The fame of Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, rests mainly on his vivid paintings of Venice, his native city. Only rarely was he tempted to travel, but the popularity of his works with British tourists and patrons led him to England in 1746, and his visit became a productive, nine-year stay. This beautiful book focuses on the fruits of Canaletto’s English sojourn, reproducing the views of London he painted while there, as well as the Italian and imaginary views he painted in response to the vigorous demands of his patrons.The book offers a full study of Canaletto’s English period along with detailed catalogue entries for about fifty paintings and twenty drawings. The works depict such landmarks as St. Paul’s Cathedral, Somerset House, and Westminster Bridge as well as views of Venice and Rome and caprices in which the artist playfully organizes Renaissance palaces and Classical ruins in fanciful juxtapositions.

Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755 (Yale Center for British Art)

Arts & Photography

Beddington, Charles

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection

Packer, Lelia

Scala

In Venice, on the Grand Tour in 1731, the future fourth Duke of Bedford met with the great art agent, Consul Joseph Smith. The comission he placed resulted in 24 of the greatest and most typical works of Canaletto. This unparalleled set of paintings was first installed in Bedford House London, and was moved in 1800 to the splendour of the Dining Room at Woburn, where it has remained ever since. Fully illustrated with many details, this publication marks the first time these paintings have been reproduced in colour. An extensive introduction, by the leading Canaletto scholar Charles Beddington, puts these works into perspective, and there are full topographical and art historical descriptions of each picture.

Canaletto: Painting Venice: The Woburn Series

Osborne, Richard

Pallas Athene

View painting in 18th-century Venice began with the emergence of Luca Carlevarijs and ended with the death of Francesco Guardi in 1793, followed by Napoleon’s invasion and the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. In between, a constellation of remarkable painters captured the city in dazzling pictures that are among the greatest achievements in 18th-century art. Canaletto may be the artist popularly associated with Venice, but he had many rivals who competed for commissions, often from foreigners whose patronage was to determine the later course of Venetian view painting. All the major figures are represented here—Bellotto, Carlevarijs, Guardi, Joli, Marieschi, and Vanvitelli—together with fascinating contemporaries such as Cimaroli and Tironi.
Charles Beddington sets the scene with an overview of the artists then working in the city, and draws on the latest research and scholarship to illuminate the complex stylistic relationships between them. Succinct, lively biographies for each artist are followed by short introductions to the works, grouped chronologically by artist. Each painter saw the same topography with his own unique vision; this beautiful book demonstrates the varied responses to the cityscape, with its ever-changing light, as well as to its spectacles and ceremonies.

Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals

National Gallery London

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Books by Beddington, Charles