The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour: Canaletto's 'A Regatta on the Grand Canal'

Canaletto's inspiration

Canaletto painted this view of the Grand Canal numerous times, with or without a regatta. He may have been inspired by Luca Carlevaris’s (1663–1730) painting (fig. 7) produced in 1709 on the occasion of King Frederick IV of Denmark’s visit to Venice when a special regatta was organised in his honour.

Carlevaris’s popular painting was reproduced in print (fig. 8), which is probably how Canaletto became familiar with it.