Tuesday May 28th

Today we decided to brave the crowds in Piazza San Marco and go to the Canaletto and Venice exhibition, which is in the Doge’s Palace.

On the way to the exhibition, we walked along Riva Degli Schiavoni, thronged with tourists and packed with stalls selling things and we crossed over the Ponte della Paglia from which you get an excellent view of the Bridge of Sighs.

I had to queue to take this photo, along with thousands of others. At least I wasn’t taking a selfie - though I suppose I could have done; along with all the other stuff I didn’t want or need, all the stalls were selling selfie sticks!

The we fought our way into the Piazza San Marco.

Of course I couldn’t resist a photo of Basilica San Marco, but you can see how crowded it was. It was impossible to get a photo without the stalls - I managed to avoid all but one in my photo.

It looked as if we might have hours to wait in a huge queue as the exhibition tickets were being sold at the same ticket booth as those for the Doge’s Palace. However,  we had been advised by our friend to buy ours at the Museo Correr where there was no queue, so we were able to get in to the exhibition right away.

The exhibition relates Canaletto’s work to other masters of art in Venice, so there was plenty to see. Photos were, by and large, not allowed, but I managed quite a few by turning off my flash and choosing a time when the guardian was out of the room. Photographs were possible because the rooms were not crowded; sometimes I was the only person there, and there were never more than three or four other people. Most people obviously went to the Doge’s Palace.

This is one of my favourite paintings by Canaletto, The Church and the School of Charity from the Marble Workshop of San Vital. It also looks familiar to my eyes because it comes from the National Gallery in London.

It isn’t what you think of as a typical Canaletto, more a reflection of urban working life. I note that the catalogue points out that the bell tower at the left of the painting would collapse in 1744, so you can’t find the same view today.

This next one looks much more like a typical Canaletto, featuring the Grand Canal.

It’s called The Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi at Rialto. The notes on the wall comment on the astonishing accuracy he achieves by working with light and shadow.

I couldn’t resist this one either, which also comes from Britain. 

It’s called The Grand Canal from Campo San Vio. 

As I said, in this exhibition, Canaletto’s work was related to other masters of the Venetian school. The one below is by Francesco Guardi, and it’s called Fondamenta Nuove with the Island  of San Michele 


Fondamenta Nove is where we get off the boat every day to walk back to our friend’s flat. It doesn’t look that different today, apart from the addition these days of the vaporetto stop.

Both Paul and I particularly liked the one below, which is by Bernardo Belotto, a nephew and pupil of Canaletto.

It’s called View of Pirna and the Sonnenstein Castle. I’m not at all sure where that is, but but Belotto apparently travelled to Tuscany, Rome, Milan and Turin and subsequently abandoned Venice for Dresden and then other European capitals. I’m guessing that it might be somewhere in Germany.

This next paining is The Charlatan, and it’s by Giandomenico Tiepolo.


I love it for its observation of everyday life, and because it’s so vivid and full of life and colour. I also love it because the charlatan is obviously a dentist, that’s a tooth he’s holding up in a pair of pliers. I’m sure my son the dentist would appreciate that!

I won’t post any more from the exhibition, or this will end up like a catalogue. But we remarked on a full length portrait of Farinelli, the celebrated Italian castrato and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli has apparently been described as having the vocal range of a soprano and sang the highest note customary at the time, though I don’t know what that was.

We were both amazed at a marble sculpture by Antonio Corradini, Bust of a Veiled Woman, because you can see her features beneath the veil. I would have taken a photo, but the guardian in that room wasn’t permitting photos. She got a bit fed up with me, probably because she didn’t like the fact I looked so closely at the sculpture, I think she thought I was going to touch it. Then I went next door and tried to read a small label and got too close to the glass case on the wall so I set off the alarm, which really annoyed her. I do think they ought to make the labels a bit bigger!

By then it was well past lunch time so we went off for a very late lunch. After that, I thought I’d have a third go at getting into the sacristy at Salute, and this time it was open. So I was at last successful in seeing the ceiling painted by Titian - 3 large panels, The Sacrifice of Isaac, Cain and Abel, and David and Goliath. They are flanked by 8 small round ones, The Four Evangelists and The Four Fathers of the Church.  The guardian gives you a small mirror so you can examine the painting without having to lie down, but the ceiling is very high so they are hard to make out. I did better by photographing them with a zoom.

There was also this Titian altarpiece, Saint Mark Enthroned with Saints Sebastian, Roch, Cosmas and Damian, painted in 1510. I don’t understand this fashion of grouping together people who didn’t live at the same time, let alone not knowing each other! 

There’s also a big Tintoretto, The Wedding at Cana, but my photo of that was so poor I bought a postcard!

After al, that, we though we would have a rest from art and take advantage of the good weather before the rain started. So we took a boat over to the Lido, where we strolled and ate ice cream. It’s much calmer and less crowded that Venice. This is the lovely little canal not very far from the bus station and vaporetto stop.

After supper the rain started and our friend, who was out at a concert, was completely soaked. I can hear thunder as I type. The weather forecast is poor for tomorrow, so I hope not to get too wet because it is our last day.