Who painted Campo Sant'Angelo?

Campo Sant'Angelo was painted by Canaletto in 1734-01-01.

Where can I see Campo Sant'Angelo?

Campo Sant'Angelo is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Campo Sant'Angelo?

Campo Sant'Angelo is associated with Rococo painting.

Can I buy a print of Campo Sant'Angelo?

Museum-quality prints of Campo Sant'Angelo are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.

Campo Sant'Angelo by Canaletto (1734) · Artifact World Gallery

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The painting portrays Campo Sant'Angelo, a Venetian urban square, showing a prominent tower, surrounding town buildings, a stone water well and a small dog in the foreground. These elements together document the everyday architectural and social setting of 18th-century Venice, characteristic of Canaletto's vedute that functioned as visual records of the city's public spaces. The tower and well serve as civic landmarks, while the presence of the dog adds a note of daily life, together illustrating the square's role as a communal hub within the urban fabric.

Technique & Style

The paint handling is smooth and controlled, allowing fine architectural detail and a clear, luminous atmosphere that characterizes the artist's mature style.

Campo Sant'Angelo is executed in oil paint on a canvas support, a typical medium for Canaletto's vedute. The work belongs to the cityscape genre and is classified as a veduta, emphasizing precise topographical rendering of the Campo Sant'Angelo square with its tower, surrounding buildings, water well and a dog. The paint handling is smooth and controlled, allowing fine architectural detail and a clear, luminous atmosphere that characterizes the artist's mature style.

The composition employs a measured perspective that leads the eye across the piazza, reinforcing the sense of spatial depth typical of eighteenth-century Venetian view painting.

History & Provenance

Campo Sant'Angelo was painted by Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) in 1734, executed in oil on canvas. The cityscape depicts the Venetian square with its tower, surrounding town, a water well, and a dog. The work was previously held in a private collection and was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019, where it is catalogued under accession number 2019.141.5.

It measures 46.7 cm in height and 77.5 cm in width. The sources do not contain information regarding specific exhibition history or dates of display.

Context

Canaletto's 1734 oil on canvas veduta titled Campo Sant'Angelo portrays a lively Venetian square framed by a tower, a water well and a small dog, demonstrating the artist's meticulous topographical interest. Held in a private collection before entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019, it stands as an example of 18th-century cityscape production. The work documents Venetian urban morphology and contributes to the veduta tradition that influenced later view painters, combining precise architectural rendering with a vivid sense of everyday street life.

Overview

This oil painting, titled Campo Sant'Angelo, depicts a bustling public square. The composition features prominent architectural structures framing a central, slender tower. Numerous figures populate the space, engaged in various activities, contributing to a sense of everyday life within the urban setting.

The artist uses the medium of oil paint to render the scene, capturing a specific moment within this Venetian campo.

Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo, Venice, Canaletto

Artist & collection

Artist

Canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (Italian: ), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.