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Lot Essay
This view would seem to be a particularly high quality work emanating from a studio whose oeuvre has traditionally been grouped together under the title of the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views. The eponymous works in the Langmatt Foundation, Baden, comprise a set of nine pictures (each approximately 46 x 73 cm.) and a set of four smaller views (approximately 25 x 38 cm.; see the exhibition catalogue, Mythos Venedig, Baden, June-October 1994, pp. 62-117). We are grateful to Charles Beddington for proposing an attribution to Apollonio Domenichini.
Domenichini, who enrolled in the Fraglia in 1757, has recently been identified with the Langmatt Master by Dario Succi. Succi discovered his name in the correspondence between the Venetian art dealer Giovanni Maria Sasso and the English minister, Sir John Strange (D. Succi, 'Apollonio Domenichini: il Maestro della Fondazione Langmatt', in Da Canaletto a Zuccarelli, catalogue of the exhibition, Udine, 2003, pp. 103-7). Working in the 1740s and 1750s, as is clear from topographical details, Domenichini benefitted from Canaletto's English sojourn. His style is clearly identifiable both from a slight distortion of perspective which heightens the grandeur of his compositions, and from his use of a cool palate.
The view shows the church of San Simeone e Guida, more commonly known as San Simeone Piccolo. It was founded in the ninth century but its current appearance dates from the rebuilding of between 1718 and 1738 by Giovanni Scalfarotto with the help of his talented nephew Tommaso Temanza. Described by Wittkower as a 'blending of the Pantheon with Byzantium and Palladio' (Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750, London, 1958, p. 253), it was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, as evidenced in its circular plan and added portico, here filled with Francesco Cabianca's sculpture in low relief of the martyrdoms of Saints Simon and Jude.
Domenichini, who enrolled in the Fraglia in 1757, has recently been identified with the Langmatt Master by Dario Succi. Succi discovered his name in the correspondence between the Venetian art dealer Giovanni Maria Sasso and the English minister, Sir John Strange (D. Succi, 'Apollonio Domenichini: il Maestro della Fondazione Langmatt', in Da Canaletto a Zuccarelli, catalogue of the exhibition, Udine, 2003, pp. 103-7). Working in the 1740s and 1750s, as is clear from topographical details, Domenichini benefitted from Canaletto's English sojourn. His style is clearly identifiable both from a slight distortion of perspective which heightens the grandeur of his compositions, and from his use of a cool palate.
The view shows the church of San Simeone e Guida, more commonly known as San Simeone Piccolo. It was founded in the ninth century but its current appearance dates from the rebuilding of between 1718 and 1738 by Giovanni Scalfarotto with the help of his talented nephew Tommaso Temanza. Described by Wittkower as a 'blending of the Pantheon with Byzantium and Palladio' (Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750, London, 1958, p. 253), it was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, as evidenced in its circular plan and added portico, here filled with Francesco Cabianca's sculpture in low relief of the martyrdoms of Saints Simon and Jude.