THE MASTER OF THE LANGMATT FOUNDATION VIEWS | Venice, a view of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge, looking south; and Venice, a view of the Grand Canal from the Campo di San Vio, with the Palazzo Barbarigo on the right and Palazzo Correr on the left, looking east

The wall of the façade of the Palazzo Barbarigo that flanks the Campo di San Vio on the right-hand side of the latter painting is decorated with graffito depicting a boat. This drawing is recorded in the two earliest works of at least ten versions of this popular view by Canaletto: that of circa 1722–23 in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden,¹ and that of circa 1723–24 in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.² Canaletto's subsequent paintings of the campo omit both details and show alterations to the wall of the Palazzo Barbarigo, such as a balcony added to the lower round-topped window. The present pair of paintings may therefore also be dated to the early 1720s, and reflect the Master's interest in capturing the effects of light on the different textures of the Venetian architecture.

¹ Inv. no. 586; see W.G. Constable, Canaletto. Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697–1768, London 1962 (and subsequent editions revised by J.G. Links), vol. II, p. 274–75, cat. no. 183, reproduced vol. I, fig. 183.

² Inv. no. 76 (1958.8); see R. Razzall and L. Whitaker, Canaletto & the art of Venice, exh. cat., London 2017, p. 172, under cat. no. 67, reproduced in colour fig. 64.