Francesco Guardi

With Goudstikker, Amsterdam (his wax seal affixed to the reverse);
H. E. ten Cate, Almelo, by 1934;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 20 November 1975, lot 89.

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche kunst in Nederlandsch bezit, 1 July - 1 October 1934, no. 171.

Italiaansche kunst in Nederlandsch bezit, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam 1934, p. 74, cat. no. 171;
D. Hannema, Catalogue of the H. E. ten Cate Collection, Amsterdam 1955, p. 25, cat. no. 22;
Advertisement in The Burlington Magazine, November 1975, no. 872, p. CV, reproduced.

The old and fine relining is still taut. The canvas is dirty with the varnish rather discoloured giving a dark overall tonality. The craquelure in the sky is pronounced, as visible in the catalogue illustration. The painting surface is a little sunken in the darker tones, though in these areas the artist has applied paint more thinly in order to make greater use of the dark ground layer. The tree in centre is a little worn. The impasto, however, is still well preserved in the lighter tones. Inspection with UV light reveals a few older and more recent retouchings in the darker tones. The painting would benefit from a clean.
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This fantasy landscape fits into a body of around fifty capricci painted by Francesco Guardi. Only a handful, however, are similar to the design of the present work and show the wall to the left, behind which a cupola and a tower can be made out, with the obelisk and pine tree in the centre. The best treatment of the scene is probably the canvas which is part of the series painted for the Duke of Montellano (92 by 135 cm.).¹ The painting whose composition comes closest to the present work is that formerly with Edward Speelman, London (canvas, 51 by 62 cm.).² A very similar version to the present work is listed by Morassi as formerly in the Trotti collection, Paris, and later sold Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 8 December 1958, lot 48, as attributed to Guardi.³ A preparatory drawing (28 by 39.5 cm.) was recorded with Meissner in Zurich.⁴

1. See A. Morassi, Guardi, I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 478, cat. no. 911, reproduced vol. II, fig. 807.
2. Ibid., vol. I, p. 478, cat. no. 912, reproduced vol. II, fig. 809 and in colour vol. I, plate LVIII.
3. Ibid., vol. I, p. 478, under cat. no. 912.
4. See A. Morassi, Guardi, I disegni, Milan 1993, p. 186, cat. no. 628, reproduced fig. 603.