Stonemason's Yard. The Stonemason's Yard is an early oil painting by Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto.
It depicts an informal scene in Venice, looking over a temporary stonemason's yard in the Campo San Vidal and across the Grand Canal towards the church of Santa Maria della Carità. Painted in the mid to late 1720s, it is considered one of Canaletto's finest works.
The painting measures 123.8 by 162.9 centimetres. It depicts a Venetian scene looking roughly southwest over a temporary stonemason's yard situated in an open space beside the Grand Canal known as the Campo San Vidal.
Several masons are at work shaping and carving stone probably destined for the reconstruction of the nearby church of San Vidal or possibly for the embellishment of a nearby palazzo. The side of the medieval church of Santa Maria della Carità, reconstructed in the 1440s, stands on the opposite bank of the Grand Canal, to the left of the façade of the Scuola Grande della Carità; the tower of the church of San Trovaso is visible rising over the rooftops in the distance.
In addition to the architectural details, The Stonemason's Yard shows scenes of daily life in Venice, probably in the early morning: a cock crows on a windowsill to the lower left, and sunlight streams in from the left behind the viewer's. The mainly domestic buildings are generally in poor repair, with typical Venetian flared chimney-pots.
It depicts an informal scene in Venice, looking over a temporary stonemason's yard in the Campo San Vidal and across the Grand Canal towards the church of Santa Maria della Carità. Painted in the mid to late 1720s, it is considered one of Canaletto's finest works.
The painting measures 123.8 by 162.9 centimetres. It depicts a Venetian scene looking roughly southwest over a temporary stonemason's yard situated in an open space beside the Grand Canal known as the Campo San Vidal.
Several masons are at work shaping and carving stone probably destined for the reconstruction of the nearby church of San Vidal or possibly for the embellishment of a nearby palazzo. The side of the medieval church of Santa Maria della Carità, reconstructed in the 1440s, stands on the opposite bank of the Grand Canal, to the left of the façade of the Scuola Grande della Carità; the tower of the church of San Trovaso is visible rising over the rooftops in the distance.
In addition to the architectural details, The Stonemason's Yard shows scenes of daily life in Venice, probably in the early morning: a cock crows on a windowsill to the lower left, and sunlight streams in from the left behind the viewer's. The mainly domestic buildings are generally in poor repair, with typical Venetian flared chimney-pots.
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