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Giovanni
Antonio Canale was born in October 1697 and baptized in the church of San
Lio. He later became known as Canaletto, probably to distinguish him from
his father Bernardo Canale, who was also an artist. The professional training
Canaletto received from his father, who worked as a designer and scene
painter for the theater, and had some success. Canaletto, together with
his brother Christoforo, initially followed Bernardo, and was himself employed
as a theatrical painter.
In 1719, he traveled with his father to Rome where he helped with the preparations
for two operas by Scarlatti, performed during the carnival in 1720. This
trip seems to have marked a turning point for the young artist. In Rome
he could have come into contact with artists such as Gian Paolo Pannini
(1691/2-1765), who produced vedute (view paintings), which Canaletto would
later specialize in. In Rome, he also made a number of drawn studies of
ancient sites, which were used as the basis for later works.
Within the Italian tradition of vedute (view painting) Canaletto explored
different forms. He created vedute esatte (precise views), and also vedute
ideale (imaginary or fantastic views), which are known as capricci, in
these works Canaletto drew together architectural subjects from different
sources and arranged them in an imaginative form to create a very consciously
fictional and poetic image. Pictures of this type assume knowledge of their
subjects on the part of the viewer, and were designed to appeal to the
contemporary taste for ruins and the nostalgia they evoked.
In 1720, the artist’s name is first recorded in the register of the Venetian
painters’ guild. Venice had a tradition of public exhibitions, at which
painters, especially beginners, could promote their work. Canaletto is
recorded as having hung a view of the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo
(probably Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the
Scuola di San Marco) at the annual display of paintings organized
outside the Scuola di San Rocco. His work was said to have ‘made everyone
marvel’, and it was purchased by the Imperial Ambassador to Venice. The
exhibition itself was later depicted by the artist in the background of
his portrayal of the Doge procession The
Doge Visiting the Church and Scuola di San Rocco.
After his success at the public exhibition, Canaletto was commissioned
to paint four works for the merchant Stefano Conti (1725). Patrons such
as Conti were important to Canaletto at the outset of his career, but it
was English collectors who came to dominate the market for his view paintings.
According to the fashion of the time it was considered that an essential
part of good education and cultivation for the young English gentleman
was to travel to Italy and visit the famous places of Rome, Florence and
Venice. Of course, such travel also involved bringing home some refined
souvenirs, and Canaletto tried to meet this demand.
Canaletto’s earliest work for the ‘English market’ came to him as a result
of his contact with an Irishman called Owen McSwiney (c.1684-1754). Their
acquaintance took place in 1720s, at least the first documentary mention
of paintings, commissioned by Owen McSwiney, referred to 1826. McSwiney
not only introduced Canaletto to English customers, but seems also to have
encouraged the painter to create works which might particularly appeal
to them.
The most important person in Canaletto’s career and his patron was Joseph
Smith (c.1674-1770), an Englishman, who lived in Venice, and worked as
an agent on behalf of British collectors of manuscripts, books and works
of art; he also served as British Consul to the Venice Republic (1744-1760;
1766). He had a notable collection of his own. This collection in 1762-3
was sold to King George III, by that time it included the largest single
group of works by Canaletto ever assembled.
In the 1730s, the demand for Canaletto’s work was so large that Canaletto
employed studio assistants. Canaletto’s father probably helped him, and
certainly Canaletto’s nephew Bernardo
Bellotto (1720-80), who at the time was trained in his studio. In 1735,
a set of engravings was published by Antonio Visentini after Canaletto’s
paintings in Smith’s collection, called the Prospectus Magni Canalis
Venetiarum, which also included the portrait
of the artist, now considered the only reliable one.
In 1741, the War of the Austrian Succession broke out, which consequently
undermined the tourist business; this meant that the artist’s was loosing
his principal source of patronage. In addition, perhaps for the first time,
Canaletto experienced some serious competition. Canaletto tried to expand
the variety of his subjects. In 1740-41, he traveled along the Brenta Canal
towards Padua, and made a number of drawings, which were to form the basis
of etching and paintings. In 1742 Canalletto painted a series of five large
paintings for Smith of ancient Roman ruins: Rome:
the Arch of Constantine. Rome:
Ruins of the Forum, looking towards the Capitol. Rome:
The Arch of Septimius Severus. Rome:
The Arch of Titus.
In 1746 Canaletto arrived in London; he worked in England intermittently
until 1755. His first works in England were the views of the Thames and
the recently completed Westminster Bridge: London:
Westminster Bridge from the North on Lord Mayor's Day. London:
Seen through an Arch of Westminster Bridge. Canaletto’s loyal
agents Smith and McSwiney provided the artist with introduction to important
patrons in London. Thus, through Smith’s assistance Canaletto was introduced
to the Duke of Richmond, and some of the works Canaletto later painted
for this patron: London: Whitehall and
the Privy Garden from Richmond House. London:
the Thames and the City of London from Richmond House. are
widely considered his greatest achievements while in England. Later Canaletto
painted subjects outside London – for example, the country homes of the
Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Northumberland: Warwick
Castle: the East Front. London:
Northumberland House.
Canaletto returned briefly to Venice in 1751 (and may also have traveled
home again in 1753), but then remained in England up until 1755. Among
the important works from this period are a series of capricci for the Lovelace
family: Capriccio: River Landscape with
a Column, a Ruined Roman Arch, and Reminiscences of England
and a group of 6 pictures, which were painted for Thomas Hollis.
In 1755 the artist returned to Venice permanently. His last years in Venice
from 1756 onwards were not as artistically noteworthy. Many of his later
pictures were based on compositional and technical formulae worked out
some years before. However, there are a few exceptions deserving attention:
The
Grand Canal Looking Down to the Rialto Bridge, The
Campo di Rialto,
The Vigilia
di S. Pietro and
The Vigilia
di S. Marta, all four works were painted for the German patron
Sigmund Streit; and the pair of views of the Piazza San Marco in the National
Gallery, London: Piazza San Marco: Looking
East from the North-West Corner; Piazza
San Marco: Looking East from the South-West Corner.
In 1763 Canaletto was finally elected to the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts.
His admission had been rejected previously, probably because view painting
was not highly regarded by academicians. The artist’s reception piece Capriccio:
Capriccio
of Colonade and the Courtyard of a Palace was completed almost
two years later. The very last of Canaletto’s dated works is the drawing
San
Marco: the Crossing and North Transept, with Musicians Singing.
Canaletto died of a fever aged 71, on April 10, 1768. He was buried in
the church of San Lio, where he had been baptized.
Rio dei Mendicanti:
Looking South. This is one of a set of 4 paintings by Canaletto, usually
regarded as his earliest surviving view paintings of Venice. Probably they
were executed for a Venetian patron, but were first recorded in the collection
of the Princes of Liechtenstein in 1806. The work is of high accomplishment
and it is hard to believe that other, now lost, studies by the artist,
did not precede it.
See: Canaletto. Rio dei Mendicanti:
Looking South.
Santi
Giovanni e Paolo and the Scuola di San Marco. Santi Giovanni e Paolo,
the most important Dominican church in Venice, is depicted at the right
with the equestrian monument to Bartolommeo Colleoni by the Italian sculptor
Andrea Verrocchio (1435-88) in front of it. Beside the church and in the
center of the composition is the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the wealthiest
of 6 major philanthropic confraternities in the city.
See: Canaletto. Santi Giovanni e Paolo
and the Scuola di San Marco.
The Piazzetta: Looking North.
This is the view of the Piazzetta, looking towards the Torre dell’Orlogio,
clocktower. The composition is framed by the Biblioteca Marciana and campanile
at the left, and column of San Teodoro and San Marco at the right. Torre
dell’Orlogio (clocktower) was designed by Mauro Codussi (1496-99).
See: Canaletto. The Piazzetta: Looking
North.
A Regatta on the Grand Canal
is a companion painting to The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day.
A gondola race, which formed part of a Regatta on the Grand Canal, is depicted.
Such events had been organized since the 14th century as part of the Carnival,
and were also occasionally arranged to honor notable visitors to the city.
The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day. The Busintoro was
the golden barge, which participated in a ceremony on Ascension Day. In
998 AD Venice won an important naval victory over Dalmatia. The commemoration
of the victory used to be celebrated on Ascension Day. During the event
the Doge traveled in the Bucintoro out into the Lido, where he cast a ring
into the sea, as a symbol of the marriage or union between Venice and the
Adriatic. The Pope in gratitude for Venice’s participation in war gave
such a ring to a 12th century Doge.
See: Canaletto. A Regatta on the Grand
Canal. The Bucintoro at the Molo
on Ascension Day.
The Arsenal: the Water Entrance.
Arsenal, or naval boatyard, was established in the 12th century, there
the powerful Venetian fleets were built. The view shows the Arsenal’s water
entrance. The painting is one of 24 works by Canaletto bought by the 4th
Duke of Bedford, which remain together at Woburn Abbey.
See: Canaletto. The Arsenal: the Water
Entrance.
The
Doge Visiting the Church and Scuola di San Rocco. The body of St. Roch
has been housed by the Church of San Rocco, at the right, since 1485. In
1576 there was a severe outbreak of the plague in Venice, and it was thought
that St. Roch’s intervention prevented an even greater disaster, so from
that year onwards the saint’s feast day, 16 August, was celebrated by the
Republic. On the picture the Venice authorities are emerging from the church
after they have attended Mass. The Scola di San Rocco is in the center
of the composition; it is decorated with garlands and paintings. Canaletto
and his artist nephew Belotto are recorded as having sold some of their
works at one of such exhibitions.
See: Canaletto. The Doge Visiting
the Church and Scuola di San Rocco.
Rome: the Arch of Constantine.
The Arch was built by Emperor Constatine in the IV century to commemorate
his victory over Maxentius. The view is manipulated: we see the view from
the south, the church of San Pietro is seen through the arch, and to the
right the edge of Coliseum; but the friezes and inscriptions on the arch
are those, seen from the north.
See: Canaletto. Rome: the Arch of
Constantine.
Capriccio:
the Horses of San Marco in the Piazzetta. The gilded bronze horses
of San Marco are one of the great treasures of Venice. They are thought
to be ancient, although their precise origin and date is not clear. It
appears they were taken from Constantinople when the Venetians sacked the
city in 1204. In the 1740s the horses were above the entrance to San Marco.
They were only removed from this position in 1798 when Napoleon’s troops
overtook the city and were then taken to Paris, but returned to Venice
in 1815. See the true position of the horses above the main door of the
church of San Marco in Piazza San Marco:
looking South-East.
See: Canaletto. Capriccio: the Horses
of San Marco in the Piazzetta.
London:
Westminster Bridge from the North on Lord Mayor's Day. The celebrations
accompanied the appointment of the new Lord Mayor of London. On the painting
the Largest City Barge is shown taking the Mayor to Westminster Hall, by
the abbey at the right, where he will be sworn in. Some barges are firing
solutes to honor the Mayor.
See: Canaletto. London: Westminster
Bridge from the North on Lord Mayor's Day.
Warwick Castle: the South
Front. Canaletto made 5 paintings of Warwick Castle on commission by
its owner Francis Greville, Lord Brooke, who became Earl of Warwick in
1759.
See: Canaletto. Warwick Castle: the
South Front.
London:
Westminster Abbey, with a Procession of Knights of the Bath. The Order
of the Bath is one of the oldest English chivalric orders, it was founded
in 1399. Canaletto was commissioned to paint the picture by Joseph Wilcocks,
Dean of Westminster.
See: Canaletto. London: Westminster
Abbey, with a Procession of Knights of the Bath.
London: Ranelagh,
Interior of the Rotunda. In the 18th century there were two main pleasure
gardens in London at Vauxhall and Ranelagh. The latter, which was situated
in Chelsea, was regarded as the more respectable. Among its attractions
was this Rotunda, which served as a public site for various forms of entertainment.
It became a fashionable place to dine, converse and listen to music, and
Mozart performed there in 1764.
See: Canaletto. London: Ranelagh,
Interior of the Rotunda.
Bibliography:
Painting of Venice. by Klára Garas. Corvina. Budapest.
1968.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
Canaletto by Terisio, Pignatti. Barrons Educational Series.
1980.
Canaletto
by J. G. Links, Canaletto. Phaidon Press Inc., 1999.
Views
of Venice by Canaletto by Antonio Visentini, Antonio Canaletto.
Dover Pubns, 1971.
Venice
through Canaletto's Eyes by David Bomford, Gabriele Finaldi.
National Gallery London, 1998.
Canaletto's
Sketchbook by Giovanna Nepi Scire. Canal and Stamperia Editorial,
1997.