Canaletto’s Festival of St Roch: a longer look

Excellent morning workshop at the National Gallery looking in detail at the Canaletto picture of the Feast of St Roch in Venice.

We began by looking at the picture in detail and the tutor, Steven Barrettt, had some wonderful enlargements of various bits of the picture. It really helped you see the detail. And appreciate Canaletto’s skill. There was much discussion about whether he had used any devices such as camera obscurer to help him.

We then looked at Canaletto’s place in Venetian art and in particular the other vedute artists at the time and discussed why and how the British were acquiring these works. We also looked at Canaletto’s time spent in England and his influence on later artists.

We ended with time in the gallery looking at the picture in the flesh and at other Canaletto’s in the collection as well as other vedute pictures. I’m hoping to spend some time in Venice next year so this was a nice reminder of how beautiful the city is.

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