Giovanni Antonio Canaletto

About Giovanni Antonio Canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto was born Giovanni Antonio Canal in Venice in 1697. He trained as a theatre scene painter alongside his father, then turned to the city views that made his name. He worked with optical aids and a draughtsman's discipline, then quietly adjusted what he saw to build a stronger composition. English visitors on the Grand Tour bought almost everything he produced. From 1746 he lived in London for close to ten years, painting the Thames and its bridges. Canaletto returned to Venice and died there in 1768.

The Canaletto Collection at BestOfBharat

The range covers both halves of the work. There are the recorded views, among them Bacino di San Marco seen from the Piazzetta and A View of Walton Bridge. There are also the capricci, invented scenes that set a Roman triumphal arch or a monumental staircase inside a Venetian courtyard. Perspective stage designs and architectural studies show the scaffolding underneath the finished paintings.

Canaletto in Your Space

These are wide pictures, so give them room. A large canal view holds a wall above a sofa, or works along a corridor where you meet it at an angle. The blue and pale stone palette suits light walls, grey upholstery and dark wood. Hang a finished view next to one of the architectural line studies and the contrast between painting and working drawing does the work. In a study or a dining room, the deep perspective opens up a short wall.

Every artwork here is an archival print, hand-framed to order and delivered ready to hang — made in India.