Venice, c. 1743. The sun rises over the Grand Canal. Bernardo Bellotto sets up his easel and captures the city in all its morning splendour.
Light as Revealer
The raking light from the east strikes the Palazzo Pisani-Gritti, revealing every arched window, every worn stone. To the left, a small Venetian devotional box hangs on the wall — discreet, intimate. Look at the canal: its grey-green waters reflect the Baroque dome of Santa Maria della Salute. The Dogana and its gleaming copper globe shimmer at the centre. Gondolas glide and cut through the water. Bellotto paints in oil on canvas with near-photographic precision, playing on contrasts of light and shadow to sculpt space.
A Veduta for Grand Tour Travellers
Why does this painting exist? To appeal to European aristocrats on their initiatory journey through Italy. The Grand Tour was by then an institution, and Venice its unmissable highlight. These vedute — topographical urban views — served as prestigious souvenirs. Bellotto and his uncle Canaletto fed this flourishing market. To acquire such a canvas was to assert one’s cultural refinement. The Venetian society depicted here — merchants, gondoliers, onlookers — is no mere backdrop. This is Venice alive: commercial, devout, on the eve of the Serenissima’s decline.
Bernardo Bellotto
Bernardo Bellotto (1721–1780), nephew and pupil of Canaletto, had mastered the veduta by his twenties with unrivalled architectural rigour. His cool, almost geometric eye sets him apart from his uncle. This painting illustrates his talent at its peak.
Think about it
💭 If you could step into a gondola and cross this canal frozen in paint, toward which shore would you head?
About this work
- View of the Grand Canal: Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana from Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo
- Bernardo Bellotto
- c. 1743
- Oil on canvas
- 139.1 × 236.9 cm
- J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RJP
