This painting is an exceptional work by Canaletto, its history directly traceable from its commission by Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent in the late 1730s, to today. Having passed by descent in the same English aristocratic collects ion for over 150 years, the work has only appeared on the market three t.mes s in almost 300 years. An entirely unique composition within Canaletto’s œuvre, it ranks among the very best of the artist's representations of the Grand Canal, Venice, to which its inclusion as one of twenty-four canvases painted for English aristocratic clients selected by Joseph Smith to be engraved for Antonio Visentini's series of 1742, is test.mes nt. The canvas dates from the 1730s – the period commonly recognised as that of Canaletto’s finest work, epitomised by his handling of sparkling light, uniquely Venetian colour, and the artist’s astonishing rendition of the clouds and sky – all qualities that are exemplified here. The scale and excellent state of condition of the work also characterise the painting as one of the best of its kind to remain in private hands.

The view is taken looking north-west along the Grand Canal, thus depicting on the left: the Palazzo Pesaro, owned by one of Venice’s most illustrious families, the Palazzo Foscarini-Giovanelli, birthplace of Marco Foscarini (elected Doge in 1762), and the pinnacle of the church of S. Stae; in the distance on the right are: the incomplete pediment and campanile of the church of S. Marcuola, and the substantial building to the right, the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi, one of the greatest palaces of Renaissance Venice, finished in 1504 and where Wagner would die in 1883; there then follows a succession of smaller palazzi, running along the right-hand (north) bank of the canal, from Cà Marcello, to the nearest building, Cà Contarini Pisani.

This painting was one of a pair of pendant views, both commissioned by Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, who owned a total of five works by Canaletto. The pendant (with Richard Green, London, in 1987, and now in a European private collects ion; fig. 1) treats the same view from the opposite direction: The Grand Canal, looking north-west to the Campo di S. Sofia to S. Marcuola, the vista comprising the Cà Foscari on the right, and on the left Cà Pesaro and Cà Foscarini, along with further buildings that also appear in the present composition.¹ What is highly unusual about both paintings is that neither composition is known in any other versions – each design is entirely unique within Canaletto’s œuvre (unlike many other views, including the further three paintings by Canaletto owned by Henry Grey, which were reproduced in a number of iterations).

The pair is typical of Canaletto’s interest in painting complementary pictures, often in which the same buildings are observed from different angles, or at different t.mes s of day, and in different light, reflective of his skill and fascination for vedute, his attention captured not only by the rigour and splendour of the architecture of his native city, but the myriad anecdotal details contained within a scene, adding life and spontaneity to the accuracy of the view. The scenes are at once historical documents and artistic interpretations of the magical city, as Canaletto manipulated topography for effect, opening up perspectives so as to simultaneously represent both sides of the Canal, combining viewpoints, straightening or exaggerating perspective to render buildings visible, and somet.mes s even omitting more minor edifices in favour of more interesting ones. Here, we see the buildings bathed in warm sunlight, beneath some scattered clouds – some of the most lyrical and painterly passages of the canvas; workmen appear to be repairing the roof of the Palazzo Pesaro on the left, while a variety of figures are transported over the rippling water of the canal, in boats and gondolas, and other people are visible at windows and balconies.

Henry Grey’s death on 5 June 1740 provides a terminus ante quem for the commission of the works, and it seems most likely that they were painted in the late 1730s, as Constable (see Literature) believes, and the eighteenth-century label formerly on the reverse: ‘painted for Henry Duke of [Kent]’ suggests. In any case, they had been completed by the t.mes of publication of Visentini’s engravings of 1742, and in all probability some t.mes before this, since Visentini made preparatory drawings for many of the other prints in the series some years before. Drawings for these pendant views are in the Museo Correr, Venice, and the British Museum, London (figs 1 and 2),² though only the present composition appears in Visentini's engraved series of 1742.

Joseph Smith (circa 1674–1770; British consul 1744–60), Canaletto’s principal patron, agent and intermediary for many members of the British aristocracy travelling to Venice as part of their Grand Tour, is named in the title of Visentini’s published engravings, testifying to his choice of the views represented in the prints. Smith himself had commissioned a series of twelve views of the length of the Grand Canal, of the same size, and two depictions of festivals, on larger canvases (today in The Royal collects ion), all of which Canaletto painted between 1722 and 1734, before Visentini engraved the series to be published in 1735. The expanded edition of the Prospectus Magni Canalis Venetiarum, including the present view, was published in 1742. Unlike the engravings of 1735, which reproduce works in Smith's own private collects ion, the prints of 1742 record those paintings that passed through Smith's hands and into the collects ions of the British elite, including the Dukes of Bedford, Marlborough and Leeds, thereby promoting not only Canaletto, whose paintings were by then prestigious souvenirs of the Grand Tour, but also Smith, and his illustrious connections.

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent (1671-1740) had his seat at Wrest Park, in Bedfordshire, which had been acquired by his family almost five hundred years earlier. After his elevation as Marquess and Duke, in 1706 and 1710, respectively, the Duke carried out a major programme of works at Wrest, including a spectacular garden, a pavilion, and the remodelling of the house itself, for which he made acquisitions of classical sculpture and contemporary pictures during his Grand Tour, such as landscapes by Claude, Swanevelt, Panini and the paintings by Canaletto. The other three works by Canaletto that he owned depict The Molo, and another complementary pair: The Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking West, and The Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking East.³ The subtly differing dimensions of all five paintings may suggest that they were commissioned for specific settings in the house, though the Duke’s accounts for the 1730s do not survive, and later accounts do not relate this information.

¹ Oil on canvas, 60 x 94 cm. Sold London, Christie's, 12 December 1986, lot 99; see Constable and Links 1989, vol. I, reproduced pl. 201, and vol. II, p. 308, no. 243; and Links 1998, p. 26, no. 243.

² Inv. nos 1948,0704.23 and 1948,0704.45; both pen and brown ink, 255 x 427 mm.

³ The Molo: 61.5 x 108 cm.; and The Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking West: 72.5 x 110 cm., both in a private collects ion, UK. The Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking East: 72.5 x 110 cm., Terruzzi collects ion, Italy.