Venice: The Piazza San Marco looking East; The Rialto Bridge looking South; The Grand Canal, looking East with the Scuola della Carità; and The Molo, with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace from the Bacino on Ascension Day

The Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views has been identified as Apollonio Domenichini, one of the many vedutisti active in the eighteenth century and enrolled in Venice's Fraglia de' Pittori. Domenichini frequently drew inspiration for his vedute from prints and the works of his contemporaries, including Michele Marieschi and Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto. In the case of the present paintings, all four views correspond to etchings by Antonio Visentini, after Canaletto’s works, for Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus Celebriores, first published in 1735.

Domenichini’s vedute are distinguished by their cool palette and slightly distorted perspective, which heightens the grandeur of his compositions. In The Rialto Bridge looking South, Domenichini subtly rotates the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, situated to the right of the bridge, so that its façade can be fully appreciated. This view of the Molo, with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace from the Bacino, depicts Venice’s principal feast day, celebrating the city’s relationship with the sea. The Bucintoro - the Doge’s opulent ceremonial vessel shown at right - was rowed into the Adriatic, where a ring was cast into the water to symbolize Venice’s marriage to the sea. On land, marquees in the Piazzetta host the Ascension Day Market, a tradition that continues to this day.