canaletto

Giovanni Antonio Canal (Italian: Giovanni Antonio Canal; October 18, 1697 - April 19, 1768, commonly known as Canaletto in the English world), was a painter of the Republic of Venice in Italy and one of the representative painters of the Venetian School in the 18th century. He was a cityscape painter who painted cityscapes of Venice, Rome and London, as well as fictional landscapes (known as "Capriccio"), although in his work the line between reality and fiction was never quite clear. He was also an important printmaker using etching techniques. Working in England between 1746 and 1756, he painted many landscapes of London and other locations, including Warwick Castle and Alnwick Castle. He achieved great success in England thanks to the English merchant and connoisseur Joseph Smith, whose large collection of Canaletto works was sold to King George III in 1762.