La Piazza San Marco: Looking South-East – Canaletto (1735-40)

Canaletto was a man for detail. The detail here is Venice’s great market square. Venice’s heart, and the embodiment of what what built it. In one image Canaletto captures the essence of the trade that made Venice great, and the wealth and civilisation that trade engendered – in Stephen Kinsella’s words the commerce, society, freedom, individualism, civilization, civility, and intellect.   In short, the civitas of the marketplace that gave birth to the modern world.