London: Interior of the Rotunda at Ranelagh

Canaletto made his name selling views of Venice to the British gentlemen who passed through on the Grand Tour. When war on the Continent in the 1740s thinned that stream of visitors, he did the practical thing and followed his customers home, spending about nine years in England. This is London seen through a Venetian's eye. The Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea had opened in 1742 as the city's smartest pleasure ground, a huge circular hall where fashionable London walked in slow circles, took tea in the boxes around the wall, and listened to music. Canaletto painted it in 1754, catching the small orchestra at the right and the light glinting off the chandeliers. Ten years later the eight-year-old Mozart, touring Europe with his father, gave a concert under this same roof.