Canaletto is the most famous of the Venetian landscape artists and his views of Venice have contributed to consecrating the myth of the Serenissima. Not only did he accurately record the topographical reality of the city in his paintings, but through careful observation of light he was also able to convey an imperturbable and eternal image of eighteenth-century Venice. Canaletto shoots the Grand Canal through a shot that had been codified by Luca Carlevarijs in a famous canvas, but adopts a wider and more dilated construction of the scene, indicative of his training and his initial commitment as a set designer. In the foreground on the left you can see the façade of Palazzo Balbi, on the right you can recognize the Erizzo, Contarini and Mocenigo palaces, while the Rialto bridge can just be glimpsed in the distance.