Gondolas, the small, highly maneuverable boats used …
Years: 1562 - 1562
Gondolas, the small, highly maneuverable boats used on the canals of Venice, were originally a much larger boat holding twelve oarsmen, but by the fifteenth century the gondola had assumed a long, narrow, keelless shape, with a tapered prow and stern that rise above the water.
This smaller version, propelled by a single oarsman, or gondolier, from a standing position near the stern, averages about thirty feet (nine meters) in length and slightly more than three feet (one meter) in width.
A seven-pronged metal ferro weighing over eighteen kilograms (forty pounds) decorates the prow, and acts as a counterbalance to the oarsman's weight.
Venetian gondolas boast sumptuous decoration until 1562, when a city ordinance bans public ostentation; most receive a coat of somber black paint.
