Francesco Guardi

With Arthur Tooth & Sons, London from whom purchased on the 15th December 1948 by the Hon. Olive Lady Baillie, Leeds Castle, Kent, mother in law of the present owner.

the former:
A. Morassi, Guardi, I dipinti, Venice 1973, vol. I, p. 470, cat. no 860, reproduced vol. II, plate 782
A. Morassi, Guardi, I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 470, cat. no 860, reproduced vol. II, plate 782;
the latter: 
A. Morassi, Guardi, I dipinti, Venice 1973, vol. I, p. 476, cat. no. 900, reproduced vol. II, plate plate 803.
A. Morassi, Guardi, I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 476, cat. no. 900, reproduced vol. II, plate plate 803.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. These two little paintings are on quite roughly sawn thin poplar panels. They have been backed and cradled probably in the early to mid twentieth century, but show no history of raised or flaking paint. The present varnish also dates from that time, rather yellowed and with a few surface splashes and fly marks. Island Capriccio with a Bridge. The vivid brushwork is in unusually beautiful condition, with the finest flowing strokes almost all intact, down to the minute statue on the column or the distant fishing rod. However the delicate brown under-glazing in the building on the right, in part of the roof behind the bridge and in the right side of the bridge itself has been partially lost. The foliage of the tree against the sky on the left is also thin and the luminous granular pigments of the sky have been worn along the little vertical ridges in the wood. There are some little lines of retouching in the browns of the bridge and the house on the right, one or two retouchings in the central foreground by the base edge, little touches in the crevices of the most ridged vertical in the centre of the sky, with a few minor touches in the top left corner. The horizon also has a few warm strengthening strokes. However the condition particularly of the landscape and figures is remarkably good. Island Capriccio with an Altar. This panel has a rather smoother surface, with a sweeping grain but few ridges, so that the sky is better preserved. There are a few little surface retouchings in the clouds at upper right and in the lower crevices of the central ridge just above the hill. The crest of the hill itself has some little strengthening retouchings, with one or two in the rocky left side and some others in the browns down the right side. In such areas there were characteristically fine films of a glazed under tone virtually directly on to the panel, which were extremely vulnerable, and are frequently lost. The thinnest films of the water along the base edge at centre right also have a few little strengthening touches. However the painting elsewhere almost throughout is beautifully intact in all its delicacy. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

During the third quarter of the 18th Century, Guardi specialised in painting charming small scale capricci of which this pair are a fine and unique example.  The paintings are unusual in Guardi's oeuvre in that  neither composition appears to be repeated in other versions.   The painting of the figure before a bridge appears to be an imagined capriccio wheras in the other painting, the artist has taken various architectural elements drawn from a variety of sources; perhaps the obelisk surmounted by Saint Isidore of Miletus in The Piazzetta and the cupola inspired by S. Giorgio Maggiore.  Morassi describes the former as "Opera squisita, tarda" (an exquisite late work ) and the latter as "Bella , del periodo tardo" (a beautiful late work).  Listed as pendants.