Returning to Venice from Rome, where he was a theatrical scene painter, Canaletto soon received attractive commissions for large, decorative, topographical canvases, although he also continued to paint fantastic landscapes in the then very modern, pre-Romantic style of Marco Ricci. The earliest known 'vedute' by Canaletto's hand is a series of four, probably painted for a local patron to decorate the walls of a central hall of a palazzo. (Now two are in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid and two in the Museo del Settecento in Venice).

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	Rio dei Mendicanti 1723-24 Oil on canvas, 143 x 200 cm Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice	1420*1000 True Color 241 Kb
	Rio dei Mendicanti (detail) 1723-24 Oil on canvas Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice	810*430 True Color 79 Kb
	The Rio dei Mendicanti (detail) 1723-24 Oil on canvas Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice	803*954 True Color 116 Kb
	Grand Canal, Looking Northeast from Palazo Balbi toward the Rialto Bridge 1723-24 Oil on canvas, 144 x 207 cm Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice	1101*750 True Color 122 Kb
	Grand Canal, Looking East from the Campo San Vio 1723-24 Oil on canvas, 140,5 x 204,5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid	1045*701 True Color 128 Kb
	Grand Canal, Looking East from the Campo San Vio (detail) 1723-24 Oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid	750*1001 True Color 111 Kb
	Piazza San Marco 1723-24 Oil on canvas, 141,5 x 204,5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid	1025*722 True Color 114 Kb
	The Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge in the Background (detail) 1724-25 Oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Dresden	863*611 True Color 108 Kb
	Venice: The Grand Canal, Looking North-East from Palazzo Balbi to the Rialto Bridge c. 1724 Oil on canvas, 87 x 139 cm Private collection	1122*700 True Color 125 Kb