Venetian Bridge Brawls in 17th and 18th Century Art

blue1•12 minutes ago

On Ponte dei Pugni (Bridge of Fists), which was the most famous venue for these spectacles, there are marble feet markings which were the starting positions for fighters.

jubilee33•about 1 hour ago

Great art is rooted in the hardest of human emotion. Is why we look back to ancient culture with reverance and sometimes nostalgia. We wouldn't want to be there in the midst of the brawl, most of us moderns would rather jump from the bridge. But our human spirit and memory recognizes the suffering and sacrifices of the ancestors. It's why there really isn't any "great art" anymore, at least in the classical sense, as those with the means to produce it don't have any great emotions. We will probably get there again, but like an LLM, sometimes humans need to reconstitute the entire corpus to make a rather small change

AlecSchueler•about 1 hour ago

> It's why there really isn't any "great art" anymore, at least in the classical sense

This is a tautology, no? There's plenty of great art being made today by people feeling the same emotions as those in the past.

jubilee33•about 1 hour ago

Well "great" is rather subjective. But in terms of collective agreement we can conclusive say there really isn't anything like the art of the past made today. As an artist I was invited to a much vaunted exhibition in Venice itself recently. It consisted of a woman sitting in urine ...but with a kind message asking bystanders to please not poop in her tank.. The link if you fail to believe it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/arts/design/venice-bienna...

Modern art and artists indeed do mirror the feeling of their age.

soiltype•8 minutes ago

I do not think this pseudo-intellectual desire to ape art styles of the past is really very compatible with the soul of an artist. Artists make two things: what moves them, and what they are paid to make. Ideally, these are the same thing.

No one is stopping you from commissioning paintings such as the ones you revere as the peak of art, by the way. Open your wallet if that's what you want. That's how great art was made back then. But if the depth of your insight on the human condition is whatever you're posting here, I do not know if your commissions would capture the meaning you seem to want.

Cockbrand•about 1 hour ago

Gotta love how some of the spectators on the larger Joseph Heintz the Younger painting enjoy the entertainment. Too bad that these images predate the invention of popcorn!

nailer•about 1 hour ago

If anyone's played Assassin's Creed II (or any of the Ezio games) (these older games were produced with help from historians) Ezio's scar comes from a street fight on Ponte Vecchio in Venice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKTXd7L01pI2

ziofill•41 minutes ago

Ponte Vecchio is in Florence

bbkane•about 2 hours ago

I love reading the little vignettes of history. Thanks for posting!

Venetian Bridge Brawls in 17th and 18th Century Art

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