The complete paintings of Canaletto

It is thanks to Canaletto, the painter of views, that today we can know and enjoy what many eighteenth-century European cities looked like. His control of optical principles gives a panoramic completeness to each scene; his meticulous and sensitive touch preserves the atmosphere, the skyline, the very look of each place. Although the demand put upon him during the peak of his popularity may have affected the quality of some of his work, Canaletto remains the finest exponent of vedute, paintings of views, one of the great trends of eighteenth-century art.