The sudden death of David Rosand, the Meyer Schapiro Professor Emeritus of Art History at Columbia University, in August 2014 not only reverberated throughout the large community of his colleagues and former students, but also deeply touched an even larger group of art lovers and admirers of the city of Venice whose perceptions had been enriched by his books and lectures. Rosand was an authority on Venetian Renaissance art, particularly the work of Titian and Paolo Veronese, both of whom he wrote about illuminatingly. He was equally illuminating about Venice itself, where he and his wife, the eminent musicologist Ellen Rosand, and their young family spent extended periods during his early years as an art historian. Later, as a member of the board of directors and the project director of Save Venice, he helped to preserve the magical city that he loved and whose artists he studied.

The depth and breadth of Rosand’s knowledge of Renaissance Venice, its artists, culture, and political intrigues were matched only by his passionate enthusiasm—an enthusiasm that quite literally inspired some people who heard him speak or participated in his Save Venice events to change course and devote themselves from then on to learning more about La Serenissima and her art. I suspect that Rosand’s many profoundly informative, lucid books and exhibition catalogues on the Venetian Renaisance—required reading for anyone who cares about the subject—may have had a similar effect, or at least inspired travel. But, like his distinguished predecessor at Columbia