The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day

The Bucintoro, the State Barge, is depicted returning to the quayside in front of the Doge's Palace, Venice. Every year on Ascension Day, the doge left the Molo and put out into the Adriatic to perform the ceremony of the symbolic Wedding of Venice to the Sea by casting a gold ring into the water. Market stalls have been set up in the Piazzetta for the event. The barge - shown here on its return to land - was the last 'Bucintoro', built in 1724 and destroyed when Napoleon overthrew the Venetian Republic. On board are the Doge and members of the Senate returning from the ceremony of the Sposalizio del Mare (the marriage of the Venetian Republic to the Adriatic Sea). Various ambassadorial gondolas are in attendance. The gondola in the foreground carries the French Royal arms. This may suggest that the painting was commissioned by the French Ambassador to Venice, Jacques-Vincent Languet, Comte de Gergy (1667–1734). This painting and its pendant (pair) were painted in the 1730s and are among the six largest known paintings by Canaletto. During recent conservation an inscription on the back of the canvas was revealed, confirming the date: 'Io, Antonio Canal, detto il Canaletto, fecit - 1760' ['I, Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, made this - 1760'].