Portrait of Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto Painting Reproductions 11 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

San Francesco della Vigna, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Francesco della Vigna c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6909
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.3 x 37.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

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

View of the Fontegheto della Farina c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6910
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.9 x 27 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

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

View of the Fontegheto della Farina c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6911
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.8 x 26.9 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Piazza from the Torre dell'Orologio, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Piazza from the Torre dell'Orologio c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6912
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.3 x 37.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

San Simeon Piccolo, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Simeon Piccolo c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6913
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 22.7 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

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

Campo Santa Maria Formosa c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6914
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.1 x 37.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Procuratie Vecchie and Piazza San Marco, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Procuratie Vecchie and Piazza San Marco c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6915
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 18.4 x 37.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Campo Santo Stefano, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Campo Santo Stefano c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6916
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.2 x 37.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Libreria, Campanile and Piazzetta from the East, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Libreria, Campanile and Piazzetta from the East c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6917
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 22.6 x 37.4 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6918
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.1 x 37.9 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Bacino from the Punta di Sant'Antonio, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Bacino from the Punta di Sant'Antonio c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6919
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 15.7 x 34.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

San Giorgio Maggiore, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Giorgio Maggiore c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6920
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.8 x 37.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Castello from the Punta di Sant'Antonio, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Castello from the Punta di Sant'Antonio c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6921
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 15.6 x 34.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Redentore, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Redentore c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6922
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.8 x 37.3 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Sant'Elena from San Pietro, c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Sant'Elena from San Pietro c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6923
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 15.8 x 34.9 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

Sant'Elena and the Certosa from the Punta di ..., c.1740 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

Sant'Elena and the Certosa from the Punta di ... c.1740

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6924
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 15.5 x 34.9 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

San Pietro di Castello, c.1735/40 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Pietro di Castello c.1735/40

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6925
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 23.4 x 37.4 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Torre dell'Orologio and part of San Marco, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Torre dell'Orologio and part of San Marco c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6926
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

A Capriccio with a Fountain on the Shores of the Lagoon, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio with a Fountain on the Shores of the Lagoon c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6927
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 19 x 27.4 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6928
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27 x 37.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

A Pavilion in a Walled Garden, the Lagoon Beyond, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

A Pavilion in a Walled Garden, the Lagoon Beyond c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6929
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 20.5 x 29.2 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

A Capriccio with San Marco in the Lagoon, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio with San Marco in the Lagoon c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6930
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 27.1 x 37.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

A Capriccio in the Courtyard of a Villa, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

A Capriccio in the Courtyard of a Villa c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6931
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 21.5 x 33.8 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

The Rialto Bridge from the South-West, c.1740/45 by Canaletto | Painting Reproduction

The Rialto Bridge from the South-West c.1740/45

Paper Art Print
$54.09
SKU: CAN-6932
Giovanni Antonio Canal Canaletto
Original Size: 26.6 x 36.7 cm
The Royal Collection, London, UK

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