Canaletto

The Italian painter Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (1697-1768), is known for his scenes of 18th-century Venice, executed with accuracy, precision, and Iuminosity.

Canaletto and Francesco Guardi between them created the image the world has held of Venice from the late 18th century to the present day. Guardi romanticized what he saw, but Canaletto did not. One of the many Englishmen who visited Venice in the 18th century said that Canaletto's excellence lay in painting things that fell immediately under his eye. What falls under the eye in Venice, then as now, is romantic enough. The buildings, built along canals instead of streets, seem to rise up out of the lagoon as if suspended between earth and water. From a distance, domes and towers appear to float. The colorful crowds that throng the main squares give Venice the air of being continuously in carnival. Canaletto painted his views not for Venetians but for foreign visitors, above all for the rich Englishmen taking the grand tour.

Canaletto was born in Venice on Oct. 18, 1697. He was trained by his father, Bernardo Canal, as a designer of stage sets. Most of the theatrical productions of the period called for sets representing palace interiors or palace gardens. Such scenes usually involved an intricate recession of pillars, pediments, porticoes, balustrades, and garden statues, and thus to execute them required a knowledge of the complexities of architectural perspective.

In 1719 Canaletto gave up designing stage sets and went to study in Rome. The following year he was back in Venice, where he was inscribed as a member of the painters' guild. From then on he was busy painting views of his native city. His most important patron was the English consul, Joseph Smith, who bought large numbers of Canalettos for resale to his countrymen.

Canaletto constructed his views of Venice with painstaking care. Usually he drew the scene on the spot and then made more detailed studies in his studio. These studies were then transferred to the canvas with the help of lines cut into the prepared surface as guidelines for columns, cornices, arches, and domes. We also know that Canaletto used the camera obscura, a darkened box or chamber in which the view is caught and reflected by lenses and mirrors onto a sheet of drawing paper so that the artist can render the perspective lines accurately simply by tracing the contours of the reflected image.

Pleased by his success with the English, Canaletto went to England in 1746. He stayed there off and on for a decade, but the results were disappointing. In Venice he had provided the English with scenes they considered exotic and picturesque, whereas in England he could provide them only with views of what they already knew.

Back in Venice, Canaletto continued to paint views for tourists. He also won acceptance from the Venetians themselves with a new form, the architectural caprice, in which famous landmarks were combined arbitrarily or (rarely in Canaletto's case) the architecture was invented altogether. With one of these as his reception piece he was finally admitted to the Venetian Academy in 1763. Five years later, on April 20, 1768, he died.

The Stonemasons' Yard gives a good idea of Canaletto's very early work. It is a Venice the tourist seldom sees, or tries not to remember: a view of disorder and poverty, of a vacant lot filled with stone and rubble, of gray buildings hung with damp laundry, of gray clouds closing off the sky. But it is also filled with gravity, dignity, and a sense of timelessness.

Far more typical are the sunlit scenes Canaletto painted so often of St. Mark's Square, the Ducal Palace, and the Grand Canal. In the best of these canvases the painted surfaces are beautifully modulated—the tan buildings touched with rose, and rose again in the blue of the sky. The open spaces come alive with festive clusters of bright little figures. These he brushed in broadly and made them sparkle with a scattering of white dots.

Under increasing pressure to turn out more and more paintings for the tourist trade, Canaletto took on assistants, who watered down his style. Many of his late canvases are overly rigid and dry.

Further Reading

The most complete study of Canaletto is W. G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768 (2 vols., 1962), but it is difficult and dry. For a more sensitive interpretation see F. J. B. Watson, Canaletto (1949). K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Antonio Canaletto … at Windsor Castle (1948), is the best book in its area. A brief but highly readable account of Canaletto appears in Michael Levey, Painting in XVIII Century Venice (1959). □

Canaletto ( Giovanni Antonio Canal) (b Venice, 28 Oct. 1697; d Venice, 19 Apr. 1768). Venetian painter, etcher, and draughtsman, the most famous view painter of the 18th century. He was the son of a theatrical scene painter, Bernardo Canal (c.1674–1744), and he perhaps adopted his nickname (‘Little Canal’) to distinguish himself from his father, whom he began his career by assisting; their work included sets for Vivaldi operas in Venice and Alessandro Scarlatti operas in Rome, which they visited in 1719–20. Whilst he was in Rome Canaletto made drawings of ancient monuments and famous modern buildings, and after his return to Venice he abandoned theatrical work for topographical painting (see veduta). His early paintings of Venice include some intimate views of unremarkable pieces of townscape, treated with great freshness of observation and liveliness of touch (The Stonemason's Yard, c.1727, NG, London). However, he soon began to specialize in much grander views showing the public face of the city, including festivities on the canals. His colouring became stronger and brighter and his handling smoother and more precise. He worked from drawings made on the spot and also made use of a camera obscura, but although his pictures give the feeling of being extremely accurate records, he in fact often made departures from topographical correctness in the interests of creating a better composition—changing the proportions of a building or shifting its position and so on. He also produced imaginary views (see capriccio).

Canaletto's work appealed greatly to wealthy visitors to Venice and his best customers were British aristocrats making the Grand Tour, for whom he sometimes produced series of views in uniform size. His dealings with his British clients were mainly done through an agent, Joseph Smith (c.1674–1770), who moved to Venice in about 1700 to work as a banker and stayed for the rest of his life. In addition to being an art dealer (with an efficient organization for shipping Canaletto's pictures to England), he was a publisher, and in 1744 he was appointed British consul in Venice—he is sometimes known as Consul Smith and also as the Merchant of Venice. He had a superb art collection of his own, most of which he sold to George III in 1762, thus accounting for the fact that the Royal Collection has the world's best representation of Canaletto's work.

Canaletto's business was badly hit by the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–8), which severely curtailed Continental travel and therefore cut him off from his main patrons. In the early 1740s he concentrated on drawings and etchings, and in 1746 he moved to England, evidently at the suggestion of Jacopo Amigoni. He was based in England for the next decade (although during this time he made two visits to Venice). Initially he was very successful, painting views of London and of various country houses. However, some of the work he produced in England was mechanical (even though he never lost his gift for handsome composition), and rumours were put about, probably by rivals, that he was not in fact the famous Canaletto but an impostor. In about 1756 he returned permanently to Venice. He continued active for the remainder of his life, but he never recovered his former popularity, and by the time of his death he seems to have been far from prosperous. His work was much copied and was highly influential in Italy and elsewhere; his nephew Bernardo Bellotto took his style to central Europe and his followers in England included William Marlow and Samuel Scott.

Canaletto ( Giovanni Antonio Canal) (1697–1768). Venetian painter, etcher, and draughtsman, the most famous view-painter of the 18th century. He began his career assisting his father, a theatrical scene painter; their work included sets for Vivaldi operas in Venice and Alessandro Scarlatti operas in Rome, which they visited in 1719–20. Whilst he was in Rome Canaletto made drawings of ancient monuments and famous modern buildings, and after his return to Venice he abandoned theatrical work for topographical painting (see Veduta). His early paintings of Venice include some intimate views of unremarkable pieces of townscape, treated with great freshness of observation and liveliness of touch (The Stonemason's Yard, c.1727, NG, London). However, he soon began to specialize in much grander views showing the public face of the city, including festivities on the canals. His colouring became stronger and brighter and his handling smoother and more precise. He worked from drawings made on the spot and also made use of a camera obscura, but although his pictures give the feeling of being extremely accurate records, he in fact often made departures from topographical correctness in the interests of creating a better composition—changing the proportions of a building or shifting its position and so on. He also produced imaginary views (see Capriccio). His work appealed greatly to wealthy visitors to Venice and his best customers were British aristocrats making the Grand Tour, for whom he sometimes produced series of views in uniform size. Canaletto's dealings with his British clients were mainly done through an agent, Joseph Smith (c.1674–1770), who moved to Venice in about 1700 to work as a banker and stayed for the rest of his life. In addition to working as an art dealer (with an efficient organization for shipping Canaletto's pictures to England), he was a publisher, and in 1744 he was appointed British consul in Venice—he is sometimes known as ‘Consul Smith’ and also as the ‘Merchant of Venice’. He had a superb art collection of his own, most of which he sold to George III in 1762, thus accounting for the fact that the British royal collection has the world's best representation of Canaletto's work.

Canaletto's business was badly hit by the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–8), which severely curtailed Continental travel and therefore cut him off from his main patrons. In the early 1740s he concentrated on drawings and etchings, and in 1746 he moved to England, evidently at the suggestion of Jacopo Amigoni. He was based in England for the next decade (although during this time he made two visits to Venice). Initially he was very successful, painting views of London and of various country houses. However, some of the work he produced in England was mechanical (even though he never lost his gift for handsome composition), and rumours were put about, probably by rivals, that he was not in fact the famous Canaletto but an impostor. In about 1756 he returned permanently to Venice. He continued active for the remainder of his life, but he never recovered his former popularity, and by the time of his death he seems to have been far from prosperous. His work was highly influential in Italy and elsewhere: his nephew Bernardo Bellotto took his style to central Europe and his followers in England included William Marlow and Samuel Scott.

Canaletto , 1697-1768, Venetian painter, whose original name was Antonio Canal. He studied with his father, Bernardo Canal, a theatrical scene painter, and spent several years in Rome. Returning to Venice, he devoted himself to painting the linear, dramatic, and topographically accurate Venetian scenes upon which his fame chiefly rests. From 1746 to 1755 he lived in England and produced many fine landscapes, notably those of Eton College. He painted series of picturesque views for English collectors, one of which is in the collection of the Duke of Bedford. Canaletto is unsurpassed as an architectural painter. His works are finely detailed yet delicate and airy. Among his notable works are View on the Grand Canal and Regatta on the Grand Canal (National Gall., London); Church of Santa Maria Della Salute (Louvre); View of Venice (Uffizi); and The Piazzetta, Venice (Metropolitan Mus.). He was a master draftsman and produced many superb drawings and etchings that were not preparatory but complete in themselves. Examples of Canaletto's works are in the major European and American collections. His nephew and pupil, Bernardo Bellotto, was also called Canaletto.

Bibliography: See studies by V. Moschini (tr. 1956) and W. G. Constable (1961, 2d ed. rev. 1989).

Canaletto (1697–1768) ( Giovanni Antonio Canal) Italian painter of the Venetian School, famous for his perspectival views of Venice. His early work is more dramatic and free-flowing than his smoother, accurate mature style. He portrayed festivals and ceremonies in his Venetian views. In 1746 he travelled to England, where he painted views of London and country houses. He used a camera obscura to make his paintings more precise, sometimes making the finished work seem stiff and mannered. Canaletto managed to infuse his best work with energy, light and colour. He had an enormous influence in Italy, central Europe, and England.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk; http://www.nga.gov

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