Syon House

By the late 1740s the War of the Austrian Succession had nearly emptied Venice of the young English gentlemen whose Grand Tour money kept Canaletto painting views of the canals. So in 1746 he did the practical thing and followed his customers home to London. This is one of eight pictures the future Duke of Northumberland ordered from him: a calm stretch of the Thames near Brentford, with Syon House sitting low on the far bank. Onto an English river Canaletto brought the same bright, glassy light and careful order he had spent decades working into the Venetian lagoon. The house still belongs to the Northumberland family, and the painting hangs today at their seat, Alnwick Castle.