ENGLISH FOLLOWER OF GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL, CALLED CANALETTO

This composition derives, with minor differences, from a view by Canaletto in the Sir John Soane Museum, London (inv. no. P66). Canaletto's view was painted after 1726 / 28, when the steeple on San Giorgio was erected, and before 1745 when the façade of the Santa Maria della Pietà (the 'Church of Vivaldi') was reconstructed. This perspective is taken from east of the Ponte dell'Arsenale. Beyond the bridge on the right are the Forni Militari, and behind the next range of buildings, the campanile of San Giovanni in Bragora. Further along the Riva degli Schiavoni is the fourteenth-century Doge's Palace with the Campanile tower behind. At center left, the Dogana and the baroque church of Santa Maria della Salute are visible.

Canaletto found great favor amongst the English, both Grand Tourists visiting Venice and those who commissioned works from him during his nine-year stay in England (1746-55). Canaletto's most successful views, such as this one, were frequently copied and reinterpreted by English eighteenth-century painters, many of whom remain unidentified.