The Bacino di San Marco, Venice, seen from the Giudecca
Antonio Canaletto (Venice 1697 - Venice 1768)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1726
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1410 x 2299 mm (55 1/2 x 90 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446806
Caption
This panoramic view looks towards the Doge’s Palace and embraces the whole of the Venetian waterfront. It is bounded on the left by the entrance to the Canale della Giudecca and the Dogana (Customs House), and on the right by the steps and part of the façade of San Giorgio Maggiore. The view is more extensive than the eye could include in a single focus, and the artist probably made use of a camera obscura (an optical device), but made adjustments to the relative sizes of the buildings nonetheless. This picture shows the entry of an ambassador into the Palazzo Ducale. The entry that accords with that of the most probable dating of the picture is that of Count Colloredo, on 3rd April 1726.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Bacino di San Marco, Venice, seen from the Giudecca, by Canaletto, (Venice 1697 - Venice 1768), 1726. A panoramic view looking towards the Doge's Palace and embracing the whole of the Venetian waterfront, bounded on the left by the entrance to the Canal della Guidecca and the Dogana, on the right by the steps and part of the facade of S. Giorgio Maggiore, and on the waterfront by the campanile of S. Zaccaria. Numerous gondolas and some bissone are collected round the Piazzetta, the Doge's galley is moored; left the bows of a warship anchored in the canal; right a frigate firing, and in the foreground market boats and gondolas. The view is more extensive than the eye could include in a single focus, and the artist probably made use of a camera obscura.
Provenance
Possibly Johann Baptist, Graf von Colloredo–Waldsee (1656-1729); possibly Royal Picture Gallery, Dresden; Countess Mniszech (according to Sedelmeyer Gallery catalogue); possibly her sale, Paris, 5 May 1888; E. Sécrétan sale, Paris, 1 July 1889, lot 104; with Sedelmeyer; Charles, 9th Duke of Marlborough by 1898; Lily, Duchess of Marlborough sale, Christie’s, 7 June 1918, lot 125, bought by Colnaghi; with Knoedler, from whom bought by William Salomon, New York, 1919; with Charles Davis; with Duveen, from whom acquired by the 2nd Viscount Bearsted, in 1927, for £2000; given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948), in 1948, shortly before his death
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Antonio Canaletto (Venice 1697 - Venice 1768) , artist
Exhibition history
Souvenirs of the Grand Tour, Wildenstein & Co., London, 1982, no.15
References
Constable and Links 1976 W. G. Constable and J. G. Links (revised), Canaletto 1697 - 1768, 2 vols. Oxford, 1976, vol.II, no.144, repd. (revised J.G. Links, 1976, no.144)