Canaletto, Venice: The Piazza San Marco
Full title | Venice: Piazza San Marco and the Colonnade of the Procuratie Nuove |
---|---|
Artist | Canaletto |
Artist dates | 1697 - 1768 |
Series | Two Views of Piazza San Marco |
Date made | about 1756 |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 46.4 × 38.1 cm, 5 kg |
Acquisition credit | Salting Bequest, 1910 |
Inventory number | NG2516 |
Location | Room 38 |
Art route(s) | B |
Collection | Main Collection |
Previous owners |
We see the Piazza San Marco from just inside the colonnade of the Procuratie Nuove, which housed the procurators (or caretakers) of San Marco. Although painting one of Venice’s most famous sights, Canaletto took liberties with the architecture to create a dramatic composition, enlarging the size of the archway and removing one of the pillars so we can see both the piazza and down the arcade.
In front of us, two men lean back against an archway, a dog sitting faithfully at their feet. Another, wearing a vivid green cloak and holding a cup and saucer, seems to be listening in on their conversation. Behind him is the famous coffee house, Caffè Florian – probably where his beverage comes from.
Canaletto experimented with a form of visual trickery, arranging the vertical lines of particular architectural features – the pillar of the arch and the column on its outer edge with the campanile (bell tower) beyond, for example – to create an unusual and interesting composition.
Like its companion picture, this work shows a view of the Piazza San Marco from just inside the colonnade which ran along three sides of the square. Here, we stand beneath the Procuratie Nuove, which was built between 1580 and 1640 to house the procurators, or caretakers, of San Marco; its ground floor consists of an arcade of 52 stone arches. Although he was painting one of Venice’s most famous sights, Canaletto took liberties with the architecture to produce a dramatic composition, enlarging the size of the archway and removing one of the pillars so we can see both the piazza and down the arcade.
We, like the small group of men in front of us, are positioned against the pillar of an archway. The man seated to the left is doing the talking while his companion listens intently – they may be looking up at something behind us, perhaps the arch itself. A dog sits faithfully at their feet. Another man, wearing a vivid green cloak and holding a cup and saucer daintily, seems to be listening in on their conversation. Behind him is the famous coffee house, Caffè Florian, a well-known centre of social life during Canaletto’s time (it remains so today). Along the arcade, people sit on benches outside shops and cafes, looking out across the square; the sunlight streams through the archways and shadows stretch across the floor. Nearby, we can see street vendors with baskets of goods, idle dogs and three men wearing long cloaks.
A drawing showing just the three men and the dog (British Museum, London) is one of very few studies of people by Canaletto that survive. He used pen to describe the contours of the forms, and the cloak of the standing figure in particular – a detail that can also be seen in this painting. Black outlines shape the breeches worn by the seated figures, while strokes of yellow paint on the sleeves and coats give them a lively texture. Their faces, too, are made up of highlights applied freely to the forehead, cheeks, nose and chin.
Canaletto experimented with a form of visual trickery, arranging the vertical lines of particular architectural features – the pillar of the arch and the column on its outer edge with the campanile (bell tower) beyond, for example – to create an unusual and interesting composition. The flag poles in front of the Basilica di San Marco, the city’s grandest church, and the turrets on its facade create more vertical lines, while the steeply angled, diagonal lines of the colonnade draw our eye across rather than up. The figures at the base of the campanile and the far end of the arcade, made up of tiny flicks and dots of paint, help to create an impression of the recession of space. As always with Canaletto, the view is entirely convincing.
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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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