CANALETTO (GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL)

BUCENTAUR'S RETURN TO THE PIER BY THE PALAZZO DUCALE

The work which forms a pair with this one, Reception for the French Consul in Venice is in the Hermitage.

The Riva degli Schiavoni with Piazzetta and the Doge's Palace are depicted on Assumption Day – the most important festival in the Venetian Republic. This painting together with the other in the Hermitage was commissioned by Jacques Vincent Languet, Count of Jerzi, French Ambassador to the Republic of Venice. The canvas in the Hermitage was completed first, in 1727, while the canvas in the Pushkin Museum recording the presence of the Ambassador at the Assumption celebrations was completed in 1728-1729.

Provenance: acquired for the Hermitage between 1766 and 1768; in the Pushkin Museum since 1930.