The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice
The mouth of the Grand Canal at Venice, the domed church of Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana across the water — unchanged.
Santa Maria della Salute
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice — at a glance
- Artist
- Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697–1768)
- Year
- c. 1730
- Movement
- Venetian view painting (veduta)
- Place
- The mouth of the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy
- Viewpoint
- From the water off the Molo toward the Salute and the Dogana — all unchanged
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- c. 50 × 73 cm
- Now at
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and other collections
Overview
This is one of Canaletto's most repeated views, painted from about 1730 on. It looks across the wide Bacino di San Marco to the entrance of the Grand Canal, where Baldassare Longhena's great domed church of Santa Maria della Salute rises on the left and the low customs house (Dogana da Mar) with its golden weathervane marks the point on the right. Gondolas and trading boats crowd the foreground. It is oil on canvas, about 50 by 73 cm; a well-known version is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Where was The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice painted?
Scholarship The view is taken from the water off the Molo, near the Piazzetta, looking south-west. The Salute (completed 1687), the Dogana and the Grand Canal entrance are all unchanged, one of the most stable and recognisable views in Venice, so Canaletto's framing can be matched almost exactly from a boat or from the San Marco waterfront — allowing for his slight widening of the angle for a fuller sweep.
How we know
- A veduta centred on the real church of Santa Maria della Salute.
What is in the painting?
The Bacino fills the foreground, busy with gondolas, sandoli and moored trading craft, gondoliers standing to their oars. On the left bank, the octagonal Salute with its huge lead dome, scrolled buttresses and statues; the Seminario beside it. At the point on the right, the long low Dogana with the figure of Fortune on its golden globe. The Giudecca and open lagoon close the distance under a bright, lightly clouded sky.
Look closely
Santa Maria della Salute
Longhena's octagonal church with its huge lead dome, scrolled buttresses and roofline statues, on the left bank.
The Dogana point
The low customs house on the right, topped by a golden globe and the figure of Fortune as a weathervane.
The working boats
Gondolas, sandoli and moored trading craft crowd the foreground, gondoliers standing to their oars.
The widened angle
Canaletto opens the view wider than the eye really sees so both buildings fit the frame.
Analysis
Composition and technique
A wide sweep of water and sky with the Salute and the Dogana balanced on either side of the canal mouth.
Scholarship Canaletto opens the angle wider than the eye really takes in, so the Salute and the Dogana both sit comfortably in the frame with the canal running between. The foreground boats give scale and life; the light is clear and the architecture crisply drawn, in the polished manner he made for foreign buyers, especially the English on the Grand Tour.
History & provenance
Canaletto and his workshop produced many versions; they are in museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Sources
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / National Gallery of Art, Washington — collection entries for Canaletto, ‘The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice’ (c. 1730)
- J. G. Links, ‘Canaletto’ (Phaidon)
Related paintings
The Stonemason's Yard
1725
Canaletto's earlier, less polished Venice — a working campo instead of the postcard view.
The Grand Canal
1908
The Grand Canal further in, towards the Rialto.
The Doge's Palace Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore
1908
Monet dissolving a nearby Venice view into colour, 175 years later.
More by Canaletto
The Stonemason's Yard
Arrival of the French Ambassador in Venice
A View of Walton Bridge
