Lot Essay
This splendid view, painted on a grand scale, is a fine example of Antonio Stom’s historical ‘reception’ pictures. He was a member of a family of artists originally from the Tyrol: Mattia Stom, a battle painter, was most likely his father, and Giovanni and Giuseppe Stom his brothers, both of whom were registered in the Venetian painters’ guild’s lists in 1707. It was Antonio Morassi, in an article in 1962 (‘Preludio per Antonio Stom, detto il Tonino’, Pantheon, XX, 1962, pp. 291-306), that shed light on Stom’s life and work, recognising him as a pioneering and creative artist who, in many ways, foreshadowed the great view painters of the eighteenth century.
Morassi noted Stom’s versatility, as a painter of landscapes, views, battles and capricci; most importantly, remarking on his particular attention to depicting grand historical scenes, ceremonial events and moments of civic importance. To this end, Morassi gave to Stom a significant series of five works in Palazzo Mocenigo in San Stae which show episodes in the family’s history. These canvases typified the originality of Stom’s views and his inventive use of space, filled with great crowds, full of extravagant costumes and bustling interaction.
Executed on a monumental scale, this painting relates to a number of reception pictures which show the arrival of various envoys or figures of note to Venice during the early-eighteenth century. Luca Carlevarijs, for example, painted The Reception of the Earl of Manchester as British Ambassador in Venice, September 22, 1707 (Birmingham, City Art Gallery), as well as a similar picture showing the arrival in 1714 of the Imperial Ambassador Giambattista Colloredo at the Doge’s Palace (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister). Stom made a name for himself as a painter of such scenes, including a work showing Amalia's, daughter of the Elector of Saxon, visit in 1737 to the Venetian territories, on her way to marry the King of Naples. The canvas offered here, however, can be most closely compared to compositions by Canaletto, notably The Reception of the French Ambassador Jacques–Vincent Languet, Comte de Gergy at the Doge’s Palace (fig. 1; Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum), and The Reception of the Imperial Ambassador, Conte Giuseppe Bolagnos at the Doge’s Palace. The gondolas used in these receptions were often fitted with the coats-of-arms and allegorical tributes of the guest of the republic, like that shown here in the lower left, which belonged to the Papal Nuncio Carlo Gaetano Stampa (1667–1742). The identification of Stampa was first suggested by Lino Moretti, ‘Antonio Stom’, in Canaletto. Venezia e i suoi splendori, exh. cat., Venice, 2008, p. 116: ‘secondo una mia congettura dovrebbe essere Carlo Gaetano Stampa solennemente ricevuto in Palazzo Ducale il 15 luglio 1721’.
Stampa's identity can be conclusively established thanks to the detailed depiction of his gilded parade gondolas, shown left. The first, closest to the viewer, is decorated with a prow-head in the shape of a winged dragon, two putti holding the papal tiara and crossed keys, and an allegory of Religion with her cross riding in a shell steered by Neptune. This particular gondola and its allegorical figures were recorded by Giovanni Grevembroch in ‘Gli abiti de veneziani di quasi ogni età’, Venice, Museo Correr, ms. Gradenigo-Dolfin 49, vol. 4, fol. 124. This sheet is inscribed: ‘Questa fastosa Barca, che qui esponiamo, è una delle tre, che Monsig.e Stampa fece vedere l’anno 1721 a 15 di Luglio, giorno del di Lui solenne Ingresso in Venezia, con rispettabile figura di Nunzio Pontificio appresso la Repubblica’ (see P. Kerber, Eyewitness Views, 2017, pp. 34-35, fig. 36).
The distinctive dragon-shaped prow-head had been used on the parade gondolas of at least three previous ambassadors. These gondolas, which differed from Stampa’s in everything except the prow-head, appeared in the official entries of the French ambassadors Amelot de Gournay in 1682, Charmont in 1703 and Pomponne in 1706 (see Kerber, ibid., pp. 32-34, figs. 34-35). The latter two gondolas were recorded in view paintings of these entries by Luca Carlevarijs (in the Terruzzi Collection; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The commission of the picture offered here was very likely arranged by Antonio Stom’s son Giovanni Francesco, who served as Stampa's secretary at the Papal Nunciature in Venice.
We are grateful to Peter Kerber for identifying the subject of the composition and for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Morassi noted Stom’s versatility, as a painter of landscapes, views, battles and capricci; most importantly, remarking on his particular attention to depicting grand historical scenes, ceremonial events and moments of civic importance. To this end, Morassi gave to Stom a significant series of five works in Palazzo Mocenigo in San Stae which show episodes in the family’s history. These canvases typified the originality of Stom’s views and his inventive use of space, filled with great crowds, full of extravagant costumes and bustling interaction.
Executed on a monumental scale, this painting relates to a number of reception pictures which show the arrival of various envoys or figures of note to Venice during the early-eighteenth century. Luca Carlevarijs, for example, painted The Reception of the Earl of Manchester as British Ambassador in Venice, September 22, 1707 (Birmingham, City Art Gallery), as well as a similar picture showing the arrival in 1714 of the Imperial Ambassador Giambattista Colloredo at the Doge’s Palace (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister). Stom made a name for himself as a painter of such scenes, including a work showing Amalia's, daughter of the Elector of Saxon, visit in 1737 to the Venetian territories, on her way to marry the King of Naples. The canvas offered here, however, can be most closely compared to compositions by Canaletto, notably The Reception of the French Ambassador Jacques–Vincent Languet, Comte de Gergy at the Doge’s Palace (fig. 1; Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum), and The Reception of the Imperial Ambassador, Conte Giuseppe Bolagnos at the Doge’s Palace. The gondolas used in these receptions were often fitted with the coats-of-arms and allegorical tributes of the guest of the republic, like that shown here in the lower left, which belonged to the Papal Nuncio Carlo Gaetano Stampa (1667–1742). The identification of Stampa was first suggested by Lino Moretti, ‘Antonio Stom’, in Canaletto. Venezia e i suoi splendori, exh. cat., Venice, 2008, p. 116: ‘secondo una mia congettura dovrebbe essere Carlo Gaetano Stampa solennemente ricevuto in Palazzo Ducale il 15 luglio 1721’.
Stampa's identity can be conclusively established thanks to the detailed depiction of his gilded parade gondolas, shown left. The first, closest to the viewer, is decorated with a prow-head in the shape of a winged dragon, two putti holding the papal tiara and crossed keys, and an allegory of Religion with her cross riding in a shell steered by Neptune. This particular gondola and its allegorical figures were recorded by Giovanni Grevembroch in ‘Gli abiti de veneziani di quasi ogni età’, Venice, Museo Correr, ms. Gradenigo-Dolfin 49, vol. 4, fol. 124. This sheet is inscribed: ‘Questa fastosa Barca, che qui esponiamo, è una delle tre, che Monsig.e Stampa fece vedere l’anno 1721 a 15 di Luglio, giorno del di Lui solenne Ingresso in Venezia, con rispettabile figura di Nunzio Pontificio appresso la Repubblica’ (see P. Kerber, Eyewitness Views, 2017, pp. 34-35, fig. 36).
The distinctive dragon-shaped prow-head had been used on the parade gondolas of at least three previous ambassadors. These gondolas, which differed from Stampa’s in everything except the prow-head, appeared in the official entries of the French ambassadors Amelot de Gournay in 1682, Charmont in 1703 and Pomponne in 1706 (see Kerber, ibid., pp. 32-34, figs. 34-35). The latter two gondolas were recorded in view paintings of these entries by Luca Carlevarijs (in the Terruzzi Collection; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The commission of the picture offered here was very likely arranged by Antonio Stom’s son Giovanni Francesco, who served as Stampa's secretary at the Papal Nunciature in Venice.
We are grateful to Peter Kerber for identifying the subject of the composition and for his kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.