Annual Visit of the Doge to Santa Maria della Salute

Lodovico Furlanetto, who had a print shop and studio at Ponte dei Bareteri, was the publisher of the „Ducal Festivities“. The drawings on which the prints were based were Canaletto’s last official commission. It is probable that the famous painter did not even execute all twelve drawings that served Brustolone as models for his reproductions. The scene shows the annual event celebrating the memorial of the Presentation of Mary (November 21). Past onlooking crowds, the Doge of Venice proceeded to the Marian church - the youngest among the so-called „plague churches“, where he gave thanks to the Virgin Mary for averting the plague from the city.