Venice: View towards Murano from the Fondamenta Nuove

Venice: View towards Murano from the Fondamenta Nuove, painted around 1725 and now in the Royal Collection, depicts the lagoon looking north from Venice's northern waterfront toward the glass-making island of Murano. The Fondamenta Nuove — built in the sixteenth century as Venice expanded northward — offered broad views across the lagoon toward Murano, San Michele cemetery island, and the distant Alps. Canaletto captures this expansive view with the atmospheric warmth of his early period, the lagoon stretching to the horizon under a luminous sky. The painting documents a less touristic aspect of Venice — its northern industrial and residential waterfront — demonstrating Canaletto's comprehensive approach to documenting the city.

The lagoon expanse between the city and Murano creates a spacious, light-filled composition. The low architecture of the fondamenta provides a modest foreground against the open sky and water.