Henry James and the Allure of Venice
Henry James and the Allure of Venice. Explore this writer’s multifaceted relationship with Venice – a city that captivated his imagination throughout his life and became a recurring presence.
Through works such as Italian Hours, The Aspern Papers, and The Wings of the Dove, James presents Venice as a site of aesthetic spendour, intertwined with moral complexity and historical decline.
The city serves not only as a richly evocative backdrop but as an active participant – a metaphor for the broader Jamesian themes of memory, obsession, and the tension between appearance and reality.
When and Where did he stay?
Selected Works
Recurring Themes: The Use of Exploitation and Deception – Presentation of Innocence and Isolation – The Use of Multiple Identities and Psychological Transience – Portrayal of Death
Italian Hours: Henry James vs. John Ruskin, Aesthetic Theories, Venice, and the Meaning of Beauty
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This post is a collaboration with guest contributor, Charlotte Seal.
Henry James was born on April 15, 1843, at 21 Washington Place, New York City, in the United States. He passed away on February 28, 1916, in London, England, where he had become a naturalized British citizen just a year earlier.
“Portrait of Henry James”, John Singer Sargent 1913
When and Where did he stay? – Henry James and the Allure of Venice
James first visited Venice in 1869, and the city made a powerful impression on him. He was captivated by its beauty, history, and melancholy charm, describing it as a place where “the past lives vividly in the present”. Drawn by its beauty, history, and atmosphere. Henry James then visited Venice multiple times until his final visit in 1907.
Between March and June, 1881, James rented rooms on the fourth floor of the Pensione Wildner, where he worked on completing his novel The Portrait of a Lady; though none of the novel actually takes place in Venice. “I lodged on the Riva, 4161, quarto piano. The view from my window was ‘una Bellezza.”
In February to March of 1887, James stayed at the Casa Alvisi, as the guest of Mrs Katherine de Kay Bronson; wonderfully situated opposite the magnificent Salute Basilica.
Returning in June of the same year, he lived in the Palazzo Barbaro, a grand Gothic palace on the Grand Canal that inspired his novella The Aspern Papers. The Palazzo was owned by American expatriate Daniel Curtis, and became a significant literary and artistic hub of the period. James described the Palazzo as “the loveliest dwelling-place in the world”
In July 1892, James stayed again at the Palazzo Barbaro, but this time as the guest of Isabella Stewart Gardner, who had rented the property for the summer from the Curtises. Full of other guests, this time he stayed in the ‘divine old library’.
In the spring and early summer of 1894 James stayed at the Casa Biondetti, situated on the Grand Canal. He had returned to Venice to work, in his capacity as literary executor, on the papers of fellow novelist and friend, Constance Fenimore Woolson, who tragically had taken her own life on January 24th.
In June 1907, after an absence of more than half a dozen years, James paid what would be his last visit to both the Palazzo Barbaro and to Venice, itself.
Selected Works
- The Aspern Papers (1888) – Set in a decaying Venetian palazzo, this novella examines issues of literary obsession, falsity and exploitation, which the setting underscores.
- The Wings of the Dove (1902) – Though primarily set in London, parts of the novel unfold in Venice, which becomes a symbolic space for emotional intensity and confrontation with mortality.
- Italian Hours (1909) – James had collected impressions of Italy for over 40 years before this travel log was published. The book moves from the north to the south of Italy, beginning and lingering considerably in Venice with staunch Jamesian romanticism in the descriptions of Venice.
Venice – Reality and Illusion-3 Ian Coulling FRPS*. “Images of Venice” website.
Recurring Themes – Henry James and the Allure of Venice
In The Wings of the Dove and The Aspern Papers, Henry James uses Venice as a representative of a mysterious and untrustworthy reality. Both novels explore a psychological entanglement between monetary exploitation and ambition and love. Both have an innocent and a guilty party, and in the obscuring Venetian glow, lines between deception and sincerity become blurred. Venice seems to be the necessary setting for immediate and dramatic deaths upon which the morally murky drama of the novels centre. James seems to use the waterways of Venice, as a way to reflect the transience of psychological states, just as much as he uses the shadows of the bridges as a way to obscure the truth.
The Use of Exploitation and Deception
The plots of Henry James’ Venetian novels focus on secret and immoral schemes to con someone out of their material possessions. In The Aspern Papers, the unnamed protagonist and narrator pretends to want to stay at a specific palazzo in Venice for the love of its garden, but really it is to deceive the inhabitants into giving over valuable personal manuscripts of his favourite poet.
In The Wings of the Dove, Kate Croy and Merton Densher emotionally manipulate a wealthy, dying young woman into leaving them her money once she dies. Merton lets the dying Milly believe that her affections are returned, all just to take her money to marry the woman he really loves.
And where else to set such stories of deceptive schemes for money than Venice? Venice has always had the reputation of being scheming and greedy. Venice was Europe’s trading gateway to the East, and is known for its wily merchants. Behind the faded, romantic beauty of Venice, lies the truth that it has always been and remains entangled with economic benefits – initially as an ideal trading port, and since Henry James’ day as a playground for tourists. In James’ novels it seems that Venice inspires a world that centres on deception for economic gain, which often ends up being at odds with both the romanticism of appearances and ultimately with the human soul.
Presentation of Innocence and Isolation
In The Wings of the Dove, innocence and isolation are embodied in the character of Milly Theale. Milly represents purity and moral goodness. She loves sincerely and trusts others, but this very innocence makes her vulnerable. As an American outsider in European society and a terminally ill woman, she is emotionally and socially isolated.
Similarly in The Aspern Papers, the owner of the palazzo Juliana Bordereau and her niece Miss Tina, are American expats to Venice who have become, by the flow of time, isolated from any society. Miss Tina, spends her days in the palazzo caring for her aunt, without much curiosity for the outside world. Though she is no longer very young, she has been sheltered from the world and so remains very innocent, and thus, like Milly, very vulnerable to the deception used against her. Like Milly, she is mistakenly led to believe that the protagonist is in love with her.
Like in The Wings of the Dove, this causes emotional turmoil for the ambitious protagonist, causing them to rethink their original value system. Ironically the simplicity of these girls’ innocence and directness in contrast with the wily, scheming ways of the other characters, eventually appears to hold more value than the immoral intelligence of their counterparts and even of the material possessions they were after.
The importance that James lays on direct emotions and simple beauty in these novels reflects the aesthetic way in which he approaches Venice, arguing that the best way to understand the city is through the immediate emotion its beauty evokes. (Read more in the exploration of Italian Hours below.)
Venice – Reality and Illusion-4* Ian Coulling FRPS.
The Use of Multiple Identities and Psychological Transience
The Aspern Papers is written in the first person, resulting in psychological ambiguity when the motives and natures of the characters, even of the narrator himself, seem to shift based on circumstances. The narrator arrives at the palazzo disguised as another person so that his true motives won’t be discovered. But he is transformed in a more metaphysical way as the narrative develops and motives falter, mostly because of affection for Miss Tina. Not only does his own character seem to oscillate between compassionate and self-centred at different points of the narrative, but also the characters he describes are often “transfigured”. For example, in his final conversation with Miss Tina, the moment seems to transform both her and the narrator as he writes,
“Poor Miss Tina’s sense of failure [in wanting and failing to marry him] had produced a rare alteration in her, but I had been too full of stratagems and spoils to think of that… it beautified her; she was younger; she was not a ridiculous old woman. This trick of her expression, this magic of her spirit, transfigured her, and while I still noted it I heard a whisper somewhere in the depths of my conscience: ‘Why not, after all – why not?’”
Miss Tina’s transfiguration is a highly Venetian one. Not only does she seem to wear a mask of beauty as a “trick” to hide what’s really there, as is done during carnival, but it is somehow also the true “magic of her spirit” that makes her young and beautiful despite her age, similar to the mysterious, ineffable sense that James finds in faded Venice.
In The Wings of the Dove, multiple identities are central to the novel’s exploration of self-deception, moral conflict, and the complexities of human relationships. Kate is constantly shifting between being a loyal friend, a lover, and a determined schemer. Her identity is not fixed but fluid – she is both an admirer of Milly’s innocence and someone who uses that innocence to fulfill her own desires. Kate’s moral ambiguity makes her a complex character who shows how identity can be shaped by both self-interest and desire for control.
Merton’s identity is perhaps the most fractured. Initially an idealistic young man, he finds himself caught between his love for Milly and his desire for social ascension through his relationship with Kate. Merton’s internal conflict between honesty and self-interest creates a dynamic where he’s not sure who he is. He tries to align himself with Kate’s ambition but is torn by the emotional bond he develops with Milly. His moral struggle – his decision to take advantage of Milly’s wealth and sacrifice her for his future; is a key example of the tension between personal identity and social identity.
Just as in The Aspern Papers, it is impossible for the reader to determine which identity is the most true for these characters, because it is clear that the characters don’t know the truth for themselves. This idea is well-placed in hazy Venice, where appearances don’t necessarily hide a true identity, but can give only a version of the ultimately inaccessible truth.
Portrayal of Death
“Venetian life, in the large old sense, has long since come to an end, and the essential present character of the most melancholy of cities resides simply in the most beautiful of tombs.” Italian Hours
In The Aspern Papers, death and Venice are equals in their looming presence. The narrator is obsessed with accessing the private letters of the dead poet, Jeffrey Aspern, hidden away in a venetian palazzo. Aspern’s death turns his life into a myth and his letters into sacred relics. Yet Juliana, Aspern’s muse, still lives, making her incongruent with the narrator’s belief that the poet’s life, now over, is a tangible object. Old Juliana is jarring and ghoulish to the narrator. Her bad health and the narrator’s wish to get at her possessions, sure to be inaccessible until her death, gives the sense that death hangs around her.
Following a spat with the narrator, Juliana has a fit and dies, as if in the pursuit of his shallow desires he had cast her into the grave. The Venetian setting and Juliana’s crumbling house reflect how the past, its death, haunts the present and the slow erosion of life. Like Venice, Juliana belonged to a more vibrant past, that is decaying, and eventually dead by the hands of those who want to take it as a souvenir.
In The Wings of The Dove Milly’s youth, beauty, and goodness make her approaching death deeply poignant. Her decline is slow, emotional, and central to the story’s moral gravity. Her death elevates her to an almost saintly or angelic status. She becomes the “dove” of the title, symbolizing purity and sacrifice. Venice is where Milly spends her last days, it is depicted as dream-like and it is where, in her isolation, Milly becomes more aware of her mortality.
Because of its strange, almost supernatural beauty, Venice seems to become a transitional place from life into the unknown of death. In Milly’s experience, it makes for “the most beautiful of tombs.” Thus, both novels depict Venice as a city where death is ever dormant, patiently or impatiently expected.
Henry James and the Allure of Venice Henry James and the Allure of Venice Henry James and the Allure of Venice
Venice – Reality and Illusion-5* Ian Coulling FRPS.
Italian Hours
Henry James vs. John Ruskin – Aesthetic Theories – Venice – The Meaning of Beauty.
Italian Hours (1909) is a collection of essays and travel sketches by Henry James, written over nearly 30 years of his visits to Italy. Blending personal reflection with art criticism and cultural observation, James offers a richly detailed portrait of Italy, its cities, people, architecture, and atmosphere.
Five out of the 22 chapters are about Venice – Venice; The Grand Canal; Venice: An Early Impression; Two Old Houses and Three Young Women; Casa Alvisi. James said that his aim in writing about Venice was not to “enlighten” his reader because “there is notoriously nothing more to be said on the subject”; but rather to impart the emotion and sense of beauty that he himself feels for the city. He says “I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme.”
The chapters Venice and The Grand Canal also serve as a direct response to Ruskin’s Stones of Venice,James writes at the beginning of the Venice chapter “Fortunately one reacts against the Ruskinian contagion, and one hour of the lagoon is worth a hundred pages of demoralised prose.” James adds that “the prose of Mr Ruskin… appears to be addressed to children of a tender age. It is pitched in the nursery-key, and might be supposed to emanate from an angry governess.” (read more here: John Ruskin-Writer and Artist)
James’ doesn’t just dislike Ruskin’s prose, he is also diametrically opposed to Ruskin’s aesthetic approach to Venice. He goes on to describe and explain Venice in the way it ought to be approached, with romance and reverence, and a sly, good-humoured understanding of its flaws. Occasionally he mentions Ruskin, to mockingly correct where he has again gone wrong. Venice is, for Ruskin, a sacred ruin: to be mourned, preserved, and revered. He is emotionally intense, even didactic, treating the city as a warning and a lesson in ethics and aesthetics.
For James, beauty lies in perception and mood. Venice becomes a stage for personal reflection, not moral judgment. He values atmosphere and impression over historical or moral meaning. James is less concerned with architecture as a moral symbol and more with how it evokes emotion and memory. In short, Ruskin looks at Venice and asks: “What does this architecture tell us about the soul of a people”? James looks at Venice and asks: “How does this place make us feel, and what does that reveal about ourselves?”
This difference reflects the broader shift from Victorian moral aesthetics (Ruskin) to modern psychological aesthetics (James). Their debate isn’t direct but is clear in their writing, especially here as James responds to Ruskin’s moral intensity with his own more ambivalent and personal style.
Italian Hours is not only poetic and amusing all at once, it also wonderfully captures the Venice of another era, particularly of European tourism in the 19th century. It records aspects of Venice that have since eroded with time. Even more importantly, it describes Venice in a beautiful and universal light, giving descriptions and recommendations of the city that still stand today. For example, “May is better than April, but June is best of all. Then days are hot, but not too hot, and the nights are more beautiful than the days. Then Venice is rosier than ever in the morning and more golden than ever as the day descends. She seems to expand and evaporate, to multiply all her reflections and iridescences.”
Photographic Note.
In the imagery presented in this post and his three others linked below, Ian Coulling creates a new visualisation of the Venetian urban landscape. A single original photograph, together with three other horizontally and vertically reversed images; were combined to form a new composite. Photographs were selected for showing how direct and reflected light, acts at the interface of air and water; to produce the magic, of “reality and illusion”, or in other terms “solidity and liquidity”. Others were chosen, capturing reflected light only, giving a more abstracted effect.
In these composites, a whole new Venetian world opens up and strange image components appear; such as new and rather “fantastical” structures and often biomorphic forms. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They are best viewed online at a large image size, so that you can really look into and explore the new visual world created.
The inspiration to investigate the potential of the composite image-making process, to explore the effects of multiple image planes, altered perspectives and space in Venetian urban scenes; essentially came from quotes made by artists, writers and poets over the centuries; regarding the “floating nature of Venice, its magical direct and reflected light and its mirror effects”.
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See many more of these images and learn how they were conceived and made. The are several ways to order the images into a block. The fascination is in its unpredictability.
“Depicting Venice – Ian Coulling”
In this developing series, we dive deeper into literary works about Venice; focusing on how each chosen author tackles common themes, and highlighting their most illuminating quotes about the city.
Henry James and the Allure of Venice
Venice – Great Poetry and Images
You Tube Video: Henry James Documentary – Series of Author Documentaries 30 minutes
Henry James and the Allure of Venice Henry James and the Allure of Venice Henry James and the Allure of Venice