ANTONIETTA BRANDEIS | CORTILE DEL PALAZZO DUCALE WITH THE ARCO FOSCARI AND SCALA DEI GIGANTI, VENICE

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 October 1984, lot 47 (1 of 2); 

Private Collection, Texas; 

From where acquired by the present owner. 

Czech by birth, Antonietta Brandeis relocated to Venice at a young age with her mother and enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti. She was one of two women in her graduating class, and after leaving the Accademia she began to establish a successful career in Venice, exhibiting regularly at Accademia shows. Brandeis dedicated her oeuvre to painting Venetian scenes (known as vedute) and capturing the beauty and luminosity of her city. Her works also became popular for visitors to Venice on the Grand Tour, who sought souvenirs of their time in the historic city.

In the present lot, Brandeis depicts the north side of the interior courtyard in the Palazzo Ducale. The figures, who wear traditional, colorful costumes of the nineteenth century, appear rather small against the magnificent grandeur of the Palazzo. On the left is the Arco Foscari attributed to Antonio Rizzo (1430 – 1499) with the statue of Francesco Maria I della Rovere by Giovanni Bandini (1540 – 1599) at center. To the right of this composition is the Scala dei Giganti built by Rizzo and named after the statues of Mars and Neptune installed there by Jacopo Sansovino in 1567. They represent the Roman gods Mars and Neptune and symbolize the city’s power over land and sea. Their installation in 1565 marked the end of the renovation work that introduced Renaissance architecture into the centuries-old building. Although Brandeis often depicts the exterior Gothic façade of Palazzo Ducale, in this work she highlights its Renaissance interior, conveying the artist’s fascination with its fusing of architectural of styles.