Grand Canal: The Rialto Bridge from the South (Primary Title)
Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, Italian, 1697 - 1768 (Artist)
The Ponte del Rialto spans Venice’s Grand Canal to connect the city’s major financial and commercial districts. When Canaletto painted this remarkable view of the arcaded stone footbridge, the tax authority occupied the prominent building on the left. The inns and warehouses behind the bridge on the other side of the canal primarily served Venice’s many German trading partners.
To achieve the perspective of wharves and buildings receding toward the bend in the canal with utmost precision, Canaletto employed a camera ottica. This device frames a view that is transmitted through a lens onto a screen of ground glass; the projected image can then be used as a basis for sketches and paintings. The artist’s highly mechanical draftsmanship, which largely relied on ruler and compass, was undoubtedly informed by his earlier career as a stage designer in Rome. The grand bridge that dominates this composition also serves as a backdrop for the bustle of the Venetian crowd and gives viewers a glimpse at this everyday feature of urban life.
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