The images of Venice created by Canaletto (1697-1768) are among the best-loved and most fascinating of all 18th-century paintings.  During his lifetime, Canaletto's paintings of the city of his birth found an immediate market amongst collectors, particularly the British nobility on the Grand Tour. In 1762 King George III acquired the world's finest group of Canaletto's works when he purchased the entire collection of Joseph Smith, the British Consul in Venice.  This included an outstanding series of Canaletto's Venetian views, amongst which were his paintings of the Grand Canal, and some 140 of Canaletto's drawings. This book brings together 14 of Canaletto's dazzling paintings of the Grand Canal, and 71 of his drawings of Venice and the lagoon.  It features fascinating studies of life in 18th-century Venice, from canal-side workshops to the bustling festivities of Ascension Day around St mark's Square, with the effects of sunlight, water and atmosphere exquisitely captured.