彼得羅·貝洛蒂

American Art Association, New York, early 20th century, lot 107 (partial label on the stretcher)
Private collection, Venice
Acquired from the above ("Dal Piano Nobile di Palazzo Contarini di Corfù Scamozzi"), Sotheby's, Milan, June 23, 2009, lot 45
Charles Beddington Ltd., London
Acquired from the above by A. Alfred Taubman in March 2010

Charles Beddington, "Bernardo Bellotto and His Circle in Italy, Part II: The Lyon Master and Pietro Bellotti," The Burlington Magazine, CXLVII, no. 1222, January 2005, pp. 23-24, illustrated p. 24, fig. 17

This warmly lit view of Venice is one of Pietro Bellotti's finest pictures and larger than most works in his corpus. Brother and student of Bernardo Bellotto, and nephew of Antonio Canaletto, the artist has been overshadowed by his distinguished family members, but the monographic exhibition dedicated to him in Venice in 2013-2014 provided a platform for his talents to be positively re-assessed.

Bellotti is first documented in Toulouse in 1749 but was almost certainly born in Venice, probably around 1725. Like his brother and uncle, the artist specialised in views of Italian cities, and exhibited his works at the Paris Salon in 1755, 1760, 1765, 1774 and 1790, usually working in a blonde palette. Many of his views are based on engravings by both Michele Marieschi and Antonio Visentini. The present work follows Visentini's print of 1735 but introduces an additional boat with a mast in the foreground and a quay with figures in the lower right corner.