Antonio Kanaletto “View of the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basin”

[Anatol]

In Venice of the 18th century, veduta, that is, images of city views, were popular. This tradition originated in the art of the 15th century artists Gentile Bellini and Vittore Carpaccio. But if for them both the person and the city were equivalent, then for the masters of the Venetian lead, the city becomes the main thing.
One of the best representatives of this genre is Canaletto. He liked to draw a huge space, where Venice fit between water and sky, and often depicted the lagoon, the Cathedral of San Marco, the Doge's Palace. The buildings in this picture are reflected in the water and "look" at the sky. If another master of the lead, Francesco Guardi, in the canvases everything seems to be saturated with the moisture of the canals and the nearby sea, then Canaletto's three elements - water, earth and air - are equivalent.
His land is not a shaky strip at the edge of the waters, the architecture looks solemnly revealing itself, and everything is united by the golden light pouring from the sky onto the blessed land of the Serenissima - the "Shiniest", as Venice is called.
Guinea-Bissau 2003; 450FCFA.
San Marino 1971;200L; SG909.
Source: https://paintingplanet.ru/vid-na-dvorec ... kanaletto/.