Aldo Manuzio: Il rinascimento di Venezia
Fantastic exhibition at the Accademia in Venice looking at the life and work of Aldo Manuzio, a 15th century publisher and humanist. I had thought this show might be quite dry but it was a fascinating insight into early publishing and put it into the context of the time. I loved one commentary which described Venice as the “Silicon Valley” of the Renaissance comparing the changes brought about by printing to the internet. Aldo started by spotting a niche market with the growth in humanism for re-edited versions of the Greek texts in an affordable form. In turn these new versions of the texts revived ideas and lead to painters being compared to Apelles. He introduced the idea of small portable books which were easy to carry and created the idea of reading as a quiet, private, intimate pastime. The exhibition ended with a wonderful series of portraits of people with these small books, showing that they were fashionable items and held as a sign of learning. He also inven...