The Portico with the Lantern c. 1735 - 1746

Curator: This is Canaletto’s etching, "The Portico with the Lantern," created sometime between 1735 and 1746. Look at the layering and line work; so delicate yet complex! Editor: It feels… unfinished, doesn't it? Like a beautiful ruin. The lantern hanging under the arch, the overgrown foliage… there's a touch of melancholy about it. Curator: The method, primarily etching, really suits the subject here. Consider the labor involved – the meticulous scratches on the metal plate, the multiple proofs pulled to get this particular distribution of light and shadow. Canaletto's Venice was very much about spectacle, but also about trade and this reveals the relationship. Editor: It is so compelling! My eye keeps jumping around, trying to decide where to land. Is that a birdcage I spot dangling under one of the arches? And that odd scaffolding on top of the building further back… It feels almost theatrical, like a stage set for some grand, unwritten play. Curator: And the perspective! You see how he uses linear perspective to draw your eye deeper into the composition? It suggests, doesn't it, Venice’s vast commercial reach, and its own internal hierarchies displayed here, within the space? How structures impose on space and vice versa. Editor: I see what you mean about the layering and sense of Venice having all these simultaneous existences and levels, visible all at once. I can almost smell the salt and damp stone of the lagoon. He doesn't quite romanticize things, which makes this very special. Curator: These prints like "The Portico With the Lantern", helped Canaletto to further broadcast his own style – making his images available to more audiences via mass production. He’s also exploring the visual economy of space itself. Editor: A lasting image, even if a bit rough around the edges. It has stuck with me. Thank you, Canaletto! A fleeting look at beauty and also, a subtle reflection on what we labor for in life.