The Grand Canal from Santa Maria della Carità to the Bacino di San Marco

The whole picture is built around one hour of sunlight. Warm light falls on the Gothic front of the church of Santa Maria della Carità in the foreground, and across it lies the sharp shadow of its neighbour, the Scuola della Carità, a confraternity hall, its pinnacles printed on the brick. Beyond, the Grand Canal opens toward the Bacino di San Marco, the broad water in front of the Doge's Palace. Canaletto painted it for Stefano Conti, the merchant from Lucca who also ordered the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in this room, and the set was finished in June 1726. The church he lit so carefully stopped being a church some 80 years later. Under Napoleon its buildings were handed to the city's academy of fine arts, and they house the Gallerie dell'Accademia today.