The Equestrian Monument

This is one of Canaletto’s fantasy views of faded grandeur. Laundry hangs out to dry from the upper-level logia and the add-on wooden terrace, beneath which two men sit drinking at a table while the women do all the work. The statue atop a massive column recalls Venice’s famous equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni executed by Andrea del Verrocchio in the 1480s, but Canaletto’s version stands near fortifications by the sea rather than in a city square.