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We look slightly down onto a port-side town along a canal, with a church across the water from us in this horizontal landscape painting. A bright blue sky with billowing white, pink, and gray clouds fills the top two-thirds of the painting. Below, a three-masted ship with all but one sail furled is surrounded by a couple dozen black long, low boats, gondolas, and one or two other sailboats. People stand and walk mostly in pairs and trios along the stone walkway under us, which extends into the distance to our right. The women all wear long dresses and most of the men wear suits with knee-length jackets with tails or capes, and hats. The clothing is painted in shades of brick and terracotta red, pine green, royal blue, and gray. The walkway is interrupted by two low walls that partition off an area near us. The angled roofs of stalls line the walkway in the farther distance before it is again interrupted, this time by a two-story, cream-colored building. The walkway continues as a narrower path under an arched arcade on the lower level of that building, alongside the water. On the far side of the canal, to our left and in the distance, a cluster of ivory-white buildings includes a structure with two stone-blue domes. More buildings extend into the deep distance to our left.

Canaletto

Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Molo, Venice, 1742/1744

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 31

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 114.5 x 153.5 cm (45 1/16 x 60 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Barbara Hutton

Accession Number

1945.15.4

Artists / Makers

Canaletto (artist) Venetian, 1697 - 1768

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

The most avid customers for Canaletto's views of Venice were the English gentlemen who flocked to the city as tourists during the eighteenth century. The buyer of the Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Molo, Venice (and its pendant, The Square of Saint Mark's, Venice, also in the National Gallery) was, in fact, the Earl of Carlisle, who incorporated them into the decor of his country house, Castle Howard.

It was Canaletto's loving transcription, detail by detail, of his native city that made his paintings so popular: each view vividly calls to mind a particular time and place. Here it is morning activity on the quay near St. Mark's Square that Canaletto recreated with such specificity. Groups of people idle along the landing dock while a fishmonger shows the day's catch of eels to a bewigged pair of gentlemen. Gondolas and ocean-going vessels ply the waterways. Canaletto conveyed the sunlight that drenches Venice in fair weather, sparkling off the canals and revealing fine-etched details of the tiles on distant rooftops or the bricks beneath peeling stucco. Across the lagoon toward the Island of San Giorgio appear (left) the domed church of the Redentore by the sixteenth-century architect Palladio, the double domed church of Santa Maria della Salute, designed by Longhena in the seventeenth century, and (center) the Customs House.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/italian-paintings-17th-and-18th-centuries.pdf

Inscription

on cartellino on stone wall at lower left: A.C.F. (Antonio Canal Fecit); on reverse of lining canvas: Bought of Lord Carlisle / 1825 Gower

Provenance

Probably Henry Howard, 4th earl of Carlisle [1694-1758], or Frederick, 5th earl of Carlisle [1748-1825], Castle Howard, Yorkshire;[1] by descent to Hon. Geoffrey William Howard [1877-1935], Castle Howard, Yorkshire; sold 1938 by the Trustees of Geoffrey Howard to Barbara Hutton, the countess Hangwitz Reventlow [1912-1979], Winfield House, London;[2] gift 1945 to NGA.

[1] The date of acquisition of the group of paintings by Canaletto at Castle Howard is uncertain. Although the greatest part of the picture collection appears to have been brought together by Frederick, 5th earl of Carlisle (1748-1825), who traveled in Italy in 1768, it is almost certain that the Canalettos were acquired by his father, the 4th earl. Some of these were certainly at Castle Howard by 1745, where they were seen by Lady Oxford in an account of her journey in that year through northern England into Scotland: "April 27, Saturday. Set out from York for Castle Howard, the seat of the Earl of Carlisle . . . in the drawing-room . . . are several views of Venice by Canaletti lately put up there" (Finberg, Hilda F., "Canaletto in England," The Walpole Society 9 (1920-1921): 25). The probate inventory taken in 1758 (Castle Howard Archives F4/1) includes several references to "views of Venice," including eighteen in the "Blue Coffoy Drawing Room." Moreover, the 5th earl does not record any Canalettos in his list of works of art bought by himself, but does include "between 30 & 40 views of Venice small" and "10 views of Venice Canaletti" in his list of "the best pictures at Castle Howard not purchased by me" (Castle Howard Archives J14/30/2; information from Eeyan Hartley, Keeper of Archives, letter of 7 December 1993). The standard eighteenth- and nineteenth-century descriptions of the Castle Howard paintings collection specify few individual pictures by Canaletto: Neale 1818-1823, 5: n.p., Castle Howard, Yorkshire: "Eighteen fine views.-Canaletti"; Waagen, Gustav Friedrich, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols., London, 1854: 3: 323-324, no. 69: "'A large view of Venice [The Bacino di San Marco (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)]. In every respect one of the best works of the master, whose extraordinary merit can only be appreciated in England.' Nos. 71 88, 'Pictures by Canaletto, some of them very excellent.'" Henry Howard, 4th earl of Carlisle, made his second visit to Italy in 1738-1739 and was said by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to have been in Venice in November 1738 (Halsband, Robert, ed., The Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 3 vols., Oxford, 1965-1967: 1: 127, 148-149). The family tradition is that the paintings were acquired from Canaletto himself by the 4th earl of Carlisle (undated letter in NGA curatorial files from the 12th and present earl of Carlisle, Naworth Castle, Brampton, Cumbria). According to Browning (Browning, H. Ellen, "The Canaletto Collection at Castle Howard", Art Journal 68 (1905): 340) there were, in 1905, four large and nine smaller views by Canaletto in the "Canaletto Room" at Castle Howard, as well as eleven smaller works by Marieschi. Three more "hanging in the music-room and one in Lady Carlisle's drawing-room" were evidently large pictures by Canaletto. A curious note on the early provenance of the National Gallery's paintings is provided by the inscription ("Bought of Lord Carlisle/ 1825 Gower") on the reverse of the lining canvas of 1945.15.4, suggesting that the painting was sold by the 5th earl in 1825. (George Granville, baron Gower [1758-1833], became 2d marquess of Stafford in 1803 and 1st duke of Sutherland in 1833. He was one of the syndicate of three, together with his uncle the duke of Bridgewater and the 5th earl of Carlisle, involved with the importation of the Italian pictures from the Orléans collection in France in 1797-1798). The 5th earl died in 1825, so it may be that his son, George, 6th earl of Carlisle (1773-1848) sold the painting after his father's death to assist with the usual financial problems connected with probate. As Eeyan Hartley points out (letter of 7 December 1993 in NGA curatorial files), "This leaves the puzzle as to when the painting was returned to the Castle Howard collection." Constable, W. G., Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, 2nd ed. revised by J. G. Links, 2 vols., Oxford, 1989: 2:nos. 40, 50, 85 [b], 154, 131, 171, 236, 334, discusses eight of the Castle Howard paintings as by Canaletto or his studio. Links, J. G., Canaletto, Oxford, 1982: 83-84, noting the uneven quality of the Castle Howard Canalettos, most of which were sold in the late 1930s or destroyed by fire in 1940, suggested that the 4th earl of Carlisle may have employed an agent other than Joseph Smith for his acquisition of paintings by the artist. "Such an agent may well have had his own sources for view paintings, but he or Lord Carlisle must have gone to Canaletto for three pictures of the collection": the Washington paintings, signed with the artist's initials, an unheard-of-practice before the 1740s, and the Boston view of the Bacino di San Marco from the Dogana, one of the artist's masterpieces.

[2] Information from the archival house lists of the collections, Castle Howard. For a resumé of the paintings formerly at Castle Howard, see Constable and Links 1989, 2: 203, and note 1. The Bacino di San Marco (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) was acquired in 1939 from Castle Howard through the intermediation of Captain J. Spink, London, who may also have been involved with the sale of the other paintings (information from the Museum of Fine Arts curatorial files).

Associated Names

Howard, 4th earl of Carlisle, Henry
Howard, 5th earl of Carlisle, Frederick
Howard, Geoffrey William Algernon, The Hon.
Hutton, Barbara, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1929: Catalogue of Oil Paintings & Drawings by Antonio Canal, The Magnasco Society, Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1929, no. 9.

2005: Canaletto: Il trionfo della veduta, Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, 2005, no. 49, repro.

2010: Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 27, repro. (shown only in Washington).

Technical Summary

The support is a coarse, loosely woven plain-weave fabric with some irregular threads. The ground is a moderately thick orange-yellow layer. No incised lines or compass holes are discernible. The sky (visible beneath the dome of Santa Maria della Salute) preceded the architecture, which in turn was painted before the figures and details such as the foreground pilings and the boats. The paint was applied smoothly in a paste consistency, with texture evident mainly in the whites and light colors. The final linear elements of brickwork were made with fluid paint drawn with a very fine brush over the completed underlying forms. X-radiographs and surface texture reveal several changes of contour: these include a shift of the dome of the Redentore to the right; a reduction in size of the second, smaller dome of Santa Maria della Salute; and a reduction in the size of its belltower. Minor changes were also made in the roofline and chimney of the Seminario Patriarchale to the right of the Dogana.

The original tacking margins are intact. There is a large vertical loss at the center of the painting extending through the cupola of the Dogana to the ornamental wood extension of the masonry wall in the foreground. The area of damage corresponds to a similar loss in the companion painting; the paintings were face to face when the damage occurred. (Confirmation is provided by the fact that traces of the flagpole in the companion picture were discovered adhering to the surface of the present painting.) There is generally heavy abrasion in the paint layer throughout the upper half of the sky. Faint indications of the statue of Fortune atop the Dogana were strengthened to reconstruct the statue during inpainting. The painting was treated by Michael Swicklik in 1993.

Bibliography

1878: Duthie, John. Manuscript catalogue of the pictures at Castle Howard. 2 vols. [Pictures arranged numerically.] Castle Howard Archives H2/1/11-12, 1878: no. 63.

1880: Duthie, John. Manuscript catalogue of the pictures at Castle Howard. 2 vols. [Pictures arranged numerically; superseded 1878 catalogue.] Castle Howard Archives H2/I/13-14, 1880: no. 57.

1905: Browning, H. Ellen. "The Canaletto Collection at Castle Howard." Art Journal 68 (1905): 343-344, repro. 344.

1918: Carlisle, Rosalind, 9th countess of. Manuscript catalogue of pictures at Castle Howard. Castle Howard Archives H2/I/28, 21, 1918: no. 57.

1926: Jones, Leif. Manuscript catalogue of pictures at Castle Howard. 2 vols. [Follows numbering system used in 1880 and 1918.] Castle Howard Archives H2/I/37-38, 1926.

1929: Constable, W. G. "Canaletto at the Magnasco Society." The Burlington Magazine 55 (July): 46.

1935: Estate Duty Office File. List of Pictures. Castle Howard Archives F10/74, 2, 1935: no. 57.

1954: Moschini, Vittorio. Canaletto. Milan, 1954: 30, fig. 147.

1960: Pallucchini 1960, 108, fig. 283.

1962: Constable, William George. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2 vols. Oxford, 1962: 1:pl. 35; 2:248, no. 154.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 22.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 15, repro.

1968: Puppi, Lionello. The Complete Paintings of Canaletto. Milan, 1968: 103, repro., no. 142A.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 43, as by School of Canaletto.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 52, repro.

1976: Constable and Links 1976, 1:pl. 35; 2:260, no. 154.

1976: Pignatti, Terisio. Antionio Canal detto Il Canaletto. Milan, 1976: 197-198, pl. 73.

1977: Links, J. G. Canaletto and His Patrons. London, 1977: 42, pl. 60.

1978: King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 60-61, pl. 34, as Venice, the Quay of the Piazzetta

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:103, no. 887; 2:pl. 70, as Venice, The Quay of the Piazzetta.

1982: Links, J. G. Canaletto. Oxford, 1982: 83-84, pl. 76.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 348, no. 481, color repro., as Venice, the Quay of the Piazzetta.

1985: Corboz, André. Canaletto: Una Venezia immaginaria. Catalogue compiled by Anna Tortorelo. 2 vols. Milan, 1985: 2:636, repro., no. P 250.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 72, repro., as Venice, the Quay of the Piazzetta.

1989: Constable, W. G. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2d edition revised by J. G. Links, reissued with supplement and additional plates. 2 vols. Oxford, 1989: 1:pl. 35; 2:260, no. 154.

1992: Cornforth, John. "Castle Howard, Yorkshire." Country Life 186 (4 June 1992): fig. 9.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 115, repro.

1995: National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of A rt, Washington, Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.,1995: 114, repro.

1995: Varriano, John. "Venice and Rome: Canaletto, Piranesi, and the Italian Veduta." In Two Views of Italy: Master Prints by Canaletto and Piranesi. Exh. cat. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1995: 31, fig. 10.

1996: De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 24-31, color repro. 27.