Capriccio: A Palace with a Courtyard by the Lagoon
c. 1750–55
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and gray and black washes over traces of graphite (?); framing lines in pen and brown and black ink
Dimensions
26.9 × 42.1 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1930.23
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Privileged young Europeans embarking on the Grand Tour during the 1700s invariably visited Venice, where they purchased paintings, prints, and drawings to commemorate their trip. Canaletto’s vedute (view paintings) were particularly desirable as mementos of the city. This drawing is a capriccio—an artistic fantasy of architecture and landscape. Canaletto often referred to actual buildings in his capricci, manipulating and combining them to create his invented views. The palatial structure in thi...