Bibliography
Arslan, Edoardo. “New Findings on Canaletto.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, September 1948, 225-227.
This article highlights the development of Canaletto during a twenty-year span. Arslan writes that his works exhibited a higher quality of depth after his visits to England, and that there is a Dutch undertone to his landscapes. This resource will be useful for researching Canaletto’s differences in style after his time spent in London.
Baetjer, Katharine. Canaletto. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.
This exhibition catalogue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a wide collection of Canaletto’s paintings and drawings that were of special interest to the English aristocracy and were included in the Royal Collection. There are five informative essays and excellent images, as well. This will be a good resource for examining Canaletto’s development in England.
Baker, Christopher. Canaletto. London: Phaidon, 1994.
Within the first few pages, Baker explains the differences between vedute esatte (precise views) and vedute ideate (imaginary views) and why both terms apply to Canaletto. He notes that vedute esatte is often misused when describing his paintings, because Canaletto was known for tweaking the cityscape in favor of drawing more attention or engaging the viewer. However, vedute ideate, otherwise known as capricci, is also not an accurate term, because this implies total imagination. The works Canaletto created incorporated both ideas, which Baker elaborates upon by comparing forty-eight of his paintings to each other.
Barcham, William. “Canaletto and a Commission from Consul Smith.” The Art Bulletin, September 1977, 383-393.
Joseph Smith was named consul to the Venetian Republic under the Court of St. James in 1744. He commissioned three series of works by Canaletto, including several works that were a part of the Royal Collection in England. It was Consul Smith that made Canaletto popular in England, and it is an important component to this essay to note how his style developed back in Venice after his travels to England.
Beddington, Charles. Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals. London: National Gallery of London, 2010.
This book provides explanations of Canaletto’s paintings from the exhibition that was showed in the National Gallery of Art in the summer of 2011. This book is particularly useful in comparing Canaletto to his contemporaries. There are individual chapters on the lives and works of Vanvitelli, Carlevaris, Bellotti, Guardi, and several other artists. The book focuses primarily on Canaletto, however, and incorporates his works chronologically. Beddington also provides good background information and excellent images, which will be very useful when I need to examine details of the paintings.
Bomford, David. Venice through Canaletto’s Eyes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Bomford notes that Luca Carlevaris (1663-1730) preceded Canaletto in view painting, and that Canaletto combined different perspectives to create his own fantasy within Venice. Bomford offers examples of some of these dual-perspective works, includingGrand Canal: the Rialto Bridge from the North, 1725. He also discusses several other artists from the time, which was useful to read for my own background knowledge. The bibliography included at the end helped me find more sources, as well.
Borenius, Tancred. “A Canaletto Curiosity.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, September 1921, 108-113.
In this article, Tancred compares Canaletto to Bellotto, and explores the topic of painting from inspiration or from history. Tancred observes that Canaletto comprised historical architecture with his own imagination, resulting in his works of art. It is interesting to see the comparison between the two artists and how both of them achieved this style differently.
Bromberg, Ruth. Canaletto’s Etchings. San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1993.
This is the standard catalogue of Canaletto’s prints and since some of his etchings are views of Venice, and this may be a helpful resource in discussing his inventiveness and views of Venice. It will be important to draw comparisons between his etchings and paintings, and see if he played with perspectives in all of his celebrated mediums.
Constable, William George. “A Canaletto Capriccio.” The Burlington Museum of Fine Arts, December 1949, 81-84.
Constable will be a very important author in my research of Canaletto. This particular article touches upon his whims and imaginary executions, in combination with his literal representations of Venetian scenery. This will be a very important article to have in order to examine Canaletto’s uniqueness and fine details within his drawings, paintings, and etchings.
Constable, William George. “Canaletto and Guardi.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, December 1921, 298-303.
Constable is one of the most authorities on Canaletto and his books and articles are important resources for Canaletto and his life and work. In this article, he offers an in-depth analysis of Canaletto and fellow artist Guardi. He reveals their differences in overall content and their many similarities in style. This source will be helpful in pinpointing what made Canaletto’s technique and subjects so unique.
Constable, William George. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962.
This book is a major monographic source that describes the life of Canaletto and includes a collection of his works. This resource will be especially useful for biographical information and what kinds of influences played a large role in his development. This will also serve as a timeline that will help me organize the chronology of his most important achievements and trips.
Constable, William George. “Canaletto in England: Some Further Works.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, January 1927, 16-19.
In this article, Constable discusses Canaletto’s fluctuation in style when he returned to England in 1751. He also goes on to note that Canaletto still set a standard for his followers, despite his “monotonous and empty” style that he briefly adopted when traveling. This will be a good source in noting how he took his Venetian tradition and translated it in a different country.
Francis, Henry S. “Canaletto: Piazza San Marco, Venice.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, October 1962, 186-190.
Francis begins by explaining the long history of Venice and how it remained unchanged for about five hundred years, which allows art historians to compare artists who came to Venice to paint or draw the scenery, based on technique, schooling, and time period. Canaletto’s Piazza San Marco acts as an example of this, because he uses a wide perspective space that incorporates much more than would be possible, if done accurately. Francis discusses Canaletto’s unusual use of angles and proportion in order to include the whole scene in one painting. This is a useful source because of its detailed examination of one major work.
Gioseffi, Decio. Canaletto and his Contemporaries. New York: Crown Publishers, 1960.
Gioseffi includes several comparisons between Canaletto and many of his peers. He provides many illustrations and descriptive text. This resource will also be important in discovering the distinctiveness of Canaletto and his style.
Links, J. G. Canaletto. New York: Phaidon Press Inc., 1994.
After Constable, Links is the best and most highly regarded author for Canaletto and his life. It is the most recent and authoritative source in Canaletto’s work in the context of Venetian view painting. I anticipate that this is going to be one of the most important bibliographic resources for my work. The images are remarkable and each work pictured is discussed thoroughly.
Martineau, Jane and Andrew Robison. The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
This catalogue offers a wide range of art, including paintings completed by Canaletto, Guardi, and many other artists. It is a perfect illustration of the fall of the Venetian state, which was occurring throughout the century even while artistic development flourished. This is a very important resource for outlining the history of the city and noting connections between the artistic and political worlds of Venice during the eighteenth century.
Millar, Oliver. “Venice. Canaletto” The Burlington Magazine, October 1982, 652-656.
This article outlines Canaletto’s career in Venice. Millar highlights his most important works and finds thematic trends linking them together. Because my essay will primarily focus on Canaletto’s life in Venice, this article will be especially important for me.
Parker, K. T. The Drawings of Antonio Canaletto in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1948.
Parker discusses all of Canaletto’s drawings that were acquired by the king of England in the eighteenth century and are still in the Royal Collection. It will be interesting to discover whether Canaletto manipulates the views in his drawings the same way he sometimes manipulated his paintings. It will also show if Canaletto used the same approach to drawing views when he was in England as he did in Venice, or whether being in a foreign land changed the way he worked.
Von Hadeln, Detlev Baron. “Some Drawings by Canaletto.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, December 1926, 298-303.
Drawings often served as a basis for Canaletto’s paintings and help reveal elements of reality and fantasy that he used, sometimes starting with studies from life. Von Hadeln describes this process in his article, and focuses especially on Canaletto’s landscape drawings. It will be important to incorporate some of Canaletto’s drawings into my discussion of his views in order to see the differences in detail between his drawings and paintings.
Weinhardt, Jr., Carl J. “Canaletto: Master Etcher.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, November 1958, 77-87.
In this article, Weinhardt talks about Canaletto’s history in Venice. He discusses the idea of a Grand Tour as being a mandatory part of a gentleman’s education, in which he would travel and acquire continental polish. Weinhardt also notes how important Canaletto’s etchings were to his development as an artist. This article will be useful in researching the characteristics of Canaletto’s etchings and how they differ from his painted city views.
