From miniature tins of polish in Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House to Old Master paintings, take a closer look at how cleaning has been portrayed historically through Royal Collection objects
The Arch of Titus
Signed and dated 1742Oil on canvas | 192.2 x 106.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 401002
Though typically associated with his scenes of life in Venice, in this painting Canaletto depicts the Arch of Titus in Rome. Canaletto did paint several Roman views for his chief patron, Joseph Smith, but it is thought that this painting was produced after a drawing made in Rome by the artist’s nephew, Bernardo Bellotto (1720–80). Either Bellotto observed, or Canaletto decided to include, a woman in a window in the upper left of the composition, hanging out a piece of cloth to dry in the sun, while a group of ‘Grand Tourists’ admire the arch from the street below. This detail typifies the way that eighteenth-century Romans lived alongside the remnants of their ancient city.
