Full title | Venice: Piazza San Marco |
---|---|
Artist | Canaletto |
Artist dates | 1697 - 1768 |
Series | Two Views of Piazza San Marco |
Date made | about 1758 |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 46.4 x 37.8 cm, 5.5 kg |
Acquisition credit | Salting Bequest, 1910 |
Inventory number | NG2515 |
Location | Gallery A: Paintings after 1600 |
Collection | Main Collection |
This small picture shows the great Piazza San Marco – the most famous square in Venice. We look through an archway, stood in the shadows just behind a group of figures; it is as if we are walking past them along the colonnade. A vendor surrounded by baskets shows his wares to two gentlemen. A man perched on a barrel turns his head towards us, while another peeps out from behind a pillar.
The archway focuses attention on the buildings beyond: the Basilica di San Marco, the city’s most sacred church, and to the right, its campanile (bell tower). The paving stones and buildings that line the square recede at a sharp angle, which Canaletto exaggerated, leading our eye deeper into the scene. Dots and swirls of paint pick out people in the distance, creating the impression that we are looking on from afar.
This small picture shows the great Piazza San Marco – the most famous square in Venice – seen through a tall archway. Canaletto had already used this device in a view of London (private collection), in which we look at the city from beneath the newly constructed Westminster Bridge, but it is a unique composition among his Venetian scenes.
Canaletto has placed us in the shadows, just behind a small group of figures; it’s as if we are walking past them along the colonnade. A vendor surrounded by baskets shows his wares to two gentlemen, though it’s not clear what he is selling. A small dog waits patiently. Perched on a barrel, a man turns his head towards us, while another peeps out from behind a pillar.
The archway focuses attention on the buildings beyond: a frontal view of the Basilica di San Marco, the city’s most sacred church – it housed the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist – and to the right, its elegant campanile (bell tower). Canaletto drew and painted the campanile numerous times, but he nearly always showed it as taller and more slender than it was in reality. Between the campanile and the column in front of us, we catch a tiny glimpse of the Doge’s Palace.
The paving stones and buildings that line the square recede at a sharp angle, which Canaletto exaggerated, leading our eye deeper into the scene. The white stone lines laid across the square – marking the position of temporary stalls during religious possessions, public celebrations and merchant fairs – line up perfectly with the furthest left arch of the basilica beyond. As in the companion piece to this work, Canaletto altered the perspective to create these pleasing points of intersection.
On the left we see the Procuratie Vecchie, Venice’s longest building. Stretching 500 feet along the piazza, it housed the offices of the procurators of San Marco, a prestigious position responsible for the upkeep of the piazza and its architecture. The Procuratie Nuove is on the opposite side (its colonnade was chosen as the viewpoint for the pendant painting). The arch from which we view the square here no longer exists: this side of the piazza was demolished in 1807 by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French occupation of Venice, and replaced with his palatial residence (now the Museo Correr).
Although this picture is unusual in its viewpoint, the muted colour palette and strongly outlined architectural features are typical of Canaletto’s late style. The scene is softly lit. Dots and swirls of paint pick out the basilica and the people in the distance, creating the impression that we are looking on from afar.
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Two Views of Piazza San Marco
This captivating pair of view paintings – Piazza San Marco and Piazza San Marco and the Colonnade of the Procuratie – depict the Piazza San Marco, home to some of Venice’s most famous landmarks.
Canaletto painted these works during the late 1750s, shortly after his return to Venice from England. Because of their small scale and upright format they are somewhat unusual when compared to the artist’s earlier panoramic views, but his choice of composition was still innovative. In most of his paintings, we look across the Grand Canal or the lagoon that surrounds Venice. Here, Canaletto has experimented with viewpoints taken from within an architectural structure, for example an archway within a colonnade.
His mature phase prompted certain stylistic changes: he moved towards sombre colouring and darker tonality, and he tended to paint small canvases. This appealed to Venetian collectors and foreign tourists – smaller paintings would have been more affordable and easier to transport.
This captivating pair of view paintings – Piazza San Marco and Piazza San Marco and the Colonnade of the Procuratie – depict the Piazza San Marco, home to some of Venice’s most famous landmarks. It was the principal destination of every visitor to the city during Canaletto’s lifetime, and remains hugely popular today.
Canaletto painted these works shortly after his return to Venice from England, where he had lived and worked between 1746 and 1755. Because of their small scale and upright format, they are somewhat unusual when compared to his earlier panoramic views, like The Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day, or his expansive scenes of everyday life, such as Venice: The Upper Reaches of the Grand Canal with San Simeone Piccolo. Canaletto was no less innovative in his choice of composition. Rather than give a view of the Grand Canal or the lagoon that surrounds Venice, which feature prominently in most of his paintings, he experimented with viewpoints taken from within an architectural structure – for example, an archway within a colonnade.
His mature phase prompted certain stylistic changes: he moved towards sombre colouring and darker tonality, and he tended to paint small canvases. This appealed to Venetian collectors and foreign tourists, as smaller paintings would have been more affordable and easier to transport. Unlike many of his Venetian views, of which multiple versions and copies were made by him and his pupils, there are no replicas of either scene – the compositions are unique.
Canaletto’s view paintings found their way into collections throughout Europe as travellers returned home with these souvenirs of the Grand Tour. We know very little about the early history of these two paintings, but they remained together as a pair in the remaining decades of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century. In 1910 they were among a sizeable picture collection offered to the National Gallery as part of the Salting Bequest, which included works by other eighteenth-century Venetian view painters, such as Bellotto’s Venice: The Grand Canal facing the Santa Croce and a number of Guardi capricci scenes.

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