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Canaletto work returns to abbey after 270 years

After 270 years, one of the finest works by Giovanni Antonio Canal - better known as Canaletto - is finally returning to the Venetian abbey where it was originally painted at a rare exhibition this November.

Published: 8 October 2013 10:46 CEST

Canaletto work returns to abbey after 270 years

The painting is entitled 'L’Entrata nel Canal Grande e la Basilica della Salute’ (The entrance to the Grand Canal and the Basilica of Health). Photo: Fondaco Venezia

One of Venetian artist Canaletto’s finest works, L’Entrata nel Canal Grande e la Basilica della Salute (The entrance to the Grand Canal and the Basilica of Health) will go on display in November in the Medieval Abbazia di San Gregorio in Venice, where the work was originally conceived and painted.

Organized by the Fondaco Venezia, the exhibition, entitled Gero Qua (I was there), will be open 24 hours a day between November 10th and December 27th, in the exact spot where the 18th century landscape artist painted it.

There, viewers will be able to compare the painting with the original view of the Basilica that inspired Canaletto centuries ago.

Painted between 1740 and 1745, the work offers a view towards the Baroque white marble Basilica di Salute, created by architect Baldassarre Longhena as an offering for the city following the end of an outbreak of the plague.

Also visible are the Doge’s Palace, the Magazzini del Sale and the Punta della Dogana as well as a scattering of noblemen, merchants, boatmen and local gondoliers of the day.

But with ticket prices reported to be as high as €400 for a nighttime viewing, tourists aren’t expected in their hordes. Only eight viewers will be allowed at any time and visits must be pre-booked.

According to Fondaco Venezia, the painting was probably originally purchased by British nobleman Henry Grey, the Duke of Kent (1664-1740) before being passed down to become part of the art collection of Lady Lucas and Dingwall.

Centuries later in 1970, it was auctioned by Sotheby’s in London and bought by its current private owner.

Since then, it has toured around the world, featuring in exhibitions in Madrid, Rome, Milan and Paris.

For more information visit the exhibition's website.

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African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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