In the early 1740s Smith commissioned Canaletto to make a set of 13 paintings as a tribute the sixteenth-century Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-80). They were intended to hang above doors in Smith’s palazzo, and show buildings by Palladio, other important Venetian architecture or sculpture in imaginary settings. The four magnificent gilt-bronze Greek or Roman horses, taken from Constantinople in 1204 and installed above the central arch of San Marco, were symbols of Venetian power. Canaletto has placed them on high pedestals in front of the Basilica where they are being gazed at in awe by visitors and the highest echelons of Venetian society.