The Canaletto Collection at the Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace, Image from the film <em>Canaletto in Venice</em>, 2017, By David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky | Courtesy Nexo Digital
To the English travellers visiting Venice, the paintings of Antonio Canal must have seemed like splendid souvenirs. Thus, Canaletto-mania broke out across the Channel. In a few years, thanks to the art merchant and theatre impresario Owen Swiny, British aristocrats could embellish their estates with spectacular visions of the Serenissima. With the aid of an optical device, Canaletto offered his demanding public postcards of the Lagoon long before the invention of photography - from Piazza San Marco to the Canal Grande to the Palazzo Ducale, his brush turned out vivid and indelible depictions of the marvels of the Grand Tour. Then, the banker, collector and British Consul to Venice, Joseph Smith, took the artist under his wing. The canvases flowed copiously into the kingdom of George III who, in 1763, bought the entire collection of Smith. Approximately 50 paintings, 150 drawings and 15 rare engravings by Canaletto entered Britain’s Royal Collection where they can be found today. From the walls of the Queen’s Gallery, they invite visitors to Buckingham Palace to travel through the Venice of the 1700s, among gondolas bobbing upon the water, unmistakable architecture and masterfully depicted perspectives.
Simone Martini and the great fourteenth-century painters of Siena
Simone Martini, Duccio di Buoninsegna and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti are the protagonists of an exhibition at the National Gallery dedicated to painting in Siena in the first half of the fourteenth century.
Another Hollywood blockbuster becomes a musical. It's Back to the Future adapted for the stage by film creators Bob Gale (Back to the Future trilogy) and Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). Directed by Tony Award winner John Rando.
Lucian Freud is one of the most famous British artists of the 20th century. Known as a painter, Freud was also a keen printmaker. A collection of 143 etchings by Lucian Freud was acquired by the V&A in 2019. Today for the first time in this exhibition 38 of these etchings are presented to the public.
Portraiture has played a vital role in shaping the public's perception of the royal family in Britain. This exhibition chronicles the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, featuring over 150 image prints from the Royal Collection and Royal Archives.