CANALETTO
(b. 1697, Venezia, d. 1768, Venezia)

Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the Scuola di San Marco

c. 1725
Oil on canvas, 125 x 165 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the most important Dominican church in Venice, is depicted at the right, with the equestrian monument to Bartolommeo Colleoni by the Italian sculptor Andrea Verrocchio in front of it. Beside the church and in the centre of the composition is the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the wealthiest of the six major philanthropic confraternities in the city. The square before it is teeming with a variety of figures: beggars, a mother and child, traders, elegant ladies and dogs.

It is probable that this work was acquired by the Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire to Venice at the annual exhibition of paintings held outside the Scuola di San Rocco, which Canaletto later depicted (National Gallery, London). Works were displayed at such exhibitions by many leading painters of the time.