Canaletto, Venice: Entrance to the Cannaregio

Gondolas glide across the water, passing fishing boats which direct our gaze towards the mouth of the Cannaregio Canal, Venice’s largest waterway after the Grand Canal. The Ponte delle Guglie (‘bridge of the obelisks’), constructed in 1580 with an elegant balustrade and a pair of obelisks at each end, spans the water.

We can just make out the tiny silhouettes of people crossing over the bridge, while others emerge into the sunlight along the waterfront. Beyond this is an area known as the ghetto, built up high because of the shortage of land. This is where, from the sixteenth century, the Jewish population was forced by decree to live.

Canaletto altered the view to make a more dramatic composition: the facade of the Palazzo Querini detti Papozze, on the far right, is at a sharper angle here than in reality, the bridge is closer to us and the Cannaregio more open, making it easier to see the buildings on both sides. On the left, surrounded by a walled garden, is the church of San Geremia, which was rebuilt in 1753–60; its thirteenth-century campanile (bell tower) remains one of the oldest in Venice. Just behind is the Palazzo Labia with its imposing grey stone facade. Canaletto’s scenes from the late 1730s and early 1740s tend to have a cooler, more wintry light, which we can see here – especially in the wispy pink clouds.

A drawing in the Royal Collection at Windsor, dated 1734, has the same view as this painting, though the boats in the foreground are different. It was likely a detailed preliminary study made by Canaletto in his studio, rather than a quick sketch done on the spot (similarly, none of Canaletto’s pictures would have been painted in situ; all were created from drawings). This proved to be a popular composition, and Canaletto and his studio pupils painted numerous versions during the late 1720s and mid-1730s.

This painting and A view of San Pietro in Castello were given to the National Gallery in 1879 as a pair, but cleaning revealed that they are not pendants: they are quite different in style and tonality.