MASTERPIECES OF ART IN THE CENTURIES / WASHINGTON D.C. – National Gallery of Art at Washington DC: Canaletto / The Square of Saint Mark’s, Venice

Giovanni Antonio Canal was born in Venice on 1697. His father, Bernardo, was a painter, and Canaletto appears to have assisted him. Canaletto’s name, was inscribed in the register of the Venetian artists’ guild in 1720. He adopted the diminutive “Canaletto” – the little Canal – by the mid-1720s. In 1746 Canaletto departed Venice for England where he worked for the next decade, and the impact which Canaletto made on English landscape (and topographical painters), lasted well into the following century. On April day 1768, Canaletto died and was buried in Venice. Piazza San Marco (often known in English as St Mark’s Square), is the principal public square of Venice, where it is generally known just as “the Piazza” (la Piazza). All other urban spaces in the city are called “campi” (fields). The Square is dominated at its eastern end by the great church of St Mark.

The oil on canvas The Square of Saint Mark’s (overall 114.6 x 153 cm), was painted by Canaletto around 1744, and waiting for you at National Gallery of Art at Washington DC http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb.html West Building, Main Floor – Gallery 31.

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