Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Robert Vernon
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-parkes-bonington-41" aria-label="More by Richard Parkes Bonington" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Parkes Bonington</a>
Piazzetta near Square St Mark Venice
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
adults
animals: birds
animals: fantastic
architecture
bird - non-specific
boat - non-specific
canal
capital
church
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
column
countries and continents
crowd
features
figure
fine arts and music
groups
industrial
Italy
monuments
objects
people
places
religious
religious
sculpture
society
square
St Mark - lion
symbols and personifications
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
Venice, Piazetta
winged lion
<p>Bonington was born near Nottingham, though he trained at the atelier of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris. Later he travelled around Europe building up a reputation as a watercolourist. He painted this view on his only trip to Venice in 1826. It shows the column of St Mark in the centre, with the column of St Theodore to the right. In the distance are the domes of Santa Maria della Salute. The painting received mixed reviews when it was exhibited at the British Institution in 1828. One critic described it as ‘miserably cold and meagre’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 October 2016 – 15 January 2017
2017-01-15
1 October 2016 – 15 January 2017
2017-01-15
2016-10-01
Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de
2016-10-01
Venice. City of Artists
Loan-out
View of the Piazzetta near the Square of St Mark, Venice
support: 457 × 375 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<p>Bonington visited Venice only once, in the spring of 1826, but it had a great impact on his work.  He travelled there via Paris, Milan and Verona, arriving in the city by mid April and remaining for about a month. He made innumerable <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> and oil sketches on the spot, some of which formed the basis of later works in oil and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a>.  <i>View of the Piazzetta </i> was based on a large study in graphite on grey-green <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a>, now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

</p><p>The view is dominated by the column of St Mark in the Piazzetta, with the column of St Theodore to the right, rising against a corner of the Libraria.  In the distance are the domes of Santa Maria della Salute.  The picture has been criticised by modern commentators for the linear treatment of the architecture and the rather cursory handling of aerial <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/perspective" title="Glossary definition for 'Perspective'"><span>perspective</span></a>.  However, the unusual viewpoint and the colouring - especially the pink of the columns against the intense blue of the sky - lend the picture a sense of drama.  Bonington has skillfully captured the play of light on the buildings; and the fresh palette, golden light and long shadows give the impression of a late spring afternoon in Italy.

</p><p>The picture was exhibited, along with <i>Venice: Ducal Palace with a Religious Procession </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bonington-venice-ducal-palace-with-a-religious-procession-n05789" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05789</span></a>) at the British Institution in 1828 and received mixed reviews.  The <i>Literary Gazette</i> considered that Bonington's execution was 'masterly' (<i>Literary Gazette</i>, 9 February 1828), but the <i>London Weekly Review</i> described <i>View of the Piazzetta </i>as 'miserably cold and meagre' (<i>London Weekly Review</i>,<i> </i>23 February 1828). Although Bonington was relatively unknown in England at this date, his work had recently been absorbed into two important English collections and the picture was soon bought by the notable collector Robert Vernon.  When Vernon died in 1847 he bequeathed a selection of his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> to the National Gallery, including <i>View of the Piazzetta</i>, which became the first work by Bonington to enter a public collection in England.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Robin Hamlyn, <i>Robert Vernon's Gift - British Art for the Nation</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1993, p.36, no.8, reproduced p.36.<br/>Patrick Noon, <i>Richard Parkes Bonington 'On the Pleasure of Painting'</i>, exhibition catalogue, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven and London 1991, pp.256-7, reproduced p.257, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Bonington was born near Nottingham, though he trained at the atelier of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris. Later he travelled around Europe building up a reputation as a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolourist</span></a>. He painted this view on his only trip to Venice in 1826. It shows the column of St Mark in the centre, with the column of St Theodore to the right. In the distance are the domes of Santa Maria della Salute. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> received mixed reviews when it was exhibited at the British Institution in 1828. One critic described it as  ‘miserably cold and meagre’. 

</p>
Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults animals: birds animals: fantastic architecture bird - non-specific boat - non-specific canal capital church cities, towns, villages (non-UK) column countries and continents crowd features figure fine arts and music groups industrial Italy monuments objects people places religious religious sculpture society square St Mark - lion symbols and personifications townscapes / man-made features transport: water Venice, Piazetta winged lion