The Grand Canal, Piazzetta and Dogana, Venice

Antonio Canaletto (Venice 1697 – Venice 1768) . Oil painting on canvas, The Grand Canal, Piazzetta and Dogana, Venice by Canaletto (Venice 1697 – Venice 1768), 1730. On the left is Santa Maria della Salute; on the right the column of Saint Theodore and next to it, the Libreria, Zecca, and the Granai (State Granary), which was demolished in Napoleonic times and is today the site of the Giardinetto Reale. The low building beyond is the restored Magistrato della Farina, which now serves as the Capitaneria di Porto. The rectangular tower in the distance, which no longer exists, was once a feature of Palazzo Venier della Torresella. Painted for Samuel Hill (Samuel Egerton's uncle) in 1730. This and TAT/P/33 must be the two paintings by Canaletto referred to by Joseph Smith and Samuel Egerton in letters written to Samuel Hill from Venice in 1730 (cf. Chaloner, below). They were completed by the end of December and despatched to London in February 1731. Samuel Hill, who was in the habit of buying pictures through Consul Smith, was uncle and guardian to Samuel Egerton (see No.36) and it was through him that his nephew was apprenticed to Smith in 1729. Samuel Egerton outlived his elder brother, inheriting his uncle’s estates, and the pictures were transferred to the family seat of Tatton Park. Thence by inheritance and descent to the 4th Baron Egerton, by whom bequeathed to the National Trust with the property in 1958. Tatton Park, Cheshire (Accredited Museum)