82. Westminster Bridge, London, with the
Lord Mayor’s Procession on the Thames, 1746.

Oil on canvas, 96 x 137.5 cm.

Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

 

 

From time immemorial, Venice had been shared between the Castellini and Nicolotti factions. The former, who originated from Castello, and by extension, all of those who lived on the right bank of the Canaisso, among which were found the doge and senators, made up a clan with rather aristocratic tendencies. The Nicolotti, originally confined to the left bank, around San Nicolo Church, represented the popular element. In order to defend their interests, they had the authority to elect a doge from among the gondoliers who, despite the pomp of the coronation at San Nicolo, remained faithful to rowing. One can distinguish these two factions in Canaletto’s paintings. The Castellini are wearing, as a rallying sign, the red cap and belt. Their adversaries are recognizable by their black and dark blue headgear. There were constant battles between the two sides during the jousts, evidenced by the fist fighting on the Saint Barnabas Bridge in the middle of the Nicolotti neighbourhood. Before every test of strength, the champions would prepare well in advance with special training so that they could defend their faction’s honour. At the start of the contest, they knelt before their parents to receive their blessing. Wearing precious Saint Anthony and Saint Mark relics, they would enter a church, usually Santa Maria della Salute. About four thousand Venetians took part in these contests. The gondolas’ usual route, moving ahead at top speed, went past the Piazzetta and under the Rialto Bridge, and then along the Grand Canal to Canareggio where they would turn around and head back.

 

In his monograph of Venice, Canaletto could not forget the Bucintoro. He had also made a faithful depiction of this processional barge, completely embellished with gold decorations and sculptures, including the figure of Justice placed above a group of allegorical statues on its bow. The deck, which had no mast or sail, was taken up by a vast room filled with sofas. The doge’s throne was also found there. Caryatids supported the ceiling. Around midnight, on the Day of the Ascension, the Bucintoro, towed along by the Arsenale, displaying Saint Mark’s great banner on its stern, departed from the hangar where it was always stored. Balancing on its shimmering flanks, with its flower rigging, it waited to take the doge to the Lido Channel.[15] The Most Serene Prince took his place there, between the papal nuncio and the French ambassador. They then went out to sea to celebrate the doge’s nuptials. The flotilla was made up of, without mentioning the innumerable small crafts privately owned by different individuals, galleys of ambassadors and those of the Republic that were set up by gondoliers in grand livery, draped in red velvet straps embroidered with gold, and a tall, Albanian-style cap. Canaletto even depicted the Bucintoro as it was stopped before entering into the middle of the sea, with the patriarch blessing the ceremony.[16] That is the moment when the doge throws his gold ring out into the waves to symbolize his union with his fiancée as he utters, at the same time, these holy words: “Desponsamus te, mare nostrum, in signum veri perpetuique dominii”. Then, to top it all off, he threw out to his bride, the sea, fragrant herbs and flowers.