Comparing Venetian views: the Molo towards the Basilica della Salute | 6 August – 24 October 2021
The extraordinary guest of the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti at Ca’ d’Oro will be, until 24 October, the dazzling view by Canaletto (1697 – 1768) depicting The Molo to the West with the Zecca and the column of San Teodoro from the Civica Pinacoteca of Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
Part of a pair of pendant paintings from the collections of Thomas Osborne, fourth Duke of Leeds, Canaletto’s work passed through the collection of the Milanese senator Luigi Albertini, before being purchased in 1995 for the city collections.
The exhibition of the canvas next to the painting of the same subject by Francesco Guardi (1712 – 1793) from the Franchetti collection offers the possibility of juxtaposing two extraordinary Venetian views, among the most appreciated by aristocratic tourists on the Grand Tour, by directly comparing two “still images” (and two different pictorial concepts of urban portraits) of absolute protagonists of 18th century lagoon landscape painting: Canaletto’s luminous version, with its broad scenographic scope and impeccable coherence of perspective, which can be attributed to the painter’s maturity and can be dated before 1742, and the vibrant lyrical interpretation offered by Francesco Guardi in an advanced phase of his work, by then far removed, in its fantastic indeterminateness, from the clear rigour that had sealed, in a sunny image, “as if engraved in crystal” (A. Mariuz), Canaletto’s Venice in the perception of travellers and collectors of the time.
A specific itinerary created with the izi.Travel app will accompany visitors to explore the comparison between the two paintings, with the help of iconographic and topographical information that can be downloaded from home onto your smartphone or at the museum using a QRcode. With a view to extending the itinerary from the Museum to the surrounding area, there will also be guided tours and itineraries (programme to be defined) starting from the Gallery and then reaching the places depicted in the eighteenth-century canvases.
The exhibition, the second stage of the Ospiti in Galleria series, which will be inaugurated in 2020, is included in the museum’s current tour and does not entail any increase in the cost of the entrance ticket.
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