Bernardo Bellotto

Presumably acquired by Thomas, 5th Baron King (1712-1779), of Ockham Park, near Guildford, Surrey;
His son Peter, 6th Baron King (1736-1793);
His son Peter, 7th Baron King (1775-1833);
His son William, 8th Baron King (1805-1893), created 1st Earl of Lovelace in 1838;
His son (from his second marriage) Lionel Fortescue Noel-King, 3rd Earl of Lovelace (1865-1929);
His son Peter Malcolm King, 4th Earl of Lovelace (1905-1964);
His sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 July 1937, lot 128 (as Canaletto), for £800 to Dudley Tooth;
With Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London, from whom acquired in July 1942 by Mr (later Sir) Clifford Curzon, London;
His deceased sale ("The Property of the Late Sir Clifford Curzon, C.B.E., Sold by Order of the Executors"), London, Christie's, 10 December 1982, lot 81 (as Canaletto), for £160,000 to Richard Green;
With Richard Green, London, from whom acquired by the present owner shortly afterwards.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Winter Exhibition: European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 27 November 1954 - 27 February 1955, no. 155 (as Canaletto), lent by Curzon;
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Il Settecento a Roma, 19 March - 31 May 1959, no. 124 (as Canaletto), lent by Curzon;
Venice, Museo Correr, Bernardo Bellotto, 10 February - 27 June 2001, and Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, 29 July - 21 October 2001, no. 26.

A.C.R. Carter, in The Daily Telegraph, 29 June 1937, and 14 July 1937;
K.T. Parker, The Drawings of Antonio Canaletto in the collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, Oxford 1948, pp. 51-2, under cat. no. 109;
F.J.B. Watson, "Notes on Canaletto and his Engravers - I", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. XCII, no. 571, October 1950, p. 292, note 11;
Winter Exhibition: European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1954, p. 57, no. 155 (as Canaletto);
F.J.B. Watson, "Venetian Paintings at the Royal Academy 1954-55", in Arte Veneta, vol. IX, 1955, p. 262 (as Bellotto);
W.G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768, Oxford 1962, vol. I, reproduced plate 73; vol. II, p. 371, cat. no. 400, p. 515, under cat. no. 713(241), and p. 520, under cat. no. 727 (as Canaletto);
E. Martini, La pittura veneziana del Settecento, Venice 1964, p. 250, note 214, a detail reproduced fig. 208 (as Canaletto);
L. Puppi, L'opera completa del Canaletto, Milan 1968, p. 109, cat. no. 211, reproduced p. 108 (as Canaletto);
G. Briganti, The View Painters of Europe, London 1970, a detail reproduced plate 13 (as Canaletto);
S. Kozakiewicz, Bernardo Bellotto, London 1972, vol. 2, p. 472, cat. no. Z 347 (under "Works attributed to Bellotto", as Canaletto);
J.G. Links, Canaletto. The Complete Paintings, St. Albans 1981, cat. no. 181 (as Canaletto);
A. Corboz, Canaletto. Una Venezia immaginaria, Milan 1985, vol. 2, p. 653, cat. no. P 319, reproduced (as Canaletto);
W.G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768, 2^nd ed. revised by J.G. Links,  Oxford 1989, vol. I, reproduced plate 73; vol. II, pp. 400-1, cat. no. 400, p. 562, under cat. no. 713(241) and p. 568, under cat. no. 727 (as Canaletto, relaying Kozakiewicz's opinion);
R. Pallucchini, La pittura nel Veneto: Il Settecento, ed. M. Lucco et al., vol. I, Milan 1995, p. 492 (as Canaletto);
J.G. Links, A Supplement to W.G. Constable's Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768, London 1998, p. 39, cat. no. 400 (as Canaletto);
C. Beddington, in Canaletto prima maniera, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 18 March - 10 June 2001, p. 23 (as Bellotto);
H. Chapman, in ibid., p. 36, under cat. no. 12 (as Bellotto);
C. Beddington, in Bernardo Bellotto, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Museo Correr, 10 February - 27 June 2001, and in Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, exhibition catalogue, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 29 July - 21 October 2001, pp. 112-5, cat. no. 26, reproduced in colour pp. 112-3 and a detail on p. 115 (as Bellotto);
B.A. Kowalczyk in ibid., p. 136, under cat. no. 35 (as Bellotto);
C. Beddington, ‘Bernardo Bellotto and his circle in Italy. Part 1: not Canaletto but Bellotto’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXLVI, no. 1219, October 2004, pp. 665 and 673 (as Bellotto).

This painting was long considered the work of Canaletto and it is only following its reattribution by Beddington and its subsequent inclusion in the Bellotto exhibition four years ago that it has been universally acknowledged as an early masterpiece by his nephew. The picture is a key work because it illustrates Bellotto’s emergence as a distinctive artistic personality in his own right, also demonstrating the nature of the artistic relationship between him and his uncle.

Although Francis Watson had published this picture as Bellotto half a century ago on account of the “whip-like” reeds which feature in it and in irrefutable works by the painter, this view did not find favour with subsequent scholars until recently.  In his 1972 monograph on the artist, Stefan Kozakiewicz noted that an “ascription to Bellotto has also been considered, but without justification” (see Literature). Constable included the painting amongst Canaletto’s autograph works but, as Charles Beddington has remarked, in notes made at the time of the Lovelace sale in 1937 (in the Constable-Links archive in Beddington’s possession) Constable observed that the painting represented a “type that may be Bellotto and I think is … very like 82 and 83 in sale”. He understandably compared the work to two other Roman views by Bellotto also from the Lovelace collection: The Porta Santo Spirito (lot 82) and The Arch of Titus (lot 83), both today in a private collection (see E. Peters Bowron, in Bernardo Bellotto.., under Literature, 2001, pp. 104-7, cat. nos. 22 and 23, both reproduced in colour). Beddington further noted that after seeing the painting post-cleaning in November 1937 Constable annotated a photograph with the words “I prefer Bellotto”, thus further suggesting that he was tending towards a possible attribution to the younger artist (see Beddington, under Literature, 2001). The attribution to Canaletto persisted, however, in Constable’s catalogue raisonné of 1962, in Links’ revised editions of 1976 and 1989, and in the more recent supplement (1998).

One of the reasons why the painting was long attributed to Canaletto is that it first became known to the public as part of “The Important Series of Pictures by Antonio Canale (Canaletto)” from the Lovelace collection sold at auction in 1937. There it was presented as one of eight views of “outstanding importance” which had been in the family of the Earl of Lovelace since the 18th century; and so with this undisputed provenance and the accompanying pictures its authorship was never placed in doubt. The views caused quite a stir in the press at the time and Carter, writing of “Lord Lovelace’s Canalettos” in The Daily Telegraph, described the view of The Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano as one of the “set of eight beautiful examples – quite unknown to collectors”. The seven autograph Canaletto paintings included: The Island of San Michele (lot 129; offered, London, Christie's, 10 December 1993, lot 68, and sold through Charles Beddington Ltd. in 2000; see Constable, under Literature, 1962, vol. I, reproduced plate 67; vol. II, pp. 377-8, cat. no. 367); A landscape capriccio with a bridge and a lock, signed and dated 1754 (lot 130; in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; ibid., vol. I, reproduced plate 87; vol. II, pp. 446-7, cat. no. 475); An architectural capriccio with a bridge and waterfall and A landscape capriccio with the Colleoni monument (lots 131-2; sold, New York, Sotheby's, 13 January 1994, lot 76; ibid., vol. I, reproduced plates 88 and 92; vol. II, p. 448, cat. no. 478, and  pp. 463-4, cat. no. 504); A landscape capriccio with a column and A landscape capriccio with a bridge and palace (lots 133-4; National Gallery of Art, Washington; ibid., vol. I, reproduced plate 87; vol. II, pp. 445-6, cat. nos. 473-4); and The Bucintoro in the Bacino di San Marco on Ascension Day (lot 135; in the collection of the late Antonio Champalimaud, Portugal; ibid., vol. I, reproduced plate 65; vol. II, pp. 362-3, cat. no. 343).

An important factor in explaining the painting’s erroneous attribution to Canaletto is the fact that the composition is closely related to a Canaletto design. Parker (see Literature) was the first to associate the painting with a drawing in the British Museum, London (inv. 1858.6.26.241; see fig. 2), which was to be engraved in 1781 by Giambattista Brustolon (1712-1796) (see fig. 3). The British Museum drawing dates from Canaletto’s visit to Rome as a young man, in 1719-20, and belongs to a set of twenty-three sheets whose authenticity has most recently been re-affirmed by Beddington and Chapman (see under Literature, pp. 23ff.). The drawings have for the most part stayed together (twenty-two of the set are in the British Museum whilst one is in Darmstadt).  The British Museum drawings are likely to have remained in Cananletto's studion during his lifetime and he certainly turned to them frequently in the 1740s, a decade in which he once again turned to painting Roman subjects (see, for example, the five signed and dated paintings of 1742 in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle; Constable, op. cit., 1962, vol I, reproduced plates 70-2; vol II, p. 359, cat. no. 378, pp. 361-3, cat. nos. 382, 384 and 386, and p. 365, cat. no. 390). Canaletto was showing clear signs at this stage of his career of needing a change from painting views of Venice, and his nephew’s visit to Rome in 1742 clearly inspired him to return to subject matter which he had not considered for more than two decades.

Bellotto was certainly familiar with the group of Canaletto’s early drawings. Indeed, he took one of the set – the sheet with Santa Maria d’Aracoeli and the Campidoglio - with him when he left in April 1747 for Germany, where it has remained (Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, inv. 2186; Canaletto prima maniera, under Literature, 2001, pp. 24-5, cat. no. 1, reproduced in colour). He produced drawn copies after two of Canaletto’s sheets, both today in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle and both long considered to be by Canaletto: one of SS. Domenico e Sisto, after Canaletto’s B.M. 1858.6.26.234, and the other of The Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, after Canaletto’s B.M. 1858.6.26.241 (for which see Parker, under Literature, pp. 51-2, cat. nos. 110 and 109, reproduced figs. 49 and 48 respectively). The latter (inv. 7517) is closely related to the present painting and both Beddington and Chapman have convincingly argued that both these sheets are by Bellotto rather than Canaletto, to whom they had always previously been given. The distinctive manner in which the clouds are drawn has much in common with the painting’s “striated, purple-tinged bands”, and the proportions of the figures and the sharper contrast of light and shadow in the Windsor drawing (by comparison with that in the British Museum) also find parallels in Bellotto’s painting. Bellotto’s knowledge of Canaletto’s drawings is also demonstrated by four other paintings by Bellotto directly based on the British Museum sheets, all datable to shortly after his return to Venice: the pendants showing the Roman Forum with the Temple of Castor and Pollux and The Roman Forum with the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (both formerly in the collection of Consul Joseph Smith, Venice, and now in a private collection; see Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, under Literature, cat. nos. 18 and 19, both reproduced); Santa Maria d’Aracoeli and the Capitol (Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (National Trust); ibid., cat. no. 20, reproduced); and Colosseum and Arch of Constantine (offered, London, Christie’s, 8 July 1994, lot 10, and now in a private collection; ibid., reproduced on p. 136, under cat. no. 35).

Although Bellotto adheres to Canaletto’s overall composition and viewpoint for his own drawing at Windsor, there are marked differences between the two works. Bellotto has altered the proportions of the Lateran Palace, particularly the second storey which is lower than it appears in both the British Museum drawing and in the final painting. Bellotto has also introduced more marked contrasts of light and shade at the right of the composition. As noted above, the sky and cloud formations in the painting are entirely characteristic of Bellotto and can be read as an interpretation in paint of the livelier sky in the Windsor drawing. The most significant factor remains, however, that in the painting Bellotto has adapted the appearance and positioning of the buildings and this was clearly done after he had seen the buildings for himself (compare the appearance of the site today, fig. 1). Indeed one might be tempted to suppose that Bellotto has shown himself sketching at the base of the obelisk. Bellotto most probably travelled to Rome in the spring of 1742, shortly after his marriage to Elisabetta Pizzorno on 5 November of the previous year. He stopped in Florence, Lucca and Livorno along the way and is recorded back in Venice on 25 July 1742. The painting must post-date his trip to Rome, and Beddington has suggested a date of execution shortly after Bellotto’s return from Rome to Venice, that is circa 1743-44. Stylistically the painting has much in common with the pair of views of the Roman Forum formerly in the collection of Consul Joseph Smith and today in a private collection (see above), which must date from the same moment. All three paintings share the sharp definition of light and shadow (even more evident in the two upright paintings by Bellotto, also formerly in the Lovelace collection), the cool tonalities, and the textured surfaces of the buildings. Bellotto may once again have had recourse to Canaletto’s drawing of 1719-20, for the second storey of the Lateran Palace in Bellotto’s painting has returned to the manner in which his uncle had drawn it over twenty years before. Other alterations with respect to the drawing include shifting the building of the Scala Santa slightly to the left, thus giving the painting a greater sense of depth. The distant hills have also become visible through the ruins of the Aqueduct of Nero, lending more atmosphere to the skyline, and most significantly of all Bellotto has chosen to include part of the Loggia delle Benedizioni at the right of the composition, thus giving greater credibility to the strong shadow casts across the west façade of the Lateran Palace. By making these alterations and introducing a number of animated figures and a horse-drawn carriage, Bellotto has produced a composition that, in comparison with that of his uncle, is more striking and dramatic.

This view of Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano looking east is highly unusual. The square had been an important site since Roman times, when the statue of Marcus Aurelius (today in the Musei Capitolini) stood there. The site had belonged to the Roman patrician family of the Laterans (from whom it takes its name) until it was confiscated by Nero, eventually being handed over to Pope Melchiades by Fausta, wife of the Emperor Constantine, to be used as the papal residence from 311 A.D.. The first Christian basilica in Rome, the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, was erected in circa 313-318 A.D. and was destroyed, restored and modified throughout the ensuing centuries. The most important remodelling project of the whole area took place under Pope Sixtus V, following designs by the architect Domenico Fontana (1543-1607). From 1585-89 the space around the basilica was opened up towards Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colosseum and the Appia Antica, and the red granite obelisk was erected as the focal point in the centre of the square. The obelisk that cuts Bellotto’s composition in half is the oldest and tallest in Rome: it measures 31 metres in height, 47 metres including its base. It once stood before the Temple of Amon in Thebes and was taken to Rome by Constantine II in 357 A.D., whence it was placed in the Circus Maximus. It subsequently fell and was only rediscovered in 1587, whereupon it was restored and integrated into Fontana’s designs the following year. Also built by Fontana were the Lateran Palace, shown here in half-shadow dominating the piazza, the Loggia delle Benedizioni,and the building housing the Scala Santa. The Loggia was erected in 1586 at the head of the basilica’s right transept. It is formed of two arcaded storeys, each with five arches, the whole surmounted by two symmetrical 13th-century campanili (one is entirely and the other only partially visible in Bellotto’s painting). The building of the Scala Santa (San Lorenzo in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum) was transformed at the request of Sixtus V to house the private papal chapel. From the mid-15th century the staircase had come to be traditionally identified with that on which Christ had stood before Pontius Pilate. The architectural design, also by Fontana (1589), is simple but effective, repeating the arcade of the Loggia delle Benedizioni and thus providing a visual link with the buildings on the other side of the piazza. Four of the five arches on the lower storey were walled-in by Francesco Azzurri in 1853. Further urbanization of the area in the 19th century led to the disappearance of the ruins of the Aqueduct of Nero and the gardens visible at the left of the composition, between San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. The site, as painted by Bellotto, may be compared to Vanvitelli's near-contemporary renditions of the subject, most of which date from the second decade of the 18th century and show the piazza before its urbanisation (see the painting in the Colonna collection, Rome, and its variants, in G. Briganti, Gaspar van Wittel, ed. L. Laureati and L. Trezzani, Milan 1996, pp. 164-5, cat. nos. 86-89, all reproduced).

The illustrious provenance of the present painting is shared by no fewer than two other paintings by Bellotto and seven other paintings by Canaletto, all of which were included in the sale of the Earl of Lovelace at Sotheby’s in 1937. Although the paintings are known to have been in the family since the 18th century, it is not known exactly how or when they were acquired. In the 1982 Christie’s sale it was left open whether the paintings may have entered the family collection through Peter, 3rd Baron King (1709-1754) or through one of his brothers William, 4th Baron King (1711-1767) or Thomas, 5th Baron King (1712-1779). Beddington hypothesises that they were most likely commissioned by the latter, since he is the only member of the family who is known to have shown an interest in the arts (he commissioned a pair of marines from Claude-Joseph Vernet in 1767 and in 1770; sold as lots 114 and 115 in the 1937 Lovelace sale). Though Thomas is not apparently recorded in Italy, he did send his son Peter (1736-1793), 6th Baron King  there on the Grand Tour in 1769-70. Thomas’ marriage in 1734 to Catherine Troye, the “Dutch heiress”, suggests that he had the means to acquire the three paintings by Bellotto. Like the Lovelace series of Canaletti, this and other two paintings by Bellotto, which are identical in height to the width of this painting, may well have been originally displayed together, maybe even commissioned with a specific room in mind. It has always been assumed that they always hung at Ockham Park, the family's seat in Surrey, altered by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1725-29, later remodelled and largely demolished in 1949 after a fire (fig. 4). Beddington has tentatively suggested, however, that the rooms for which the Bellotto and the other paintings were destined may well have been in King’s London house rather than at Ockham Park, as had always been supposed.