Lot Essay
Patrick Home, who spent several years in Italy in the 1770s, recorded in his journal under 16 June 1773 'Notes of some pictures bought of Mrs Smith, widow of the late Joseph Smith Esquire British Consul at Venice ...
13 Due Vedute di Roma ... di Canaletti Compagni
14 Due Vedute della piazza del San Marco
These are perhaps among the best views ever painted by Canaletti. He was long employed by Mr Smith & these were all retouched several times, as soon as any defects were discovered, one of them exhibits the Great Canal, Canal di Giudice, the Custom House, St Georges Church part of St Marks place, etc. The other [the present picture] a more particular view of St Marks [blot] the Salute Fortune on the Globe a number of gondolas lying in waiting, etc. etc.'
The four pictures remained together until 1928. The first pair, views of Rome, is now generally regarded as the work of Bellotto (Constable, op. cit., nos.379(b) and 381(b); Kozakiewicz, op. cit., II, pp.51-2, nos.69 and 71, illustrated pp.50 and 53). The pendant view of Venice, showing the Bacino di S. Marco and S. Giorgio Maggiore from near the Dogana (Constable, op. cit., no.135) is only reproduced by Martini (op. cit., p.250, note 214, and pls.196-7), who states that it was then in a private collection in Parma. W. G. Constable only knew the present picture from a photograph taken in 1928, from which he described it as 'probably by Canaletto'. Following its reappearance in Switzerland in 1980, it was discussed at length by J. G.Links in his 1989 edition of Constable's monograph.
The entry in Home's journal is interesting in several respects, not least because the provenance from Consul Smith which it establishes for the present picture is the best possible provenance for a work by Canaletto. Links notes (op. cit., p.1xxxix) "The picture shows no signs of 'retouching' (although it was not examined under studio conditions), and Home's remarks cannot be explained"; Mrs. Smith clearly must have regarded this 'retouching' as a point in the pictures' favour. The collection of several hundred paintings in Smith's palace on the Grand Canal at the time of his death, the residue of which was sold at Christie's in 1776, has provoked much discussion, as the Consul had ostensibly sold his whole collection to King George III in 1762. Recent opinion has inclined towards the belief that Smith only sold a selection of paintings in 1762 and that the considerable remainder must have been gathered over a very long period (see Vivian, loc. cit.; F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters, New Haven and London, ed. 1980, pp.304 and 391-4; and Links, op. cit., pp.1xxxix-xc). The rediscovery of the present picture and Home's journal lends significant weight to this argument, as Smith is unlikely to have acquired the present picture other than at the time it was painted. This may be placed in the years 1736-42; this is the period in which Bellotto was Canaletto's principal studio assistant and the possibility of his contribution to its execution should not be excluded [incidentally, the entry in Home's journal is also of significance in providing the only known evidence that Smith owned pictures by Bellotto].
A smaller version of the present picture with minor differences is in a private collection in the United States (Constable, op. cit., no.129 and pl.31)
13 Due Vedute di Roma ... di Canaletti Compagni
14 Due Vedute della piazza del San Marco
These are perhaps among the best views ever painted by Canaletti. He was long employed by Mr Smith & these were all retouched several times, as soon as any defects were discovered, one of them exhibits the Great Canal, Canal di Giudice, the Custom House, St Georges Church part of St Marks place, etc. The other [the present picture] a more particular view of St Marks [blot] the Salute Fortune on the Globe a number of gondolas lying in waiting, etc. etc.'
The four pictures remained together until 1928. The first pair, views of Rome, is now generally regarded as the work of Bellotto (Constable, op. cit., nos.379(b) and 381(b); Kozakiewicz, op. cit., II, pp.51-2, nos.69 and 71, illustrated pp.50 and 53). The pendant view of Venice, showing the Bacino di S. Marco and S. Giorgio Maggiore from near the Dogana (Constable, op. cit., no.135) is only reproduced by Martini (op. cit., p.250, note 214, and pls.196-7), who states that it was then in a private collection in Parma. W. G. Constable only knew the present picture from a photograph taken in 1928, from which he described it as 'probably by Canaletto'. Following its reappearance in Switzerland in 1980, it was discussed at length by J. G.Links in his 1989 edition of Constable's monograph.
The entry in Home's journal is interesting in several respects, not least because the provenance from Consul Smith which it establishes for the present picture is the best possible provenance for a work by Canaletto. Links notes (op. cit., p.1xxxix) "The picture shows no signs of 'retouching' (although it was not examined under studio conditions), and Home's remarks cannot be explained"; Mrs. Smith clearly must have regarded this 'retouching' as a point in the pictures' favour. The collection of several hundred paintings in Smith's palace on the Grand Canal at the time of his death, the residue of which was sold at Christie's in 1776, has provoked much discussion, as the Consul had ostensibly sold his whole collection to King George III in 1762. Recent opinion has inclined towards the belief that Smith only sold a selection of paintings in 1762 and that the considerable remainder must have been gathered over a very long period (see Vivian, loc. cit.; F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters, New Haven and London, ed. 1980, pp.304 and 391-4; and Links, op. cit., pp.1xxxix-xc). The rediscovery of the present picture and Home's journal lends significant weight to this argument, as Smith is unlikely to have acquired the present picture other than at the time it was painted. This may be placed in the years 1736-42; this is the period in which Bellotto was Canaletto's principal studio assistant and the possibility of his contribution to its execution should not be excluded [incidentally, the entry in Home's journal is also of significance in providing the only known evidence that Smith owned pictures by Bellotto].
A smaller version of the present picture with minor differences is in a private collection in the United States (Constable, op. cit., no.129 and pl.31)