Luca Carlevarijs

Private collection, Rome, by 1967;
Isabella Marchetto, Venice.

Udine, Loggia del Lionello, and Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Disegni, incisioni e bozzetti del Carlevarijs, 29 December 1963 – 2 February 1964 and 19 February – 19 April 1964, cat. no. xxiii.

A. Morassi, 'Settecento inedito II', Arte Veneta, IV, 1950, p. 44;
R. Pallucchini, La pittura veneziana del Settecento, Venice/Rome 1960, p. 34;
W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Oxford 1962, p. 68;
A. Rizzi, Disegni, incisioni e bozzetti del Carlevarijs, exh. cat., Udine 1963, p. 22;
A. Rizzi, Luca Carlevarijs, Venice 1967, p. 94, reproduced plate 71;
D. Succi, Carlevarijs, Gorizia 2015, pp. 243–44.

The canvas is relined, the paint surface is clean and the varnish is clear and even. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals very few careful, scattered retouchings, including to the blue coat of the man standing on the left, to the corner of the quay lower centre, and to the figures lower right. Overall there is very little intervention and the painting remains fresh, bright and in very good condition. Offered in a carved and gilt wood frame in good condition.
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Carlevarijs was the most notable view painter of the Venetian school before the advent of Canaletto. This is a fine example of the type of coastal port scenes that he began to paint from around 1710 onwards, perhaps as a result of his recent journey to Rome.  They comprise a distinctive group within his œuvre and must have found a ready market among his patrons. The form of the signature may also be found in a slightly larger Capriccio of a port sold New York, Christie's, 29 January 1998, lot 30 ($240,000), and recurs again in a Capriccio view of the Ponte Rotto near Rome sold London, Christie's, 5 July 1991, lot 106. The date, a little indistinct, has also been read as 1714. Carlevarijs typically composed these views, such as the present canvas, around a diagonally receding line of a mixture of classical and modern buildings, tapering towards a distant ship or ships anchored close offshore. The distinctive town gate in the foreground appears again in a signed canvas of 1710, offered London, Christie's, 13 December 1996, lot 82, but is almost certainly imaginary. The ships, as well as the colourful mixture of merchants, stevedores and beggars that animate the foreground were the result of many careful studies drawn and painted from the life by Carlevarijs.