Lot Essay
An old label on the reverse reads 'van Transee Schwanenburg in Riga'
Antonio and Francesco Guardi worked regularly together during the period 1730-46, sometimes for the important Venetian patron Field Marshall von Schulenburg, the military commander who led the Venetians to victory over the Turks at Corfu, and to whom Antonio was artist-in-residence; for a discussion of Johann Matthias von Schulenburg's patronage of contemporary artists, and in particular his patronage of Antonio Guardi, see for instance, the catalogue of the sale at Christie's, London, Dec. 11, 1992, p. 38. Morassi (op. cit., 1968) speculated that the present painting may have been commissioned through the organization-if not direct order-of Schulenburg or one of his friends. The Guardis' close artistic relationship at this time, coupled with a lack of documentation concerning their lives and works, has made the attribution of individual works to one Guardi or the other problematic. The present painting has, in the past, always been considered the work of Antonio Guardi, and was published as such twice by Antonio Morassi. He notes (loc. cit., 1973), that it has many parallels with two paintings by Antonio formerly in the Lamberg Prinzenstein collection and now in the Accademia, Vienna (Inv. nos. 44 and 45), as well as to a Holy Family in the Toledo Museum which was exhibited as Antonio Guardi at the seminal Guardi Family exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1965. In his article of 1968 on the present painting, (loc. cit., 1968) Morassi dates this painting to between 1735-40, and notes the high quality of the composition, and the treatment of the theme which Guardi executed on several occasions. However, in their recent monograph on Antonio Guardi, Filippo Pedrocco and Federico Montecuccoli degli Erri list all these works as most probably being by Francesco Guardi.
In a letter dated Venice, Oct. 27, 1994, both Dr. Pedrocco and Mr. Montecuccoli degli Erri confirm their belief that the present painting is by Francesco Guardi
Antonio and Francesco Guardi worked regularly together during the period 1730-46, sometimes for the important Venetian patron Field Marshall von Schulenburg, the military commander who led the Venetians to victory over the Turks at Corfu, and to whom Antonio was artist-in-residence; for a discussion of Johann Matthias von Schulenburg's patronage of contemporary artists, and in particular his patronage of Antonio Guardi, see for instance, the catalogue of the sale at Christie's, London, Dec. 11, 1992, p. 38. Morassi (op. cit., 1968) speculated that the present painting may have been commissioned through the organization-if not direct order-of Schulenburg or one of his friends. The Guardis' close artistic relationship at this time, coupled with a lack of documentation concerning their lives and works, has made the attribution of individual works to one Guardi or the other problematic. The present painting has, in the past, always been considered the work of Antonio Guardi, and was published as such twice by Antonio Morassi. He notes (loc. cit., 1973), that it has many parallels with two paintings by Antonio formerly in the Lamberg Prinzenstein collection and now in the Accademia, Vienna (Inv. nos. 44 and 45), as well as to a Holy Family in the Toledo Museum which was exhibited as Antonio Guardi at the seminal Guardi Family exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1965. In his article of 1968 on the present painting, (loc. cit., 1968) Morassi dates this painting to between 1735-40, and notes the high quality of the composition, and the treatment of the theme which Guardi executed on several occasions. However, in their recent monograph on Antonio Guardi, Filippo Pedrocco and Federico Montecuccoli degli Erri list all these works as most probably being by Francesco Guardi.
In a letter dated Venice, Oct. 27, 1994, both Dr. Pedrocco and Mr. Montecuccoli degli Erri confirm their belief that the present painting is by Francesco Guardi