Giovanni Antonio Canale (Canaletto)

Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, was an Italian painter of city views or vedute, of Venice, Rome, and London. He also painted imaginary views, although the demarcation in his works between the real and the imaginary is never quite clearcut. He was further an important printmaker using the etching technique. In the period from 1746 to 1756 he worked in England where he painted many sights of London. He was highly successful in England, thanks to the British merchant and connoisseur Joseph Smith, whose large collection of Canaletto's works was sold to King George III in 1762. Read more from Wikipedia →