Staffage ... again!

... some more Small People in Canaletto's paintings

We can see here more characters which appear in an act of performing or are participating in a public event.

Extras or main characters? I would say both, extracted when we look closer to Canaletto's paintings.

And sometimes little stories or dramas of everyday life, and very often we see some dog there, sharing the space with humans.

Canaletto never married and we know nothing of any relationship he might have had, maybe he shared his artist's solitude with a dog ...

The drama we can see in this image is the center of the painting itself, not a real staffage, quite the contrary.

 

But there is a story here, and it is not really clear what it is happening. My interpretation is that the guy wants to throw the baby in the water, while the lady is trying to prevent it.

Feminism vs Machism in the XVIII century? Quite odd.

On a different note, and interestingly enough, we see here Canaletto providing some advertising for the 'Caffé Florian':

 

Needless to say, but in the earlier original drawings the guy did not hold a cup of coffee in his hand ... 1756, Venice, Advertising.