The Art of Duck Hunting on the Venetian Lagoon

_{Pietro Longhi – La Caccia all’Anitra – Venetian lagoon} _{– 18th century}

_{Take aim, steady the boat and shoot…..}

_{Catch me if you can, you over-dressed nit-wit in your red and gold jacket… said the duck}

_{Pietro Longhi’s oil painting – La Caccia All’Anitra c. 1740 (Querini Stampalia, Venice)}

For centuries the Venetian Lagoon and the city of Venice have been inextricably linked.

Pietro Longhi’s realistic and quite humorous painting sums up the relationship between the lagoon and the Venetians. The waters of the lagoon have provided sport and entertainment, assuming you weren’t a duck, for generations! I like to think the duck in the third picture (above) could easily outwit the hunters!

1490s – Two hundred years before Pietro Longhi, Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio was painting scenes of duck hunting on the lagoon. He was born on the island of Mazzorbo, in the northern reaches of the lagoon between Burano and Torcello. This wonderful landscape painted around 1490 shows the simple reed houses that the fishermen had constructed. The reed fences delineate the waters of the lagoon (perhaps to act as pens for fish that have been caught). The painter shows flocks of geese in the sky and various birds perched on the wooden posts (briccole) of the lagoon. Others are bobbing in the water. It’s worth taking a moment here to just absorb the fact this painting (below) is more than five hundred years old – painted in the 1490s.

Vittore Carpaccio - hunting on lagoon - j.paul getty museum

_{Vittore Carpaccio, Hunting on the Lagoon c 1490-95. Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program}

1940s – Then two hundred years after Pietro Longhi and four hundred years after Carpaccio – we find Hemingway on the lagoon, shooting ducks. They say that Hemingway was actually a terrible shot. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But he certainly loved duck hunting on the lagoon. In November 1948 he spent the month at Locanda Cipriani on Torcello. His days involved duck hunting, at the crack of dawn, writing at his special desk and drinking copious amounts of red wine and whisky. During that month in 1948 he wrote the novel ‘Across the River and into the Trees’. The book is a love story, an elegy, to Northern Italy, the lagoon and a young, aristocratic woman for whom there would be no happy ending. The book received very poor reviews and Hemingway was so upset that he wrote ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ immediately afterwards in an attempt to salvage his reputation. He succeeded.

Hemingway - Across the river and into the trees - photo www.educated-traveller.com

_{Hemingway – Across the river and into the trees, Hemingway hunting on the lagoon (1940s), Torcello – 1950s (Henri Cartier-Bresson) the northern reaches of the lagoon today. Colour photos: www.educated-traveller.com}

A Duck Hunt on the Lagoon - 1950s — _{A humorous look at duck-hunting – Venetian lagoon 1950s (cartoon hanging in Da Romano)}

In the 1940s and 50s a group of creative types from Milan would come to the Venetian Lagoon for their holidays every summer. These artists, writers and ‘bon viveurs’ frequented ‘Da Romano’ a traditional trattoria on the island of Burano. The walls of this typical fish restaurant are filled with paintings and illustrated menus created and given by the Milanese group and other guests over the years. A favourite of mine is the cartoon above, showing the antics of the duck hunters in the lagoon. The artist shows that in many cases, the ducks have the upper hand. The detail (below centre) of duck hunting on the lagoon shows Hemingway (a cartoon version of course) having accidentally bagged a cat. For more on the ‘Art of Da Romano’ have a look at an article I wrote here – a year or so ago: The Art of Da Romano Venice

December 2019 - Da Romano Burano - A small selection of the art that hangs on the walls

The lagoon of Venice has been inspiring writers, painters and visitors for generations. In this short article alone we are looking at art from 1490 up until (if you include the photography) the present day. That’s more than five centuries. The lagoon of Venice is one of the most important wetlands in Europe. For generations it has provided a habitat for birds, all types of fish, lagoon mammals and of course humans. In the days of the Venetian Republic the lagoon provided safe anchorage for ships and the smaller islands were used as quarantine islands to control the spread of disease. The lagoon of Venice is a lifeline to the past and a vital key to the present.

We are the stewards of the lagoon it is our duty to honour and protect it.

_{Ducks in flight – Venetian Lagoon, Italy – Duck hunting – Vittore Carpaccio c.1510}

Notes – for more detail on various subjects mentioned in this article – I suggest the following links to other articles I have written:

The lagoon of Venice - 1932 map with Torcello and Burano islands far right. www.educated-traveller.com — _{The lagoon of Venice – 1932 map with Torcello and Burano islands far right. www.educated-traveller.com}

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR – Janet Simmonds writes about travel in Europe especially Italy and particularly Venice. She has Master’s degrees from Oxford University and Manchester University in Geography and History of Art respectively. Janet has written extensively about the history, art, geography and culture of Italy, France, The Alps and British Isles. She creates unique travel experiences for university groups, professional groups and family groups. She also works as a guest lecturer in Venice and Oxford. She offers specialist guided tours throughout Italy where she acts as a guest lecturer and local expert.

You can follow her activities at www.grand-tourist.com and www.educated-traveller.com

August 2025