https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/69341/fullLa Terrasse (The Terrace)ca. 1740 - 1746[com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.RecordXPerson@14a1b]com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.RecordXPerson@14a1bEtching on laid paperAntonio Canaletto Venice 1697–1768 Venice Plates from Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal e da esso intagliate poste in prospetiva, published after June 6, 1744 cat. nos. 30–39 The Terrace ca. 1740–46 Etching Plate: 5 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches P. & G. 18; Montecuccoli degli Erri 19, first editorial state of two (printed 1772 or 1778) Membership Purchase Fund 69.128a Along with his many vedute, Canaletto painted and etched a number of imaginary views, or capricci. In this series of four plates printed on the same sheet, he combines the two genres in a way that is almost convincing. Venice did not exist in the period of the Western Roman Empire; hence, it contains no Roman ruins. Yet, in this “view” of San Giacomo di Rialto, Canaletto invents a Roman past for his city by placing three columns and a statue, apparent survivals of an imposing Roman temple, on the square in front of an accurately portrayed Venetian church of the eighteenth century. Likewise, an Egyptian obelisk of the type seen in Roman piazze, surmounted with a papal orb and cross, peeks over the wall of the otherwise Venetian scene in The Terrace. Were these attempts to link the glories of La Serenissima with those of ancient Rome, statements of the relation between invention and topographical realism in the art of the vedutista, or just a bit of visual humor? In most of Canaletto’s vedute, human figures and activities are clearly secondary to the representation of the physical city. In his etching of The Market at Dolo, however, the dominance is reversed, and the focus is on the market as a beehive of human activity. Appropriately, the point of view is slightly lower than in most of Canaletto’s views, just a little above eye level, and the figures are clustered much closer to the picture plane. The only structures (save for one of the two columns of the piazzetta, barely incorporated on the far right) are in the far distance, across the Bacino from the crowd gathered on the Molo. Stuart M. Blumincom.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.Classification@5ehttps://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/7974/rdf