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CANALETTO: Capriccio: The Horses of San Marco in the Piazzetta

CANALETTO
🖼 Capriccio: The Horses of San Marco in the Piazzetta, 1743
Oil on canvas
108 × 129.5 cm
Windsor, United Kingdom

Gilded horses rear dramatically in Venice's Piazzetta, their bronze forms luminous against architectural fantasy. Canaletto blends real landmarks with imaginary ruins, celebrating Venice's glory through capriccio—a genre merging observation with inventive spectacle that captivated 18th-century collectors.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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