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The Italian Settecento

Venetian views, Roman ruins and grand decoration in eighteenth-century Italy.

25 works · hang 7523 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

First room, north wall

  1. STUDY FOR PAINTING, MOUNT OLYMPUS
    Study for Painting, Mount OlympusVito D'Anna, 1750–60Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  2. MADONNA AND SAINTS
    Madonna and SaintsSebastiano Conca, ca. 1730Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  3. WORKING PEASANT
    Working PeasantCarlo Marchionni, 1728–78Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

First room, south wall

  1. The soaring, gilded vault of a central aisle of the inside of a church fills this horizontal painting. The ceiling of the nave curves up and away from us like a tunnel. It is lined with coffers, which have inset panels, decorated with gold. The light-filled nave angles down from the top center of the composition toward the lower left as it moves away from us. The white stone pillars supporting the barrel vault are intricately carved and decorated with pudgy, winged cherubs holding portraits of men, and aisles run parallel to the central nave to our left and right. In the side aisles, pink marble columns flank altars in chapels. At the far end of the church, the nave is interrupted where it opens into the light-filled crossing, before continuing beyond. Marking the space where the long hall of the church is intersected by a shorter arm to create a cross shape is a structure made of four twisting columns supporting a pointed canopy, all cast in bronze. Tiny men and women pray or gather in pairs and small groups along the nave. Some wear tattered clothing and others are elegantly dressed.
    Interior of Saint Peter's, RomeGiovanni Paolo Panini, c. 1754Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. STUDY FOR A PAINTING ON THEME OF CALLISTO
    Study for a Painting on Theme of CallistoFilippo Falciatore, ca. 1750Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  3. SKETCHES FOR A TABLET
    Sketches for a tabletCarlo Marchionni, ca. 1750Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, south wall

  1. The painting depicts many large and small ships on blue-green water. Gondolas in shades of gold, black, red, and blue drift across the water, small people on them pushing long poles through the water. There are also large sailboats and long boats with several rowers. They create a colorful mix. On the left, a large brown building with columns is visible. Some of the boats pull up to it, and many people in colorful clothing are visible on the shore. Behind the water are more large buildings in shades of brown, cream, and tan, with even more people visible on the streets below them. There is a large tower in the center of the painting, and several blue domes are visible in the distance. The sky is light blue, with white and gray clouds drifting across it.
    Procession of Gondolas in the Bacino di San Marco, VeniceAntonio Joli, 1742 or afterCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Warwick Castle: The East Front, by Canaletto, 1752
    Warwick Castle: The East FrontCanaletto, 1752Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. The Glorification of the Barbaro Family, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, ca. 1750
    The Glorification of the Barbaro FamilyGiovanni Battista Tiepolo, ca. 1750Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal), by Canaletto, 1741
    Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)Canaletto, 1741Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, north wall

  1. The Round Tower, from "Carceri d'invenzione" (Imaginary Prisons), by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, ca. 1749–50
    The Round Tower, from "Carceri d'invenzione" (Imaginary Prisons)Giovanni Battista Piranesi, ca. 1749–50Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. This is a painting of a group engaged in a music session, all looking towards a large open music book in a grand, architectural setting. Behind the group are tall, ornate columns and an arched background that opens up to show a cloudy blue sky. Most of the people have open mouths as if they are singing, while one man in the back seems to be conducting, holding a up roll of paper. Some of the people in the group are seated in cushioned wooden chairs, and a yellowish cloth is draped over the surface that the large book rests on. There is a string instrument similar to a cello near the bottom left corner. The colors used are rich, earthy browns, yellows, and reds, with elements of blue and white clothing. All of the people have pale skin, and two have long white mustaches.
    The ChoristersAlessandro Magnasco, c. 1740/1745Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. We look slightly down across a sun-drenched plaza with people scattered among ruins, buildings, and around a free-standing column in this vertical landscape painting. The people we can see have light skin. Towering trees with celery, sage, and forest-green leaves frame a small plaza paved with flax-colored stones. A tree to our right almost reaches the top of the painting, and a shorter tree in front of it has toppled onto the plaza. To our left, in the lower corner, a man sits behind a shadowy balustrade, looking down. In the lower center of the painting, a man walks toward us, holding a basket over one arm and dead poultry in the other hand, and a dog sits nearby. Slightly farther back is a tall stone column with a door in its base and a statue on top. A woman wearing a red shirt and blue skirt sits on a step in front of the door. Along the left side, the plaza gives way to a tree-lined, dirt road that meanders toward a stone arch in the middle distance, and to a cluster of low buildings beyond. Two towers catch the light, one with a slate-blue dome and the other with a peach-colored steeple. Farther back from the buildings is a dark line of trees at the base of a steep green hill dotted with groves of trees, which rises high over the plaza below. Another building complex, glowing in warm tones of straw yellow, sits at its top. Small dots of red, white, and blue suggest a handful of people making their way up the hill’s wide path. A river with moss-green water pouring over a dam extends from the lower right corner into the distance along the right edge of the painting. Near the column, a man fishes at the water’s edge. The water winds back to a row of silvery-gray buildings in the far distance. Several people in red, yellow, or white, tiny in scale, dot the riverbanks and cross the bridge. A screen of thin, pale pink clouds float across the light blue sky.
    English Landscape Capriccio with a ColumnCanaletto, c. 1754Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Third room, south wall

  1. The Triumph of Marius, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729
    The Triumph of MariusGiovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Piazza San Marco, by Canaletto, late 1720s
    Piazza San MarcoCanaletto, late 1720sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. The Letter, by Pietro Longhi, 1746
    The LetterPietro Longhi, 1746Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art