Splendour in Venice: From Canaletto to Guardi

This richly illustrated exhibition catalog explores the visual splendor of eighteenth-century Venice through the art of its most celebrated painters of the cityscape. Drawing primarily from the renowned collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, the volume presents Venice as both a real urban environment and an artistic invention shaped by light, atmosphere, and perspective.

At the heart of the catalog are the great masters of the Venetian veduta, including Canaletto and Francesco Guardi, whose works defined how Venice was seen, remembered, and imagined by contemporaries and travelers alike. Their paintings capture the city’s canals, squares, and monumental architecture with striking clarity while simultaneously revealing the theatrical and poetic dimensions of Venetian life.

Alongside these iconic views, the catalog examines the broader cultural and artistic context of Venice in the eighteenth century, a period marked by international exchange, tourism, and artistic innovation. Essays and detailed entries consider issues of patronage, artistic technique, and the evolution of urban representation, offering fresh insights into how Venetian painters balanced topographical accuracy with creative interpretation.

Published in conjunction with exhibitions in Lisbon and Madrid, this volume provides an authoritative overview of Venetian landscape painting at its height and serves as a valuable reference for scholars, collectors, and admirers of Italian art.