Giacomo Guardi

Probably Andrew Fountaine IV (1808–73), Narford Hall, Norfolk, and thence by descent;

His Estate sale, London, Christie’s, 7 July 1894, lot 44 (as 'F. Guardi'), for £136-10s., to Agnew's;

With Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, by whom sold, by late 1894, to

Sir Julian Goldsmid, 3rd Bt., M.P. (1838–96);

His posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 13 June 1896, lot 74 (as 'F. Guardi'), for £210, to Wallis;

Private collection, California, until 2015.

London, The New Gallery, Exhibition of Venetian Art, 31 December 1894 – 6 April 1895, no. 199 (lent by Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bt., M.P.; as Francesco Guardi);

New York, Blakeslee Galleries, Exhibition of Early English, Dutch and Flemish Paintings, 1898, no. 21 (as F. Guardi).

'Sales', in The Athenaeum, no. 3481, 14 July 1894, p. 73;

W. Farrer, 'A record bid', in The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, vol. XV, no. 176, August 1894, p. 312;

A. Trumble, 'Notes and novelties', in The Collector, vol. V, October 1894, p. 254;

'Venetian Art at The New Gallery', in The Speaker, vol. X, 5 January 1895, p. 17;

'Concours et Expositions', in La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité. Supplement à la Gazette des Beuax-Arts, 1895, p. 2;

'The Goldsmid pictures', in The Times, 15 June 1896, p. 15;

'Sales', in The Athenaeum, no. 3582, 20 June 1896, p. 15;

The sale prices of 1896. An annual report of sales by auction of objects of artistic and antiquarian interest, vol. I, London 1897, p. 280, cat. no. 3742;

W. Roberts, 'The Goldsmid sale', in Memorials of Christie's. A record of art sales from 1766 to 1896, vol. II, London 1897, p. 292;

H. Mireur, 'Francesco Guardi', in Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'Etranger pendant les XVIIIe & XIXe Siècles, vol. III, Paris 1912, p. 403;

A. Graves, 'Francesco Guardi', in Art sales from early in the eighteenth century to early in the twentieth century, London 1918, p. 382.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The artist's panel is stable and secure and has thin wooden fillets attached to the outer edges. These are visible from the reverse. Paint Surface The paint surface has an reasonably even varnish layer and inspection under ultra violet light shows a number of retouchings in the sky, some of which appear larger than is really necessary and could perhaps be reduced with more careful inpainting. There are thicker lines of retouching along the tops of the buildings but minimal retouchings on the buildings themselves and just very small scattered spots in the water. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no further work is required for reasons of conservation.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is a particularly fine work by Francesco Guardi’s son Giacomo and corresponds closely to a drawing by Francesco in the British Museum.¹ Indeed Giacomo’s debt to his father’s style is here laid bare, such that it is likely to have been executed while Francesco was still alive, while father and son were working closely together in the studio.

While Giacomo’s later, and plentiful, gouaches could never be mistaken for the work of his father, his earlier drawings and paintings, done when Francesco was still alive or only recently deceased, can be of such quality as to pass as works by Francesco. This, of course, was the ultimate aim of a member of Francesco’s studio and doubtless many works left the studio as works by Francesco when in fact they were by one of his talented assistants like Giacomo. It may also have been the case that Francesco retouched or ‘helped’ certain such works as they left the studio. Certainly, many of Giacomo’s early works have been mistaken for Francesco, the present example being a case in point, having been sold from both the great collection of Andrew Fountaine at Narford Hall in 1894 and that of the late Sir Julian Goldsmid in 1896 as such. It is easy to see why, given the excellent draftsmanship and painterly quality of the foreground figures on the quay in particular.

The painting follows the drawing in the British Museum in all but the smallest of details. In the painting: there are a small number of additional vessels on the water; the campanile of San Bartolomeo, to the right of Rialto, has been deleted; and a boy seated on the church steps in the lower left foreground has been added. Typical of Giacomo is the very linear means of picking out the architectural detail of the buildings, almost as if with pen and ink, and the tall spindly figures in the middle and far distance. Other than this Giacomo’s painting is wholly in emulation of his father.

Giacomo is thought to have begun working with his father from the age of about sixteen and, as Morassi has stated, it is clear that from 1780 until Francesco’s death a number of works are collaborations.² After his father’s death Giacomo made the most of the stock left behind in the studio, selling it over the course of some years to foreign visitors. He began to paint postcard sized views of Venice and the lagoon on paper, in gouache, each of them fully inscribed on the reverse with the location and his signature, Giacomo de’ Guardis, proudly showing off the patent of nobility in his name.

At the Fountaine sale in 1894 the painting was followed by its pendant (lot 44a), but only as a late addition. In a hand written entry in the catalogue the pendant was described thus: ‘The companion picture (so much injured that we did not put it in the catalogue)’.

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for endorsing the attribution to Giacomo.

1. Inv. no. 1902.0617.4; pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk on paper, 239 x 350 mm. A. Morassi, Guardi. Tutti I disegni, Venice 1975, p. 130, cat. no. 297, reproduced fig. 298.

2. A. Morassi, Guardi I dipinti, vol. I, Venice 1984, p. 287.