Canaletto
The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice

The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice

Public Domain

The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice
ArtistItalian (Venetian), 1697–1768
CultureItalian
Titles
  • The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice
Datec. 1730
Place depictedVenice, Italy
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 19 1/2 × 29 in. (49.5 × 73.7 cm)
Frame: 27 × 36 1/8 × 3 in. (68.6 × 91.8 × 7.6 cm)
Credit LineThe Robert Lee Blaffer Memorial Collection, gift of Sarah Campbell Blaffer
Object number56.2
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
209 Nicandros Gallery
On view

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Object Type
Description

Painted views of towns and landscapes were enormously popular in the 18th century. Travelers to Italy eagerly sought accurate and detailed records of their visits to Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples. Canaletto was the most famous painter of vedute (Italian for "views") at the time. His ability to capture the light, life, buildings, and expanse of Venice established his reputation as one of the greatest topographical painters of all time.


Canaletto was the son of Bernardo Canal, a painter of theater sets, with whom he worked and from whom he presumably learned the rules of perspective, so important for Canaletto's compositions. In 1719 Canaletto went to Rome, where he may have become familiar with the paintings of Giovanni Panini, an artist known for his Roman cityscapes and imaginary topographical views using actual landmarks as motifs. A year later Canaletto was back in Venice, attracting an international clientele, especially wealthy English patrons. This association, and the effects of the War of Austrian Succession, which greatly reduced the number of visitors to Venice, prompted Canaletto to travel to England, where he resided from 1746 until 1755. Canaletto’s works can be grouped into two major categories: topographic views depicting with extreme precision particular aspects of Venice and other European cities; and capricci, or imaginary views, in which architectural monuments have been displaced and rearranged according to the painter’s fancy. The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice, with the church of Santa Maria della Salute on the left, belongs in the first category.


Despite the self-defined limits of his subject matter, Canaletto was an extraordinarily brilliant artist who delicately enhanced his subject by carefully omitting selected details in order to focus on an essential image. His fine colors subtly combine all the hues associated with the real Venice as much as with the idea, or memory, of the city. Executed in his studio after studies from the motif, his paintings are, therefore, more than topographic records. They are pure, intellectual re-creations.


 


ProvenanceProbably Hugh Howard (1675–1738), Shelton Abbey, County Wicklow, Ireland, 1730–until d. 1738; by descent within Howard family, later earls of Wicklow, until 1955; [Edward Spielman, London, 1955]; sold through [M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1955]; Mrs. Sarah Campbell Blaffer, Houston, 1955; given to MFAH, 1955.
Exhibition History"Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters," British Institution, London, 1853.

"Canaletto," Art Gallery of Toronto; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 1964–65.

"I Vedutisti Veneziani del Settecento," Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1967.

"The Elegant World of Canaletto," Oxford, England, 1978.

"Canaletto Exhibition," Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, September 30–November 7, 1979.

"Canaletto," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 30, 1989–January 21, 1990.

"Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.

"Canaletto Prima Maniera (Canaletto's Early Style)," Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, March 18–June 10, 2001.

"Masterpieces of European Painting from American and Polish collections - Inspiration, Contribution, Integration," National Museum, Warsaw, February 28–May 4, 2003.

"Hope and Healing, The Plague and Italian Painting: 1500 - 1750," Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, April 2–September 25, 2005.

"Canaletto Paired: 18th-century Venetian View Painting," The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, May 12–July 29,2007.

"Views of Venice: The City through the Eyes of Canaletto and his Contemporaries,"
National Gallery, London, October 13, 2010–January 16, 2011; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., February 20–May 30, 2011.

"Lost Treasure of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. Restored by Venetian Heritage Inc.," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 21–April 28, 2013.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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