Francesco Guardi

Counts Raczynski, Warsaw;
Private collection, Switzerland (according to Morassi, under Literature).

L. Rossi Bortolatto, L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi, Milan 1974, p. 128, cat. no. 634, reproduced on p. 125;
A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1973, vol. I, p. 387, cat. no. 409, reproduced vol. II, fig. 431;
A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 387, cat. no. 409, reproduced vol. II, fig. 431.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old lining, and very old stretcher with minimal wedges. The dark red ground is particularly visible in the water, with the lighter films of characteristically coarse ground original pigments floating above, and the bright accents of the figures standing out vividly intact. There are lines of rather heavy retouching along the top edge with a little filling near the centre of the upper edge and cluster of small knocks in the far top left corner, although here there is also much good original paint. Other lighter more superficial retouching from a fairly recent restoration can be seen under UV strengthening various areas: especially the lower left sky where the red ground may have been particularly noticeable, with many other small touches in the right sky and to each side of the campanile, also various small touches in the architecture with more concentrated on the left corner of the Palazzo Ducale, and many minute touches in the water. These discreet touches have been carefully and lightly done to reduce the sinking of lighter veils of paint into the dark red ground and balance the painting. The emergence of the ground is partially due to the naturally increasing transparency of oil paint but also to some thinness in Guardi's fragile layers of iridescent glazing. However many areas remain rather well preserved including the upper sky on each side, as does the atmospheric power of the painting overall, with the calligraphic detail of the figures beautifully intact. 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."

The view is taken from the east and includes the Riva degli Schiavoni and, from right to left; the church of the Pietà at the extreme right of the composition; Palazzo Dandolo (today the Hotel Danieli); the Prisons and Ponte della Paglia; the Palazzo Ducale with the top of the Campanile rising beyond; the opening of the Piazzetta with the corner of the Libreria and next to it the Zecca; and the castellated building beyond is that of the State Granaries, which were destroyed in Napoleonic times. Behind the State Granaries rises the campanile of San Moisè and, to the left of it, that of Santa Maria Zobenigo. Guardi's view is topographically accurate except that the campanile of Santa Maria Zobenigo was pointed rather than domed, and the appearance of the scene is very similar to that which we can still see today (with the exception of the State Granaries, on whose site lies the Giardinetto ex-Reale).

Guardi adopted the same viewpoint in a painting, of slightly squarer format, today in the National Gallery, London.¹  That view was painted as a pendant to a View of the Punta della Dogana with the church of Santa Maria della Salute (also in the National Gallery) and both have been dated to circa 1775-80. Another painting of the same site, of vertical format and taken from a point much closer in across the lagoon, was formerly in the Canto collection, Milan.²

Morassi considered this painting to be a very late work by the artist and it probably post-dates the National Gallery variant of the same view. It clearly demonstrates – in part due to its excellent condition – Guardi's characteristic use of a reddish-brown ground for the mid-tones, particularly in the water. The architecture has been carefully drawn with black lines and the sky is wonderfully atmospheric. Francesco Guardi began his early career as a figure-painter but came into his own as a vedutista just after or shortly before the death of his brother Giovanni Antonio in 1760. He did so with great success, heading up what must have been a very active workshop in which his younger brother Nicolò and son Giacomo also worked. Francesco carried on painting views of Venice and capricci inspired by places around the Venetian lagoon right up until his death in 1793, when he died aged eighty-one.

1. Inv. 2099; see Morassi, under Literature, 1993, vol. I, p. 387, cat. no. 408, reproduced vol. II, fig. 429.
2. Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 387, cat. no. 407, reproduced vol. II, fig. 432.