Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals (National Gallery London)

View painting in 18th-century Venice began with the emergence of Luca Carlevarijs and ended with the death of Francesco Guardi in 1793, followed by Napoleon's invasion and the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. In between, a constellation of remarkable painters captured the city in dazzling pictures that are among the greatest achievements in 18th-century art. Canaletto may be the artist popularly associated with Venice, but he had many rivals who competed for commissions, often from foreigners whose patronage was to determine the later course of Venetian view painting. All the major figures are represented here—Bellotto, Carlevarijs, Guardi, Joli, Marieschi, and Vanvitelli—together with fascinating contemporaries such as Cimaroli and Tironi.

Charles Beddington sets the scene with an overview of the artists then working in the city, and draws on the latest research and scholarship to illuminate the complex stylistic relationships between them. Succinct, lively biographies for each artist are followed by short introductions to the works, grouped chronologically by artist. Each painter saw the same topography with his own unique vision; this beautiful book demonstrates the varied responses to the cityscape, with its ever-changing light, as well as to its spectacles and ceremonies.