Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768) is one of the most popular of all Old Master painters. His views of Venice, Rome and London are much celebrated and admired, both for their amazing technical skill and for their almost magical ability to evoke the atmosphere of a scene. Observant and perceptive, Canaletto had the power, in the words of one of his contemporaries, to paint so that 'the eye is deceived and truly believes it is the real thing it sees'.

J. G. Links's magisterial study, first published in 1982, has long been acknowledged as the standard work on the subject. With sure critical judgement, meticulous scholarship, and a gift for lucid exposition, the author explores all that is known about Canaletto's life and work, at the same time vividly re-creating the society in which he lived, and relating his art to that of his predecessors, rivals and followers.