CARLEVARIS, Luca
(b. 1663,. Udine, d. 1730, Venezia)

View of a River Port

1710-12
Oil on canvas, 105 x 166 cm
Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

The View of a River Port is a fine example of Carlevaris's imaginary landscapes, painted shortly after his return to Venice from Rome and therefore datable to the first years of the eighteenth century. The painter has here assembled architectural motifs gathered from various places in the papal city. The arched bridge could be one of those over the Tiber, perhaps the Ponte Rotto, the equestrian monument is based on Bernini's Constantine and the houses in the background are a partial view of the Isola Tiberina. Although Carlevarijs was not interested in the precise representation of reality in this work as he was in his subsequent Venetian views, but rather assembled elements from life in an imaginary whole, the elements typical of his mature work are already evident, particularly in the central section with the quay flooded in sunlight and the lively characters painted in bright colours.

This painting is a lovely composition that shows the essential traits of the artist's training, with a northern Baroque fondness for ruins and a central Italian form of scenographic landscape.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.