Hendrik Frans van Lint, called Lo Studio

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, March 24, 1976, lot 31 (as dated 1733, sold as a pair with The Piazza del Popolo, Rome);
With Colnaghi, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, December 10, 1986, lot 41 (sold as a pair with The Piazza del Popolo, Rome);
With Richard Green, London;
By whom (anonymously) sold, New York, Sotheby's, January 14, 1988, lot 160 (sold as a pair with The Piazza del Popolo, Rome);
There purchased by a private collector and anonymously sold, New York, Sotheby’s, 27 May 2004, lot 112, where acquired.

A. Busiri Vici, Peter, Hendrik e Giacomo Van Lint, Rome 1987, p. 158, cat. no. 183, reproduced (as signed and dated 1750, with incorrect measurements and sale date).

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. The work has been recently restored. The lining is good. No retouches are visible to the naked eye. Under ultraviolet light, one can see that some have been very carefully applied in isolated spots in the sky, none of which indicate any condition issue. In the darker colors of the architecture and foreground, there is again no concentration of retouching except in the canal on the left side, between the columns and in the dark shadows of the foreground. The work is painted on a very fine piece of linen. Although the paint layer is very thinly applied, the details are still quite clear.
"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."

Much like his fellow Fleming Vanvitelli, whom he must have known and whose artistic heir he should be considered, Van Lint specialized in landscapes and topographical views of Italy. He boasted as his patrons some of Rome's leading aristocratic families, including the Colonna and Pamphilj, as well as many Grand Tourists. It is perhaps with the latter in mind that he mostly produced small works which were easy to transport. His was a family of artists: he was the son of Pieter Van Lint, who had himself worked in Italy in the Bamboccianti tradition, and the father of Giacomo (see lot 320), who carried on his work in a very similar style to the end of the eighteenth century. Hendrik's sobriquet "Lo Studio" probably derives from his careful preparation for his paintings, basing his paintings on meticulously observed drawings and studies executed in situ.

Van Lint here provides a panoramic aerial view of the architectural complex encompassing the columns of Saints Mark and Theodore, the Biblioteca Marciana, the Campanile, and Saint Marks’s Cathedral. Though topographically impossible from a single vantage point, such a sweeping composition in which all of the main architectural elements of the piazza are shown, would have surely enticed a Grand Tour visitor seeking to commemorate their visit to the most heralded site in Venice.

Van Lint's Venetian views are rare, and it is generally surmised that he never visited Venice, but rather based his views of the city on drawings and engravings by other artists.  His Venetian vedute were sometimes conceived as pendants to views of Rome.  Indeed, the present painting was paired with a view of the Piazza del Popolo, Rome (see lot 316), though it is not known if they were originally conceived as a pair or brought together at a later date. Other such paired examples include a Bacino Di San Marco, with the Doge’s Palace and the Entrance to the Grand Canal and The Tiber, With Castel Sant’Angelo and Saint Peter’s, both sold London, Sotheby’s, 7 July 1993, lots 64-65.

At the time of the 1976 sale (see Provenance), the present painting was catalogued as dated 1733. However, by the time of the 1986 sale, a precise date was no longer discernable.  In 1987, Busiri-Vici (see Literature) listed the present painting as signed and dated 1750.