Famous Giovanni Canaletto painting found to be created by his young nephew
A painting thought to have been executed by the famous artist Giovanni Canaletto has officially been re-attributed to his nephew, Bernardo Bellotto.
On 10th March 2025, the Wallace Collection in London announced that The Grand Canal with San Simeone Piccolo, from circa 1737, was actually painted by Bellotto, who was only a teenager at the time of the creation.
Specialists believe that, given his young age, this might have been Bellotto’s first work. He was the nephew and pupil of artist Giovanni Antonio Canal, who became better known as Canaletto.
Bellotto also went by the name of Canaletto because of his uncle’s reputation; therefore, in some ways, the attribution had always been correct.
Canaletto and Bellotto’s artworks vary in style and this became the main indicator that proved the painting belonged to Belotto.
Critics Leila Packer and Charles Beddington wrote in a catalogue titled Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection that Bellotto’s art was defined by diagonal brushwork and a cooler colour palette.
Bellotto, in his own right, made a name for himself, becoming an urban landscape painter, working in several cities across Europe, primarily in the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. As a result, the cooler colour palette can be attributed to his proximity to Dutch painting, from which he took inspiration.
