Artist · 18 prints
Canaletto Prints
About Canaletto
Canaletto, born Giovanni Antonio Canal in Venice in October 1697, was an Italian painter of city views. His father, Bernardo Canal, painted theatre scenery, and the young Antonio worked with him, including on opera sets in Rome in 1720. In Rome he turned from the theatre to painting architecture, and by the mid-1720s he was signing himself Canaletto, "little Canal", to tell himself apart from his father. From 1746 he spent about ten years in England before returning to Venice, where he died on 19 April 1768.
Canaletto is known for vedute, detailed and light-filled views of real places. The English merchant and collector Joseph Smith, living in Venice, was his main agent and patron; Smith commissioned twelve Grand Canal views around 1730, published as engravings in 1735, and in 1763 sold a large group of Canaletto's works to King George III. In England he painted London scenes such as London: The Old Horse Guards from St James's Park (about 1749), now at Tate.
Canaletto prints: reproductions of the city views the Venetian painter Canaletto painted of Venice, London and Rome between about 1720 and 1754. The collection includes The Bucintore Returning to the Molo on Ascension Day (1727), Entrance to the Grand Canal from the Molo, Venice (1742), Westminster Bridge, with the Lord Mayor's Procession on the Thames (1747), Warwick Castle (1748) and A View of Walton Bridge (1754).
Most of this selection shows Venice: Piazza San Marco, the Piazzetta, the Bacino di San Marco, the Grand Canal towards the Rialto and the lagoon islands. The rest comes from his years in England, with the Thames, Whitehall, St. Paul's Cathedral and country houses, plus a view of the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The pictures are wide, bright and precise, with clear blue skies, pale stone and busy water.
The wide formats suit living rooms, dining rooms and the wall above a sofa, and the light palettes work well in hallways and offices. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
