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| Baratti, Antonio after Giovanni Battista Canal, Reception at the S. Benedetto Theatre for the Counts of the North, 1782, etching and engraving, Museo Correr, Venice |
On the evening of 22 January 1782, a supper preceded by a ball was organised in the theatre of S. Benedetto in honour of the Counts of the North. At the end of the ball, the curtain rose to reveal the stage transformed into a banqueting-hall.
Baratti's print, animated by a crowd of figures participating in the banquet, was designed by Giovanni Battista Canal.
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| Antonio Baratti after Antonio Codognato, Arena in the Piazza S. Marco, Venice, by night, in honour of the counts of the North, 1782, etching, Museo Correr, Venice |
The print is an evocative night view of the Piazza S. Marco, on the occasion of the visit to Venice of the counts of the North, in January 1782 showing the temporary constructions mounted under the supervision of the impresario and theatre architect Antonio Codognato. It is a pendant to another etching, by Antonio Baratti, representing the opposite side of the piazza with the Procuratie illuminated after the parade of chariots and the bullfight .
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| Giacomo Leonardis after Antonio Codognato, The arena in the piazza S. Marco in honour of the counts of the North, 1782, etching and engraving, Museo Correr |
Because of the importance of Russian guests the main part of the celebrations was staged in the Political core of Venice, the Piazza S. Marco. A group of stage painters and architects -Alessandro Mauro, Giorgio and Domenico Fossati, Antonio Codognato and Giannantonio Selva - created an arena, decorated in a late baroque style, as a set for a parade of allegorical chariots and a bullfight.
The visual record of the scenery, which included a triumphal arch on the side of the Basilica and a tribune shaped as a Russian-Palladian pavilion on the side of the church of S. Geminiano, was entrusted to a group of prints engraved by Antonio Baratti and Giacomo Leonardis, the prints were very likely commissioned by Nicolo Michiel and Filippo Calbo, who were in charge of state finance.
With the aim of establishing better diplomatic and commercial relations with the Russian empire, the themes of the allegorical chariots refer to Peace crowned by Plenty, Agriculture, Applied arts and Commerce. In spite of the scant popular success of the festival, the importance of the prints is confirmed by the fact that they were the source for a series of six paintings by Francesco Guardi.
Information and images from the following book: ed. by Andrew Wilton, Grand tour, the lure of Italy in the eighteenth century, Tate gallery publishing, 1996
The following blog post contains some fantastic images of Paul and Maria's stay in Venice: https://sazikov.livejournal.com/81799.html
