View of St. Mark's Basin with gondolas and sailing boats
Guache on paper, cm. 29×92
Monogram “GB” on the sail of a vessel
With frame cm. 42×110
The painting unfolds in a markedly horizontal format —almost a panoramic strip — and embraces the entire view of St. Mark's Basin as seen from the water, according to the classical perspective of Venetian vedutism. On the left, the tip of the Customs House and the dome of Santa Maria della Salute dominate the lagoon profile; in the center rises the Bell Tower of San Marco, flanked by the Procuratie, the Ducal Palace with its Gothic arches, and the Mint; to the right, the scene opens onto further buildings on the Molo front, until it dissolves into the basin.
The foreground is enlivened by the comings and goings of typically Venetian boats: nacelles with black, agile profiles glide across the dark water, while in the center-right a lateen-rigged felucca —whose mainsail bears the monogram GB, the artist's discreet but unmistakable signature, prominently painted on it — occupies the scene with its load of color and movement. In the background, on the left, you can glimpse the Island of San Giorgio and the open lagoon.
The sky makes up almost the upper half of the composition: a broad Venetian blue, streaked with thin cirrus clouds and cumuliform clouds gathering to the right, illuminated by that particular light that has made the lagoon one of the most beloved subjects of European painting. The palette, dominated by deep blues, light blues and soft ochres for the architecture, betrays the training of a painter who knew perfectly the chromatic rendering of gouache — a technique preferred for collectible views— and who knew how to calibrate tonal values to obtain an effect of brightness and transparency.
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SILVER Seller in Venezia, Italy
