Review by Damaris Albarran, PSAD Friends committee member and trustee.
Canaletto’s Venice Not Just the Pretty Picture, a talk by Nick Ross
Our AGM on 31st January was followed by Nick Ross’s entertaining talk about Venice and Canaletto. The son of a painter of stage sets, Canale senior, Canaletto (1697-1768) at first painted large Venetian cityscapes. The constant challenge was to pick a viewpoint, the disadvantage of painting on or near the sea being that the landscape is unavoidably flat. Canaletto became increasingly creative, picking different viewpoints and tracing outlines of Venetian buildings using a camera obscura. (What he really needed was arguably a drone!) Before long he was doing what can only be described as churning out vast numbers of small paintings to fit in the copious luggage of well-to-do British tourists on the Grand Tour. Venice’s obvious attractiveness as a destination was enhanced by its religious tolerance and the abundant availability of sex. (Nick said it was estimated that 25% of women on the streets were courtesans and STDs were rife.) Becoming bored with reality, Canaletto started painting “capricci” in which imaginary buildings or additions to buildings were added to familiar Venetian cityscapes. Eventually following his market to London, Canaletto painted Westminster Abbey, Warwick Castle and other patrons’ stately homes, before returning to Venice, where he continued to paint until his death.
Nick Ross is a director of Art History Abroad, who aspire to be leading experiential educators, inspiring a lifelong love of learning about subjects from art and architecture to history, literature and music.
Photos by Fleur Tookey.
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