Antonio Joli and Studio

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 5 December 1969, lot 118 (as Gaspar van Wittel);
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 12 January 1996, lot 146 (as Antonio Joli);
Where acquired by the present owner.

M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli:  opera pittorica, Venice 1999, p. 97, no. R.42;
C. Beddington, "Antonio Joli.  Opera pittorica by Mario Manzelli," in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXLII, October 2000, p. 640 (as a doubtful or wrong attribution);
R. Toledano, Antonio Joli, Modena 1700 - 1777 Naples, Torino 2006, p. 180, no. R.X.4, reproduced (as Joli and Studio).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored. It is in good condition and should be hung as is. There are hardly any retouches in the architecture or the foreground. In the sky, as one would expect, a few of the cracks have been retouched in the clouds on the left side and there are a few retouches addressing a couple of minor losses in the upper center. The painting is in very good state.
"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."

There are at least four known versions of this composition by Joli and his studio, all based on an etching by Gommarus Wouters (1649-1696) published by Domenico de Rossi in 1692 (fig. 1).  Wouters' print commemorates the arrival of the legation of Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein and the piazza is filled with the carriages and figures of his procession.  In the present painting, Joli utilizes a more distant view point and eliminates one of the statues of Castor and Pollux.  Additionally, his Quirinale is more vertical that Wouters', which has a broader and more expansive, squat appearance.  Wouters' etching must have been widely disseminated as it also served as the inspiration for Canaletto's own version of the scene, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome (see Constable & Links, Canaletto, Oxford 1989, vol. II, p. 396, no. 394, reproduced pl. 72).