Francesco Guardi

Alfred Lindon (Lindenbaum), Paris;
Confiscated from the above by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg and deposited at the Jeu de Paume on 10th December 1940;
Transferred to the Central Collecting Point Munich on 26 June 1945 (inv. no. 231/29);
Restituted to the Republic of France on 31 July 1946;
Restituted to Alfred Lindon (Lindenbaum), Paris, before February 1947;
His sale, Paris, Galliéra, 9 June 1964 (with its pendant, lot 42 in this sale).

A. Morassi, Guardi. Antonio e Francesco Guardi, Venice 1973, vol. I, p. 484, cat. no. 941, reproduced vol. II, fig. 837;
L. Rossi Bortolatto, L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi, Milan 1974, p. 110, cat. no. 362;
A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 484, no. 941, reproduced vol. II, fig. 837.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The artist's panel is not cradled and has two vertical batons partially attached to the vertical edges of the panel. The panel is sound and secure. Paint Surface The paint surface has a discoloured varnish layer and should respond very well to cleaning and revarnishing. Inspection under ultra-violet light confirms how discoloured the varnish layers have become and also shows a few small scattered retouchings, the majority of which are thin vertical lines and small dots of inpainting. These are predominately around the base of the pillars in the lower right of the composition. The fine details of the painting appear to be in very good and well preserved condition with no evidence of abrasion or over-cleaning. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition with the potential to be transformed should painting be cleaned and revarnished.
"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."

This beautifully evocative and atmospheric sketch is one of a number of similar capricci in which Guardi seems to have explored the compositional possibilities of a distant sunlit temple or church seen through or beyond overgrown Roman ruins, and it is without question one of the most beautiful and successful. In terms of its design it comes closest to a drawing formerly in the Evans Collection in London,¹ which seems to have been preliminary to the damaged oil today in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in which the composition is extended to horizontal format and the flanking ruins placed much further apart. A more successful variant is recorded by Morassi as with Agnews in London, although here the composition is much enlarged on the right hand side to include an entire ruined arch.²



1. See A. Morassi, Guardi. I disegni, Venice 1993, p. 188,  no. 641, reproduced fig. 612. Another oil, that in the Gerli collection in Milan is also connected by Morassi (no. 951) to this drawing.
2. See Morassi, under Literature, 1993, pp. 484-5, cat. nos 940 and 947, reproduced vol. II, figs. 838 and 840.