Arrival of the French Ambassador in Venice

This records a real morning of state. In November 1726 the new French ambassador, Count Languet de Gergy, made his ceremonial entry into Venice, stepping ashore in front of the Doge's Palace to be met by officials of the republic. Canaletto painted the scene soon after, early in a career built on selling exact, sunlit views of Venice to visitors who wanted to take the city home with them. Everything is arranged for display, the crowded gondolas, the guards, the pink and white front of the palace behind. Decades later the picture travelled far from the lagoon when Catherine the Great of Russia bought it for her collection, which is how a Venetian arrival now hangs in Saint Petersburg.