Canaletto. Octave Uzanne

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      Unlike the citizens of Athens, who crowned Aristophanes with roses, even though he had just punished them with his biting satires, Goldoni’s countrymen never knew how to appreciate their poets’ value, and they let the most interesting one get away. On the occasion of the revival of Harlequin’s Child Lost and Found, a play written at the request of Cacchi by an Italian theatre that had been established in Paris, Goldoni went to France for a two-year engagement for which he would receive a respectable remuneration. A passionate admirer of Molière, whom he considered the greatest comic among the ancients and moderns, he always wanted to learn of France, its men of letters, and Parisian society so highly praised for its wit and from which he hoped to gain great praise for his talent. He was soon bound in service to Mesdames, the king’s daughters, as their Italian tutor. Though no real position in the court was available, in exchange for some lessons he gave to the unmarried Madame Adelaide, he was able to secure lodgings at Versailles. He took part in every voyage and attended the court’s shows. In the end, his protectors provided him with a payment of four thousand pounds and released him from all of his duties. Goldoni turned a deaf ear to requests sent to him from London, Portugal and his fellow countrymen, remaining in Paris. During 1771, the success of Le Bourru Bienfaisant, which played with the support of Molé, Reville and Madame Bellecour, was one of the most vivid joys of his life. By nicknaming him “the Italian Molière”, his contemporaries had certainly not overstepped the boundaries of truth any more than when they likened Metastasio to Sophocles.[7]

      Along with these diverse poets, some exceptional women graced Venetian society with their charming spirits and talent. One was Luisa Bergalli who, although spending her youth in a cobbler’s workshop, married the noble, Count Gaspard Gozzi. Marvellously gifted, she excelled in embroidery and, before she gave herself over to letters, she learned how to paint from Rosalba. Her translations of Terence’s plays, which garnered praise from Apostolo Zeno, her canzone and diverse theatrical works all bore witness to her skills, which were some of the rarest. No less famous was Rosalba Carriera, nicknamed the “Queen of Pastels”, who was celebrated when she travelled to France. She sold her portraits for thirty zecchinos and Charles de Brosses offered her twenty-five gold louis for a Magdalene no larger than his hand and a mere copy of Correggio. Though we excessively praise her graceful manner and charming colours, on the other hand we tend to forget about her master, the noble Giovanni Antonio Lazzeri.

      Although the decline in painting was more noticeable than the glory of its zenith, the Venetian school, fallen into a period when the masters were considered to be frivolous and friendly, still counted some outstanding names. The prestige of Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto had not died out in the least, but their examples were hardly ever followed. One was more likely to head in the direction of the Carracci brothers or Pierre de Carone, or towards eclectics like Giambologna, the mannerists of Rome, or the imitators of Caravaggio. Like them, Venetians exaggerated their effects and loaded their canvases with dark shadows that compromised the longevity of the painting. These tenebrous styles were in vogue at the end of the seventeenth century. Without regard for the great painting traditions, the following era attempted a renewal. All the individual talents that then manifested themselves generated interest, not to mention that their work was not defective. Thus, a group made up of artists like Ricci, Tiepolo, Canaletto, and several minor masters like Milinari, Guardi and Longhi, would form around an excellent designer like Gregorio Lazzarini. They all deserve to be remembered with praise.

      25. The Piazzetta, with the Library and Campanile, looking West, c. 1735.

      Pen and ink, 22.6 × 37.4 cm.

      The Royal Collection, London.

      26. View of Venice, Piazza San Marco and Piazzetta, c. 1740.

      Oil on canvas, 67.3 × 102 cm.

      Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford.

      Therefore, the artists’ movement had barely let up. Venice, with the resources that its two academies provided, remained one of the places in the world where young artists found it easier to initiate their technique. The government deserved credit for not having neglected anything as far as ensuring the protection and prosperity of local industry and art. It was the government that granted Briati the sole privilege of manufacturing and selling crystals styled after those from Bohemia, the importation of which was prohibited. In this way he came to manufacture the most sought-after chandeliers and mirrors in Europe.[8] In 1764, a decree was issued for an Academy of Fine Arts, which was to take the place of the old painters’ association. It opened in 1766, thanks to patrician support of the leadership’s plans.

      The Venetian artists even reaped very respectable fame outside their own country. One day, one of the doge’s representatives to the pope asked Carlo Maratta to paint a canvas for the examination room. He was surprised that they would solicit an artist in Rome since they had Gregorio Lazzarini, considered the Raphael of his school, in Venice. Although Lazzarini had instructed Giambattista Tiepolo, nothing seems less compatible with the master’s wisdom than his disciple’s wildly alluring work. Tiepolo actually has more affinities with Piazzetta, whose religious compositions are characterised by feverish movement. Amidst ruined architecture, he places characters of tormented bearing, while a violent wind raises hanging draperies and tears away at the clouds. One can especially appreciate the quick, spirited style of execution in his oeuvre that marvellously adapts itself to the fresco. Painted with an array of pale gold and fine silver hues, the expansive compositions in which he loves to mix the flight of spirits with rays of light enchant the eye to such a degree that it one forgets about any weaknesses in his drawing. In spite of his critics, Tiepolo emerges as the heir apparent to the masters of detail, one of the greatest after Veronese. During this period, a school of landscape artists was also blossoming, including artists like Luca Carlavaris and Marco Ricci from whom Canaletto was going to distinguish himself.

      However, although painting was drying up, music was flourishing and much appreciated. Born inside churches, it later became secularized beginning in the fifteenth century. People saw it as the necessary complement to a lavish existence, the typical companion at feasts where the ear needed to be charmed as much as the eye and the tongue. The greatest colourists passionately lent themselves to music in order to distract themselves from painting, manoeuvring the violin bow and the brush with equal ease. Later on, four homes for orphaned girls supplied singers from among their ranks to both Venetian stages and to theatres in all countries. An academy of music played along the banks of the canal almost every night. The commoners were no less passionate than the nobles about these concerts, and the two sides of the canal were always completely covered with people who hurried there to listen.

      27. Venice: the Piazzetta towards the Torre dell’Orologio, 1727–1729.

      Oil on canvas, 172.1 × 134.9 cm.

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