The Grand Canal, Venice, Looking Southeast, with the Campo della Carità to the Right

Artist: Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) (Italian, 1697–1768)

Original Dimensions: 18 1/2" x 30 5/8"

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

About Artwork: (1730s) "Canaletto made many drawings on‑site, which he used to assemble views like this one in the studio. Although the bell tower has since fallen, its adjacent church and former convent now house the Galleria dell’Accademia, and this view is approximately the same as that seen from today’s Accademia Bridge. The regularized means of depicting the choppy canal water became a signature of Canaletto in the 1730s. This canvas is from a series of twenty view paintings that Canaletto probably painted for Joseph Smith (ca. 1674–1770), British consul in Venice from 1744 to 1760.

These finely painted views of Venice come from a group of twenty identically sized works probably commissioned by Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice from 1744 to 1760. Canaletto and his clients, particularly those from England, often thought of his works in series. This allowed them to assemble records of Venice’s sites, from its most famous squares to more obscure churches and palaces. Historians of architecture and urbanism can precisely identify the location of each composition (the Museum’s website entries for these works enumerate each in detail), but Canaletto often took strategic liberties in order to show the full facade of a given building or the best angle of view down a canal." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)