Canaletto, 'The Stonemason's Yard', about 1725
About the work
Overview
This intimate view of Venice, weatherbeaten and dilapidated, is one of Canaletto’s masterpieces. In the early morning sun, workmen chisel away at pieces of stone. Everyday life continues around them: a mother rushes to comfort her crying child, watched by a woman on the balcony above.
This square – the Campo San Vidal – was not usually a mason’s yard: it appears to have been temporarily transformed into a workshop while repairs are done to the nearby church of San Vidal. The church of Saint Maria della Carità and its campanile (bell tower) are visible on the far side of the Grand Canal.
Painted during the late 1720s, this is one of Canaletto’s finest early works. He has skilfully described various materials and textures: the crumbling plaster, exposed brick, and rough timber in a subtle range of colours. The buildings of different styles and heights, the animated figures and the areas of light and shadow in this theatrical picture may recall the stage sets Canaletto painted at the very beginning of his career.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Venice: Campo S. Vidal and Santa Maria della Carità ('The Stonemason's Yard')
- Artist
- Canaletto
- Artist dates
- 1697 - 1768
- Date made
- about 1725
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 123.8 × 162.9 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Sir George Beaumont Gift, 1823; passed to the National Gallery, 1828
- Inventory number
- NG127
- Location
- Room 33
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 20th-century English Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2010Venice: Canaletto and His RivalsThe National Gallery (London)13 October 2010 - 16 January 2011National Gallery of Art (Washington DC)20 February 2011 - 30 May 2011
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2018Venice at Vivaldi and Tiepolo's TimeGaleries Nationales du Grand Palais24 September 2018 - 20 January 2019Palazzo Ducale (Venice)23 February 2019 - 9 June 2019
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2024National TreasuresNational Library of Wales10 May 2024 - 7 September 2024
Bibliography
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1853National Gallery, Report from the Select Committee on the National Gallery, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, London 1853
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1853London, National Gallery Archive, NG15/3: Report from the Select Committee on the National Gallery, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, and Index, 1853
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1894B. Berenson, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, with an Index to Their Works, New York 1894
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1929G. Fiocco, Venetian Painting of the Seicento and Settecento, Florence 1929
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1948A. Lhote, Traité du paysage, Paris 1948
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1949F.J.B. Watson, Canaletto, London 1949
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1954V. Moschini, Canaletto. Testo di Vittorio Moschini, Milan 1954
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1955F.J.B. Watson, 'Venetian Paintings at the Royal Academy 1954-5', Arte veneta, 1955
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1956Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1956
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1967D. Lewis, 'Notes on XVIII Century Venetian Architecture: A Drawing, Some Dates and an Architect Rediscovered (Part 2)', Bollettino dei Musei Civici Veneziani, XII/3, 1967, pp. 17-51
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1967M. Butor, 'L'Oeil de Michel Butor sur Canaletto', Réalités, 258, 1967, pp. 36-43
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1971M. Levey, The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1971
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1974A. Corboz, 'Sur la prétendue objectivité de Canaletto', Arte veneta, XXVIII, 1974, pp. 205-18
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1975L. Puppi, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Canaletto, Paris 1975
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1976W.G. Constable and J.G. Links, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, revised edn, Oxford 1976
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1976T. Pignatti, Canaletto, Milan 1976
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1977J.G. Links, Canaletto and His Patrons, London 1977
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1978A. Macintyre and K. Garlick (eds), The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol. 5, New Haven 1978-1984
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1978M. Levey, The Venetian Scene, 2nd edn, London 1978
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1982M. Helston, Canaletto: The Stonemason's Yard and Guardi: The Piazza San Marco (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 18 February - 18 April 1982), London 1982
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1983M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
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1985A. Corboz, Canaletto: Una Venezia immaginaria, Milan 1985
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1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
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1989W.G. Constable and J.G. Links, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, 3rd edn, Oxford 1989
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1989M. Levey, 'Canaletto as Artist of the Urban Scene', in K. Baetjer and J.G. Links (eds), Canaletto, New York 1989, pp. 17-29
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1989V. Pemberton-Pigott, 'The Development of Canaletto's Painting Technique', in K. Baetjer and J.G. Links (eds), Canaletto, New York 1989, pp. 53-63
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1990G. Romanelli, Tra gotico e neogotico: Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti a San Vidal, Venice 1990
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1990B. Aikema and B. Bakker, Painters of Venice: The Story of the Venetian Veduta, (exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, 15 December 1990 - 10 March 1991), The Hague 1990
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1993J.H. Whitfield, The Englishness of Canaletto, Birmingham 1993
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1993D. Bomford and A. Roy, 'Canaletto's "Stonemason's Yard" and "San Simeone Piccolo"', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 34-41
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1993R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 86-94
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1993D. Succhi and A. Delneri, Marco Ricci e il paesaggio veneto del Settecento (exh. cat. Palazzo Crepadona, 15 May - 22 August 1993), Milan 1993
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1994J.G. Links, Canaletto, revised edn, London 1994
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1994J.G. Links, 'Modern Architecture and the View Painters: How the View Painters Viewed the Changes', Apollo, 1994, pp. 7-12
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1998D. Bomford and G. Finaldi, Venice through Canaletto's Eyes (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 15 July - 11 October 1998; York City Art Gallery, 24 October 1998 - 3 January 1999), London 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.