© Great Works of Western Art
1697 Giovanni Antonio Canal is born in Venice, the son of Bernado Canal, a painter of theatrical scenery.
1716 Works in Venice painting scenery with his father and uncle for Vivaldi operas.
1719 Travels to Rome with his father to paint opera sets.
1720 Joins the Venetian painters’ guild.
1725 His first documented paintings of Venetian views are produced and Canaletto almost immediately builds a formidable reputation producing works mostly for English patrons as mementos of the Grand Tour.
1735 An album of 14 views of Venice, after Canaletto paintings, is published – all are in the collection of Joseph Smith a banker and resident of Venice who acts as intermediary between Canaletto and his English customers.
1740 The outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession reduces the flow of English tourists to Venice. Canaletto concentrates on drawing and etching.
1746 As a result of a marked decline in commissions because of the war he moves to England.
1750 Visits Venice.
1751 Returns to London.
1756 He is permanently resident again in Venice.
1766 Canaletto’s last dated work bears an inscription stating that at the age of 68 he had painted it without the aid of spectacles.
1768 Dies in Venice.
1724 The Grand Canal in Venice with the Rialto Bridge, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
c1724 The Piazza San Marco, Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
1729 Bucentaur’s return to the pier by the Palazzo Ducale, Moscow, Pushkin State Museum
c1730 The Stonemason’s Yard, London, National Gallery
c1730 The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts
1735 Venice: The Feast Day of Saint Roch, London, National Gallery
1735 The Arrival of the French Ambassador, St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
1738 Venice: The Upper Reaches of the Grand Canal with S Simeone Piccolo, London, National Gallery
1738 Bacino di San Marco, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
1745 View of the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum, Malibu, J Paul Getty Museum
c1745 The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day, Philadelphia Museum of Art
1747 Westminster Bridge with the Lord Mayor’s Procession on the Thames, New Haven, Yale Center for British Art
c1750 Bacino di S. Marco from the Piazzetta, Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria
c1750 The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House, Looking Towards Westminster, New Haven, Yale Center for British Art
1751 London: The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City, London, Royal Collection
1752 Warwick Castle, East Front from the Courtyard, Birmingham, Museums and Art Gallery
1754 London: Interior of the Rotunda at Ranelagh, London, National Gallery
1754 Eton College, London, National Gallery
1754 Old Walton Bridge, London, Dulwich Picture Gallery
c1754 St Paul’s Cathedral, New Haven, Yale Center for British Art
