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Lot Essay
This atmospheric canvas is one of the remarkable sequence of views of the Dogana, a structure in which the artist evidently had a particular interest. The Dogana da Mar, or Custom's House, built about 1677 by Benoni and surmounted by Falcone's statue of Fame, marks the entrance to the Grand Canal. Behind, on the extreme right, are the Seminario that abuts on the eastern flank of Bartolommeo Longhena's celebrated church, S. Maria della Salute. To the left, across the Giudecca is the great church of the Redentore, built to the design of Andrea Palladio and consecrated in 1592. To the right of this is the campanile and church of S. Giacomo, now demolished.
Guardi used a number of closely related viewpoints on the north of the Grand Canal for his sequence of views of the Dogana. These fall into two topographical groupings: those that include the Salute, of which Morassi lists fourteen variants (his nos. 472-495); and those that do not, of which seventeen are recorded by Morassi (his nos. 497-513). In most of these the portico of the Dogana is seen from the north side of the Grand Canal from a position slightly to the left (east), but allowing the spectator to see through this. At the other extreme, and thus from a point yet further east approaching the Molo, are the views in which the portico is seen from the front, its depth thus emphasised by the shadows that its casts: the clearest case is the National Gallery, Salute with the Dogana (no. 2098, Morassi, no. 475), in which the northern range of the Seminario complex blocks the view of the eastern wing seen in the present canvas. From a position very marginally to the right was taken the moody variant of the London picture at Munich (Morassi, no. 474). Almost the same angle is employed for the National Gallery Punta della Dogana (no. 6256; Morassi, no. 502). The view of the Seminario in this conforms closely with that in the present canvas, but the angle at which the Dogana is shown is shifted slightly to the right (west), so that the line of the right hand columns of the portico are aligned on the left (south east) corner of the tower above. Almost all the other variants are taken from positions yet further to the right (west). The Redentore is also shown in the London Dogana, but not in other versions, for the compelling reason that its position is further to the right. Atmosphere rather than mere topography is Guardi's prime concern; and thus in the Punta della Dogana from the Rothschild collection, Geneva (Morassi, no. 503), and other views, the range of the Seminiario is suppressed.
The fullest discussion of Guardi's Dogana views is that of Morassi (op. cit., I, pp. 244-5), who regarded (p. 404) this as a late work ('opera tarda'). He considers that once in the Lorenzelli collection, Bergamo (his no. 497) to be the earliest. Among the later pictures he compares the small National Gallery picture (his no. 502, characterised as a 'mirabile esemplare') with the 'squisitezza e transparenza' of the Wallace Collection canvas (his no. 505), itself part of a celebrated quartet; Morassi regarded the present picture as 'di poco inferiore' (hardly inferior) to the latter, which does indeed represent the artist at a pinnacle of his achievement.
If Morassi's statement that this canvas was in the Potocki collection is correct, this might offer a further link with the Wallace Collection picture, which, with its companions, was obtained in Russia in 1856-7 by the duc de Morny, half-brother of the Emperor Napoleon III. Although Guardi painted a series of depictions of Venice at the time of the visit of the Grand Duke Paul, later Tsar Paul I, in 1782, little is known about possible patrons in northern Europe. Count Stanislaw Koska Potocki (1755-1821), who made a thorough tour of Italy and sat in 1779-81 for the spectacular equestrian portrait by Jacques-Louis David now in the Wilanow Palace, Warsaw, formed a collection of some 480 pictures, and wrote extensively about the arts.
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868-1940), was with his elder brother, Alfred, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, one of the most successful -- and influential -- newspaper magnates of the early twentieth century, owning the Daily Mail, the Evening News and serving as Chairman of Associated Newspapers Ltd. He assembled 'in the course of comparatively few years' a considerable collection of pictures, of which a catalogue, Works of Art in the Collection of Viscount Rothermere, was privately printed in 1932. This was edited by P.G. Konody, who acknowledged the assistance of Tancred Borenius, the Finnish art historian and editor of The Burlington Magazine, in the preparation of his catalogue entries. It is likely that both scholars helped to advise Lord Rothermere. Like many collectors of his time, Rothermere was particularly interested in early Italian pictures. The 1941 sale included fourteen Guardis and at least three others which were not included in the sale were in the collection in 1932: Konody commented (p. vi):
The Guardis ... really form a collection within a collection, unrivalled, I believe, by any other group of the master's works
in public museums or in private ownership. None of them are
''important'' in size, but they are selected with an eye for precious pigmental quality and with a determination to admit nothing that falls short of Guardi's highest standard of perfection
Rothermere owned two very similar views of San Giorgio Maggiore (Morassi, no. 434 and a brilliant variant, Konody, pl. 40) and a third from a different viewpoint (Konody, pl. 38). In the same way he acquired another, smaller, view of the Dogana (these Rooms, 19 December 1941, lot 78). Of the views from the collection that were known to Morassi, all were in Guardi's later and most spirited style. The only collector of the inter-war years who vied with Rothermere in his pursuit of Guardi was Calouste Gulbenkian, who owned no fewer than nineteen canvasses by him.
Guardi used a number of closely related viewpoints on the north of the Grand Canal for his sequence of views of the Dogana. These fall into two topographical groupings: those that include the Salute, of which Morassi lists fourteen variants (his nos. 472-495); and those that do not, of which seventeen are recorded by Morassi (his nos. 497-513). In most of these the portico of the Dogana is seen from the north side of the Grand Canal from a position slightly to the left (east), but allowing the spectator to see through this. At the other extreme, and thus from a point yet further east approaching the Molo, are the views in which the portico is seen from the front, its depth thus emphasised by the shadows that its casts: the clearest case is the National Gallery, Salute with the Dogana (no. 2098, Morassi, no. 475), in which the northern range of the Seminario complex blocks the view of the eastern wing seen in the present canvas. From a position very marginally to the right was taken the moody variant of the London picture at Munich (Morassi, no. 474). Almost the same angle is employed for the National Gallery Punta della Dogana (no. 6256; Morassi, no. 502). The view of the Seminario in this conforms closely with that in the present canvas, but the angle at which the Dogana is shown is shifted slightly to the right (west), so that the line of the right hand columns of the portico are aligned on the left (south east) corner of the tower above. Almost all the other variants are taken from positions yet further to the right (west). The Redentore is also shown in the London Dogana, but not in other versions, for the compelling reason that its position is further to the right. Atmosphere rather than mere topography is Guardi's prime concern; and thus in the Punta della Dogana from the Rothschild collection, Geneva (Morassi, no. 503), and other views, the range of the Seminiario is suppressed.
The fullest discussion of Guardi's Dogana views is that of Morassi (op. cit., I, pp. 244-5), who regarded (p. 404) this as a late work ('opera tarda'). He considers that once in the Lorenzelli collection, Bergamo (his no. 497) to be the earliest. Among the later pictures he compares the small National Gallery picture (his no. 502, characterised as a 'mirabile esemplare') with the 'squisitezza e transparenza' of the Wallace Collection canvas (his no. 505), itself part of a celebrated quartet; Morassi regarded the present picture as 'di poco inferiore' (hardly inferior) to the latter, which does indeed represent the artist at a pinnacle of his achievement.
If Morassi's statement that this canvas was in the Potocki collection is correct, this might offer a further link with the Wallace Collection picture, which, with its companions, was obtained in Russia in 1856-7 by the duc de Morny, half-brother of the Emperor Napoleon III. Although Guardi painted a series of depictions of Venice at the time of the visit of the Grand Duke Paul, later Tsar Paul I, in 1782, little is known about possible patrons in northern Europe. Count Stanislaw Koska Potocki (1755-1821), who made a thorough tour of Italy and sat in 1779-81 for the spectacular equestrian portrait by Jacques-Louis David now in the Wilanow Palace, Warsaw, formed a collection of some 480 pictures, and wrote extensively about the arts.
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868-1940), was with his elder brother, Alfred, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, one of the most successful -- and influential -- newspaper magnates of the early twentieth century, owning the Daily Mail, the Evening News and serving as Chairman of Associated Newspapers Ltd. He assembled 'in the course of comparatively few years' a considerable collection of pictures, of which a catalogue, Works of Art in the Collection of Viscount Rothermere, was privately printed in 1932. This was edited by P.G. Konody, who acknowledged the assistance of Tancred Borenius, the Finnish art historian and editor of The Burlington Magazine, in the preparation of his catalogue entries. It is likely that both scholars helped to advise Lord Rothermere. Like many collectors of his time, Rothermere was particularly interested in early Italian pictures. The 1941 sale included fourteen Guardis and at least three others which were not included in the sale were in the collection in 1932: Konody commented (p. vi):
The Guardis ... really form a collection within a collection, unrivalled, I believe, by any other group of the master's works
in public museums or in private ownership. None of them are
''important'' in size, but they are selected with an eye for precious pigmental quality and with a determination to admit nothing that falls short of Guardi's highest standard of perfection
Rothermere owned two very similar views of San Giorgio Maggiore (Morassi, no. 434 and a brilliant variant, Konody, pl. 40) and a third from a different viewpoint (Konody, pl. 38). In the same way he acquired another, smaller, view of the Dogana (these Rooms, 19 December 1941, lot 78). Of the views from the collection that were known to Morassi, all were in Guardi's later and most spirited style. The only collector of the inter-war years who vied with Rothermere in his pursuit of Guardi was Calouste Gulbenkian, who owned no fewer than nineteen canvasses by him.