Katharine Baetjer

Canaletto, by J.G. Links follows the Phaidon tradition of delivering a beautiful book, full of detailed colour plates, for a fairly modest price. The pictures alone make the book worth purchasing.

Canaletto, a Venetian painter of the early 18th Century, moved from painting stage backdrops to gorgeous perspective views of his native town. If you have ever been to Venice you know that it has an achingly beautiful prospect around every corner. Canaletto reproduced these views artistically, with a keen eye for perspective, architectural detail and atmosphere. His paintings will leave you wanting to book the next flight to Italy. Phaidon does a wonderful job of reproducing his images, in full colour with plenty of detail plates. Canaletto's later work in London and his capriccios and ink drawings are also included. From a visual perspective this book is stunning.

It is, however, a little lacking when it comes to the text. It would seem that we only really know anything about Canaletto through his contacts with a couple of British middlemen , McSwiney and Smith, who engaged him to paint views of Venice for rich Englishman who had toured Venice. We are treated to numerous details about provenances and the lives of the British agents but precious little about Canaletto himself. His style is discussed largely in terms of technique - his use of perspective and the slight deviations he made from the real scenes. But a more in depth analysis of motivation and aesthetics never materializes. A final quibble would be the lack of a good map of Venice. A plan of Venice from 1729 is included, with labels in Italian but is mostly inadequate. The author assumes the reader is familiar with Venetian topology and rarely clarifies details of place.

The book is richly deserving of five stars for its images alone. The text is adequate but not particularly inspired. A brief chronology, list of sources and list of plates, together with a short index make up the somewhat abbreviated scholarly apparatus. If you are looking for a detailed life of Canaletto and a deep analysis of his paintings this book is probably not for you but if you want to simply wallow in the sheer beauty of Venice, it is a definite must.… (mere)