A Venetian painter in London.(Books about antiques)

The reputations of talented artists precede them even to faraway locales, and seemingly always have. Hans Holbein the Younger was successful in both Switzerland and England; Leonardo da Vinci left Italy when he was invited to France by Francis I; and Canaletto's work met with success both in Venice and in London, where he spent nine fruitful years. The works he produced during this period, primarily of British subjects, were the focus of a recent exhibition held at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, and at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London under the title Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755. In the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition, three essays by Charles Beddington, Brian Allen, and Francis Russell examine the artist's work, the art market, and patronage in London during these years.

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Canaletto arrived in England in May 1746, a stranger to the city of London but not to many of the English aristocrats who had stopped in Venice on the obligatory grand tour and purchased one or two of his works, perhaps through the expatriate Joseph Smith, a merchant who later served as British consul from 1744 to 1760 and formed a large collection of the artist's drawings and paintings. Canaletto also met new patrons who were building large houses that needed furnishings and paintings: the ninth Duke of Norfolk, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield, and the fifth Baron King, among them.

According to Beddington "There is reason to believe that Canaletto's activity in England brought him financial rewards beyond those he enjoyed at any other time in his long and industrious career." The word industrious is an apt one, for in the years he spent in London Canaletto completed forty-eight views of English subjects, thirty-five of which are of London. He also painted or drew a few country houses (Syon and Badminton), castles or royal residences (Windsor and Warwick), and many, many bridges (Westminster, Hampton Court, and Old Walton). Westminster ...