Venice: Ducal Palace with a Religious Procession Possibly 1828

Editor: This is Richard Parkes Bonington's "Venice: Ducal Palace with a Religious Procession," housed at the Tate. The oil paint application is so free, almost dissolving the architecture into light. How do you interpret this scene? Curator: I see a study in contrasts. The opulence of the Ducal Palace, built with exploited labor and imported materials, stands juxtaposed with the humble procession. What role does the materiality of the artist's tools – the pigments, the canvas – play in mediating this social dynamic? Editor: That’s a really interesting angle. I was mostly caught up in the visual splendour. Curator: Right, but consider how the artist's choice of materials and techniques both reflects and potentially obscures the realities of Venetian society at the time. Editor: That makes me think about who Bonington was painting for. Curator: Exactly! And how that affects our own consumption of this image today. Editor: Thanks, I will definitely keep an eye out for those dynamics in other works of art!