Artwork
The Bucintoro Departing from the Bacino di San Marco

The Bucintoro Departing from the Bacino di San Marco is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Luca Carlevarijs. It dates from 1710 and is held in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
About this work
Overview
The canvas captures a lively waterfront scene filled with vessels, flags, and crowds, rendered in a palette of blues, warm earth tones, and striking reds.
Luca Carlevarijs, a Venetian painter and engraver, completed an oil painting in 1710 that records the departure of the Bucintoro, the Doge’s ceremonial barge, from the Bacino di San Marco. The canvas captures a lively waterfront scene filled with vessels, flags, and crowds, rendered in a palette of blues, warm earth tones, and striking reds. The work is part of the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on the state barge’s launch, a key ritual of Venetian civic life. Red‑flagged boats line the canal while onlookers gather on the shore and aboard other vessels, emphasizing the communal celebration of the Doge’s procession and the city’s maritime identity.
Technique & Style
Carlevarijs employs the veduta tradition, combining precise architectural detail with a lively atmospheric sense. Light and shadow model the water and façades, while the Rococo sensibility appears in the delicate handling of color and ornamental detail, giving the scene a light, airy quality.
History & Provenance
Created in the early eighteenth century, the painting reflects Carlevarijs’s role in establishing the Venetian cityscape genre. After remaining in private hands for several generations, it entered the J. Paul Getty Museum, where it is displayed as part of the museum’s European paintings collection.
Artist & collection
Artist
Luca Carlevarijs or Carlevaris (20 January 1663 – 12 February 1730) was an Italian painter and engraver working mainly in Venice.


















