Canaletto, 1697-1768

The perspective representation of urban landscapes, the view, which became a painting genre in the seventeenth century in Holland with painters such as Gerrit Berckheyde (1638-1698) and Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712), finds with Antonio Canal, best known as Canaletto, its more creative and complete artistic interpretation. In eighteenth century Venice, Canaletto combines a brilliant stage preparation with a deep knowledge of perspective, a rare pictorial talent for a rational use of scientific discoveries in the field of optics, visual perception of colors and distances. Drawing the images in front of his eyes with the aid of the optical camera, an ancient instrument, employed by Van Dyck, Leonardo and Joshua Reynolds, or freehand sketching in a notebook, Canaletto is a modern artist, a man of enlightenment, endowed with a spontaneous, natural and poetic creativity, but based on a constant and meticulous work. Entering his creative world and understanding its mechanisms is the goal of this volume, published on the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the artist's death.