“My uncle did the Grand Tour and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
No one actually wore that, since the custom of printing slogans on clothing didn’t exist in the 18th century. Besides, for the individuals who went on the Grand Tour, coming home with reasonably priced mementos would be considered disgraceful.
After completing their formal education, young aristocrats went off to see the sights of the European continent, a journey that could last from several months to several years. The general goals of the Grand Tour were to get a closeup look at the cultural treasures of western civilization, improve language skills, make contact with fashionable society in other countries, and spend a big chunk of one’s inheritance.
Grand Tourists eventually went home with trunks full of books, ancient coins, furniture and artwork. Among the most prized souvenirs of the Grand Tour were paintings of Venice by an artist known as Canaletto.
His real name was Giovanni Antonio Canal, which is fitting for a man born and raised in Venice, a city famous for its canals. You might say Canaletto painted portraits of places: the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s, the Rialto and other landmarks of Venice.
There was a lot of architectural detail in his scenes, but his paintings were more than just giant postcards. Canaletto had an eye for cloud textures, too, and the effects of shadows and daylight. As an art dealer in 1725 said of his work, “you can see the sun shining in it.”
Demand for Canaletto’s work grew quickly, and he did his best to accommodate it. At that point he didn’t have any real competitors, which may have been a factor in his reputation for being difficult. A patron named Owen MacSwinney wrote in 1727 that anyone who wanted to commission a painting by Canaletto “must not seem to be too fond of it, for he’l (sic) be ye worse treated for it, both in the price and the painting too.”
Canaletto may have had to adjust his prices downward in 1740, because the Grand Tourists abruptly stopped coming. Something called the War of the Austrian Succession had most European countries fighting on one side or the other. The rich guys thought it prudent to confine their touring to the manicured grounds of their own estates.
By 1746, Canaletto succumbed to a suggestion by a British consular official that, since the buyers weren’t coming to Venice, he should go to them. Canaletto stayed in England for ten years, cranking out paintings of bridges and buildings and grand houses. In general, these works aren’t as admired as his Venetian views, partly because an artist whose strength is painting the effects of sunlight might be hampered by the comparative absence of sunlight in England.
Upon his return to Venice Canaletto continued painting his favorite subject until his death in 1768. By then he had inspired other artists to adopt his style, notably Francesco Guardi, who presumably made a nice living when the Grand Tourists returned.
Canaletto sold well over 500 paintings in his lifetime. King George III of England bought a bunch of them in 1762; the Royal Collection has over 50 paintings and 140 drawings, making it the greatest collection of Canalettos in the world.
My travel souvenirs do not include any Canalettos, but I do have a pretty nice collection of coffee mugs from airport gift shops. What treasures have you brought home from your “Grand Tour”?