110 · 4 · Antonio Canal The Grand Canal Seen from Palazzo Balbi c. 1725/26 Oil on canvas, 148.5 × 195.9 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. no. 52/105 First mentioned in inventory of 1754 Literature: Constable 1989, vol. 2, pp. 297– 300; exh. cat. Dresden 2008, p. 74, no. 5; exh. cat. Munich/Groningen/Vienna 2014/15, pp. 66f., no. 13. · 5 · Antonio Canal The Grand Canal Near the Rialto Bridge Looking North c. 1725/26 Oil on canvas, 149.9 × 198 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. no. 52/20 First mentioned in inventory of 1754 These two views of Venice are among the early works of Antonio Canal. They were conceived as a pair, as indicated by the nearly indistinguishable formats, identical dimensions, and views across the water. In both, moreover, Canal chose the Rialto Bridge – at that time the only structure that spanned the Canal Grande – as a point of reference. The first view looks northeast along the central waterway towards the bridge, which spans the canal as the vanishing point in the view. The other looks northwest, now with the Rialto Bridge situated behind the spectator. With meticulous care, Canaletto renders the facades of the palazzi, which he probably studied with the assistance of a camera obscura. He exploits the shadows formed by the slanting sunlight to elaborate the architecture in a sculptural fashion. Both images offer a glimpse of everyday life in Venice. And in both, details are shaped into vignettes designed to characterise contemporary life in the city: set on the Grand Canal in each, for example, is a canopied barque with an elegantly clad, festive group of merrymakers, and each features a gondola bearing familiar figures from the commedia dell’arte: Pulcinella holds a swaddled child high up in the air, threatening to toss it into the water, while Colombina raises an oar threateningly. Both paintings receive their first mention in Dresden in the inventory of paintings compiled in 1754, but initially remained in the gallery “reserves,” like many other views by Italian and German artists. They were originally envisioned, presumably, for a separate gallery of contemporary art. They were later displayed in Schloss Pillnitz, as well as in the Residenzschloss in Dresden. They only officially entered the collection of the Dresden Gemäldegalerie in 1952. RE Literature: Constable 1989, vol. 2, pp. 297– 300; exh. cat. Dresden 2008, p. 75, no. 6; exh. cat. Munich/Groningen/Vienna 2014/15, pp. 66f., no. 14. · 6 · Antonio Canal The Grand Canal in Venice 1722/23 Oil on canvas, 65.5 × 97.5 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. 586 Acquired 1741 fromWallenstein collection in Dux (Duchcov) · 7 · Antonio Canal At the Mouth of the Grand Canal in Venice 1722/23 Oil on canvas, 65 × 98 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. 585 Acquired 1741 fromWallenstein collection in Dux (Duchcov) These views are two of the earliest surviving vedute by Antonio Canal, and were repeated a number of times in various formats. Here too, as so often in his oeuvre, pendant works are closely related topographically: both paintings show views looking east across the Grand Canal (a central motif for this artist that also coincidentally contains his name), a setting for lively nautical traffic. The standpoints differ: in the first painting, the artist’s point of view is from the Campo San Vio, east of the Accademia; visible behind the palazzi on the right is a cupola of Santa Maria della Salute and the tower of the Dogana customs house. The other image brings us closer to the Salute, situated prominently near the mouth of the Grand Canal. Visible on the left-hand side is the Bacino di San Marco, with the Doge’s Palace. Conservation treatments carried out on both pictures in 2007 once again brought to light the freely executed impasto brushwork, pronounced light-dark contrasts, and delicate play of colours in the passages of the sky. Behind the Palazzo Barbarigo on the Campo San Vio, whose lateral facade, showing two open windows, still looks the same today, is a small three-story palace, the Ca’ Biondetti, then occupied by Rosalba Carriera and her family. It is not clearly identifiable in the painting. Construction of the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, immediately adjacent (now home to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection), only commenced in the second half of the 18th century, and was never completed. RE Literature: Exh. cat. Venice 2001, no. 46, 47.
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