Francesco Guardi Venice 1712 - 1793

Jacques Doucet, Paris;
His deceased sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 6 June 1912, lot 159;
Mlle. Gilda Darthy, Paris;
Her sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 18 May 1923, lot 10;
C. Broglio, Paris;
Comte Gerarde de Loriol;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 24 June 1959, lot 63;
With Galleria Lorenzelli, Bergamo, 1969;
From whom acquired by the mother of the present owner;
Thence by descent.

Bergamo, Galleria Lorenzelli, Venezia '700: Guardi e il suo tempo, 1969.

H. Schwarz, in Museum Notes, 1953, vol. 10, no. 4;
F.J.B. Watson, "Guardi and the visit of Pope Pius VI to Venice in 1782", in National Gallery of Art, Report and Studies in the History of Art, 1968, p. 128, no. 3, reproduced fig. 10;
Venezia '700, exhibition catalogue, Bergamo, Galleria Lorenzelli, 1969, reproduced plate XXXV;
A. Morassi, "Una mostra di Pitture veneziane del Settecento a Bergamo", in Arte Veneta, 1969, p. 302;
A. Morassi, Guardi. Antonio e Francesco Guardi, Venice 1973, vol. I, pp. 360-1, cat. no. 271, reproduced vol. II, fig. 304;
L. Rossi Bortoletto, L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi, Milan 1974, p. 131, cat. no. 700;
M. Azzi Visentini, in Francesco Guardi. Vedute Capricci Feste, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 28 August-21 November 1993, p. 194, under cat. no. 70;
A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, pp. 360-1, cat. no. 271, reproduced vol. II, fig. 304.

Between 15 and 19 May 1782 Pope Pius VI stopped in Venice, while travelling back from Vienna to Rome, and Guardi was commissioned by the Serenissima to commemorate the historical event through a set of four canvases. The series, which was commissioned by the Ispettore delle Pubbliche Pitture Pietro Edwards, is recorded in a contract dated 21 May 1782 where Guardi declares his obligation to "prendere le vedute dei siti sopralluogo, e di dipendere dalla direzione del sud.o Sig. Edwards in quanto riguarda la disposizione e collocazione delle figurine rappresnentanti le funzioni medesime" (cited in D. Succi, Francesco Guardi. Itinerario dell'avventura artistica, Milan 1993, p. 108). He was apparently paid 40 zecchini for the paintings, receiving final payment on 24 December 1782, and a second series, of slightly reduced size, was apparently commissioned shortly afterwards (probably for Edwards himself). The four episodes shown are: The meeting between Pope Pius VI and the Doge Paolo Renier on the island of San Giorgio in Alga on 15 May 1782 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the smaller version in the Rossello collection, Milan; Morassi, see Literature, 1993, vol. I, cat. nos. 262 and 263, reproduced vol. II, figs. 291 and 292); The pontifical mass held by Pope Pius VI in the church of San Zanipolo on 16 May 1782 (private collection, and the smaller version in Cleveland, Museum of Fine Arts; Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, cat. nos. 264 and 265, reproduced vol. II, figs. 293 and 294); Pope Pius VI taking his leave from the Doge in the Sala delle Udienze in the Convent of San Zanipolo on 17 May 1782 (Meyer collection, Milan, and the smaller version in Cleveland, Museum of Fine Artsw; ibid., vol. I, cat. nos. 266 and 267, reproduced vol. II, figs. 295 and 296); Pope Pius VI blessing the crowd in the Campo di San Zanipolo on 18 May 1782 (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, and the smaller version in the Bearsted collection, Upton House, National Trust, as well as a third version in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden; ibid., vol. I, cat. nos. 268, 269 and 275, reproduced vol. II, figs. 299, 300 and 301).

On the occasion of the Pope Pius VI blessing the crowd a temporary wooden loggia, designed by Antonio Codognato, was erected on the façade of the Scuola di San Marco. Once the Pope had finished his blessing the crowds were allowed to mount the loggia and the existence of at least three variants of this subject, including the present one, attest to the popularity of the composition: one in Washington, National Gallery of Art (fig. 1; 37.5 by 31.5 cm.); one in the Modiano collection, Bologna (26.5 by 20.5 cm.); one in Providence, Rhode Island School of Design (39 by 32.5 cm.); and the present canvas (61.5 by 46.5 cm. and therefore the largest of the four; ibid., vol. I, cat. nos. 270-3, reproduced vol. II, figs. 302-4). All four compositions are of vertical orientation and the staffage is very similar in each, though the handling is slightly more nervous in the Washington and Bologna variants. A preparatory drawing by Guardi, of horizontal format but corresponding in almost every detail to the four upright painted variants, was formerly in the collection of Pierre Decourcelle until sold, Paris, Christie's, 21 March 2002, lot 310 (fig. 2). Another larger drawing of the same view is in the Korner collection, London, and a third preparatory drawing, showing only the loggia and the right side of the composition visible in the Oxford painting also exists (see A. Morassi, Guardi. I disegni, Venice 1993, cat. nos. 274-6, reproduced figs. 276-8).