Talk:Canaletto/GA1

GA Reassessment

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Starting GA SWeeps reassessment. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:24, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Checking against GA criteria

In order to uphold the quality of Wikipedia:Good articles, all articles listed as Good articles are being reviewed against the GA criteria as part of the GA project quality task force. While all the hard work that has gone into this article is appreciated, unfortunately, as of July 12, 2009, this article fails to satisfy the criteria, as detailed below. For that reason, the article has been delisted from WP:GA. However, if improvements are made bringing the article up to standards, the article may be nominated at WP:GAN. If you feel this decision has been made in error, you may seek remediation at WP:GAR.

Notified: user:Nihil novi, user:JNW, user:Ghirlandajo, user:CARAVAGGISTI, user:Johnbod, user:Adam keller, WP:WikiProject_Visual_arts, WP:WikiProject_Biography

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose):

   b (MoS):

   • The lead needs expansion, two sentences are not sufficient. The lead should accurately summarize the whole article. Could do with a section on his later life. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references):

   • There are a lot of unreferenced statements.
   • He was born in Venice as the son of the painter Bernardo Canal, hence his mononym Canaletto ("little Canal"), and Artemisia Barbieri. His nephew and pupil Bernardo Bellotto was also an accomplished landscape painter, with a similar painting style, and sometimes used the name "Canaletto" to advance his own career, particularly in countries—Germany and Poland—where his uncle was not active.
   • Canaletto served his apprenticeship with his father and his brother. He began in his father's occupation, that of a theatrical scene painter. Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista Giovanni Paolo Pannini, and started painting the daily life of the city and its people.
   • Much of Canaletto's early artwork was painted 'from nature', differing from the then customary practice of completing paintings in the studio. Some of his later works do revert to this custom, as suggested by the tendency of distant figures to be painted as blobs of colour - an effect produced by using a camera obscura, which blurs farther-away objects.
   • Canaletto's early works remain his most coveted and, according to many authorities, his best. One of his finest early pieces is The Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National Gallery) which depicts a humble working area of the city.
   • Later Canaletto became known for his grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doge's Palace. His large-scale landscapes portrayed the city's famed pageantry and waning traditions, making innovative use of atmospheric effects and strong local colors. For these qualities, his works may be said to have anticipated Impressionism.
   • Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on their Grand Tour, often through the agency of the merchant Joseph Smith (who was later appointed British Consul in Venice in 1744).
   • He remained in England until 1755, producing views of London (including the new Westminster Bridge) and of his patrons' castles and houses. His 1754 painting of Old Walton Bridge includes an image of Canaletto himself.
   • He was often expected to paint England in the fashion with which he had painted his native city. Overall this period was not satisfactory, owing mostly to the declining quality of Canaletto's work
   • Canaletto's painting began to suffer from repetitiveness, losing its fluidity, and becoming mechanical to the point that the English art critic George Vertue suggested that the man painting under the name 'Canaletto' was an impostor.
   • Joseph Smith sold much of his collection to George III, creating the bulk of the large collection of Canalettos owned by the Royal Collection. There are many examples of his work in other British collections, including several at the Wallace Collection and a set of 24 in the dining room at Woburn Abbey.
   • Canaletto's views always fetched high prices, and as early as the 18th century Catherine the Great and other European monarchs vied for his grandest paintings. The record price paid at auction for a Canaletto is £18.6 million for View of the Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to the Rialto, set at Sotheby's in London in July 2005.

   It may be that some of these statements can be supporting sources already in the artcile, but every statement needs to be supported. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

   b (citations to reliable sources):

   • All sources appear reliable. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

   c (OR):

   • At present this is questionable, unless unsupported statements are referenced. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

3. It is broad in its scope.

   a (major aspects):

   • Very little about his personal life, family, etc. Nothing about circumstances of death, etc.

   b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):

   b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

   • OK, there is a lot of work to be done here so I am going to delist. then it can be brought back to WP:GAN. Jezhotwells (talk) 13:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)