Venice replaced the streets with the Grand Canal, a model that is the charm and core of the city, attracting generations of tourists and artists.
Recently, the special exhibition "Revisiting Cannareto's Venice" was held at the National Maritime Museum in the United Kingdom, exhibiting paintings, prints, photographs, etc. from the collections of Woburn Abbey and the Royal Museum of Greenwich, presenting the Italian painter Canaletto's 18th-century Venetian cityscape and reflecting the social and environmental challenges facing Venice today. In the curator's view, in Canaletto's pen, Venice was almost transformed into a theatrical city, with the Grand Canal as the stage and the architecture as the curtain.
Venice in the 18th century had no giant cruise ships, no Disney shops, no biennials. Instead, a small number of nobles were on their "aristocratic journeys", leisurely riding gondolas on quiet canals. Instead of masks and grappa, they brought home a painter named Canaletto to paint landscapes for them.
Portrait of Canaletto
The Italian painter Canaletto was born in Venice on October 18, 1697. Coming from a family of artists, he began a career as a theatrical scene painter under the guidance of his father. However, he visited Rome as a teenager, thus expanding his artistic horizons. In Rome, he saw a style of art known as "veduta" or "view painting", which appeared in the 17th century with the intention of depicting in detail the cityscape and urban landmarks. Inspired by this, Canaletto also changed the genre of painting, moving from scene painting to capturing the daily life of the Venetians.
Venice in Canaletto's time was a cultural hotspot and a center for luxury crafts such as glassmaking. At the time, there were also artistic practitioners such as the composer Antonio Vivaldi and the Rococo painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Canaletto, The Regatta on the Grand Canal, Woburn Abbey
Known for his precise depiction of Venice, from the bustling traffic on the canals to lavish festivals, Canals, Cannareto's work showcases the city's diverse cultural life. Katherine Gazzard, art curator at the Royal Museum of Greenwich, said, "All of his characters are individualized and represent different classes. Venice was almost transformed into a theatrical city, with the Grand Canal as the stage and the architecture as the curtain. ”
Canaletto travels around the city, drawing pencil sketches before returning to the studio to create. Sometimes, he would draw the lines of the building with a ruler. In his Venetian landscape paintings, he manipulates details in order to paint attractive works. For example, he would move the positions of the church towers to make them a vista of the Grand Canal, or adjust the perspective to a higher point in the middle of the Grand Canal. It is precisely this paradoxical nature of his work that creates very detailed urban landscapes while subtly manipulating the scenes he depicts. Gazzard said: "On the one hand, Canaletto is committed to going deep into the city and documenting it accurately. However, he massages these details in a way that looks completely authentic to create an idealized perfect Venice. ”
Canaletto, Piazza San Marco, Woburn Abbey
The development of tourism became one of the main factors influencing Canaletto's artistic style. At the time, Venice was the main site of the so-called "aristocratic travels", aimed at the coming-of-age ceremonies of the British nobility, who learned classical culture and cultivated independence on their long journeys through Europe and beyond. In addition, another reason for Venice's appeal is the reputation for entertainment, such as casinos and drinking and meeting places.
Gazzard said: "At the heart of Canaletto's art market are British visitors who wish to buy souvenirs to cement their social position. Canaletto, in turn, tailors works for his clients. He began to change his artistic style in the 1720s, from uncertain brushstrokes and depictions of stormy skies to a definite painting style and clear skies. He also adopted a smaller size canvas to make it easier to roll up and transport it. ”
In 1731, Lord John Russell, then the fourth Duke of Bedford, commissioned Canaletto with 24 paintings of the Venetian landscape, the largest single order Canaletto received. Among the Venetian "souvenirs" that Canaletto created for him, all the local prominent landmarks are included, but also those that are not so grandiose: the walls of monasteries and monasteries block the view, the dilapidated palaces hide in the shade, and the blank ancient facades bake in the sun. White marble is rarely spotless and somewhat stained. These buildings are not dominant, but they are part of a patchwork of red and yellow, both reflected in the green water.
Canaleto, View of the Grand Canal, Woburn Abbey
Lord John Russell paid £188 for this, more than five times the annual income of skilled workers at the time. These detailed works eventually became the collection of Woburn Abbey in the United Kingdom, and also formed the core part of the special exhibition of the National Maritime Museum.
For art critic Jonathan Jones, Canaletto depicts not a city in its heyday, but a place that has experienced good times and is gradually losing its luster. Venice's golden age predates centuries, when it was conquering colonies such as Cyprus and Nafplio, and artists at the time included Giorgione and Titian. And Canaletto didn't hide this sense of decline, showing the decaying details of the Doge's Palace and catching a glimpse of unattended houses. In these paintings, the bustling scene of the city comes to mind: people wearing fluffy wigs walk outside, visit the crowded shops on the ground floor of the former palace, and in the square at the end of the building you can see the exquisite buildings turned gray, and the desolate slums.
Parts in Canaletto's work
Exhibition planners believe the paintings are an early insight into the problems facing Venice today, with the climate crisis and large-scale tourism posing the threat of flooding and gradually destroying the human ecosystem. The exhibition concludes with a video and interactive installation about Venice's recent floods, giving you an insight into how the worst floods in Venice's history have occurred over the past few years. Because for many years before that, Venice had not had a flood. In this regard, Jonathan Jones believes that it is a bit far-fetched to link Canaletto's Venice to the current Venice problems. He said the stately paintings had painted a picture of Venice heading for decline.
"The square now attracts a lot of tourists," the text on the wall reads. But because of this, these buildings are now better cared for. The rise of modern tourism is not a completely negative phenomenon. In the 1800s, architectural theorists such as John Ruskin began documenting every detail of medieval Venice architecture. As the restoration and clean-up of the palaces began, the palaces also avoided the situation of collapse.
Canaletto's Ascension Day on the Grand Canal
Without the rise of mass tourism, a visit to Venice would still be the prerogative of a few nobles such as the Duke of Bedford. Is this what we want to see? Jonathan Jones said Canaletto depicts a quiet Venice. "And the Venice depicted by modern writers, filmmakers and artists is a place of shadows and memories, a city of outrageous beauty, a city where dreams and reality are indistinguishable. You can find the same mystery in Canaletto's rationality and meticulousness. 24 Venetian landscape paintings are enough. Happily, the history of the city of Venice did not stop in 1731, but entered the modern era, where civilians can also go. Even if we did spoil the landscape. ”
Works by Canaletto
Garzad said Canaletto's work was portable and collectible, while his elite client base ensured that his work was disseminated across Europe. Although Venice today is far from the Venice of the 18th century, Canaletto's influence has always existed. "Canaletto remains synonymous with Venice, and he played a huge role in defining the visual image of the city."
The exhibition will be on view until 25 September.
(This article is synthesized from the official websites of The Guardian and the Royal Museum of Greenwich)