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Canalettos on loan exhibition
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Posted
I went to see the Canalettos touring exhibition at the Royal Maritime Museum yesterday. The Duke of Bedford owns them, but Woburn Abbey is closed for refurbishment until 2024, so I thought I'd take the opportunity.
I've tuned back into his work after seeing the Konigstein views by his nephew Bellotto, at the National Gallery last year. When I first saw Canaletto, in my teens, I thought they were nice pictures but a bit too samey. Now from a painter's perspective, I am just amazed at how good his eyesight, his skill with the detail brush, and also how both of the "Canals" show working people in many of the views, even in the Woburn Venice ones.
I have a theory that one or both of them had an affair with a washerwomen,and promised to include her in some of the pictures!
Posted
Sorry, have been offline for a few days, guests visiting.
In this particular exhibition I couldn't choose a favourite, although when I get a copy of the catalogue, I might choose one, I'm hoping for a paperback version. My main interest is in the characters with which he peoples his views. All classes and occupations, so I prefer the paintings of Venices inner squares, such as the Stonecutters Yard, more than the canal scenes.
There is one I currently like the best which His Madge owns at Buck House, which I havent seen in the flesh: The Piazza from the Piazzetta with the Campanile and Side of S. Marco. It was described in the Skyarts feature on the Palace pictures. Especially the small detailed features, such as the shape of the puppeteers rear end through the curtain of his punch & Judy stall.
I'm now struggling to upload it...
Edited
by Norrette Moore