Ask any art historian about famous Venetian artworks and the name ‘Canaletto’ will quickly crop up. Canaletto is commonly admired as one of the best painters of his time, and Venice was his chief inspiration.

Canaletto was born Giovanni Antonio Canal in Venice in 1697, the son of painter Bernardo Canal (the nickname Canaletto means ‘little Canal’). Following in his father’s footsteps, Canaletto trained under his father to paint scenery for plays, but he soon found himself keen to capture the myriad scenes of the city around him on canvas also.

He had a fresh, new style which pleased patrons and English tourists in the city – he’d paint both the mundane, daily life and also the grandeur of architecture and pageantry. Unusually for his time,  Canaletto liked to paint in situ, overlooking the scene, rather than locked up in a studio, which is a key reason for the accuracy of his depictions. He was also celebrated for the natural light he brought to each scene.

Once he was established in Venice, Canaletto travelled to London, where his style and works inspired art collectors. He sold Venice scenes in England, but also painted some well-respected works of London landmarks, such as Westminster Bridge. King George III bought most of his collection.

Later in his life Canaletto’s popularity dwindled, but not so today: in 2005 an art collector paid £18.6 million for his painting ‘View of the Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to the Rialto’!

There is a wonderful slideshow of 132 Canaletto paintings on the BBC Arts website, which gives you a great overview of Venice in his time. The following video is also worth a look – it shows 15 of his Venetian paintings in a three-dimensional format.