Lot 1142 Dα

This work is an exact copy with the same dimensions of a piece by Canaletto which is today kept in the Galleria Nazionale in Parma. (cf. Corboz, André: Canaletto. Una Venezia immaginaria, 2 vol., Milan 1985, vol. 2, p. 657, no. P 337, illus.; a larger version is kept in a Lombardian private collection, cf. Corboz, ibid., p. 748, no. P 485, detail illus. p. 510; a further version only with the design of the Ponte Vecchio in the collection of the Queen of England, cf. Corboz, ibid., p. 603, no. P 122, illus.).
The work can be interpreted as an homage to Andrea Palladio. It shows two realised works by the important Renaissance architect as well as an unrealised design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice. To the right we see the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza which was begun in 1549, one of the earliest works of the then unknown Palladio. The Palazzo Chiericati, which is also located in Vicenza and was completed shortly after the Basilica, is depicted on the left edge of the work. The centre of the composition is dominated by Palladio's second unrealised design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice which he made in 1569 and published a year later in “I quattro libri dell'architettura”. Instead of Palladio's work, a design by the unknown architect Antonio da Ponte was realised in 1588 and remains one of the most famous landmarks in Venice to this day.
In his capriccio, Canaletto combines existing and non-existent works by Palladio to a fanciful veduta. However, this finely painted copy differs slightly from the original in Parma, displaying slightly more plentiful figural staffage in the foreground and on the piazza in front of the Basilica.