четвъртък, 21 октомври 2010 г.

Canaletto e Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Canaletto, Campo San Rocco, after 1730
oil on canvas, 47 x 80 cm
Woburn Abbey Art Gallery, Private Collection, Woburn

The facade of the 16th-century Scuola, at the end of the square, serves ad the fixed point from which Canaletto calculated his interesing perspectives. This makes the square look broader and more open than in reality it is. Canaletto consciously accepted certain topolographical inaccuracies in order to achieve his breadth of perspective.

Canaletto, Feast of San Rocco, ca.1735
oil on canvas, 147 x 199 cm
The National Gallery, London

Canaletto depicts the Feast of San Rocco and the Doge's visit to the square in great detail. He records the architectual details of the Reneissance facade of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco exactly. The same applies to the festoons in front of the windows and doors, as well as to the sunshade that draped over the entire square. The Scuola di San Rocco dominates the centre of the composition; its exterior is decorated with garlands and paintings, as was the custom on this occasion. This small square (campo in venexian) in front of the Scuola and the Church of San Rocco complete with the crowd of people who have gathered there, looks wider than it really is. The incomplete church facade casts its shadow on the square. The rest is flooded in streaming sunlight.

Canaletto, Feast of San Rocco, (detail) ca.1735
oil on canvas, 147 x 199 cm
The National Gallery, London

Numerous paintings on canvas adorn the facade of the Scuola for the feast of San Rocco. Canaletto and his artist nephew Bellotto are recorded as having sold some of their works at one of these exhibitions. The Scuola San Rocco houses many masterpices by Tintoretto and Titian. (Nowdays visits upon payment. Price: 7 euro, Free entrance during the Feast of San Rocco, 16 August)

Even nowdays, the 16th of August festivity is celebrated solemnly and a canopy called Tendon del Doge (the Doge's canopy) is erected in Campo San Rocco (St. Rochi's square) between the Church and the Scuola.

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