The "Giovedì Grasso" Festival before the Ducal Palace in Venice

1765/1766

Canaletto

Artist, Venetian, 1697 - 1768

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

The Italian city of Venice is often crowded, but the throng in this drawing of the Ducal Palace on the festival of Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday) is unusually dense. Revelers pack the piazza and enjoy performances before the start of the Christian holy days of Lent. Daring acrobats balancing on thin poles seem to soar almost to the arched windows of the ornate palace. The masts of ships docked in the bustling port rise in the distance. Such splendid details, which capture the essence of his birthplace, earned Canaletto wide acclaim.

Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink with gray wash over traces of graphite, tip of the brush with black wash, heightened with touches of white gouache (laid on thick eighteenth-century mount)

  • Credit Line

    Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Paul Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 38.6 x 55.5 cm (15 3/16 x 21 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    2007.111.55

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Lodovico Furnletto, Venice; Sir Richard Colt Hoare [1758-1838], Stourhead, Wiltshire; by decent to Henry Ainslie Hoare, Stourhead; (sale, Christie's London, 2 June 1883, no. 32); Rothschild Family, Mentmore; Eva, Countess of Rosebury; (sale, Sotheby's London, 11 December 1974, no. 10); P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Gallery, London; Robert H. and Clarice Smith, Bethesda, MD; (John and Paul Herring & Co., New York); Wolfgang Ratjen [1943-1997], Vaduz and Munich; purchased 2007 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1967

  • I vedutisti veneziani del settecento, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1967, no. 83.

1982

  • Canaletto. Disegni, Dipinti, Incisioni, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, 1982, 52, no. 70.

1989

  • Canaletto, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, 348-350, no. 122.

1994

  • The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century, Royal Academy of Arts, London, NGA; 1994 - 1995, 244-245, 440, no. 151.

1995

  • Fünfzig italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts aus der Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz, Liechtensteinischen Staatlichen Kunstsammlung, Vaduz, 1995, no. 44.

1996

  • Italian Drawings from the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz. The Frick Collection, New York. Bern, 1996, no. 44.

2008

  • Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 1.

2011

  • Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1525-1835, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011, no. 57.

2014

  • The Poetry of Light - La poesia della luce: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, Museo Correr, Venice, Venice, 2014 - 2015, no. 85.

2017

  • Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2017-2018 (shown only in Los Angeles).

Bibliography

1822

  • Colt Hoare, Sir Richard. History of Modern Wiltshire. London, 1822: 75-76, no. 7.

1949

  • Watson, F. J. B. Canaletto. London, 1949: 20, fig. 29.

1954

  • Moschini, Vittorio. Canaletto. Milan, 1954: 48-50, fig. 275.

1962

  • Constable, William George. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2 vols. Oxford, 1962, 1: pl. 116; 2: 485, no. 636.

1963

  • Moschini, Vittorio. Canaletto: A Note. Milan, 1963: 21, no. 68.

1965

  • Zampetti, Pietro, ed. Mostra dei Guardi. Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 1965: 202, under no. 104.

1969

  • Moschini, Vittorio. Drawings by Canaletto. Milan, 1969: 21, no. 68 and cover.

1975

  • Pignatti, Teresio. "Le feste Ducale. Canaletto, Brustolon, Guardi" Critica d'arte 21 (40), n.s., fasc. 144 (November-December 1975): 42, 54, 56, 67 (no. 7).

1982

  • Links, J. G. Canaletto. Oxford, 1982: 212, pl. 2.

  • ettagno, Alesandro et al. Canaletto: Disegni-Dipinti-Incisioni. Venice, 1982: 51-52, pl. 70.

1983

  • Da Carlevarijs ai Tiepolo, Incisori veneti e friuliani del Settecento. Musei provinciali, Palazzo Attems, Gorizia, and Museo Correr, Venice. Venice, 1983: 90 (under no. 63).

1989

  • Baetjer, Katharine, and J. G. Links. Canaletto. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989: 348-350.

1993

  • Visentini, Margherita Azzi. "Feste," in exh. cat. Francesco Guardi. Veduti, Capricci, Feste. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice. Milan, 1993: 177, 179.

1994

  • The Glory of Venice. Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museo del Settecento Veneziano - Ca'Rezzonico, Venice; Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, 1994-1995: 244-245, 440.

1995

  • Lachenmann, David. Fünfzig italienische Zeichnungen des 16. - 18. Jahrhunderts aus der Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz. Vaduz, 1995: no. 44.

1996

  • Lachenmann, David. Italian Drawings from the Ratjen Foundation, Vaduz. Exh. cat. The Frick Collection, New York. Bern, 1996: no. 44.

2001

  • Lachenmann, David. "Wolfgang Ratjen as Collector." Master Drawings 39 (2001): 105, 108 and fig. 3.

2007

  • Baetjer, Katherine. "Canaletti Painting: On Turner, Canaletto, and Venice," Metropolitan Museum Journal 42 (2007): 165

2008

  • Pavanello, Giuseppe and Alberto Craievich. Canaletto: Veneziae i suoi Splendori. Venezia, 2008: 329.

2010

  • Sale catalogue Important Old Master Paintings. Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 2010, 212, under no. 228.

2011

  • Italian Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection 1525-1835. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2011: 130-133 and cover

2019

  • Barcham, William L. "Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo's Patronage of the Arts: Piazzetta, Pitteri, Pavona, Nazari, Joli, Canaletto, Brustolon, and Guardi..." Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte 43 (2019): and 156, fig. 29

Inscriptions

verso of mount, lower left, graphite: 2, and at lower right: 27-20 [?]/12 [encircled]

Wikidata ID

Q64537842

You may be interested in

Loading Results