A Tower, a Boathouse and other Buildings by a River, a fortified bridge beyond

Tironi, a native of Friuli, was a priest and was about fifty-two years old at the time of his death on 1 March 1797, according to his necrology. He is known primarily as a draughtsman. Engravings by Antonio Sandi of twenty-four drawings by him of islands in the Venetian Lagoon were published by Furlanetto in 1779 and Sandi also engraved four drawings of Venetian ports. From these a graphic oeuvre has been established, including sheets in the Albertina, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Pierpont Morgan Library (for one of which, see the catalogue of the exhibition Drawings from New York Collections: The Eighteenth Century in Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 30 Jan.-21 March 1971, p. 115, no. 298, illustrated) and formerly with Colnaghi, London (Pictures from the Grand Tour, 14 Nov.-16 Dec. 1978, no. 72, illustrated). In the past he has been credited with numerous paintings inconsistent with his drawings, including works by the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views and early pictures by Francesco Guardi (for a recent summary, see R. Pallucchini, La pittura nel Veneto: Il Settecento, II, Milan, 1996, p. 297).

The present picture corresponds fairly closely with an engraving by Fabio Berardi (1728-1788), which corresponds less closely with a drawing in the opposite sense by Canaletto (W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Oxford, 1962, pl. 152, the drawing and print both illustrated; II, pp. 553-4, no. 806, and p. 621). Stylistically distinct from the print, it has been identified as one of the few known paintings by Tironi by Dr. Dario Succi, to whom we are grateful for the attribution.