Lot Essay
Francesco Guardi and his eighteenth-century contemporaries constructed such compelling and poetic impressions of Venice, that they remain the archetypal images of the city today. This exceptional painting illustrates the spirited brushwork, mastery of colour and romantic imagination that characterise the artist’s evocative and sensuous depictions of Venice.
The view includes some of the most celebrated sites of Venice, revealing the façade of the Palazzo Ducale on the left, Sansovino’s Libreria to the right and across the Bacino, framed by the columns of San Marco and San Teodoro, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with the façade of Palladio’s great church, partially obscured by the Doge’s ceremonial Barge. As with many of his pictures, Guardi used some artistic licence to enhance the compositional harmony. The piazzetta has been widened, and the island of San Giorgio appears closer to the viewer than in reality, enhancing the picturesque qualities of the painting. This view was clearly a desirable composition; Morassi lists at least eighteen paintings of the Piazzetta seen from a roughly central viewpoint (Morassi, op. cit., nos. 361-72). The closest to the present work are pictures listed in the Modiano Collection, Bologna (ibid., no. 364), and Gallery Sacerdoti, Milan (ibid., no. 365), both of which Morassi dates to Guardi’s early period. This painting appears to have been completed later, after the mid-1750s, around the same time as the celebrated Ducal Festivals series in the Louvre, when Guardi used a lightness of touch to depict his figures and greater contrasts of light and dark.
The elastic treatment of the figures is particularly virtuosic in the group of three children in the foreground, illuminated by the afternoon light, which also hits the façade of the Palazzo Ducale, the Island of San Giorgio and the statues on the ledge of the Libreria, casting the rest in deep shadow. Guardi peppered his piazzas with eighteenth-century Venetian society, from fashionable merchants to paupers. Such anecdotal scenes are evocative descriptions of everyday Venetian life, giving us a glimpse not only of contemporary fashions but also of the seasons depicted. A drawing in the Wadsworth Atheneum of a similar view has been connected to this painting by Contini, who identifies that there are parallels between several of the figure groups, including the group of three children, the gentleman and young boy, seen in reverse, and the poultry market (op. cit., p. 306).
When in the collection of the Barons Castletown from 1844 to 1924, the painting formed a pendant to Piazza San Marco, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig 1; inv. no. 50.145.21). Together, they plant the viewer in the heart of Venice, taking in the main sites of the Piazza San Marco. Sold as consecutive lots in the 1924 sale, the pictures were acquired by different buyers and subsequently separated. According to a label on the reverse of the present work, it was received by 'Mrs Wingfield' on 18 June 1916. Although in the past this has been interpreted as a change in ownership, the label also describes the painting as the 'Property of Lord Castletown' and must have been received for other reasons, as he was the eventual consignor to the 1924 Christie's sale. In an undated letter to Sir Hugh Lane, the 2nd Baron Castletown appears to have been looking to sell the two paintings for £3,000 some time before their appearance at auction, which may also explain the confusion (National Library of Ireland, Sir Hugh Lane and Ruth Shine Papers, ca. 1880-ca.1970, MS 35,823⁄2/1⁄23).
The view includes some of the most celebrated sites of Venice, revealing the façade of the Palazzo Ducale on the left, Sansovino’s Libreria to the right and across the Bacino, framed by the columns of San Marco and San Teodoro, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with the façade of Palladio’s great church, partially obscured by the Doge’s ceremonial Barge. As with many of his pictures, Guardi used some artistic licence to enhance the compositional harmony. The piazzetta has been widened, and the island of San Giorgio appears closer to the viewer than in reality, enhancing the picturesque qualities of the painting. This view was clearly a desirable composition; Morassi lists at least eighteen paintings of the Piazzetta seen from a roughly central viewpoint (Morassi, op. cit., nos. 361-72). The closest to the present work are pictures listed in the Modiano Collection, Bologna (ibid., no. 364), and Gallery Sacerdoti, Milan (ibid., no. 365), both of which Morassi dates to Guardi’s early period. This painting appears to have been completed later, after the mid-1750s, around the same time as the celebrated Ducal Festivals series in the Louvre, when Guardi used a lightness of touch to depict his figures and greater contrasts of light and dark.
The elastic treatment of the figures is particularly virtuosic in the group of three children in the foreground, illuminated by the afternoon light, which also hits the façade of the Palazzo Ducale, the Island of San Giorgio and the statues on the ledge of the Libreria, casting the rest in deep shadow. Guardi peppered his piazzas with eighteenth-century Venetian society, from fashionable merchants to paupers. Such anecdotal scenes are evocative descriptions of everyday Venetian life, giving us a glimpse not only of contemporary fashions but also of the seasons depicted. A drawing in the Wadsworth Atheneum of a similar view has been connected to this painting by Contini, who identifies that there are parallels between several of the figure groups, including the group of three children, the gentleman and young boy, seen in reverse, and the poultry market (op. cit., p. 306).
When in the collection of the Barons Castletown from 1844 to 1924, the painting formed a pendant to Piazza San Marco, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig 1; inv. no. 50.145.21). Together, they plant the viewer in the heart of Venice, taking in the main sites of the Piazza San Marco. Sold as consecutive lots in the 1924 sale, the pictures were acquired by different buyers and subsequently separated. According to a label on the reverse of the present work, it was received by 'Mrs Wingfield' on 18 June 1916. Although in the past this has been interpreted as a change in ownership, the label also describes the painting as the 'Property of Lord Castletown' and must have been received for other reasons, as he was the eventual consignor to the 1924 Christie's sale. In an undated letter to Sir Hugh Lane, the 2nd Baron Castletown appears to have been looking to sell the two paintings for £3,000 some time before their appearance at auction, which may also explain the confusion (National Library of Ireland, Sir Hugh Lane and Ruth Shine Papers, ca. 1880-ca.1970, MS 35,823⁄2/1⁄23).