claim: a photograph shows a large whale swimming through a canal in venice.
question: is this a whale in a venice canal?
origin: venice, italy, a city built on more than 100 little islands, is famed for its canals and bridges. a set of photographs purportedly showing large whales swimming through those canals are frequently circulated on social media:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  all three of these images were created by robert jahns (instagram user nois 7) who has garnered a large following for his photo manipulations. (we previously covered his doctored image that appeared showed a massive waterslide in dubai.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  although jahns first shared these images with simple captions such as “whale in venice,” his later posts acknowledged that they were “artworks.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  jahns told citylab in 2014:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “when i started my instagram account 2 years ago i saw that many artists had success. i wanted that many people [to] see my work and i wanted to inspire them and exalt their imagination. that’s what i am able to do nowadays, it’s a passion.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: a photograph purportedly showing a large whale swimming through a canal in venice was digitally manipulated.
summary: robert jahns has garnered a large following for his photo manipulations. he first shared these images with simple captions such as “whale in venice.” his later posts acknowledged that they were ‘artworks’ and that he was inspired by many artists who have had success with their work. the images were created by instagram user nois 7, who has more than 100,000 followers.