Old Master Paintings | October 2012 | Canaletto: "The New Horse Guards from Saint James's Park"
Giovanni Antonio Canal, Il Canaletto, captures a scene outside the New Horse Guards in London, viewed from St James's Park. Canaletto's works are celebrated for their artistic merit and meticulous topographic detail, and are considered to be among the best view paintings of 18th Century London. The Venetian painter spent ten years of his life in the metropolis. Horse Guards - today a popular tourist destination and known for the annual "Trooping the Colour" parade on the occasion of the Queen's birthday - appears more than once in Canaletto's oeuvre: with the old building as well as during the construction of the new one seen here.