View of the Grand Canal

Creator

Italian Artist · 1697–1768

It was fashionable for eighteenth-century English tourists on the Grand Tour to bring home a Canaletto *veduta,* or view painting, to commemorate their trip. A Venetian native, Canaletto was first trained by his father, a theatrical scene painter. In 1719 he went to Rome for a year, possibly studying with Dutch and Italian painters of classical ruins. Canaletto's earliest datable works are four vi