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
What Must Be Said of so-called Western intellectuals, who are willing to sacrifice the Jewish people on the altar of crazy anti-Semites for a second time, just to sell a few more books or gain recognition" and demanded that European leaders condemn the work. Avi Primor, former Israeli ambassador to the European Union and to Germany, argued that the poem violated a taboo of German public discourse, where there is a fear of criticizing Israel; Grass was drawing attention to the hypocrisy of saying behind closed doors what cannot be said in public. Primor added that there is no anti-Semitism in Grass's work, that