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Lot Essay
The Dolo was certainly a much beloved subject of Francesco Guardi. The prototype he followed for the most imposing view is that painted by Canaletto, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, which also inspired Bernardo Bellotto and Giambattista Cimaroli. Morassi lists three versions of this composition painted by Guardi, which he considers to be the finest: in the Worms collection, Paris, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and a third in the Detroit Art Institute (Morassi, op. cit., I, pp. 253-4, and respectively II, fig. 625-7).
However, Guardi painted a number of other versions of the Gateway of the Dolo that on first sight look more like capricci than an actual view, such as the present lot, with very few buildings, a little bridge on the Brenta and figures. It has been identified thanks to a drawing in the Museo Correr, Venice, with an inscription - possibly by the artist himself - veduta della Porta del Dolo per andar a Padova (see A. Morassi, Guardi. I disegni, Venice, 1984b, p. 152, no. 415, fig. 418). This quick and concise drawing corresponds exactly to a painting in a private collection, London (Morassi, op. cit., 1984a, I, p. 435, no. 672 and II, fig. 629), that together with one in the Assheton Bennet collection (Ibid., I, p. 435, no. 673 and II, fig. 630) is the only horizontal treatment of the theme. There are four upright versions listed by Morassi: the present lot, one in the Gulbenkian collection, Lisbon, another in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and one formerly with Agnew's, London (Ibid., I, pp. 435-6, nos. 674-6, figs. 631-2 and 634). The present lot is enthusiastically described by Morassi as 'piuttosto minuscola, dipinta su tavola, molto luminosa, con un cielo splendente [...] è forse, fra le varie interpretazioni del tema, quella di maggior finezza' (Ibid., I, pp. 254-5).
However, Guardi painted a number of other versions of the Gateway of the Dolo that on first sight look more like capricci than an actual view, such as the present lot, with very few buildings, a little bridge on the Brenta and figures. It has been identified thanks to a drawing in the Museo Correr, Venice, with an inscription - possibly by the artist himself - veduta della Porta del Dolo per andar a Padova (see A. Morassi, Guardi. I disegni, Venice, 1984b, p. 152, no. 415, fig. 418). This quick and concise drawing corresponds exactly to a painting in a private collection, London (Morassi, op. cit., 1984a, I, p. 435, no. 672 and II, fig. 629), that together with one in the Assheton Bennet collection (Ibid., I, p. 435, no. 673 and II, fig. 630) is the only horizontal treatment of the theme. There are four upright versions listed by Morassi: the present lot, one in the Gulbenkian collection, Lisbon, another in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and one formerly with Agnew's, London (Ibid., I, pp. 435-6, nos. 674-6, figs. 631-2 and 634). The present lot is enthusiastically described by Morassi as 'piuttosto minuscola, dipinta su tavola, molto luminosa, con un cielo splendente [...] è forse, fra le varie interpretazioni del tema, quella di maggior finezza' (Ibid., I, pp. 254-5).