Gazette Drouot - C apencheres

THE MAGAZINE THE IMAGINARY INTERVIEW
A Venetian summer with Canaletto
Venice, July 1768. Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto,
the old painter who looks rather like Casanova,
welcomes us on the first floor of a palazzo on the banks
of the lagoon. A cool breeze wafts gently through
the room.
La Gazette Drouot: What a theatrical setting the
Serenissima is!
Canaletto: You aren't the first to be captivated, I can tell
you. Nor will you be the last! As far as I'm concerned, it's
very simple: I owe everything to Venice both as a man
HD
Venetian painting from the 18th century “Portrait of Canaletto”,
oil on canvas, 80.2 x 66.8 cm. Presented in the Musée Maillol
exhibition.
122 GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL I N° 19
© Private collection
and as an artist: I'll never forget that. But you are right to
mention the theatrical, almost grandiloquent aspect of
this curious city-state. I myself got into the world of painting
through the theatre, because I learned everything
alongside my father, who was a set designer. It was at a
time when this still represented something, in a highly
Baroque vein. And, you see, whenever I set up on a
bridge or a shady terrace to paint my city, I use the
camera lucida, which enables me to centre my perspectives
properly. Believe it or not, every time I look through
the eyeglass, I get the impression that I am on the stage
behind the curtain looking at the audience coming into
the theatre. And so, yes, you are absolutely right, my
young friend: Venice truly is a theatre, glittering with a
myriad of sparkling lights, like a stream of stardust scattered
by a comet.
I didn't imagine you to be so poetic!
Well, even a bear would become a lamb if it came this
way! Venice has a totally timeless charm, don't you think?
If Antiquity were defined as the hold Rome or Greece has
on people's minds, our century would undoubtedly be
defined by the aura of the Serenissima. The style I
adopted, which has been taken up by so many good
painters – and even bad ones, I might say – is extremely
sought after: it's even rather astonishing! Of course, my
first patrons were royal courts and wealthy collectors
from all over Europe. But you'll see one day, even minor
enthusiasts who are not very well-off will find great pleasure
in this style if they seek out minor figures.
How do you account for such success?
People often come up with grand, rather woolly theories,
but in fact, with my vedute, there's a very simple reason.