The Grand Canal, Venice

This work belongs to a series of twenty vedute that Canaletto painted for Joseph Smith, the British merchant and collector who served as British Consul in Venice and was Canaletto's most important patron, acting as his agent for the English market. After Smith's death, the series passed through two Dukes of Marlborough before dispersing into private hands. This canvas arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019 through the bequest of Jayne Wrightsman, one of the most significant private art donors in the museum's modern history. The bell tower visible in Canaletto's view has since fallen; the church and convent complex on that site now house the Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice's preeminent collection of Venetian painting, and the Accademia Bridge today offers almost exactly the same sightline Canaletto recorded.