Painter
Canaletto. Name adopted by Giovanni
Antonio Canal(e) Italian painter
of the Venetian school. Trained by his father
and by Pannini in Rome, Canaletto
became the
painter of Venice, its canals, the Rialto, the
Riva dei Schiavoni, the Salute. His pictures
were sold to tourists, including Englishmen on
the Grand Tour, with whom he became so
popular that he placed most of his business
through Joseph Smith, later British consul in
Venice. In 1746 Canaletto was in London, and for
the
next 10 or so years he painted English scenes,
but he appears to have been less in demand
when he came to this market than he was in
Venice. Canaletto gives his studies of buildings, sky
and water a shimmering effect and the rapid,
stylized drawings of small figures in landscapes
and town scenes were to influence artists and
illustrators in every part of Europe to the
present day.
The Royal Collection contain much of
his best work, both of the Venetian and the
English period.
Source: The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists (World of Art)
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