The Piazza San Marco

ca. 1739

Canaletto Italian, 1697-1768

On View

European: Grand Tour of Italy, Level 2, South Wing

see it in the community from

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

Canaletto specialized in views of his native city, Venice, working for a devoted and often foreign clientele. This view toward the west end of the Piazza San Marco is typical of the artist's "improvements on nature" by showing in one picture both the Campanile and the Torre dell' Orologio. In actuality these two landmarks, shown framing the left and right edges of the composition, cannot be seen simultaneously from one position. Furthermore, the artist has adopted a slightly elevated viewpoint, which reinforces the perspective lines created by the paving stones. This painting is an important historical document, for it shows what the piazza looked like before alterations were ordered by Napoleon in the early nineteenth century.

Title The Piazza San Marco

Artwork Date ca. 1739

Artist Canaletto

Life Dates 1697-1768

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 29 13/16 × 46 15/16 inches (75.8 × 119.3 cm) Framed: 44 5/8 × 57 3/4 × 4 inches (113.3 × 146.7 × 10.2 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund and funds from Edsel B. Ford

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 43.38

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance

Collection Dukes of Leeds,Thomas Osbourne, 4th Duke of Leeds and by descent to the 10th Duke (Great Britain, Hornby Castle, Yorkshire & London, England);
11 June 1920, lot 3 Christie's auction (London, England);
1920-1922, dealer, Arthur J. Sully (London, England) [sold with its pendant];
dealer, Daniel H. Farr (New York, New York, USA);
dealer, Scott & Fowles (New York, New York, USA);
Collection Thomas B. Cochran (New York, New York, USA);
1942, dealer, Julius H. Weitzner (New York, New York, USA);
1943, dealer, Schneider-Gabriel Galleries (New York, New York, USA);
1943-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Richardson, E.P. "With Canaletto in Venice." Bulletin of the DIA 23, 2 (1943-44): pp. 14-16 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. DIA Catalogue of Paintings. 1944, p. 20, cat. 450 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. Picture Book of Baroque and Rococo Art, Vol. 1. 1945, cat. 16 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. Masterpieces of Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts. 1949, p. 86.

Venice 1700-1800. Detroit, 1952, cat. 12 (ill.).

Morassi, A. "Una mostra del settecento veneziano a Detroit." Arte Veneta 7, 25-28 (1953): pp. 49-62, (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. Treasures of the Detroit Institute of Arts. 1960, p. 104 (ill.). [3rd ed., 1966, p. 110 (ill.).]

Puppi, L. L'opera completa del Canaletto. Milan, 1968, cat. 157B.

Barcham, W. S. "The Imaginary View Scenes of Antonio Canaletto." Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1974. [dates picture to late 1730's; note, this was published by Garland Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts series, NY, 1977]

Constable, W. G. Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768. Oxford, 1962, vol. 1, p. 118, no. 24, pl. 15 ; vol. 2, p. 193, cat. 24.

Fredericksen, B. and F. Zeri. Census of pre-19th Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972, p. 42.

Ocvirk, O. G. Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice. Dubuque, 1975 (pl. 25).

Cummings, F., ed. Selected Works from the DIA. 1979, p. 147, cat. 120 (ill.).

Corboz, A. Canaletto: una Venezia immaginaria, Vol. 2. Milan, 1985, p. 642 (fig. P276).

Masterpieces From The Detroit Institute of Arts. Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, pp. 66, 210-211, cat. 35 (ill.).

Constable, W. G. and J. G. Links. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2 vols. Oxford, 1989, vol. I, p. 118 (pl. 15, no. 24); vol. II, p. 196.

Bomford, D., and G. Finaldi. Venice Through Canaletto's Eyes: Canaletto in the National Gallery, London. 1998, pp. 34-35 (ill. pls. 32-33).

Wissman, F. W. European Vistas: Cultural Landscapes. Detroit, 2000, pp. 42, 45-46 (ill.).

Bissell, R. W., A. Derstine, and D. Miller. Masters of Italian Baroque Painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2005, pp. 9, 34-37, cat. no. 11. [entry by A. Derstine]

Derstine, Andria. "The Detroit Institute of Arts and Italian Baroque Painting." In Buying Baroque: Italian Seventeenth-Century Paintings Come to America, ed. Edgar Peters Bowron. University Park, 2017, p. 97.

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Canaletto, The Piazza San Marco, ca. 1739, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund and funds from Edsel B. Ford, 43.38.