GIUSEPPE CANELLA | Venice, a view of the Grand Canal in winter

Private collection, Italy. 

The artist's board upon which this painting was executed is flat and stable. The paint surface is also stable, and the painting reads well and presents a strong image beneath an old varnish. Stable craquelure is visible throughout, but this is not too distracting to the eye. There are a few small spots of old loss scattered at extreme edges, and a few very small old pin-dots of loss scattered here and there in the sky. More recent attention has been given to the extreme edges of the work, possibly from old frame abrasion. Inspection under UV reveals an old and uneven milky varnish with a pattern of scattered spots that is not visible to the naked eye. This varnish impedes a lot of the inspection, but it does seem to reveal the more recent aforementioned attention given to the extreme edges, as well as some scattered spots in the sky. The painting is offered in a decoratively carved giltwood frame.
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A chronicler of 19^th century urban life, Giuseppe Canella returned to views of Venice throughout his long and successful career.  He completed his first vedute around 1815, which coincided with a short stay in Venice.  After making his artistic debut in 1818, he traveled throughout Spain, the Netherlands and France, where he exhibited at the Salons of 1826-1827.   He returned to his native Italy around 1832, first stopping in Milan, but also travelling back to Venice, the city that first captivated him at a young age.  The present work, dated 1834, shows a sweeping and serene view of a quiet Grand Canal under a soft blanket of snow, a rare occurrence in Venice