Francesco Guardi

Dr. J. R. J. Angus;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 27 March 1974, lot 9, when acquired by the late owner.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This little panel, presumably of thin poplar, has a layer of dark paint behind and seems to have always remained perfectly flat and stable. The characteristically granular texture and vivid strokes of impasto are finely intact. Occasionally in the shadows the more originally liquid transparent darks have become slightly thin, showing the wood grain, for instance up the right side of the staircase, in the centre of the extreme foreground and a little just above the door at the top of the stairs. In these places there are a few minor little retouchings. There is a brief old, largely superficial scratch in the lower stairs. The fine dark definitions in the architecture are still almost entirely intact, with a pentiment in the upper further right arch. The restoration is not very recent with a film of older varnish visible under UV, but the rich depths of tone and chiaroscuro, with flickering, seemingly casual dashes of colour, is altogether remarkably well preserved giving a sense of living insight into the scene. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This jewel-like painting belongs with two other small-scale depictions of the Scala dei Giganti in the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale, one of which, of larger dimensions, is recorded by Morassi as in Bergamo, Galleria Lorenzelli, and the other, of broadly similar dimensions, formerly with the Koetser Gallery, New York.¹  With each work the view is taken from beneath the Arco Foscari, which had originally been begun in the 15th century by Doge Francesco Foscari (1373-1457), after whom it is named. Beyond the arch is the Scala dei Giganti or 'Giant's staircase', so-called after Jacopo Sansovino's (1486-1570) enormous statues of Mars and Neptune which surmount it. It is from these topographical depictions of the courtyards and loggie in and around the Palazzo Ducale that Guardi doubtless drew his inspiration for the large number of small-scale capricci of palace courtyards and large staircases that he painted towards the end of his career; see, for example, the Sottoportico con cortile di palazzo formerly with Gallery A. Tooth, London.²

Unlike other contemporary depictions of this view, such as that by Canaletto which sparkles and oozes grandeur (fig. 1),³ Guardi chooses not to idealise the scene; he allows us not an inch of sky, a length of rotting timber leans against the right hand wall which, along with the arch itself, is stained with damp, and through the murk a figure scrubs the sullied stones. It is, perhaps, a scene evocative of the decay of Venice itself; a once almighty Republic which dazzled the world descending incontrovertibly towards its end.

An anonymous version of this composition, with some differences to the figures, was sold in Stockholm, Bukowski, 24-25 May 1932, as Canaletto.

 

1. See A. Morassi, Francesco Guardi, vol. I, Venice 1993, p. 456, cat. nos. 787 & 788, the latter reproduced vol. II, fig. 720.
2. Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 456, cat. no. 786, reproduced vol. II, fig. 717.  
3. In the Bruno and Merle Oberon de Paglie collection, Mexico City.