Lot Essay
These beautifully preserved panels exemplify the vibrant brushwork and poetic dynamism characteristic of Francesco Guardi’s finest small-scale capricci. Two variants of the Capriccio with a rustic house are known: a vertically oriented panel, formerly with Edward Speelman, London (25 x 16.2 cm.; see A. Morassi, Guardi, I Dipinti, Venice, 1973, I, no. 853; reproduced II, fig. 768), and the larger canvas in the collection of the Fondazione Cini, Venice (97.5 x 112 cm; see A. Morassi, op.cit., I, p. 444, no. 834; Il, figs. 763-764). Despite differences in the staffage and the addition of a wall on the left, the ex-Speelman variant, signed 'F.G.' and inscribed on the reverse by Giacomo Guardi as 'del Guardi Veneziano 1781 N.° 16' is closest in composition to the present capriccio. No variant of the Lagoon capriccio with farmhouses is known.
While debates persist regarding the chronology of Guardi’s capricci (see A. Morassi, op. cit., I, pp. 266-282), the subtle transitions in light, the bright palette, and the intimate scale—together with the inscription on the ex-Speelman variant—suggest that the present pair dates, as proposed by Dario Succi (loc. cit.), to the first half of the 1780s.
As seen in these panels, Guardi’s late capricci are marked by his ‘tremulous and darting brushstrokes’ (‘pennellata tremula e guizzante’) and ‘almost watercolor-like’ application of paint imbuing his landscapes with a ‘a sense of poignant and almost magical nostalgia’ (‘un senso di struggente e quasi magica nostalgia’; A Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 494). In these capricci, Guardi synthesizes the innovations of earlier Venetian vedutisti into a personal and distinctive manner. Marco Ricci’s contorted trees and dramatic foreground elements find parallels in the Lagoon capriccio with farmhouses, while the warm tonalities and pastoral light evoke Francesco Zuccarelli’s bucolic views. Further, Luca Carlevarijs’s spatial clarity and formal precision and Canaletto’s meticulous architecture are softened into a looser, more suggestive language. As observed by Zampetti in his foundational exhibition catalogue: ‘the artist’s evocative ability in such a small space is almost miraculous’ (‘è quasi miracolosa la capacità rievocativa dell'artista in uno spazio tanto ristretto’; P. Zampetti, Mostra dei Guardi, Venice, 1965, p. 252).
While debates persist regarding the chronology of Guardi’s capricci (see A. Morassi, op. cit., I, pp. 266-282), the subtle transitions in light, the bright palette, and the intimate scale—together with the inscription on the ex-Speelman variant—suggest that the present pair dates, as proposed by Dario Succi (loc. cit.), to the first half of the 1780s.
As seen in these panels, Guardi’s late capricci are marked by his ‘tremulous and darting brushstrokes’ (‘pennellata tremula e guizzante’) and ‘almost watercolor-like’ application of paint imbuing his landscapes with a ‘a sense of poignant and almost magical nostalgia’ (‘un senso di struggente e quasi magica nostalgia’; A Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 494). In these capricci, Guardi synthesizes the innovations of earlier Venetian vedutisti into a personal and distinctive manner. Marco Ricci’s contorted trees and dramatic foreground elements find parallels in the Lagoon capriccio with farmhouses, while the warm tonalities and pastoral light evoke Francesco Zuccarelli’s bucolic views. Further, Luca Carlevarijs’s spatial clarity and formal precision and Canaletto’s meticulous architecture are softened into a looser, more suggestive language. As observed by Zampetti in his foundational exhibition catalogue: ‘the artist’s evocative ability in such a small space is almost miraculous’ (‘è quasi miracolosa la capacità rievocativa dell'artista in uno spazio tanto ristretto’; P. Zampetti, Mostra dei Guardi, Venice, 1965, p. 252).