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Looking across the basin of San Marco, this vast view captures the scale and splendour of a ceremony taking place along the waterfront. Boats carrying spectators and animated gondoliers surround the gold and red state barge or Bucintoro, its upper deck crowded with figures. Every year on Ascension Day, the Bucintoro was rowed out onto the lagoon where the doge (the head of the Venetian state) cast a blessed ring into the water to symbolise the marriage of Venice and the sea. A large crowd gathers along the quay; more spectators spill onto the balconies of the Doge’s Palace to the right and peer out from the bell tower of San Marco beyond. Canaletto conjured up this eager audience with great precision, in places using careful dots of paint to create the swarm of people.
Title
Venice: The Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day
Date
about 1740
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 121.9 x W 182.8 cm
Accession number
NG4453
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by Lord Revelstoke, 1929
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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