{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O148464"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O148464/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011ET1854/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011ET1854/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011ET1854","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KT6513","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O148464/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O148464","accessionNumber":"CAI.423","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"An imaginary composition: a village street leading past a church","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Canaletto made a large number of fanciful views of tumbledown buildings, normally set in villages or the countryside, known as <i>vedute ideate</i>. Unlike <i>capricci</i>, which usually took existing buildings and placed them in new and sometimes absurd settings, with <i>vedute ideate</i> Canaletto generally invented most parts of the composition.","physicalDescription":"Drawing of a village street spanned by a ruined arch leading past a church.   There is a lagoon in the distance on the right.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio","id":"A8216"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pen and ink","id":"x30618"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"}],"techniques":[{"text":"wash","id":"AAT182748"},{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and wash","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2011ET1854","2018KT6513"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"IONIDES","shelf":"20","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Venice","id":"x29237"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1755-1768","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1768-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"25.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"39.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Vue de Venise de la terre ferme","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the back of the drawing. This inscription suggests that the work was previously in a French collection (see: Constable: no.805. p.602)."}],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by C.A. Ionides, 1900\n\nHistorical significance: Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto began his career by assisting his father Bernardo Canal (1664?-1744) in producing stage scenery. He accompanied his father to Rome in 1719-20. It was in Rome that he began to paint topographical views. Following his return to Venice in 1720 he seems to have stopped painting scenery completely in favour of producing topographical paintings. Following the example of Luca Carlevarijs, the first main exponent of Venetian <i>veduta</i> or view paintings, Canaletto began to produce more accurate views of Venice following his return. Canaletto's works appealed specifically to foreign visitors to the city and one of his key patrons was Consul Joseph Smith (c.1674-1770). From the 1740s Canaletto began to produce <i>Capricci</i>, which combine fanciful architecture and landscapes. In 1746 he travelled to England where he painted views of London and country houses for a number of English patrons. He remained almost entirely in England until 1755 when he returned to Venice. He was elected a member of the Venice Academy in 1763.\r\n\r\nA road rises in a steep slope from the foreground of the composition. This is framed at the summit by houses on the left and a church on the right. Between these buildings spans a bridge in the course of construction. In the centre foreground three figures gather around a shrine. To the right the spire of another church and a pyramid can be seen on the bank of a lagoon.  The combination of figures and objects, including an abandoned wagon in the right-foreground direct our eye around the composition. Canaletto produced a number of highly finished <i>capricci</i> drawings which are works of art in their own right. Here Canaletto presents various styles of architecture, from the ancient form of a pyramid, and the distant church, which has a northern European feel, to the more rustic buildings in the foreground. Such combinations of architecture exemplify the genre of <i>capriccio</i>. As with CAI 423, a number of these <i>capricci</i> incorporate use the location of the bank of a lagoon. This motif also occurs in <i>Imaginary composition: ruined mill and houses by the lagoon</i>, also in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (inventory CAI. 421).\r\n\r\nThere is an engraving of the same subject in reverse by Wagner from a series of six, entitled <i>Città superbe il vostro fasto abborro</i>. The engraving differs from the drawing in the stronger chiaroscuro and strengthening of the prospective. Various details from the drawing are omitted, including the lantern on the church and the shrine and bridge. No painting is known of the subject however it is possible that one existed from which the engraving was made.","historicalContext":"A 'capriccio' is a painted, drawn or engraved composition that combines imaginary and realistic architectural features in a picturesque setting, often dotted with small figures, and mostly displayed as wall schemes for interior decoration. It emerges as a genre during the early 18th-century Rococo period, and became extremely popular during the era of the Grand Tour of Europe, stimulated by the need of recording topographical settings. The Italian landscape, which abounded with classical ruins, was especially favoured for this new genre painting. It particularly developed in Venice with such artists as Marco Ricci (1676-1730) and his uncle Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), together with Canaletto (1697-1768), Giambattista Pittoni (1687-1767) and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754), and in Rome where Giovanni Paolo Panini (ca. 1692-1765) was the most representative of the 'capriccio' painters. The genre declined during the early part of the next century, gradually transformed and was eventually absorbed by the Romanticism.","briefDescription":"Pen and ink drawing by Canaletto depicting an imaginary composition: a village street, spanned by a ruined arch, leading past a church.  Italy, ca. 1755-1768.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ward Jackson, Peter. <u>Italian Drawings</u> (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1979), vol. II, p. 123, cat.951"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kowalczyk, Bozena Anna, <u>Canaletto: Rome, Londres, Venise, Le troimphe de la lumiere</u> (Brussels: Fonds Mercator 2015), pp.194-195, cat.46"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"p. 194","free":"<u>Canaletto : Rome, Londres, Venise : le triomphe de la lumière</u> Bruxelles : Fonds Mercator, [2015]. 223 pages : illustrations (colour) ; 30 cm. ISBN: \t9789462300842 / 9462300844 / 9789462300835 / 9462300836\r\n3"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"churches","id":"AAT7466"},{"text":"ruins","id":"AAT8057"},{"text":"bridges (built works)","id":"AAT7836"},{"text":"vedute ideate","id":"AAT15558"},{"text":"lagoons","id":"AAT8679"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CAI.423"],"accessionNumberNum":"423","accessionNumberPrefix":"CAI","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-03-31","availableToBook":false}}