he National
Gallery. To see him once is to see all his pictures so far as technique
goes, but a complete set would form an excellent microcosm of
fashionable and frivolous Venice of his day. Hogarth, who no doubt
approximates more to the Venetian style of painting than to any other,
probably found that influence in the work of Sebastiano Ricci, a
Venetian who taught in St. Martin's Lane.

The brave Tiepolo--Giovanni Battista or Giambattista, as the contraction
has it--was born in Venice in 1696, the son of a wealthy merchant and
shipowner. In 1721 he married a sister of Guardi, settled down in a
house near the bridge of S. Francesco della Vigna, and had nine
children. His chief artistic education came from the study of Titian and
Paul Veronese, and he quickly became known as the most rapid and
intrepid ceiling painter of the time. He worked with tremendous spirit,
as one deduces from the the examination of his many frescoes. Tiepolo
drew with masterly precision and brio, and his colour can be very
sprightly: but one always has the feeling that he had no right to be in
a church at all, except possibly to confess.

At the National Gallery we have some small examples of Tiepolo's work,
which, if greatly magnified, would convey an excellent impression of his
mural manner. Tiepolo went to Spain in his old age to work for Charles
III, and died there in 1770. His widow survived him by nine years, dying
in 1779. She seems to have been a gambler, and there is a story of her
staking all her losses one evening against her husband's sketches.
Losing, she staked his villa, containing many of his frescoes, and lost
again.

Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, was born in Venice in 1697, the son of
a scene-painter. At first he too painted scenery, but visiting Rome he
was fascinated by its architecture and made many studies of it. On
returning to Venice he settled down as a topographical painter and
practically reproduced his native city on canvas. He died in 1768.
Venice possesses only inferior works from his hands; but No. 474
here--the view of the Scuola of S. Marco--is very fine.

Canaletto had a nephew named Bernardo Bellotto, who to much of his
uncle's skill brought a mellow richness all his own, and since he also
took the name of Canaletto, confusion has resulted. He is represented in
the Accademia; but Vienna is richest in his work.

The great Canaletto has a special interest for us in that in later life
he lived for a while