OIL PAINTING: Gondola in the Lagoon, 1765
The lonely gondola is seen in the lagoon at the Fondamente Nuove, in front of the islands of San Cristoforo and San Michele.
The emotional intensity of the painting is condensed into this brief recording of the moment, as if it were a "phrase in music", for example in Vivaldi's or Albinoni's compositions of the same theme. The smooth lagoon and the "adagio continuo" are parallel motifs of picture and music. The scenery becomes dissolved in musicality, as musicality disintegrates "in sorrowful weeping" (Goethe).