Audio Stop 213

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Dozens of men with several women and a few children gather in pairs or small groups across a sun-drenched plaza in front of a domed church next to a long, pale pink building in this horizontal painting. The people’s faces and hands we can see have pale, peachy skin. The men wear hats and shin-length capes or jackets over stockings in tones of charcoal gray, olive green, butterscotch yellow, black, and brown. The women wear black capes covering their heads and long, full skirts. The ash-brown plaza has two zones where geometric patterns are picked out in a lighter, oatmeal brown. Three coral-red flagpoles are spaced along the center of the plaza parallel to the two buildings. Each flagpole rests on an olive-green base about a third of the height of the pole. Tables under open umbrellas clustered around the outer two flagpoles display piles of cloth, and a few people gather around the wares. The domed building extends into the scene from the left edge of the painting, and reaches about a third of the way across as it angles away from us. It has a central portal with nested arches, flanked to each side by a pair of slightly smaller, arched portals. Scenes against gold backgrounds appear in the archway of each of the five doors. There is a second level of arches above. The smaller arches to either side are decorated with more scenes of people against gold backgrounds. Four gold horses stand atop the central, lower arch, each with one front and one back hoof raised. The arch behind them is dim, the back side of a stained-glass window. The stone of the arches and front of the building are light brown. The upper arches are lined with pale, slate-gray spires and curling tracery. The three-story pink building sits close by to our right, extending into the distance on the same angle as the church, and as tall as its neighbor. The lowest level is a series of open, pointed arches. The second level is also a row of arches, but more closely spaced. People walk and stand under both covered walkways. The top half of the building has a carnation-pink façade with seven windows evenly spaced across its width. The central window is surrounded by carved stone ornament. Along the right edge of the painting and closer to us than the large buildings is the corner of a two-story building. The lower level is in shadow under a sloping awning, creating a merchant’s stall, and the second level has a rounded, arched window. One person stands at the front corner of the roof and looks down into the square. In the narrow gap between the row of buildings to our left and the smaller structure to our right is a winged lion atop a tall column. Beyond that is sparkling blue water with several masted ships and long, narrow gondolas. The sky above has thin white clouds against a pale blue sky. The artist signed the lower left, “A.C.F.”

Canaletto

The Square of Saint Mark's, Venice, 1742/1744

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 31

Photographer Sam Youkilis and curator and head of Italian and Spanish paintings Eve Straussman-Pflanzer explore Canaletto’s monumental depiction of 18th-century Venice and how it compares to the present day.

Read full audio transcript

NARRATOR:
This painting shows us two of the most famous buildings in Venice - St Mark’s Basilica and the pink-colored Ducal Palace. Nearby, people examine some of the city’s renowned textiles at the little stalls. The painting was made around 1744 by Canaletto, artist of view paintings. His paintings were often commissioned as souvenirs by wealthy young British men on a European “Grand Tour”. Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, curator and head of Italian and Spanish Paintings.

EVE STRAUSSMAN-PFLANZER:
They would often collect works of art - older works of art including Greek and Roman sculpture, pictures from an earlier time period such as the Renaissance. But they would also commission works from contemporary artists such as Canaletto.

NARRATOR:
Canaletto’s views functioned as reminders of the architectural wonders and social pleasures of Venice (like canals and gondolas) once the purchasers were back home in cool, cloudy Britain. These paintings also gave those who’d never visited Venice a glimpse of its appearance and atmosphere. And Canaletto often included slightly more than the eye could see in person from a particular viewpoint, making it even richer in setting and detail.

Of course, today a quick internet search provides an infinite number of images of Venice. While travel mementos have shifted over time from paintings and souvenir postcards to photographs captured by personal cameras and now phones, the subjects of these mementos remain the same sites that capture the heart and soul of Venice.

SAM YOUKILIS:
I’m Sam Youkilis, I'm a photographer from New York City and I'm currently working between Italy and New York.”

Venice in particular I think is so interesting because it's one of the most frequented places by tourists and one of the most photographed and storied places in Italy, and probably the world.

NARRATOR:
As a travel photographer, Sam is always searching for new, different, and unexpected ways to capture the sites of Venice.

SAM YOUKILIS:
It's kind of lovely to see these beautiful stalls and vendors. I remember quite vividly a couple of weeks ago walking into this square, and it's just like café after café with the same chairs, the same beautifully dressed servers all the way at the end of this crazy extension of an outdoor café, with menus, speaking every language at everyone who walks by, trying to get people to sit down.

And I think that form of presentation to visitors is so, so, so, different from this one, which feels way more quiet, way more beautiful, and actually reflective of Venice and a place.

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