My only Venice - this is breath! Thy breeze
Thy Adrian sea-breeze, how it fans my face!
Thy very winds feel native to my veins,
And cool them into calmness!
- George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) (The Two Foscari, Act 1, Sc. 1)
Canaletto united pictorial liberty and nature with such economy that his true works are obvious to those who have no more than common sense to judge with: while the connoisseur all the more finds great art in them in the choice of sites, the distribution of figures, the handling of light and shade; and in addition, a lucidity and piquant facility of color and brushwork, the effects of a calm mind and happy genius.
- Antonio Zanetti (1679-1767) (Della Pittura Veneziana (1771))
When they got home, his clients must have thought that their memories deceived them. Canaletto's Venice is most often pictured on a sunny day, but didn't it rain a lot? And was Palladio's church of San Giorgio Maggiore really next to the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal? But despite this sort of jumbling in paintings that seem to be so meticulously faithful, Canaletto was the consummate Venetian view painter. Even his paintings of other cities look like Venice.
- Judith Martin (b. 1938)* (No Vulgar Hotel, Ch. 6, "Pictorial Venice")
(Today is the 315th anniversary of the birth of Venetian painter Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto (1697-1768). Born in Venice the son of painter Bernardo Canal - hence his sobriquet, which means "little Canal" - Canaletto apprenticed with his father and brother and started his career as a theatrical scene painter. Later influenced by the Roman view painter Giovanni Paolo Pannini, he turned to painting scenic views (veduti) of daily life in Venice and soon attracted the attention of English consul Joseph Smith, who recommended him to countrymen taking the "Grand Tour" as an artist who could paint vivid pictorial souvenirs of their visits to Venice. Canaletto became highly successful in this genre, and as a result there are more of his paintings in England than anywhere else. In 1746, Canaletto moved to London, where he painted many views of that city and other English scenes. Late in life, he returned to Venice, where he was elected to the Venetian Academy. Among his more prominent pupils was his nephew Bernardo Bellotto (ca.1721/22-1780), whose paintings greatly resemble those of his teacher. French writer and film-maker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) once noted,
"True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing."
* N.B. Better known as "Miss Manners." For an example of Canaletto's frequent looseness with visual truth, see the reproduction below. The campanile (bell tower) just to the right of the left entrance tower appears to be that of San Francesco della Vigna which is too far to the left to be seen from this location. In fact, there are no bell towers behind the Arsenale in that direction - just open water.
Canaletto's painting of the historic entrance to the Arsenale of Venice (1732). It looks much the same today. The wooden drawbridge in the foreground has been replaced by a fixed structure in the same location.
Here's a slide show of Canaletto's other paintings, including views of both Venice and England (with a few of Rome thrown in):
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
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