Canaletto was an 18th century Venetian painter known for his detailed and vivid depictions of Venice. He gained popularity among wealthy tourists taking the Grand Tour of Europe who purchased his paintings as souvenirs. While he spent time in Rome and London, Venice remained his primary subject and the scenes he painted there of festivals and regattas became commercial successes. His realistic style influenced later Venetian vedute painters like Bellotto and Guardi who specialized in cityscapes.

1. Antonio Canaletto
The poet of Venetian townscape
1697 - 1768
First created 18 Aug 2011. Version 2.0 - 1 Dec 2016. Jerry Tse. London.
The Riva degli Schiavoni looking West (Detail). c1736

2. The Grand Tour
Canaletto’s paintings were in strong
demand by these wealthy tourists, who
bought the paintings as mementos, to
remind them of their trips. Canaletto even
had an agent acting for him in London.
The age of tourism began in 18C. It was
known as the Grand Tour, with Venice
being one of its destinations. A typical
Grand Tourist was an English aristocrat.
By 1785 some 40,000 young English
aristocrats were on the prowl all over the
European continent to learn new
languages, history and absorbing cultures.
Canaletto’s paintings were the postcards of
18C. It was commercial art at its best, just
as the Renaissance painters who earned
their livelihood by working for the church
leaders or the rulers of centuries earlier.

3. Carlevarijs was an early painter of Venice vedute.
Carlevarijs started to paint impressive views of Venice in 1700. He introduced several
popular features to the genre of vedute painting. Canaletto was clearly influenced by
him. He did several paintings on similar themes.

4. Inspired by Panini in Rome
Canaletto first went to Rome with his father as a stage designer in 1719 to work on the
scenery for two operas. He was inspired by the paintings of Pannini. On his return he
became a member of Venetian Artists’ Guild and started his career as a painter.

5. Canaletto first paintings on
Venice dated to 1722. From
the painting we can see that
Canaletto had not developed
all the techniques that he
used later on. For instance,
the sky was unusually dull
for a typical Canaletto’s
painting. However, his
interest in the dramatic
contrast of light is clearly
evident here.
His first dated painting
Canaletto’s father taught the
young Canaletto perspective
and tricks of illusion.

6. Maturingstyle
Only two years later his style matured, with bright colours and strong sunlight.

7. The painting shows city elders giving thanks for the city’s deliverance
from the plague in 1576.
ChurchandScuolaofSanRocco
Procession

8. Detail Cleaning or watching ladies at windows were often included in his paintings.

9. Detail Rooftop patios are very common in Venice today. The fading paint on the wall
and different ages of the planks are part of the magic of Canaletto.

10. Detail Paintings on the wall were put up by artists taking advantage of the occasion
to display their work.

11. Detail The doge (in yellow), the elected ruler of Venice, was leading the procession.

12. Detail The painting on the left of the doorway looks like one of his painting.

13. Detail Dogs were commonly included in Canaletto’s painting to liven the scene.
Painting shows the procession as it leaves the church of San Rocco.

14. Detail The very rich architectural details are part of the Canaletto magic.

15. Church and Scuola of San RoccoDetail
The piazza outside the Scuola of San Rocco is very narrow and small. When I took the
photo below, my back was right against an enclosing wall. It was impossible take a
decent photo of the façade of the scuola, as in Canaletto’s painting. The aerial photo
(below left) shows where Canaletto would have to stand, behind two houses inside the
enclosure of the opposite building, to get the view, in his painting. This was an
impossible view-point and part of the illusion of his painting.

16. Canaletto’s Dogs Finding the dog is an amusement of his painting.

17. Women at the windows Ladies at the windows or on the balcony.

18. Regatta Regatta was one of Canaletto’s favourite painting theme.
Regatta

19. A 19C photo of the Regatta Storica on the same spot. It is held on the first Sunday in September.

20. RegattaDetail Spectators at starting line of the race, Palazzo Balbi
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

21. RegattaDetail
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

22. Regatta Detail Along the Grand Canal, it was packed with spectators.

23. RegattaDetail
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

24. Regatta Detail Foreign competitors in their national costumes?

25. RegattaDetail Look at how well Canaletto painted the competitors and the gondolas in the race
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

26. Regatta Detail Two wealthy men relaxing in their beautifully decorated private boats.

27. RegattaDetail Rialto Bridge at the far end of the racing course.
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

28. RegattaDetail A temporal viewing platform built to watch the Regatta.
A Regatta on the Grand Canal (Detail). C1740. Oil on canvas. 122.1x182.8 cm. Antonio Canaletto. Italian. National Gallery London..

29. Oarsmen of boats and gondola Well animated postures.

30. The Large Ships

31. English Period –
1746 to 1755
English tourists were
prevented to travel to Italy. by
the ‘War of Austria
Succession, in which England
and French were enemies.
In 1746, Canaletto went to
England as commissions dried
up. At the time, he had a great
reputation with many patrons,
in London. Altogether he
spent nine years in London.
However, his stay was not an
unmitigated success.
As time went on, his patrons
began to find the his English
works disappointing and
lacked the sparkles of his
earlier Venetian works.

32. A 18C view of London Through an Arch.
London

33. LondonDetail

34. London Detail The water tower on the left the painting.

35. AnotherLondonView

36. Vedutismo Successors
Two of the most well-known successors
were Bernardo Belloto and Francesco
Guardi.
The success of Canaletto’s paintings
bought increasing popularity of Vedute
paintings (Vedutismo). Amongst the later
vedute painters were Giovanni Battista
Cimaroli (Below), Antonio Joli (bottom
right), Michele Marieschi (top right) etc.
Other painters

37. 19th
Century
Vedute Painters
First trip
to Rome

38. Bellotto (1720 – 1780)
Bernardo Bellotto was the nephew
of Canaletto. At 14, he became a
student of his uncle.
In 1742, age 22, he went to work in
Rome for a year and returned later
via Florence.
From 1744 and 1745, he started to
evolve a more independent styles,
with different architecture views,
using more saturated greens and
browns, a good deal of shadow
and cool blue sky.
From 1747, he left Italy for good
and began to work as court painter
in Eastern European courts –
Dresden, Vienna and Warsaw.
Stylistically, he was very close to
his uncle Canaletto, especially his
earlier paintings.
Arsenale the shipyard of Venetian navy power.

39. Bellotto He worked 11 years in Dresden as a court painter.

40. Guardi Guardi’s style is more liberal in the accuracy of his buildings

41. Guardi Guardi’s paintings emphasize the mood and atmosphere of the scenes.

42. On return from England, he found tastes had changed and he started to
paint more Capriccios, architectural fantasy (see example below).Capriccio
Capriccio

44. Giovanni Antonio Canaletto
(1697 – 1768)
Giovanni Antonio da Canal (Canaletto)
was born in 1697, in Venice near the Rialto
Bridge. His father was a theatrical scene
painter. In 1719, Canaletto went to Rome
with his father to work on some scenery.
He returned to Venice in 1756 and found
that tastes had changed. He died in 1768,
leaving no more than his cloth and his
bed to his surviving sisters.
By 1728, he had developed his own
unique style fusing a poetic, picturesque
and realistic vision of Venice.
With his new style, soon he became very
popular among the aristocrats of Europe,
in particular England. By decade of 1730s
and 40s, he reach a peak in his career. He
was overwhelmed with commissions.
As a result of wars, cutting him off with
his customers in England, he moved to
London in 1746 and spent 9 years there.
His stay in London was not an unqualified
success. His paintings lost their magic
and fell out of favour. Self-portrait 1746.

45. Painting relative
sizes & Timeline
You can see as Canaletto get older his paintings
were getting smaller. I believe, this reflected
the lost of his wealthy clients.
In his earlier paintings of Venice, he had
developed several elements like the dogs, the
women at the windows and the popular themes
in his paintings, which appealed to his buyers.
He repeatedly painted some themes like the
regatta and the Ascension Day festivities to
perfection.
However, he was not been able
to do the same for his English
paintings. The market for his
paintings was different. He may
have been better off, if he was a
portrait painter instead.
Simply, Canaletto is the best
painter of the city of Venice.

46. A detail look
The following 4 slides explore the detail of this single work by Canaletto. It
painting is part of the collection at the National Gallery, London.
Detail

47. A Detail Look
Note. Top right – the rich mingled with the poor. Bottom left – Vagrants around the fountain. Bottom right. – Fresh water barrel for the
ships?

48. A Detail Look
The facade of the Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of sighs and along the promenade facing the San Marco Basin, with ships carrying
merchandise.

49. A Detail Look
Note. The gondolas are moored in seperated area from the boats off-loading their goods.

50. A Detail Look
Note. Top left – Visitors with turbans. Bottom left – A cripple walking with a stick. .

51. A Detail Look

52. Music – Excerpt from third movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s
violin concertos the Four Seasons – Autumn played by Nigel
Kennedy. Vivaldi was born in 1678 and died in 1750. He lived
in Venice during the same time as Canaletto (1697-1768).
The End
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53. Italian Painters