The Grand Canal

In the 1730s Canaletto's best customer was Joseph Smith, an English merchant living in Venice who passed his views on to visiting aristocrats, and for him Canaletto painted a series of 12 views along the Grand Canal. This canvas, made between about 1735 and 1740, is a replica of one of them, and it belongs to a group of four. The view runs down the canal toward the bend where Ca' Foscari stands, the palace built in the 15th century for Doge Francesco Foscari, which looks straight up two stretches of water at once. The museum notes that Canaletto knew how to find the best framing for each view and, when he needed to, how to join several together into a wider panorama than any single glance could take in.