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Canaletto (Venice 1697-Venice 1768)

Venice: San Simeon Piccolo c.1735-40

Pen and ink, over free and ruled pencil and pinpointing | 22.7 x 37.5 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 907467

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  • A drawing of the church of San Simeon Piccolo, on the Grand Canal in Venice. To the left of the domed church, is Casa Adoldo. To the right scuola building of the woolweavers guild,and Palazzo Diedo-Emo. Several barges and gondolas are depicted on the Grand Canal.

    The church of Santi Simeone e Giuda, called by its common name of San Simeon Piccolo to distinguish it from the nearby church of San Simeone Profeta (known as San Simeon Grande) is one of the first sights encountered by the modern visitor to Venice arriving by train, on the Grand Canal opposite the railway station. To the left is the sixteenth-century Casa Adoldo, and to the right, set back from the edge of the canal with a large crucifix in a tabernacle at the centre of its façade, the small scuola of the wool-weavers, whose industry was concentrated in this area. Appearing at the left edge of the drawing is a burchiello, partly under tow by the sandolo to the right of centre.

    San Simeon Piccolo was built on a circular plan between 1718 and 1738 to the designs of Giovanni Scalfarotto, following the demolition of the original ninth-century church, and is shown here as it nears completion. Blocks of undressed stone lean against the side of the church, and a temporary wooden staircase leads up to the portico. In that respect the drawing shows an earlier stage of construction than the painting of this stretch of the canal where the steps can be seen running the full width of the portico. But the drawing does not date from before the painting, for it follows the studies on two openings of the Venice Sketchbook that were the basis of a finished drawing of the early 1730s. It would appear that the present drawing is a version of the later 1730s, but Canaletto has made no attempt to update the topographical details. Though the colour notes on the sketches indicate that they were intended to serve for future reference should a painting be required, no equivalent painting by Canaletto himself is known, though there is a version by a follower in the National Gallery, London that shows the church with the steps completed.

    The perspective of this drawing requires a viewpoint some way back from the edge of the canal. In Canaletto’s day, however, what is now the square in front of the station was crowded with buildings, and it is not clear where he can have stood to get this view (the Sketchbook views demonstrate that he has not manipulated the perspectives). The architect did not intend the church to be seen from a distance, and the dome was built unusually high to be seen clearly over the top of the portico from close quarters. Canaletto therefore reduced the height of the dome a little, and significantly diminished the size of the lantern, to play down the top-heavy effect of the dome when seen in a long view.

    Catalogue entry adapted from Canaletto in Venice, London, 2005
    Provenance

    Purchased by George III from Consul Joseph Smith, 1762

  • Medium and techniques

    Pen and ink, over free and ruled pencil and pinpointing

    Measurements

    22.7 x 37.5 cm (sheet of paper)


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