When I was studying at the University of Ottawa I used to regularly cross the Rideau canal to the National Gallery of Canada, which was then located in a former office tower on Elgin Street.
Among the works I spent a particular amount of time with were those of the 18th Century Venetian painter Canaletto (1697-1768). Painting in a style known as Vedutism — a genre known for its complex cityscapes and urban life — Canaletto was popular with English Aristocrats on the Grand Tour of Italy. A prolific painter, much of his work ended up in Britain thanks to British Consul Joseph Smith, who bought Canaletto’s remaining collection posthumously for King George III.
Canaletto’s (a nickname meaning “little canal”) real name was Giovanni Antonio Canal. His father was also a painter.
What I really liked about his paintings, aside from the incredible level of detail in them, was the vibrancy of the city life depicted therein. It didn’t suprise me that Canaletto cut his artistic chops as a scenic painter: the figures in his work look like they could be actors in an opera. The figures not only give scale, but breathe some life into the scenes, giving us some idea of what Venice may have been like during Canaletto’s time.
Canaletto did a lot of plein air painting. There is also debate about the extent that he used the camera obscura to obtain the accuracy of his landscapes.
Canaletto inspired other like painters who did a brisk business painting for English tourists. Artists need to make a living. The National Gallery room with the Canalettos was also filled with other like images from the Venetian school. Having spent time in Rome and London, Canaletto’s connection to Britain also influenced artists such as Constable and Turner, the latter considered one of the fathers of modern art. We do stand on the shoulders of those that went before us.
In yesterday’s post I spoke briefly about debating whether I was a figurative artist or a landscape artist. But really, going back to those Canalettos I can see where this all got started for me. I do like to put figures in the landscape (contrary to the preferences of some art critics), and as you’ve seen in some recent posts, they can be the landscape itself.
Today’s image is no exception, the landscape is about a remarkable tree, but the figures are much more interested in the distant landscape. It was taken from a stop in Koblenz, Germany, on a trip down the Rhine River from Basil, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Holland. We took a cable car up on the bluff on the opposite side of the river overlooking the town, where I came across this scene.
While the view was spectacular, I was taken with the view of those taking in the other view. The father taking away the bored child. One reaching for a camera. Others aiming their phones off in the distance. Two sitting on the chairs with their feet up on the rail. There are multiple little stories here.
By the way, if you are interested in the history of the Grand Tour, I did come across an amusing 2006 DVD series by art critic Brian Sewell where he recreates the journey of the British Aristocrats through Italy. Sewell weeps at the catafalque of Michelangelo and demonically scoffs at lesser works in churches and galleries that the grand tourists would have also likely seen in between what he describes of their insatiable sexual adventures. Sewell even includes his own anecdotes, telling the story of he and his companions scraping their vehicle on a narrow roadway between two buildings, then quickly realizing their only exit was to drive the vehicle down a steep set of steps. Sewell speaks in a very strange and pompous style that has been described as having “some intonations of Vita Sackville West.” As an art critic, he was considered “deeply hostile” to contemporary art, trashing Lucien Freud and Jenny Saville in the series despite no apparent connection to the subject matter. We were totally addicted to this series and sad when we reached the end. Sewell passed away in 2015.
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