Usually he drew the scene on the spot and then made more detailed studies in his studio. These studies were then transferred to the canvas with the help of lines cut into the prepared surface as guidelines for columns, cornices, arches, and domes. We also know that Canaletto used the camera obscura, a darkened box or chamber in which the view is caught and reflected by lenses and mirrors onto a sheet of drawing paper so that the artist can render the perspective lines accurately simply by tracing the contours of the reflected image.

Pleased by his success with the English, Canaletto went to England in 1746. He stayed there off and on for a decade, but the results were disappointing. In Venice he had provided the English with scenes they considered exotic and picturesque, whereas in England he could provide them only with views of what they already knew.

Back in Venice, Canaletto continued to paint views for tourists. He also won acceptance from the Venetians themselves with a new form, the architectural caprice, in which famous landmarks were combined arbitrarily or (rarely in Canaletto's case) the architecture was invented altogether. With one of these as his reception piece he was finally admitted to the Venetian Academy in 1763. Five years later, on April 20, 1768, he died.

The Stonemasons' Yard gives a good idea of Canaletto's very early work. It is a Venice the tourist seldom sees, or tries not to remember: a view of disorder and poverty, of a vacant lot filled with stone and rubble, of gray buildings hung with damp laundry, of gray clouds closing off the sky. But it is also filled with gravity, dignity, and a sense of timelessness.

Far more typical are the sunlit scenes Canaletto painted so often of St. Mark's Square, the Ducal Palace, and the Grand Canal. In the best of these canvases the painted surfaces are beautifully modulated—the tan buildings touched with rose, and rose again in the blue of the sky. The open spaces come alive with festive clusters of bright little figures. These he brushed in broadly and made them sparkle with a scattering of white dots.

Under increasing pressure to turn out more and more paintings for the tourist trade, Canaletto took on assistants, who watered down his style. Many of his late canvases are overly rigid and dry.

The most complete study of Canaletto is W. G. Constable, Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768 (2 vols., 1962), but it is difficult and dry. For a more sensitive interpretation see F. J. B. Watson, Canaletto (1949). K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Antonio Canaletto … at Windsor Castle (1948), is the best book in its area. A brief but highly readable account of Canaletto appears in Michael Levey, Painting in XVIII Century Venice (1959).

Drawings by Canaletto:
* The Stonemason's Yard
* S. Francesco Della Vigna: Church And Campo
* Venice Viewed from the San Giorgio Maggiore
* Palazzo Ducale and the Piazza di San Marco
* The Piazzetta (1733–1735)
* The Grand Canal at the Salute Church (1738–1742)
* View Of The Grand Canal And Santa Maria Della Salute With Boats And Figures In The Foreground, Venice
* View Of The Grand Walk, vauxhall Gardens, With The Orchestra Pavilion, The Organ House, The Turkish Dining Tent And The Statue Of Aurora
* Grand Canal, Looking East from the Campo San Vio (1723–1724)
* Grand Canal, Looking Northeast from Palazo Balbi toward the Rialto Bridge (1723–1724)
* Piazza San Marco (1723–1724)
* Rio dei Mendicanti (1723–1724)
* The Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge in the Background (1724–1725)
* Doge Palace (1725)
* Entrance to the Grand Canal: Looking East (1725)
* Rio dei Mendicanti: Looking South (1725)
* San Giacomo di Rialto (1725–1726)
* Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the Scuola di San Marco (1725)
* The Grand Canal from Rialto toward the North (1725)
* The Grand Canal near the Ponte di Rialto (1725)
* The Betrothal of the Venetian Doge to the Adriatic Sea (c. 1739)
* Ruins of the Forum, Looking towards the Capitol (1742)
* London: The Thames and the City of London From Richmond House
* St Mark`s Square