View of the Riva Degli Schiavoni - Venice by Canaletto

This exceptional painting is fully part of the prestigious Venetian vedutismo movement of the eighteenth century. Through this wide-ranging masterpiece provisionally titled “View of the Riva Degli Schiavoni - Venice”, the illustrious painter Canaletto immortalizes the bustling activity near the ducal monument of his native city. The work spectacularly illustrates the daily fervor and the splendor of this exceptional shoreline, attracting the admiring gaze of art collectors.

On the left, the Doge’s Palace raises its finely sculpted gothic facade, flanked by the famous stone-arch bridge. In the background, the rectilinear building of the civil prisons rises under a blue sky dotted with light clouds. In the foreground, numerous black gondolas slice through the very clear turquoise waters of Saint Mark’s Basin. Boatmen dressed in colorful jackets and traditional hats actively maneuver their long wooden oars. On the right, imposing merchant vessels are moored near the sunny quay where tiny silhouettes are busy working. The bright natural light illuminates the precious marbles and the shifting reflections of the lagoon.

The artist demonstrates here his incomparable genius for perspective drawing and the rendering of mineral textures. His refined oil technique realistically captures the polish of the stones and the transparency of the calm waters. It is a major work of his artistic production.