Canaletto, 'Venice: S. Pietro in Castello', 1730s

People are hard at work on boats beside the small island of San Pietro in the area of Castello, which spans the eastern part of Venice. While the nearby district of San Marco was popular with tourists, as it is today, this quieter corner of the city was a largely working-class neighbourhood. Many of its residents were tradesmen and labourers, and they sailed between Venice and the mainland ports to trade.

Canaletto repeatedly used daily life in Venice, and ordinary Venetians, as inspiration for his pictures, while earlier Venetian view painters – Luca Carlevarijs in particular – largely concentrated on ceremonial scenes for tourists. Here, the foreground is a hive of activity. Close to us, fishermen trail their nets; one man leans over the side of his boat to haul in his catch, as do several others further back. To the far right, a gondolier moors up beside the bow of a larger vessel, its masts and rigging accurately observed. A gondola is rowed at pace past these stationary craft. One boat, laden with hay and timber, has arrived from the mainland, and its sail is lowered by a man on board as several others begin to unload the cargo. Further back, more trading vessels are at anchor, their sails stirred by a gentle breeze. Beyond is the lagoon, with the Dolomite mountains in the hazy distance.

Over an arched wooden bridge, figures walk to and from a small complex of buildings aglow in the bright sunlight. Until 1807, the grand church of San Pietro served as the city’s cathedral, while the Basilica di San Marco was the private church of the doge (the Venetian head of state). The patriarchal palace is between the church and its campanile (bell tower); the coat of arms above the third window are those of the Patriarch (bishop) Lorenzo Priuli (who died in 1601).

The painting was given to the National Gallery in 1879, together with another view by Canaletto, Venice: Entrance to the Cannaregio. The two pictures are of a similar size and were long considered pendants, but the difference in the scale of the figures suggests that Canaletto did not intended them to be hung as a pair. The warm, sultry sun on the buildings here is noticeably different to the cooler light of the other picture.