THERE is still time to see Abbot Hall's "truly magnificent" Canaletto exhibition, which ends its run at the Kendal gallery on Valentine's Day, February 14.

"We are drawing into the final weeks now and we wouldn’t want anyone to have missed it or have missed the opportunity to come and see it again," said marketing director Jeanette Edgar. "It's a truly magnificent show."

Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697-1768), known popularly as Canaletto, is today remembered as one of Italy’s greatest view painters.

His images of Venice were particularly popular with well-bred English gentlemen undertaking the Grand Tour of Europe. When war caused the flow of British visitors to Venice to dry up, Canaletto followed his patrons home to Britain, where he stayed for almost nine years from 1746 to 1755.

Through a series of astonishing canvases and drawings, Canaletto celebrated the success and wealth of the rising British nation and its latest achievements in architecture and engineering.

Canaletto’s London is busy but beautiful with its abundance of new landmarks, such as Wren’s Baroque churches, the majestic St Paul’s Cathedral, the naval palaces of Greenwich and the Rococo pleasure gardens at Vauxhall and Ranelagh.

The construction of two marvels of engineering, the new bridges across the Thames at Westminster and Walton, is documented in magnificent detail.

This is the first time that these outstanding paintings and drawings by Canaletto have been brought together to give an overview of the artist’s time in Britain.

It features significant works on loan from major collections, including the Royal Collection, the British Museum, Compton Verney and Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and private lenders.

Themed events are also taking place at the gallery:

- Kendal, Canaletto & Cake - Sunday, January 31, 9.30am. Booking essential.

- Celebrating Canaletto - Saturday, February 13, 11am-9pm. A day-long celebration as Abbot Hall bids farewell to the exhibition.

- Lecture on Italian food in Georgian England with food historian Ivan Day - Saturday, February 13, 5-6pm.

For more, visit www.abbothall.org.uk