Roma: l'Arco di Settimio Severo

Canaletto made his living painting Venice for British tourists on the Grand Tour, but by 1742 a European war was keeping those visitors at home, and his trade was thinning out. So he turned to Rome instead. This is one of five tall views of Roman ruins he made for Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice and his most loyal buyer. Canaletto had seen the Arch of Septimius Severus decades earlier and worked this picture up from an old sketch, tidying and rearranging the surrounding buildings as he pleased. About 20 years on, when Smith needed money, he sold his whole collection to King George the Third, which is how a Venetian's Roman view ended up in the British royal rooms, where it stays.