Crowdfunding. Restoration and technical study of Canaletto's The Piazza San Marco in Venice

Under the slogan Protect what makes us human, more than 600 donors collaborated with the museum in our first crowdfunding campaign. Their involvement and contributions have made possible the restoration of one of the masterpieces of the permanent collection.

The Piazza San Marco in Venice, painted by Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) in 1723, reflects the urban landscape of the time with a detail and meticulousness that was difficult to match at the time. The work belongs to the genre of vedutismo, a genre devoted to recording panoramic views of cities in paintings that were sold to wealthy tourists. Almost three hundred years after its creation, this painting was in need of cleaning, which the museum's Restoration Team began in December 2018. Alongside the cleaning, a technical study was carried out, revealing in detail the techniques, pigments and compositional phases that gave rise to the painting.

For this project, Canaletto's work was divided into 1,000 fragments. Donors, both private individuals and companies that collaborate with the museum, were thus able to select which region of the painting to sponsor with their contribution.

At the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza we believe it is important to create new links and closer ties between society and the public heritage that we conserve and disseminate here. For this reason, we greatly appreciate the collaboration of the micro-patrons who have lent us their support, and we are grateful for their involvement and interest in the whole process.