Plate 5: The Doge in the Bucintoro Departing for the Porto di Lido on Ascension Day, from 'Ducal Ceremonies and Festivals' (Le Feste Ducali)

Lodovico Furlanetto|Giovanni Battista Brustolon|Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)

ca. 1766 · Etching and engraving; second state of four · Drawings and Prints

The main feature of this print is the state barge (bucintoro) that was used annually on Ascension Day to transport the doge to a ceremony that symbolically wedded Venice to the Adriatic Sea. The vessel was 120 feet long and 26 feet high. The doge’s throne was in the stern, and at the prow was a figure holding scales representing Justice. The larger print shown adjacent to this one demonstrates the opulence of the procession. In 1798 the French general Napoleon ordered the barge destroyed, a symbolic act to celebrate his conquering of Venice. This print is from a series of twelve "Ducal Ceremonies and Festivals" (Le Feste Ducali).

Artist

Lodovico Furlanetto|Giovanni Battista Brustolon|Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)

Date

ca. 1766

Medium

Etching and engraving; second state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1961