Portrait of Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto Painting Reproductions 10 of 13

1697-1768

Italian Rococo Painter

Giovanni Antonio Canal, born in Venice on 18 October 1697, matured in a republic that floated both on water and on spectacle. From the beginning his identity derived from craft: he was the son of Bernardo Canal, a respected scenographer, and the diminutive Canaletto suited a painter who would make the city itself his theatre. The lagoon offered an ever-shifting stage of stone and reflection - a subject demanding sharp observation rather than easy lyricism - and the young artist spent his career refining that gaze.

He served first behind the scenes, learning to build worlds for opera. The painted flats of devotional or mythic Rome taught him a rigorous command of perspective, but it was a visit to the actual city in 1719-20 that reoriented his ambition. There he encountered Giovanni Paolo Pannini’s vedute, and understood that the street, not the stage, held the richest drama. On returning home he abandoned scenery for canvases, translating theatrical illusion into urban fact, yet always allowing architecture to retain its sense of performance.

The early 1720s brought a decisive shift. Instead of finishing pictures in the studio, Canaletto worked directly before the motif, noting the fugitive brilliance of Adriatic light. The practice was adventurous for its day and sparked rumours that he relied on a camera obscura. Whether that optical box served as aide-mémoire or mere curiosity, the stronger truth lies in his draughtsmanship: the geometry is disciplined, but surfaces shimmer with the instability of water, crowds, and atmosphere. Reality and reverie interlock - a balance that would become his signature.

Patronage soon followed. Owen Swiny and then the English consul Joseph Smith recognised that Canaletto’s Venice could satisfy the Grand Tourist’s longing for both documentary record and aesthetic refinement. Smith’s townhouse became a showroom; British collectors commissioned canvases small enough to travel yet expansive in illusion. When war in the 1740s closed continental routes and the flow of visitors dwindled, Canaletto moved the studio rather than the market, sailing for London in 1746.

England required a recalibration of vision. The painter lodged in Soho, surveying a capital still unsure of its own grandeur. His drawings of Westminster Bridge, then newly completed, reveal a careful negotiation between topographic fidelity and atmospheric embroidery. Some viewers found the results mechanical; a whisper even circulated that an impostor wielded the brush. Canaletto’s rejoinder was public: he invited gentlemen to inspect a freshly painted view of St James’s Park, asserting authenticity by means of openness. Yet the very charge of repetitiveness underscores how fully he had distilled a format that others now mimicked.

Returning to Venice in 1755, he was welcomed into the Accademia and, as prior of the painters’ guild, presided over a city increasingly conscious of its own nostalgia. Late works often revisit earlier sketches, but they are not mere reprises. Subtle dislocations of scale, unexpected cloud shadows, and occasional capricci suggest a mature imagination still interrogating the city’s precarious equilibrium between ceremony and decline. The paint films grow thinner, the light cooler, as though acknowledging that spectacle, once steady, had begun to flicker.

Canaletto died on 19 April 1768 and was buried in San Lio, the parish of his baptism. His influence, however, radiated far beyond the parish and the century. Pupils such as Bernardo Bellotto and Francesco Guardi adapted his analytical clarity to their own ends, while collectors from Catherine II to George III competed for his canvases. The purchase of Consul Smith’s holdings by the British crown in 1762 consolidated a royal taste for urban portraiture that still shapes national collections. If later movements praised spontaneity over structure, they nonetheless inherited from Canaletto a conviction that the modern city is a subject worthy of sustained, exacting vision - a stage where the everyday may, through watchful painting, achieve quiet permanence.

311 Canaletto Paintings

The Molo and Riva degli Schiavoni Looking East, 1729 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Molo and Riva degli Schiavoni Looking East 1729

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6847
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 19.6 x 30.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Libreria and Molo, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Libreria and Molo c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6848
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.8 x 27.1 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Bacino Looking West from San Biagio, 1729 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Bacino Looking West from San Biagio 1729

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6849
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 21.3 x 31.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Venice the Libreria from the Molo, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Venice the Libreria from the Molo c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6850
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.8 x 26.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Molo Looking West, 1729 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Molo Looking West 1729

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6851
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 19.6 x 30.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Palazzo Ducale and Molo Looking West, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Palazzo Ducale and Molo Looking West c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6852
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 19.6 x 27.1 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Palazzo Ducale and Molo, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Palazzo Ducale and Molo c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6853
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.8 x 27.1 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Upper Reach of the Grand Canal, Looking South, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Upper Reach of the Grand Canal, Looking South c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6892
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 19.9 x 27.1 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Bacino Looking West on Ascension Day, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Bacino Looking West on Ascension Day c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6893
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Bacino Looking West, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Bacino Looking West c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6894
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.8 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Venice: Campo Santa Maria Formosa, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Venice: Campo Santa Maria Formosa c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6895
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Lower Reach of the Grand Canal, Looking East, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Lower Reach of the Grand Canal, Looking East c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6896
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.9 x 27.3 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Lower bend of the Grand Canal, Looking North, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Lower bend of the Grand Canal, Looking North c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6897
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.2 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Crossing of San Marco, Looking North, c.1735 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Crossing of San Marco, Looking North c.1735

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6898
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.2 x 18.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Lower Reach of the Grand Canal, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Lower Reach of the Grand Canal c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6899
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.3 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

An Altar in the North Transept of San Marco, c.1735 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

An Altar in the North Transept of San Marco c.1735

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6900
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.9 x 18.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Central Stretch of the Grand Canal, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Central Stretch of the Grand Canal c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6901
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Piazzetta Looking North, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Piazzetta Looking North c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6902
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Grand Canal Looking East from the Fondamenta ..., c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Grand Canal Looking East from the Fondamenta ... c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6903
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.9 x 37.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Bacino Looking West from San Biagio, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Bacino Looking West from San Biagio c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6904
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 20.5 x 37.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

San Giovanni Battista dei Battuti, Murano, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Giovanni Battista dei Battuti, Murano c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6905
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Lower Bend of the Grand Canal Looking North-West, c.1734 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Lower Bend of the Grand Canal Looking North-West c.1734

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6906
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 22 x 37.6 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Capriccio of the Fontegheto della Farina, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio of the Fontegheto della Farina c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6907
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.8 x 27 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Capriccio of the Fontegheto della Farina, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Capriccio of the Fontegheto della Farina c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6908
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.7 x 26.2 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Top