Born in 1697, Canaletto was an Italian painter of ‘city views’ in Venice, who painted canal landscapes with frightening accuracy, even down to the ‘seasonal submerging of Venice in water and ice’. Alongside his talent for ‘accurate city depictions’ Canaletto also shared a passion for teaching his pupils how to not only paint but also explore the cities that they lived in through the medium of ‘art’. While Canaletto’s art pieces were painted in the style of Rococo-an interior led painting technique that concentrates on ‘large scale decorative paintings’- modern critics believe that his paintings became a precedent for later, impressionist works like Claude Monet’s Haystacks Sunset (1890-1891).
Impressionist paintings are largely characterized by ‘radicalism’; they painted outside in the open to capture the transience of sunlight and used short “broken” brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour, to offer a new ‘perspective of seeing’, where movement became more ‘dynamic and varied’. But how was impressionism influenced by the rococo technique that Canaletto employed? Well, although his later lesser known paintings like ‘English Landscape Capriccio With A Palace’ (1754) were painted in a studio, using a ‘camera obscura’ (pinhole image), his earlier works were painted using ‘open air’ with nature, setting a pre-cursor for the impressionist radicalism movement. Overall Canaletto was a pioneer of ‘city views’ and was popular in England for his large-scale landscapes which portrayed Venice’s pageantry and waning traditions, making innovative use of atmospheric effects and strong local colours.
But how did Canaletto become more popular in the UK than he ever was in his home city of Venice and why did his reputation wane after he moved to England in 1746-1755? Put simply, Canaletto A. had an agent/ merchant Joseph Smith who sold many of Canaletto’s art to his fellow Englishmen and B. while he moved to London to be closer to his target market and demographic after a setback in his own state, the Englishmen found that the painter was unable to replicate the choreographed fluidity of his Venice ‘city views’, leaving his reputation in tatters. From working his way from the bottom to the top and finding that the wheel of fortune had reversed his fortunes once more, it is clear that Canaletto’s personal life is often as colourful as his very own paintings. Which is why naturally as an art enthusiast, I was drawn to his exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery titled ‘Canaletto & The Art Of Venice’, chronicling art works by his contemporaries, an exclusive look at unfinished sketches and an entire room dedicated to breathtaking large scale paintings like The Bacino di San Marco on Ascension Day. Coupled with a Four Course meal from Latrium, (found through Buyagift), me and my Cousin (who was visiting from Paris) set off on an artistic adventure…
Located just off Buckingham Palace Square, The Queens Gallery is a public art collection that features ‘exhibitions’ that rotate on a seasonable basis, which just so happened to spotlight the much derided yet nevertheless popular Venetian artist Canaletto. While works from his contemporaries like Marco Ricci’s Poussinesque landscapes wean you into the exhibition, ultimately it is Canaletto’s paintings that draw your attention throughout the exhibition. There is the infamous paintings series like ‘The Grand Canal Series’ painted over a series of ten years and one of the principal commissions Canaletto painted for Joseph Smith. But then there are his lesser known works like ‘The Rialto Bridge; and The Doge’s Palace, Venice’ which although in modern contemporaries eyes is ‘visually stunning’ , according to Canalettogallery.org, is one of the least popular paintings, out of the 600 that he had created during his lifetime.Despite his status as a painter, it turns out that unknown to me prior to the exhibition, he was also a talented draughtsman, using an ‘etching technique’ from his early printing days which allowed him to create preparatory drawings of city views. Some of his sketches included ‘Drawings of the Grand Canal’ which premeditated his popular ‘Grand Canal Series’ collected by his agent and merchant Joseph Smith versus lesser known preparatory drawings like The island of Sant’Elena.
While it was interesting to look back at his pre-fame sketches and witness his evolution into pre-impressionistic paintings, the grand attraction of the exhibition was of course the ‘Grand Canal ‘ Paintings, which were later sold to King George III in 1762, from Joseph Smith’s large personal collection. And speaking of Joseph Smith, in order to understand how Canaletto’s ‘Grand Canal Series’ came about , we must first delve into Smith’s role in a large scale curation of Canaletto’s works in England. While we know that Canaletto moving nearer to his target market in 1746, proved to be the worst decision he could have made for his career,we need to comprehend on a more positive note how his partnership with Joseph Smith made him popular among the Englishmen and royals who admired his ability to ‘manipulate city view scenarios’. Smith, was not only a patron of arts but also a ‘Consul of Venice’, banker to the British community at Venice and a major draw on the British Grand Tour. Before he ‘met Canaletto’, Smith had influence among the British community in Venice and many ‘wealthy upper class’ or lower class men and women (with sponsors and chaperones for the latter’ would come through Venice as an ‘educational rite of passage’ mediated by their ‘Grand Tour’. Naturally Smith, who began collecting in 1700 when he was just 18, saw a potential to tap into a ‘commercial market’ for his patronages, in particular Canaletto.
Smith’s display of Canaletto works during the British Grand Tour, helped his patrons popularity as an artist spread, whose English followers loved how he could paint imaginary views yet somehow capture the spirit of the city he was painting. Naturally, the English devotees wanted Canaletto to capture their beloved England in the same light, which is when he moved to England but we all know what happened there. But that doesn’t explain how the ‘Grand Canal Series’ came about; truthfully very little-other than it being commisioned by Joseph Smith- is known about why The Grand Canal Series were created but one would imagine, that as a ‘successful view’ painter, painting the canals from different vantage points and angles were all part of Canaletto’s natural artistic progression. You could furthermore argue that as he had a large English target market, he knew that the aristocrats who brought his paintings, would be attracted to the rich jewel colours of the Venetian city jewels and how its lavish grandeur reminded them of their ‘aristocratic heritage’, thus making them want to buy paintings that appeared to be as ‘rich as they were’. After all dropping a cool 18.6 Million on a painting, would be more than most of would earn in a lifetime but for the rich 1 % art reflected their power and monetary wealth. One might call it peacocking but it certainly worked in Canaletto’s favour.
While there are other paintings in Canaletto’s art portfolio, none were as attention grabbing as the Grand Canal Series, which had an entire room dedicated to all 12 views and rightly so. The rich jewel tones contrasted with the pre-camera obscura- pre impressionistic brush strokes, portrayed the tightly controlled talent of the man behind the paintings. Although his reputation never recovered after his trip to England, where he was accused of being a ‘fraud’ for lacking the smooth finesse of his Venetian city views, Canaletto still painted and sketched until his death in 1768, where the majority of his collection was passed onto Joseph Smith, who in turn passed along the remainder of his personal collection to King George III, before his death in 1770. Overall, the Canaletto exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery was an enlightening experience and showed us an intimate outlook into both his earlier and later works, spotlighting paintings and preparatory paintings that had previously been lesser known. Available until November, this is a must see collection for fellow art enthusiasts. To finish our educational art experience we settled in for dinner at Latrium, but more on that restaurant review next time…
Have You Ever Been To An Art Exhibition Before?
Please note I was given a 4 course meal and visit for two to The Queens Gallery via Buyagift. All research is my own.