At the National Gallery - East Wing - right down the hall from the Paul Gauguin exhibit was the Canaletto - Venice exhibit. Let me tell you know matter how much I had read about it prepared me for what I saw. Canaletto and his rivals were painters in Venice about 150 years befor Paul Gauguin was painting. They painted from 1730 to 1780 or so.
They took street scenes, canal scenes, everyday Venice and turned them into wonderful paintings. They have been compared to giant postcards from Venice. Many of them were ordered from visitors enjoying Venice and the carnival that went on nine months out of the year. You can find a large number of them in Britian. The queen has quite a collection as do several other prominent people from there.
These paintings were extremely detailed. Many artists use the obscura camera to trace the city onto paper for quick yet detailed sketches for their paintings. I was totally overwhelmed with joy after the first gallery of these paintings. The light that they had captured, the fun and details were amazing. I found myself picking my jaw up off the floor. If you have a chance this is not to be missed.
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