One of the places where a little Vivaldi would make perfect background music is the exhibition "Venetian Paintings of the 18th Century," now at the Ueno Royal Museum.

"Neptune Offering Gifts to Venus" (c. 1756) (top) and "Abraham Visited by the Angels" (c. 1732) (above left) by Giambattista Tiepolo; "Scene with Columns" (c. 1765) by Canaletto (above right)

Looking at these paintings, it is easy to imagine the Venetian composer mingling with crowds, watching the regatta or striding across the Rialto Bridge.

Subjects range from masked flirtations at the casino to the mythological fantasies of Tiepolo, grand master of the Italian Rococo. Although many paintings are by forgotten artists, they take us to the heart of this seductive time and place.

In the opening section, devoted to city views, the sea lends life and movement to the scene. The first canvas is an aerial view of the Serene Republic, a reminder that its wealth depended on overseas trade. You can easily trace the great S-bend of the Grand Canal and several famous churches, but for a detailed view, who better than Giovanni Canal, better known as Canaletto?

Here is one of his famous views of St. Mark's Square, an exquisite souvenir of the fashionable Grand Tour. His clarity is still admirable, but his people appear like actors on a stage. Curiously, Canaletto began his career as a theatrical scenery painter, before moving on to topographical art. To achieve greater accuracy, he used the camera obscura tracing device, and one is displayed in the exhibition.

There are several more approachable paintings here, including "Capriccio con Collonato (Caprice with Columns)." Beneath Roman columns, a lace maker works in a patch of brilliant sunlight while boys peer down from the great height of a loggia. The brushwork reveals a bolder, looser side to this artist, as he scatters sunlight freely on fountain, hat and face.

But this type of painting is still a capriccio -- a picturesque blend of real and imaginary scenery. By contrast, Michele Marieschi's "Veduta del Ponte Rialto (View of the Rialto Bridge)" shows Venice with the washing out to dry. Small dramas catch the eye. On the far bank is a fistfight, on the water, gondoliers exchange insults and in the foreground, a rich man descends the bridge toward a beggar. A passing dog, however, merely cocks its leg.

In fact, a surprising number of dogs run throughout these scenes. In a banquet hall, for example, dogs bark at the waiters while every guest turns a sheepish face to the viewer. It hardly mattered that everyone looked the same: the point was to record the guests, and so each doll-like figure has a number and name.

The banquet scene is from the school of Pietro Longhi, a popular artist who captured moments of Venetian life with gentle irony. Mainly small in scale, his decorative paintings include scenes of family life. In one, a young woman, losing at cards, faints to cause a distraction. In another, a pretty wife takes morning chocolate while her jolly, empty-headed husband munches on a pastry.

Giambattista Tiepolo, at the other end of the decorative scale, was one of the city's most celebrated artists, who embellished palaces, churches and villas in the sumptuous style of the age. He painted rapidly, combining drama and imagination.

Among his 10 oils on display, a pair relate the story of Abraham and Hagar. In the first, three angels inform Abraham that his wife will conceive a child, and in the second his banished concubine, Hagar, is saved in the desert. Here are some of Tiepolo's hallmarks: fine color, flowing movement and dynamic linking of figures through gesture. The bloom on Hagar's cheek is still beautifully clear, in marvelous contrast to the chill rising from her stricken child.

In the small "Jupiter and Danae," Tiepolo gives a grand legend an ironic twist. Here, Jupiter is a lascivious old man, and a snapping dog defends his sleeping mistress.

His gorgeous "Neptune Offering Gifts to Venus" is a tribute to Veronese, the Renaissance artist who helped transform Venice in its golden age. Tiepolo painted this for the Doge's palace around 1756, but his vast, decorative works were falling out of favor and in 1762 he left Venice for Madrid and the court of Charles III. There, assisted by his sons, the elderly artist completed the palace frescoes. And there he died, bringing the second great flowering of Venetian art to a close.