Artwork
Venice Lagoon
Venice Lagoon is a print by Giulia Zaniol. It dates from 2006 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
This print shows Venice’s lagoon, a quiet slice of water with a ferry moving through it.
This print shows Venice’s lagoon, a quiet slice of water with a ferry moving through it. Giulia Zaniol made it in 2006 using etching and chine collé with metallic pigments. The series looks at how mass tourism has changed her native city.
She won the Clifford Chance Purchase Prize that same year for these etchings. They capture Venice’s push and pull between locals and visitors.
Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum next.
Overview
Giulia Zaniol created this print in 2006 as part of a series of etchings that examine Venice’s shifting identity. Executed in etching and chine collé with metallic pigments, the work emerged from her postgraduate studies at Camberwell School of Art and earned her the Clifford Chance Purchase Prize for Postgraduate Printmaking. The series reflects on the city’s transformation through visual motifs drawn from both public landmarks and intimate domestic spaces.
Subject & Meaning
The print depicts the Venetian lagoon with a ferry crossing its surface, a quiet scene that contrasts with the city’s overwhelming tourist traffic. Alongside views of St Mark’s Square and a recreated interior once her grandmother’s kitchen, Zaniol uses these images to explore the tension between local life and external influx. The ferry becomes a subtle symbol of transit—not just of people, but of cultural change.
Technique & Style
Zaniol combines traditional etching with chine collé, layering delicate papers to build texture. Metallic pigments add a luminous sheen, evoking the reflective surfaces of water and gilded interiors. Dense, ornamental patterns reminiscent of Venetian textiles blanket the backgrounds, creating a visual echo of the city’s historic craft traditions while obscuring and framing the figures within.
History & Provenance
The print was produced in 2006, the same year Zaniol received the Clifford Chance Purchase Prize for her Venice series. The work entered a public collection shortly after, alongside two other prints from the same body. Its acquisition reflects institutional recognition of its nuanced commentary on urban change, grounded in personal memory and formal precision.
Context
Venice’s population has declined steadily since the mid-20th century, even as tourism has surged. Zaniol’s series responds to this imbalance, using the city’s architectural heritage as both subject and metaphor. The ornamental grounds reference Venice’s artisanal past, while the cruise ships and crowded spaces implied in related works signal the pressures of modern commodification.
Legacy
Zaniol’s work contributes to a broader dialogue in contemporary printmaking about place, memory, and erosion. By embedding personal history within formal patterns, she extends the tradition of topographical printmaking into a more introspective realm. Her technique and thematic focus continue to inform discussions on how art can document urban transformation without overt polemic.
Artist & collection
Artist
Giulia Zaniol’s prints bring Venice’s watery streets to paper. Two 2006 prints in this set—*St. Mark’s Square* and *Venice Lagoon*—capture the city’s light and currents in crisp, quiet lines. The works sit between…
