The Grand Canal near the Rialto, Looking North

By 1725 Venice had long lost its old power, yet every year it filled with foreigners on the Grand Tour, and a young painter named Antonio Canal had built his living on them. This is the Grand Canal seen from the Rialto, looking north, the water busy with gondolas and the heavier boats that actually kept the city running. Canaletto made views like this to be carried home, mostly by visiting Englishmen, as proof of where they had been. He worked from drawings as much as from life, quietly shifting the buildings so they read more clearly than they really sit. Along the banks the trading barges lie tied up, the ordinary daily traffic of a place that lived entirely on its water.