Lot Essay
A study for a slightly larger picture in the Moizzi Collection in Milan, A. Morassi, I dipinti, no. 692, fig. 651. The picture was dated by Antonio Morassi to the last years of Guardi's career, possibly after December 1789, when the church of San Marcuola in Venice burnt. Morassi also suggests that the composition could be inspired by a Dutch painting, such as Troy Burning by Jacob de Wet, now in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig.
Another sheet of the same composition and size, also datable to Guardi's last years, is in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, A. Morassi, I disegni, no. 441, fig. 444.
Another sheet of the same composition and size, also datable to Guardi's last years, is in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, A. Morassi, I disegni, no. 441, fig. 444.