Giuseppe Zocchi Florence 1716/17 - 1767

Acquired by George, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham (1760-1830), while living in Florence at the villa Pasquale (now the villa Pratolino), probably some time in the 1780s;
Thence by descent to his eldest son by his second marriage Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), Ashburnham House, Dover Street, 1873, and later at Ashburnham Place, Sussex (where it hung on the lower register in the Great Entrance Hall);
Thence by descent to his eldest son Bertram, 5th Earl of Asburnham (1840-1913), Ashburnham Place, Sussex;
Thence by inheritance to his daughter Mary Catherine Charlotte (called "Lady Catherine") Ashburnham (1890-1953), Ashburnham Place, Sussex;
Thence passed to Mr. & Mrs. A.M. Burnett-Stuart, 1953, in whose collection it remained until at least 1960 (see under Exhibited);
With Harari & Johns, Ltd., London, 1982, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Manchester, Manchester City Art Gallery, Exhibition of Works of Art from private collections in the North West and North Wales, 21 September – 30 October 1960, cat. no. 131 (lent by Mr. & Mrs. A.M. Burnett-Stuart);
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Views of Florence and Tuscany by Zocchi (1711-1767), (no catalogue), 1-27 September 1987 (lent by the present owner);
Florence, Forte di Belvedere, Firenze e la sua immagine. Cinque secoli di vedutismo, 29 June – 30 September 1994, cat. no. 81.

C. Hussey, "Ashburnham Place, Sussex – II", in Country Life, vol. CXIII, no. 2936, 23 April 1953, p. 1249, reproduced p. 1247, figs. 3 and 4;
Exhibition of Works of Art from private collections in the North West and North Wales, exhibition catalogue, Manchester, Manchester City Art Gallery, 21 September – 30 October 1960, p. 37, cat. no. 131, reproduced;
A.Morassi, "Circa alcune opere sconosciute di Giuseppe Zocchi", in Bollettino dei musei civici veneziani, vol. 7, 1962, no. 1, pp. 8-9;
M. Gregori, in Firenze e la sua immagine. Cinque secoli di vedutismo, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Forte di Belvedere, 29 June – 30 September 1994, pp. 145, 147, cat. no. 81, reproduced;
M. Gregori & S. Blasio, Firenze nella Pittura e nel Disegno dal Trecento al Settecento, Florence 1994, pp. 192, 213, footnote 73, reproduced in colour pp. 194-195, figs. 249;
M. Chiarini, "Dipinti e sculture dal XIV al XVIII secolo", in Opere d’Arte, 1995, pp. 114-117;
S. Bellesi, Book review, in Antichità Viva, Anno XXXV, no. 2-3, December 1996, p. 74, reproduced p. 75, fig. 1;
A.Tosi, Inventare la Realtà. Giuseppe Zocchi e la Toscana del Settecento, Florence 1997, p. 73, footnote 57;
R. Contini, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Painting, London 2002, pp. 370, 372, and 431.

Engraved:
By Bernardo Sgrilli (active 1733-1755) published by Gerini, Florence 1744.

For a detailed discussion of the commission please see the introduction before the preceding lot.

This view, which is taken from a point on the south bank of the river Arno, is known in one other painted version; a canvas in the Cassa di Risparmio, Florence. The painting technique adopted to give the effect of water in the foreground owes much to Zocchi’s Venetian contemporaries, particularly Canaletto, Bellotto and Marieschi, whose paintings he would have been familiar with after his recent trip to Venice. Indeed Morassi said of this painting that it was an example of "quel nitore cristallino, quell’atmosfera lucida, quel cielo cilestrino-argenteo con poche e trasparenti nubi e batuffoli come d’ovatta, che sono le caratteristiche del Marieschi, e che si ripetono nello Zocchi, un tantino meno aeree, meno ‘morbide’" (see Literature). It is also noteworthy that Marieschi’s engravings, Magnificientiores selectioresque Urbis Venetianum prospectus, were published in 1741 and it is highly likely that Zocchi knew of their existence. It has been suggested that the figures in this painting may have been inspired by Francesco Zuccarelli who, though already in England by the time Zocchi painted this view, had been in Florence in 1728 and had belonged to the Accademia del Disegno there in 1731, so his works would undoubtedly have been known to Zocchi (in addition to the fact that he would have seen Zuccarelli’s paintings whilst in Venice).

A preparatory drawing for this view is in the Pierpont Morgan Library and forms part of the series of seventy-seven drawings representing views of Florence and Tuscany, commissioned from Zocchi by the Marchese Andrea Gerini and carried out by him in preparation for a set of engravings (fig. 1; also reproduced in M. Gregori & S. Blasio, see Literature, p. 174, fig. 211). The drawing is annotated with the site from which the artist drew the scene: "Veduta di una parte di Firenze, presa Fuori della Porta à San Niccolò presso al Fiume Arno". In the painting Zocchi has remained utterly faithful to his drawing, both in the architectural details and in the positioning of the figures and boats in the foreground, which has led Tosi to describe this and other views as "transposizioni pittoriche" of his original drawings (see Literature). The view is taken from a point on the south bank of the river Arno, outside the Porta a San Niccolò, below San Miniato al Monte, looking over the weir to the Ponte alle Grazie and Ponte Vecchio. The Porta a San Niccolò was a fortified gate which was built circa 1323, though it was almost entirely demolished in 1870 (except for its tower, which still stands). The principal buildings visible along the skyline are, from left to right: Palazzo Vecchio in the centre; the upper part of Orsanmichele; the apse of Santa Croce; the Duomo, otherwise known as Santa Maria del Fiore (with Brunelleschi’s dome) and the Campanile (designed by Giotto); and at the far right the tower of the Zecca Vecchia (old mint), established in the 1380s but since destroyed.