Francesco Guardi Venice 1712 - 1793

Stuart Albert Samuel Montague, 3rd Baron Swaythling (1898-1990), Townhill Park, Southampton;
His sale, London, Christie's, 12 July 1946, lot 24, for £3,570;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London;
From whom purchased by the great-grandfather of the present owner;
Thence by family descent.

This painting is a characteristic late work by the artist. The canvas, curiously unpublished despite its appearance at auction in 1946, was not included in Morassi's monograph of 1973 (or in the second edition twenty years later). The view shows the Grand Canal looking north towards the Rialto bridge, with to the left of the composition the Riva del Vin, on which can be identified the three-bay Palazzo Barbarigo and the Palazzo dei Dieci Savi next to it. The view was painted by Guardi on a number of occasions and although the viewpoint is the same, the staffage differs slightly in each variant.¹ This picture comes closest in style and in the details of the figures and boats to a small panel listed by Morassi as being in a private collection, Geneva.² Both paintings are to be considered mature works by the artist, probably datable to the 1780s.

1. See A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1973, ed. 1993, vol. I, pp. 408-10, cat. nos. 526-32 and 535, reproduced vol. II, figs. 511-518.
2. Oil on panel, 22.8 by 34.8 cm.; Morassi, op. cit., vol. I, p. 409, cat. no. 532, reproduced vol. II, fig. 517.