Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto

Private Collection;
sale, New York, Sotheby's, A Window on Venice: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings from a European Private Collection, 10 January 1995, lot 31;
with Jean-Luc Baroni, London;
from whom acquired by the present owner

T. Pignatti, Canaletto, Disegni scelti e annotati, Florence 1969, reproduced pl. LIV;
Idem., 'Venetian Drawings of the Eighteenth Century', (exhibition review), Master Drawings, vol. XI, no. 2 (1973), p. 182;
W.G. Constable and J.G. Links, Canaletto. Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697-1768, Oxford, 1976, vol. II, p. 615, no. 840 (as attributed to Canaletto);
M. Natale, Art vénétien en Suisse et au Liechtenstein, exh. cat., Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, et al., 1978, under no. 163;
A. Bettagno, Canaletto, Disegni- Dipinti- Incisioni, exh. cat., Vicenza 1982, p. 44, under no. 38;
A. Corboz, Canaletto, Milan 1985, vol. I, p. 31 and note 82, p. 136 (as Canaletto?);
W.G. Constable & J.G. Links, Canaletto, 3rd ed., Oxford 1989, vol. II, p. 615, no. 840, reproduced vol. I, plate 221;
B.A. Kowalczyk, in Canaletto. Il trionfo della veduta, exh. cat., Rome, Palazzo Giustiniani, 2005, p. 204, under no. 51 (as Bernardo Bellotto)

Hinged only at the top on an eighteenth century Venetian sheet of paper. Generally in good condition. Slight bucking of the paper at the top margin. Some numbering to the left are slightly perceptible to the left side. Overall media strong. Sold mounted but unframed
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Despite the great love of pageantry and theatre in 18^th-century Venice, studies such as this of actual actors are relatively rare.  This drawing represents some principal characters from the ‘Commedia dell’Arte’, on stage, while just below them we see the heads of a group of spectators. The 'maschere' (traditional characters) are easily recognizable: Harlequin in his chequered costume stands on the right, and next to him is Scapino, then Pulcinella, Pierrot, Pantalone and, seated by the table, a quack doctor.  These street performances were common in Venice, especially during periods of festivities, and in the 18^th century the city was a leading centre in the development of the Commedia dell’ Arte.  A drawing by Canaletto, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, shows a temporary stage erected in Piazza San Marco, with performers in action, including Mezzetin with his lute, and Harlequin.¹  

The present sheet belongs to a group of similar figure drawings executed in the same media, all numbered in pen and brown ink in the centre, and probably once part of an album or albums.  The varying sizes of the sheets suggest that they may originate from more than one album, although stylistically these drawings would appear to be similar in date. Several of the drawings are double-sided, and bear, in a handwriting universally accepted as Canaletto’s, the word ‘volta’ ('turn over'). They represent scenes from everyday life, probably sketched dal vivo, and were surely made to be used by the artist as the basis for the staffage in his paintings. Five of these double-sided sheets are recorded by Constable and Links (two of them in Berlin and one each in Rotterdam, London and New York).² 

Following a suggestion originally made by Larissa Salmina Haskell, in 1973 Terisio Pignatti speculated that one of these sheets in a private collection, Cloth Merchant, bearing numbering 49, might actually be the work of Bernardo Bellotto, Canaletto's nephew, drawn when the artist was training in his uncle's studio.³  Other scholars, notably Charles Beddington and Bozena Anna Kowalczyk, have followed this lead, and consider all the figure drawings in this group, including the present example, to be the work of Bellotto.⁴  Another important drawing to take into account in this context is the double-sided sheet sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2000 and now at the Getty Museum, of which only the recto, a view of The Campo S. Basso: The North Side with the Church, was known to Constable and Links, who included it in their catalogue as an autograph work by Canaletto.⁵  The drawing was, however, taken off its mount at some stage between 1989 and 2000, revealing another drawing on the verso, representing a market scene, clearly by the same hand as the present sheet and others in the group discussed above, also numbered 58 and inscribed 'volta' in Canaletto’s hand.  In any case, these studies must date from the first half of the 1740s, when the young Bellotto was in the bottega of Canaletto, and the work of the two artists was very close in style and technique.

The present sheet is fluidly drawn in pen and ink, over a black chalk underdrawing, and shows a number of pentimenti.  It is very competent in execution, and the inventive and witty representation of the subject is easy to associate with Canaletto (see, for example, his approach to the masked figures in the great drawing of The Coronation of the Doge, lot 44 above).  It seems curious that if all these sheets are indeed by Bellotto, we would have no record of similar drawings by Canaletto, who should have provided his very young nephew with the inspiration for such interesting works.

^1. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. E 3793-1934; Constable & Links, op. cit., 1976, vol. I, no. 646, reproduced vol. II, pl. 118  

^2. Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. nos. 572 & KdZ 16079, C/L nos. 540 and 837; Rotterdam, Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, inv. no. I. 326, C/L no. 838; London, Courtauld Institute, inv. no. R.W. 346, C/L no. 839; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 1971 (162), C/L no. 840

^3. Pignatti, loc. cit.; the drawing later published by Constable and Links, op. cit., 1976, as no. 840***

^4. C. Beddington, 'Bernardo Bellotto and his circle in Italy, part I, Not Canaletto but Bellotto,’ The Burlington Magazine,CXLVI, October 2004, p. 671; B.A. Kowalczyk, in Canaletto. Il trionfo della veduta, exh. cat., Rome, Palazzo Giustiniani, 2005, pp. 204-13 nos. 51-54

^5. Sale, New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2000, lot 43; Constable & Links, op. cit., 1976, no. 541