Santa Maria della Salute and Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice

When Canaletto painted this view in the later 1730s, the great domed church of Santa Maria della Salute was only about 50 years old. Venice had vowed to build it during the plague of 1630, which killed tens of thousands of its people, and the architect Baldassare Longhena spent the rest of his working life on it. It was consecrated in 1687, a few years after his death. For Canaletto's buyers, then, the landmark at the centre of the picture was a fairly recent addition to the skyline. The Alte Pinakothek draws attention to the way he handled it. The church is strongly foreshortened, and the museum sees in the sureness of that perspective a painter who freely adjusted what he saw. The Riva degli Schiavoni, the long stone quay east of the Doge's Palace, takes its name from the Slavonians, merchants and sailors from Dalmatia who moored there. The painting has a companion piece of the same size hanging next to it.