ItalianArt

The Grand Canal is one of the principal routes through Venice, one of the widest “streets” in the city. The City of Venice is an archipelago in the Venetian lagoon, composed of over 100 islands separated by “canals”. [In English, a canal is an artificial waterway, but in Italian, canali (usually translated as canals in English) really mean channels.] The Grand Canal is (not surprisingly) a very popular subject for visual art. Many of the most familiar pictures are by Canaletto, whose work we’ve looked at before. Canaletto was really named Giuseppe Antonio Canal or Canali, and his father Bernard Canal was also a painter. Our painter’s use-name, Canaletto, was a nickname applied when he a child–meaning “little Canal”.

Canaletto painted a series of 14 different views of the Grand Canal on commission for a patron, Joseph Smith (not the Mormon founder). Today’s painting is perhaps the best known of the 14. It shows the Entrance to the Grand Canal, near the Santa Maria della Salute Church, at the seaward end of the canal where it discharges into the lagoon. The canal is busy with boats–not only gondolas, but a variety of more utlitarian types. Like all of Canaletto’s paintings, it is incredibly detailed and so crisp. I find such pleasure in looking at his paintings–I almost feel like I’m wallowing in the gorgeous colors and the sharp contours.

The Entrance to the Grand Canal (Oil on canvas, c. 1730)

Caneletto (1697-1768) was prolific, producing many paintings of important places (especially his native Venice), as well as numerous drawings and some etchings. His paintings are incredibly detailed, technically superb, and in many cases absolutely beautiful. I showed one of his oil paintings a few weeks ago. The subject of that painting was the Grand Canal–one of the largest and most famous of Venice’s waterways, and one which he consequently painted many times in many variations– from different angles, at different times of day, and so on.

Today I am displaying two paintings of the same portion of the grand canal, at the church of Santa Maria della Carita, painted from almost the same angle. The first–entitled “Grand Canal from the Santa Maria della Carita to the Bacino San Marco”–was painted during full daylight on a pretty sunny day. There are a few shadows, painted carefully, feeling very accurate. It’s a pretty cheery scene–tourist photo or picture postcard style.

Now compare this to “The Grand Canal near Santa Maria della Carita” (very similar titles).

An overcast day, nearing sundown perhaps? The shadows here convey a vague sense of menace or sadness. It’s not just the shadows falling on the church itself (foreground right)–it’s also those on the buildings on the left bank of the canal, and the color and texture of the sky. It’s remarkable how much enjoyment I derive from looking at multiple pictures of the same scene–the pictorial equivalent of the musical variations on a theme.