Capriccio: Ruined Bridge with Figures
1746
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1746
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
You see a broken stone bridge stretching over water, with tiny people walking along it and a few boats below. Canaletto didn’t paint this from life. He imagined it—mixing real ruins with made-up ones. This kind of scene was called a *capriccio*, a fantasy landscape that let artists play with history and light. If you like this, look up *glazing*—the way Canaletto built up thin layers of paint to make the water shimmer.
