Venice: The Piazzeta and San Marco Library

This view was made around 1740 as a pair with the view of Piazza San Marco in the same room, the two looking in opposite directions from the heart of Venice. Here the basilica and the Doge's Palace stand on the left, the library of San Marco faces them, and beyond the open space the water stretches from Palladio's church of San Giorgio Maggiore to the island of the Giudecca, crossed by big sailing ships. Canaletto chose afternoon light. The museum points out that the farthest white sail is also the vanishing point, the spot where every line of the picture meets, and that the people shrink step by step toward it. Seen close up, those people are hardly more than single touches of pure colour, set down for brightness rather than for detail.