Canaletto's Venice
Venice is a city which has given birth to so many titans of art history.
From Titian and Giorgione, to Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto . . . it stands as equal to Florence and Rome for being absolutely central to the Italian Renaissance.
And, over the last two hundred years in particular, it has become one of the world’s most famous tourist hotspots too - with romantic architecture, sighing bridges, and those famous canals.
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So of course, if we were to try and explore even a small selection of the great art and artists associated with this wonderful city, it would no doubt fill the space of an entire library.
But for the most iconic views of Venice itself - and for the kind of art which can bring us all the escapism of travel, no matter where in the world we are viewing it today . . . there is really only one Venetian artist for us to turn to.
Giovanni Antonio Canal - better known as Canaletto.
Born in Venice in 1693, and son of Bernardo Canal, who was himself a prominent painter of the time - Giovanni’s adopted nickname “Canaletto” essentially means, “Little Canal”. But of course there is nothing “little” about his eventual impact on the art world.
From first gaining renown as a painter in his home city, to then becoming particular popular amongst wealthy English visitors, who wanted to bring back a souvenir from their travels . . . Canaletto would later spend six years living in London, as an attempt to take full advantage of his fan base there. However there is no doubt about it - Venice was always both a natural and spiritual for our artist.
Thus, it is no surprise that it is in these Venetian scenes where we consistently find him at his very best.
Admittedly, these works do not require much in the way of analysis.
They are not necessarily trying to tell a particular story, or spark a philosophical discussion.
Rather, they are simply intent on capturing the life, the light, and the luminous beauty of this place. . . all in a level of “high definition” detail which, even to our modern eyes, is absolutely astonishing.
So, I won’t spend too long writing about these today.
Frankly, Canaletto’s paintings say more about Venice than I ever could!
Bonus Section
Canaletto was an extremely prolific painter, and one article will never be enough to do full justice to his output.
However, for those of you who would like a bit of an extension to our tour of Venice through Canaletto’s eyes today - I wanted to add this bonus section for paid members, with three more extraordinary paintings (including a highly rare “interior” view) which didn’t quite make the cut for the main article today.
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