A263: A View of the Grand Canal towards the Rialto Bridge
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© The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
| Museum number | A263 |
| Title | A View of the Grand Canal towards the Rialto Bridge |
| Additional title | The Rialto |
| Object type | In category: Pictures » Painting |
| Date | Between 1720 and 1800 |
| People |
School of Canaletto (Italian painter, 1697-1768) - Painter(s) Previously attributed to Italian (Venetian School) - Painter(s) |
| Place of origin | Europe » Southern Europe » Italy » Northern Italy » Veneto » Venice |
| Condition |
Fair |
| Dimensions |
60.5 cm height image 99.4 cm width image 86.5 cm height frame 124.5 cm width frame |
| Materials & techniques |
In categories: Pictures: Medium » Paint » Oil paint Pictures: Support » Canvas |
| Description |
Landscape view of Grand Canal in Venice. In the middle ground, the Rialto bridge. In the foreground, a gondola with canopy moving towards the right and a larger vessel with sails moving towards the left bank. Stationary boats to either side, with two further ferries towards bridge. On the right bank, two figures: a gentleman in red cloak and a boatman in blue shirt. They stand close to the arched portico of a palazzo with arched windows on three stories and blue and white striped awnings at the windows. In the distance behind the bridge, the canal curves away to the left. Blue sky with light clouds. In a carved and gilded frame. |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Subject |
Townscape |
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| Notes | A view of Rialto Bridge in Venice looking northwards along the Grand Canal from the Riva del Carbon. The building with arched windows and striped blinds on the right is the Palazzo Dolfin-Manin. The Fondaco de Tedeschi, a great warehouse, rises behind the bridge on the same side of the canal. Across the canal can be seen the Fondamenta del Vin, the wharf for the Rialto area. This is a very accurate and literal depiction of the view, perhaps made using a camera obscura, as favoured by Canaletto. There were several Venetian artists ('vedutisti') painting such views ('vedute') in the eighteenth century, and the market among visitors to the city was very profitable. Of the major Venetian vedutisti, this work is closest in style to Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (1697-1768) and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1820). However, this particular view does not agree exactly with any of Canaletto's or Bellotto's known paintings or studies of this area, so cannot be a direct copy. Presumably it is an original work by one of Canaletto's followers. A similar but not identical view of the Rialto Bridge, by Canaletto himself, is in the Wallace Collection Previous attributions: Holburne catalogue 1867: ‘Canaletti’ – Hall & Staircase Holburne catalogue 1887: ‘Canaletti’ Moeckler 1902: ‘after Canaletto’ Horace Buttery 1906: ‘not genuine, a picture made for tourists’ Blaker, pre 1913: ‘Venetian School 18th c.’ A Register 1919: ‘Venetian School’ Holburne catalogue 1927: ‘School of Canaletto’ Holburne catalogue 1936: ‘School of Canaletto’ Martin: ‘School of Canaletto’ Tanner: ‘early Guardi’ |
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| Literature |
C. Wright, Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976, p. 106 The Holburne of Menstrie Museum Catalogue: Part I: Pictures, Bath, 1936, no. 155 |
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| Muse theme | The Art of Collecting |
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| Muse chapter |
The History of the Holburne Collection » Sir William Holburne and his Collection » Establishing taste: Sir William' s Grand Tour, 1824-5
Oil paintings in the Holburne Museum |
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| Places associated with the object |
Europe » Southern Europe » Italy » Northern Italy » Veneto » Venice
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| Method of acquisition | Bequest | ||||||
| Provenance | Sir T. W. Holburne (1793-1874); by whom bequeathed to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882); by whom bequeathed to the Museum |
