One example of Canaletto’s more creative type of view painting is Grand Canal: the Rialto Bridge from the North, 1725 (fig. 1), which reveals that he combined two separate views of the Grand Canal into one painting.[1] Canaletto himself commented on this picture and identified its location in November of 1725, saying:
The Rialto Bridge seen from the side of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi which is opposite the Palace of the Camerlenghi Magistrates and other Magistrates, with other buildings nearby which look on to the vegetable market where all kinds of vegetables and fruits are delivered to be distributed to the suppliers in the city. In the middle of the Canal is painted a Peotta Nobile with figures in it and four Gondoliers going at full speed and close to it a gondola having the livery of the Emperor’s Ambassador.[2]
If one stands on one of the landing stages where he must have placed himself to paint this work, only the end wall of the Fabbriche Vecchie, seen here at the right of the painting (with the arches on the first story), would be visible to the right of the white Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, which is shown in the painting between the Rialto Bridge and the Fabbriche. One block away, there is another landing stage where one can see the Fabbriche Vecchie, but only the end wall of the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi.[3] However, Canaletto painted the scene so that both the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi and the Fabbriche Vecchie were fully visible from the same viewpoint, which is not
possible. This means that the two buildings on the right-hand side of the Grand Canal had to have been studied separately before they were combined into this scene. By looking at Canaletto’s preliminary sketch of the painting (fig. 2), one can clearly see how he constructed this imaginary view.[4]
Another good example of Canaletto creating a new perspective can be seen in his painting called Grand Canal: Looking North from near the Rialto Bridge, 1730 (fig. 3).[5] For this, Canaletto first made a preliminary drawing (fig. 4) in which the scene he
depicts is seen at eye-level. However, when he paints it, he lifts the viewpoint so that it is seen from a higher level. This change makes it seem like the viewer must be seeing the canal from the piano nobile, or the first floor of a Venetian palazzo, perhaps with a higher-class client in mind, or it could have been made purely for aesthetic adjustments and purposes.[6] In both this and Grand Canal: the Rialto Bridge from the North, Canaletto uses similar tonalities. The facades of the sunlit buildings are painted in light tans, beiges, pinks, and grayish-whites;
the gondolas are black; splashes of white are provided by bright white cloths; the canal is mainly greenish-gold and green-blue; and the cloudy skies are many tones of blue. Moreover, both paintings are similarly organized: the sky comprises about two-thirds of each painting, while the cluster of buildings and the Grand Canal make up the bottom third of the compositions.
The Stonemason’s Yard of about 1725 (fig. 5) is considered to be a masterpiece of Canaletto’s early career.[7] It is also one of his most unusual works, in that he has
hardly altered the scene at all. Here, the Campo San Vidal is the space into which the viewer is invited, with the Grand Canal in the middle ground. The church of Santa Maria della Carità sits on the far side of the Grand Canal.[8] The picture is unlike anything previously done by Canaletto. The subject matter strays far away from what he depicted in the urban areas of Venice. Here, he chose to focus on a quiet corner of the city. Michael Levey noted that, “part of the difficulty of dating the picture is due to its uniquely high quality. It is perhaps the product of a moment of fusion between Canaletto’s early and mature styles, both of which seem present in it.”[9] He has, however, elevated the viewpoint again by creating his balcony perspective, as seen in Grand Canal: Looking North from near the Rialto Bridge (fig. 3), which allows us to look down on the scene. Otherwise, he has stayed true to the actual topography of what he observes.[10] Today, there have been several changes made to the scene, including the addition of the Accademia Bridge, alterations on the church façade, the destruction of the campanile, and the building of a pseudo-gothic palace at the left. Unfortunately, no preliminary drawings for this work are known, so scholars are unable to study whether or not he made any changes to the composition. Nor were there any painted by any of Canaletto’s contemporaries.
[1] Tancred Borenius, “A Canaletto Curiosity,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (September 1921): 109.
[2] David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 17.
[3] Tancred Borenius, “A Canaletto Curiosity,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (September 1921): 111.
[4] David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 17.
[5] William George Constable, “Canaletto and Guardi,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (December 1921): 300.
[6] David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 18.
[7] Oliver Millar, “Venice. Canaletto,” The Burlington Magazine (October 1982): 653.
[8] William George Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), 54.
[9] David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 44.
[10] Ibid.
Image Credit
Figure 1. Image scanned from: David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 15.
Figure 2. Image scanned from: David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 15.
Figure 3. Image scanned from: David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 16.
Figure 4. Image scanned from: David Bomford, Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 17.
Figure 5. Artstor.
