Code: 11513
Dimensions:
"The new Doge observes the festivities and acrobats from the gallery of the Palazzo Ducale" (Plate 7 from "Le Feste Ducali")
After Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) (1697-1768)
Engraved by Giovanni Battista Brustoloni (1712-1796)
Etching and Engraving
Published in Venice
Circa 1760s
Measures:-
41.5 cm x 56 cm
One of Brustoloni's highly sought after 18th Century engraving's of the Venetian festivals, after an image by Canaletto.
Lettered along bottom with the artist's details 'Antonius Canal pinxit. / Jo. Bap. Brustolon inc.' and the title ''Die Jovis postrema Bacchanaliorum Serenissimus Princeps e ducali Palatio conspicit populares ludos, perantiquae victoriae monumenta ~'
The publisher's details seemingly trimmed or obscured by the current old mount.
The Doge and his party look out from a the gallery of the Palazzo Ducale at the festivities taking place beneath them in the southeast corner of the Piazzetta S Marco. Immediately above the Doge, in the middle of the building's facade, is a balcony with a tasselled awning blind. To the extreme left is part of the Basilica of San Marco. A tiered rococo tower has been constructed as a centrepiece for the festivities, beneath which is a stage with raked seating all around and a standing audience in the foreground. On the stage a group of acrobats are performing and are in the middle of building a human pyramid. In the right distance can be seen the Colonne de San Todaro. The wires probably relate to the “Volo della Colombina” (“The Flight of the dove”) when a acrobat descended to St. Mark's Square from the Campanile (bell tower).
Canaletto's original drawing with watercolour for this scene is now in the collection of the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
See BM 1914,0615.22.7 for an impression
