of proud and contemptuous isolation, which, joined to the hatred felt for the city by other states of Italy, gave rise to a strong sense of solidarity within.’ Whilst Venice celebrated itself as a utopian city, the Serenissima, with civic freedom and equality cherished, paradoxically there was also an urge to be the Alter Roma, the successor to papal Rome. Venice is therefore a city of contradictions.
The first Venetian houses of stone and brick were built around the turn of the first millennium. The city’s wealth and size was growing exponentially due to astute trading enterprises and masonry was a material that could withstand the many fires that came with the increased population. The architecture of the time was republican, that is to say that it was modest and unassuming. Patricians were encouraged to adhere to a law passed by one of the founders of Venice, Zeno Daulo, who instructed people to build houses of equal size, therefore putting on a display of republican solidarity and constraint. The palazzos were built along the canals, usually with a central corridor and the façade at right angles in a ‘T’-shape, the crossbar of the ‘T’ adjacent to the canal. By the twelfth century these canal facades had been rebuilt in a more decorative fashion, sporting tesserae and such ornament, however when compared with Florentine and Roman architecture, buildings such as Ca’ Da Mosto retain a modesty consistent with mediocritas. Once patrician class palazzo’s were built, the spaces in between were filled with buildings of equal size, but as housing blocks, providing homes for four or five families.
Political influence is at the heart of Tafuri’s investigation, he looks at the patrician class for the political and economic reasons for the cultural developments. Tafuri’s adherence to a method of describing architecture in terms of political power echoes Marx’s assertion that the state is not independent of economic conditions, it is in fact created by them. ‘The state is the form in which the individuals of a ruling class assert their common interests.’
Extremely rigorous in its research, Tafuri’s working method is typical of a Marxist insistence of material evidence, however his approach to architectural history is not entirely consistent with Marxism, indeed it takes on a particular form of neo-Marxism. T.J. Clark, provides a platform for neo-Marxist art historians by establishing ‘a hierarchy of representations’ in order to avoid the pitfalls of ‘vulgar Marxism.’ In this Clark refers to certain strands of Marxist thought that cannot see past the empirical economic considerations as determinant in human activity, alluding to the paradox inherent in the notion of empirical economics. The art of an era is therefore a set of signs, indicative of class structure - consistent with Tafuri’s thinking. Tomas Llorens has pointed out that Tafuri’s writing takes the form of a palimpsest, a collection of individual passages of thinking, with connections made and presented as a coherent whole. It is clear that Tafuri’s writing does not follow a chronologically linear sequence; instead it is an abrupt intervention into a historical situation in the form of a series of dialectics to present argument and counter argument. The various strands of investigation are then linked together as in Engels’ theory, derived from Darwin’s observations, that apparently diverse things are linked by an underlying principle. The palimpsest methodology eschews the description of cultural continuity that was so dreaded by Walter Benjamin and David Summers, avoiding the dangers of the ‘political and moral anaesthesia’ endemic in such destructive ideologies as Fascism.
Tafuri relishes the conflict between protagonists and commentators, weaving complex arguments into each other, complicating his text with diverse and convoluted lines of inquiry. This is evident in his treatment of Jacopo Sansovino’s design for the interior of the church of San Francesco della Vigna. Tafuri identifies the problem of Sansovino's reluctance to use al’ antica in favour of a true linguistic austerity in the interior architecture. He establishes a dialectic that can only be resolved by searching Sansovino’s personality. Tafuri uses Sansovino’s building of the church of San Martino as a test case that will provide an explanation for San Francesco della Vigna. We are warned by Tafuri that this investigation will take us far from the original inquiry, his motive for doing so however is to prove that both churches have been designed according to Sansovino’s own design, free from any overbearing influence. Tafuri continuously tests his findings exploring such things as financial inequality between San Martino and Francesca della Vigna as well as interventions from other architects after Sansovino’s death, eventually arriving at the conviction that the interior of San Martino is faithful to the vision of Sansovino’s model. Following the ‘concentric circles’ of enquiry, Tafuri finds ‘…within such formal silence…’ windows that are original designs by Sansovino from the Badoer-Guistinian chapel in Francesca della Vigna, providing material evidence of a connection between the two churches. With this Tafuri has established Sansovino’s investment of his own aesthetic into these two buildings.
Refusing to accept the reductive notion that San Martino’s austerity is due entirely to a lack of funds, Tafuri launches an exploration into Erasmus’ call for religious reform and Savonarola’s call for religious asceticism. He discusses the ‘explicitly reformist’ Zorzi, Sansovino’s collaborator on San Francesco della Vigna, as well as the friendships with Serlio, the prominent architectural advisor to Gritti, and Lorenzo Lotto the painter with reformist connections. These men were all in favour of an interiorized worship of God, living dangerously on the cusp of Lutheranism, opposed to Catholic dogma under the shadow of the inquisition. It is this connection with reformist religion that Tafuri ultimately suggests as an influence upon the stylistic austerity of San Martino and San Francesco della Vigna.
In his review of Venice and the Renaissance, Martin Lowry expresses doubt about Tafuri’s evaluation of Sansovino’s influence saying: ‘professor Tafuri works hard – perhaps a little too hard – to bring the architect Sansovino under the influence of Erasmus’s anti-Romanism’ adding that he finds it ‘a little contrived’. But Lowry seems to be making this criticism a priori whilst ironically in the same article praising Tafuri’s investigative rigour in bringing ‘formidable qualities’ to a ‘formidable task’. A much more helpful contribution comes from Deborah Howard who has proffered an alternative explanation for the austerity of Sansovino’s design. She points out that San Francesco della Vigna was built for the ‘Observant Franciscans’, so called because of their strict observation to the life and teachings of St Francis of Assissi, renowned as a fervent ascetic. She points out that order had already intervened in the building of the church with Zorzi’s adjustment of the plans to include his neo-platonic thinking. Howard’s assertion represents the antithesis to Tafuri’s notion of Sansovino's motives for the interior of the church. By offering an alternative explanation for the style of the interior she sets up a tension between her account and Tafuri’s. A synthesis of the two arguments emerges in the idea that Sansovino’s exposure to reformist thought equipped him with the versatility, attested to by both Tafuri and Howard, to complete the commission to a design suitable for the needs of the patron.
For Tafuri Doge Gritti is of critical importance in the development of Venice. He represents the key to the historical development of the republic. Tafuri first sets up the mediocritas of Niccolo Zen as the primary example of traditional Venetian republican values, whilst also alluding to Zen’s acceptance of a need for change. Tafuri goes on to establish a mobilised opposition to this in the activity of Grimani and his circle, loyal to the pope rather than the republic, who wish to adopt a policy of private magnificence in architecture akin to that of Rome. Morosini and Patrizi wrote of the perfect solution to government being a state ruled by a select few – an oligarchy. They felt a deep mistrust of the multitude and advocated that it was important for a state to display power and wealth through magnificent architecture as a show of strength to induce fear in rival states. This collides with the republican values of equality exemplified in the notion of the mixed state, which was intended to neutralize social dynamism and therefore provide a peaceful and stable state. Tafuri’s alignment of Zen to Gritti is later balanced by Gaetano Cozzi’s observation that Gritti is the model of Morosini’s ‘prince’ – Zen and Morosini therefore represent two polemically opposed figures, both satisfied and allied to the doge from different positions. Tafuri’s interweaving of argument and counterargument, his juxtaposition of cultural phenomena and theological values builds up the tension between these camps and is eventually relieved by the emergence of doge Gritti’s renovatio as the outcome of these opposing blocs.
It is the vision and dynamism of such men as Gritti that the urban space has come to dominate societies. One of the major achievements of the Victorian period in England was the development of railways. The original proposal of the construction of a railway between Liverpool and Manchester incited furious complaints and objections from the canals, Turnpike Trusts, coach companies and farmers. The protests succeeded in delaying the process but William Huskisson, a Liverpool M.P., countered that the canals were holding industry to ransom. Eventually Huskisson’s determination won through and permission was granted. The enterprise was an immediate success ’…setting the pattern for all later railway companies’, and providing a more efficient transport system that would properly facilitate the growing industry in the country. It was however private money that bought the cattle market in Liverpool for £9,000 and built Lime Street Railway Station.
Accusations of legal swindling, bordering on deception were common. Land owners who had valued their property in a different way to the railways threatened legal actions and circulated literature that complained of the railways despicable tactics and even offered legal advice to land owners. Despite the controversy the network grew from a mere twenty seven miles of track in 1825 to a staggering fifteen-thousand, five hundred in 1880 with a total capital investment of nearly seven hundred million pounds, returning sixty-two million pounds in revenue. The Liverpool Manchester Railway earned £463,970 net profit by 1836. The government recognised a massive advantage to the economy and passed two-hundred and nineteen Acts of Parliament in 1846 alone in order to help the railways grow. There was a massive boost to employment as well as the public also saw the advantages, by 1875 a quarter of a million people were permanently employed by the railway companies. Furthermore the public began to use trains to travel across the country as an affordable mode of transport. This public use eventually displaced industry as the primary use of the railways, helping to popularise seaside towns, aiding the growth of suburbs, permitting mass circulation of national newspapers and prompted the growth of a fast and efficient mail service.
The importance of Lime Street station became obvious as the main link between Liverpool, one of the country’s biggest ports and Manchester and Leeds – the centres of the massive textiles industry. It was the private sector that originally speculated the capital to build the rail network, the government who supported it by legislation and the public who benefited through jobs and cheap transport and ultimately industrialists who profited from a massively more efficient transport system. Lime Street was added to and received a curved, single span roof in 1849, at a cost of fifteen-thousand pounds. Made in a Dublin ironworks, it was the first time such a structure had covered the railway and was the largest iron roof used on any building. .
Sansovino’s success in San Francesca della Vigna lies in his remarkable sensitivity to the needs of the patron and his versatility in meeting these needs. For the revitalisation of Piazzo San Marco on the banks of the lagoon, Sansovino was commissioned to rebuild the Zecco, the City Library to house the books bequeathed by Cardinal Bessarion and the Logetta for meetings of nobles.
The Zecco was to maintain the shops on the ground floor with the republic’s mint, the Zecco, on the first floor, Sansovino contrasted a rustic architecture for the shops with the piano nobile of heavy lintels and half columns. The effect was to emphasise, by contrast with the al rustica of the ground floor, the power and strength of the mint. The library is a virtuoso performance of roman influenced architecture, a spectacular expanse of columns bedecked with ornament and sculptures. The building is adjacent to the mint and cuts a fine and beautiful contrast to the heavy and imposing Zecco. Equally ostentatious, the Logetta is a triumph of decorative design that, along with the mint and the library, transformed Piazza San Marco into one of the most beautiful urban spaces in Europe, rivalling St. Peters and achieving the desired effect, to re-invent Rome on Venetian soil. Gritti and Sansovino had renewed Venice. And yet after Gritti’s death Sansovino’s work fell into decline, perhaps a victim of his own success. Paradoxically towards the end of his life his buildings became ever more ascetic and his mediocritas vision gave way to the roman style that he had introduced so successfully to the fabric of Venetian life. Architects with even more flamboyant sensibilities, most notably, Andrea Palladio became prominent in major commissions. Kept on the margins of the renovatio urbis by Gritti, the subsequent doge gave free reign to Palladio’s talents resulting in such magnificent works as the Palazzo Chiericati, casting aside all notions of mediocritas.
Throughout Venice and the Renaissance Tafuri juxtaposes the autonomy of architecture and the instruction of Venice’s constitutional republic. His is a method of positing a fact and then testing it as rigorously as he can, gaining access to a hard won but worthy truth. It is a sensibility that engenders nihilistic thought at its extremes, reflecting Tafuri’s interest in Nietzsche. Tafuri’s nihilism exists in his commitment to the notion of ‘negative thought’. It was this way of thinking that led to his effort to surmount traditional Marxism whilst a member of the Italian Communist Party. His arrival at the conclusion that negative thought was the only option left after the traditional avant-garde had become predictable, almost decadent in its opposition to the bourgeois. T.J. Clark shares this neo-Marxist aversion to ideology saying that ‘ideology is an inertness to discourse’, saying that ideology is merely a set of limitations and restrictions to thought and debate. For Tafuri, in order for an ideology to be effective it needed to invert itself into negative thought – turning away from existing culture towards a utopian mission. By treating his work with such intellectual rigour and constant re-examination Tafuri is attempting to surmount the trappings of false consciousness that he so despised in lazy ideology. It is a tortuous manner of working, however a necessary one for Tafuri, to get to the ‘silent’ places where the real truths are. The rivers of ink that had been used to describe Venice over the years had not penetrated these places and had not found the truths; this was Tafuri’s mandate to himself.
Bibliography
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