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| Object type | |
| Title | View of the interior of St. Mark's, Venice
(generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink drawing over red and black chalk |
| Brief description | Canaletto (Antonio Canal), St Mark's, Venice, the interior, looking across from the south to the north transept, pen and ink over red and black chalk |
| Physical description | Drawing. View of the interior of St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice, looking across from the south to the north transept. Preparatory study for the drawing in the Kunsthalle at Hamburg. |
| Dimensions | - Image height: 362mm
- Image width: 308mm
- Sheet height: 390mm
- Sheet width: 320mm
Dimensions taken from Lambert, Susan. Drawing: Technique & Purpose. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1981: 36.2 x 30.8 cm |
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| Subjects depicted | |
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| Bibliographic references | - Lambert, Susan. Drawing: Technique & Purpose. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1981. p.45.
Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings Volume II. 17th-18th century, London, 1979, p. 124, illus.
The following is the full text of the entry:
CANALETTO Antonio Canale
(1697-1768)
953
St Mark's, Venice: view of the interior, looking across from the south to the north transept; in the lower left corner a study of a hanging lamp, similar to the lamp in the main drawing; beneath the pulpit a plan showing the placing of the columns. The drawing is superimposed, at right angles, on an outline sketch in pencil showing the exterior of a building, probably St Mark's Inscribed with notes by Canaletto in ink, as follows: on the arch closing the north transept 'largo a misura gius'; in the middle of balustrade beneath the arch' 5'; beneath the plan of the pulpit 'fazae uguali'; on the bottom of the pulpit 'manco sofito'; on the front of a pier on the right 'piu largo'
Pen and ink over red chalk and ruled pencil lines
14 1/8 x 12 1/8 (358 x 308) D.411-1885
PROVENANCE Bought 1885
LITERATURE W. Vitzthum, 'A drawing by Canaletto' in The Burlington Magazine, 99, 1957, p. 276 and pl. 40; Constable, p. 454, no. 559; Alice Binion, 'Some new drawings by Canaletto' in Master Drawings, 14, no. 4, 1976, p. 390, fig. 3
Formerly anonymous, recognised and identified by Vitzthum. A highly finished drawing in the Hamburg Kunsthalle (dated 1766, the last dated work by Canaletto known, and usually considered to be Canaletto's last recorded work) represents the same view and was based on this design (see Vitzthum, p. 41; Constable, no. 558; Prestelgesellschaft, 13, Zeichnungen alter Meister in der Kunsthalle zu Hamburg, 1927, pl. 24). The close connection between the two drawings is demonstrated by Constable, who points out that Canaletto altered certain features in the Hamburg drawing in accordance with his notes on the preliminary design: thus the figure 5 written on the balustrade half way up the wall at the end of the north transept reminded him to reduce the number of openings in the balustrade from nine to five, which he did. The preparatory design is an excellent illustration of Canaletto's method of composing a finished picture or drawing. Most of the straight lines were originally drawn in pencil with a ruler and afterwards gone over free hand in ink, somewhat shakily. The vanishing point is marked with a spot of ink a little to the right of the altar on the end wall of the transept, and many of the vanishing lines are still visible. In the Hamburg drawing the vanishing point is in the same place.
The nearer pulpit and the area round it are studied separately in another outline drawing (Constable, no. 560; Scholz Collection). A study for some figures standing in the same area has been found at Weimar by Alice Binion (loc. cit., p. 390, pl. 12). Other views of the interior of St Mark's are shown in a drawing and a painting by Canaletto at Windsor Castle, but they are usually dated earlier in his life (for the drawing see Hadeln, pl. 30; Constable no. 556; K. T. Parker, Canaletto drawings in the Royal Libraryat Windsor, 1948, pl. 15; for the painting, see Constable, no. 77). The curious reliquary or sarcophagus standing on an altar against the end wall of the north transept is also represented again in a drawing at Windsor (Hadeln, pl. 31; Parker, op. cit., pl. 16; Constable, no. 557); Parker (loc. cit., nos. 30 and 31) discusses its possible purpose, without however reaching a definite conclusion.
- pp. 19, 166, 167.
Canaletto : Rome, Londres, Venise : le triomphe de la lumière Bruxelles : Fonds Mercator, [2015]. 223 pages : illustrations (colour) ; 30 cm. ISBN: 9789462300842 / 9462300844 / 9789462300835 / 9462300836
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