Rosand explores the imagery that the Republic of Venice developed to represent itself as the ideal, serene state, founded with holy purpose and protected by divine favor. He argues that, Venice--more than any other political entity of the early modern period--shaped the visual imagination of political thought. This visualization of political ideals, and its reciprocal effect on the civic imagination, is the larger theme of the book. Time period: early modern period, esp. 13th-16th centuries.