Portrait of a Venetian Woman black-and pearl necklace and highly-fashionable patterned dress; all of which are highlighted against a flat black background. It is similar in pose and colour tone to his c 1507 "A German Woman from Venice", while at least two studies of Venetian women are known, both of which are very daring. One shows the model with a plunging neckline, the other with bare shoulders. During his visit to Italy Dürer became fascinated by and befriended Giovanni Bellini, an established master when Dürer was still a relative unknown outside of Germany. The Franconian artist's influence can be seen in this work's soft
Venetian navy and 16th centuries, Venice also maintained riverine fleets in the Po and Adige, as well as in Lake Garda in the 17th century. Crete and Cyprus also had their own fleet squadrons, under a "Capitano della Guardia". Individual galleys were commanded by a "sopracomito", galeasses by a "governatore", and the ships of the line by a "governatore di nave", or "nobile di nave". Like the higher command positions and the senior commissariat of the fleet, all of them were filled by members of the Venetian patriciate. For much of the navy's history, Venice employed free men as crewmen in its