Imaginary View of Venice

Rare Prints, 29 Oct. 1994: Canaletto’s working method, as seen in the rare trial proofs that survive of his etched views, was to execute the entire composition in complete detail, usually in a single bite. He would then rework the plate, adding depth to shadows and burnishing down lines that he wished to appear lighter, so that the composition, which in the single-bite stage lay as a flat screen on the paper, would through its tonal enrichment flex into a three-dimensional space. In the case of this composition, perhaps despairing of his capacity to establish deep space where the vista was broken in the mid-ground by a prominent structure (the so-called House with a Portico), Canaletto cut the plate in half and reworked each side separately. While the first, uncut state survives in only six impressions, impressions of The House with a Portico and The House with the Date are relatively common and are frequently found printed together on the same sheet, as we see here, with the division of the plate minimized as much as possible.