Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto

Claudio Argentieri (L.486b);
Pier Giulio Breschi (L.2079b);
Sale, London, Sotheby's, 18 November 1982, lot 70;
Sale, London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1988, lot 104

W.G. Constable, revised by J.G. Links, Canaletto, Oxford 1989, vol. II, p. 621, under no. 852, reproduced vol. I, pl. 223

The drawing is on paper with part of a bow and arrow watermark. The ink and wash are strong and unfaded. There are three long, diagonal creases in the blank sky (visible in the illustration). The left-most one passes through the rigging of the boat and the canopy and the middle one through the forward mast, disturbing the ink lines. There is a short, horizontal repaired tear in the water at center. The drawing has pale foxing throughout and some surface dirt along the left edge, but these do not dull the luminosity of the composition. The sheet is window-mounted. The drawing is sold in a neo-classical style gold frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Drawings of boats by Canaletto are very rare.  One other, showing an anchored Venetian sloop, was formerly in the collection of Sir Bruce Ingram, and is extremely similar in handling to the present work.¹  Also similar in conception, though apparently rather dryer in technique, is a Study of a War Galley, in Berlin, which Constable and Links catalogued as Canaletto with some reservations.²

The present drawing is, however, the only one of the three to include a figure, and the characteristic handling of this feature, together with the treatment of light on the water and of details such as the weeds hanging from the mooring ropes, confirm the traditional attribution to Canaletto.  Particularly comparable in these respects are, for example, the View of Venice from the Punta della Mota, in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, and the London: the Thames, looking towards Westminster from near York Watergate, at Yale.³   

A boat similar to the one seen here appears in Canaletto's painting of The Bacino di San Marco: looking East, in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.⁴

1.  Sold, London, Sotheby's, 11 December 1974, lot 59; see A. Bettagno, et al., Canaletto, exhib. cat., Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 1982, cat. 23
2.  Constable/Links, op. cit., cat. 852, reproduced pl. 161
3.  Constable/Links, op. cit., cats 522 and 747
4.  See Canaletto, exhib. cat., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989, cat. 51