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Giovanni Antonio Canal (October 7, 1697 –
April 19, 1768), better known as Canaletto, was a
Venice | Venetian artist famous for his landscapes
or vedute of Venice. They served as the equivalent
of painted postcards for those able to afford the
price. He was a son of a painter Bernardo Canal,
hence his nickname Canaletto 

He served his apprenticeship with his father and
his brother, and began his career as a theatrical
scene painter, which was his father's occupation.
Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista
Giovanni Paolo Pannini and began painting in his
famous topographical style after a visit to Rome
in 1719. His first known signed and dated work is
Architectural Capriccio (1723, Milan, in a private
collection). One of his best pieces is The
Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National
Gallery) which depicts a humble, working area of
the city. Canaletto, however, is better known for
his grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the
Doge's Palace.
 
Many of Canaletto's early works, contrary to the
custom of the time, were painted 'from nature'
(rather than from sketches and studies of the
scene taken back to be worked on in the artist's
studio).  Some of his later works do revert to
this custom, hinted at by the tendency for distant
figures to be painted as blobs of colour - an
effect produced by using a camera obscura, which
blurs farther-away objects.

Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on
their Grand Tour, most notably the merchant Joseph
Smith (who was later appointed British Consul in
Venice in 1744). It was Smith who acted as an
agent for Canaletto, helping him to sell his
paintings to other Englishmen. In the 1740s
Canaletto's market was disrupted when the War of
the Austrian Succession led to a reduction in the
number of British visitors to Venice. Smith also
arranged for the publication of a series of
etchings of capriccios, but the returns were not
high enough, and in 1746 Canaletto moved to
London, to be closer to his market. 

He remained in England until 1755, producing views
of London and of his patrons castles and houses.
Overall this period was not satisfactory, partly
due to disatisfaction with the declining quality
of Canaletto's work. Canaletto's work began to
suffer from repetitiveness, losing its traditional
fluidity, and became mechanical to the point that
the English art critic George Vertue suggested
that the man painting under the name 'Canaletto'
was an imposter. Canaletto gave public
demostrations of his work to refute this claim;
however, his reputation never fully recovered in
his lifetime.

After his return to Venice Canaletto was elected
to the Venetian Academy in 1763. He continued to
paint until his death in 1768. In his later years
he often worked from old sketches, but he
sometimes produced surprising new compostions. He
was willing to make subtle alternation to
topography for artistic effect.

Joseph Smith sold much of his collection to George
III, creating the bulk of the large collection of
Canalettos owned by the Royal Collection. There
are many examples of his work in other British
collections, including several at the Wallace
Collection and a set of 24 in the dining room at
Woburn Abbey. The record price paid at auction for
a Canaletto is British Pound|£18.6 million for
View of the Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to the
Rialto, set at Sotheby's in London in July 2005.
The picture was purchased by an unnamed collector.

==External links==
*http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/c/canalett/
7/ Web Gallery of Art - an extensive online
gallery of Canaleto's works.
*http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo18/canalett
o.htm
http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo18/canaletto
.htm

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

There were 2 artists who went by the name
Canaletto. This article is about Giovanni Antonio
Canal. 
 The other was Bernardo Bellotto, his
nephew and pupil.


Giovanni Antonio Canal (October 7, 1697 –
April 19, 1768), better known as Canaletto, was a
Venice | Venetian artist famous for his landscapes
or vedute of Venice. They served as the equivalent
of painted postcards for those able to afford the
price. He was a son of a painter Bernardo Canal,
hence his nickname Canaletto 

He served his apprenticeship with his father and
his brother, and began his career as a theatrical
scene painter, which was his father's occupation.
Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista
Giovanni Paolo Pannini and began painting in his
famous topographical style after a visit to Rome
in 1719. His first known signed and dated work is
Architectural Capriccio (1723, Milan, in a private
collection). One of his best pieces is The
Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National
Gallery) which depicts a humble, working area of
the city. Canaletto, however, is better known for
his grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the
Doge's Palace.
 
Many of Canaletto's early works, contrary to the
custom of the time, were painted 'from nature'
(rather than from sketches and studies of the
scene taken back to be worked on in the artist's
studio).  Some of his later works do revert to
this custom, hinted at by the tendency for distant
figures to be painted as blobs of colour - an
effect produced by using a camera obscura, which
blurs farther-away objects.

Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on
their Grand Tour, most notably the merchant Joseph
Smith (who was later appointed British Consul in
Venice in 1744). It was Smith who acted as an
agent for Canaletto, helping him to sell his
paintings to other Englishmen. In the 1740s
Canaletto's market was disrupted when the War of
the Austrian Succession led to a reduction in the
number of British visitors to Venice. Smith also
arranged for the publication of a series of
etchings of capriccios, but the returns were not
high enough, and in 1746 Canaletto moved to
London, to be closer to his market. 

He remained in England until 1755, producing views
of London and of his patrons castles and houses.
Overall this period was not satisfactory, partly
due to disatisfaction with the declining quality
of Canaletto's work. Canaletto's work began to
suffer from repetitiveness, losing its traditional
fluidity, and became mechanical to the point that
the English art critic George Vertue suggested
that the man painting under the name 'Canaletto'
was an imposter. Canaletto gave public
demostrations of his work to refute this claim;
however, his reputation never fully recovered in
his lifetime.

After his return to Venice Canaletto was elected
to the Venetian Academy in 1763. He continued to
paint until his death in 1768. In his later years
he often worked from old sketches, but he
sometimes produced surprising new compostions. He
was willing to make subtle alternation to
topography for artistic effect.

Joseph Smith sold much of his collection to George
III, creating the bulk of the large collection of
Canalettos owned by the Royal Collection. There
are many examples of his work in other British
collections, including several at the Wallace
Collection and a set of 24 in the dining room at
Woburn Abbey. The record price paid at auction for
a Canaletto is British Pound|£18.6 million for
View of the Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to the
Rialto, set at Sotheby's in London in July 2005.
The picture was purchased by an unnamed collector.

==External links==
*http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/c/canalett/
7/ Web Gallery of Art - an extensive online
gallery of Canaleto's works.
*http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo18/canalett
o.htm
http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo18/canaletto
.htm