Canal Grande

Unknown artist

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In the 18th Century Venice was the play-place of noble Europe, full of masquerades, regattas, entertainment and delights for all who came there to amuse themselves. The town was an important goal for rich Europeans and an important art- and pleasure centre. Tourism became its most important source of income.

Drawing attention to the splendour and magnificence of Venice was important in promoting tourism, and art became a key-factor. Many visitors wanted to take a souvenir home with them which led to the evolution of veduta painting, i.e. pictures that depict various town motifs with photographic exactness. One motif that was especially popular was Canal Grande, the town’s great waterway.

Our painting, view of Canal Grande, is a typical veduta painting, and we are standing on the same spot as the artist, on Rialto Bridge. On the left we can see the eastern bridge-abutment. Everything is carefully reproduced even if the perspective is inadequate in some places. The artist used a camera obscura to enable the production of such pictures, an optical piece of equipment that worked like a camera. A picture of the motif was projected on the canvas and sketched by the artist, then used as a master for the painting; a technique inherited from 17th Century Dutch artists. This is what renders the painting so true to nature. We see everything just as clearly defined as if we ourselves stood on the bridge at the time when the painting was, so to say, “photographed”.

We can identify the various places, for example, Palazzo Grimani from the 16th Century in the middle of the canal’s left side. We see everyday life on the canal in boats and gondolas. A woman looks out of a palace window, two wealthy men dressed in blue and red coats standing below look up at her. To the right of the canal’s embankment we see ground floor boutiques and handicraft shops, barrels and wooden trestles through the open doors. There is even a white dog in the paining as can often be seen in pictures of this type.

In other words: an on-the-spot account of Venice at some time during the 18th Century.