The Grand Canal with Santa Lucia and the Scalzi 1780

Curator: What a marvelously somber painting; the blues and greys really set a particular mood. Editor: Indeed. This is Francesco Guardi's "The Grand Canal with Santa Lucia and the Scalzi," painted around 1780. Look closely, and you’ll appreciate the details Guardi captures of daily life along the Grand Canal. Consider the Rococo style and the materials that create such atmosphere. Curator: Those gondolas, though, appear quite rudimentary, don't they? Mere vehicles, almost like part of the infrastructure, facilitating labor and passage. Note also that those large buildings occupy nearly two-thirds of the painting. Editor: You’re drawn to the economic aspects of the canal, how it enables movement of materials and people? I focus on how that structure of buildings reflects the interplay of light and shadow, doesn't it? And it frames that atmospheric sky with great effect! Curator: Absolutely! Venetian painters are not as focused on capturing details and drawing things like it is - in a literal manner. I'd focus instead on how these buildings dictate access to work. If you’re further away from the buildings then the farther you are from opportunities. And so many people rely on these access. The light illuminates opportunities or denies opportunities for them based on where they can stand, live, and reside. Editor: Yes, but it is how they convey those themes! Think of the semiotic structure he constructs—the verticality of the churches counterpoised with the horizontality of the canal. There's a kind of structural dialectic present in Rococo as it is a contrast of two components! How Guardi uses the texture of oil paint to suggest both the solidity of the buildings and the shimmering quality of the water – marvelous. Curator: So, as visitors consider "The Grand Canal," I hope they'll appreciate the historical labor relations expressed as a formal aspect within a painting by Guardi! Editor: While for me, Guardi's skillful construction creates a cityscape both immediate and transcendent. His structural composition speaks to the longings embedded in the Rococo style and the language of art.