Canaletto

Canaletto was an Italian painter famous above all for his glittering views of Venice. Born Giovanni Antonio Canal in 1697, he became the greatest master of the veduta, the detailed city view. His crisp, sunlit scenes of the Grand Canal, St Mark's Square, and Venetian festivals were prized especially by wealthy British travelers making the Grand Tour, who bought them as splendid souvenirs.

He worked with remarkable precision, capturing architecture, water, and sky with a clear, bright light, though he often adjusted the scene slightly for a better composition. For a time he lived and worked in England, painting views of London and country houses. Canaletto's dazzling records of eighteenth century Venice remain some of the most beloved cityscapes ever painted.