Canaletto v 2.0

Antonio CanalettoThe poet of Venetian townscape

1697 - 1768

First created 18 Aug 2011. Version 2.0 - 1 Dec 2016. Jerry Tse. London. The Riva degli Schiavoni looking West (Detail). c1736

The Grand Tour

Canaletto’s paintings were in strong demand by these wealthy tourists, who bought the paintings as mementos, to remind them of their trips. Canaletto even had an agent acting for him in London.

The age of tourism began in 18C. It was known as the Grand Tour, with Venice being one of its destinations. A typical Grand Tourist was an English aristocrat. By 1785 some 40,000 young English aristocrats were on the prowl all over the European continent to learn new languages, history and absorbing cultures.

Canaletto’s paintings were the postcards of 18C. It was commercial art at its best, just as the Renaissance painters who earned their livelihood by working for the church leaders or the rulers of centuries earlier.

Carlevarijs was an early painter of Venice vedute. Carlevarijs started to paint impressive views of Venice in 1700. He introduced several popular features to the genre of vedute painting. Canaletto was clearly influenced by him. He did several paintings on similar themes.

Inspired by Panini in RomeCanaletto first went to Rome with his father as a stage designer in 1719 to work on the scenery for two operas. He was inspired by the paintings of Pannini. On his return he became a member of Venetian Artists’ Guild and started his career as a painter.

Canaletto first paintings on Venice dated to 1722. From the painting we can see that Canaletto had not developed all the techniques that he used later on. For instance, the sky was unusually dull for a typical Canaletto’s painting. However, his interest in the dramatic contrast of light is clearly evident here.

His first dated painting

Canaletto’s father taught the young Canaletto perspective and tricks of illusion.

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yle Only two years later his style matured, with bright colours and strong sunlight.

The painting shows city elders giving thanks for the city’s deliverance from the plague in 1576.

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Procession

Detail Cleaning or watching ladies at windows were often included in his paintings.

Detail Rooftop patios are very common in Venice today. The fading paint on the wall and different ages of the planks are part of the magic of Canaletto.

Detail Paintings on the wall were put up by artists taking advantage of the occasion to display their work.

Detail The doge (in yellow), the elected ruler of Venice, was leading the procession.

Detail The painting on the left of the doorway looks like one of his painting.

Detail Dogs were commonly included in Canaletto’s painting to liven the scene. Painting shows the procession as it leaves the church of San Rocco.

Detail The very rich architectural details are part of the Canaletto magic.

Church and Scuola of San RoccoDetailThe piazza outside the Scuola of San Rocco is very narrow and small. When I took the photo below, my back was right against an enclosing wall. It was impossible take a decent photo of the façade of the scuola, as in Canaletto’s painting. The aerial photo (below left) shows where Canaletto would have to stand, behind two houses inside the enclosure of the opposite building, to get the view, in his painting. This was an impossible view-point and part of the illusion of his painting.

Canaletto’s Dogs Finding the dog is an amusement of his painting.

Women at the windows Ladies at the windows or on the balcony.

Regatta Regatta was one of Canaletto’s favourite painting theme.

Regatta

A 19C photo of the Regatta Storica on the same spot. It is held on the first Sunday in September.

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ail Spectators at starting line of the race, Palazzo Balbi

A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

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Regatta Detail Along the Grand Canal, it was packed with spectators.

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Regatta Detail Foreign competitors in their national costumes?

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ail Look at how well Canaletto painted the competitors and the gondolas in the race


Regatta Detail Two wealthy men relaxing in their beautifully decorated private boats.

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ail Rialto Bridge at the far end of the racing course.


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ail A temporal viewing platform built to watch the Regatta.


Oarsmen of boats and gondola Well animated postures.

The Large Ships

English Period – 1746 to 1755

English tourists were prevented to travel to Italy. by the ‘War of Austria Succession, in which England and French were enemies.

In 1746, Canaletto went to England as commissions dried up. At the time, he had a great reputation with many patrons, in London. Altogether he spent nine years in London. However, his stay was not an unmitigated success.

As time went on, his patrons began to find the his English works disappointing and lacked the sparkles of his earlier Venetian works.

A 18C view of London Through an Arch.

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London Detail The water tower on the left the painting.

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Vedutismo Successors

Two of the most well-known successors were Bernardo Belloto and Francesco Guardi.

The success of Canaletto’s paintings bought increasing popularity of Vedute paintings (Vedutismo). Amongst the later vedute painters were Giovanni Battista Cimaroli (Below), Antonio Joli (bottom right), Michele Marieschi (top right) etc.

Other painters

19th Century Vedute Painters

First trip to Rome

Bellotto (1720 – 1780)Bernardo Bellotto was the nephew of Canaletto. At 14, he became a student of his uncle.

In 1742, age 22, he went to work in Rome for a year and returned later via Florence.

From 1744 and 1745, he started to evolve a more independent styles, with different architecture views, using more saturated greens and browns, a good deal of shadow and cool blue sky.

From 1747, he left Italy for good and began to work as court painter in Eastern European courts – Dresden, Vienna and Warsaw.

Stylistically, he was very close to his uncle Canaletto, especially his earlier paintings.

Arsenale the shipyard of Venetian navy power.

Bellotto He worked 11 years in Dresden as a court painter.

Guardi Guardi’s style is more liberal in the accuracy of his buildings

Gua

rdi Guardi’s paintings emphasize the mood and atmosphere of the scenes.

On return from England, he found tastes had changed and he started to paint more Capriccios, architectural fantasy (see example below).Capriccio

Capriccio

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (1697 – 1768)

Giovanni Antonio da Canal (Canaletto) was born in 1697, in Venice near the Rialto Bridge. His father was a theatrical scene painter. In 1719, Canaletto went to Rome with his father to work on some scenery.

He returned to Venice in 1756 and found that tastes had changed. He died in 1768, leaving no more than his cloth and his bed to his surviving sisters.

By 1728, he had developed his own unique style fusing a poetic, picturesque and realistic vision of Venice.

With his new style, soon he became very popular among the aristocrats of Europe, in particular England. By decade of 1730s and 40s, he reach a peak in his career. He was overwhelmed with commissions.

As a result of wars, cutting him off with his customers in England, he moved to London in 1746 and spent 9 years there. His stay in London was not an unqualified success. His paintings lost their magic and fell out of favour. Self-portrait 1746.

Painting relative sizes & Timeline

You can see as Canaletto get older his paintings were getting smaller. I believe, this reflected the lost of his wealthy clients.

In his earlier paintings of Venice, he had developed several elements like the dogs, the women at the windows and the popular themes in his paintings, which appealed to his buyers. He repeatedly painted some themes like the regatta and the Ascension Day festivities to perfection.

However, he was not been able to do the same for his English paintings. The market for his paintings was different. He may have been better off, if he was a portrait painter instead.

Simply, Canaletto is the best painter of the city of Venice.

A detail look

The following 4 slides explore the detail of this single work by Canaletto. It painting is part of the collection at the National Gallery, London.Detail

A Detail Look

Note. Top right – the rich mingled with the poor. Bottom left – Vagrants around the fountain. Bottom right. – Fresh water barrel for the ships?

A Detail Look

The facade of the Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of sighs and along the promenade facing the San Marco Basin, with ships carrying merchandise.

A Detail Look

Note. The gondolas are moored in seperated area from the boats off-loading their goods.

A Detail Look

Note. Top left – Visitors with turbans. Bottom left – A cripple walking with a stick. .

A Detail Look

Music – Excerpt from third movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s violin concertos the Four Seasons – Autumn played by Nigel Kennedy. Vivaldi was born in 1678 and died in 1750. He lived in Venice during the same time as Canaletto (1697-1768).

The End

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Canaletto v 2.0