The dreamlike Venice of the capricci

The meticulously detailed vision of 18th century Venice and its iconic sites is characteristic of veduta art. However, the vedutisti also had a penchant for poetical caprices, a penchant that produced imaginary views of the city (Guardi, Venetian caprice with portico, Paris, Jacquemart-André Museum, Institut de France).

Venice is transformed under the strokes of their brushes. Squares and streets decorated in dramatic and fantastical style appear, along with large landscapes where ruins sit in the midst of luxuriant vegetation (cf. Canaletto, Architectural Capriccio, oil on canvas, private collection, Switzerland). These compositions with their invented architectural elements paint a different portrait of veduta, as fanciful as it is seductive (Bellotto, Capriccio with a triumphal arch on the banks of the lagoon, Asolo, Museo Civico).

These too little known works from the vedutisti make up an important part of their output; the capricci gave them the freedom to express a romantic and creative exuberance. Giovanni Panini was a pioneer in the capricci genre, and the Jacquemart-André Museum owns a remarkable example of his work, on display in the Music Room.