NEW HAVEN, CT.- The fame of the great eighteenth-century Italian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto (1697–1768), rests predominantly on his views of Venice, where he spent most of his life. Canaletto’s great popularity with English grand tourists and patrons, however, led him in 1746 to travel to England, where he lived for nearly ten years. Today, the Yale Center for British Art will present the most ambitious survey ever mounted of Canaletto’s time in England, a significantly more productive and influential period than previously has been appreciated. On view October 19–December 31, 2006, Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746–1755 features almost sixty paintings and drawings by the Italian artist.

Anglo-Venetian cultural relations flourished during the eighteenth century. Canaletto’s popularity with English patrons was greatly assisted by British connoisseur Joseph Smith, a successful merchant and collector who settled in Venice in 1700 and was named British Consul there in 1744. Smith hosted many British aristocrats on their Grand Tours, exposing them to Venice’s leading contemporary artists, foremost among them Canaletto. The artist’s fame spread to England as these patrons returned home with their treasures. In the late 1740s his strong ties with wealthy English collectors led Canaletto to leave his native Venice for London, where he expected to profit from a healthy economy and art market. Many of the subjects Canaletto painted in England document the major construction projects that were taking place in London and farther afield during his stay. He spent prolonged periods out of the city, painting his patrons’ country houses, including splendid views for Lord Brooke, the future Earl of Warwick (Warwick Castle is one of the Center’s greatest treasures); the Duke of Beaufort; and the future Duke of Northumberland (whose descendant, the current Duke, has graciously agreed to lend four paintings to the exhibition).

Unlike all previous exhibitions, this show will emphasize the diverse nature of Canaletto’s work in England. It will include works in which he translated the pictorial conceits developed in his earlier Venetian views, or vedute, to his English subject matter, as well as the Italian fantastical views, or capricci, that Canaletto painted in England, largely in response to the demand of his local patrons. In bringing these works together for the first time, the exhibition and an accompanying publication highlight this Venetian painter’s singular contribution to English art and culture. It will be particularly interesting to see his views of houses and monuments along the Thames juxtaposed with such spectacular views of Venice painted in England as the The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day (on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art).

This exhibition has been co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. The guest curator is Charles Beddington, an independent scholar and former fellow at the Center. The organizing curators at the Yale Center for British Art are Julia Marciari Alexander, Associate Director for Exhibitions and Publications, and Angus Trumble, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.