Canaletto cleared of trickery

A few years after Canaletto’s death in 1768, the Venetian artist’s biographer suggested that he had used a camera obscura – a pinhole projection device – to trace his grand views of Venice, says Hannah Furness in The Daily Telegraph. The claim has dogged him ever since, suggesting that he had somehow cheated, or that his paintings are very accurate but bland. “Today, thanks to infrared technology, Canaletto is officially in the clear.” The Royal Collection Trust, which owns the world’s largest collection of his drawings, has examined the original marks that he made on the paper; and the research has categorically proved that he did not use a camera obscura. Rather, Canaletto used a pencil and ruler to extensively “underdraw” his compositions – before copying over the pencil lines in ink, and adding birds, clouds and ripples freehand. The drawings, along with infrared images of his initial sketches, will go on show at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, next month.