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Writing and CommunicationsServerius10-18-13

The Reception of the French Ambassadorin Venice

The Reception of the French Ambassador in Venice, a landscape painting by

Giovanni Antonio Canal (better known as Canaletto), sounds like a painting that

would depict diplomats greeting each other, based on the title. This would at least

hold true during the 1740s, when this painting was done. At the time of The

Reception, landscape paintings wer e not unheard-of, but were not highly common

either. Paintings contained landscapes, but merely as a background for their

subject(s) (Witt, 71-74). However, the subjects of this painting are not diplomats or

any people at all . The subjects of The Reception are the buildings of Venice.

Although The Reception of the French Ambassador in Venice contains a countless

number of people, it is clear that Canaletto intended the painting to be a landscape.

The simplest proof that The Reception is a landscape painting is the fact

that Canaletto was exclusively a landscape painter. He was most famous for his

vedute paintings (Binion). Vedutes are large paintings, etchings, or drawings that

depict a city or town (dictionary.com). Most of Canalettos work depicted realistic

cityscapes (a form of landscape) of Venice, and The Reception of the French

Ambassador in Venice is no exception (Binion). It is easy to prove that The

Reception is a landscape painting by pointing out that its creator only painted that

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When all three of the criteria just mentioned are kept in mind when viewing this

painting, the buildings of the Venice clearly stand out as the subjects in The

Reception of the French Ambassador in Venice.

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Works Cited

Alice Binion. "Canaletto." Grove Art Online . Oxford Art Online . Oxford UniversityPress. Web. 17 Oct. 2013..

Clermont Witt, Robert. "How to Look at Pictures." How to Look at Pictures, by RobertClermont Witt . Hathi Trust, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013..

"vedute." Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. . Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 17 Oct. 2013..

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vedutehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vedutehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vedute