Sir Joshua Reynolds, William (Thomas) Beckford, 1782, London, National Portrait Gallery. Photo: © National Portrait Gallery, London
Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, Piazza San Marco, Venice, ca. 1730 - 1734, Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum. Photo: © President and Fellows of Harvard College.
T. Higham and Z. Martin, A view of the north and west fronts of Fonthill Abbey, 1823, from J. Rutter Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey, 1823, London.
William Beckford’s vast Gothic revival country house, Fonthill Abbey. The entrance door was 30 foot high and to enhance the sense of scale, he employed a dwarf as a doorman.
Studio of Canaletto, Venice: The Piazzetta from the Molo, ca. 1740, London, National Gallery.
Piazza San Marco with the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s which reminded Beckford of a mosque
William Beckford, Vathek, trans. H. B. Grimsditch.
William Beckford’s Gothic novel, Vathek, set in Persia