Canaletto. Octave Uzanne
with the support of Molé, Reville and Madame Bellecour, was one of the most vivid joys of his life. By nicknaming him “the Italian Molière”, his contemporaries had certainly not overstepped the boundaries of truth any more than when they likened Metastasio to Sophocles.[7]
Along with these diverse poets, some exceptional women graced Venetian society with their charming spirits and talent. One was Luisa Bergalli who, although spending her youth in a cobbler’s workshop, married the noble, Count Gaspard Gozzi. Marvellously gifted, she excelled in embroidery and, before she gave herself over to letters, she learned how to paint from Rosalba. Her translations of Terence’s plays, which garnered praise from Apostolo Zeno, her canzone and diverse theatrical works all bore witness to her skills, which were some of the rarest. No less famous was Rosalba Carriera, nicknamed the “Queen of Pastels”, who was celebrated when she travelled to France. She sold her portraits for thirty zecchinos and Charles de Brosses offered her twenty-five gold louis for a Magdalene no larger than his hand and a mere copy of Correggio. Though we excessively praise her graceful manner and charming colours, on the other hand we tend to forget about her master, the noble Giovanni Antonio Lazzeri.
Although the decline in painting was more noticeable than the glory of its zenith, the Venetian school, fallen into a period when the masters were considered to be frivolous and friendly, still counted some outstanding names. The prestige of Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto had not died out in the least, but their examples were hardly ever followed. One was more likely to head in the direction of the Carracci brothers or Pierre de Carone, or towards eclectics like Giambologna, the mannerists of Rome, or the imitators of Caravaggio. Like them, Venetians exaggerated their effects and loaded their canvases with dark shadows that compromised the longevity of the painting. These tenebrous styles were in vogue at the end of the seventeenth century. Without regard for the great painting traditions, the following era attempted a renewal. All the individual talents that then manifested themselves generated interest, not to mention that their work was not defective. Thus, a group made up of artists like Ricci, Tiepolo, Canaletto, and several minor masters like Milinari, Guardi and Longhi, would form around an excellent designer like Gregorio Lazzarini. They all deserve to be remembered with praise.
25. The Piazzetta, with the Library and Campanile, looking West, c. 1735.
Pen and ink, 22.6 × 37.4 cm.
The Royal Collection, London.
26. View of Venice, Piazza San Marco and Piazzetta, c. 1740.
Oil on canvas, 67.3 × 102 cm.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford.
Therefore, the artists’ movement had barely let up. Venice, with the resources that its two academies provided, remained one of the places in the world where young artists found it easier to initiate their technique. The government deserved credit for not having neglected anything as far as ensuring the protection and prosperity of local industry and art. It was the government that granted Briati the sole privilege of manufacturing and selling crystals styled after those from Bohemia, the importation of which was prohibited. In this way he came to manufacture the most sought-after chandeliers and mirrors in Europe.[8] In 1764, a decree was issued for an Academy of Fine Arts, which was to take the place of the old painters’ association. It opened in 1766, thanks to patrician support of the leadership’s plans.
The Venetian artists even reaped very respectable fame outside their own country. One day, one of the doge’s representatives to the pope asked Carlo Maratta to paint a canvas for the examination room. He was surprised that they would solicit an artist in Rome since they had Gregorio Lazzarini, considered the Raphael of his school, in Venice. Although Lazzarini had instructed Giambattista Tiepolo, nothing seems less compatible with the master’s wisdom than his disciple’s wildly alluring work. Tiepolo actually has more affinities with Piazzetta, whose religious compositions are characterised by feverish movement. Amidst ruined architecture, he places characters of tormented bearing, while a violent wind raises hanging draperies and tears away at the clouds. One can especially appreciate the quick, spirited style of execution in his oeuvre that marvellously adapts itself to the fresco. Painted with an array of pale gold and fine silver hues, the expansive compositions in which he loves to mix the flight of spirits with rays of light enchant the eye to such a degree that it one forgets about any weaknesses in his drawing. In spite of his critics, Tiepolo emerges as the heir apparent to the masters of detail, one of the greatest after Veronese. During this period, a school of landscape artists was also blossoming, including artists like Luca Carlavaris and Marco Ricci from whom Canaletto was going to distinguish himself.
However, although painting was drying up, music was flourishing and much appreciated. Born inside churches, it later became secularized beginning in the fifteenth century. People saw it as the necessary complement to a lavish existence, the typical companion at feasts where the ear needed to be charmed as much as the eye and the tongue. The greatest colourists passionately lent themselves to music in order to distract themselves from painting, manoeuvring the violin bow and the brush with equal ease. Later on, four homes for orphaned girls supplied singers from among their ranks to both Venetian stages and to theatres in all countries. An academy of music played along the banks of the canal almost every night. The commoners were no less passionate than the nobles about these concerts, and the two sides of the canal were always completely covered with people who hurried there to listen.
27. Venice: the Piazzetta towards the Torre dell’Orologio, 1727–1729.
Oil on canvas, 172.1 × 134.9 cm.
The Royal Collection, London.
28. The Piazza, looking North-east from the Procuratie Nuove, c. 1745.
Pencil and wash drawing ink, 22.8 × 33.3 cm.
The Royal Collection, London.
29. Piazza San Marco and the Colonnade, c. 1756.
Oil on canvas, 46.4 × 38.1 cm.
The National Gallery, London.
30. Saint Mark’s Square, looking South, c. 1723.
Oil on canvas, 73.5 × 94.5 cm.
Private Collection.
Goldoni informs us[9] that people also found delight in music during long trips. When he returned from Pavia to Venice with some friends, he rented a boat decorated with painted, carved ornaments. They made slow progress, with nothing regular but their pleasure and the nightly stop. Every one of them was a musician: one played the violoncello, three others the violin, another played the guitar and another a hunting horn. Goldoni compiled even the most minor incidents along the route in a journal he wrote in verse. And every evening, after their meal, he recited his poetry. Then, the improvised orchestra set up on the deck and residents applauded as the boat passed by. In Cremona, they gave them a great ovation and offered a banquet to this joyous band. Thus celebrated, the artists recommenced their concert with the help of other performers, and dancing went on until morning.
This example, chosen from about a thousand, shows how avidly joyous these people were, how they were induced to take life as it came, as pleasantly as they could, how they knew to enjoy every pleasure and exercise their intelligence by bringing such occasions to life. This passion for pleasure would cover over any other impressions for a while. When on certain days one saw a bustling and decked out Venice, why would anyone have suspected that it was in decline? Nevertheless, its irremediable downfall was accentuated even more during the second half of the eighteenth century, until it became absolute. The splendour of the ancient apotheoses made the contrast between the strengths of the past and the misery of the later time more obvious. Venice no longer resembled the triumphant queen that Veronese had painted under those imposing
Goldoni took on the position of Italian tutor once again, this time for Madame Clotilde, who was engaged to the Prince of Piedmont, and for Madame Elisabeth. He ended his career by writing three volumes of memoirs that were to serve as his life story and the history of his theatrical career. He died on January 8, 1793, saddened and impoverished by the Revolution.
Venice’s glass industry was very old. In 630, Saint Benedict called Venetian workers to England to decorate the windows of Yarmouth Monastery. Shops were set up on Murano Island and were closely monitored by the Council of Ten. During the eighteenth century, this art enjoyed new found prosperity, thanks to the patriotism of Briati, who had worked as a porter for three years in a Bohemian crystal shop so he could learn the secrets of fabrication. His perseverance was rewarded by success, as he obtained permission to rebuild his furnaces within the city limits of Venice. He died on January 17, 1772.
In his