A palace with high ceilings, full of Renaissance details and classical music in the background. The exhibition of the Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as 'Canaletto,' needed a unique place like this Museum of Rome to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of the famous 18th century painter.
Bozena Anna Kowalczyk has devoted a large part of her life to studying and analyzing works by this universal artist.
BOZENA ANNA KOWALCZYK
Curator of the exposition
“This exhibition is a true journey through his career, his success, but also his techniques. Most of the paintings we present have never been shown in Italy.'
It is the first time these 42 paintings are being exposed together. They come from some of the most important museums in the world such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest or the National Gallery in London.
BOZENA ANNA KOWALCZYK
Curator of the exposition
'These works come from all over the world. Canaletto had great success since his youth, and his works were bought by English collectors, but also by great European collectors.'
He is known for the landscapes of his native Venice, but he also received much of his influence from his time in England. He painted, Chelsea from the Thames at Battersea Reach when he lived there. Back in the day, it was attached, but it was later separated into two. Now, after many years, it has been joined together once again.
The left part of the canvas was lent by the National Trust in England, and the right by the Gallery of Fine Arts of Havana, in Cuba.
BOZENA ANNA KOWALCZYK
Curator of the exposition
“The best museums in the world competed to have Canaletto among their collection, but then they got tired because they realized it was very difficult to get one of his works. In this sense, one could compare Canaletto with other greats artists like Caravaggio or Raphael.'
Despite his great success as a painter, Canaletto died poor, but the wealth found in his strokes and his way of expressing his art still attracts thousands of people 250 years later.
