Antonio Canal, aka Canaletto (1697-1768).

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Portraits of a city, in this case Venice, capture life in other times, other places--historical in the true sense of the word. This is beautiful history, racing through the brain on its journey straight to the heart.

Canaletto's drawing skills have been long admired. They are so accurate that the working hypothesis for his achievement at such a skilled level has been that he used a camera obscura--a kind of opaque projector that allows the artist to simply trace over an image.

Now comes infrared photography to demonstrate his use of intricate architectural drawing skills. This is talent of a different order.

His works on on exhibit these days at the Royal Collection Trust, in the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.