Abstract

Although the Veronese revival is the formative phenomenon of Venetian painting in the eighteenth century, the causes for this circumstance are not entirely clear. The love of splendor is considered to be a significant motif that can be easily misinterpreted as shallow. The fundamental element of the Veronese revival is magnificenza, which also recognizes splendor, luxury, and imagination as aesthetic qualities in the art and literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries while presenting them in a complex reciprocal relationship whose aim is meraviglia, the amazement of the viewer. Fantasia plays the central role in Algarotti’s, Muratori’s, Vico’s, Maffei’s, and Conti’s theories as well as in Sebastiano Ricci’s and Giambattista Tiepolo’s artistic practices. This quality is as important for the patron as it is for the artist whose work is supposed to stimulate the fantasia of the audience.

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