Canaletto (and the Venetian Vedutisti)

After having glimpsed fine works of art at several (national and smaller) galleries (Florence, Italy; Warsaw, Poland; Washington, DC, Sarasota, FL, USA), my favorite artist has got to be Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal, Venezia 1697-1768). Above are two (postcards of two) pieces hanging in the Ufizzi, in Florence: Veduta del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, 1755 (left) and Veduta del Canal Grande, 1730 (right). Veduta translates to View, as in "Veduta del" meaning "View of". The pictures are scans of a couple of postcards I bought at the Ufizzi, but they don't do the originals justice. Perhaps experiencing artwork is similar to music. In my opinion there are three levels: reproduction (e.g., viewing a picture, listening to a recording), live (e.g., viewing the original, listening to a live band), and creation (e.g., performing the work, be it painting or music). I've been fortunate to have seen several of Canaletto's paintings in person. I think they're a real feast for the eyes.

Canaletto was born October 28 in the Venetian parish of San Lio, and is one of the painters of the Vedutisti, who defined the vedutismo art genre. Other artists include Luca Carlevarijs, Bernardo Bellotto, Michele Marieschi, Francesco Albotto, and Francesco Guardi, among others. I'm reading about these painters in a book I also bought at the Ufizzi, "Canaletto and the Venetian Vedutisti", by Filippo Pedrocco, 1991, SCALA Group S.p.A., Antella (Florence). According to this book,

The Venetian vedute ... are distinguished by their accuracy in the depiction of details, their topological precision, the crystalline quality of their color, and the exactness of their proportions.

The above passage refers to the works of Gaspar van Wittel who is often cited as the forerunner of eighteenth-century Venetian vedutismo, but the characteristics are clearly common to most works attributed to this style of painting.