The great Venetian work engraved by Canaletto.
38 sumptuous views of Venice.
Rare and superb copy, in brilliant print,
in full French binding of the period adorned grotesquely.
Venice, 1742.
Canaletto, Antonio Canal known as Canaletto (1697-1768). Visentini, Antonio. Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores, ex Antonii Canal tabulis XXXVIII, aere expressi ab Antonio Visentini in partes tres distributi.
Venice, Jean-Baptiste Pasquali, 1742.
3 parts in 1 oblong folio volume, mottled tawny calf, decorated spine, red label, red speckled edges, modern case. Binding of the time.
Coll. : title with allegorical decor, drawn and engraved by Visentini, printed title in black and red (Pars prima), one leaf of table “Série Tabularum”, a double engraved portrait of Canaletto and Visentini; 14 plates. numbered I to XIV; printed title in black and red (Pars secunda); 12 plates. numbered I to XII; printed title in black and red (Pars tertia); 12 plates. numbered I to XII.
507 x 356 mm.
First complete edition of this sumptuous suite of views on Venice.
First published in 1735, under the title of Prospectus Magni Canalis Venetiarum, this famous suite then only contained 14 views, engraved based on the paintings of Canaletto (1697-1768), which were in the possession of the English ambassador Smith.
It was at his request that these plates were printed in a small number of copies to promote the painter’s production. Not intended for commercial sale, they are extremely rare.
A second edition, the first complete one, was released in 1742. It consists of the suite of 1735, augmented by two others. Each of these latter is made up of twelve views and announced by a printed title in black and red. The entire first part was retouched to be raised to the quality level of the other two.
The suite was highly successful and reprinted in 1751 and 1754 by Pasquali and in 1773 by Furlanetto.
It is due to Antonio Visentini (1688-1782), painter, engraver, teacher, and book illustrator. He became famous for this series.
A copy of a very beautiful print and with fine margins, preserved in its first binding. The proofs are highly contrasted.
Copies at the B.n.F., including one from the La Vallière library, are bound in quarto format.
15 drawings related to this collection are preserved at the British Museum and the Museo Correr.
Berlin Catalog 2695. Cicognara 4113.
In the 18th century, Venice “La Serenissima” had lost its important role in the economic and political game of Europe to Great Britain and the Netherlands.
Behind the rich facades of the palazzi, Venice was deteriorating. The government was unable to support its artists with commissions for the execution of decoration works for grand palaces and buildings. At the beginning of the 18th century, English aristocrats and German nobles emerged as the most important connoisseurs and buyers of Venetian painters’ art.
Venice and its timeless charm became in the 18th century the favorite subject of painters called vedutisti. Their views of Venice quickly spread throughout Europe, making the veduta, even today, the most collected and one of the most beloved genres by the public.
Uncontested master of the veduta, Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto (Venice 1697-1768), marked his century by capturing in his canvases the various faces of Venice of his time.
In addition to Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal, immediately recognizable, one finds the campi and churches of Venice, as well as views of the lagoon, daily life, or feast days. A theater painter in his youth, Canaletto manages to combine a great sense of staging, a technique of perspective that he masters perfectly, and very appealing effects of light. Canaletto is credited with the most beautiful and innovative views of Venice, sources of inspiration for his followers.
In this superb collection, Canaletto, the greatest of the Venetian “vedutisti”, excels in capturing the unique atmosphere of this city, portraying characters and gondoliers within views drawn “dae vero” on “le motif“, with an acute sense of perspective and a consummate art of architectural detail.
The collection consists of 3 parts each comprising 14, 12, and 12 views with separate titles adorned with an allegorical vignette engraved by Visentini.
It opens with a very beautiful full-page allegorical frontispiece title, with attributes of music and painting by Visentini and A. Baroni.
The large portraits of Canaletto and Antonius Visentini are engraved on the following sheet by J. B. Piazzetta and A. Visentini.
The 38 superb prints are as many “objective” views of squares, campi, palaces, churches, and diverse architectural perspectives of the grand canal that particularly enchanted English aesthetes of the 18th century and are recreated here by the artist’s sensitivity.
They are accompanied by a legend in Latin.
View of the Rialto Bridge eastwards.
Foscari View
View of the Charity
San Vito Square
View of the Salute
Entrance of the Grand Canal
View of the Rialto Bridge westwards.
View from the public buildings of the Rialto
View from the public buildings of the Grimani
Entrance of the canal from St. Jeremiah
View from St. Simeon
End of the canal to Santa Clara
Nautical festivals towards the Rialto
Bucintoro and Feast of the Ascension
View of the Grand Canal towards Santa Clara
View from Santa Croce
View from the buildings of the Flangini to Bembo
View from the buildings of the Bembormi to the Grimani
Perspective from St. Eustache
Perspective towards St. Jeremiah
Perspective from the Rialto
View of the Rialto Bridge eastwards
Perspective towards the Foscari
Perspective towards San Vital
St. Mark’s Column and Doge’s Palace
Entrance of the Grand Canal from the Piazzetta
St. John and St. Paul’s Square
Area St. Joseph
St. Savior Square
St. Paul Square
Church of San Rocco
Campo Santa Maria de Tobanico
Campo San Stefano
Campo Santa Maria Formosa
Campo of the P.P. Jesuits
Campo S.S. Apostles
Perspective of St. Mark’s Square, view from the Basilica
Perspective of St. Mark’s Square, towards the Basilica
“Canaletto was the son of a theater set painter, Bernardo Canal, who taught him mainly the art of perspective. He must have also known Carlevaris, who in a parallel direction, was giving views of Venice, constructed according to a strict mathematical perspective, but also bathed in light. Antonio Canal realized the narrowness of the theater set art that he practiced with his brother and his father until 1719, the date on which he left them to go to Rome. He then showed his will to break away from this decorative theater art and painted from nature or ancient subjects. The following year, he returned to Venice and registered with the fraglia of Venetian painters.”
From that time, he defined himself as a painter of “vedute”, a genre appreciated especially by the English visiting Venice. It is with assurance that he painted, from his beginnings, views of Venice for which he used the system of the camera obscura, fixing on paper the situation and value of the different monuments; then in his studio, he recreated the subject, giving it all its pictorial value.”
Between 1730 and 1735, Canaletto painted fourteen views of the Grand Canal for English collections. He then undertook another series of views whose execution spanned ten years.
“The vogue of Antonio Canal was such, especially among the English, that it is normal to see the development of the art of vedutisti, imitators of Canaletto, whose main concern is to produce views of Venice, serving as souvenirs that English tourists took back to their country. His renown was so great in London that he went there in 1746 and resided in that city until 1755 before finally returning to Venice.”
“Antonio Canal is indeed the greatest figure of the “vedutisti” that Venice ever had. His art established in Venice the now traditional art of objective views even though recreated by the sensitivity of the painter.” Benezit 491.
Very appealing copy, in brilliant print of perfect freshness, of this great illustrated Venetian collection of the 18th century, in the most enviable condition in full French binding of the period.
