Charming the aristocracy

Canaletto is one of the best-loved of foreigners who visited these shores and attempted to capture the English spirit through depictions of our countryside and buildings. London was the magnet, inevitably, when commissions began to run short in his native Venice. Canaletto had sold a great deal of work to the English aristocracy as they called in on Venice during the obligatory Grand Tour of the wonders of Europe. Now war had curtailed the influx of visitors, and Canaletto felt the pinch. He may also have seen the wisdom of attempting a new subject, rather than continuing to flood the market with versions of Venetian views already mastered.

In 1746 he arrived in England, at the start of a nine-year sojourn, which was interrupted by only one trip home in 1750–1. George Vertue, historian and engraver, records the event somewhat bitchily: ‘Latter end of May came to London from Venice the Famous Painter of Views Cannalletti…he is much esteemed and no doubt but what Views and works He doth here, will give the same satisfaction — though many persons already have so many of his paintings.’