Workshop of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto

Private collection, Volterra;

Tancredo Borenius (1885-1948), London;

With Frank T. Sabin Gallery, London;

Thereafter acquired by the present collectors.

Possibly W.G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, J.G. Links (ed.), Oxford 1989, vol. II, p. 458, cat. no. 496L (with different dimensions).

Executed by a highly skilled member of Canaletto's workshop, this composition derives from a larger painting at the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. no. 769), dated circa 1740. The view of Padua was among Canaletto's most popular designs, attesting to its compositional success. The dome and campanile of the Church of Santa Giustina anchor the composition at left; the Porta di Pontecorvo fortification tower stands at center. A time-worn Gothic portico fills the painting's right side, before which a group of figures examine a massive classical sarcophagus and a statue of a lion.